My name is Kathryn “Teka” England and I am a graduate of the Master of American Studies program at the Pennsylvania State University, as well as a hockey fan. I am originally a native of Oregon and received my Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Puget Sound in 2007. As my resume shows, I have diverse experience in dealing with a wide variety of customer and client groups, including positions emphasizing instruction, guidance, and teamwork. I am an inveterate self-starter, while simultaneously relishing any opportunity to work together with other members of a group to achieve overall organizational goals.

In writing my masters thesis, I chose to focus on the unique subculture that surrounds female fans within the environment of professional North American hockey. To this end, I spent two years researching how women are brought into the game as fans and the different ways in which they form connections and express their love for the sport as well as how the organizations of professional ice hockey both encourage and discourage this female participation on a fan level. In the course of my research, I focused extensively on the involvement of a team's fanbase, the extensive online presence of many women invoved in hockey, and the different views of female fans portrayed in the media.

As well as my specialization in understanding fan team interaction, I am well versed in the expanding social media scene, through running numerous different blogs across several platforms as well as maintaining a significant online presence on many networking sites. An early adopter of many social platforms including Twitter, I see the potential in such platforms to be used as a way to interact with fans. Due to the social nature of the female hockey fan, especially on message boards and blogs, I believe that the use of targeted social media could dramatically increase the connection between female fans and the team and in turn raise female attendance significantly.

As I have an extensive knowledge of female ice hockey fans, I believe my expertise could be a great asset to any hockey team's public relations corps. In addition to the ideas defined within my thesis, there are numerous other opportunities that present themselves as ways to recognize and affirm the involvement of women as hockey fans, and in turn benefit the organization through increased female attendance. I would love to work with the team on how best to implement them, and hope to hear from you soon.