Kelly McCafferty is a rising junior who is the first woman to become an officer for Michigan Rugby. McCafferty has developed UMRFC’s newest role, Social Media Officer, and is one of the many non-player officers that joined the officer board earlier this year.
McCafferty made history for Michigan Rugby by joining the entirely male officer board as the first woman and as a non-player in January 2022. By breaking barriers, she has made space at the table for other women interested in gaining experience working for a Division 1A athletics program.
“I’m proud to be the first female officer for Michigan Rugby. Entering a space where I was the first and only female was daunting at first. However, all of the guys have really welcomed my ideas and vision for the revamping of the club’s social media. As both a non-player officer and a woman, my insights bring a unique perspective to the table that benefits the club as a whole.”
The Social Media Officer position is one of the newest additions to Michigan Rugby’s officer board. At the beginning of the year, McCafferty was tasked with building this position and its parameters.
“My main goal as Social Media Officer was to increase impressions. However, I quickly realized that there was a lack of quality content when I began my role. One of the first things I did was create a posting schedule so that quality content could be more clearly and deliberately planned out. I also created a style guide that streamlined the fonts, colors, and logos to be used on all of our platforms to create a more distinct brand identity for Michigan Rugby. We’ve also implemented scheduled posting so that we are posting on our platforms at high traffic times and are able to reach the widest audience possible.
I identified pretty early on that we had a manpower problem. Since the role was new, we lacked the proper infrastructure to run an efficient publicity department. Because of this, a lot of tasks have fallen on myself and Alexia Pacheco, a content creator for our team, to complete. The two of us are not only the brains behind our social media strategy, but we also serve as team photographers, videographers, graphic designers, choreographers, commentators, and occasionally team moms.”
