About Samantha

A native of San Jose, Calif., Samantha Sunseri grew up watching baseball games with her father, giving rise to a gradual appreciation – and eventually, love – of sport. 

She moved to Seattle in 2010 to attend the University of Washington, graduating in 2015 with a bachelor’s degree in English. Her time performing with the Husky Marching Band introduced her to many of the finer aspects of gameday presentation and marketing while inspiring her to learn about the ins and outs of various sports. She was particularly struck by the way that sport acts as a bonding experience among groups of people, and she resolved to find her way into the industry. 

 After working for a few years in customer service and business administration, Sunseri returned to school. She received her master’s degree in Sport Business Leadership from Seattle University in June of 2020 after completing a capstone project entitled “The Loyal Brand: An Examination of the Husky Marching Band’s Effect on UW Marketing Practices”.

During her time in graduate school, Sunseri acted as a communications assistant with Seattle University Athletics, covering the men’s and women’s cross country and track & field teams, the men’s and women’s tennis teams, and the men’s and women’s golf teams. She gained notice for her feature stories in particular, which focused on their subjects’ lives outside of athletic competition. After her first year with the program, Sunseri also began writing for the USA TODAY SeahawksWire, focusing on divisional and postgame analysis. Upon receiving her degree, Sunseri joined the newly-established Seattle chapter of Women in Sports & Events, Inc. (WISE) as a member of its marketing board and its main social media developer.

In October 2021, Sunseri moved back to the Bay Area to work for Cal Athletics as a full-time Assistant Director of Athletics Communications, once again providing coverage to men’s and women’s track & field as well as the men’s gymnastics and women’s volleyball teams. Her feature stories have won multiple Fred Stabley Writing Contest awards, including the 2022 District 8 win for her profile on Cal track & field assistant coach Mohamed Saatara; she also wrote the cover story for the Spring 2023 edition of Cal Sports Quarterly magazine, featuring famed discus thrower Mykolas Alekna, who would later go on to break the longest-standing world record in men’s track & field.

Sunseri appears as one of three college sport communications professionals featured in CSC’s 2023 article “Writing ideas and strategies from a trio of Stabley Writing Contest winners.”.