Tina Charles Joins Liberty Front Office Internship Role

Former New York Liberty star Tina Charles has joined the franchise’s front office as an intern after retiring from a 14-season WNBA career, using the role to study sports management and learn team operations, marketing, brands and partnerships.

According to the Liberty, Charles remains the franchise’s all-time leading scorer with 3,739 points from 2014-19 and holds the team’s career rebounding record. Her internship began in September while she pursues a master’s degree at the University of Connecticut.

Charles requested the opportunity through Liberty CEO Keia Clarke, whom she has known since joining New York as a player in 2014. The former forward has also worked as a basketball analyst and continues foundation work through Hopey’s Heart.

During a Liberty playoff game against the Minnesota Lynx at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, Charles was honored on the jumbotron as the franchise’s scoring leader. She said she wanted the recognition to reflect her current role.

"Actually, what I wanted there — I was like, 'Put Liberty intern,'" Charles said.

Charles described the internship as part of a transition that has allowed her to explore life beyond playing. She said her media work changed how she viewed basketball after retirement.

"It's been really great just to get to know myself," Charles said.

"I think I gave everything I could in the space of basketball on and off the court. Now, I just get to be Tina," Charles said.

Charles said working in analysis and observing the sport from another perspective helped her develop a different connection with basketball. She previously expected to step away from the game completely after retirement.

"I think I fell in love with the game even more in a different way with a different understanding of it," Charles said.

Clarke said Charles brings experience from her playing career, business interests and leadership efforts to the internship. Charles also founded 78 Brewing Co. in July while continuing community work.

"It was an absolute no-brainer," Clarke said.

Clarke said the internship gives Charles room to learn the business side of a professional sports organization while applying her existing leadership skills.

"For Tina, this experience is just another prong in that wheel. She's sort of a Jill of all trades. I think coming from a space of [the] internship, while we sort of laugh and joke and we call her 'the legend slash intern' … really, it allows for space. There's air cover for her to ask questions — for her not to know everything — but also, at the same time, to be able to apply it to real businesses or real situations and real leadership opportunities that she's also executing," Clarke said.

Charles attends Liberty office meetings on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays and travels to UConn in Storrs, Connecticut, on Wednesdays for classes. She said front office work requires planning further ahead than a player’s daily competition schedule.

"When you're in the front office, you have to plan ahead. You have to be two, three months ahead of what your marketing plan is, brands and partnerships, players, experiences, just how everything ties together for it to be seamless," Charles said.

Clarke said internal meetings helped Charles understand the preparation behind team operations, including playoff presentation materials and arena experiences.

"I'm sort of watching other people's reaction in the room, and particularly I'm watching Tina's," Clarke said.

"We walked out of that meeting and she said, 'I had no idea. Players have no idea. We're in the arena.

We hear the music. We see the videos, but we don't know how much goes into it,'" Clarke said.

Charles has also focused on helping players better understand franchise and partnership efforts from a business perspective. She said athletes often receive partner products without seeing the strategy behind those relationships.