Speaker 1:
Well, welcome back to the podcast. We are thrilled to have Stella O'Rourke today who is the director of Philanthropy and special events for the Arizona Coyotes. Stella, welcome.
Stella O'Rourke:
Hi. Thank you.
Speaker 1:
What a pleasure to have you.
Stella O'Rourke:
Yes, I'm excited to be here.
Speaker 1:
Well, a lot going on, but I'd love for everyone out there to meet you a little bit.
Stella O'Rourke:
Yeah.
Speaker 1:
What's Stella's story? Now we can always look at your bio online. I'm sure we can do that, but tell us a little bit about you.
Stella O'Rourke:
Yeah, so I'm actually not from Arizona. I moved here in 2010, wow, 13 years ago, which seems crazy, from Louisiana. I graduated from Louisiana State University and came to Arizona and just was looking for a new start, and I thought, well, why not Arizona? It's closer to home. I'm originally from Washington State. And so I have just fell in love with Arizona since being here. And it was one of those things where, oh, I'll just move here for grad school and then I'll take off and see where life takes me. And 13 years later, I'm still here.
Speaker 1:
Well, we're glad you're here. So it wasn't like you had a map and you just threw a dart and hit Phoenix.
Stella O'Rourke:
Correct.
Speaker 1:
You had an intention to come here.
Stella O'Rourke:
Yep.
Speaker 1:
What a difference from Louisiana.
Stella O'Rourke:
Yeah, absolutely. I wanted to go to one of the top schools in the nation for my undergrad, and I did. And then for my master's, I also wanted the same thing, so I came to ASU and actually got my master's here and graduated in 2017.
Speaker 1:
Well, I hope you're watching Dr. Crow.
Stella O'Rourke:
Yeah.
Speaker 1:
Another accolade of yours. So you obviously went to grad school here and then ended up with the Coyotes. How did that happen?
Stella O'Rourke:
Yeah, so I've been in nonprofit. I have over 10 years of experience in nonprofit organizations here in Arizona. And I've absolutely loved the different things that we're trying to accomplish through the nonprofit sector. And all of those unique niches that the government is trusting the nonprofit organizations to take care of like homelessness or behavioral mental health or things like that. And I really fell in love with the way that Arizonans care for each other and what the community does to surround each other in care and services and programming. Can we do better? Absolutely. But it was really cool to be a part of that. And so I started out in working direct care and working directly with the clients and the individuals in need, and then worked my way up and through the administrative side and things like that. And so the Coyotes was a perfect opportunity to do the philanthropic things that I love, but through a sports organization, which is another passion of mine.
Speaker 1:
So you had a love of hockey before you got here?
Stella O'Rourke:
Love of sports.
Speaker 1:
Okay. All right.
Stella O'Rourke:
I didn't start loving hockey until I went to my first game. And I was like, "Wow." This was a whole new world for me. I had never thought about hockey in my life. I grew up in a single parent home, all women. Women's hockey wasn't a big thing in our family. And so hockey in general just wasn't one of those things. Baseball and football were the ones. My mom was, she knew a lot about those two sports, so she taught us knowing those guys. And so yeah, hockey's a new one for me. But as soon as you're in the arena and you see how much love and care and passion is on that ice and then all the fans, you just can't not love hockey.
Speaker 1:
Absolutely.
Stella O'Rourke:
It's amazing.
Speaker 1:
It's great. Well, I think we've gotten to know you obviously outside your bio, but tell us something that wouldn't be on your bio, about you that people don't generally know.
Stella O'Rourke:
Yeah. Wow. I think one of the things about me is I just love to provide opportunity for people. They really say that when you start to make it, whatever that looks like in your life, and you start to progress and things like that, that you know have a duty to help other people follow along your path. And that's something I'm very passionate about is mentorship, leadership, but also bringing those next generation of people behind. So providing opportunity for people is something I'm super passionate about, whether it's in the nonprofit field, providing services for people who don't have the opportunity to have proper housing or safe income or things like that. But I also am super passionate about just helping people in the next wave of whatever they want to do and how they feel they can receive success or they can accomplish success. So I'm really passionate about helping the next wave because I know I had to do my own path. I had to create my own path, I had to create my own success, and I don't think anyone should have to do that alone. So something I'm super passionate about.
Speaker 1:
Is that where that comes from, you felt like you had to sort of do it alone?
Stella O'Rourke:
Yeah, my mom was an amazing person. She was very, very hardworking. She ended up getting her PhD and adopted me at the same time back in the eighties. And she was just very busy. She had a lot on her plate at the time, and she was graduating and working a million jobs. And so she really taught me that work ethic that you have to make it on your own and you just got to kind of try to make it work for yourself if nobody else is going to help you or pave that path for you. So that was something that I had to learn at a very young age is that if nobody's going to pull a seat up at the table for you, you can make your own table.
Speaker 1:
Absolutely. Well, since we're mentioning the Coyotes, I think it seems to go without saying that the Coyotes are, in spite of what might have happened, are committed to Arizona. Is that correct?
Stella O'Rourke:
Oh yeah, absolutely. We're super excited to be playing in the 20, 23, 24 season here at Mullett Arena in Tempe. ASU has been so welcoming and loving to us and we are super grateful of them. And yeah, we're committed to being here in Arizona. So that's where we are in next steps. We're just trying to look forward to the next season and we'll see what happens from there.
Speaker 1:
Well, but what a cool place in the meantime to watch it.
Stella O'Rourke:
Yeah.
Speaker 1:
I've heard that there are teams around the country that sent folks to watch at that arena because the games are so amazing.
Stella O'Rourke:
Yeah, you can literally be, I think level the row, the highest row up is P. And you can be literally feeling like you're on the glass still. It's so cool. Everything is lower bowl and then when you're in the suites, you're like literally center ice the whole way. It's just awesome.
Speaker 1:
Absolutely. So we'll look forward to that. So I guess when people think about not the Coyotes necessarily, pro sports, the first thing that comes to mind is isn't philanthropy. That's not where they would traditionally go. Why are the Coyotes committed to philanthropy?
Stella O'Rourke:
Yeah. Well, I think all sports teams feel that we have a duty to give back. Sports and entertainment, there's millions and hundreds of fans. Sorry, there are hundreds of millions of fans in the-
Speaker 1:
Worldwide, sure.
Stella O'Rourke:
So all over the place. And we really are committed to making sure that everybody feels comfortable. And because of that, we also then have a duty to give back to all the amazing people that come and support us. So the unique part of the Arizona Coyotes Foundation is that we are a thousand percent a part of the organization. It's not a subsidiary or a different part or branch. We're really an arm of the organization. And our duty is to make sure that we are providing services and funding to organizations that are supporting the biggest needs in our community throughout the entire state of Arizona. So one thing that I think is a misconception about the coyotes is that we only help the Phoenix Metro area when actually we're the Arizona Coyotes so we support the entire state of Arizona down to Pima County all the way up north.
And so we're super excited to be a part of so many needs here in Arizona. And it's our role as part of the foundation to keep a pulse on what's going on in the community. So we don't want to only be supporting organizations that just are here and present, but that are the most important needs in our community, which is important.
Speaker 1:
And I believe I'm correct in saying you're also pretty unique in that you're self-funded.
Stella O'Rourke:
Yeah, absolutely. So we do all of our fundraising ourselves, a hundred percent. So just like any other nonprofit organization, we are looking for donors. Our donors look a little different. They might be in hockey jerseys nine times out of 10. But yeah, we really look to our organization. We have also the benefit of individuals who are coming to our games from out state as well, that they're actually pouring into this city and that are really helping and support the organizations that we have here locally. So that's a really cool and unique thing that sports has to offer.
Speaker 1:
Absolutely. So clearly there's a lot of need out there. And this isn't just Phoenix or Arizona, this is the whole country, a lot of need and probably difficult to choose. How do you determine where your priorities are going to be any given year?
Stella O'Rourke:
Yeah, so we really look to our ownership, we look to our executive leadership. And we've gone inside with our board and things like that, internally with our internal front office staff, to decide what are our three pillars that we're really wanting to fund. So those would be health and wellness, education and economic advancement. So those are our three pillars.
Speaker 1:
Those are big.
Stella O'Rourke:
Bread and butter of the things that we want to support. And then we have a competitive grants program. So we give out a set of hundreds of thousands of dollars each year, which is exciting to local organizations, again, statewide who are meeting those pillars and feeding the need for access to health and wellness, education and economic advancement for underserved and underprivileged individuals in our community.
Speaker 1:
And your ownership's involved in terms of the program itself. Do the players ever get involved?
Stella O'Rourke:
Yeah, absolutely. So we have a grant review committee that we have. And we ask leadership throughout the community, people who want to be passionately involved in this. But then also we look to our board, we look to our hockey development, our hockey ops people, which are our team, our players. Our wives and girlfriends are really big on helping out with that too. And so yeah, we have a really great opportunity. Also, our players already kind of have their favorite organizations that they work with, if you will. So we like to involve them in getting one-on-one time with the organizations, Boys and Girls Clubs or different organizations that they might love and bringing that and connecting that passion to them directly. So they come out to those organizations, they hang out with the kids or with any individuals that they're passionate about. It's really cool.
Speaker 1:
Well, it is amazing when you see them on the community and the impact that they can make.
Stella O'Rourke:
Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 1:
By being involved. So I want to switch gears a little bit because I think when you talk about your philosophy of service, well you also live that. Part of that is with an organization within the Greater Phoenix Chamber called the Valley Young Professionals. You have been such a strong force within that group. Maybe talk a little bit about that group and why it's important to you.
Stella O'Rourke:
Yeah, absolutely. So the Valley Young Professionals is a group that the Greater Phoenix Chamber just actually recently in the last few years started. And it's been an incredible organization. And part of the chamber, there's so many benefits of being a member. But it's a program that is for individuals 25 to 39. A lot of the individuals we're seeing are people who are transient, who come to Arizona, want to meet people for the first time. They are looking for professional development or skills, networking, experiences that they can hold onto as they're continuing on. And that's a unique group of individuals. And I'm part of that group, the age group, which is exciting, although aging out pretty quickly here. And so that's a such a transient group where we're looking to grow in our careers and then also start families and things like that.
So there's a plethora, an array of different services and programs that these individuals are looking for. And it's our job as the Valley young professionals to look for programs and events and things like that, opportunities, for those individuals to really hold onto the different things that they're going to be learning, to hold onto those relationships they're going to be receiving or meeting, those things like that. So we really work towards connecting people together to help the betterment of the organization. Or I'm sorry, the state really.
Speaker 1:
Well it is, I think, highly impactful. And I think your comment about being around for a short amount of time, it was because it was reinvented by a group of people who really wanted to be intentional like yourself. And I think that's a part of the secret sauce. Now, I will say we had lunch with some of my team today. And someone mentioned a show from the seventies called the Rockford House. Some of you at a certain age will remember that. You might not know it. I got a lot of blank stares. Kids are like, "Well, what is this about now?"
Stella O'Rourke:
Not heard that one.
Speaker 1:
You get a lot of that when you mention a chamber to a certain age group. And I think part of the value of this organization is to show people in other age groups that, look, there's a place for you here. There's a place to get back and there's a place to belong. And I think that's a really important element of this group.
Stella O'Rourke:
Yeah, absolutely. It's really a connector. This board has been one of my favorite to serve on. You are with like-minded individuals who may have different backgrounds and different passions and diversities and things like that, but the end goal is to be the primary young professionals group in the state. And I confidently can say that we are one of those, that people look to us to really help them as they're either learning or transitioning or whatever it is in their lives. And that's the really cool unique opportunity that we have as VYP members and as the board to really be able to provide those opportunities for people. And they stay, and they want to be here. And that's the whole purpose of the VYP, is to bring quality people to the state of Arizona to help it grow. And we do that by creating those great programs and services and opportunities. And we're really lucky to be able to do that.
Speaker 1:
Well, I am always proud because probably two or three times a year I'll get a call from a colleague in another state that has heard about the success of our program because they can't get theirs going. And they always ask me what I did. What did I do differently? What did I build? And the answer is nothing. It's the right people. It was the right people who were going to be intentional and really have a drive for doing this right. And that's the secret sauce. And I tell them they can't have you guys because it really works.
Stella O'Rourke:
Yeah, absolutely. We do a lot of planning and debate about what are the programs and services we want to bring to our young professionals and what are they looking for? And we survey and we meet new people and we hold onto them. And we want to continue to bring them back year after year so that they are also bringing in those next young professional wave and see how can we continue to grow and grow and grow. And we have. And it's been incredible.
Speaker 1:
Well, and speaking of the group itself, you're the incoming chair.
Stella O'Rourke:
Yeah.
Speaker 1:
More accolades for you for taking on that role.
Stella O'Rourke:
Thank you.
Speaker 1:
What are some of the initiatives that you're thinking about for the next year?
Stella O'Rourke:
Yeah, so one of the things I really want to focus on is retention. So we have great individuals that come through. While we are a transient age range, I want people to feel welcome the second that they come to an event. Or the second that they meet somebody that everybody comes is talked to, that the board really is intentional in reaching out to every single member. That we're doing good follow up and that we're bringing people back, that we have quality programs and services that we're providing. And that we are intentional about what we're doing to help these individuals that we're not offering programs that people don't really care about or aren't interested in, that we're really making sure that we're helping these individuals with whatever it is that they're wanting in the next step, networking or professional development or whatever connector we can be to them. So my first step is just retention, making sure that the first time that a person comes that they will continue to want to come back.
Speaker 1:
Well, it's so important because when you come to something like that and you've never met anybody, you feel uncomfortable.
Stella O'Rourke:
So intimidating.
Speaker 1:
And it's hard.
Stella O'Rourke:
Yeah. It's intimidating for sure.
Speaker 1:
And I'm by nature a shy person.
Stella O'Rourke:
Yeah.
Speaker 1:
It's hard for me. I don't like it. So when have someone there, it makes you feel better.
Stella O'Rourke:
Yeah, yeah, absolutely. A welcoming face, somebody that you can remember from the next time. And then you're more likely to bring your friends too, or to come with your colleagues or open the door up to others. But that second that you don't feel comfortable or excited to be engaged, you get kind of like, I'm not going to do that. And our board is committed to making sure that never happens.
Speaker 1:
Absolutely. Well, one of the changes we made when the group reinvented itself is we took the leaders of the board, because the Valley Young Professionals has a board, and we actually gave them seats on the chamber board. And these aren't junior seats, these are full voting seats. And I will tell you that from my perspective, I like to pat myself on the back because we're bringing different perspectives into the discussion and active participation into the discussion.
Stella O'Rourke:
Yeah, absolutely. One of my absolute favorite, and Todd did not pay me to say this, by the way, events that we do as board members is to come to, we call it the big board retreat. And one year, I just remember it was my first year ever going, and I just remember, and I can't remember the person, but they came up to us, a few people actually, and said, "Thanks for speaking up in our meeting or in our retreat. We weren't expecting that, and you brought great ideas and great insight, and we love this." And you could tell it was genuine, but also it was something that you could see the larger board really needed and wanted. And so it makes us feel good as board members to know that there's another step after this, that we can continue to give to the greater Phoenix Chamber and to the greater Phoenix area by continuing to be a member of the larger board or meet new individuals on that board to help us continue to thrive, which is a unique opportunity. I think
Speaker 1:
What I like about that, and we had our retreat this year just a couple weeks ago, and the VYP board, they don't sit on the side or in the back. They come and sit in the front and they show up and participate, which says everything.
Stella O'Rourke:
Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 1:
And the idea that you do have a place here.
Stella O'Rourke:
Yeah, absolutely. It's so important. And thank you for allowing us to do that. I think if other states and cities are looking for that, that's the first advice I would give them is invite your young people, the ones that are committed to your organizations or your chambers to come and be involved more at just the level of the VYP and within their communities, but to be engaged throughout the entire chamber. I mean, that is something unique with this greater Phoenix Chamber that we get to be involved in the foundation and all of the initiatives that you guys do, which is incredible.
Speaker 1:
Well, thank you for mentioning the foundation.
Stella O'Rourke:
Yeah.
Speaker 1:
Jen Miller will be very pleased. Part of the Part Foundation's work is work in our high school system through the Elevated Ed program. We're in 13 high schools now going to 20. You made an investment in that program. Why? What sort of drew you to that particular program?
Stella O'Rourke:
Yeah. Well, I was doing a little research and I noticed that a lot of the kiddos that were on the other end of that were a lot like me. They looked like me. They were minority students. They may have come from a single parent background. They may have to try to make their own path and create their own way. And that was me in high school. I had to also find the same way. And there weren't a lot of programs and services for me when I was growing up. We didn't have people coming into our high school and saying, "Hey, here's a path," or, "Here's a way," or, "Here's my card. Reach out to me later." And so to be able to do that and go into classroom settings and even just do mock interviewing to give some ideas on, "Hey, here's how you can continue to better and advance," is incredibly invaluable.
And I just felt like I wanted to pay that far and be able to help those individuals, those young kids that wouldn't have had anybody coming into their classroom. Not only that could give them that excitement and the value in their professional experience, but also that look like me. That was incredibly important to me. And so I just wanted to be that kind of same person for somebody. You never know who you're going to really hit when you talk to them. And so I know for me, that would've been really impactful.
Speaker 1:
Well, we were honored to have that support, so thank you.
Stella O'Rourke:
No, thank you.
Speaker 1:
Thinking about that boy or that girl that doesn't know if they belong, but are thinking they might want to do something like what you do and work for perhaps a professional sports team in some capacity, what would you tell them? What would be your advice?
Stella O'Rourke:
Yeah, I think just try. Do as much as you can to find out what you like and find out what you don't like. And try to say yes or take a chance on yourself. If something feels like, oh, this isn't really something I'm interested in, I don't think I want to do that, try it anyway. See who you meet, see what kind of experience you have. And you'll know immediately, do you like this or you don't. But then you can check that off your list and then keep going and try different things. And I think that's where I never thought of a position in sports that can do what I love in the service realm and give me that excitement of being in sports and entertainment until I was really in that position. Then I was like, wow, this is so cool.
And I was in philanthropy working with individuals and families experiencing homelessness or children with behavioral mental health needs or girls leadership and things like that. I really wasn't thinking sports at all. And then happened to try this position, and I was like, "There's no way that they're going to want me." And the position called for somebody with my exact experience, which was incredible. And so I think if you take a chance on yourself and you just keep trying things, even if you're not sure about them, you will land in places that you couldn't even imagine possible for yourself. So that would be my biggest advice.
Speaker 1:
Well, kudos to you for putting yourself out there, for coming to Arizona. And kudos to the coyotes for seeing you and knowing that they had someone who could really add a lot to what they want to do here. Not just on the ice, but off the ice. And it seems like that effort is substantial.
Stella O'Rourke:
Yeah. Thank you. They definitely don't want me on the ice, for sure.
Speaker 1:
Well, I want to thank you for joining us today. You've been so generous, not only here, but also with the chamber and the foundation. As we wrap up, we're going to do a quick lightning round. I promise it's easy.
Stella O'Rourke:
Okay.
Speaker 1:
Don't worry. All right. So we're going to go first job. And it doesn't have to be even a paid job. Just what was your first job?
Stella O'Rourke:
Oh, my mom always had me volunteering for her.
Speaker 1:
What was that?
Stella O'Rourke:
It was like, "Can you organize these papers?" And my mom was a microbiologist, and I was like, "I don't know what this paper is, but sure." Or stack the highlighters with the same colors or silly things like that. So I worked for my mom at the very beginning.
Speaker 1:
What did you learn?
Stella O'Rourke:
Oh, that organization is key. That you really need to stay or organized. And that's how you can, I guess, just continues to succeed, is just if you have all of your ducks in a row. But yeah, that's an interesting life lesson, because at the time I was like, "I'm just sorting papers. This is silly."
Speaker 1:
What did you learn about microbiology? Anything? Did you retain anything?
Stella O'Rourke:
No. Well, no. And I didn't go into sciences or math or anything like that since. But I did learn a lot about preon diseases. And so when COVID happened, I'd be like, "Mom, what can I expect? What am I supposed to do here?" So that was good.
Speaker 1:
See?
Stella O'Rourke:
Yeah, it was.
Speaker 1:
And you also learned what you didn't want to do, which is so important. That's why we do all the work on internships.
Stella O'Rourke:
Yeah.
Speaker 1:
Because you might go to what your dream internship you think it is, and you might find out, no, I don't want to do that at all. I want to do something else.
Stella O'Rourke:
Yeah, absolutely. And my second job was working at a grocery store pushing carts in the snow. So I don't know which one was better really. One was inside and one was outside.
Speaker 1:
Well, pushing carts here in the summer has some, I can imagine very difficult-
Stella O'Rourke:
Oh, I can't even believe it.
Speaker 1:
But the snow too. Those two are tough. Those
Stella O'Rourke:
Those wheels don't turn. I don't know what we're doing with that.
Speaker 1:
That's true. And here you have to wear oven mitts to push the cart and watch out for people wanting to run you over for that parking space in the front.
Stella O'Rourke:
Yeah.
Speaker 1:
Okay. And so now I know that you're in an amazing job that you love, but what would be your dream job?
Stella O'Rourke:
Oh, maybe consulting of some kind. Just continuing to help people in some way. I don't know what kind of consulting job, though. I always thought it would be kind of fun to work for myself maybe one day.
Speaker 1:
Hey, you couldn't find a better boss, right?
Stella O'Rourke:
Well, I don't know about that.
Speaker 1:
Okay. Well, we won't go there. And then final question, and I'm assuming you're going to ace this, favorite Coyote player?
Stella O'Rourke:
Oh, I don't know if I can say that out loud.
Speaker 1:
You can. We won't tell anybody.
Stella O'Rourke:
Liam O'Brien is my absolute favorite.
Speaker 1:
Why?
Stella O'Rourke:
I think his commitment to giving back to the community a aligns a lot like mine. He also has this beautiful orange hair. And he also has an apostrophe in his last name. I'm O'Rourke, he's O'Brien.
Speaker 1:
There you go.
Stella O'Rourke:
Clearly I'm obviously very Irish, so it's great. And I just love his commitment to anytime we're like, "Hey, can you come to this or you come to that," he makes time for us. And their schedule, all of our player schedules are very, very intense. They are planned by the second, and they literally have no free time. I don't know how their parents and their wives and their families ever see them. So for any of our players to come off the ice and say, "Where do you need me in the community? Hey, yes, I want to talk to this kid. Yes, I'll do this extra interview. Yes, I'll do this social media post for you," that is so invaluable. And all of our players, a hundred percent of them, are just like that. Where do you need me? Where do you need me? How can I help? And so I absolutely love that passion that they have first.
Speaker 1:
And I think that some people would argue that professional sports is a one way street, proof that that's not the case.
Stella O'Rourke:
Oh, no.
Speaker 1:
Especially when you have these players asking you for opportunities to help.
Stella O'Rourke:
Well, and the Arizona Coyotes actually has the largest alumni group locally in the state that they played in. Because they come to Arizona and they love it here, and they stay here because they're committed to the community. They're committed to being here. They get to golf all the time. There's just so many perks to being here. And no other state or country that has hockey can say that they have the largest alumni group except for Arizona.
Speaker 1:
We're number one.
Stella O'Rourke:
We are.
Speaker 1:
Yeah. I actually sat next to Shane Doan, but I didn't know who he was.
Stella O'Rourke:
Amazing guy.
Speaker 1:
But I was like, he's just a really nice guy. He was like the nicest guy. We were having this full conversation, and finally my brother elbows me. He's like, "You know who that is?" I'm like, "I have no idea." So I felt a little bad, but then I thought, well, no, he's truly just a nice guy.
Stella O'Rourke:
So if you're talking favorite hockey player from the coyotes of all time-
Speaker 1:
All time, yeah.
Stella O'Rourke:
Shane Doan.
Speaker 1:
Okay.
Stella O'Rourke:
1000%.
Speaker 1:
Yeah.
Stella O'Rourke:
He is the most selfless, incredible leader. He is our captain, as we say.
Speaker 1:
Yeah.
Stella O'Rourke:
He's the only captain. And he truly is still, even to this day, years after he's been off the ice. And he teaches his kids, his son Josh, plays at ASU, and he's the same. He's instilling that in literally everybody he meets, but especially in his kiddos and the next round of professional players. So if we're talking all time favor, it's Shane.
Speaker 1:
Well see now you got to have two.
Stella O'Rourke:
Yeah.
Speaker 1:
Well, excellent. Well, thank you obviously for spending some time with us today, but also for the incredible work you do with the Chamber and the Foundation and in the community with the Coyotes.
Stella O'Rourke:
Yes. Thank you so much for having me. This has been awesome.
Speaker 1:
All right.
Stella O'Rourke:
Thanks.