Love of sport led to career with Canadian Olympic Committee
March 8, 2020
If you can’t be an Olympian, the next best thing is to work for a National Olympic Committee (NOC).
In that way, you can still be part of the sport you enjoy and travel the world like an international athlete.
A competitive track and field athlete in high school and university, Camille Wallace was quick to acknowledge she wasn’t good enough to compete at the top level after graduating from the University of Windsor.
“How could I go to Olympic Games and not have to compete,” she remembered asking herself.
In university, Wallace had part-time jobs creating and maintaining online athlete profiles and composing articles that were published in weekly alumni newsletters.
After leaving school, she was a Special Olympics Canada Major Games & Programs Assistant in the summer of 2014 and an intern with the Canadian Olympic Committee (COC) which hired her in 2015. Her first assignment was creating digital content for Team Canada during the 2015 Pan/Parapan American Games in Toronto & the Greater Golden Horseshoe.
Since then, Wallace has attended the 2016 Rio Summer Olympics, the 2018 PyeongChang Olympic Winter Games in South Korea, the Summer Youth Olympics in Buenos Aires, Argentina and last year’s Pan/Parapan Games in Lima, Peru.
“I enjoy the travelling and I have got the opportunity to meet some of the world’s top athletes, including Usain Bolt,” she said.
As the COC Community Manager from July 2016 to January 2017, Wallace engaged Team Canada’s audiences through one-on-one interactions, authentic conversations and compelling content. Following the 2016 Rio Games, Team Canada outshone other NOC’s globally with the largest social media following on a per capita basis.
She managed the national team’s digital partnerships solutions and social media strategy during her 29-month tenure as Digital and Social Media Specialist and Team Canada achieved the most social interactions globally and generated over $6.5 million in social media value for marketing partners during the PyeongChang Games.
Camille Wallace sitting on the track at the Rio Olympics
Last May, Wallace – who served as the COC’s Digital & Communications Lead during the Youth Olympic Games – was promoted to Program Manager in charge of Digital and Branded Content. In that role, she leads Team Canada’s digital monetization and partnership strategy.
“I am focused on how we leverage our digital presence for monetization and creating content that fans will resonate with and kind of elevating that experience,” she pointed out.
Turned on to track & field in elementary school where she won a medal in the long jump event at the city-wide championships, Wallace went to every Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations (OFSAA) track & field championships in the four years she was at Cardinal Newman Catholic High School.
In Grade Nine, she attracted the attention of Grenadian Olympian and Toronto Catholic District School Board teacher Rudy Sylvan who invited her to join Phoenix Athletics.
“Even though I was good and I got a scholarship, I didn’t medal at OFSAA and I was never the best,” said Wallace. “In university, I realized I didn’t want to keep running when I graduated and that was when I started to look at my options.”
Camiile Wallace with Canadian figure skaters at the 2018 PyeongChang Games
Not enjoying her legal classes as much as the creative courses while pursuing International Relations & Developmental Studies with a view to working in the legal field, she jumped at an opportunity offered by the university’s head track & field coach to work in the athletics department.
“I was competing in track & field at the same time and here I was writing articles and producing recaps,” the digital marketing professional said. “I really enjoyed doing that and that is really what sparked my interest to consider a career in sports.”
Last October, Wallace was appointed to the Canadian Association for the Advancement of Women in Sport (CAAWS) board of directors.
“The addition of Camille to our board, with her expertise in digital marketing and revenue generation, is consistent with our strategic focus on strengthening our reach and engagement,” Chief Executive Officer Allison Sandmeyer-Graves. “Her perspective will be invaluable to CAAWS as a young professional in the sport system with a demonstrated commitment to inclusion.”
The CAAWS is dedicated to creating an equitable and inclusive Canadian sport and physical activity system that empowers girls and women – as active participants and leaders – within and through sport.
“That is something that resonates with me,” said Wallace who loves reading and engaging in physical fitness activities. “When I look at my personal experience, sport has played a big role in allowing me to get to where I am. In university, I was on the student athlete committee and I was the captain of the track & field team for my last two years. Through that, I developed many great connections and got many unique experiences that prepared me well for the work I do now. I am excited to be part of this organization that looks at creating and effecting real change.”
Wallace is the product of Ghanaian and Jamaican immigrants.
Alfred Adomako is from Kumasi, Ghana and Sonia Wallace was raised in Port Antonio.
“I grew up with both my parents who, though strict, helped me to become the person that I am today,” said Wallace who is a member of the Black Professionals in Technology and Women in Sports & Events professional networks. “My mom is very strong and confident and my father is charismatic and someone that connects easily with people. Watching them as I grew up has allowed me to develop some of those characters.”
Camille Wallace at the 2016 Rio Olympics
On March 11, Wallace will be part of a panel addressing women in sport & technology at an International Women’s Day event at Ryerson University’s Creative Innovation Hub, 110 Bond St. at 6 p.m.
Presented by She’s 4 Sports and the Global Experiential Sports Lab, the panel will also feature Stathletes Inc. co-founder Meghan Chayka, Hart & Stride Hockey Development Inc. founder Jessica Hartwick and Beam founder Arwina Mogul.
