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Meet Jessica Serocke, the associate director of global finance for all things direct to consumer in the TaylorMade landscape. The former soccer player manages seven-figure cash flows in her daily life without breaking a sweat. It's befitting of her larger-than-life personality to handle dollar amounts that may seem larger than life to most of us.
For Jessica, however, it's not all about bottom lines and spreadsheets. It's about the people, the brand and what TaylorMade represents. For example, she was one of the earliest members of 1PUTT – TaylorMade's "Purpose & Unity Think Tank" that helps guide the brand's social responsibility efforts.
"If you asked me if I loved my job, I'd say I love working at TaylorMade more than I do crunching numbers. Finance is one of those things you can do in any industry, and while I do find myself geeking out in spreadsheets, I don't love it as much as I love the people I work with and being able to use my skills to contribute to an awesome team." Jessica Serocke, TaylorMade Associate Director of Global Finance
Like many young professionals, Serocke's career path was windy and unexpected. As early as she can remember, she had one goal. Become a professional soccer player. She was legit on the pitch, evidenced by her appearance on the front of a Frosted Flakes cereal box as a Southern California junior champion. (The photo is the stuff legends are made of.)
The next step towards that goal was receiving a scholarship to play division 1 soccer at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. Unfortunately, she had a career ending injury heading into her junior season that derailed the plan.
After the injury, her competitive nature led her to reignite her connection to golf. Her dad got her into the game as a kid, and she was always inspired by her grandmother, who played until she was 80+.
"Coming back to golf after college, I had a different appreciation for the game," says Serocke, a Southern California native. "In soccer, one bad pass could ruin the game. But in a round of golf, I can have 98% horrible shots and still walk away thinking about the 2% of good shots, saying, 'I can't wait until I play again!' I'm a social golfer, and I play for many different reasons. It goes back to what I said earlier; it's all about the people."
After leaving college with her business degree, she began working for a relocation company in the San Diego area. Before too long, her itch to return to the sporting world became too strong to ignore. Having been a longtime fan of the adidas brand from her days on the field, she began searching for gigs with adidas – and begrudgingly conceded that she would have to leave the sunshine of Southern California for a drearier destination in the Pacific Northwest. Or so she thought.
In her search, she found an entry-level finance position at what was then TaylorMade-adidas Golf – right up the road in Carlsbad. After a series of interviews, she finally got her foot in the door. Twelve years later, the rest is history as they say.
After rising through the ranks, her current role requires her to support the marketing team and its various business partners, providing detailed insights to help them make better decisions from a financial perspective. Her team is responsible for managing the working budget and monitoring the economic trajectory of the company's e-commerce business. She also recently took on the added weight of managing TaylorMade's HQ expenses, which includes HR, legal, IT and other departments. Jessica's role in working with the broader team is to provide stakeholders with a competitive advantage when making financial decisions for the brand's future.
As for advice for anyone who wishes to follow in her footsteps, she offers the following:
"Timing can be a funny thing, but if you have the willingness to get out of your comfort zone and the drive to work hard, you can prepare yourself for the right opportunity. My advice: Don't get frustrated by timing. Make sure you're doing the right things to prepare yourself for success when your time comes."
When she's not at work or teeing it up, Jessica loves spending time with her husband Brian, their 4-year-old daughter, Hannah, and 1-year-old son, Brennan.