STATESBORO – Georgia Southern graduate Sharon Persinger will speak to the Eagle volleyball and women's tennis teams via Zoom April 27 as part of the APEX (Athletes Preparing for Employment Experiences) Career Speaker Series.

Persinger founded UP Market Media in 2014 and oversees the day-to-day-operations of the company. A proud "Double Eagle," she holds a bachelor's degree in marketing and a master's degree in business from Georgia Southern. Persinger grew up in Peachtree Corners, Georgia, and moved to Statesboro in 1999 to attend Georgia Southern. She is a member of the Statesboro Jaycees, Leadership Bulloch Alumni and serves on the board for Habitat for Humanity of Bulloch County. Having worked in the advertising industry since 2009, she has extensive experience with website design, Google ads, social media, Facebook ads, graphic design and search engine optimization and her main focus is digital advertising solutions.

The Career Speaker Series is an ongoing event throughout the academic year. Through a partnership with the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, student-athletes from each athletics program choose a topic and date for their speaker, and the APEX program coordinates a 45-minute meeting via Zoom with a professional in the chosen career through its Eagle Outreach Program. Speakers will talk about the process to obtain a career in their field and the necessary skill set required to excel. Examples of careers discussed are Banking/Finance, Real Estate, Marketing/Sales, Criminal Justice, Entrepreneurship, Business/Corporate America, Accounting and Construction.

The Career Speaker series is another component of the APEX programming curriculum designed to help prepare Georgia Southern student athletes for the ultimate challenge after their playing careers- life. Led by Senior Associate Athletics Director Student-Athlete Development Gleen Hart and Senior Associate Athletics Director for Administration Tracy Ham, the APEX program fosters the holistic growth of all Georgia Southern student-athletes based on four pillars: life skills, leadership development, career growth and community engagement. The vision statement of the program is to "develop confident and independent leaders to win in their careers, communities and households."