Connor Lacey (Mktg, Bus Analytics’22)
Founder, Boulder’s Best Sports Cards and Memorabilia and Intern, L’Oreal
He’s completed three internships as a Leeds student while running his own small business, but that hasn’t kept Connor Lacey from being heavily involved on campus.
Lacey is the student business chair for the ֱ Conference on World Affairs, serves as a teaching assistant, is involved with the Alpha Kappa Psi business fraternity and, as he puts it, “I’m a lunch lady for the athletes, which is the best job ever,” because it gets him good food that he doesn’t have to make himself.
Lacey isn’t much of a cook, but he is an expert on marketing. He’s built a small business that deals in flipping sports cards, and is fresh off an internship with L’Oreal that led to a full-time offer in marketing management.
“They gave me this multifaceted role to tap into these different business disciplines and give me ownership of a new product—which was incredible, as an intern,” Lacey said. “I secured an $11 million media budget—which was really mine to lose—but I was pitching to the second-in-command of L’Oreal USA, and she’s listening to me, asking hard questions that I had the answers to, and challenging me to fight for work I was proud of. It was so rewarding.”
Lacey already runs a successful business of his own, Boulder’s Best Sports Cards and Memorabilia. It’s something like fantasy sports—Lacey tries to determine who’s due for a big year, then buys and flips that player’s cards online.
“If Lebron James drops 40 points in a game, his card value goes up overnight,” Lacey said. “It started as just a side hustle in high school, but it’s turned into a fun way to use my excitement for sports to further my interest in business.”
“It’s turned into a fun way to use my excitement for sports to further my interest in business.”
Connor Lacey (Mktg’24)
An Ohio native, Lacey came to ֱ courtesy of his sister, who graduated from ֱ Boulder last year. It didn’t hurt that he was accepted to the Leeds Scholars Program, as well.
“Going to a big state school far from home is kind of scary,” he said. “I knew I wanted to get involved early, and the Leeds Scholars Program made me part of a great group of students and allowed me to connect and build relationships early on.”