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 CU 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 Colorado courtesy of his sister, who graduated from 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.”