Natalia Brkic (left), fourth-year Ivey student and co-chair, 2025 Ivey Sports Leadership Conference with her co-chair Cole Parsons. (Photo Courtesy of Natalia Brkic)
Many people say you’ll meet your best friends and discover your “why” at university. I never imagined my most meaningful connections would be formed not within dorms or classrooms, but at a business conference.
The Ivey Sports Leadership Conference (ISLC) draws hundreds of students from across Canada and features big names from the sports business world. This year, speakers included Edward Rogers, BA’94, chair of Rogers Communications, and Nick Eaves, BA’90, Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment COO. The conference has given me lasting memories and shaped who I am.
I first attended ISLC in 2023, when I was desperate to hear a talk from Adam Burchill, then head of sports for TikTok North America. Tickets were sold out—so I snuck in. I didn’t hide in the back; I walked right up to Burchill after his talk.
That risk changed the course of my journey at Western. I was so inspired I went again the following year (I bought my ticket that time!) and was later invited to apply for co-chair. I became the youngest person to lead ISLC.
With a goal to make the sports business industry accessible to students nationwide, we scaled up and hosted the largest event in our history. The role taught me what it takes to build a business. We had to think on our feet and understand the problems we were solving for our partners.
When I saw Burchill earlier this year, I told him, ‘You’re the reason I’m in the business.’ In an amazing full-circle moment, I’ve joined his team at Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment for a summer position.
This conference has had a major impact on my life. It helped shape my career path, build lasting friendships, find mentors and grow my network. I passed the reins to the next ISLC cohort this year because I believe so strongly in the experience and what it teaches. Each year deserves a new vision, and I’ll always be there to cheer them on.
Natalia Brkic
Fourth-year Ivey student and co-chair, 2025 Ivey Sports Leadership Conference.
Parsa Nasirian, BHSc’25, MSc’26, director, Western Rehab Club. (Photo courtesy of Parsa Nasirian)
Like many students, I spent much of my undergrad discovering my passions. I was especially intrigued by the rehabilitation sciences.
As a lifelong sports lover, I could picture myself in sports physio, helping athletes return to what they love. Exploring these pathways, I wished there was a way to tap into physiotherapy students’ experiences and advice to understand the field more deeply.
That’s what made the Western Rehab Club so meaningful to me. In 2022, I joined a small group of like-minded friends to help found the club. As external director, I focused on building support for students by helping them explore volunteering opportunities, connect with graduate students and professionals and learn about different career paths in rehabilitation sciences. We launched the Rehab Expo, a free, annual networking and educational event that’s grown every year.
I graduated from Western with a bachelor of health sciences in 2025, and though I didn’t pursue physiotherapy, my work with the Rehab Club helped me find the right path. Through my love of sports and longtime work with Special Olympics, I witnessed firsthand the barriers people with special needs can face in accessing care, especially oral health. I am now completing my master’s at Western, where my research focuses on special needs dentistry and improvement of equitable access.
Looking back, I see my undergraduate years as a time of discovery, not uncertainty. Through the Western Rehab Club, I hope I helped create a meaningful starting point for others to explore their futures, just as I did. I’m proud the club has played that role for others on their journeys, and I hope it continues to do so for generations of students. To me, that’s what Western is about: building your own future while helping others build theirs, too.
Parsa Nasirian
BHSc’25, MSc’26, director, Western Rehab Club.
