Around The Commonwealth to learn and grow . I ’ ve gone from managing a small team of volunteers when I was younger to managing programs at three different facilities ( Belmont , The Tattersall Youth Development Center & the Elson Redmond Memorial Driving Range ) and everything that goes into that .
… With Richmond , it ’ s like six degrees of separation when you ’ re working in golf and being able to meet other people and learn from them and get ideas from them but also try to bring that back to the kids that are at the First Tee . That ’ s been super important to me . I love working with the kids … just seeing their progression is really rewarding .
VG : What ’ s the biggest thing you ’ ve learned
from Kelly McAnally Brown ?
BW : One of the biggest takeaways is that
we ’ re all human at the end of the day . The golf industry definitely has its pros and cons , and one of those cons is that when it ’ s the busy season we want to be able to be out there to serve the community … She ’ s really given me perspective on making sure that we ’ re doing what we need to do to fuel ourselves and put our best foot forward at work every day . She brings that to light — at least for me . I ’ m someone that just goes and goes and goes until I ’ m close to the end of my tank — and she has been really helpful in making sure that everyone is re-filling their tank appropriately and making sure everyone is enjoying the work they are doing .
“ I can ’ t say enough positive things about Brittany . … Having a former First Tee participant be able to rise through the ranks and now serve as our senior director of programming is remarkable .”
— Kelly McAnally Brown
KELLY MCANALLY BROWN
( 2006 Red Speigle Award recipient )
EDUCATION : Longwood University ( 2006-10 , B . S . Business Administration / Marketing , golf team member ); VCU ( 2010-11 ), M . E ., Sport Leadership WORK EXPERIENCE : Golf programming and sales , Disney ’ s ESPN Wide World of Sports ( June 2011-February 2012 ); Tournament coordinator , IMG ( February 2012-December 2013 ); Sponsorship Manager , Kingsmill Resort ( Dec . 2013- Aug . 2015 ); Tournament director , IMG , Thornberry Creek LPGA Classic ( Aug . 2015-March 2018 ); Vice President , Impact , First Tee of Greater Richmond ( March 2018-present ).
VG : Who were your biggest golf influences
growing up ?
Kelly McAnally Brown : I had three men
that were all really impactful in my life . Wylie French — a retired principal — who worked in the library at Landstown H . S .— was probably one of my biggest cheerleaders . Ed Holcomb was my personal golf coach out of Hell ’ s Point Golf Club which was awesome . He kind of took me under his wing and would basically take me to VSGA and MAPGA Titleist Tour events so I got more exposure to tournament golf . And last but not least — Mike Mungin who was my high school golf coach there at Landstown . Being the only girl on a team of all boys certainly
comes with a lot of extra drama . He made sure everyone was able to compete and traveled to watch me play at one of the first VHSL girls ' championships , which they didn ' t really have prior to me and Jenny Suh and some of the top girls growing up .
VG : Talk about your role as Vice President , Impact with First Tee .
KMB : I help provide our programming
team a strategic vision for our youth programming — our overall impact on the youth here in the greater Richmond area . I also collaborate with a lot of our community partners like the Boys & Girls Clubs and the Henrico Police Athletic League to make sure we ’ re creating mutually beneficial partnerships that tie back to each other ’ s mission . And the third bucket is the impact on our staff here at First Tee . Certainly , making sure that our employees feel valued , working on development plans , or some other human resources functions . Impact for me takes on a few different forms but it all comes back to making the biggest impact possible on our community .
VG : How closely do you work with Brittany ( Woo )?
KMB : I look at us as really good teammates and thought partners around how we create to have the most engaged and high-quality youth programs that we can possibly have . I can ’ t say enough positive things about Brittany . … Having a former First Tee participant be able to rise through the ranks and now serve as our senior director of programming is remarkable . That ’ s through her hard work and determination and just her bubbly and great personality that she brings to work every day . … Anybody who has ever worked with Brittany has the same feedback — you couldn ’ t ask for a better teammate or thought partner when you ’ re working on projects and trying to take things to the next level .
This story is an excerpt of a much longer conversation with Brittany Woo and Kelly McAnally Brown . Please scan the QR code to find the full conversation , which can be found at
VSGA . org .
vsga . org S EPTEMBER / O CTOBER 2022 | V IRGINIA G OLFER 15