Onward: An interview with Skye Shelmerdine

For Minot State University student Skye Shelmerdine, the path to entrepreneurship began with coffee shops and a recruiting visit. Now a marketing and entrepreneurship major, she balances early morning wrestling practices, campus leadership, and a growing professional portfolio.

While her professional life and being a student-athlete can be demanding, Shelmerdine took time to visit with University Communications for the next installment of the Onward Q&A series.

Can you start by introducing yourself, where you’re from, your major, and what brought you to Minot State University?
SS: Hello, I am Skye Shelmerdine. I am from Kalispell, Montana. I am majoring in entrepreneurship and marketing, and I have a minor in management. The thing that brought me to MSU initially was the wrestling program. My friend was going on a recruiting visit, and I decided to tagalong and then the community and everything at MSU was just a perfect fit for what I was looking for.

What first sparked your interest in entrepreneurship, and how has that shaped your goals as a student and an athlete?
SS: The thing that sparked my inspiration in entrepreneurship was that I've just always loved coffee shops. I still go to them more than I should, but some may say I'm addicted. That's oks. When deciding what I wanted to do — I just don't know how to be something with talking. I started looking into entrepreneurship; it just stuck out to me, and that's when I decided I was going to start my own coffee shop. That's my goal as a student. By giving me just a passion to be creative and to utilize group work as an athlete, it has given me goals to be a better leader and to learn how to work with a team.

How did you get involved with the wrestling program here, and what role has wrestling played in your life both on and off the mat?
SS: How did I get involved in the wrestling program? As I said before, a friend was going on a visit, and I just decided to join her, and I am so happy that I did. Looking back on it now, as I'm in my third year, wrestling has played a major role in my life. I probably can't emphasize that enough. I've been doing wrestling since I was in third grade, and just seeing women's wrestling be one of the fastest-growing sports makes me so happy. People say that once you do wrestling, everything else in life is easy, and that is just really from a wrestling perspective, which is very true. I know it will help me with everything I do after I graduate from college. It's giving me a lot of skills. Some of them are determination, discipline, hard work, and just so much more that, yeah, I'm not gonna get into.

You interned with Visit Minot over the summer and continue to work with them. What led you to that opportunity?
SS: For the internship, it was Stephanie Schoenrock. She is the main person at Visit Minot. She gave a presentation in my class, and it just really interested me. She had mentioned an internship opportunity, so I went up to her after, and I introduced myself, and I got her contact information, and I went back-and-forth, and I got the internship job.

What have been some of the most meaningful or memorable experiences from your internship so far?
SS: I would say the most memorable experience from working at Visit Minot would be the coffee shop reel I created. I went around to about seven different coffee shops and took photos and videos — a lot of videos, more so than photos, but when I got back, I compiled them all into about a 15-second reel. It was really hard to pick the good ones, like, perfect clips, because I took a lot, but it was really fun because I love coffee shops, and I just love taking content. I also took content at the Midsummer Festival and a few other places when I was working there. I just love getting the content and putting it together in reels and such.

Are there specific skills or lessons from both wrestling and your entrepreneurship coursework that you notice overlapping or reinforcing each other?
SS: The lessons I've learned from wrestling that also go with entrepreneurship are discipline for one. Staying disciplined in wrestling. And then gratitude. Just being thankful for the ability to participate in wrestling and to just appreciate all the opportunities that it gives me just overlaps with entrepreneurship a lot, The connections I make with my professors and the opportunities that has given me, and I'm just so thankful for both of those.

What’s something people might not realize about being a collegiate wrestler or the commitment it requires?
SS: Something that people don't realize about being a college wrestler is how much time and effort it takes to be in any college athletics. Really, we trained preseason and then postseason, and that goes from September through the whole school year. We're training in the middle of that. We're competing. It takes a lot of time and real dedication. You must have real dedication to a sport to do it, and do the list that comes with it, and the team bonding, and all the stuff that comes with being a college athlete.

Looking ahead, how do you envision your career path — do you see yourself launching your own business, staying in community-based work, or continuing something connected to athletics?
SS: Let's look ahead. My vision is that after college, I will probably take a marketing job to have time to develop my business plan for my coffee shop, to save up some money, and just get settled in wherever my fiancé is going to move. Then, after that, when I'm ready, I will start my coffee shop. That's the dream.

What advice would you give to incoming students who want to get involved, whether in athletics, internships, or student organizations?
SS: So the advice that I would give to incoming students who want to get involved would be to be involved in uncomfortable situations, just join clubs, talk to your professors, and just be. Don't be afraid. It can be scary, but you're going to regret it if you don't get involved.

When you think about your time at Minot State so far, what are you most proud of, and what are you still working toward?
SS: When I think about my time, I miss it. I am most proud of the connections I've made, and just, I guess, all the small accomplishments that have gotten me to where I am today: team captain of the wrestling team, that's exciting. All the opportunities that are coming my way because of what I have done and what I'm still working toward. Developing my wrestling skills to be greater — it's just a continuous incline. I’m taking more leadership roles in my clubs and leadership classes. I'm going to be taking the leadership program this spring, so I just hope to continue to improve on leadership skills and develop my skills all around.