Alum Emma Lulis shifts her game plan, moving from neuroscience to the NBA

Emma Lulis ’23 took her degree in clinical neuroscience in an unexpected direction. Instead of going to medical school as planned, she is now the social media coordinator for the Detroit Pistons basketball team.

What started as a passion project during the COVID-19 shutdown sparked a lifelong career. 

“I'm really big on outlets whether that's creative or physical, like working out,” Lulis said. “My creative outlet is photography.”

After honing her photography skills and wanting to escape the stress of her major, she began to work for Virginia Tech Athletics doing sports photography.  

By the time she realized she could see herself happy pursuing a more creative career, it was too late to change majors. She decided that after graduation, she would take a leap of faith into the world of social media.

Lulis worked for Nike for two years supporting the brand’s social media and eventually moved to New York City to work at the company headquarters there. She moved into her current role for the Detroit Pistons about six months ago. 

“I love the sports environment,” Lulis said. “It is very fast paced, a lot of things move quickly, and I just love the energy and the people in that kind of space.”

Lulis didn’t grow up a big sports fan, but photographing Virginia Tech Athletics made her fall in love with it.  

“I was sitting looking around on the side of the basketball court, and I was like, ‘Wow, this is something I really want to pursue.’ But it wasn’t something that I directly knew that I was going to go into right away,” Lulis said. 

Her background in science is useful to her social media career. 

“I'm grateful that I got my degree in neuroscience,” Lulis said. “I think it's helped me see things a lot differently, especially in social media because the algorithms and the apps that we use on a day-to-day basis actually have neuroscience embedded into the algorithm. It gives me a unique perspective because I can look into consumer behavior.”

Beyond the Reels and Instagram captions that Lulis enjoys, she thrives in her fast-paced environment by having a growth mindset.  

“I get to collaborate with really interesting people and minds,” Lulis said. “I'm really big on a growth mindset and so if I'm a better person at the end of my workday or at the end of my work week, that's the biggest thing to me. It's very important. I'm glad that I get to surround myself with people who have similar mindsets who push me continuously.”

Written by Emily Southern, a senior majoring in multimedia journalism and student writer for Virginia Tech Marketing and Communications