WNBA legend Tina Charles is the New York Liberty’s all-time leading scorer. She’s also its newest intern.

NEW YORK – During a stoppage in Game 2 of the New York Liberty’s first-round WNBA playoff series against the Minnesota Lynx, the jumbotron showed Liberty legend Tina Charles, prompting a roar from the sellout crowd at Barclays Center in Brooklyn.

Under her name on the jumbotron read “Liberty all-time scorer,” acknowledging the 3,739 points Charles scored for the franchise from 2014 to 2019. Charles, who retired in May following a 14-season, accolade-laden career, thought a different title would have been more suitable.

“Actually, what I wanted there – I was like, ‘Put Liberty intern,’” Charles said.

Since September, Charles has served as an intern in the Liberty’s front office as she pursues a master’s degree in sports management at her alma mater, the University of Connecticut.

For Charles, the internship has been the latest venture in what she describes as a transformative period in her life as she delves further into her identity off the basketball court.

“It’s been really great just to get to know myself,” Charles said. “I think I gave everything I could in the space of basketball on and off the court. Now, I just get to be Tina.”

Looking ahead to retirement, Charles saw herself as the type of former player who would need a complete break from basketball – or as she put it, “go under a rock and do my own thing.” That changed when Charles was offered roles as an analyst for multiple networks covering the WNBA and FIBA World Cup in September.

That experience allowed her to enjoy the game from a different seat, she said.

“I think I fell in love with the game even more in a different way with a different understanding of it,” Charles said.

Charles’ internship with the Liberty is the latest role she has occupied within the sport.

The internship stemmed from a phone call Charles made to Liberty CEO Keia Clarke, whom Charles has known since she joined the franchise as a player in 2014. At that time, Clarke worked in New York’s marketing department.

Charles, who has leaned on Clarke over the years for sporadic business advice, asked if she could begin an internship with the Liberty as she pursued graduate school at UConn.

“It was an absolute no-brainer,” Clarke said. “I don’t typically have an intern who reports directly to me, so this is unique in that regard. This is really about exposure from the crossover and transition from being a pro athlete to learning the ins and outs of a pro franchise.”

Charles reports to the Liberty office around 10 a.m. on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays. Over the course of a day, she will shadow Clarke in meetings about operations, marketing, brands and partnerships – even, or especially, meetings for mascot Ellie the Elephant. On Wednesdays, Charles makes the two-hour drive to Storrs, Connecticut, to attend her sports management classes at UConn.

The idea of Charles — who also holds the franchise career record for rebounds — re-entering the organization as an intern has naturally resulted in moments of jest. At the start of her internship in September, Charles posed with a sign often reserved for a child’s first day at school. It listed her age (“37”), what she loves (“beer”) and who she wants to be when she grows up (“Keia Clarke”).

While Charles enters the internship with significant playing acumen, she also brings an entrepreneurial pedigree not many players can boast within their first six months of retirement. In addition to continuing to work with her Hopey’s Heart foundation — which raises awareness of sudden cardiac arrest by placing automated external defibrillators in various locations — she also founded a new craft beer company, 78 Brewing Co. in July.

Clarke said that résumé gives Charles a unique ability to capitalize on the experience of her internship in a number of ways.

“For Tina, this experience is just another prong in that wheel. She’s sort of a Jill of all trades,” Clarke said. “I think coming from a space of [the] internship, while we sort of laugh and joke and we call her ‘the legend slash intern’ … really, it allows for space. There’s air cover for her to ask questions – for her not to know everything – but also, at the same time, to be able to apply it to real businesses or real situations and real leadership opportunities that she’s also executing.”

As an active athlete, Charles said players are taught to live in the moment, whether that’s within a game or a single possession. As an intern under Clarke, that mentality has been flipped.

“When you’re in the front office, you have to plan ahead,” Charles said. “You have to be two, three months ahead of what your marketing plan is, brands and partnerships, players, experiences, just how everything ties together for it to be seamless.”

Charles has gained a deeper appreciation for the work done by those outside the players and coaching staff who really make the franchise go. Clarke recalled bringing Charles to an all-hands meeting where the team presented the concept for the Liberty’s new opening video for the playoffs.

“I’m sort of watching other people’s reaction in the room and particularly I’m watching Tina’s,” Clarke said. “We walked out of that meeting and she said, ‘I had no idea. Players have no idea. We’re in the arena. We hear the music. We see the videos, but we don’t know how much goes into it.’” 

Charles’ perspective as a former player has also shone in the brands and partnerships department, where she emphasizes the importance of player education regarding partnership and franchise initiatives.

“As a player, you go into your locker room and there’s a gift,” Charles said. “There’s products for you to use, but we’re not given the explanation of when or why we should use it, or why it’s important for us to engage and want to make the partnership what the organization was hoping it would become. So, education is very important.”

Charles credits Clarke with creating an environment in which she felt her voice and perspective held value. For Clarke, Charles’ perspective has filled a void in the Liberty’s process. 

“She has curiosity, and she’s not afraid to speak up. She asks questions and she gives comments,” Clarke said. “We don’t always have the benefit of including someone who just finished [playing], to give the player perspective on some of the marketing, community or partnership initiatives. … Hopefully, she benefits as much as we’re benefiting so far.”

Charles’ fulfillment within her internship extends beyond the work itself. She holds great admiration for the Black women at the helm of the Liberty’s operations: Clarke; Shana Stephenson, chief brand officer; and Morgan Taylor, vice president of business operations.

“Seeing three Black women in these positions holding these titles is very inspiring,” Charles said. “You don’t really see that. So it’s great to just see how they all work together, how everything blends together, everything behind the scenes.”

Charles isn’t entirely sure what route she will take upon graduation. While she wants to work in a front office, she isn’t rushing the pursuit. Instead, she enjoys figuring out her next move while absorbing everything she can from the different rooms she has occupied since retirement.

“I think there’s beauty in that,” Charles said. “Broadcasting has been really great to me. My beer company and the growth of it is important to me right now. [I’m] just staying close to the game.”

Juggling multiple entrepreneurial hats, Charles is fully immersed in her internship with the franchise that ushered in one of the most dominant eras of her career. While she’ll remain an all-time franchise great for what she accomplished on the court, Charles is building a new chapter outside of her playing career.

She would like the arena’s jumbotron to reflect that transition as well.

Charles joked, “I think they’re going to put ‘Liberty intern’ next time.”

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