Four years ago, Maryland native Haley Skarupa was skating toward a gold medal in the women’s hockey final at the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang. The U.S. would inch ahead of Canada in a 3-2 shootout to win the gold. After two decades of playing hockey, Skarupa, who played as a forward on the national team, had accomplished the ultimate goal for any athlete.
In the years after PyeongChang, Skarupa decided she needed a new goal to push and challenge her every day. She found that in the Boston tech scene.
Skarupa joined marketing tech firm Klaviyo in late 2020 as an outbound business development representative. She loved the fast-paced, collaborative environment and reaching out to brands to introduce them to Klaviyo.
She’s chosen a different second career than most Olympic hockey players. While it's common among college athletes to pursue careers outside sports, Skarupa said, most former Team USA hockey players go into coaching or work at the NHL.
A 2016 Boston College graduate, Skarupa is watching the Olympics from her home in Newton. She recently spoke with BostInno about the 2018 gold medal victory, her transition into tech and, of course, her thoughts on Team USA’s chances at a repeat victory in 2022.
How did you get into hockey?
I started playing probably when I was 5 or 6 years old. My older brother played roller hockey with our neighbors and his friends, and I wanted to do everything he did. So that's kind of what led me out onto the street playing roller hockey and then when he wanted to move to the ice a couple years later, I did as well. And hockey was not a super hotbed in Maryland at the time, so I was the only girl on my boys’ team probably until I was 12-ish.
Take us back to that final Olympic game in 2018.
It came down to a shootout, which is almost unheard of in hockey at such a big tournament. It's pretty much a coin flip at that point. But it was really an amazing experience. It could have gone either way. But we had a couple players who really stepped up, and it was truly remarkable.
Why did you decide to leave hockey behind and try a completely new career?
This is an every-four-years thing. It’s not year by year. I wasn't a superstar on the team. I was one of those role-playing forwards. So, it was do I want to put all my eggs in this basket for a maybe? And four years down the road, would I have wished that I kind of tried something else or moved on? It was a lot of back and forth because hockey had always been such a big part of my life. But I realized I would have been 26, 27 trying to figure out what I wanted to do next. So, I wanted to get ahead of that. And that's what really started this process of what does my career look like after hockey.
What was the transition like from professional sports to tech?
Honestly, I thought it was going to be a lot harder than that it was because I’m completely pivoting. [Working at Klaviyo] is fast paced, competitive, but so collaborative that I really didn't have time to think about anything else. I was just constantly learning new things, and I love that. One of our biggest mantras with Team USA is “We are a part of something bigger than ourselves.” And that really does translate to Klaviyo as well because we are building something that is so much bigger than any one person.
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Have you found any similarities between your sports and tech careers?
[At Klaviyo] I’m just constantly surrounded by people who are smarter than me, and that’s what I always loved about hockey playing at Boston College and with Team USA. Playing with and against the best players in the world is what made me better every day and able to ultimately compete at the highest level on the Olympic stage. I feel the same way with Klaviyo, and it’s doing the same thing. It’s really helped my career and personal growth.
You accomplished a lot of big goals in hockey. What are your goals in this second career?
I want to know everything about the e-commerce realm because that is our bread and butter, just helping these e-commerce creators grow and own their growth. So, it's really just staying up to speed for me because I have been here a little over a year now, but that's still pretty new.
We have to ask – how do feel about Team USA’s chances at another medal this year?
I think the U.S. has a great chance. They have a lot of really good young players and some really strong veterans as well. You can tell the young players are really kind of finding their own during this tournament. So, to watch them grow throughout these games has been really cool. I'm definitely rooting for them. I hope they pull out the win.
