Former Millicent woman Sarah Bohner is no stranger to the sporting industry, working for some of the biggest sport organisations in the world with a successful career in licenced products.
Bohner is the Head of Licencing and Retailing at FIFA, living and working in Zurich, Switzerland.
She said her role involves everything from the merchandising and retail outlets at the event to anything in a store that carries licenced product, licenced marks or IP owned by FIFA.
“It has been a fairly fast entry into the business, no two days are the same,” Bohner said.
“It’s been a really interesting and challenging period, but I do really enjoy it.”
Bohner began her licencing career in entertainment, working for brands such as Sesame Street.
But since turning her attention to the sporting scene, she has now worked for the AFL in Melbourne, V8 Supercars, Football Australia, Cricket Australia, England and Wales Cricket Board, plus the ICC Cricket World Cup in the Caribbean.
She ventured to London in 2010 with the company she worked for in Australia, and then worked at the NFL in the UK as part of the NFL international team.
She was recently in Australia preparing for the FIFA Women’s World Cup in July 2023.
Bohner said she grew loving exercise and sport, so this career was an interesting way to work in a creative space within the sporting industry.
“I have been fortunate enough to have gone to the sporting events as part of the work, and the work is then creating the fan experience,” she said.
“So I get to combine some of that creative business element but still be able to talk about sport all the time, so it’s all very fortunate.”
Bohner said she did not expect to end up living overseas working for FIFA.
“There’s some of those moments where you think gosh, this is really the biggest sporting event in the world,” she said.
“The thing that I really like about my role is that I get to still feel like I’m involved in sport, but there are all of these incredible roles that fit within these organisations that do not necessarily need you to be on the football field or the tennis courts.
“There are so many different opportunities, and I just somehow found licencing and retail, so just take your leap of faith and you do not know where you’re going to end up.”
Bohner said it was important to take those leaps of faith and stay open to opportunities in your field of interest.
“Saying yes, living overseas and taking the new experiences has been an incredible experience for me, and led me in a completely different direction than I thought,” she said.
“I have been really fortunate to have done that, and worked really hard along the way, but I have been really fortunate to do something that I love within an industry that I love.”
