This summer, Clarke Jackson is getting a glimpse at her future.
Working for the Chicago Sky, Jackson is spending game days introducing fans to the WNBA team’s loyalty program. On off days, she is sitting in on marketing meetings, listening as photographers, social media staff, art directors and the chief marketing officer brainstorm together. The role suits her and is giving her a firsthand look at the skills she expects to use in the future.
“I am seeing how the social media team collabs with the photographers, who coordinate with the art director, who takes instruction from the CMO [chief marketing officer],” she said.
She is not just observing but participating—and being valued by the team around her.
“It’s honestly an open space for any idea. Mine, too!” she said. “When I have an idea, I say it.”
For Jackson, this is more than an internship. It is where her professional life might be headed.
“My end goal is to be a creative director,” she said. “I love storytelling. I love messaging. I pay close attention to commercials and how they appeal to the emotion of the viewer.” She has enjoyed curating her content on an eponymous website.
Basketball was a big part of what brought Jackson to Cornell. But it was only one part of the story. Creativity, curiosity and an appetite for trying new things have increasingly shaped the path she is forging for herself.
Jackson started playing basketball at three, when her father found a Little Tikes hoop a neighbor was throwing out. Basketball was hardly her only pursuit. She played soccer, ran track, played drums, guitar and violin—and, at one point, even tried archery.
For a while, soccer seemed like it might be her calling.
“I thought I wanted to play in college and on the national team,” she said. “But I changed my mind pretty quickly.”
Jackson’s love of basketball deepened around age 5 or 6, when she began watching LeBron James on television. What was she drawn to?
“It was more just doing one thing,” she recalled. “I was in shock that he was just all over the place. He was so fun to watch.”
That attraction to versatility has never left her. Jackson admired Skylar Diggins, who inspired the No. 4 jersey she wore in youth basketball, before switching to No. 22 in high school and at Cornell.
“I am really a big fan of Candace Parker-type players who can do everything,” Jackson said, “because I feel like that’s how I tend to play. I don’t confine myself to a box. I’m adaptable.”
Jackson nearly gave up on the college basketball dream, but when the Big Red coaches came calling during her senior year at Gahanna-Lincoln High School, something clicked.
“I just had a good feeling that this would be my place,” she said.
Jackson initially joined the Big Red as their sixth player. By her sophomore year, she had become a starter. Cornell also gave her the chance to explore interests well beyond basketball.
An intro class on the history of photography pushed her more deeply toward creativity. Photography led to videography, which led to writing. Writing led to experimenting with Instagram, TikTok , YouTube, and, eventually, her own Substack, Archived Journals. A recent post captures her creative ethos:
“Sometimes the time you expect to be hot and uncomfortable ends up being one of your favorite times of your life.”
As her academic journey at Cornell has evolved, Jackson chose to major in Information Science, with minors in Communication, concentrating in Digital Culture and Production.
One of her favorite creative projects combines fashion, fragrance and everyday life in a series she calls “Wearing, Smelling, Heading.” The videos incorporate small visual doodles inspired by Lizzie McGuire, one of her favorite childhood shows. Her Pinterest boards reveal similar instincts: carefully curating images, colors, objects and ideas
“I’ve never found myself to only be very science-and-math-based or only to be a very creative person,” she said. “I live in the middle of everything. I’m very Goldilocks.”
The multi-hyphenate metaphor played out when Jackson worked as a data science intern with Ohio State Athletics.
“I enjoyed it,” she said. “But it also made me realize I was much more interested in marketing and creative direction.”
She has never allowed herself to be limited by any one of her pursuits. She is not just an athlete. Never just a student, nor only a shooter or a rebounder on the court. One of Jackson’s former coaches taught her that “basketball was reflective of life, ” and Jackson takes that idea seriously. “Who I am as a person shows up in how I play,” she said. “I am,” she is willing to commit, someone who will probably make the right decision.”
Landing the Sky internship required persistence. Jackson applied for nearly 100 similar internships.
“Patience has gotten me far,” Jackson said. “I stick to that. If you care about something, keep trying, keep trying, keep trying, until it clicks.”
As she prepares for her last season in Ithaca, Jackson is trying to resist the pressure to have it all figured out.
“There’s a lot of pressure, being who we are, Ivy League athletes, to have it all mapped out,” she said. “But actually, everyone’s just going at their own pace.”
For now, she wants to savor her final season in a Cornell uniform, deepen relationships with professors and teammates, learn as much as she can and make the most of the time she has left on campus.
After Cornell, Jackson can imagine herself as a well-traveled creative director. Basketball, photography, writing, data, fashion and marketing may all become part of the picture, but she likely will not choose just one of those other the others.
“I want to continue to do them all,” she said. “And to love and learn.”