When it comes to building bridges between sports teams, partners, and communities, Lina Cruz (’15, MA ’23) has tackled everything from “America’s pastime” to “the beautiful game.” She currently works as director of partnership marketing for New York City Football Club (New York City FC) of Major League Soccer—a career she never quite expected to have.
The sports industry wasn’t on Cruz’s radar when she was an undergraduate studying at Baruch’s Austin W. Marxe School of Public and International Affairs. “I wanted to lead programs that were people-facing and would make a difference,” she says. But an unexpected internship with the New York Yankees’ Latino Affairs team led to a job offer.
Yet for Cruz—who came to the United States for college in 2008 from her native Colombia—baseball was not in her wheelhouse. What she knew best was track and field, as a former member of Colombia’s national women’s team, coached by her mother, and as a Bearcats cross-country All-Star. “But,” says Cruz, “my boss told me, ‘You don’t need to know baseball to do the work. There are so many careers in sports.’”
She learned on the fly and grew to love both the job and the game, spending more than nine years with the team. “We made sure our doors were open to everyone and that we built bridges to the communities the Yankees serve,” says Cruz, who led multicultural initiatives and programs with a larger impact in the community.
In 2021, while earning a master’s in corporate communications at Baruch, Cruz segued her career to Major League Soccer’s New York City FC, where she focuses on the strategy, operations, and management of sponsors. This includes working with Tri-State Ford on a local charity tournament with the NYPD and FDNY, launching free youth clinics sponsored by the Goya company, and partnering with Procter & Gamble on a youth leadership program, among many other initiatives.
In 2022, Cruz was selected as one of New York City’s “40 Latinos Under 40” by Negocios Now, one of the nation’s most widely read Hispanic business publications.
And there’s never been a better time to be working in Major League Soccer, especially after global icon Lionel Messi joined the league last year.
“We’re gaining global momentum,” says Cruz, who notes that New York will serve as one of the host cities for the 2026 World Cup. New York City FC also plans to open its own stadium in 2027, with Cruz playing a key role in that development.
“It’s an exciting time to be a part of this team,” she says.
— NANETTE MAXIM