In 1996, When Melissa Proctor was 15, she started writing letters to the Miami Heat organization, asking for a job.
Any job.
Then, she began calling the main operator's room, asking to be connected to a manager. Every morning, she'd call. Every morning, she would be turned down.
After months of trying, one day they connected her to Jay Sabol, the equipment manager at the time. "Stop calling," she recalls him saying. "Your enthusiasm is great, but you need to stop." She kept calling. A few weeks later, defeated, she remembers Sabol saying, "I don't know what job to give you.