Sheena Quinn ’00 is in her third season as Director of Public Relations for the Chicago White Sox. She oversees the organization’s public-relations efforts, annual SoxFest fan convention and multicultural community outreach.
“I started in journalism at Marquette University and then jumped to PR my sophomore year after learning more about the industry,” she says of her career path. Quinn is married to Peter Purvis, a musician who tours in the chart-topping Celtic pop band Gaelic Storm. “We live near my family in Edison Park [Chicago] — including my brother and sisters who all graduated from Fenwick — with our rescue dog, Dottie.”
Quinn helped to connect White Sox All-Star pitching ace José Quintana with NBC’s Jimmy Fallon of “The Tonight Show” for a short segment this past April. In the skit, Quintana thanks Fallon for helping him learn English through his show and offers to teach Fallon a little Spanish. The appearance resulted in a wave of positive buzz on social media, reaching a national audience of more than 2.6 million and generating $471,000 in publicity value.
“Fenwick was a one of the most pivotal experiences in my development,” Quinn explains. “I met some of my best friends, developed critical learning, problem-solving and teamwork skills through my classroom skills, but also my experience playing for the girls’ basketball team there with Coach Power. Fenwick challenged me to pursue big dreams and gave me the foundation of knowledge to help achieve them.”
Prior to joining the White Sox, Quinn spent nearly 11 years at Public Communication Inc., a national integrated communications agency, where she spearheaded media and special-event campaigns for a variety of entertainment, museum and sports programs, including Shedd Aquarium, the Arena Football League and KeyLime Cove. Quinn contributed to several campaigns, including the opening of Six Flags Great America’s Hurricane Harbor in Gurnee, IL, a campaign that broke the park’s pre-season and season ticket sales record; the Chicago Rush’s Arena Bowl Championship celebration efforts; and the multiple PRSA Silver Anvil Award-winning program to save the nonprofit community health center, Howard Brown Health Center.
Quinn graduated cum laude from Marquette University in Milwaukee with a bachelor’s degree in communications and public relations. She is involved with the Publicity Club of Chicago, the Marquette Ethnic Alumni Association and participated in the Filipino American History Month celebration in October 2016 at the White House, discussing issues of interest to the Filipino-American community with members of the Asian American Pacific Islanders Initiative.
Go Friars, and go White Sox!