Spotlight
From SVU Lacrosse to NFL Design: Natalie Yule’s Journey to the Kansas City Chiefs’ Creative Team
Among the first graduates of Southern Virginia University’s design program, Natalie Yule (‘22) is about to embark on the next big step in her career as a production designer for the Kansas City Chiefs, the 2024 Super Bowl champions.
“What I’ll be doing in this role is helping with partnerships for the team,” said Yule. “There’s a lot of people who want to work with the Chiefs since they’re been doing so well, so they had to create more jobs to keep up. I’ll be helping set up presentations and mock-ups for these new companies. I’ll also be helping lighten the load across the board if anyone is needing help with a design project. It’s pretty exciting.”
A Missouri native, Yule currently works for the Georgia Swarm Lacrosse team as a graphic designer, creating social media posts, flyers, and merchandise, allowing her to merge her two passions into a career. She will start with the Kansas City Chiefs at the end of August.
“I played lacrosse at Southern Virginia University all four years I was there and majored in design, so this job right out of school was literally perfect,” said Yule. “It has been a great step in my career. I’m really very grateful for everything that I’ve learned in this job, and for everything that I learned at Southern Virginia to get me on this path.”
Yule was first introduced to design during her high school freshmen year in her art and marketing classes. Having fallen in love with the craft, she took classes at a nearby vocational school during her senior year to continue developing her skills before attending Southern Virginia University in 2018. As the university’s design major wasn’t introduced until 2020, her professors tailored her education in the Art & Design Program to fit her goals until then.
“I feel really, really lucky that I found design pretty early,” said Yule. “When I got to Southern Virginia I knew exactly what I wanted to do. I talked a lot with [art and design recruiting coordinator] Bryce Pendleton and he was very supportive of tailoring an art program for me so that I could focus more on design. And Jacob Ricks was an amazing professor as well.”
“I am always baffled by our professors; we really have the best-of-the-best professors at Southern Virginia,” continued Yule. “Professor Ricks especially is extremely knowledgeable about design, and he made it easy for me to want to learn more. When I was applying for jobs, he was the first person I emailed for advice, and he was so excited when I got the job.”
Yule learned about Southern Virginia University through social media while searching for a university to attend. She soon found herself drawn to the school because of its alignment with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the opportunity to continue playing lacrosse at a collegiate level.
“Another reason I really liked Southern Virginia is because I got to be a part of so many growing programs,” said Yule. “The lacrosse team at my high school had only been a sport there for three years, and when I arrived at Southern Virginia I got to participate in its lacrosse team’s growth as well. Then I got to be a part of the design program in its early days. I’ve always loved coming in and like leaving places better than how I found it. I really take a lot of pride in that, and so Southern Virginia was the perfect place for me.”