Seven Years In, Chris Thorkilsen Continues to Bridge Sports, Music and Culture For The Hawks

Chris Thorkilsen grew up in New Canaan, Connecticut, but he didn't grow up around professional sports -- he grew up around entertainment, watching his parents build careers in the industry, including stints at People Magazine. Now he's applying that same instinct to how the Atlanta Hawks connect with culture. The professional version of that instinct started in 2018, the spring he graduated from Quinnipiac University. His first stop was Octagon, where he worked as a trainee on the BMW of North America account, learning experiential marketing from the ground floor. That work carried him to Atlanta, where he joined the Hawks as a trainee on the Global Partnerships team -- and never left. Seven years later, Thorkilsen is Senior Manager of Entertainment Industry Relations, a title he built rather than inherited, climbing through the organization's Marketing Department into a specialty in influencer marketing. The job: shaping how one of the NBA's most culturally connected franchises talks to artists, content creators, and celebrities -- and what it asks of them in return. He's candid about the odds he faced leaving home for a career in professional sports. It once felt like a long shot. His advice to anyone weighing a similar leap runs about three words long: go for it. Season eight begins with the same assignment, scaled up -- new collaborations with creators and celebrities, more reach, more of the culturally driven work that's become his signature.