Yasmine Xantos ’17, Standout Athlete to Standout Accountant

There are some students who just stand out. Yasmine Xantos is one of those students.  The Gold Coast, Australia native attended high school in Florida at the IMG Academy, a preparatory boarding school and sport training destination, where she honed her tennis skills and had the opportunity to travel all over Europe, Asia, and America.  She was drafted to NKU’s women’s tennis team, where she competed as a D1 Athlete, held multiple internships, and graduated with cum laude honors as a double major in Accounting and Sports Business & Event Management in 2017.

Needless to say, she left quite an impression on her professors, winning her the Overall Outstanding Haile/US Bank College of Business Undergraduate Student award in 2017, before she graduated.

“She realized early on as a freshman that in order to meet her goals of working in the sports industry, she had to do what it takes to be diligent in the classroom, and also gain real world experience through internships and volunteer opportunities,” said Jenny Gardner, a lecturer and the Director of the Sports Business & Events Management Program. “That perspective, rare to find in students, is what stood out about Yasmine.”

As a double major in Accounting and Sports Business & Events Management, Xantos had choices about where she wanted to work.  As a tennis player and an international student she was very interested in landing an internship for either the Reds or the Bengals. “To no one’s surprise she landed both jobs,” said Lee Kersting, an Assistant Professor in the Accounting and Business Law Department. “After her internship with the Bengals, they created a brand new position in order to increase their chances of keeping Yasmine on their team after graduation.”

Ultimately, though, Xantos ended up accepting a position with Deloitte as an International Tax Consultant. What’s Xantos doing now? Studying to become a CPA, of course!