While growing up in Minnesota, music played a significant role in Sabrina Cozine’s childhood. So, when she moved to Las Vegas, it felt natural for her to find a job opportunity that integrated her lifelong interest in some way.

Prior to joining UNLV as marketing manager in 2022, Cozine discovered that local music entertainment niche when a position at the Las Vegas Philharmonic opened.

“It’s a small non-profit with only a handful of employees,” says Cozine. “I got to do a lot of different things, from advertising concerts and planning events to developing ticket price promotions and partnering with other community organizations.”

After shifting the spotlight from the arts to higher education, Cozine has been orchestrating a variety of marketing initiatives at UNLV: the installation of promotional kiosks in city and county locations, streamlining content on the division and brand website, developing analytics reports in collaboration with the Web & Digital Strategy team, and working closely with campus communicators to develop marketing and communication plans.

Prior to UNLV, you worked for the Las Vegas Philharmonic. How did you end up working there?

I moved from Denver to Las Vegas after marrying a Las Vegas native. I started volunteering to build my network and find job opportunities. There were three places I volunteered at: Las Vegas Philharmonic, Nevada Cancer Institute, and the Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health. 

Since I was involved in music at a young age and interned with the Colorado Symphony while in business school, I was hoping an opportunity would open up at the Las Vegas Philharmonic. Luckily, my timing was right, and I started working for the orchestra full time. 

What made you decide to transition to UNLV?

During the pandemic, the orchestra stopped performances and consequently, most of our team left for other opportunities. I enjoyed my experience at the symphony, but I was also ready to transition out of the event business and try something new.

I gravitated toward other community-based organizations since that’s what I knew and I liked supporting a good cause. Promoting higher education was something I could rally around and feel good about. 

The marketing manager position was new within the Division of Integrated Marketing & Branding. How have you developed this role?

To start, it was observing, meeting people, getting a feel for higher education, and understanding how marketing and branding operates at UNLV. From there, I’ve been working with my department to identify areas of need and ways to utilize my strengths to help facilitate our advertising campaigns, develop reporting and initiate new marketing projects.

I think my role will continue to evolve as I work with different units on campus and our team continues to fine tune our marketing services for UNLV.  

What have been some of your biggest projects or initiatives that you’ve worked on so far?

I launched a digital marketing campaign to promote graduate degree programs in healthcare with my colleague, Ren McMullin [content marketing specialist]. We learned a lot from that campaign in terms of understanding which social media platforms garnered better results and which ad creative resonated with online users.

Other projects I worked on included an Adobe Express brand toolkit for campus communicators to use and standardized analytics reports for our website. We’ve also worked on communications plans with the Department of Physical Therapy and the Department of Occupational Therapy to help identify opportunities to market their programs. And, in the community, we’ve partnered with Vegas PBS and the Clark County School District to sponsor the school district’s junior and senior varsity quiz, and placed UNLV kiosks in libraries and community centers in town.

Can you tell us about the object you chose.

I chose a painting my daughter made for me. She loves to paint, and she knows how much I love dessert, so she baked a chocolate cake with raspberry filling and chocolate sprinkles and then created a painting of it as a gift for my birthday. 

What do you like to do for fun?

I enjoy running and spending time outside. My husband and I walk our standard poodle every weekend and then head over to our neighborhood Starbucks for our weekend coffee and our dog’s pup cup. We love good coffee so we’re always searching for cool new coffee shops around town.

I also love to travel, attend concerts, and visit friends when I have the chance. That’s what makes life fun. 

Top three shows you’ve ever seen.

Two of my favorite shows in Vegas were U2 at the Sphere and Greta Van Fleet at the Joint at the former Hard Rock Hotel. Another favorite was Nightmare Before Christmas in California at the Hollywood Bowl. 

If you could have a chat with any famous person (alive or dead), who would be the most interesting to you and why?

I can’t think of a particular person alive or dead that I would like to chat with, but if I had a time machine, I would like to go back and hear all the amazing entertainers throughout history, from Bach composing his Brandenburg Concertos to the Beatles first performance in the U.S., to Sarah Vaughan performing in a jazz club and Aretha Franklin singing in a gospel church. 

What do you think is the key to maintaining a good work-life balance?

Go home. Take the time to experience what is meaningful to you — whether it’s music, good food, traveling, or simply spending time with family and friends. I realize now how quickly a decade can fly by. Don’t regret missing out on the things that truly bring you joy.