Long before Amanda Phillips arrived at Wesleyan as one of the top golfers in the NESCAC, she was competing in two of the most mentally demanding sports imaginable. As a nationally ranked youth golfer and chess player, she learned that success rarely belongs to the most talented competitor. More often, it belongs to the person who remains composed when everyone else feels pressure. That lesson still shapes nearly everything she does.

"Being nationally ranked in both chess and golf at a young age taught me how to stay calm under pressure," Phillips says. "Success often depends on who can stay the most focused and steady." While golf and chess appear worlds apart, Phillips sees them as remarkably similar. Both demand patience, careful planning, and the discipline to trust a decision once it has been made. In golf, that might mean resisting the temptation to attack every pin. In chess, it means strengthening a position before launching an offensive. Neither rewards impatience. "The mindset skill that transfers most directly between chess and golf is patience," she explains. "In both, you cannot force the outcome too early."

Equally important is resilience. Unlike team sports where momentum can be shared, golf and chess ultimately leave every decision in the hands of the individual competitor. Whether a mistake comes from a missed putt or a poorly timed move on the chessboard, Phillips has learned that recovery often matters more than perfection.

That approach becomes even more apparent when tournament pressure rises. Every round presents a series of strategic decisions between aggressive opportunities and conservative plays, and Phillips has learned that the smartest choice is rarely the flashiest one. Before tournaments, she studies course layouts, green contours, and where the safest misses are, allowing her to decide in advance when risk is worth taking. But preparation alone is not enough. She also adjusts to the realities of the day. "If I'm striking the ball well, I may be able to take on more aggressive targets," she says. "Otherwise I need to adjust. The best decision is not always the boldest one."

Those ideas naturally extend beyond athletics. As an economics major who developed an interest in behavioral economics while studying at the London School of Economics, Phillips is fascinated by how people make decisions when incentives, uncertainty, and pressure collide. "The clearest overlap between athletic performance and behavioral economics is how incentives shape decision-making under pressure," she says. "Small changes in environment or information can completely change how people perform and make decisions." That combination of analytical thinking and competitive experience has led her toward careers that blend finance, strategy, entrepreneurship, and sports business. Rather than choosing between numbers and people, she hopes to build a career that requires both.

Her leadership, however, extends well beyond the classroom and golf course. Phillips co-founded the Lady Liberty Cup, a charitable golf tournament that has raised more than $300,000 while creating opportunities to support women's athletics. Building the event required far more than organizing a tournament. It meant earning trust, recruiting supporters, and transforming an ambitious vision into something sustainable."Big ideas become real through going over every detail, good communication, and getting the right people invested in the mission," she says.

She also designed the tournament's branding and website, experiences that taught her how storytelling can become a strategic tool rather than simply a creative one. Strong branding, she believes, helps people understand why something matters before they ever participate. "I think storytelling and design are powerful because they help people understand why something matters," Phillips says. "Strong storytelling makes people want to be part of something, and good design makes that message feel clear and memorable."

Despite golf's individual nature, Phillips consistently returns to the importance of team culture. Every player's score contributes to the team's success, making individual preparation an act of service rather than self-interest. Supporting teammates after difficult rounds, celebrating victories, and creating an environment where everyone feels valued are just as important as any scorecard.

Her own achievements have reinforced that perspective. Becoming the first Wesleyan women's golfer to qualify for the NCAA Division III Championship represented both a personal milestone and a step forward for the program. "It showed me that the goals I had been working toward were possible," she says. "At the same time, it raised my standards." She now hopes to win a collegiate tournament and help Wesleyan qualify for the NCAA Championships as a team.

Whether she is reading a golf course, evaluating incentives, building a nonprofit event, or planning several moves ahead on a chessboard, Phillips approaches each challenge with the same mindset she developed years ago: prepare thoroughly, stay patient, and trust the next decision.

For Amanda Phillips, success is rarely defined by one perfect shot or one brilliant move. It is built through hundreds of thoughtful decisions, each one positioning her for whatever comes next.