Can RaceCar drivers and social media stars find value in business degrees? absolutely. Ask Nick Pacing and Caroline Manning, students of Boise State University’s Business and Economics. Persing Races Lamborghinis and Manning create content for 1.4 million YouTube subscribers. They both balance research and thriving careers and build a foundation for their future with business degrees.
Nick Persing, professional race car driver
Nick Persing is a third-year student studying business administration. He is also a professional race car driver who has competed all over the world. His races burn a passion for speed, but his business research promotes a long-term vision.
“My favorite part of the race is the adrenaline rush. I’ve played a lot of different sports, but when you have 34 guys behind you, you never have the feeling that approaches leading the race. I did,” he said. “If you can conquer the pressure and win, that’s addictive.”
Persing’s obsession with the car began early. He bypassed the obsessions of typical toddlers like dinosaurs and astronauts, and always focused on lasers on cars. To kick off his career, he began cart as a child. After competing in the National Go-Kart Championship, Persing jumped to the car at the age of 14. Since then, he has competed in various racing series, including Formula 3, a Formula 1 springboard.
However, it was difficult to balance the tough F3 schedule with the university. Persing is currently driving a Wayne Taylor Racing and competes in the Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America Series. He describes the series as an NBA G League or a minor league team. This is where drivers are scouted for prestigious endurance races like the 24-hour Le Mans and the 24-hour Daytona.
“My hope is that if I perform well, I’ll either get up to run to one of the endurance championships or eventually move to the IMSA (International Motorsports Association) Sports Car Championship. ” he said. “Experience is more important than racing young people, so I’m trying to get as much time in the car as possible, so I’m ready when the opportunity arises.”
Last year, Persing and his teammates came in second in the Super Trofeo World Finals Pro-Am Division. Persing moved to Pro Division this year. As he builds a successful racing career, he is also building his business skills – after all, it has many crossovers.
Drivers need more than just speed. They need to coordinate how the car feels on the truck to understand the performance of the car, and they must be unable to communicate and cooperate with the team to help develop the car. It must be. Plus, drivers need to know how to sell themselves and how to communicate good deals from bad deals when navigating team contracts. These skills are perfectly in line with Persing’s business coursework at Boise State.
“Even if you’re not driving a car, you want to work in the racing field. I want to be a team owner or general manager, but the best way to do that is to get a business degree. It’s about getting it,” he said. “For these positions, business degrees are perfect as people management, funding and numbers collaboration is a big part of what you’re doing.”
Persing happened to end somewhat in Boise. He comes from a small town in California and on a road trip to tour the University of Utah, he stopped by Boise and fell in love with the area as he felt like home quickly.
“It was like something was finally clicked last year. It was one of the best seasons of my racing career. I won six races and had 10 podiums,” he said. said. “My life, racing was the only thing I wanted, but after I came to school I realized that it didn’t have to be the only option. It put a lot of pressure on my shoulders. Take and drive better knowing that racing isn’t just something you can do. Business degree is not a backup plan. It’s security. Whether my dream of becoming a team owner will work or not , I still have a lot of options after I graduate from school.”
Follow Persing on Instagram and catch 2025 race season streaming on Peacock and YouTube from March. It is easy to find with Voice State brand helmets.
Social Media Content Creator Caroline Manning
Caroline Manning is a third-year student studying entrepreneurship between a marketing miner and a full-time social media content creator, and has over 1.4 million YouTube subscribers who follow their daily lives.
For Manning, it all started with music. At 12 o’clock, she was asked to sing the national anthem at the University of Texas. However, when she first posted to YouTube, she was not looking for internet fame. She had a very specific audience in mind.
“My Vietnamese grandmother wanted to see my performance, so I posted it on YouTube for her,” she said. “At the time, my videos had only one view at all times. That was my grandmother.”
Manning then began sharing her own music, including original songs from her journal. When she was 14, she posted the song “Dear Boys at My School” and everything changed.
“The song just exploded. It got a million views overnight,” Manning said. “The next day we would show up at school, everyone would gather around their phones and look at me. It was like a classic movie moment. I ran to the bathroom and told my mother, “I need to go home.” There’s one!” he said.
After the initial shock was interrupted, Manning saw the song resonate with many people, and is a series called “Dear Blank” that includes songs such as “Dear Friend” and “Dear Parent”. I’ve created it. Her follow-up continued to grow, and she expanded her content to include everyday video blogs and videos that she “prepared with me.” Soon she was creating sponsored content for brands like Nike, Lululemon and recently Semester at Sea.
“My life from the age of 14 to nearly 21 is documented online,” she said. “Many of my peers became successful influencers, dropped out of school and moved to Los Angeles to pursue a career. But I didn’t want to put all my eggs in one basket. Education. It’s always important to me. I know for a long time it’s very easy to get caught up in the superficial aspects while I love the work I have now. I take root myself I wanted to keep him alive, so I wanted to continue living a normal life.”
The university was the answer. While considering various schools, Manning visited Boise at the suggestion of his parents. They almost moved to Boise a few years ago. After seeing campus, Manning knew that was where she wanted to be. And she found a lot of connections between her coursework and the creation of content.
“I always want to learn something new, so I went on the business route,” she said. “I’ve been creating and marketing social media content for six years, and now I’m studying the foundation. By partnering with brands, I can’t just me as much as influencers, but logistics, communications and Sometimes I get my product out on time. Well, in my class I learn how everything works and finally understand why the textbook is. And it’s not just marketing. If you want to run a business, learning about HR and supply chain management is extremely important.”
Manning’s education is also linked to her plans for the future. As the world of social media and content creation changes, she is finally ready to leave her YouTube channel. Her biggest goal is to raise a family and then move behind the camera to set up her own management company.
In the meantime, college life offers opportunities to create content that resonate with her followers.
“Online, people really want credibility. They want to see everyday life. They are related college students despite not having a friendly job in school. You can focus on it,” Manning said. “Boise is a very easy place to find yourself and not get lost in the sauce. Here, people of my age treat me like Caroline, regardless of my job. The high and lowest levels of success on social media are great, but making new friends in class is even greater.”
Find Manning on YouTube, Instagram and Tiktok.
