This feature originally appeared in the 2022 Spring edition of the Cal Sports Quarterly. The Cal Athletics flagship magazine features long-form sports journalism at its finest and provides in-depth coverage of the scholar-athlete experience in Berkeley. Printed copies are mailed four times a year to Bear Backers who give annually at the Bear Club level (currently $600 or more). For more information on how you can receive a printed version of the Cal Sports Quarterly at home, send an email to CalAthleticsFund@berkeley.edu or call (510) 642-2427.




Coming to Berkeley has created a world of opportunities for Sweden's Julia Rosenqvist.
 
Taking advantage of what Cal has to offer has shown the women's tennis senior various careers she can pursue alongside the sport she loves.
 
Cal head coach Amanda Augustus lauds the University for connecting student-athletes to career resources.
 
"It's crucial that people give our graduating student-athletes the opportunity to showcase their hard work and dedication and what they can bring to lots of different companies," Augustus said.
 
Rosenqvist graduated this spring with a degree in political economy. The major resonated with her, and one course stuck out as her favorite.
 
"Last semester I had PolEcon 101 with Khalid Kadir," Rosenqvist said of the course that explores alternative explanations for inequality in economic development among nations. "He made me realize how I want to make a change. I want to contribute my work and my work ethic to something that has a long-term, positive effect on people who are in need. I found myself, and this is what I actually want to do. I have a passion for it."
 
She also has a passion for tennis.
 
"I've gotten so much more out of tennis than I ever could think of," Rosenqvist said. "I want to do everything – tennis and work – that I want to do at the same time. That will take some time to figure out."
 
Rosenqvist hopes to find her career in the bio tech or life science fields in the United States. An internship with Cabine Creative, a boutique public relations firm with which she's learned how to represent partners and communicate with the media, as well as a prior marketing-outreach internship with the Swedish-American Chamber of Commerce in San Francisco & Silicon Valley – in which she created and promoted networking events – have helped to inform her decisions.
 
"Those skills will bring me confidence going into the work environment," said Rosenqvist, who found the latter internship through Cal alumna and fellow Swede Therése Dalebrant.
 
Rosenqvist joined Cal in the spring of 2018 and made an immediate impact. She helped lead Cal to the NCAA round of 32, competed in the NCAA Singles Championship and was named to the All-Pac-12 first team that year.
 
"Julia's been a very consistent performer," Augustus said. "She's been ranked nationally in singles and doubles and has been a captain for this team."
 
Added sophomore teammate Hannah Viller Moeller, "Jules is always willing to help and support everybody, and that was something I felt when I came in as a freshman and didn't know how everything worked. She has done a good job of mentoring me."
 
Rosenqvist has led the Golden Bears to several important wins, with perhaps none more memorable than the 2021 Pac-12 final. She clinched Cal's 4-2 victory over top-seeded UCLA, as the Bears captured their first conference tournament championship. Rosenqvist collapsed in tears when the gravity of the moment hit.
 
"I did not play my best tennis," she said. "But to still be able to clinch and see how the team came together was great. I was so emotional because college is a struggle. You find yourself and you lose yourself, and it's all reflected on the court."