Hometown: Somers, NY
Major: Sport Communication – Broadcast
Years at IU: 2011 – 2015
What he did at IU: At the start of my freshman year, I knew I wanted to be involved in as many sports media opportunities as possible, and I quickly found my niche with two student organizations: WIUX & IUSportCom. Coming from New York, sports talk radio was pretty much all that I listened to growing up, so joining a student radio station was a priority for me – and I found that with WIUX. Over eight semesters with the station, I co-hosted and produced a variety of different sports talk shows, most notably the Evening Power Hour on Monday nights – one of the station’s premier sports shows, in addition to broadcasting several IU Basketball games. WIUX allowed me to truly get involved with sports media, and also make some lifelong friends. With IUSportCom, I wrote a weekly baseball column on the MLB called “Handszer on Hardball” and was a co-host of the MLB podcast “Diamond Talk” throughout my time in Bloomington. I wouldn’t be where I am today without those opportunities to get involved on campus.
What he does now: Currently, I serve as the lead Community Manager and Senior Social Marketing Associate for DraftKings, Inc. I’m responsible for promoting, managing, and producing engaging content across all of the company’s social media platforms including Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat. I manage our social community and brainstorm ways to maximize our engagement through social campaigns – most notably social takeovers with professional athletes such as Melvin Gordon, Mark Ingram, Devonta Freeman, Isaiah Thomas and more. It’s a fun role that allows me to be creative and share content that sports fans will engage with. The job has allowed me to take on some unique opportunities such as attending the MLB & NHL All-Star Games, visiting various NFL stadiums and interacting with team personnel while getting behind the scenes access, meeting professional athletes (Odell Beckham Jr., Rob Gronkowski, Karl-Anthony Towns, Barry Sanders, etc.), and much, much more. It’s a sports fan’s dream.
What advice he has for sports media students: Take whatever role there is out there. Sports is an extremely competitive industry to get into, and you shouldn’t be picky about what jobs you’re applying to – sometimes you have to start out lower in an organization to work your way up. Upon graduation, I accepted a part-time production role with MLB Network which involved long, overnight hours and a lengthy commute. While at times it was difficult to accept the role, it was important to me to stick with it because eventually it would lead to greater opportunities (spoiler, it did). For students out there, make as many connections as possible and leave an impact on who you’re connecting with – you never know who could help you down the line.