Value Add: Issue 3

🌟 Note from AAJA Sports President Michele Steele

STORY TIME! I grew up in a Filipino compound in Chicago. Grandparents on the first floor, cousins on the second and my family on the 3rd floor. (We had an uncle who lived in the basement so we could approach Manila’s population density.) My dad’s parents were in Washington DC so we didn’t see them very often - my touchstones with that side of the family were my dad’s aunt and uncle, Catherine and Tom, who lived in the suburbs. Aunt Catherine was a gregarious, retired Catholic school teacher while Uncle Tom was soft spoken, a family man. But as I prepare to leave for Seattle and the convention, I recently learned that he too was in Seattle - for reasons are deeply meaningful to me today. On July 31, 1945, Capt. Thomas Crowley arrived to speak to civic groups about the soldiers he fought alongside as a young officer in the 442nd Regimental Combat Team. What made this battalion special is that it is the most decorated unit in the history of the military of the United States. What made it unique is that it was comprised almost entirely of second generation Japanese-American troops.

Capt. Crowley was assigned to go on this speaking tour because it was important to tell the general public about the heroism of these soldiers, who chose to fight and die, while 120,000 Japanese Americans were incarcerated on the mainland. 

“They thought they were fighting for the principles of equality and justice at home as well as abroad,” Crowley told the Seattle Times in 1945. “They were completely sold on the idea that they were in this war for all Americans, not just a part of them, and they certainly were not fighting to perpetuate race prejudice...These individuals who built this team made their record by their valor and their blood alone.”

Thinking of my great uncle today and the brave souls of the 442nd battalion, whose motto was “Go For Broke.” As we face an era when the definition of who is American is being challenged again, let’s summon the courage of the 442nd to show up for each other. Go For Broke.

We owe them as much.

🗓️ Upcoming Dates

🚀 AAJA STF Launching Career Initiative

Meet Our Chief People Officer…Howard Chen

• Build a Career: This group isn’t just for celebrating our wins - it’s also to make sure that our membership is aware of and candidates for the best jobs in sports media, and to ensure our partners can draw from a deep, high quality talent pool.

• AAJA Sports is launching the AAJA Sports’ Career Connection: We are working with our partners at CBS Sports, ESPN, MLB and The Athletic to make referrals from our data base for open positions. Our newly created position, Chief People Officer Howard Chen, will ensure seamless connection and targeted talent matching.

• Want to be included? Whether you are a student, currently employed or a free agent, we encourage you to fill out out this form to make sure your work and aspirations are included in our confidential database. That’s all you need to do. There is great disruption in media - creating some unexpected opportunities - be included to be at the forefront of what’s next.

Recruiters and prospective candidates - if you have questions or want to connect, get in touch with Howard Chen at [email protected].

🦋 Storyteller Spotlight: Jason Concepcion

Concepcion on Building A Creative Career

Podcast host, writer and Emmy winner Jason Concepcion is well known to NBA fans, pop culture devotees and anyone who’s read The Ringer, as someone who combines high-level analysis with wit & personality. TL; DR Jason is talented, hilarious and continues to be one of the preeminent voices with digital native audiences. More will be featured next month on our social channels - here’s an excerpt:

The Backstory: 

“It was an accident. I think primarily, it was the kind of accident that happens when new forms of media, like social media, come up and shake things up. I was not planning on being a writer or a content creator or a podcaster. I went to school for music [Berklee College of Music]. And I was just kind of scuffling along in the aughts working as a waiter and trying to figure out how I could do something creative or whether I needed to stop doing that and just find steady health insurance. And then Twitter came along and I started an account mainly to be able to manage my fantasy basketball team.

I started tweeting along with games and there were some fortunate things that happened, Linsanity happened. And I saw my follower account go up. Twitter was, at that time, really kind of useful and good, and was a way to surface creators who had fallen through the cracks. From there I got opportunities to freelance at various places. SB Nation, Deadspin - RIP - and then eventually Grantland, which is basically how I got my start as a working writer.”

Key Learning: “That thing that has stuck with me in writing is you're asking people to come along with you, whether it's writing or content creating, [or] podcasting. You're on video, you're asking people to come along with you. Why would they do it? You have to have something for them each step of the way that makes them keep going.

Then I would say that the other thing that I've just kind of figured out on my own through work is …writing is, and any kind of creative life, is going to be very mentally challenging. You're going to see people that you think don't deserve success, be successful. You're going to see people who are younger than you, shoot way past your level of success. You are going to feel like you did something good and nobody cared about it. You've got to be able to manage the disappointments and the frustration you feel and just get to work because you're going to be very disappointed a lot, and it's going to be really, really hard. The imposter syndrome is intense and very real. The truth is, it never goes away fully.

I would say to people, young people starting out on any kind of writing or creative life, it's the people who don't have the imposter syndrome who are very confident, those are the a—holes. You're going to find out that those are the people you don't want to be around. But for me, I figured out you've got to harness [imposter syndrome] to make your work better.

So how do I go back over this [project] to make me feel better about it and how can I make that feel authentic to my voice?”

Negotiating Your Contract: “I do have people that help me now. I have a manager, I have a lawyer, I have an agent. Those things happen if you're lucky enough to hang around and have some success. Before those things happen, it's hard because obviously the management of any company you will work for is highly incentivized to make sure you don't know what's going on or how it works.

I would say what I did was just kind of have as many things going as possible. I think we have seen as the grizzled veterans of this media landscape, I would liken it to a series of steadily sinking ships. You're in a harbor, there's all these ships out there, they're sinking at different rates. While you're on this ship, build a raft in order to get you to the next ship, before the one you're on sinks, while there's still enough time to get on the new one before it fully sinks.

Your socials are going to be almost like your passport to that next ship. Think about it as an investment in your voice and your brand and who you are.”

🔥 In case you missed it…

Media News Plus Snack Attack… Icy Drinks

• Congrats to AAJA Executive Board Member and Programming Chair James Koh on his new deal with Rotowire. And now that it’s official, kudos to longtime member Cassidy Hubbarth on her new contract with Amazon’s NBA package.

• Want to go to the Women in Sports Media Workshop with the Chicago Bears? If you can get to Halas Hall on Aug. 13, email [email protected] 

• Snack Attack Vol. 3: Quench Your Thirst. If you love Korean food, maybe you already know. Subak Hwachae. Watermelon. Ice. Fizzy soda or juice. There might literally not be a better summer drink.

🏆 Reader of the Month

More on Brady

Brady will be assembling Avengers style with the other recipients of the Al Young Scholarship with AL YOUNG himself at this year’s Korean BBQ to celebrate the 10-year anniversary of the program. You can follow Brady on Instagram, Facebook & X. 

July Giveaway: Winner Gets SuperSonics Swag - The First Asian American GM in the NBA took a critical step in his career when he was named assistant GM of the Sonics in the early 2000s. Who was it?

Send your answer to [email protected] to win! Random winner will be selected.

Till next time,

AAJA Sports Task Force