Value Add: Issue 6

Connecting Asian Americans (& Friends) in Media & Sports

Author

Michele Steele
October 15, 2025 • Estimated Reading Time: 8 minutes

In partnership with

🌟 Note from AAJA Sports President Michele Steele
I recently received a note from Sports Task Force co-founder Carolyn Hong, beaming with pride as she wrote about Anish Vasudevan, who was the AAJA ESPN Sports Task Force intern in 2024 and spent a summer working with her at ESPN’s Universal News Group. Anish has since accepted a job with the digital NFL team, and recently was promoted to associate editor. Congrats Anish! On that note, I want to pass the mic to Carolyn to talk about why stories like Anish’s and many others exemplify the important role Sports Task Force plays in identifying both talent and opportunities for our partners and members. Carolyn take it away:

“When Victoria Lim and I co-founded the AAJA Sports Task Force, we had one main goal in mind: to strengthen the pipeline of AAPIs who aspired to become sports journalists. A handful of us, including Howard Chen and Leighton Ginn, started with programming discussions. But, as we grew, we learned that we had quite a bit more support than we expected and were soon able to launch our first scholarship in honor of Al Young.

Today, we have grown the opportunities to five scholarships/fellowships/internships that have inspired a spike in the number of people interested in pursuing careers in the sports media/journalism field. I couldn’t be prouder of this group. Success stories, like Anish’s, remind us why we formed the Sports Task Force and why we continue to work hard to grow as a group and inspire the next generations of sports journalism superstars.”

Thanks Carolyn. Let’s do that newsletter!

 

🗓️ Upcoming Dates

AMA: How to Improve Your Social

Check out AAJA Sports’ Instagram stories on Thursday Oct. 23 for an “Ask Me Anything” with our social coordinator Alysha Tsuji, who has been working tirelessly behind the scenes on improving engagement and follower count for our IG and TikTok accounts. TL; DR she’s been killing it. Alysha brings 10+ years of experience, working with big brands at ESPN and Warner Bros Discovery, in addition to startups. Ask her how you can optimize your social presence.

  • When: Oct 23

Sportico: Invest in Sports Conference

Join Sportico in New York City on Tuesday November 4 for a summit on investing in teams, players, leagues and brands focused on sports. Shameless plug alert: STF’s Michele Steele will be leading the conversation with some of the most prominent executives in the industry.

🚀 Stay Inspired

What’s Impacting Sports Journos Everywhere…

  • No Cheering in the Press Box? Not anymore: “Many Brazilian sports journalists - primarily covering soccer - are embracing their fandom as a way to adjust to an evolving business model that entangles journalism, engagement, entrepreneurship and sponsorship from gambling companies.” It’s a new world out there as the line between journalism and content creation continues to blur.

  • Versant Makes WNBA Moves: Versant Sports, the spinoff from Comcast, announced a big 10+ year deal with the WNBA for at least 50 games annually and certain playoffs and finals. Shoutout to the team at Versant!

  • MLS Launches AI Match Recaps: Major League Soccer has begun publishing AI generated match summaries, which aren not reviewed by any humans, and some fans are reacting negatively. One recent article began with the sentence, “Orlando started brightly.” Hmm, anyone want to pitch MLS on an editor position?

The Jobs Board + Other Cool Stuff…

🦋 Storyteller Spotlight: Shehan Jeyarajah

CBS Sports’ Shehan Jeyarajah recently invited AAJA Sports social channels to tag along for a day in his life on the busiest day of his week, a college football Saturday. Definitely check it out if you want to learn more about what a college football journalist does as he balances watching the games, analyzing film and appearing on air to break it all down for CBS. Thanks Shehan! Now back to figuring out who coaches Penn State next…

🔥 In case you missed it…

Bonus Sauce…

  • KUDOS LIST: the aforementioned Anish Vasudevan, promoted to associate editor of ESPN’s digital NFL group; Rex Castillo, who is creating content for Fans First Entertainment (AKA the company behind the Savannah Bananas); Daniel Chi, who started a new job as Senior Project Manager, B2B Creative Operations & Sales/Marketing for Sirius XM; and Anil Letherwala, who earned 2 sports Emmys as the operations producer for FOX Sports for MLB post season coverage and their coverage of the Rickwood Classic. Congrats to all!

  • Snack Attack Vol. 6: Best Yogurt Drink? I’m gonna go ahead and call it. Mango Lassi is the king of yogurt drinks - it’s sweet, it’s refreshing, a little, dare I say TANGY. According to sources, mango lassi is a derivative of traditional lassi (from the Punjab region of India) which has yogurt, water and spices.

🏆 Reader of the Month

Pablo In His Element: Football & Winter

STF Secretary & ESPN Madison’s own Pablo Iglesias

 🌉 Background: I’m currently the Digital Content Specialist and On-Air Host at ESPN Madison. I got here by consistently building a strong local network, betting on myself and embracing out-of-the-box ideas that helped me stand out in a competitive industry.

👑 Achievement: My proudest—and most validating—moment was winning the Wisconsin Broadcasters Association’s Best Sports Reporting award in 2023 (which may or may not have left me teary-eyed). It was my first major recognition and a reminder that I’m just getting started.

🙈 Quirk: I’m also an avid golfer and, this year alone, I’ve played 23 courses across five states. Groups like Vibez Golf Club and Eastside Golf have been hugely influential in making the game more inclusive—they’ve inspired me to play (and connect) even more.

More on Pablo

Connect with Pablo on LinkedIn, TikTok or IG! Eastside Golf if you are looking for a newsletter to sponsor- hit us up! 😜 Either way, what a cool business - stay tuned for more in later “Value Adds” this year.

October Giveaway: Winner gets a fresh as h-e-l-l NBA League Pass tee (L) - Which active NBA player is of Filipino-American descent and plays for the New York Knicks?

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

Till next time,

AAJA Sports Task Force

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