Penn State’s Chapter of the Association for Women in Sports Media was excited to host the Class of 2024 Alumni Panel
Written by Melanie Thalhimer
Emma Holtz, Destiny Sanchez, Kathryn Tague and Haley McCullough joined AWSM to talk more about their current roles and share advice. Each of these women worked so hard to make our chapter award-winning and are now thriving in the sports industry as a marketing assistant for Ole Miss (Holtz), a sports reporter for WFMZ (Sanchez), a social media coordinator for Arizona Cardinals (Tague) and an assistant video producer for the Philadelphia Eagles (McCullough).
As Penn State students, they all made the most of their four years here, including serving different positions on the AWSM executive board and completing various internships.
When reflecting on their time as members of AWSM, all four women stated it was the most impactful club during their time in State College and truly helped open the door to the sports industry.
“What I learned in AWSM, those intangibles of networking and relating to other women who are looking to get into the industry, I carry that with me in my job day to day,” Holtz said.
When asked about how to get your name out there in the industry, Kathryn emphasized the importance of getting any type of experience whether it's in the department you want to pursue or not. “Just being in the room (as a PR intern for the Vikings) was really valuable… even though it wasn’t social media…the fact you are working for the NFL gets people's attention.”
As club members began asking questions, one topic that resonated was the reality of facing rejection within the industry. Haley talked about her experience with Penn State video production and how she turned her rejection into redirection. “I got my first rejection from Penn State football video sophomore year…I didn't know how I was going to get an internship with nothing on my resume. Then Penn State recruiting took a chance on me and I turned that internship into what I wanted to be…making hype videos for incoming recruits…this partnership turned out to be a hybrid of Penn State recruiting and creative production.” Haley ended her response by reiterating, “every rejection is redirection…so I’m glad Penn State video production rejected me because it put me on a new path.”
As our meeting wrapped up, Destiny emphasized how lucky we are to be students at Penn State and the overall importance of taking every opportunity that presents itself, stating, “It’s because of the Penn State experience that I am where I am today… I’m truly so thankful.”