ISSUE 005: Melissa Ortiz is everywhere 📺

IN THIS ISSUE

• 🤝 Introduction: Unpacking the soccer broadcast space

• 🤩 A Special Offer: 20% off at WorldSoccerShop [last chance!]

• 👨‍🎓 Soccer Thought Leaders: Melissa Ortiz is everywhere 📺

• ⚽️ Soccer Jobs: The most interesting new jobs in soccer

• 📋 Featured Job: Director, Partnership Sales - Houston Dynamo + Houston Dash

• 🫵 Do This Now: A follower growth hack for X [Twitter!]

INTRODUCTION

We’ve got a new topic for you, Pathwayers!

Today, we dive into the world of broadcast TV (and streaming, of course!) as we share a recent conversation with one of the absolute stars in American soccer television today - Melissa Ortiz.

As a former player herself, Melissa shares a wonderful perspective on how players can prepare for their post-playing career while still playing and how to get after it even if the dream job may feel far away.

The broadcast industry is notoriously difficult to understand - and even more difficult to break into, so we think today’s conversation should be really helpful to anyone who feels like they’re facing barriers to their dream job.

As always, we’re happy to hear from you directly if you want to share an idea or feedback: [email protected].

-John Bello, Co-Founder & COO

SOCCER THOUGHT LEADERS: MELISSA ORTIZ OF WARNER BROS. DISCOVERY

“If something really grabs your attention or you're super passionate about it and it makes you jump out of your chair, you definitely have to go for it - and don't wait.”

If you love soccer in America, there’s no question you’ve already met today’s soccer thought leader. That’s because whenever soccer fans in the U.S. turn on their TV (or iPad or mobile phone or computer) to watch a match, Melissa Ortiz is probably on your screen.

A sideline reporter and analyst for Warner Bros. Discovery (i.e. HBO, Max, TBS, TNT, Bleacher Report, etc.) covering the U.S. Men’s and Women’s National Teams, you’ve also likely seen Melissa on Apple TV for MLS broadcasts and on FOX for both the Men’s and Women’s World Cups. She’s kind of everywhere.

And, if that wasn’t enough, she’s also a co-founder of Kickoff Coffee Co., a small-batch, artisan-roasted specialty coffee company based in her home state of Florida (trust us when we tell you to try the Forza Italian Roast!).

Prior to breaking into her broadcast career and starting a coffee company, Melissa had a very successful career on the field, too, representing Colombia at both the 2010 U-20 Women’s World Cup and the 2012 London Olympics.

We hope you enjoy the conversation. We certainly did.

Questions and answers have been lightly edited for length and clarity (any emphasis below is ours - because we think they’re worth a closer look!).

PATHWAY: During your playing career, what were the things you did - or what were the things you were thinking about - that helped prepare you for your post-playing career? 

MELISSA: During my playing career, I always looked forward and always thought about what was going to happen next. If you're a female footballer, especially five plus years ago, you were making pennies on the dollar, so I was already thinking about not only what I was going to do in the future, but also what I was doing to help sustain my soccer career. One of the most important things that I did was try to find the space that I was most passionate about. I love business and I love soccer, whether it's broadcasting, media, or the sport itself. I have an MBA in marketing, and I studied international business as well, so even during my playing career, I started these little businesses. I had a soccer clinic, which is very common for former players to do, but I got a lot of Latina girls in South Florida and branded it mostly Colombian or Latin American style. And then I had a bracelet business where I employed artisans in Colombia, put it into 40 shops and made Pura Vida bracelets in my own way. It eventually helped me figure out that it wasn't my passion and I wanted to stay in soccer. 

What really helped me during that time was getting my feet wet in the broadcast space on my off days and in the off-season. When I was 24, 25 years old, I offered to be a broadcast intern and I would go to the TV studios in Colombia and ask them, “Hey, can I just shadow a broadcaster or reporter?”

And they said, absolutely, meet this reporter at 8 AM - and I got to see how she would interview players and what a normal day looked like. Because I didn't know what a normal day looked like. It really helped me to prepare myself for the next phase - I was being proactive, reaching out to the network, trying to find my passion so I knew that when I stopped playing, I was already like, “huh, broadcasting, I think I like this. This could be a great fit for me.” And I tell current players now, if you want to get into broadcasting, go get some reps in the offseason, go get that experience.

PATHWAY: What was it specifically about the broadcast world that grabbed your attention?

MELISSA: I was out for a year with an injury, and that opened my eyes a bit, just sitting on the couch and watching TV and watching the broadcasters. I was seeing at the time that there were no former female footballers. I was like, wow, nobody's doing it, that could be something. And then when I stopped playing, it's when I realized, okay, there's no female footballers doing this, but there's also nobody giving opportunities  or making a pathway for it. I remember driving down to Miami, going to ESPN Deportes, knocking on their door, getting a meeting at least, and saying, “Hey, I want to do this. How do I do this?” and they didn't care. They honestly didn't care. And if you were to compare that to a male counterpart who just played in a World Cup, the Olympics, whatever, they would hire them on the spot. And I walked out of that and I was just like, wow, this is going to be a long road. 

I listened to this podcast “Crushing It” by Gary Vaynerchuk that really inspired me, which leads to my advice for people wanting to create content - just start creating content around your niche, around your passion. And what Gary says is don't give a damn about what anybody thinks or says, you do you. And that's what I started doing in 2017, 2018, where I said, okay, let me figure out what my strengths are, whether it's knowing the game, talking about the game, whether it's doing drills outside, whether it's doing fitness drills, just what is the day-to-day of a footballer that people could learn from? And I just started creating content out of it, and little by little started growing my brand as much as I could while working, too. And that's really it. You have so many platforms to use to your utmost capabilities to be able to post on and grow a community out of, but you have to be consistent.

PATHWAY: Do you credit your ability to generate awareness on social media as something that helped you get that breakthrough opportunity on the broadcast side?

MELISSA: Social media could be a blessing or a curse. For me, it was more of a blessing because it was during a time in women's football where there weren't enough eyes on it - not on the sport, not on the players, it just wasn't being shown. And it shows that only a small percentage of games in women's sports were actually being broadcast. So for social media, I did a kind of reverse engineering with my goal, and I knew that as more people saw my content on social media, that someone was going to eventually see me and want to hire me. I didn't have a broadcasting reel. I didn't study communications in university. And so just like as a player, you practice so much and you never know who's watching you - a scout could be watching you and you could be signed to a club. Well, that's kind of how I saw my social media career. I never intended to be a social media influencer, but I knew that by talking about the game - I would do previews for the Premier League, for NWSL - and then I would edit it and post it, and then do recaps, too.

Eventually, my first window of opportunity was I went to the Russia World Cup on my own dime, did a whole vlog series around it, day in the life, got on 15 hour train rides across Russia, and really from my POV, what it was like to live a World Cup experience. I partied with fans on the trains, the bars in the trains, the Fan Fest, you name it, I was doing it and I was vlogging it the whole way. And as soon as I got back, I got my first brand deal, which was AT&T's Cricket Wireless at the time, and they wanted me to go to MLS All-Star. And that sparked that light bulb - wow, I could get paid to be an influencer. So then I was like, cool, I could do the influencer thing and then, hopefully, be a broadcaster. And then fast forward two years after that, I got my first TV gig, which in between, that was a lot of digital work, a lot of digital work with La Liga and other brands, soccer tournaments, and all of those things really helped me prepare for broadcasting, really finding my personality, really fine tuning and improving how I speak, how I express myself. 

PATHWAY: How do you think about the mentality of not waiting for something to fall into your lap, of going for it and trying to chase down the dream?

MELISSA: I think you’ve got to follow your gut feeling. And if something just feels right and you have that “Aha!” moment where you're just excited, you have to go for it. Don't sleep on it because the moment that you sleep on it, it's either going to be gone or it's going to be taken. And so for me, with Kickoff Coffee specifically, thankfully with the help of my co-founders, we were able to launch it. I couldn't have done it by myself. There's so many different layers behind creating a business, but a coffee business is quite complex. So, for me if something really grabs your attention or you're super passionate about it and it makes you jump out of your chair, you definitely have to go for it and don't wait. Don't think too much about it. If you think that there's going to be success or long dividends, you absolutely gotta go for it. Don't stall.

PATHWAY: What advice or encouragement do you give to other women trying to build their career in the sport?

MELISSA: One of my favorite sayings is “If you fail to prepare, be prepared to fail.” And I think that is an even stronger saying for women in the broadcast space because of all the pushback we see. If you mess up - and everybody messes up, it's human - but if you see a woman mess up on air talking about a sport, especially soccer, they'll get way more crap for it than a male counterpart.

The next thing I say is to always have thick skin. If you're a former player, you already have it because you know you're going to be criticized no matter what, whether you have a good game or a bad game. And then don't let barriers lead you off your path. I was very confident and focused on what I wanted to achieve to get into the space. I've been in rooms full of men, whether it's on the business side or on the soccer side.

And I think that playing soccer and being the only girl helped me find that confidence. I knew as a player, I was really good at playing with the guys in Miami growing up, and I already knew, oh, the first two minutes is going to be feeling it out. Yes, I'm going to be a little nervous. But once I proved myself with my first touch or in the first two minutes, I'm set. I'm set for the rest of the game. And that's how I view life or business meetings or the broadcast too. I know those two first two minutes, yeah, I'm going to have butterflies, I'm going to be nervous. We're going live on the air or whatever it is. But, I know that if I prove myself and go in with full confidence and have myself set up well, I'll be fine.

PATHWAY: Simply, what is your favorite thing about working in soccer?

MELISSA: The people, the relationships, for sure. The friendships I've been able to make post-playing career. At Warner Brothers, our US Soccer broadcast for the women's games, I work with people like Julie Foudy, Shannon Boxx, Sara Walsh, and then on the men's broadcast it’s DaMarcus Beasley, Kyle Martino, Luke Wileman, JP Dellacamera, Brian Dunseth. These are the people that we call our soccer family. This is our soccer team. We're traveling together throughout the year, and these are the relationships that you build and you spend so much time with them that they become like family and that they'll be friends for the rest of your career. And likewise, at FOX, Leslie Osborne, Jimmy Conrad, all these people that I've gotten to meet and even some I used to play against - Carli Lloyd, Lori Lindsey, they've become friends. And it just shows how the game can really unite people together through common passion and common interests. 

Ed. Note: You can connect with Melissa on LinkedIn, X [Twitter!], or Instagram. And be sure to follow Kickoff Coffee on Instagram and X, too.

SOCCER JOBS: THE MOST INTERESTING NEW JOBS IN SOCCER

Here are the jobs that grabbed our attention this week - and there’s a little bit of everything. If you’re new here, you should know that we spend hours each weeks looking for the best and most interesting new jobs in soccer so you don’t have to. If something strikes your fancy, click the link and apply!

• Graphic Designer - Racing Louisville + Louisville City FC [NWSL/USL]

• Digital/Social Video Associate (Soccer & Cricket) - ESPN [TV]

• Head Women’s Soccer Coach - Univ. of San Diego [NCAA]

• Senior Manager, Club Performance - MLS [MLS HQ]

• Senior Director, Match Production - MLS [MLS HQ]

• Super League Head Coach - Spokane Zephyr FC [USL]

• Head of Fitness - Seattle Sounders FC [MLS]

• VP of Marketing - USL to Portland [USL]

DO THIS NOW: X [TWITTER!] FOLLOWER GROWTH HACK

For many, the idea of trying to come up with content ideas to post on social channels like X [We miss you, Twitter] can be daunting. It’s difficult to find your voice - or a voice that feels different or better than the thousands that are already out there, posting on a daily basis. We’ve been there, too.

So, if you’re not quite ready to drop 20 posts in a tweet thread daily but want to grow your following, here’s a little something you can do today to start chipping away at it.

Today’s recommendation: Become a positive and encouraging force in the replies of influential and popular accounts.

Here’s how to get started:

• First, identify 15-20 accounts that have a good number of followers (10K-100K) within your area(s) of interest

  • Identify a mix of accounts of both brands and individuals

  • Avoid accounts that have 500K+ followers as there’s usually too much noise to be noticed

• Next, turn on notifications for all of the accounts so you’re seeing posts as they go live

• As you see posts go up, quickly scan the content/copy to see if there’s an opportunity for you to reply

  • You should always try to add value - a perspective, an opinion, something that adds to the conversation

  • That said, there’s still value in simply replying with a positive or encouraging word (ex: “Love to see this!” or “Keep up the great work!”)

• Replying quickly is the cheat code as you’ll benefit from that account’s organic reach in the minutes and hours (and days) that follow

• By doing this consistently - and by always being positive! - you’ll start to become a familiar and welcome face to the existing community

• Trust us when we say it will become that much easier to slide into someone’s DMs to ask for a 30-minute informational interview if you’ve been consistently supporting their posts, their work, and their community

• And, ultimately, as other users see your replies over a period of weeks and months, they’re much more likely to hit the follow button

To see a few examples of this being done well, we recommend checking out the replies of these positive and encouraging members of the American soccer community on X [Twitter!]:

• @CCupo - Christine Cupo, CBS Sports

• @XaviDussaq - Xavi Fernández-Dussaq, U.S. Soccer

• @MorganTencza - Morgan Tencza, Freelance Photographer

• @maggiemyan - Maggie Yan, Women’s Sports Exchange

• @Cnyari - Cristian Nyari, Apple Sports

When you’re ready, here are a few ways we can help you:

1. If this email was forwarded to you, you can sign up here to ensure you get every issue (sent on Wednesdays!) directly in your inbox.

2. And, if you’re a club or brand looking to hire the most ambitious talent in soccer, drop us a line and we can tell you about our process, our growing talent pool, and the services we offer.

Tell a friend?

⏩ Finally, if you’re willing to help spread the word, please forward this issue along to a friend or two who love the beautiful game. It’s the top way people find us and we’re grateful for the assist.

And if you really want to plug in to all things Pathway, you can also follow us on social media:

• X [Twitter!]

• Instagram

• LinkedIn

👋 So long, November. You were good to us. See you next week!

• John Bello

• Kyle Sheldon

• Nolan Sheldon