Last weekend I was granted the amazing opportunity to attend and present a research study at the “Women, Sports and Media: Coverage, Careers, Consequences” conference at the University of Maryland in front of some of the most successful people in the country.
It was by far one of the most incredible experiences I have ever had thus far in my life.
I presented a pilot research study that I conducted with a former professor whom I had last semester. We had been working vigorously on this study for nearly seven months.
Needless to say, I was extremely anxious to fly to Maryland and showcase all of our hard work.
Although presenting our findings from our study was incredible, it was not the most incredible part of my three-day academic trip.
During the one day of the conference I was able to sit amongst a crowd that was filled with academic researchers, both current and former female sports journalists, former athletes and people that are employed for ESPN, ESPNW, The New York Times and The Washington Post.
Talk about star struck.
As I sat next to some of the most accomplished women within the sports media industry and listened to them speak, I started to realize how badly I wanted to be on the same level as them.
I want to travel and have that dream job in that dream town. I want those top-of-the-line pieces of business attire as well as those colleagues and bosses who will believe in me more than I will ever believe in myself.
But on top of all of that, I want to prove to everyone that said I would never make it as a sports journalist wrong.
“Your writing is not strong enough.”
“You only want to be a sports journalist to get attention from the male athletes.”
“Females do not belong in this industry; they will never understand sports.”
“You ought to stick to feature stories and news writing.”
These are all statements that I have heard endlessly since I decided sports journalism was the career path that I wanted to take.
If there is one thing I have learned during my time at the University of Maryland at the conference, it was that no matter where I go, no matter the difficulties I have to face, no matter the obstacles I have to hurdle over and no matter how many negative people I have in my ear saying that I cannot do this, I will fight like hell to make my dreams come true.
So to the ones that think I will not make it in this industry… Just wait on it.