Recent Penn State Graduate Lands New Role at ESPN

It's a tough job market out there, but one recent Penn State graduate is demonstrating that creativity can help navigate the tricky waters of employment.

A Sept. 3 article in PRWeek highlighted the story of 23-year-old Katie Feeney, who announced she would be joining ESPN as a sports and lifestyle content creator. At ESPN, Feeney will serve as the daily lead for SportsCenter on Snapchat, creating and sharing content across ESPN's social platforms. She will also be a weekly contributor to ESPN's programming roster, including Sunday NFL Countdown, Monday Night Countdown, and College GameDay. 

After graduating with a bachelor's degree in digital journalism and media in May, Feeney positioned herself as a content creator to attract the attention of ESPN. Feeney told PRWeek that she has been acting as a content creator since high school. Applying her skills to the workforce, she managed to secure high-level experiences as a White House correspondent for AKSM News and social media correspondent for the Washington Commanders.

Feeney's story is similar to that of many from Gen Z who are turning to content creation to break into the job market.

Writing for PRWeek, Lauryn Taylor of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill believes that people from Gen Z have had to leverage their creativity to earn a living. 

"With so many platforms like Home From College or HerCampus Media connecting brands with students, opening opportunities for side hustles in affiliate links, user-generated content, and other freelance gigs, there are endless ways for rising talent to make money during the job search or even as a primary source of income," Taylor said. "Content creation isn't just a creative outlet anymore; it's a backup plan, a side hustle, and, in many cases, recent graduates' main career move."

For Gen Z, Taylor concludes, content creation allows young professionals to "put their time and talent where they can be seen: online and on their own terms."