Nelson Pérez Esis is a 2015 graduate of our Sports Journalism program and is making a meaningful mark in the industry through Hispanic Sports Media – a multimedia company he founded in 2016 after he saw an opportunity at the time to have the only Hispanic media outlet dedicated to sports in Canada.
As a tennis player, Nelson has always been into sports. As a child, he shares that he developed a passion for telling stories and would use other magazines to craft his own using sheets of paper and his own titles. This interest developed over time and eventually led to him looking to pursue a career in sports commentary, which then translated into journalism.
Before Nelson moved to Canada from Venezuela in 2014, he completed a university degree in Journalism. Then, after deciding to move to Canada and study, he found the Sports Journalism program to be the best fit. “It had a little bit of everything, and coming as a new immigrant, it gave me the opportunity to improve my skills in English in the field that I already knew,” he shares.
Key Lessons from the Sports Journalism Program
Networking is a major takeaway from the program, as Nelson explains that it is imperative to develop connections and maintain relationships with media departments in every stadium or event, no matter the size.
“Even though I had experience because I worked for four years in Venezuela… when I came here it was a different playground, so you have to know the rules; you have to know the people and create connections from scratch. I think just having gone to Centennial was a key part in that process,” he says.
Nelson explains that this program provides students with journalism concepts to help write stories and prepare for interviews, which are key aspects of what he currently does in his career. “You want to create a story, but you need to know how to tell it, and you need to know how to present the content, so I believe those skills are there and you can actually learn them.”
With numerous sporting events that students cover throughout their time in the program, Nelson explains that it can help prepare future journalists for a variety of situations, such as adapting to the various rules of different kinds of sports students are required to cover. “It gives you the opportunity to develop your skills not only in a classroom but also on the field.”
Founding Hispanic Sports Media
When Nelson came to Canada, he used to cover different sporting events to send to media outlets in Venezuela. He shares, “I was creating content here in Spanish to send back home, and there was a moment where I saw an opportunity because I kept sending content, but I wasn’t receiving any feedback.” He continues, “I felt like I was the only person creating that kind of content, and I didn’t have any competition. If I had an interview in Spanish on a specific moment, I knew that was the only interview.”
After realizing the content that would send back to Venezuela was not creating the impact he wanted, he thought he would start from scratch in Canada, and that is what led to him founding Hispanic Sports Media. “It has been five years, and honestly, it has been so gratifying and interesting to explore this and navigate the kind of open waters that I have.”
Hispanic Sports Media is active on several platforms. “We have a website [where we create] writing pieces, we also have a YouTube channel… and we have podcasts with both audio and video that is available on YouTube, Spotify, and the other different audio platforms. We also have a big presence on Instagram with [over] 20,000 followers… and we are making our way into TikTok.”
Nelson wears many hats on a day-to-day basis within his role as Content Director. For instance, he supervises and manages various teams to help oversee the content, as well as hosts his own podcast where he is involved in content creation as well.
Advice for current students in the Sports Journalism program
“It’s very important to create your own opportunities,” Nelson shares. “You cannot wait for somebody to knock on your door and say, hey, I have this opportunity for you I think you’d be perfect for it. I think you have to create and develop your skills, and if you have no skills or you only have one skill, develop that one as much as you can and try to learn different ones that can actually help you in this field.”
Nelson also wants to emphasize, “Because we speak to a Hispanic audience, for me, it was key to know that there was the opportunity of developing those skills in English because I was coming from a Hispanic speaking country. So, just putting that out there that we exist and that the sports journalism program can help somebody come to Canada and also develop those skills. You can maybe work on a project such as Hispanic Sports Media, and I think that is something that I would like to highlight because I know it would be very helpful for people that are just starting to have the opportunity of starting something like my project.”
Be sure to check out Hispanic Sports Media on YouTube and their podcast.
To find out more about the Sports Journalism program, be sure to check out our Program Overview page.
Article by: Alexandra Few