By Monica Holland
This is the second in a series of 10 stories celebrating the 10th anniversary of the APSE Diversity Fellowship.
I took Jorge Rojas’ call about the APSE Diversity Fellowship nine years ago. It’s the last time I can remember dancing around the living room, phone in hand, like a teenager who’d finally been rang by that crush from chemistry class.
I lived, and still live, on my grandfather’s farm in Sampson County, North Carolina: a woman in sports journalism, based in a rural nowhere. I felt like I’d never be seen or heard or sought. Being accepted into the Fellowship meant that I would meet writers and editors from across the country. I could learn from the best. I would have one-on-ones with the leaders of major sports sections. And they would hear my presentations, read my words, see my plans.
Pete Fuertes, Tony Adame, Mike Wallace and I made up the second class in the APSE Diversity Fellowship program. We bonded at conferences, toasted each other at a Tigers game, shared strategy at a casino in Detroit, and celebrated at Indy’s Slippery Noodle.
I still lean on the connections I made and the mentors I found that year. My most recent hire was a diverse candidate recommended by APSE president Lisa Wilson.
The APSE’s commitment to diversity and the work to get more representation into our newsrooms is changing media for the better. mhollandfayobsever.com
Peter Fuertes: I thought I would be a fixture in the newspaper business. The APSE Diversity Fellowship was a path to help me get to where I wanted to go. From the mentorship of many of the sports editors I met along the way, to tutoring up-and-coming writers, the fellowship would serve as a springboard to what I figured would be my rising career.
Then a funny thing happened on the way to that ink-stained destination.
I began at FOX Sports in June 2014 as a ticker copy editor … and I am still there.
Along the way, I noticed how radically changed we have become as a business, and how I (and I’m sure many) have consumed the news as well. No longer do I get ink on my fingers reading the news (thanks, iPhone!).
But many of the principles that I took from the conference — from how to run a newsroom, or how to better myself as an editor — remain with me to this day. And those who have stepped, or will step, into the yearlong fellowship will find this to be an invaluable tool for advancing your career in media.
I want to thank my Fellows in my class — Monica Holland, Michael Wallace and Tony Adame — for helping and giving me support along the way. Special shoutout to one writer who I had the pleasure of tutoring — Isabelle Khurshudyan. I told Michael Wallace she would become a superstar. She went from covering the Capitals’ run to the 2018 Stanley Cup to the Washington Post’s foreign correspondent in Moscow.
I especially give thanks to the great editors I met, namely Tommy Deas, Gerry Ahern, Larry Graham and Jorge Rojas, for even more support.
The biggest kudos are reserved for Gene Warnick, my editor at the Los Angeles Daily News, as well as Michael Anastasi, who both were instrumental in getting me into the fellowship.
I hope this finds you all well. Good luck to everyone. pete.fuertes@fox.com
Tony Adame: The APSE Diversity Fellowship made a huge impact on my career because of the connections I made during my year in the program. I met people who would be really influential on my career, not only as mentors but also in regards to networking and what kind of jobs I’ve had in the industry. Just as important as those connections were the ones I made with my peers in the program — Michael, Peter and Monica. Just having the opportunity to spend time with them and pick their brains and see how they thought was invaluable. Just awesome people. And at that point in my career being around others who were “in the same boat” as me was really important.
When I went through the program I was on the sports copy desk at The Wichita Eagle but since then I’ve been a beat writer covering a Big 12 school, a sports editor and even dipped my toe into the news side of things and created podcasts. I’m currently the lead writer for a sports website, Stadium Talk, and it’s really one of the most fun jobs I’ve ever had — I love it. tony.adame@granitemedia.com
Michael Wallace: I’m Michael Wallace, senior editor and broadcast analyst for Grind City Media of the NBA’s Memphis Grizzlies. For the past five years, my role has been to contribute and oversee digital content for our NBA franchise’s website, newsletters, broadcasts and video components. During the season, I’m part of a rotating team of game-night analysts for our radio broadcasts, and I also contribute features, commentary and insight during our pregame TV broadcast.
As one of the members of APSE’s second Diversity Fellows class, I take pride in seeing the growth, reach and scope of the program over the past decade. I still remember vividly our intense training sessions at IUPUI, the award judging assignments in Orlando and also simply kicking back and enjoying a night out hanging with our Fellows crew back then, including a night at the ballpark in Detroit.
I still carry with me the lessons and mission of working to ensure a diverse workforce and to create opportunities in management for talented journalists who may not have previously considered that path. At the time of my fellowship, I was an NBA reporter at the Miami Herald covering the Heat. Since then, I’ve worked at ESPN and am currently in an internal media role with the NBA’s Grizzlies. As senior editor, I draw daily from the leadership and communication tools offered all those years ago as a developing journalist who learned from some of the brightest minds in the business at APSE. mawallacex1@gmail.com
