How Do You Say Success in Spanglish?
The path to success isn’t paved for people of color. Join me as I sit down with individuals who share their stories as we learn how to say Success in Spanglish.
How Do You Say Success in Spanglish?
Navigating the Ever-Evolving Sports Journalism Field - Andy Deossa
Andy Deossa is a senior sports editor at Yahoo Sports.
Follow him on Twitter.
Summary:
Get ready to deep-dive into the life of a sports journalist as we chat with none other than Andy Deossa, the senior editor at Yahoo Sports. Growing up as a die-hard Red Sox fan in Pawtucket, Andy's journey from being a sports enthusiast to a successful sports journalist is as riveting as the games he covers. From his early days near McCoy Stadium to his transition from ESPN to Yahoo, Andy's story is a testament to the power of perseverance and passion for sports.
Explore the challenges we faced during our college days, the hurdles thrown at us, and the opportunities that shaped our careers. We unravel our stories of dealing with doubters, the importance of seizing opportunities, and the impact of our small-town origins on our career choices. We share our personal and professional struggles and how we turned them into stepping stones for success.
From intense ESPN interviews to the exciting world of Yukon football, we traverse the ever-evolving landscape of sports journalism. We discuss the transition from digital to print journalism, the importance of staying ahead of the digital media curve, and how platforms like Twitter and Instagram are crucial for promoting work and connecting with audiences. So gear up for an engaging and insightful conversation about the road to success and staying motivated amidst all challenges. Come join us and get inspired by Andy's journey of resilience, determination, and success.
See more at www.successinspanglish.com
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Intro Song: Regaeton Pop - Denbow Ambiance
This is Raul Lopez, and you're listening to. How Do you Say Success in Spanish? The path to success isn't easy For minorities and people of color. Many attempt to journey with little to no guidance. Join me as I sit down with individuals who share their stories of perseverance so that together, we can learn how to say success in Spanish. What's good me Hente? Welcome back and thanks for joining us today. This is your boy, raul. We have today a special guest coming all the way from Los Angeles, mr Andy Diosa. What's going on?
Andy Deossa:What's going on, raul? I'm happy to be here, I'm happy to chop it up a little bit, get into the story and whatnot, and just happy to connect again.
Raul Lopez:Yeah, man, it's been a while, but I appreciate you being here. So Andy Diosa is a senior editor at Yahoo Sports. He's also from my hometown, patucket, although he did it when to the rival school, so we got a little bit of beef going on there. But, andy, tell me a little bit about growing up in Patucket for you.
Andy Deossa:Yes, sir, man, the bucket always. You know, Patucket is a very interesting place for violin in general because it's so tiny. You just feel like everybody knows everybody. But it's funny that you do mention that about having a rivalry because, a smaller city that it is, there was some sense of rivalry between one side and the other side, depending on what school you went to, depending on who you hung out with.
Andy Deossa:But yeah, I enjoyed it. You know, it's just, like I said, small, so I felt like I was just always outside with friends and everybody was just kind of in the same circles, if that makes sense, and it was fun. It was fun. I feel like I definitely enjoyed my childhood because there was a lot to do just in a small little place and now with definitely McCoy Stadium that I just thought they did the last little event over there, it's that. But you know, I used to live right down the street and go to school across the street for many years at McCoy, so there was just a lot in the city that definitely helped me. Like I think just that was like a big way I became a Red Sox fan. So like that's just one example of like how it helped me in a lot of ways in the future.
Andy Deossa:But I enjoyed Patek and man. A lot of people have certain things to say about like back home, but I'm always been a fan. I think maybe the proximity that helps. I've always been more of a fan of like a more close community and a larger community, which is crazy, saying that, living in LA now.
Raul Lopez:Yeah.
Andy Deossa:Yeah, I enjoyed it. I enjoyed it, man. It was fun.
Raul Lopez:And so it's funny you talk about the McCoy Stadium because for people who don't know, McCoy Stadium is the AAA team for the Red Sox that was in Patukah, Rhode Island, and for all of us growing up they were like $3 tickets to go watch a game and for a lot of us it was some of our first, and for many of our brokeasses, only times we went to go see baseball. You know, as kids and you know I know you do your focus is on sports and Yahoo Sports, and so was that kind of where you started wanting to be interested in doing some sort of sports.
Andy Deossa:Yeah, I've always just been a big sports fan and I know it's typical for kids to say that in general, but I really was like just into it, like very into it in a different way, not just a fan, but remembering stats and knowing certain things, like from a young age. That it was a typical conversation you would have with your friends. You know, you just have it in school. But I think I started piecing it together little by little. But I would say that the POSOX definitely helped because it had me be a lot more involved in what the Red Sox were doing, because it's a farm system, like you say, it's triple A. So you're getting to see, you know these players that are coming up naturally, that are going to go on to be stars and a lot of them did go on to be stars and people that are known all around the country.
Andy Deossa:So it was cool to kind of be like hey, I saw him, you know, while he was coming through, and kind of just knowing those players from the beginning. It also gave me like a sense of like yeah, like I followed this guy's career almost and then, you know, you go on to play for the Red Sox and play for other teams in the majors and they become, you know, these big celebrities. So that was definitely cool. I've always just been around that and I've always just been around sports in general, either playing or supporting family, cousins and people that are playing sports. So it was literally always been a part of my life and it just, I guess, happened naturally more than anything.
Raul Lopez:Yeah, and it's interesting, the economy that you can deal with in Pawtucket where you know, depending on who you talk to, you'll get a different reaction. You talk to other people around or parts of New England that know Pawtucket, the rough side, and like, oh, you're from Pawtucket, you're from the bucket. And then you have other people who were like you're from Pawtucket, oh yeah, I've seen a Red Sox game there and it's like it's a completely different perspective. You know they're like oh, it's a charming little little city and stuff like that. I was like you didn't stay out after night, did you Right?
Andy Deossa:So you know you didn't go to our bassist stadium?
Raul Lopez:Yeah, they went to the stadium and then they went back to somewhere else to go hang out and they went back to Newport for the weekend, you know, and and it's funny and I think for a lot of us.
Raul Lopez:We grow up in there and I think we're always kind of split between getting too far into what's going on in the streets, especially because of the way things are, and trying to stay balanced and stay away from it. You know how? Was did that affect you at all? Was that? Were you ever ever into any issues regarding balancing your life out and not getting caught up in it?
Andy Deossa:For sure, for sure. Like I said, I was always outside. It just felt like I was really one of them kids. I was like I would get home from school and I would just put my stuff on it and just go right back outside and just to meet up with people because, like I said, everything is so close and everybody's so close that you're just like all right, what are we doing? Where are we going? We're going to go play basketball.
Andy Deossa:We're going to go, like, mess around and rob the corner store or something like this Like some stuff that kids do when they're younger and there was definitely like moments that you know were probably leading to certain things that wouldn't have been the best. Just in general, I think, when you not so much in middle school, I think more in high school, when you kind of just feel like nobody could tell you anything. You know you're not going to listen to anything that anybody says anyway. So you're kind of just like I'm. You know I'm grown.
Andy Deossa:Now I'm a freshman in high school at Toman, like I'm going to do whatever, and then like those first few years were like me figuring out, like, ah, man, like I had a lot of friends that were, you know, up like doing crazy stuff, nothing super crazy, but you know, just up to no good. And it's easy to you know, it's easy to follow it when you're that age, easy to fall into peer pressure. You know following people fighting and stuff like that, like just people. That was always just doing crazy stuff. Until one point I was like all right, man, I got to, I got to kind of stray away from this because I don't want to do this. You know, I don't want something really bad to happen. Nothing bad really happens to anybody close to me, thankfully, but you know, I knew people that would fight every day and people that would break in, break into people's. You know cars or whatever stuff.
Andy Deossa:I don't want to be associated with certain things because then there's going to be a bad look on me. So it was just about kind of navigating that fine line and then realizing at a certain time in high school like yo, this is, this is going to lead to the next thing, and the next thing is dictated by what I do now. So that's kind of how I handle it.
Raul Lopez:You know, and I think, as people of color, we, we, we always kind of. You know, you don't realize that I was young age, but you're always kind of one mistake away from ruining everything. You know what I mean. You're, you're, you have that. And I think for some of us we have that one night where we're like, oh shit, I need to chill because I want to go to college. Like for me, I like, I want to, I've got, I've done some stuff, and then I'm like at the end of the night I'm like, yo, if we had gotten caught tonight, I would have been in jail and I would not have gone to college, you know. So it's hard to balance that out. Was college of focus for you or a main focus early on, or was it kind of something later on in life?
Andy Deossa:Yeah, and that I was definitely the the plan. I think it was just natural progression in the trajectory of, like I have an older sister and you know she graduated from Tome and she went to college, my older cousin likewise. So I just, you know, I thought that was just what was natural to do and I didn't really have any other thought of what I wanted to do really, because I just thought it was just you know, the next thing, in line almost. But it did, you know, in that, in that kind of way it didn't really make me realize that I didn't want to stay in Rhode Island, and I think that's part of the growing up that happened for me was like, okay, you know, I loved it when I was there and I have the same friends that I had, maybe some since elementary school, maybe some since middle school.
Andy Deossa:But I saw, like that next step being like the open all the doors type of advantage where, like you could pick anywhere you want to go. Like you have to get in first, but you could pick anywhere you want, like if you have ambition and you have the qualities to do it. So I literally only applied to one school in Rhode Island. I knew I wasn't getting into Brian anyway because I wasn't doing business, but I just liked the school so I decided to apply there but, I was like I'm not staying, like I'm not going to no offense to you, all right to Rick, to anything.
Andy Deossa:I just I wanted to see something different. So but yeah, it was definitely part of just the next step in process that I just knew I had to kind of go to school and see what was next in the future.
Raul Lopez:Yeah, and for Rhode Island we're small. Like you said earlier, we're small. People know each other. You know what I mean. You're. Everybody ends up knowing somebody. You know this was before Facebook for me. You don't realize how much people knew until now. And you're like, hold on, they know that person and that person and that person and that person is your cousin and so you know it's really small. And then when you get to like college, it if you end up going very local, it still feels the same way for a lot of us. It feels like you're going to like the 13th grade for it and so some of us try to get out and say I don't want to stick around with that. So where'd you end up going for college?
Andy Deossa:Yes, I ended up going to Suffolk University in Boston and I was really late on. I thought a few things about Boston, like it was close enough but also far enough that I was taking a step and I don't need to be around. You know all the same people. I thought Boston was cool because it had all these schools. So I'm like man, there are so many students, like it's going to be like the perfect college experience because you're going to meet so many people. And then, like I mentioned, I was a cousin. He had a plate soccer at Boston University and I was like, growing up, that was like my big brother. So I was like, oh, I used to go to watch him play soccer when I was younger up in Boston. I'm like man, like I really like it. So I was set. I was set on Boston. It was between Boston and New York, go figure. But I ended up choosing Boston to go to school and I definitely have zero regrets about that.
Raul Lopez:Yeah, I mean, I kind of did the same thing. I was like Boston's far enough that I can't go to my parents for everything, but close enough that if I really needed to I could. You know, I do kind of wish I would have loved. One of the ones I wanted to go to was Tulane. I didn't apply to Tulane but I was like, oh and then, after going to New Orleans, I should have went to New Lane, but if I wouldn't have graduated I was in New Orleans for four years.
Andy Deossa:Hey, listen, I know it.
Raul Lopez:So when you went to Suffolk, what were you studying?
Andy Deossa:So I actually went in as a broadcast journalism major. That was my pick and it was funny because basically it was a process of elimination for me when I was in high school, trying to decide what I wanted to do, and I just knew like off rip, I hated math. So I was like anything that has to do with numbers like get me out of there, that like we're gonna cross that off the list right away. And then we kind of started going like filtering things down. And I remember I had one teacher in Tolman, not just one, but one that stuck in my mind. That was like hey, like you're a pretty good writer, it's just like you know, naturally, and I'm like okay. So when I was thinking about majors, I'm like maybe this journalism thing could be pretty cool. And the broadcast side it came because I'm like being on TV or being like in front of a camera seems pretty awesome, like I'm down for that.
Andy Deossa:So that was literally how it came about. I was like I'm just gonna try this out, but I quickly realized like, oh, I could make. I could mix this with sports, which is my passion. You know, growing as I got older it became more and more of a passion. It wasn't just baseball, it wasn't just soccer, so that kind of like intertwined together and it was like a pretty perfect marriage from the beginning.
Raul Lopez:Nice and when you were at school. I know we talked a little bit about your pre. During the pre interview you mentioned that you had to kind of deal with doubters, you know? Tell me a little bit about that.
Andy Deossa:Yeah, so it was a process man. So I actually ended up getting out of broadcast because I had a professor that I really did not like and he was like. He made it a little difficult and made me realize that, you know, it wasn't really something I wanted to do as much anymore. So I ended up switching to print journalism, which is a lot more focused on the writing aspect, which is what I realized that I did enjoy doing. But in that time I was already taking the steps to realize that I wanted to do that. I was working for my school publication, which is like our online newspaper, and I just got into it that way and I would be writing and writing, and writing and this is a super, super long story, but ended up being like towards the end of my undergrad career, where I was an RA.
Andy Deossa:I became an RA like the end of my sophomore year, which is pretty ironic now to think about it. So I applied to be an RA my junior year. I ended up getting at the end of my sophomore year because the person that was one of the kids got fired, so I basically built his spot. So I put his spot for like the last two months of sophomore year, then my junior year. I was like already in. Then I ended up getting fired my junior year as an RA, because I was not where I was supposed to be let's leave it that way and it was like a real messy, complicated situation that I didn't really do anything wrong but I just wasn't in the building. I wasn't in the building when I was supposed to be in the building. That's as simple as it gets. But because that happened, I kind of felt, not felt. I definitely got a lot of staff members or like a lot of like oh, he got fired, like he must have done something like really bad, and I'm sure there were probably a lot of rumors about what actually happened. Obviously, I know what happened. It wasn't life or death situation, but that ended up happening.
Andy Deossa:So within those years I was going through the progress of my online newspaper. So I started as a writer, then I became a sports editor, then I was like managing editor, so I was going towards the steps to be in charge of the whole website. So that was going to be like my goal, like I'm going to run this whole website for when I graduate, I'm going to leave it in like great hands and then I'm out of here and within that process, you have to apply, because it's like a leadership position, which I obviously had him around campus, but because I got fired from one, it was like, oh no, like he's almost like lacklisted from this because he can't. He showed that he can't handle leadership position. So it was an interview.
Andy Deossa:It was me and a girl that was part of our website that was applying for the same position. No offense to her, she was a great writer, but she wasn't as involved as I was. I ended up getting denied for it, of course, but I had to interview with, like, the dean of the school, so it wasn't just like, oh, just talk to a few people.
Andy Deossa:I ended up getting denied and ended up doing the role that I was going to do when I got it anyway. I ended up still being that Like. I ended up me and another friend ended up redesigning the website. We ended up just doing all these different things so put it in a better position for one. We were leaving, but in between that it was just like a lot of people kind of turning their back, like, oh, he got fired from this, like I said once again, probably because of whatever they put in their head to be like, oh, he can't be a leader or we can't include him in certain things. And I'm like, all right, man, if that's what you guys want to do, that's perfect, but I don't really care, I'm still going to be focused. I'm still going to do what I wanted to do for myself, because I knew it was going to benefit me in the long haul and I knew it was going to benefit all the people that were after me, the writers that we had, my friends and I was like I had a goal and my goal was to turn up with that website and make it like really good while we were there.
Andy Deossa:Whatever happened after, I have no control over there. I'm gone, but I was like the four years that I was there. I could proudly say that when I got there to when I left, it was night and day. We ended up winning like an award that year for like the most improved student organization in the whole university. I went up to the stage to do the like the thank you speech and get the trophy, so that was like a beautiful full circle moment. But yeah, it was just that, just negativity from certain people and just kind of people looking at me in a different light. For, like I said, I didn't commit a crime, I didn't do anything crazy. It was a weird situation, but one that I definitely learned from and I feel like I came on top for sure.
Raul Lopez:Yeah, and I think we talked earlier about Puttucket being small and everything you do in Puttucket is people will find out. You know, puttucket in Rhode Island it's a general college, is kind of the same way. It's such a small community, you mess up a little bit and one thing you're going to, someone's going to hear about it. You know, like when I lived in my apartment on campus apartment, my fraternity brother, christian, who was one of the people I interviewed early on in my podcast, he was able to link us to the printer downstairs.
Raul Lopez:Because we had a computer downstairs so we would send print up, go downstairs pick it up. It wasn't official because you know the school likes to charge you 10 cents per print or whatever.
Raul Lopez:We weren't doing it. So eventually they cut us off and you know we're like whatever. Well, fast forward two years. I'm applying for a job at the IT department and they're like, we have a record of you hacking into the printer and I'm like my friend sent me up, I didn't know we couldn't do it and I didn't get the job. I ended up getting the job again the following semester, but it's like you know, we talked a little bit too about how, you know, it always feels like you're always one mistake from having to ruin everything, and then when you do do something, even slightly, you have to work twice as hard, you know, to get there. So what kept you motivated during that process?
Andy Deossa:It was just a good like test and a good sign. I'm one of those people like if somebody doubts me, I'm coming back with extra fires. So I was, like you know, I was super involved and I and the school is a small school. So the way you relate it to Rhode Island is a cool point because, like my school was tiny, like everybody really didn't know everybody if you're in certain circles, but I was involved in everything. I was orientation leader, I was an RA, I was a TA, like I had a work, study job in an office, like I did a lot of stuff at that school. So everybody really knew me in those circles and my motivation was like a lot of people did turn their back and kind of look at me in a different way, but a lot of people still held me down and were like yo, like I know that you know, a lot of people know what happened, like the actual details of the night and the situation. But once again I wasn't doing anything crazy but it was a thing. It was hard because now I didn't have housing and then RA the brick would be an RA because you have the housing and I'm like now I'm kind of screwed because I got to go all the way back home to Rhode Island Now it seems far than it did my freshman year. So now I got to go back to Rhode Island and figure it out.
Andy Deossa:But I had friends that held me down Like I went like one of my homies I was a freshman at a different school in Boston. He let me sleep at his spot with his sweet mates it was like six of them in there and I'm just like crashing because I was so busy during the day that I would wake up, take a shower and I'm out all day, like I was like bro, you're literally not going to see me here except that night and it was sort of the end of the semester. So it was only for a few months. But people held me down. I would bring a suitcase with me, like on Monday I would leave it at my job, my work study office. They never turned their back on me to look to them. I would leave it there. They gave me a key to the office so I would be able to open it whenever I wanted.
Andy Deossa:And I was deep inside. I knew once again I didn't do anything wrong and I knew that my focus was always going to be work as hard as you can on this journalism thing because you have to make something out of it. You're already dedicating this much time to it. Like, make it worth it. Make it worth it. And that's always what I tell myself If you're going to do something that you really are passionate about, dedicate 100% to it and do it Like, don't half-ass it, don't do it here and there. And that's what I learned from my freshman year to my senior year. I was the most active writer the website had. I changed a lot of things at that website and it helped me, of course, as much as it did the outlet itself. But I was like I have an advantage In my hands. I'm going to take full advantage of it, and thankfully I did and thankfully it vanned out.
Raul Lopez:Yeah, the hands-on experience in college I think counts a lot for people. We sometimes don't know better. We don't do internship, we don't sign up for things like that, and when you get to the point where you are looking for a job you're kind of behind because you don't have experience. You get this paper that says you graduated, but no work behind it and other people who know people sometimes get a little bit luckier in being able to get put into position. So you finish up at Sulfix and you're ready to start looking to career. What were some of the barriers you had to deal with starting off?
Andy Deossa:Man, it was so funny for me because I was like, all right, let's shoot for the stars. Because I felt like I had accomplished so much. And in a way I did, because I ended up having a co-op for the Boston Globe. So I worked for them for a year while I was in school and I'm like this is a crazy experience to have. Like this is one of the best newspapers in the country, one of the best sports sections in the country, at a time where every Boston team was winning championships. Like it was the craziest experience ever and it was amazing.
Andy Deossa:So I'm like, man, I'm already on this high that I'm like, man, forget this school. Like once I graduate, I'm out of here anyway, like I'm gonna do it. And I got super lucky. Man, I always say I got super lucky, like I was like I'm gonna go work at ESPN, like that's just gonna be and that's what everybody says in sports. But I was just throwing applications out left and right trying to land something and I was able to land an interview, luckily, which is like it's crazy because it's such a competitive process. But I knew that I'm the same way and I'm still the same way now. Like I knew if there's a little slit of the door open, plus busting through it like the Kool-Aid man, like both feet.
Andy Deossa:Like you get me in, like on campus, I'm not leaving there without something Like I'm gonna, you know. So I was confident enough in myself that when I had to go in for this interview, which was the craziest interview process I've ever been apart of I was like I'm gonna be able to do it. And it was wild because it was for a role, that was, they were hiring four people for this role because it was a rotational. It was almost like a glorified internship, if that makes sense, like it was a paid position, but it was like a year with rotation, so you were going to four different parts of the company and the goal was, once you figured, once you finished the year, you would figure out which one you enjoyed the most. I was like, oh, it seems cool Cause you get to see. You know, I think it was like ASP in the magazine at the time. Then you got to work like digital, then you got to work with radio or something whatever. So I was like this is cool.
Andy Deossa:But within the interview process I met with so many people cause I was there all day, so I was just meeting people that had interests in the applicant pool, cause it was like 20 of us, and so I was having interviews for ESPN Deportes and interviews for ESPNcom and the apps and stuff like that. So, once again, like I told myself when I left there that day, I was confident that something has to be offered Cause. If not, then I just spent a long time talking to a lot of people and I didn't do a good job and I don't like that. So that's kind of how it happened, and so be. I didn't end up getting the job I applied for, which is the rotational one, but because I had met so many people that day, I had an offer from another interview that I had.
Andy Deossa:That wasn't necessarily part of the process and I kind of just went along with that and was like okay, weigh my options out, because there was another guy that I talked to on ESPN Deportes that was like yo, I'm interested. Obviously being bilingual helps. So he was like super interested in you know, bringing me on for more information. But I ended up taking a role with, like assistant editor for like dot com in the digital department area, which is like the mobile application, the mobile website, working with the different apps that we had that they had at the time and things like that. So I got lucky man. Like I always say that I just think things happen at the right time, but you know it's also a testament to the amount of work that you put in. But having that be like my first job out of college was like oh snap, cause I was like I have to move to Connecticut now, like I gotta get up and go.
Raul Lopez:And it was the quicker, and it's a very middle of nowhere, connecticut too, middle of nowhere.
Andy Deossa:Yep, you know how it is. So it was like I graduated in May May 18th or something like that and I started at ESPN like June, like in the middle of June, so it was like a month, if that, maybe that between that process from Rhode Island, like I bought a used car, like I didn't have a car cause I was a school in Boston. So I like bought a used car, packed a few things up that I had on my mom's crib and I was like boom, I'm going down to CT. Luckily I had people that I knew there that were in Connecticut, that I was able to like live with for the first well, actually not for the first years, for the whole time I was there really and that helped a lot too. But yeah, it was a quick turnaround process but luckily it was like shoot for the stars and I landed it. Luckily, man.
Raul Lopez:So you talked a bit about your interview with ESPN and I know other people who have also worked at ESPN and they tell me about that interview and you have to be super knowledgeable. Can you tell me a little bit about what that interview process felt like?
Andy Deossa:Yeah, man, like I said, it was probably one of the most intense or the most intense interview process I was part of, Partly because you're very nervous in general to be at such a big company and try to make a good impression because they're meeting thousands of people and there's probably thousands of applicants. But the other part of it is the knowledge and being very confident in like hey, I know what I'm talking about. So, for example, I had to sit down in an interview with a panel of four people and I'm like I don't know how to impress four people at once. Like what if one person thinks I'm saying the right thing and the other one doesn't? Like how does that work out in there? But in my head I'm like I couldn't do the best I can, right? So they will ask the typical stuff, like what are some of your favorite writers? Or like what type of content do you consume? So you have to A, like actually be a consumer, which is natural for the way that the time that it was like people were really online and using a lot of apps and stuff like that.
Andy Deossa:But B, it was like there was this force knowledge test that I had to take. That I was like oh man, like that's when you're really put to the test and realizing that something that you may take for granted, you forget it in the moment because it's a time thing. You're there like you're in person, doing this, writing it down and I know there's a few questions on that that I answered wrong, that I know I would have answered right if I wasn't under pressure, but I think that's just part of the process. But it really is just being in the know of what the company's like, especially the part of the company that you're looking to get into because it's such a big company and then really just having the knowledge, because when you do end up getting a job, when you do start working there, the knowledge is half of the battle.
Andy Deossa:Like just knowing what's going on in the sports world really is half the battle If you're working in a role that has to do with live sports and updating content, stuff like that. So it was intense but, like I said, I was super confident in what I was going into because I thought that I had a great experience and from college and my experiences in college that I was gonna be able to do this. And it's funny because I didn't work with apps in college. That's what I ended up doing for the first year that I was at ESPN was like working with apps. But you learn. It's all about the learning process, all about like realizing how different it is from the jump that I was at working at newspapers and working on stuff like that to a more digital space, which was it was a cool transition, for sure.
Raul Lopez:Yeah, and I think for one of the misconceptions that we have with our degrees sometimes is that this is the job I'm gonna go for for the rest of my life. And realistically, your bachelor kind of tells people you could learn, we can teach you. You know what I mean. Your bachelor doesn't say you're an expert in this, it just says that you can learn and you've passed enough to learn what's going on and the sorry, I just lost my train of thought but the and so we go into the job and we're like oh, I don't know anything, you know and we learn here, and then we pick up something and we become a little bit more expert in this and then start moving from there. And so you said you started with apps, you started at ESPN. Was what made, what eventually got you to actually the print journalism aspect of things?
Andy Deossa:Yeah, so I was. It's funny because I took a huge break from it, because I was caught up in this digital space that I was like man, this is A it's pretty intense, but B like there weren't the amount of writing opportunities that I thought I would have at ESPN. And I'm like I'm working with apps, I'm doing like editorial stuff that does have to do with writing, but I wasn't writing myself, like writing stories, writing articles or whatever. So that was kind of the part of the next transition where I was like, okay, I've been here for a few years, like I've bounced around and had all these different roles and worked on all these different things, how could I get some writing opportunities? And it was like, I said, very few. I did end up getting some, which was amazing. I haven't had some people help me out and, you know, connecting with the right people and have a chance, which was hilarious, because my first assignment was to go to a Yukon game, which naturally it's Connecticut, it's down the street.
Andy Deossa:I went to cover a Yukon football game and I'm I know that the college football team was like we'll send him to this game because they're going to get blown out. They were playing Houston. Houston was ranked like 15th in the country at the time, so like it's probably going to be an easy game. Yukon loses whatever. He's covering a ranked team, he gets to write something easy, everybody cleans their hands and we're out. Yukon ended up winning that game. It was completely mayhem at that game and I'm like this is the type of song I like. Like this is what I like. The rush of like oh snap, we thought one thing wasn't to happen. This happened Now. I'm like now the focus is on me because I'm at the game and a ranked team just lost, so I'm like banging it out quickly. Then I wrote a story for the next day, like a more long form, so it was super cool and it reminded me of like wow, this is what I did when I was in Boston and I really enjoyed it. This is why I got into it.
Andy Deossa:But, like I said, the opportunities were very few and that's where it ended up, basically leading to me Like yo, I need to go somewhere else and see if it's a possibility that I would even have a chance to do writing at some capacity to the way I want to, at a different company or at a different job, and it's very hard to walk away from a great job, a great place, somewhere that I learned so much. But I'm like five years is a long time, like I was there for five years, and I'm like, if I'm not happy with what I'm doing, why is complacency gonna be the only thing that keeps me at a place like that? So that's what it was. But, yeah, the transition is tough because you think you know you get to use pen and all these doors are gonna necessarily open for you, but A you have to find them and some of them might be locks for real. Some of them might not open for you. So it's tough, but it was a good learning process for sure.
Raul Lopez:And what's the industry like when it comes to job availability? You know, is it? You know, I had another friend of mine, another person on, omar Cabrera, who does more journalists, tv and stuff like that, and you know, in that type of capacity it's limited because you know there's only certain number of people that actually end up in front of a camera, so you can't go there as a writer. You don't really generally see them.
Raul Lopez:But also we know that, as print journalism has kind of been evolving throughout the years, it's the amount of jobs and the amount of newspapers and the amount of magazines and things have kind of declined as well. Now, what was the job market like for you at that, when you were looking for that type of job?
Andy Deossa:That's what. And you bring up a great point Like that's what it is. I remember when I got into journalism people were like why? Like it's not gonna pay well? And you know you hear that a lot of times when you're younger like why are you gonna major in this? It's not gonna pay well. I'm like because I think it's gonna be fun, like I was like we'll figure that out when we cross the bridge, like if we had to. But I'm like I'm gonna do something that I would like to do instead of doing something that I didn't like to do. But when I was looking for these jobs, I'm like man, like there's not a lot of writing, Like there were writing jobs. But then I ran into, like this doesn't pay well for real and I'm like, oh, now I'm like this is why people are telling me this, because now I'm like desperate for a job and I'm like, wow, like they made the opportunities.
Andy Deossa:Because if you think about it, you know any, any outlet, any newspaper, at the time when newspapers were still not on their last legs. They're looking for either people that will cover high school sports, people that will cover college sports. So there is a lot of opportunity, but it's just like the compensation and what you get back from it is not the same, because it's a grind Like I used to cover high school sports. They don't give you any stats, so you have to record all the stats on your own. Then you have to leave the game and then write on deadline from, probably like a McDonald's, because McDonald's has free wifi. Like just the grind of doing it. I learned so much but I'm like damn like if I was to do this for a career like it's not. When you go to cover a professional game, they hand you a paper for stats, they hand you a paper for the lineup, they hand you a paper for this, for that, so you have all the information and if it's a professional team, you can just go online and find whatever you need. So you learn like humbly, the, you know the ins and outs and you're like man, I'm doing a lot of work sometimes for like something that's not giving me back as much as I would think.
Andy Deossa:So when I was applying for these jobs, I was just finding a lot of like digital jobs stuff that I was already doing at ESPN, just at a different place, and I'm like you know, maybe I'll have to check that out, because it's probably gonna be an easier transition depending on where I end up landing. But you know, I applied all over the country because I wasn't stuck to staying anywhere, single, no kids, no pets, no nothing. So I was like I could get up and leave tomorrow if I want to. But yeah, I was looking at specific writing jobs, but there weren't many that popped out that were like sure, let me do that. So it's tough. It's definitely a tough market to break into and not only break into like to sustain it, because, like you said, everything changes digitally and with that change comes jobs going away, comes different responsibilities, and then you start thinking about, like, what did I really want to get into this for and what am I actually doing right now?
Raul Lopez:So you ended up eventually going to Los Angeles and working there. Tell me about that journey.
Andy Deossa:Yeah, so I applied for Jabaya Hu Sports. That was an editorial role, which was, ironically, literally probably 85% of what I was doing at ESPN at the last role, when I left.
Andy Deossa:But, like I said, it was an opportunity for me to get somewhere new and see what I could make out of it. And I always remember when I had my interview, I interviewed down in New York City because we have offices on both coasts, and I met with some of the people that were on the team there and they were, like what do you want to do? Like this is the job that you're applying for, but like, what is your goal? What is you know? What are you coming from? What is your passion? And I was like I like writing, like I want to write. I don't want to necessarily say like I need to be a writer, pay me as a writer, like send me around the country so I could write stories, but I do want to try to get back into it. Because I had this passion.
Andy Deossa:I stopped it for a while at ESPN and I picked it up blogging little by little, like on my own accord, and I was getting a lot of like feedback and fun from it, because it's what everybody was used to seeing from me and I was doing different things. So he's like I suggest, if you do want to do that, like if you do get a job go out to Los Angeles because the editorial team is split between both offices and most of the editors that like cover the sports are based in LA. So he's like if you go to Los Angeles, you'll have a personal relationship with them, you'll be able to meet them and be able to explain, kind of like, what you want to do and it'll benefit you. And I'm like, bro, I'm gonna move across the country but I'm like I had never been to California, I didn't know anything about it. But I'm like, bro, this is like an opportunity to check it. If I hate it, new York is always gonna be there, like the office is there and I could go back to it. So I was like you know what, let me take this risk and just like go do it. And that's really as simple as it was Like I was like man, I booked a one way flight, I left everything I had, which was not much.
Andy Deossa:In Connecticut. I had my car ship because they sent me, you know, a nice little check for relocation and I put a bunch of boxes in my car of like things. I thought I would need shoes, most of it. I came with two cases and I'm like yo, we're gonna find out about LA and see what it's like. And it was a process, it was a journey and it was a lot of fun. I definitely think I made the right decision, but yeah, it was interesting for sure.
Raul Lopez:Yeah, I tell people all the time I mean, I moved to Houston. I'm back in Connecticut now, but I moved to Houston like 15 years ago and it was, you know, a risk. But I was like, same thing, I'm single, I don't have kids. Let me take an opportunity to learn what the rest of the world has to offer me. You know, and I love my time there. You know it was great when I lived in Houston. But I always tell people it's like, say, $500.
Raul Lopez:That way you have money for gas to get back home and that's the worst case scenario, you know, just keep $500 in a little jar under your drawer, under your drawer and then, worst case scenario, you know what? That's my go home money, you know. And then, but it's, you know, almost never ends up where they come back. And I think, learning and experiencing, especially when it's career, you know, sometimes you need to take that risk to jump across and go and try a different location, because not every city, not every place has the type of careers you're looking for, especially if you're specifically when they come to some sort of journalism or anything in the media. You know, but it's interesting. You were talking about blogs. You went back into blogs and it kind of helped you build yourself back up into writing and getting you interested. And I know now everything's social and everything as well. What were some of the tools that you were able to use that helped you get back in there, like blogging or internet social media.
Andy Deossa:Yeah, I had to do it because people don't realize writing is as any other skill, like you have to do it for you to get sharper. So the amount of time I took off to when I started again, I'm like damn. I took a lot of time off and naturally whenever you take time off of a craft you're not going to be as sharp. So I had to get back into it that way and I really utilized like I made my own little like blogspot page that was like my own little blog where I it was almost like a portfolio to put my prior work on it.
Andy Deossa:But it was also an outlet that if I wanted to write something, I have it somewhere to post it. I have a link and once that link is out to the world, like it could happen somebody's Google search and somebody's timeline on Twitter, facebook, instagram. So yeah, it's so true. The thing good thing for me is like when I got to college, twitter was like a really big. It had just started, so it wasn't big yet and as it went, as I went on and undergrad, it was getting so much more, just better, in terms of like just being the outlet for news and sports and updates and things like that. So I was like hammering Twitter from the beginning, but I always remember like I was on it early because I got into it at a time that it was going to benefit me. So live, tweeting games and stuff like that was such a popular thing back then that I naturally did that when I was doing the blogging stuff.
Andy Deossa:I was like, ok, let me find something that like is entertaining to people. So I used fantasy football as a way to kind of get back into that lane and I would write a weekly blog about why I hated fantasy football that week and it would be like the five things that happened to me in my fantasy leagues, that like, of course they would happen to me, but it's relatable because a lot of people love playing fantasy. A lot of people feel the same way. People have the same type of players. So I was like, oh, this is fun, like people are starting to be like, interact with the stuff and and hit me up about certain things. And it was like damn, like I remember how much when I had doing this, when I was doing it in college for like just for fun, which is always to me, it still is for fun. But I was like now I'm trying to find that next step. And also it's about building.
Andy Deossa:I don't want to say a fan base, because I don't think I have a fan base, but it's about building a character, building a voice, like that's the one thing they tell you. And the ironic thing is that our website was called Suffolk Voice. Like, if you have a unique voice, people are going to always remember that, and when I say voice and writing, it's about a style, it's about a personality. So I was able to kind of do that early on where people were like OK, this is the type of stuff that he's doing and we're going to kind of see and interact with it, because I've covered all types of sports. I did hockey, I did basketball, I did baseball, I did. But when I was in that moment that I was like let me get back to this blogging thing, I'm like, oh yeah, like I remember, like this is exactly what I wanted to do and why I have so much fun doing it. So it was cool, it was a nice little transition period, but I'm glad that I did it.
Raul Lopez:Yeah, and, like you said, your skill is like it's like a sport. You know, if you don't practice every week or you don't practice a little bit, you're going to get worse and not build it. And I think not. And people, I might not remember that when Twitter started, you weren't posting videos of pictures, it was all writing. You had all righty characters and you had to write everything and I remember live tweets being really big thing back in the day.
Andy Deossa:That tweeting was huge, man and it was like it's just a way to like. It was so instant and Instagram hot and popped off like that crazy. Yeah, it wasn't like the people in the reels and stuff, it was real like people going through the timeline and reading what was happening, Like even the few pictures we were posting on a timeline back then were like an awful quality phone.
Andy Deossa:So it was really like, more honestly, for me, maybe because this is the lane I'm in it felt like it was a specifically a news social media outlet, like it just felt like it was so easy to get news and get sports updates and get anything with it within the snap of a finger that I'm like, wow, like this is, this is made for us, like this is a perfect outlet for us to have and just run with. And we did man Like that's when live blogging for companies was big and you would see like ESPN starting to do live blogs and it was just it was a wild transition, but it was cool to be part of in that moment and be like wow, this is. And because of social media, even in college I was able to get internships and stuff like that because people see your work, people see you. So it's a weird space to live in but it's a very beneficial one if you use it the right way.
Raul Lopez:And what are some of the technologies you see? Now that's kind of helping keep printer and losing life.
Andy Deossa:Yeah, it's the same thing, man, like it's now. The reach on social is unreal, where, like now, it's more visual. Now there's so many creatives that do cool things with videos and animations. I have friends that work all over the industry, that are extremely talented, that do things that live on social because that's how people consume stuff now.
Andy Deossa:And it's hard, like you mentioned, to keep up when you're talking about a specifically print because, like, people don't like to read that much. No more, I don't know People ever like to read that much. I'm a reader but I'm not like a book. I don't go and read books. I read a lot of articles but I'm not like I'm going to sit down and read a book. But it's like what do you do, right?
Andy Deossa:So you have to almost kind of transition with that and be like OK, you start seeing a lot of the writers start doing video stuff. Now they start having podcasts, they start you know they're not just, it's not just one lane anymore. You have to be able to do a bunch of different things and if writing is your thing, you start to be able to kind of flex your muscles in different ways and in that reason I was very lucky that in college I did that where I was like I did the broadcast. So I had some broadcast skills. I did a radio show. I had, you know, like almost like a podcast format with my friend.
Andy Deossa:So I kind of had that, those skills in that background that when I'm like I need to kind of expand, or when you need to expand, you're not scared to Like I'm not scared to get on in front of a camera or or read a script, to do stuff like that because of stuff that I did in the past. But it really is about almost reinventing yourself but being versatile and like being able to spread yourself out a bunch of different ways, because now just staying in the one writing lane, it's not for many people like that's a columnist thing and like a newspaper thing. That's a very old way of thinking. That's, like you said, slowly on his last legs and fizzling out. So it's tough. It's a tough place to exist, like I said, but if you're confident and your work is good, it's gonna speak for itself.
Raul Lopez:Yeah, and I think now the other challenge you guys probably have to deal with is the AI. You know, ai writing, ai doing stuff I was, we did our fantasy draft yesterday. We get the big blog from Yahoo from you guys. From them they rank you and they tell you what your grade was and it says generated by chat GPT. And it's like oh my God, the chat, just the chat. Gpt just make me feel like crap, because of my draft picks and stuff, and so what do you see?
Andy Deossa:How do you?
Raul Lopez:feel about AI being involved.
Andy Deossa:It's part of it, and I just think it's part of the change. I remember we had a big meeting about that specifically, like about a month ago, and like, hey, we're gonna start integrating chat GPT into fantasy, and fantasy is huge. Fantasy is a consumer based market and it's a huge one, so you get a lot of revenue off of it. A lot of content is driven off of it. So if you're integrating chat GPT to something that important to the company, something that important to people, then you know it's relevant, it's super relevant and it's gonna be. I think it's only gonna grow, it's gonna enhance things.
Andy Deossa:It's a tricky line to tell because I think you know, when it comes to just writing, a lot of people might try to take easy way out to certain ways with that, but it's no denying that it's gonna be a factor and you're starting to see it, like you mentioned, little by little get integrated in these companies. And you know how much has things changed from now to well, from, you know, five years ago to now. So imagine chat GPT and AI five years from now. It could be a whole different thing, where it's a lot more immersive and inclusive in all of these different lanes. So I'm interested to see how it happens. I don't know how it will, but I'm here for the ride, man. I've been here for the ride for this whole time, so we're gonna keep riding away and see how it changes, man.
Raul Lopez:Yeah, and I think flexibility with change is really important in all careers. I think the way things are going now, you always have to be open. If you're stuck on one way of doing things, you're never gonna go far because you're never gonna be able to expand and learn something new and try that new technology that's gonna help you. You never know, you might become that expert of creating articles with chat, gpt, and then boom, that's a whole department that you're in charge of. You know you're a whole division and so you know it's interesting to see where this artificial intelligence is gonna be.
Raul Lopez:And it's funny because one of my I'm close with one of my daughters a soccer coach and he's a teacher, so one of his part-time jobs is chatting with AI to train it. I didn't realize it. It was like, you know, I kind of understood AI but I was like, oh shoot, people really have to go and actually sit there and train it so I can pick up stuff and he's doing like. He's like, tell me, write me an article about Brad Pitt cheating on his at work and stabbing someone. The chat you've got to do with. So it's correct.
Andy Deossa:I mean, like I tell you, like some people it's a tricky line, cause some people might take the easy way out right.
Andy Deossa:And it's like back when you were in college, when you would always get warned about plagiarism and things like that. It's like some people use it for ideas. I have friends that use it for ideas now and formulate certain things and then go from there. But you never know how people are gonna, you know, interpret it or use it in whatever way they want to manipulate it whatever way they want to do. So it's tricky, but once again, with the change like, this is a perfect example. I remember years ago, betting used to be frowned upon, like sports betting. It's like no, we can't even talk about that. We can't even say the word betting. It's legal, this and that. Look at it now.
Raul Lopez:This is a massive thing.
Andy Deossa:It's part of everything now in sports and it's like how quickly that changed. Everything else is bound to change the same way too, if there's, you know, the emphasis and money and interest behind it. That's how it works.
Raul Lopez:Sports betting and tickets counting. Remember back in the day if you would get arrested for selling tickets where would that? Place, and now it's like you can't buy anything cheap. You know so it's incredible man.
Andy Deossa:It's a nasty game?
Raul Lopez:Yeah, exactly Outside of AI. Are there any other obstacles you think that might be coming up in the future?
Andy Deossa:It's hard to tell because, like I said, the digital space. Somebody's probably working on the next thing right now and they're probably well taking AI and chat GPT and flipping that to their. You know their liking no way they want to. The digital space is so. There's so many brilliant people out there, man. I just don't realize how none of these people have been able to hack the student loan companies and get rid of those.
Raul Lopez:But I'm Get rid of my students loans please.
Andy Deossa:If that GPT could do that, I'm in, I'm definitely in. But yeah, like people are working on the next thing, like you, who knows man? Like it's so hard to even say what it would be, but I think, in terms of like the actual traditional writing, you're going to see newspapers completely go away eventually. Like it's just, it's bound to happen. And it's sad, but I always tell people like the most important time that I spent in my career was working on newspapers. I learned so much of the traditional journalism, one-on-one skills that you don't get working anywhere else but a newspaper. Like it's a. That's why they call it journalism. Like it's a real simple thing, simple concept, but it's a very complicated process. But you know, whatever happens, you, like I said, you have to kind of roll with the punches because the digital space evolves daily. It's not like it just happens in a few years or like this stuff is changing.
Andy Deossa:Look at Twitter is a perfect example. It went from Twitter to X, to limited characters, to premium. Now Elon Musk is doing whatever he wants, like and people are freaking out like, oh man, twitter is going to go away. Now we have to go use threads and I'm like, what is threads Like? Where is this stuff coming from? Like who's making these rules up? And it's crazy. Man, you have to really be on it 24, seven and like be ready to hop on the next wave, almost, because if not, then you kind of you know you miss a mark and then you're looking, you're playing from behind.
Raul Lopez:Yeah, it's amazing how much social media has been ingrained into every aspect of everything. You know, threads is a funny one because it's same thing. Okay, now I got to do threads too. It's like every time I have to do one post, I got to post on five different things, and now they even have applications where it will post on 15 different locations for you. You know what I mean. If you remember that episode from the office, you know what I mean. The boy, what do you call it? Wolf or something like that. That would Twitter you, text you Facebook you all that stuff.
Andy Deossa:It's crazy, it's unreal. It's unreal. And I think that it's only the reason I bring that up is because, like I think a lot of the kids now, like the kids are coming up now with TikTok. Tiktok is like a glorified like well, we had to try to figure out how to use PowerPoint, bro.
Raul Lopez:Like we.
Andy Deossa:I was like our heart. That was our obstacle and I'm like they're learning how to do this stuff at a young age, like forget it, when they're like 20, 30, like the amount of skills they're going to have in the digital space to show and create something new. It's going to be incredible.
Raul Lopez:And that's you bring a good point, because I feel like we're going to have a lot more creativeness and content building people. You know this whole generation is big on that. Like my daughter, she loves making videos and trying to edit them on her iPad. She's 10, you know, what I mean and like you know, amazing, amazing.
Raul Lopez:Where is she going to be in 10, 20 years when you know we're going to? And just you know I'm a movie fan. Just imagine how amazing the movies are going to be in like 30 years. But these kids have been doing cinematography for 20, 30 years, at the age of you know 30. So you know it's wild dude. So we, you know we go back to your journey and the entire process and everything like that. What is something you kind of would look back on and say, man, I wish I would have done this earlier. You know what I mean. I wish I would have pivoted here as opposed to here, or not focused on this.
Andy Deossa:Probably I would say probably leaving ESPN because, like I mentioned, I think five years is a pretty long time and it wasn't that I didn't like the company or like my job. I learned a lot. I met some amazing people, great network, obviously Just a great platform to have. But I think that there is a sense of complacency when you get to certain places that kind of scares you to do anything else, because you're like man, like I'm going to leave ESPN. What is the perception going to be? I remember when I said I was leaving, people were like you're going where, you're leaving here to go there, and I'm like you're looking at it the wrong way already, like that's not what it's about. And I also say that it's more so personal because I'm like I spent prime years of my 20s in Connecticut and I'm like if I could have that time back, I would have instantly done it at any chance I got.
Andy Deossa:But I didn't think about it that way when I was 22, 23. When I'm turning 32 now, I'm like damn, I was reliving in Connecticut when I could have been in LA and joined life a lot more than I was in Central.
Raul Lopez:I moved to Houston when I was 28.
Raul Lopez:And dollar beer nights and 50 cent drinks, and I was like, oh my god, I'm living the best life right now. But no, and you bring a good point too when it comes to like staying at a job. For a lot of us, the old mentality has been stick to a job, keep working, stay there forever, to stick with that one job for as long as you can. And it's different now. I mean, I've gained so much experience in the last five years going to two different jobs and that I'm a much better, a more profitable person to put myself out there, I can sell myself better.
Raul Lopez:You have to take that risk to go and say I'm going to learn something new at this job and hopefully I can pivot that into my next position after that. And so I kind of started giving myself a look. I did the same thing. My first job. I was there for like five years before they made me off. And then the job before my previous job I was there for like seven years. You know I was there forever but not moving up and everything like that. And so I now I get myself ruled in like three years of moving up or moving out. You know that's.
Andy Deossa:I kind of give it that.
Raul Lopez:I got to keep myself focused into what that caused and what's that next title that's going to get me that, the bigger title moving forward.
Andy Deossa:So and I think it's two fold. You mentioned it like one is like yourself, right? I always tell people like people have a negative connotation with the word selfish and I think we need to like take that out of our mentality. Like you need to be selfish enough in a certain point to be like what's the best thing for me as a professional, like what's going to help me, like you said, be profitable and sell myself and get me to the next step. That's that, that sort of selfishness.
Andy Deossa:I always preach that in any, any type of you know laying, wherever you're doing professionally, mentally, whatever. But the second part is the lifestyle. Is the, the mental the? What type of life are you living? That kind of has an effect. They both have an effect on each other. But that's why I bring up the Connecticut thing.
Andy Deossa:I'm like I was a young kid I didn't really care about where I was, but now that I'm here in LA by myself, in a, you know, massive city with all these different opportunities, I'm like man. My lifestyle has become so much more healthy, it's better, it's just so many things that go into it, probably because I'm enjoying work a lot more too, but it's because I also carved that space out and when I was at ESPN it was very like work all the time, work all the time. And that's what you do when you're younger, where now I'm like nah, I need to escape from certain things. I need to. I mean, it's hard to escape from sports when you're a fan right, like even on days off I'm watching games.
Andy Deossa:You know it's hard to kind of create that balance, but I've gotten better at doing that because you know you get older, you get wiser. But when you have those two different avenues, everything's going to work better. Like I said, they both affect each other, so if they're one thing is a little too much, then something's going to get taken away from the other side. So it's like finding that balance and I tell people all the time like it's not just about the movie, it's just about where I'm at. That I finally have that balance and I'm like everything feels amazing because I've gotten to the point that I created what I wanted to.
Raul Lopez:Yeah, that's awesome and you know, as far as you know, we're always progressing and you're talking about moving up and forward, like what are some of the next steps you think you're headed to?
Andy Deossa:Yeah, it's a great question. It's like it's tough to really say too, and like it's specifically in certain moves because I have been able to like when I got hired I was an editor like now I'm a senior editor, so I have gotten promotions and I'm coming up on five years at Yahoo now and it has been like everything has been, you know, transitioning and progressing in the right way, and also like the writing thing, which is funny because like I have editorial roles and now I carved the lane with writing, so I have, you know, a whole different avenue of, I guess, work and stuff to prove and things to show, and now I'm building that up once again. So it to me is really like about progressing that and really using that platform to my I don't want to say long or short-term goal, because it's kind of both right now, but like the World Cup's coming up in 2026 here all in on soccer, since I've gotten to Yahoo like covering it, writing, you know, building up, you know contacts and stuff like that. So my goal for sure, coming up one really big one, is like when that World Cup is here, we're on that like all over it, like we're on it, I'm working, I'm doing different coverage for that, because it's going to be a massive event. It's going to be something I've been working towards and it's like almost like a next step in a progression.
Andy Deossa:Like this is the hard work I put in you know this amount of years for it to get to this point, which is amazing because there's going to be games here in LA, there's going to be games all around the country and it's like, bro, it's like it really is like a dream come true. So that's like one thing that I'm really just kind of keep my feet on the ground with and keep building these relations and just keep getting my name out there, because now it's about that again. Right Now. It's like, oh, andy, like we know, andy, he covers this, he does this, he writes these stories. Now I'm getting more opportunities and it just grows naturally that way. So I'm really all in on like building that and continuing that way.
Raul Lopez:Nice, awesome man. Well, I wish you all the best. You know, I love when you post things on Facebook and I get to like them and be like oh shit, my boy's doing it. He's doing it, all right, but and is there any? Just, I mean, before we end, is there anything? When you talked about social being important to press out, is there anything you want to blast on here?
Andy Deossa:Yeah, I mean I use Twitter. Twitter's like my biggest outlet. It's just my name, andy underscore de OSA, and it's like where I post a lot of my work. I think it's you do build these audiences. Like I said earlier, it's not typically a fan base, but it's like more audiences, like, oh, if I cover a LA team, then I'm gonna have a lot of people from LA on my Twitter, so that type of stuff they feed into.
Andy Deossa:I've been trying to be more open because Yahoo is a national outlet. So I'm not just because I'm based in LA, I'm not just the LA guy. But yeah, I use Twitter as like my way of like connecting with people, my way of promoting my work and kind of just getting things out there. And it's also like an outlet to just talk to man. Like sometimes I'll just have a random thought, a funny thought and I'm just like I'm just gonna put this out there. Like Instagram to me is a lot more just like pictures and I'll use it as a little bit of work and I'll put some stuff out there because it's visual and it's easier to put videos out there. But I'm not too deep into like the reels and creating all these like.
Andy Deossa:I'm very traditional in that sense and I think Twitter's always helped me out that way. And then Facebook, which is funny because my old Facebook I got locked out of it. So this is a new one that I'm on and I don't have that as many friends that had in the old one. But Facebook to me is, like you said, a good way to keep the people in the loop and also keep connected with people that you know I haven't seen in a while or from back home. So, yeah, I use the socials, but when it comes to work, twitter is like or X, whatever they call it. Now is the one that I'm on probably the most because, once again, when I was younger and it was coming up, it was a way that helped me work, and it still does help me work when I get all my news and instantly updates from games and stuff like that. So Twitter's where it's happening, man.
Raul Lopez:Nice man. Well, I really appreciate you being here, you know. I wish you all the best out there in Los Angeles, and for everyone else's thing. Once again, thank you all for being here and hope you'll join me again next time as we continue to learn how to say success in Spanish. Thanks, andy.
Andy Deossa:Have a great day.
