The Take Vol. 2: The Sports Media Rebuild

The Take with Ethel Mwedziwendira is a monthly conversation with the professionals redefining how their industries operate. Every issue spotlights one person doing work worth knowing about, across fields and across regions.

Kelsey Nicole Nelson does not have a lane. She has several, and she built all of them at the same time. FOX Sports Radio host and reporter, Studio Host for the Atlantic 10 Network, GWU professor, podcast founder, and communications consultant. This conversation is about sports media, where it is going, and what it actually takes to stay relevant in an industry that keeps changing the rules.

What's the conversation you find yourself having most often in your industry right now?

The conversation I find myself having most often is about how to best engage with social media when the algorithm is always changing. From influencer partnerships to public relations and communications campaigns, everyone is trying to figure out how to break through and reach their audiences. This is part of why I built KryptiaNN, my communications consulting firm focused on the conversations shaping sports media, strategic communications, digital brand growth, and support for minority-owned businesses. Through consulting, content, and community-building, we look at how storytelling and visibility create opportunity across media and entrepreneurship.

You have built a career that spans broadcasting, consulting, journalism, and academia at the same time rather than sequentially. Was that intentional from the start or did it evolve into something you didn't plan?

My initial goal was to be a sports journalist. But the beauty of the journey is that you evolve, and you find ways to maximize your talents, skills, and gifts over time. What I have built today is an all-encompassing brand where I am able to leverage my public speaking and interviewing skills, my teaching background, and my strategy work to lead across multiple fields, multiple businesses, and as talent myself. I am driven by legacy, impact, and purpose, and as a woman of faith I believe I am following the path that has been laid out for me. The greatest part of my story is that I am still building, and have yet to accomplish everything I hope to. It has been so inspiring meeting the people along the way who have supported my dreams. I never want to know what happens to a dream deferred.

Sports media is contracting in some places and expanding in others simultaneously. From your vantage point across all of those lanes, where is the real opportunity right now and where are people chasing something that is already closing?

When COVID-19 first hit and live sports halted, what we learned is that sports still drives culture and conversation. Sports media pivoted deeper into storytelling, and we continue to see that today with the rise of newsletters, as people are turning to individual sources for news rather than networks alone. That is part of why I launched my LinkedIn newsletter, Playful Banter, which brings bold perspectives through a cultural lens, with a little laughter along the way. Personality-driven, hard news perspectives continue to drive conversations in the digital era. Sports journalism is not dead or dying. It is evolving, continuing to meet people where they are.

Vertical video, direct athlete channels, podcast networks — the ways sports stories get told have changed completely in a short period of time. What has actually gotten better about sports storytelling and what has gotten worse that nobody wants to say out loud?

The rise of vertical video has been remarkable. It is driving every social media platform forward and it is where companies are making their biggest investments. But the problem with everyone having access to a microphone is that everyone wants the power of the mic without always remembering the responsibility that comes with it, specifically the journalistic principles of ethics and truth. We are living in a world where less is fact-checked and there is less emphasis on being right. The fast and rampant spread of misinformation and disinformation needs to be discussed out loud. We have a responsibility to our audiences. The avenues to reach people have multiplied, but the reliability of sourcing and building real relationships with sources has declined.

You launched a sports media class at GW. When you look at the students coming into this industry, what do they understand about sports media that took you years to figure out on your own?

One of the greatest assets young people have now is that they can begin building their own content immediately. When I was in school, I felt I could only build through other organizations and platforms. My students today make their own opportunities through their own channels. They are not waiting to be handed a portfolio opportunity. They are creating one right now. They are also seeing the growth that can come from working with startup companies rather than relying solely on being accepted by major media outlets. The Intro to Sports Writing and Reporting class I launched builds on this, pushing students to develop an entrepreneurial mindset in journalism.

What's a decision you made early in your career that you'd make completely differently now?

I think everything happens for a reason, but if I could go back, I would have built the KNN brand earlier. Little did I know that the nickname I would go by would turn into a media empire. I did not fully realize the value of my personal brand when I first started out. Through connections along the way, I learned the importance of working with a good trademark attorney to protect your intellectual property. I did not understand the value of protecting what you have built until later in my career. Starting that process early saves real time and money in the long run.

What's keeping you energized right now?

I am a lifelong learner, and throughout my career I am always energized by what there is still to discover. Media, communications, and public relations are fields of constant pivoting. What keeps me going is the people I get to meet. My work enables me to travel and connect with people daily from every sector of work and life, and that has opened up networks and possibilities I never anticipated. I am always being introduced to new opportunities and new rooms.

Kelsey said she never wants to know what happens to a dream deferred.

When you look at how she has built across broadcasting, consulting, academia, and entrepreneurship without waiting for any single door to open first, that stops being a reference and starts reading as a strategy. She has been in a lot of rooms and earned every one of them.