I spoke with UCTV Sports director Daisy Gonzalez talks about the challenges she deals with as a woman working in sports, the role allies can play in your success and who in the sports industry.
HELPFUL LINKS
Sports — UConn Student Television — UCTV
SOCIAL MEDIA POSTS
TRANSCRIPTION
Kali Reed: So, tell me who I’m here with today.
Daisy Gonzalez: Okay. My name is Daisy Gonzalez. I’m a junior here at UConn, and I am the UCTV sports director. Along with being a student basketball manager and the baseball videographer and photographer.
Kali Reed: Tell me a little bit about how you got your first start in sports and, like, what made you want to get into these roles or how you did.
Daisy Gonzalez: I think it started back in high school when I joined the broadcasting class. It was, like a really fun class we had in our high school because we got to travel and I was like, yeah, I’m in. • And I actually fell in love with being behind the camera. I tried to report a few times. it wasn’t my favorite thing, but I loved to create ideas in my head and then be able to produce it with video and then I built my way up to being one of the student directors in the class. And then after I graduated, I didn’t really know when I wanted to go into school four, I love sports, and I was, like, on the soccer team and everything, so I love being part of a team. but when I was, like, applying to colleges, my majors would be different to every college I applied to because I didn’t really know. I applied to UConn as a nutritional science major because I thought I wanted to be a dietitian turned out I did not want to do that UConn was not my first pick either.
Kali Reed: What was your first pick?
Daisy Gonzalez: Marist, I got in, but it was too small of a school and the sports wasn’t great so I got my acceptance from UConn, and I was like, okay, I’m going. And then I knew about UCTV before I even came to UConn. And we saw what was being produced, me and my friend that also go here, and we were like, we definitely can build this club up. Like, there’s so much potential and then it was • • • on Fairfield Way, where they have all the clubs in, like, the first week.
Kali Reed: involvement fair.
Daisy Gonzalez: Yeah. I signed up for UCTV Sports, went to every single meeting, and yeah that’s how I started.
Kali Reed: And worked your way up to director?
Daisy Gonzalez: Yeah
Kali Reed: Nice.
Daisy Gonzalez: Got to travel my freshman year to Florida, I was like, oh, I really like traveling and everything and fell in love.
Kali Reed: How do you feel being a woman in this position in a particularly male dominated field? Do you face a lot of backlash, inequality?
Daisy Gonzalez: again, back in high school, being a student director, I was a girl, and a lot of my boy friends were in that class, and they would not take me seriously, they thought it was a joke. They thought everything I was saying was like not serious when I was like really passionate about it, so I definitely learned from being part of that club that it’s going to be a challenge to be a woman in any higher position and having men below you. But then coming into sports director, I wouldn’t say there’s any like wicked challenges that I faced. It’s just having my voice heard is the hardest. Because you look at me and you think, oh, she looks so sweet and kind and I am, I like to think that but when I’m trying to have business and have things done, people don’t take me seriously. So, it’s just asserting that dominance from the beginning and then building the friendship after I think is what I’ve learned is best when being a woman in a male dominated field and you kind of just got to stick to it and but build confidence in yourself and then people will start to take you for real.
Kali Reed: Do you find it intimidating to be the only women in the room sometimes?
Daisy Gonzalez: Definitely when I’m like covering a basketball game or even since I’m on the baseball team and it’s me and the athletic director and I can go for are the only we can be the only two women in both teams is like you just got to like step back and be like whoa, like there are only like three girls in this room. I wouldn’t say I find it intimidating because I know that I belong in the room as well and I know I’m supposed to be there. So I just see everyone as, on the same level and I hope that they see me that same way.
Kali Reed: Where do you see the future of women working in sports? Because I know it’s grown a lot in the past couple years.
Daisy Gonzalez: yeah, I think with women in sports and especially in basketball right now that is like the major thing that’s happening working in sports or playing. I think because they’re playing and WNBA is starting to get noticed that girls are gonna be like, oh, I can work with them. I can be part of this too. And with social media now there’s so many platforms and so companies that have women and that advocate for women working in sports so, I think social media being able to show all the generations that women working in sports, is what’s going to impact our future. But I do think it’s going to be on a rise and when I Attended the MLB networking event for women in sports. it was a lot of athletes. Like, I’m surprised I even got in because it was just revolved around athletes. There was just a lot of girls, very eager to get up to a dominant role in sports. So I only think it’s gonna be better from here.
Kali Reed: What changes have you made to UCTV that you feel like more empowers the women in your, in your club to feel more included?
Daisy Gonzalez: I think just being the director says a lot, I was hired by a male, so having that kind of aspect playing into my position says a lot and I know the director before me always said, like, there’s no one else that can do this position but you. Like, you are the most qualified for this so having that in the back of my mind definitely helps. But then there are a lot of girls in our club, and I think me being a director that they have someone to look up to is great. and honestly, girls just do it better than boys. Like, girls will grasp on material better, learn faster and they just know how to do it better and more efficient than some boys might. I think they look at me and they see that it’s possible to be in a higher position specialty since we’re just in college and yeah.
Kali Reed: What do you think is next up for you going into your senior year? Do you have any ambitions, any more roles that you want to achieve at UConn and then beyond that?
Daisy Gonzalez: So, for next year I applied to be the CEO of UCTV, so we’ll see where that takes me. but I love UCTV and the organization as a whole and how inclusive we are and that we want everyone to have a creative touch and express that, and I think being a woman in a CEO position will be really cool. And I still have so much to learn. And every interview that I’ve gone to in the last few months trying to get internships, when I’m in the interviews, they ask me like, what do you want out of this experience? And every answer, every time I get asked this, I answer it in the same way because, right now I feel like I’ve reached like the limit of what I know with sports and video and photo, and I know there’s so much to learn. So just trying to get those interviews, trying to get the internships, because I know there’s so much more to learn. so I know it can be a really hard path in sports to get the job that you want, but I think if you love it enough, you’re going to end up where you want to be. so, yeah, I’m just always eager to learn and I know there’s a lot to learn and you just got toa work for it.
Kali Reed: What’s your dream position, dream role after college?
Daisy Gonzalez: Every time I get asked, I just say, like, the Boston Celtics. Like, I just want to work for the Boston Celtics. UConn has made me love basketball and then I just love the city of Boston. I’m not a huge fan of New York, and I’m like, I’ve grown up in CT, so, like, I need my car. So, Boston’s like the perfect area that I would want to end up.
Kali Reed: I agree, as someone from Massachusetts, Boston is much better than New York.
Daisy Gonzalez: I don’t always want to be behind the camera, sitting down at the court. As cool as it is, I kind of want to create projects, to be a producer and director, wherever that takes me. In the back of my mind, I always think of, like, music videos. Those are so fun to produce. but I love, like, thinking of an idea and then creating it and seeing it. it’s like a huge. What’s that word? Like, you feel like motivation. No, like accomplished. Yeah, accomplished. Once I see what I create, like, actually come to life, I feel really accomplished. And I think that pushes me to continue to work in sports and video. But yeah, I would say my dream is working for the Boston Celtics and being in some type of producer, director role in overseeing what gets produced on a lot of the platforms.
Kali Reed: Could you see yourself being on camera one day?
Daisy Gonzalez: My dad always says, Daisy, like, you should go in front of the camera. Like, try reporting. I did it in high school. I was fine. But my, teacher did say I had, like, a sing song voice, which just mean, like, you go up and down when you report. I was like, okay, well I’m just gonna give up. So then I went behind the camera. I was like, oh, I love this and then the beginning of this year, I did a media availability, and I did it as a reporter and all props reporters, but I can’t come up with a story like, two minutes after the game’s so stressful.
Kali Reed: Ya I’m not good under time constraints.
Daisy Gonzalez: Yeah, like, I’ll do like, the shows, but, like, I prepare the script a day ahead. Yeah, I wouldn’t say no. I’m never gonna be reporter. I’m open to anything but it’s just not what I do
Kali Reed: Who in the Sports industry or without, would you say you look up to as a woman in sports? •
Daisy Gonzalez: I say there’s a lot of women in my life that I look up to, not directly in sports, whether that’s my oldest sister, or anyone in my family. But there was one girl that I talked to at the MLB event. Her name is Jessica. She’s the lead photographer for MLB and we had a really heartfelt conversation after the panels. It was right before I was about to go to Puerto Rico with the baseball team, and it was my first travel trip, and I was really nervous because I was the only girl going to be on the trip. My biggest fear was, who am I going to eat with? Like, because when you’re there, you’re just playing baseball and I’m just working, but, like, obviously you need to eat, and you need to eat with someone. And I was like, who am I going to eat with, but it all ended up fine. But me and Jessica talked about it, and I asked her. I was like, being a woman in baseball, how did you, like, make yourself feel like you were on the team? And she just told me, like, you belong there. Like, you’re there for a reason, so own it and then a huge message that whole day was, you only need, like, one ally, because boys are sometimes dumb that they’re going to believe anything anyone says. So if one of the players says, wow, Daisy’s really cool. Daisy knows what she’s doing. The rest are going to think the same exact way. and so just focusing on building friendships on the baseball team really helped me. and then I went to Puerto Rico and kind of just did my job and didn’t even think about who I was going to eat with by the time that I got there but you just got to, like, let everything flow and how it’s supposed to be. And at the end of the day, I was there for a reason, and it felt like that but that was a really meaningful conversation that I had with her and she reached out to me the next day, which I thought was really kind and t’s probably someone that I will continue to connect with.
Kali Reed: Okay, well, thank you so much for talking to me today, Daisy. You’ve been a great guest on my podcast.
Daisy Gonzalez: You’ve been a great hostess.
Kali Reed: Thank you so much.
