FEED: What has been the biggest challenge you have faced, and how did you overcome it? MEL McDERMOTT: As with many across the industry, we were very heavily hit by the pandemic. After all, it isn’t easy to be a sports platform when all sport is cancelled. At the start of the pandemic, I had moved to managing a large team, owning the content delivery and presentation. But within 24 hours, I had to move the group from being office-based to solely remote. This took a further turn when we had to – almost overnight – develop and deploy new methods of delivering engaging content that we had never previously even considered viable. Throughout the lockdown, we kept fans engaged with the sporting world, and even drove other sports to their newfound fame – particularly with esports. EMILY BERGUN: During the pandemic, being the only woman across the on-site engineering shift support teams was very challenging at times. I remember going days where I wouldn’t speak to a single other woman! Thankfully, I was a part of Rise – a scheme for gender diversity mentoring, which not only provided me with an incredible and supportive mentor, but also with a network of the other mentees on the cohort of the scheme.* ANNA LOCKWOOD: At the beginning of my career, there weren’t many women in leadership
“IT’S ALL ABOUT GETTING PEOPLE TO TRUST MEWITHTHEIR PRODUCTIONS. MOST OF MY JOB ISTO MAKE SURE, FROM AVISION POINT OFVIEW, EVERYTHING JUSTWORKS”
SARAH ADAMS: For me, it’s all about getting people to trust me with their productions. Most of my job boils down to making sure, from a vision point of view, everything just seamlessly works. I’ve found that getting to know people really helps. It puts them more at ease, as they feel you are more approachable and can work together to make a great production. At that point, they will see that you are every bit as good as any one of your other colleagues.
roles in sports media, and weren’t many women on sports broadcast crews – either in production or post-production. The women who worked with me in those years were either athletes who had transitioned to broadcast roles, or women so passionate about sports that they worked hard to join the world and grow in their careers. I’m so glad that my generation has opened doors for other women, and we are now making the sports world a great place for anyone to work.
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*Check out our summer 2021 issue article about Rise’s mentoring programme, where we got to interview Emily and other mentees and learn their stories, at: feedmagazine.tv/features/working -in-broadcasting-time-to-make-a-difference
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