How The F**k Did You Get That Job?

How the f**k did Dennis Deninger go from working in radio to being part of one of the first teams at ESPN? Dennis graduated from Syracuse University in 1973. Five years after leaving Syracuse, he started working as an Executive Producer for WSVN Channel 7. In 1991, he started as a Coordinating Producer for ESPN in Bristol, Connecticut. In his 14 years at ESPN, Dennis rose to become Head of Digital...

How the f**k did Jacob Zander go from selling shoe soles to selling cereal boxes decorated with the presidential candidates? Jacob was attending Westmont College when he started executing this idea to make Chuck Taylors more comfortable with an insole that also had a story. A pitch contest won and some years later, he’s still telling that story on YouTube, his website, and TikTok, where he has ove...

How the f**k did Connor Dethlefs go from playing JV basketball in college (yes, that is a thing) to finding his passion in graphic design? Connor graduated from Nebraska Wesleyan University in 2016 where he played one season on what was the objectively the best dual affiliated NCAA Division III and NAIA Division II JV college basketball team to ever touch the floor. After graduating, Connor was a...

How the f**k did Mike Hunter go from high school student to making videos that have ended up on the social media accounts of huge names in the sports world? In high school, Mike started editing highlight videos of some of his favorite athletes and uploading them to YouTube. That channel eventually amassed over 70K subscribers and Mike started working as a freelance video editor. He’s done projects...

How the f**k did Adam Ornelas go from winning a business competition with an app he helped create to being part of the social team at Chipotle? Adam graduated from the University of New Mexico in his hometown of Albuquerque in 2013. Shortly after graduating, Adam co-founded a company called Culture Engineers. Adam spent a short time in Venice, California at Mark Cuban’s Recess Inc. before moving t...

How the f**k did Jeff Hanel go from selling Volvos to winning Emmy Awards for his incredible cinematography skills? Jeff graduated from Northwestern State University then went on to get his bachelor of performance in music from Edith Cowan University in Australia. After playing trombone for two years in the Western Australian Symphony Orchestra, Jeff tried his hand at sales in the European car ind...

How the f**k did Alex Sheinman take his entrepreneurial spirit and help create a huge sports business conference and a nonprofit organization among other things? Alex graduated from Penn State University in 2018. During his time in school he interned with the NFL and MLB. He also won the Michigan Sports Business Conference’s big initiative award and Co-founded the national renown Penn State Sports...

How the f**k did Kevin Edwards go from being more skilled with the pen than the camera to shooting for teams like Stanford and the Niners? Kevin started his career in sports media as a writer for the Stanford University football blog, Rule Of Tree. From there he honed his skills in video and photo content, creating for places like VaynerSports, The Associated Press, and Turner Sports. Today, when...

How the f**k did Erika Esola-Imburgio go from covering sports at various Florida newspapers to working for one of the biggest video game companies in the nation? Erika graduated from University of Central Florida in 2011. During her time at school, Erika was a sports editor of the student newspaper, the Central Florida Future. Upon leaving campus, Erika was a Sports Editor for the Seminole Chronic...

How the f**k did JT Barnett go from playing professional hockey in the U.S. and over in Europe to co-founding multiple brands including the famous adult TikTok house, HoneyHouse? JT left Notre Dame Preparatory School in 2008 to pursue a career in professional hockey. He rose through the Western Hockey League into the farm systems of NHL teams like the Arizona Coyotes, Boston Bruins, and Los Angele...

How the f**k did Tyler Schmitt go from working at The Taco Shop to handling the schedule of a man that’s nonstop (A.K.A. Gary Vee)? Tyler graduated from Penn State in 2013. During his time at school, Tyler was the Food Service Manager of the Montclair Beach Club. Upon leaving State College, Tyler was a Team Leader and eventually Assistant General Manager of The Taco Truck before leaving the restau...

How the f**k did Melisa Meral go from organizing people’s homes to organizing their businesses online to helping them now find jobs in the midst of a pandemic? Melisa graduated from California State University-San Marcos in 2010. After graduating, she focused her efforts on Human Resources consulting. She worked with several Fortune 500 companies including Abbot and General Electric. In 2017, Meli...

How the f**k did Kendall Baker go from writing newsletters on his own time to having it be so good that Axios acquired it? Kendall received his B.A. in Communications from the University of Pennsylvania in 2013. Upon leaving school, he spent almost a year at Bleacher Report as a columnist. He followed that up with a year working on the production side for ESPN. Then in 2016, Kendall became Head of...

How the f**k did Justin Kittredge go from Reebok intern to starting his own custom slide sandal company? Justin graduated from James Madison University in 2000. After his time at JMU, he went on to Reebok communicating with the NBA as an Associate Product Manager. After four years there he became a product manager at Atsco footwear. Justin then returned to Reebok as the Director of their Basketbal...

How the f**k did Rachel Balkovec go from making $30 a day as a strength and conditioning coach in Arizona to making history as the first woman hired to be a full-time hitting coach for a Major League Baseball team? Rachel received her B.A. in Kinesiology from New Mexico University in 2009, where she played Division I softball. From there, she went on to become a Graduate Assistant Strength and Con...

How the f**k did J’Ron go from interning with NFL teams up and down the West Coast to becoming a force in the Social Media Marketing department at ESPN? J’Ron received his B.A. in Mass Communication from Wayne State College in 2016. During his time in school, he interned with the Washington Football Team, the San Diego Chargers, and the San Francisco 49ers. In 2018, J’Ron was on the Super Bowl PR...

How the f**k did Michael Willett and Tristan Reaves go from college football walk ons at the University of Central Florida to building up their own successful business? Today we’re talking with Michael and Tristan about their experience at UCF and how that led them to create WalkOn Nation, a developmental program for student-athletes alike across the country. Michael and Tristan both received thei...

How the f**k did Teddy “Hops” Giard go from doing backflips on Shark Tank to now heading up the marketing for the very popular cooler brand, Kanga Coolers? Today we’re talking with Teddy about his entrepreneurial journey to help start this company and build up the Kanga brand. Teddy graduated from Clemson University in 2020. During his time at Clemson he was an intern at Charter Financial and the...

How the f**k did Brad Marks go from representing talent all over L.A. to becoming the CMO of Som Sleep? Today we’re talking with Brad about his journey through the agency world, social media marketing and eventually onto his job at Som Sleep. Brad graduated from the University of California San Diego in the year 2000. Fresh out of college he was an agent trainee for one of Hollywood’s largest tale...

How the f**k did Taiki Green risk a stable job for a life of freelance videography? Today we’re talking with Taiki about his journey to become a videography force in the world of professional baseball. Taiki dropped out of the University of Washington and in 2015, he started working with Driveline Baseball as a videographer, capturing the stories of high-profile athletes and personalities around t...

How the f**k did Will Wall go from selling $75,000 bottles of Champagne at clubs in Vegas to selling $75,000 tickets to Chargers games? Today we’re talking with Will about everything sales related. Will graduated from University of California-Santa Cruz in 2010. He went on to work in the hospitality industries of Las Vegas and Los Angeles eventually working his way up to the role of Director of VI...

How the f**k did Katie Austin go from Division I lacrosse player to a very successful fitness influencer? Today we’re talking with Katie about her transition from college athlete to gaining a huge following on all social channels. Katie graduated from the University of Southern California in 2016. During her time as a Trojan she played Division I Lacrosse and started taking steps toward her career...

How the f**k did Nick Dio go from trailblazing his way up through the VaynerMedia ranks to starting arguably the most successful adult TikTok house (not what it sounds like... it's just a communal living space for creative adults to produce content)? Today we’re talking with Nick about how he used his skills in communication and content creation to become a viral sensation. Nick graduated from Rid...

How the f**k did Brett Ramker go from not getting into UCF's film school to becoming an award-winning producer? Today we’re talking with Brett about his journey from the restaurant business into the video production world. Brett graduated from University of Central Florida’s College of Hospitality & Management in 2013. Shortly after, he left the restaurant world to begin working for NASCAR Pro...

How the f**k did Jake Plummer go from setting records in college to playing pro ball to becoming a co-founding his own company? Today we’re talking with Jake about his NFL days and how it impacted the work he’s doing now. Jake grew up in Smiley Creek, Idaho with his parents and two brothers. He was recruited to play football at Arizona State University where he set school records in both total off...