Today we’d like to introduce you to Tyler Boronski.
Tyler, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I am a celebrity reporter (best known on YouTube). I also work as a content producer for a sports TV network called New England Sports Network (Boston, MA). My media career started as a freshman in high school (2014). I grew up living near a minor league baseball ballpark for a team called the “Bridgeport Bluefish.” I would go to a lot of games growing up, even had season tickets at one point. I would watch sports channels such as “ESPN” and “MLB Network” and see the reporters interview the players. I remember thinking one day, “I live near a ballpark- why can’t I interview players like the reporters on TV do?” That would spark my interest in conducting player interviews and posting them on a YouTube Channel. I loved the fact that I could sit down with a player one-on-one and ask them any questions I wanted about their career. I was hooked after that and a lot of my free time during my high school years (2014-17) was spent at various ballparks around the northeast (CT, NY, NJ, PA) conducting player interviews for my YouTube Channel.
My goal after high school was to find a college that I believed offered the best sports media program. I decided to join the Dan Patrick School of Sportscasting Program at Full Sail University (Winter Park, FL) as part of their inaugural class. While the program was brand new, I was confident in what the program could offer because I knew of Full Sail’s reputation in producing successful individuals in the “media/entertainment field”. I also had a prior relationship with Dan Patrick (Host of “The Dan Patrick Show”) having been in the same class as his daughter in school growing up. Also, the people Dan were bringing in such as Gus Ramsey (4x Emmy Award Winner), Rishi Barran (Former Spectrum Sports Anchor) as well as guest mentors like Bill Simmons (Founder of “The Ringer”) and Jay Harris (ESPN Anchor) made me realize that I would be surrounded by some of the best people in the industry, When I was covering minor league baseball in high school, I learned how to be a self-starter. It taught me how to speak with adults, pitch myself, and hustle to create opportunities for myself since I was creating these player interviews solely for my personal YouTube Channel.
However, I didn’t develop the skillsets of being a good “on-camera talent” and “interviewer” until I joined the Dan Patrick School of Sportscasting. I owe my two years in the program for helping me work on my craft and teaching me the fundamentals of “storytelling”, “performing”, and overall what “quality content” looks like. While in the sportscasting program, I continued to set up sports interviews for my YouTube Channel on my own time to not only build my portfolio but also develop my personal brand. I elevated my sports interviews to interviewing MLB and NBA players and getting credentialed for teams like the Orlando Magic through my YouTube Channel. However, living in the Orlando area exposed me to a field that I’d never experienced prior- that was the entertainment field. There were so many comic con events and social media conventions in the area that I was able to interview celebrity actors and popular social media creators. I was able to sit down with actors like Brandon Routh (Superman Returns) and Chelsea Talmadge (Stranger Things) to Youtubers like Tana Mongeau and Timothy DeLaGhetto. Just like how interviewing players peaked my interest as a freshman in high school, being involved in interviewing “celebrity entertainment personalities” peaked my interest when I started attending these events. I knew from that point I wanted to continue experiencing opportunities in both the sports and entertainment fields.
After I graduated from Full Sail (Oct. 2019). I moved back to my home state of Connecticut for a short period. Right when I moved back was when TikTok was growing in popularity. I didn’t know much about TikTok, but I did hear about this girl Charli D’Amelio before. She was having a meet & greet alongside other TikTokers not far from where I lived. Like any event, I figured out how to get media credentials and decided to attend. Little did I know how much of an impact that event would have for my career/personal brand moving forward. My interview with Charli is the one that is most brought up and people usually mention to me. Since that event Charli has become arguably the most popular person this past year (over 105.3M TikTok followers). However at the time, I was her 3rd ever interview and she had just hit 10M followers. I started learning and understanding the “TikTok world” more closely after that event. I even had a short stint of working closely with popular creators Mark Anastasio, Maximo Rivano, and Luca Lombardo helping them create and edit their YouTube content, which gave me a better insight into their world. Scriberr News deemed me one of the first reporters to start covering household name “TikTok Stars”. In addition to Charli, my TikTok interviewee list includes Dixie D’Amelio, Chase Hudson, and Ellie Zeiler.
In July 2020, I joined New England Sports Network (NESN) in the Boston area as a content producer. Since joining the company, I’ve had the opportunity to interview players on the Boston Red Sox. My goal is to continue to work towards getting more “consistent reporting” opportunities to cover either the MLB or NBA for the network. In addition to my work with NESN, I’ve continued to stay involved on YouTube interviewing various “celebrity entertainment figures”. As of recent, that’s included interviewing multiple actors on the popular Netflix limited series “The Queen’s Gambit” as well as a quick trip to LA to interview popular social media creator Kelianne Stankus at the famed “Triller Compound”. While the goal is to always increase viewership, my ultimate objective is to continue to produce the best interview product I can. YouTube has helped me develop a personal brand online. However at the end of my day, it’s also just a portfolio of my work and skillset that will continue to help give me opportunities, whatever that may look like.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It has not always been the smoothest. This field of work is so competitive that it requires your full dedication if you want to be in a position to get opportunities. Since high school, I’m constantly thinking 24/7 things like “How can I get better?”, “What’s the next step I need to take?”, “How can I make this opportunity/interview happen for myself?”. I’ve dedicated so much of my time, especially in high school & college, on putting myself in a good position for my career. I didn’t always do the normal things that a high school or college student would do. On a Friday night, instead of being out at a party. I might be home editing for 6 hours straight trying to produce the best interview I can. People are super supportive when they see a post of say an interview I produce, someone famous I met, an event I got to attend, or even something like working at an established sports network like NESN. However, the countless of hours it took to even be in a position to make those opportunities happen is something people don’t see. Nothing is given to you in this industry so if there’s a goal you’re looking to achieve, it’s on you to make it happen. The saying “If you love what you do, you’ll never work a day in your life” is something I’m not sure I fully agree with. There are many days where I’m working on YouTube related content and things for my personal brand in the mornings and then working at NESN starting in the afternoon until the “graveyard” shift at night. I feel like I worked hard. I’m tired by the end of the day. But because I have a passion and love for what I do, I’ll put my 100% effort into it and I can be proud of the work I’ve done by the end of it. That’s a good feeling to have. The last thing I’ll say is one of the biggest struggles I’ve dealt with is figuring out “balance.” Trying to make sure I devote the proper amount of time to other things outside of working on my career, such as maintaining quality relationships with friends and family and even make sure I’m doing proper care for myself like eating correctly and working out. It’s something I’m conscious about but always striving to get better at.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
My goal is to always make sure the content I produce is both informative and entertaining, which is especially true when it comes to the thing I specialize in with interviews. The best interviews achieve that – that’s why I love what Sean Evans has done with his celebrity interview show “Hot Ones.” I feel like I learned a lot more about the guests afterwards and he’s able to achieve that by the show’s format of them eating progressively hotter chicken wings, which lets their “guard down”. I do my best to ask curious questions to hopefully have the guest share insightful information and “advance the story.” Hopefully, the entertainment value is fulfilled too by how well our camaraderie is. Editing techniques, such as adding proper b-roll, is also a big factor that helps video interviews when it comes to the goal of being informative and entertaining. To your question of “What sets you apart from others?” I think one thing I’ve done over the last few years is I’ve worked on not only getting better at my craft but also personal branding. Without any natural talent or developed skillset, It’s difficult to have a career in this field. I think being good at your craft is a top priority. However having people know you, especially the “right” people in your industry, can help you get opportunities that maybe you wouldn’t. That is why social media, particularly YouTube, has been so valuable for my career. It’s giving me a platform to create a name for myself and develop a “personality” online.
Where do you see things going in the next 5-10 years?
I think one thing you’ll continue to see more is people creating their own media content and becoming “household” names simply by what they put on the internet. Not too long ago, the only way to become an “on-camera personality” was to go work at a small TV network somewhere and work your way up markets. That was the only way to build a “name” for yourself and have access to being on people’s screens. That’s changed now. That’s still a viable path for sure. However, with the power of social media, especially YouTube, you can be on-camera and create a “name” for yourself on your own. It’s up to you to put out the best content you can and how much work you put into it. For some people, that may turn into “thousands upon thousands of subscribers” and making YouTube their full-time job. For others, the quality content you put out might not translate to “online statistics”, but maybe on-camera opportunities with companies. I think you’ll see creating online content be more accepted as “industry experience”. As long as someone thinks your work is quality, you might not need to go the “small market” route.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.tylerboronski.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tylerboronski/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/tylerboronski
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/TylerBoronski
