Today we’d like to introduce you to Jess Lucero.
Jess, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
Growing up, I always wanted to do something that combined sports and entertainment but couldn’t pinpoint exactly what that was. I used to sit and watch tons of entertainment talk shows with my mom as she made dinner and always kept up with entertainment news. And when I spent time with my dad, we would play baseball and watch the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Originally, I thought I wanted to chase the dream of being a sports reporter. Working the sidelines, and breaking down the overall story of each game and player. But, I always knew I would eventually cross over to entertainment, I just didn’t know exactly when that might be. After graduating college I covered high school sports for Fox Sports West and became and In-Game Host for the Dodgers. After some layoffs, my time at Fox Sports West ended and I became a Producer and Host at Overtime, which was much more pop culture and sports focused than my prior positions. This was when I began to dive more and more into entertainment news. Eventually, I launched my own TikTok account titled JessTheReporter where I built an audience breaking down pop culture news, and as a consumer myself, I would occasionally share my own opinions.
Over the past year, I’ve launched and hosted a few different entertainment shows, became a host of the Women’s Sports Network, and began working movie premieres. I’ve been lucky enough to interview casts and crews of major films and television shows. Lily Tomlin, Glen Powell, Joe Jonas, Jonathan Majors, the Russo Brothers. I’ve been able to bring the walls down of major celebrities, which people aren’t always able to do. After working my first carpet in 2022, I realized this was where I was meant to be.
Most recently, I launched a new series on my channels called, “Conversations with Creators,” where I do a ton of research on people across the content creator industry and ask them questions about themselves. All in hopes of them responding and creating an organic conversation, to help their audience know more about them. I’ve now received responses from major creators that I’ve looked up to like Tefi, Meredith Duxbury, and Audrey Trullinger. I plan to not only keep the series going, but adding major artists, actors, and athletes into the mix as well.
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?
The road has been very bumpy and included lots of twists and turns along the way. I moved out from the San Diego area to LA just a few months before the pandemic hit, and luckily kept my job at Overtime but there was a constant worry of what would happen next. The pandemic also hindered a ton of major events which made it difficult to progress in my career, from red-carpet premieres to sports games, there wasn’t a ton going on.
Every industry I’ve ever worked in has been extremely saturated. Sports, entertainment, content creation, etc. So I knew I had to do everything in my power to eventually become a household name as an entertainment reporter. Originally, I launched my TikTok page because it was so difficult to find a job where I was consistently hosting. So I figured if I created my own page, I could talk about whatever topic I wanted, whenever I wanted. Ultimately, that’s been the most rewarding thing I’ve done, to see how people actually value my opinion on pop culture topics and come to me to stay updated. My favorite compliment to receive is, “you keep me updated on all entertainment news, I would know nothing if it weren’t for you!”
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
As an entertainment reporter, I know we have a reputation of being known as sneaky or willing to do whatever we can to get the story. And while I work extremely hard to get the facts straight and cover stories as quickly as possible. I consider myself to be extremely loyal, and at the end of the day, the creators and celebrities I talk about are people too. So I always keep that in mind before proceeding with making a video. As a consumer of entertainment, pop culture, and sports, I will include my opinion from time to time but I know where to draw the line. I think this ultimately what sets me apart from major corporations and other entertainment reporters.
I’m also Latina and my heritage is very important to me. Because of that, I realize a lot of other people relate to the aspect of their culture being very important to them as well. So whenever I speak with people with a diverse backgrounds, I try to point that out and they always light up whenever they have the opportunity to talk about their culture.
Let’s talk about our city – what do you love? What do you not love?
As someone who’s born and raised in the Los Angeles area, I love LA and always will. We are so rich in culture from Hollywood to East Los Angeles to the beach cities, there’s so much to do out here. I love how hardworking the city is and how there’s always something to do. The only complaint I could really give is that I wish there was a better public transportation system so the county would be a little more walkable and we wouldn’t have to rely on our own cars as much and add to the traffic/pollution.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.tiktok.com/@jessthereporter
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/itsjesslucero/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jessica-lucero/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/itsjesslucero
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcZj8Mx5i-SYHqaFsFLxK8A
Image Credits
Jess Lucero
