Today we’d like to introduce you to Jess Rosales.
Hi Jess, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
As a kid, I loved telling stories. I would type out and print my own little newsletters that no one but my family would read and would record my own reviews of tv shows and movies that I liked with my cassette player. I would even record fake newscasts and sometimes do the weather report. All of this made me realize how much I enjoyed reporting and my journey to becoming a journalist began.
Later in high school, we had a student-run program called Falcon Flight System. I learned to edit and write and this only cemented what I already knew, that I wanted to be a news reporter. I later interned at a local news station in Palmdale, CA where I was eventually hired right out of high school to work on the weekends. Then, hired full-time right after graduating from college (CSUN!!) I spent a majority of my career with Time Warner Cable, where I learned so much including the foundation of my skill set now. Working in cable, you did everything…produce, write, edit, host, research…and that was an asset that later in my career I learned to value more. With TWC, I was able to work with so many different groups, creating and hosting an array of shows. I even traveled to London for a movie junket…but the highlight for me really was working with the Los Angeles Dodgers. TWC had a team called the Dodgers on Demand team. We created original programming and I became so close with the people I worked with.
To this day, they are some of my best friends in this business. After a while, I knew I learned all I could from TWC and decided to take the leap into other opportunities. I worked for TVG, the LA Clippers, XFL Wild Cats, Rose Bowl Game, Red Bull, Yahoo Sports, HBO Latino, and ESPN Deportes to name a few places. Currently, I work with the Los Angeles Dodgers as an in-stadium host (since 2015) occasionally with Golden Boy Promotions (since 2014) on and off doing on camera hosting for them and at times editing social media posts and conducting interviews and for Thompson Boxing Promotions as a host and reporter on fight nights. Sometimes I feel like I haven’t accomplished much, but when I write out my journey and I look at it like this, I’m really proud of what I have done and how far I’ve come. It’s nice to look back and step out of my shoes and see the “adopt a pet” segment girl from local Palmdale Channel 3…hosting for some of the biggest events and teams in sports.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
I have had my hiccups along the way, but nothing that has ever kept me from accomplishing my goals or following my dreams. A lot of people ask me about working in a male-dominated sport like boxing and expect me to have some sort of drama, but I’ve been treated with nothing but respect from every single person I’ve worked with. That doesn’t mean it doesn’t have its challenges. I know as a female sports reporter it means I have to work extra hard, study a little more, be a bit more precise…to prove I belong here. But I am more than ready to put in the extra work…and I take pride in the job I do and even moreso, in the work that goes on behind the scenes that people don’t see on camera. I’ve also faced some challenges when it comes to being bilingual. I grew up speaking English. Occasionally speaking some Spanish, but I don’t use it in my day to day. So when opportunities for me have come up in Spanish, it’s been difficult for me to have that same level of confidence that I do in English. But it doesn’t stop me, I still try my best and I still work on getting better every time. Even though I def have some haters when it comes to that, I try not to pay attention…I don’t need to explain myself to someone that doesn’t know me or my journey.
Lastly, one thing that took me a while to really understand was when people would ask about my journey and how I got a job right out of college, and how I started working for some of the biggest sports teams in LA without ever leaving home, or how I got the opportunities I have…people used to say “you’re so lucky” and for a time, I really believed that. I would say, “I am really lucky, this has been a cool ride” but I don’t think that at all anymore. It took me a while to look at everything I have done, and everything I have accomplished…and everything I had to do to get here, to say…I’m not lucky. I worked for this. I worked for every opportunity that I was given, and it took me a long time to realize it was hardwork and not luck that really got me here.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I work in Broadcast Journalism. I think most people would know me as the Dodger Girl (yes, that me doing the hat shuffle at dodger stadium and hosting on Facebook live) and the Golden Boy reporter. I think I am most proud of my work in boxing, especially with HBO Latino. It was something I grew up with…watching PPV boxing fights with my family and listening to that HBO intro before the fights, so it was surreal to me the first broadcast I did for HBO Latino and hearing that in my ear. I just thought back to the days of having my family over to watch the fights and thinking…wow, I’m here. I made it this far. Not to mention getting to take my mom to a couple of Canelo fights. She’s been my #1 since day 1…no one has believed in me more than she has, and getting to see her experience some of this crazy life, it’s all worth all the hardwork and long nights.
Do you any memories from childhood that you can share with us?
One thing that I remember so vividly is spending time with my Nina Yoli. I remember being little, and we would be watching our morning talk shows, having our “coffee” from my cousin’s tea set (that she never wanted me to use) and just feeling like our girl time together was the best time together. We would do our nails and gossip and I got my love of reading from my Nina Yoli. She had a closet full of books that I would sit in there and read and I would say one day I’m going to have my own library. One day is now and I have bookshelves FULL of my favorite books in my office and it’s def because of her.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: JessRosales1
- Twitter: JessRosales1
