Thoughts/Emotions on Invitation to Black Sports Symposium presented by ESPN

Man, I’m so emotional typing this right now… Where do I even begin? On March 17, 2023, I received an email that I was invited/accepted as one of the best young aspiring black sports media talents in America to attend the Black Sports Symposium sponsored by ESPN event in Atlanta, Georgia from April 13-15th where people such as Klutch CEO Rich Paul (LeBrons agent), NBC Sports Reporter Maria Taylor, and many more prominent black sports media members will be speaking and in attendance.

It’s been a long journey for me, one full of many ups and downs, highs and lows as I have been through a lot in life personally and through my content. From heartbreak/betrayal, the strife of someone passing away that was important to me, failing to land media jobs of the countless ones I’ve applied to until I recently landed one as a Local Media Assistant at Active Media International and other life stresses.

There have been days I’ve cried and felt like giving up, thinking why am I wasting my time doing this, wanting to throw my laptop or phone to the ground and break it whether that was getting rejected from another media job, or not getting the results on a podcast or article that I put so much time and effort in that it discouraged me and made me question my degree choice.

But despite all of that… All the pain, the strife, the heartbreak… Did I give up? No, I kept pushing even through the darkest of days knowing one day all the hard work was going to pay off, all the hours of recording where sometimes I lost my voice or my throat would be hurting from my podcast, wrist pain at times from doing so many articles and having my brain feel like it was being fried on a skillet melting from doing so much research and looking at a screen.

I also was a sports announcer and radio host while I was on SUNY New Paltz campus which helped me learn how to speak in front of a live audience and helped me gain more experience in what I’m pursuing in what was the most productive, innovative year of my life that helped take me to the next level. I’m a HoopsHabit Contributor as well for the certified company Fansided on Instagram and am the Co-Creator of the Sports Media Blog for Sports Media Inc all before the age of 23, which I turn on July 25 of this year.

It all started with a podcast before anything else in June of 2020, and the rest has been history since, from landing two internships, then the website, and so forth. I never in my wildest dreams would've thought I’d reached the places I have from my website and podcast not just domestically here in the U.S. but also in countries such as Canada, Africa, India, Taiwan, Japan, China, Australia, France, Mexico, Egypt, and so many more.

When Kanye said “N-n-now that don’t kill me can only make me stronger”, or when Drake said “And the dirt that they threw on my name turned to soil and I grew up out it”, or how about when Russ said “That’s what I call foresight, that's what I call manifest” I felt all of that, and these are just a few of many verses that have had deep meaning to me in my life recently and keep me pushing in pursuit of greatness.

This event will be the biggest/best days of my life and I'm blessed and honored to have been selected which only makes me want to work harder to make my dream a reality. Remember to never give up and you can do anything you put your mind to… Strive for Greatness and Dream Big!

Yours Truly,

DJ Hamilton