We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Kim Becker a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Kim, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Can you talk to us about how you learned to do what you do?

I was a performer with Disney On Ice for ten years, and loved the artistic and performing aspect of ice skating and touring with the show. During my last year, I was the Live Host of the show, interacting with the audience and skating around on a microphone. That is when I realized how much I loved being in front of people live, the adrenaline was like nothing else. When I hung up my skates in 2018 I went to college for Broadcast Journalism and knew I wanted to be a sports reporter, so that I could combine my love for being in front of a live audience with my love of being an athlete, and around others that share that lifestyle. Luckily I learned so much during my decade performing live with Disney On Ice, but I learned even more at Chapman University when I was working with other students who shared my love of reporting and telling stories. It was there that I decided I would do whatever it took to get into sports, even if it meant graduating during Covid! I filmed myself in my parents backyard talking about NFL and tennis, and made my own reel to send out to various sports outlets. I landed my first digital gig with Sports Illustrated and started making videos in my bedroom covering various teams. It was the practice and watching myself back on camera that allowed me to hone my craft. Practice is the only thing that really makes us better at what we do, and I tried to get as many reps as I could, even if it meant doing it on zoom alone in my room! Covid was a tough time to look for jobs because the sports world closed up like everything else, however I used the time to reach out to people and ask for advice on my reel and ask how I could imrpove my own craft. Since a lot of them had downtime with the sports world on hold, I got a lot of advice and constructive criticism on how to get better and hopefully one day land a full time role in sports reporting (spoiler alert: I did!)

Kim, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I am currently the TV Studio Host for the Utah Hockey Club, the NHL’s newest franchise which is in its inaguaral season here in Salt Lake City, UT. I host the TV broadcasts for each game, which includes pre-game, intermissions, and post-game coverage. Before moving to Salt Lake for this job in August, I lived in Denver, CO was the In-Game Host for the Colorado Rockies, I hosted the pre-game show for the Colorado Avalanche on Altitude TV and was the RedZone Host for the Denver Broncos. I was so lucky to be able to cover so many of my home teams back in Denver, but I was freelancing during my time there and really wanted a full time gig. When the Utah Hockey Club opportunity arose, I couldnt turn it down. My husband and I moved to Salt Lake before the season started and dove right in…..oh, and I am due next week with my very first baby :) So a lot of change for us this year!

The main thing I want people to know is that there are so many routes and ways to land a job in sports. You can pave your own way with the many digital platforms that are offered these days, and I used my own Instagram and social media to do just that when I first started. One of the freelancing gigs I landed in 2021 was from someone finding my reel on YouTube! So use whatever digital platform you can to show your brand!

How did you build your audience on social media?

I am still building my audience on social media, but the advice I would give is be yourself, even if that means laughing at yourself and admitting mistakes! I make mistakes ALL THE TIME! (Yes even on live TV). And I love to post silly videos of me saying something ridiculous or laughing with my co-hosts on tv because thats the REAL deal, and people want to know you are a human too. I have always gotten so many comments about how I should ‘never change’ and ‘keep being me’ and thats exactly what I did to land a job that would allow me to do just that. At the end of the day, I am in the entertainment business and we want our fans to enjoy watching the game and have as much fun as we are when we are working!

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

One lesson I had to unlearn was to not take every piece of advice you get, and listen to your gut. I was always pretty good at trusting my intuition but when I first started in the industry I wanted to be a sponge and would listen to all advice I could. Most of it was positive and helped me along the way, but some was given to me in a way that they suggest I change the way I talk, or how I deliver things, or my personality. Never change your personality! Don’t try to be someone you are not. I quickly realized trusting my own intuition should always take precedence. However this only happened a couple of times, the majority of help and advice I received was well intended and helped me so much throughout my career. I would not be where I am today without the help of some very significant men and women in the sports media industry!

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @kimberlyjbecker
• Linkedin: kimberlybecker5678
• Twitter: @kimberlyjbecker
• Youtube: kimberlyjbecker