We were lucky to catch up with Luis Carrillo recently and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Luis, thanks for joining us today. It’s always helpful to hear about times when someone’s had to take a risk – how did they think through the decision, why did they take the risk, and what ended up happening. We’d love to hear about a risk you’ve taken.
Many struggle with finding that perfect job once they graduate, but having that job offer once or even before you graduate is crucial. For a lot of people that doesn’t come until much later after the fact, and a lot of people don’t talk about it too often because it can be demeaning especially when you have been applying from job to job and still no offer comes your way. Others find that perfect job and ride it all the way, but then there’s others like me who take a job and realize the career path they chose isn’t what they thought it’d be.
That is what happened as of recent in my time at Auburn Football. A little backstory, I began college not by taking classes, but by attending fall camp for football at the University of North Texas. There I was a student Video Manager for coaches video. All we did was show up to practices, film, and bring that film to our supervisors so they can cut it up to publish it within our servers so coaches and players can review. And that is all the job was. Thankfully I had leadership that created avenues for students wanting to get into coaching, recruiting, operations, video production, and of course, coaches video. And I kept at that job all four seasons of my undergrad and loved every single day. The main problem that I struggled with came with whether or not I wanted to stick to coaches video or go into production.
I took an internship with a soccer team local to me, worked as a photographer under recruiting, and kept at it working in coaches video but still was not convinced of which to take. Until the universe made that decision for me.
Even more backstory. Since the day I started working in coaches video, I always heard of this guy named Matt that was a former coaches video student at UNT and that was now working at Bama at the time. Every now and then all my former bosses would bring his name up and talk about him as well as a possible internship that could come up to work along side him at Alabama. In my mind this was a no brainer because you’d be working for one of the, if not the most successful college football program in the country and I’d finally get to meet this messiah of coaches video that was Matt Hard. Some time goes by, my last season with the Mean Green begins and my boss at the time asks me if I’m interested because Matt called asking for me. To my surprise, all my former bosses were talking about me to Matt the same way they talked about him to me. At the time that he called he was looking for a coaches video graduate assistant, this time at Auburn. Now you can think about how you’re going to respond to a situation before it happens, but once it actually happens it is a different ballgame.
My boss asks me if I’m interested and I remember the interaction like it was yesterday. He asks me, I think about it for a second and am skeptical because it is so far away from home, and in Alabama, but then my boss looks at me and says, “It’s SEC” and from that one line I was convinced and began the process of applying, getting accepted, and moving from the metroplex to good ol’ sweet home Alabama.
That alone was a huge risk because of how far it was from home, how new the area was, and how I would have to start brand new. But a lot of it came a lot easier because of the people that make up that program. From the moment I stepped foot on that campus, everything and everyone was so welcoming, kind, and helpful to my transition. The people were very energetic and kind-spirited, the leadership was very open and enthusiastic, and Matt himself was everything that everyone made him out to be, and so much more. Singlehandedly it was dumb and dumber uniting under one roof for 8 hours in a day, sometimes more than that. We’d joke around, toss a football around when things were slow, go out around town after hours, it was a true friendship that lead to that job being so much more than what it was meant to be. But. moving there and starting brand new wasn’t the biggest risk that I had to take, it was what came after.
Some time goes by and I start to realize that this job is not as fulfilling as I anticipated. It was only after I met up with the rest of what made up the industry at our conference back in May, that I began to realize that I don’t see this being the rest of my life. It was a dramatic realization because I was 5 months into this job, I just moved everything I had over here and I had already set myself up in this position. More importantly I already developed these relationships and decided to make a jump back. The creative side of my psyche began to take over. I began to take photoshop and after effects tutorials and slowly began to realize I longed for a profession that dove into the creative side of things. I had the opportunity to interview for a professional sports team, landed flat, but realized that that was the direction I wanted to go in. Time goes by, I apply to a creative position that has already been posted for two weeks. To preference, in sports world, once a position is posed on a public website, most of the time they have that position filled and they just publish the job just as a formality. But low and behold I get a call for a interview, and the next day get the call for the offer.
The best part about it was I was now able to work as a graduate assistant at TCU, a school I only ever dreamed of going to because I could never afford to go there. Now here I am being able to achieve a masters there, work under its creative program for athletics, and be back at home with my family. The worst part, and the biggest risk that come with it, is I would be leaving my best friend, a job that already poured so much into me, and leaving a profession where I already established myself to go branch out into a new one. Regardless, I knew the path I was already making for myself while working at Auburn, working on photoshop and after effects, that I had to take it because this is where my passions and my dreams were leading me. But I’d also have to start all over again.
And it was a hard conversation, and an even harder decision. But I pulled that trigger and am now a Video Graduate Assistant for TCU Athletics. I am back at home in Fort Worth, working for some talented people, and am happy with the work that I have started to do. There were a ton of reasons why I decided to come back, but at the end of the day, it all boils down to where I want to invest myself in in order to grow professionally. Thankfully an opportunity presented itself and I took it. I have been here a week but the people and my accomplice Sam, the other GA in the office with me, have been welcoming and constructive with the work I already began to make. Time will tell where this position leads me, but it I am excited to be a part of such a great program and to be back at home with the support of my family.
There will always be a part of me that will forever be grateful for everyone that makes up the Auburn Football program, but I am most grateful to have met Matt and to have him be the friend that I didn’t know I needed when I moved out there. Regardless I am a product of both TCU and Auburn so I owe so much to everyone that has been a part of my journey. I am forever grateful for those who have been and still are a part of my life, and am excited to see where I will end up with this new change. For now, Go Frogs and War Eagle!
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
For those of you who don’t know my name is Luis Carrillo, and I am a Graduate Assistant here at TCU. Long story short I began back in high school working for my yearbook class. I had the idea to put QR Codes that link to videos that I would make and loved it so much that I continued pursuing it as a bachelors, and am now crafting it in my work here at TCU working for the Athletics creative media team.
Have any books or other resources had a big impact on you?
Hands down the best book and most influential when it comes to the creative process and the value of proper work ethic is Creativity Inc. by Ed Catmul. A former CEO of Pixar tells a ton of good stories behind the making of a lot of my favorite movies growing up. And seeing his view on what made the creative process work so well really opened my eyes to the bigger picture. Hands down would recommend this book to anyone.
What do you find most rewarding about being creative?
Right now it seeing my work posted and reading the constructive and positive feedback I get from it. The process itself is one of tedious detail and ridiculous crunch time, but seeing every idea manifest itself in the work you put in makes it all the more worth it. It will be even more rewarding when I am known by a video or a project that I work on but that’s hopefully down the line in my future.
Contact Info:
- Website: scarrillobusine.wixsite.com/
- Instagram: Luisantonio817
- Twitter: @Luiibaton