Alumni Spotlight: Jenny Fischer
Jenny Fischer, Comm ’19, is making her digital mark in the world of professional basketball as the newly named Associate Manager of NBA Social.
STATS:
Name: Jenny Fischer
Title: Associate Manager of NBA Social
Grad Year: 2019
Major: journalism
Minor: digital media Hometown: Hartland, WI
I always say this as a fun fact, but my mom (Business, ’87) and dad (Engineering, ’85) are both Marquette Basketball alumni.
I was just promoted to a new role with the NBA Social Team. About a year-and-a-half ago, I began with the NBA as a Project Employee working on WNBA Social — I was added amidst their “bubble” season. Now I’m Associate Manager of NBA Social.
Here’s a little recap of the past year-and-a-half:
Once the Seattle Storm were crowned 2020 Champs, I was pulling double duty with both the WNBA and the G League Social teams. The G League had just launched their new brainchild, G League Ignite, which was comprised of top prospects who bypassed the collegiate route to go straight to the NBA in a sort of feeder program. These elite prospects included Jalen Green, who would go on to be the № 2 pick in the 2021 NBA Draft. I flew out to Walnut Creek, California often to cover him and the team — even started the G League Tik Tok account in the process — and then was sent to the G League “bubble” at Disney World for 1.5 months. I led and produced our on-site social content in Orlando.
Once I wrapped up there, I worked the WNBA Draft from the ESPN studios, covered G League Elite Camp in Chicago and then got the “call up” to the NBA for the NBA Draft Combine. I interviewed players, created social content and then eventually worked the NBA Draft at Barclays as well.
I was able to work the NBA Finals this past year, where my hometown Milwaukee Bucks won their first title in 50 years. My job during the month-plus traveling between Phoenix and Milwaukee to cover each game (and covering WNBA All-Star in Vegas between Games 4 & 5) was to create social content that told the story outside of the traditional means. So, I did voiceover content explaining & exploring the atmosphere at games for our NBA Tik Tok and Instagram; I did a behind-the-scenes look at the catwalk at the Phoenix Arena; I interviewed players from both teams prior to each game in order to field other social content needs (including fellow Marquette alum on the Suns, Jae Crowder).
Since I’ve been promoted, I oversee our on-site content coverage for our NBA Social team. I just began as Associate Manager, but I’ll be traveling and planning and executing a lot of what we call “vertical storytelling content” — which is very similar to what I did at the Finals. I’m grateful the NBA believes in the power of access and telling the stories of the players and teams within this league. My favorite part of my role(s) at the NBA have been being able to be boots-on-the-ground capturing, creating and especially interviewing players to tell the best stories. Our next big tentpole events for on-site coverage included Christmas Day (I was in Milwaukee covering at Fiserv Forum), NBA All-Star in Cleveland and of course the NBA Playoffs & Finals.
I’m excited about the creative ways we can expand our on-site coverage, including how it’s shared with the world, and being able to lead a team on that front. Oh, and I truly believe I work for the best basketball league in the world. AND as a basketball junkie and storyteller, what more could you ask for? Plus I love living in New York (a basketball haven as well) — so I’m really happy with where I’m at right now.
I feel especially grateful to Marquette for the professors and peers I was able to learn from. I know Mark Zoromski is retiring, but he’s one of the best storytellers I’ve ever met — and he has a knack for teaching others how to be the best storytellers, too. Patrick Johnson was one of my favorite journalism professors for his authenticity and way of caring for stories and how they’re told, along with people and how we honor them. Herbert Lowe is no longer at Marquette, but I still look back at his message that he once sent me saying “Doris Burke is the GOAT. You’ll be there one day.” I remember texting him after I had a one-on-one call with Doris, and it felt so full-circle.
I was so impacted by being surrounded and encouraged by people who truly cared about being the difference. It not only enabled me but pushed me to want to do the same.
I also felt it prepared me for my career in many ways, inside the classroom and out. My time working in Marquette Athletics all four years of my undergrad was undoubtedly one of the best decisions I ever made. Running the Marquette men’s basketball Twitter during games, interviewing student-athletes, capturing content… they’re all the same skills and tools that I use now, just elevated. I did six or seven internships in college, some of which were brought to my attention BY the Diederich College. By the time I was a senior, I had felt I had completely exhausted my opportunities at Marquette — which is how I wanted to leave school. By not leaving any stone unturned when it came to soaking up chances to be better and learn and do good things and make some sort of difference.
My advice for students:
Keep Showing Up. It’s a motto I’ve used in order to fundraise for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, but I use it for life. I first heard that phrase when I was a junior or senior at Marquette, and I clung to it like crazy. It’s guided me these past two or three years.
But when I say Keep Showing Up here, I mean it in two ways — for yourself and for others. For yourself, I encourage students to keep showing up authentically by figuring out 1. Who you are and 2. What you’re about. It takes knowing those two things before you can go about the rest (and it helped me figure out exactly what I wanted to be/do, and then allowed me to go be about it).
I’d advise you to keep showing up for others in any way you can. Marquette does a great job of showing you it’s not all about this one narrow-sighted path of being the best individual, getting those internships, working and studying and doing all you can for yourself; it’s also about others, and what you do for them, and how you help them and hear them and exist with them, too. Marquette gives you the space and time to be the difference and it can be harder to commit to that mission outside of that realm. Take what you learn from the people there and live it.
And Keep Showing Up. (Oh yeah — and go for the Schroeder chicken parm if you can, it’s the best; take the Carillon course because you get to ring the bells on campus and I’ll never forget how cool that was; and lastly, don’t skip basketball games when they play the №1 team in the country — even if Marquette is unranked and it’s a Tuesday night).
