but I've tried to to be very deliberate with my decisions and what I say yes to and what I say no to and I think a lot of people um you know they say yes because they want to please people and that's I to me I think that's a disaster if you're not into something you shouldn't if you shouldn't do it but if you do want to do something um I feel like you should you know commit to it and and give it what you have at that time and that can change from day to day from week to week from year to year life is all about different seasons yeah I'm good
yeah uh okay okay let's I guess we're good
quite on set right I'll open up uh right now I guess let's
get this going uh Hey welcome this is the social Academy where we have real conversations with industry
professionals influencers and content creators about working in the crazy world of social media uh today we have
Emily Jones uh a person of Many a lot of talents uh Texas Ranger field sports
reporter I don't know if I'm saying that right uh field reporter DieHard reporter yeah whatever you got a
podcaster and uh I guess you have a wine um
and some other things we'll get into oh yeah as we get into this conversation so I guess uh let's just start off like
yeah what's your origin story I guess uh let's you know we don't have to go too far back you know when you're a child
but you know like uh when did you start doing the the sports reporting and and
also um kind of go into some of the other things you do well so I grew up in Plainview Texas I was raised by my
father my sister and I both were and so instead of doing the stereotypical girl
things we did the stereotypical girl things while watching the Dallas Cowboys play football and watching other sports
because that's how we spent time together as a family I knew from a very early age that I wanted to be in
television and so marrying television with sports uh to me was was a dream and
so after a couple of years of being a news reporter I got an opportunity to go into sports and so for the last
20 years I've been in the Sports World actually it's been longer than that 25
years um so yeah I've just been you know I worked for a local television station in
Lubbock after college and then uh made the transition to DFW and Fox Sports Southwest which is what it was called at
the time and then for the last 10 years I've worked directly for the Rangers organization as their field reporter
yeah so every season you're on call I take it once it gets going you're I mean
luckily we got you in before I guess to this but once you get going it's like hey I'm out of pocket for months yeah
it's basically you know six months on six months off so you know and I mean that's as of you know the last few years
since we haven't gone to the playoffs I've gotten a longer off season um but basically from the time the
season ends until I report for spring training which is usually around mid-march I'm I'm off and free to do
other things I do you know little things here and there for the Rangers in the off season but I pretty much have that
time to myself with my family with my other business ventures I'm just focusing on you know those things
Community work volunteering um different things like that no yeah it's it's incredible like it won't get
into how you're juggling all that because that's insane amount of work um and kind of going back to what you were talking about I'm just curious I'm
like yeah I I was shocked to hear you come and come from small town Beginnings
was their a lot of struggle and challenges in to
kind of get into those more Spotlight scenes especially in Texas you know yeah I mean especially being a woman in
sports uh in the Buckle of the Bible belts yeah for sure
um but yeah I mean there was it definitely wasn't um you know a path that had been laid out for me
um as far as being from Plain View and going to school at Texas Tech and all that kind of stuff but
um yeah so how did yeah like where did that jump go from like doing the news casting to hey I finally got opening in
sports yeah so I I did news for two years and I hated it because it was too serious and I'm not serious and so
um had an opportunity you know to make that transition to sports which I'd always made it very clear that that's
what I wanted to do eventually the time I graduated there were no openings um that I could find in in the Sports
World so I decided to get you know comfortable in front of the camera and I could do that you know being a news
reporter always knowing that the you know the end game was to be in sports and so
um after a couple years an opportunity opened up I jumped at it and have never looked back now that that's I I feel like as someone
from a video background that was a path that was almost gonna be taking myself to as being one of those uh
videographers for news and as you know nothing gives news but is a fast crazy hectic career and a job to keep up with
and I was like all right hey look I ended up getting some of the post but it's like you know having done those
kind of like on the ground interviews it is is it's a lot of work and I appreciate you know I applaud all this
especially now these days it seems like they're sending people allowance like go into the storm you know I'm like in the
stakes of you know they it seems like the risk is higher now but they're just like you gotta do it you know on social
media uh so yeah no I feel yeah I I imagine also when the opportunity came up like oh my gosh this is it and I'm
sure your parents or your dad was like oh heck yeah you're gonna be freaking doing sports now but that was really
cool yeah I mean it was a gradual transition obviously nothing really happened overnight but no exactly in the
practice experience I think that's a good mindset you went into that of like okay news might not be my fit but
there's a lot to learn here oh yeah something I've always been like where it's like you know what let's just I
want to know how this works and what that is because I who knows I could use well and the most important thing if you want to be on camera is to get
comfortable in front of the camera because that's the most difficult thing it's not you're not just born with it
you don't they can't teach you that in college I mean you have to do it you have to learn by doing and so that for
me was the easiest way to do it I think it's a lot easier now because of social media and because of the fact that you
can you have your you know you're carrying around a video camera to practice and record yourself and watch
it back and all that kind of stuff and those were the tools that were not available um during my time no for sure that was
one of those we had a conversation before this of like I feel like the pandemic really sped that kind of
transition up where we were heading there but now it's like when we have to start having Zoom calls every day for
work or uh and and it seemed like it just it kind of opened up more that
comfortability people I yeah let's get on a vehicle and chat we've always had emails why don't we just start talking
we can kind of communicate better and I kind of like it's been great you know it's been a lot more
I finally talked to a lot of people at home I've been talking to years through like text or emails but never face to face and so when that kind of sort of
happened up it was it's a really cool like wow why were you doing this for you know this this whole time I wait so long
so uh well and then that's just one side of your career path so and I was gonna
ask about what's the the podcast side how is that playing to
um all the other things yeah well I mean my daddy always told me to make hay about the sunshines and so you know I'm
getting up there in my career I don't know how much longer I will be the field reporter for the Rangers and
um so when that ends I wanted to have other not only streams of income but things I was passionate about to do once
I was ready to walk away from television and so um a little over three years ago I had a
girlfriend approach me Julie Dobbs who's my podcast host on the mom game about
starting a podcast in the beginning I was real quick drew it all's from the radio oh my gosh I I and I just start
hearing about her I just started this aside where tangent but I just started listening to the freak and she's on
there 971 and uh she's great that's crazy wow that's awesome we started the
mom game about three years ago and um I told her if within six months it wasn't making money I was gonna walk
away because I don't have time in my life right now to throw things that aren't making money for me to be quite honest with you
and so we started it and it's been great and three years later it's it's booming
and we're having a great time and it's basically just a couple of moms sitting around drinking wine talking about
sports and and parenting um and our husbands and uh all that kind of fun stuff so it's uh it's been a ton of fun
it's a nice little outlet for me during Rangers broadcasts I basically you know get a minute to 90 seconds per hit to
get my information in and tell my stories and all that and so this gives me a much more extended platform to do
that yeah a little more I'm sure on filtered oh there's yeah there's there's cussing and all that fun stuff which I I
can't get quite get away with on Rangers broadcast yeah yeah no I'm still kind of also just again trivia because like I
said I'm not I'm familiar with sports not the biggest uh Sports fanatic but you know I also kind of like talk radio
and just know that you know those in those circles and and uh kind of
collaborating in that sense and that's really be cool because I feel like as much as you know you got those ideas
you want to do yourself it's fun to have another partner in there with you kind of support you and then it makes good conversations yeah for sure and our
personalities are totally different it's a lot of fun uh so you were talking
about the money uh in terms of you know um monetizing you know the side kind of
hobby or passion uh with the podcast so what's what's your main kind of like way of marketing uh within your you know
content of podcasting and and uh do you have a strategy like what what's in yeah
I mean social media is obviously a huge part of that and we have a we have you know one of our uh minority owners is
our kind of social media um director for lack of a better word and then
um we've got another girl who does a lot of our Clips um and so we because I don't consider
myself a social media expert I'm kind of a dinosaur in that regard um you know I feel like I'm pretty much
in line with a lot of you know 45 year old women um that were on there but we don't
really know what the hell we're doing and so um you know we definitely identified that Julie and I did in terms of the mom
game is how to you know come up with a a professional strategy as to how to to
market the podcast um has has like you're I guess maybe
um presence in the sports industry has that kind of played into the growth of the podcast or even kind of having some
kind of making some noise in that scene yeah I mean I think that goes back to the making hey while the sun shines I mean
you know Julie was on the ticket in the DFW area for a long time um so she gained relevance in that
regard I have relevance in the in the Rangers space and in the the DFW Sports space because of you know the decade I
spent at Fox Sports Southwest before making the transition just to the Rangers and so basically my uh you know
our thinking was you know we need to capitalize on kind of the brands that we've built within our traditional jobs
and see if we can take them outside of that and that's what we're trying to do it's it's very it sounds like also just staying again to your interest authentic
to yourself you're not trying to step into any other scenes like hey we know Sports we also see there's an audience
for just moms like us talking about this stuff right that isn't really you know
like you said in that industry and seeing it's not as vocal but becoming more so well there was yeah there was
definitely a void in the marketplace there wasn't a whole lot of you know the vast majority of the sports stations and
their content is geared towards men um and so there is a huge contingent of
women who are interested in sports but that not necessarily all they want to talk about right on the other hand
there's also a large contingent of men who don't just want to talk about sports and who like to hear a you know a
woman's perspective someone other than their wife um about you know parenting and marriage
and all that kind of stuff and life in general and that's kind of what we're trying to do no I feel like yeah it's a there's a you know bringing some of that
more human element to it just like not just always talking about what's you know true words like hey what's going on
today how are you feeling you know that type of thing whether it is much more of a topic of discussion these days you
know just like again I feel like kind of going back to pandemic just the mental health of it all sure uh and all of our
busy days try and juggle that so when did when you started this podcast when did you you know was there a moment when
you're like hey this seems like it is going to be a thing like was there moment where you start seeing the growth kind of start trickling in or what I
mean like you know you said you started three years ago so like it seems like it's pretty recent you
know like and you don't have other I guess um Visions or like goals you're still hitting uh you know continuing to grow
the other ways to expand it sure I mean I think we're always looking to grow but I think more than anything what we were
trying to do was build a community um you know to build an audience of of
people who feel like they identify with us want to interact with us um because that provides not only value
to us as a podcast but it provides value to our sponsors and our advertisers as well because if you're talking about you
know someone you don't know spouting about a product on a commercial on television that's one thing but if we're talking
about a product or service um we've we've used it we've experienced it we've tested it all those kind of
things and so um to us it's not necessarily I mean of course we'd love to get huge giant
numbers and be syndicated nationally or whatever but that's not really the main goal the main goal is to serve our
audience and to serve um to serve our sponsors those who have supported us and continue to support us
yeah I feel like all that really like the bigger goals and uh Visions
come naturally when you just focus on that stuff you know it's like yeah you know I'm sure like you said have a you
know some some dream um Partners specific whatever opportunities you want but as long as you keep doing the work keep consistent
I'm sure a lot of things are starting to Contour going naturally well yeah and into your
your mindset changes as you get older and I'm not I'm not trying to to climb
as as high and as far and as fast as I as I used to and so I'm you know my my
terms on things have changed in the way that I view things has changed and so what might be considered a success to
one person might not be considered a success to another so it's all you know kind of in the eye of the beholder and
yeah if it's making you happy and it's making you tick and it's it's fulfilling you and it's paying some bills then I'm
all for it no I think that's a good mindset I think a lot of people can get I always say this get caught up in the Chase and the the you know the trends
and the algorithms and and they forget why they started in the first place and and I think it seems like you have a
pretty good headset of like at the end day you still want to have fun this needs to still be kind of oh
sure yes outside of your day-to-day job and all the other things you gotta go on family and life you just you know it's like let's not lose sight of that this
is why it started um so I think that that's a really good always you know reminder so has uh as
you've been doing this podcast um has there been any favorite moments
you've had come for that they didn't expect uh our other opportunities
um no the way it's been received has been great yeah um the guests we've been able to get on
have been yeah awesome um can you speak more on that but I mean we have Roger Staubach and his wife on
we've had Dirk Nowitzki um you know Mike Modano Adrian beltray Marty Turco I mean basically a ton of
people you know from the from the World of Sports and I think that makes Julie and I feel good because those things
happen because of relationships that we had developed over the you know the two decades of our you know I'm older than
Julie but um you know the relationships that I've developed over the last 20 years and being in this market and the ones that
she's developed over the last you know 15 plus and so you know I think that that that makes us feel good knowing
that people trust us enough to yeah to come on the show and and you know pop open a bottle of wine and just shoot the
and that that's a good note I didn't even think about that but yeah you're it seems like you're really
tapping in to your network and not not just like I mean I'm sure there's still a little bit of you know groundwork uh
to be made of just you know reach out to people who maybe not reached out before but also kind of like hey it's happening
to people that you are working kind of day to day in those Seasons with I'm sure that's kind of helped with those
kind of connections sure yeah and then you know you'll come like we had um um gosh I can't even think if you're an
Alex Snodgrass I just know her because she's the defined dish like she's the she's written all the cookbooks and I am
not a cook I did did not have any of her cookbooks but you know somebody had suggested if she would be a great guest
and then so we reached out to her and she basically told us she said yes because her husband Clay is a huge like
Rangers Fan and also at that time had listened to the ticket and so you know all those things kind of domino effect
have been really fun to kind of get us even out of our element I mean a woman
who wrote a cookbook isn't really up our alley Julian I really don't cook at all either one of us she does more than me but
um so to get Alex on who's like this New York Times best-selling author of this
awesome cookbook and has this whole you know line of side sauces or something
um was a really cool thing for us and it basically happened because she didn't know who the hell we were but her
husband knew who we are and so well no like that's been fun no that's that's incredible that's really cool so we
talked about your background uh and and kind of the the sports side and the
podcast as I mentioned before you know we were talking you know I find all these other
initiatives you had as we said up front the wine marketing you know public speaking even some business kind of
other side developments you got going on I was wondering if you can maybe uh with the the leukemia
Leukemia Lymphoma yeah yes yes I'm terrible at English um
uh yeah I I guess expand on that like how one I kind of I guess just touch on some
of the wine aspect and what what does that entail and then um and then some of
these other kind of like uh uh maybe non-profit or public speaking things you got going on as well well so the wine
was something that is something I've been doing for gosh 17 six years
um October no it'll be no bad bad at math it will be it's been five years in
October so five plus years um I've been involved with Scout and Zeller which is a direct sales company
it's a clean crafted wine company founded by a Dallas attorney who was
studying to get her WSET certification kept getting headaches tried to figure out what was why she kept getting these
headaches turns out there's a bunch of crap in mass-produced wine so she went in search of Wineries and Vineyards that
were making wine without all the crap the pesticides the additives the preservatives the added sugars and so
she started this company called Scout and Cellar we started with like four different wines now we've got bukus and
a ton of people marketing it and it's just been a lot of fun it's changed the way I drink wine
it's it's so nice to drink wine knowing it doesn't have a bunch of unnecessary crap in it and I've built a team under
me and um you know I try to be a good leader to them and then service my clients as best
as I can with their wine needs and it's just a lot of fun I mean it's just wine yeah you know it's kind of a no-brainer
like makes you can make some money while you drink wine and no and talk about it and share it with people I'm I'm all in
I was gonna say I'd even you know I think we always kind of jumped like wine you know fermented grapes it should be
all just natural and good but I didn't even think about how much obviously you go to show how many different brands there are yeah and you can't find very
much yeah and there's no ingredient labels yeah on the back right and that's for a very good reason because they
don't want you to know what's in it no no it's not good I'm very curious intrigued now because I also was one a
moral on the whiskey side of things but I've always like I need to find the wine that's gonna be I mean we can talk about
yeah for sure later but anyway there's a reason there's not labels on wine no so and again it sounds like you really
could have accepted this um that in line more with your I guess I
want to say values or or just like what what they were trying to do with this and so well yeah I mean and two yeah I'm trying to to be healthy like as healthy
as possible but you know so it's like it kind of went in line with it I try to stay in
shape and um and watch what I what I eat and drink and so this kind of film line with that
I'm not so serious about it that I'm willing to give up drinking um so this is like a really good compromise for me
um and then like I said if you if I can drink wine and share wine and Market wine and make some money in a product
that I drink myself and that I believe in I'm I'm all in no it's a sweet spot I think having the pleasure and uh the
benefits from old sure you know that perfect little uh thing I I was gonna say uh we usually take a break if you
need a break we want to just keep on going we're halfway through so oh I don't care okay cool uh I'll start back
so tell me a little bit more about your the other initiatives you you uh you got going on
um that we were talking about the public speaking and uh so well first one that is very near to my heart is the do it
for dirt Foundation I'm the president of the do it for direct Foundation which which is a non-profit which provides
financial assistance for families impacted by sudden loss we founded that Foundation
um gosh oh eight nine eight years ago
um after one of our colleagues passed away Richard Durrett he died suddenly left behind a wife two children a
pregnant wife and two children and so we uh kind of galvanized a bunch of us
um involved with the Rangers organization and in the media kind of galvanized came together raised a bunch
of money for uh Richard's Widow Kelly and Kelly afterward was like I want I
would like to continue to do this for other families and so then that's when we decided to form the do it for dirt Foundation to date we've raised over 1.2
million dollars and helped close to 150 families who have been impacted by sudden loss and so that's a very big
thing that's probably the most fulfilling thing outside of being you know outside of my family that's the
thing that gives me the most Joy which is kind of weird to say because you kind of wish we didn't exist because that
would mean people didn't die of sudden months but um but it's it's obviously a need that's not going away and so to be able to
provide some you know relief to families who are literally in a whirlwind of sorrow and
um you know disarray to provide a little bit of you know comfort and assistance to them to where they can hopefully
navigate those Waters a little bit easier is uh is something we're we're really really proud of as a foundation
no it's beautiful I I feel like it's and it's it's really cool that you're
again going back to tapping into your network to help support this cause and and
in that kind of situation I feel like anything's better nothing any kind of help yeah and I feel like people want to
help sometimes they just don't know how yes and so um you know like you said tapping into the network and hopefully people trust
me to the point to where they're you know they're like they trust me with you know an investment they make or
um a you know support that they they give our foundation um that hopefully those relationships
you know pay off to where people want to help um to help with good things that you're
trying to get done right and how is this um also playing to the the leukemia so this is a totally separate thing so this
is um something that the leukemian Lymphoma Society does um each year it used to be
called man and woman of the year and this year they rebranded it to just Visionaries of the year and it's
basically like a little bit of a friendly competition with you know I think I don't even know how many of us there are to see who can basically raise
the most money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and so for me this is
something that's super important having seen especially in like you know these hospital visits we do over the holidays
to these um you know children that are you know just battling different things
but you know Childhood Cancer is one of the most underfunded programs in all of the the cancer World which is super
unfortunate and so I I you know kind of put my focus on patient services and so
any money that I raise through my campaign will be committed to patient services which I feel like is so
incredibly important to provide the patients and the families the assistance they need to make sure that they can you
know make it to their treatments to have accommodations to make sure that everything's taken care of to make what
is a terrible terrible process that they have to go through make it just a little bit more bearable yeah no wow that's a
it's quite heavy just also think about also you know um
it seems like you're also ability to speak in front of camera
speak in front of people has that helped a lot into getting into those rooms and also making you know
yeah I mean I don't think it hurts I mean you know I feel like I don't know
my biggest asset is is not being too professional like I I kind of pride
myself in being a little bit of a jackass so um and I think to you know there's a certain like
image you have of people who are on television or that you think are a certain way and I think I I probably go
against that in a lot of ways um and it's something I'm really not willing to change at this point no
there's no going back now so um I mean I hope that the people appreciate that I guess attempted
authenticity by me which is not really an attempt it's just I don't know any other way to do things yeah um so hopefully those things help and
like I said I really feel like people they they're they want to do good things it's just sometimes they don't exactly
know how to how to how to do them or exactly what to do and um so it's it's fun to to see people
enjoy getting you know Finding joy and getting
feeling satisfaction out of doing something good for other people well what would you say would be like a good
tip of advice to if someone did have interest in this like what would be the best ways to go about that is it kind of
like go to your local Eno communities or groups to kind of
like start kind of becoming aware and maybe get involved like I don't know like I'm curious how well I mean I would
think first of all you like figure out what you're passionate about what what are you I mean like for me I hadn't even thought about families impacted by
sudden loss until Richard died and then when Richard died it totally switched my way of thinking it changed my
perspective I mean here was a guy who was my age and had a pregnant wife and two children that were left like holy
what do we do and so you know those different types of things change the way you you know you look at things in the
whole leukemian lymphoma you know Society thing I had they asked me to do it last year and I said no I had too much on my plate and then this year they
approached me again and I felt really drawn to it we had a um you know a friend in our community who had a long long batter battle with
cancer and um you know he I don't want to say he lost that battle but he he didn't make
it through that battle and um you know just seeing the way that he thought and seeing his family and what
they went through and so I thought this is you know quit being lazy Emily like
stop being selfish do you have an opportunity to you know to raise the money for something a very very worthy
cause and something that you know you kind of have a little bit of a more of a better idea about now looking uh looking
at their story and so um I mean I would say that that would be the first thing is to find what you're passionate about is it is it children's
causes is it animals is it dogs is it um is it the elderly is it what I mean
there's so many different things so find whatever it is that that you're passionate about because if you're not
it's just going to be another thing right you know and they all need help I think oh yeah yeah it's like you can't
go wrong with choosing any of those uh middle-aged white women need help because I can speak from experience I
need I need lots and lots of help well speaking of you you just said a little bit in there about how your your plate
was full and so that comes to my next question of like how do you balance your professional job and all these other
side um you know hustles of sorts that you got going on like that that's a lot a
job's enough and a family how how do you balance all that well I mean it's just time management I mean
just trying to be efficient with your time prioritizing things um oh well and talking about time
management you know this kind of always kind of wonder about this is do you have a routine like a good stay routine of
like getting up at a specific time eating yeah yeah I mean during the week I do weekends are a little more flexible
but I mean especially when the kids are in school it's a it's a I mean it it's pretty regimented but summertime's a
little different um when I'm on the road it's a little different um weekends are a little different but
weekdays during the school year it's pretty much the same thing every day
no wow it's it I I feel like you know just like you had that perspective change of seeing other people suffering
and kind of like what can I do it's also just I mean as we're having this conversation hearing your background
inspiring to me of just like okay yeah kick it up into gear there's a lot more things you know I think we all want to
do you know we're passionate about passionate about and how little time we might have some you know and seeing
other things and uh it sounds like you're kind of like kind of like what you know your upbringing of
just filling in those spots where you can yeah well and I feel like too A lot of people you know I'll approach people
about the wine business and like oh I'm too busy and I'm like oh okay well so am I but if you you make time for stuff you
want to make time for so if it's not and you know quite frankly if you don't want to make time for you then you shouldn't be doing it and so for me I make time
for things because I want to do them and because they're important to me um and so I think that's a lot of a lot
of times it's not that you don't have time it's that you don't want to make the time I mean we I mean you know we're
all busy everybody's busy so it's just a matter of like you know if like people like I don't I don't have time to work
out yeah wake up an hour earlier like it's pretty simple like it's not that hard set the alarm an hour earlier go to
bed an hour earlier so if you prioritize it then that's that that's just what you do and if you don't and I'm not saying I
mean I don't care if you work out I don't care if you join the wine business whatever but it's not because you don't
have the time and it's not because you don't have the capabilities it's because you're choosing not to make the time and
you're choosing not to do it which is fine totally your priority or your prerogative but don't lie to yourself
and say it's because you don't have time no and and I feel like all that is is it's kind of in its own way a workout
for the mind and just I'm sure like like you said set your alarm clock earlier try like slowly kind of uh get that in
or maybe go to like one meeting or go volunteer at one place once a week and then maybe start increasing it sure yeah
you don't have to be balls to the wall on everything I mean you know just you pick your spots I mean I put obviously
when when baseball season starts the Rangers are my top priority and they take precedent over everything else
outside of my family and then everything else kind of you know not goes by the wayside but goes further down on on the
list and so it's it's all about you know doing that and it's important too to take ownership of that you know I've
tried to to be very deliberate with my decisions and what I say yes to and what I say no to and I think a lot of people
um you know they say yes because they want to please people and that's I to me I think that's a disaster if you're not
into something you shouldn't if you shouldn't do it but if you do want to do something um I feel like you should you know
commit to it and um and and give it what you have at that time and that can change from day to day
from week to week from year to year um life is all about different seasons and so um just because you know I'm all in on
baseball for six months out of the Year doesn't mean that I'm that way year round I focus my attention on on
different things so it's okay to to mix things up right and change like you said the seasons thing I think is a good
importance some we all go through phases just like our fashion and uh or or taste
and I feel like every now and then it's like uh yeah you just might have a different New Passion and just kind of
always say follow those voices or that instinct there's a reason why you feel that and you're drawn to that I think
it's the more you can be in tune with that I think that's kind of honing into your purpose you know
um so with the Rangers you said six months kind of like in the in the in the
baseball season has um that experience being on field
giving you a lot of um I don't know learnings or um thing takeaways where
you kind of now approach that to your other side um uh initiatives you have going on like in terms of just the pace or just uh
how you work with others yeah I think everything I do is relationship driven everything I do so whether it's baseball
or the wine business or the podcast or anything else that I do it's all
relationship driven um and it's I've been very adamant about that from the start of my career which wasn't always a
popular thing because at that time I was before I was working for the Rangers I was considered a member of the media and
you're supposed to be you know unbiased and you keep your distance and all that and I was like that's that's not the way
I operate um to me I felt like I was doing our viewers a disservice if I didn't develop
these relationships in order to you know to get these guys to trust me like that I wanted to be able to trust me and tell
me things not tell me things off the Record that I'm then going to go Spill the Beans about but to for them to open
up to me and tell me things and then you know and and that way I can communicate those things to our viewers and so
that's something that I've always done throughout my entire career despite getting a significant amount of
resistance especially very early on and so everything to me is relationship driven it's um you know how how can I
get to know someone better to learn how they operate how they tick um you know what their what their needs
are what their desires are what their you know goals are all those kind of things and so I feel like that's no
different um you know from the baseball to the wine business to the podcast I feel like
it's it's all about trying to you know to learn about people and sometimes that's simply just asking questions and
listening and showing interest in someone else's story um and whether that's and that's not
even just for for my jobs that's also in like in real life like with my with my
kids you know friends and their families and their teachers and all that kind of
stuff to to try to gain a better understanding of you know where people came from and um and see what I can
learn from them because Lord knows I've I've got a lot to learn yeah no I I think the more and more I've been kind
of going with that mindset of like I don't know anything you know and and to always be open
to those conversations and listen people out even if you might at the beginning thinking it has nothing to do with you I
think there's always something to take away from I always tell people kind of like watch a TV short movie that you didn't think you'd be into because it's
always from an artist's perspective I think there's good and bad things to take away from that you can learn from well and that's what kills me about
politics because I'm like so you're going to tie all your beliefs to a donkey or an elephant like that's it I'm
donkey I'm elephant like I don't I mean I I what like like aren't you like wait
we can't you're not just a donkey you're not just an elephant but it's like you can't it's like and then people think
they know everything it's like so you out of all the people you you're the one you've got it figured out you're the one
that has a figure out oh and your religion it's the one that's the one it's your religion that's the right one
for everybody it's your politics it's your and I'm like guys like we all come from different backgrounds we all have
different experiences that have molded us and created our our faith and our belief and our the things we stand for
and it's not because you're right and I'm wrong it's just we've come from different experiences and so if you want to understand why someone believes what
they do you've got to understand what they've been through but nobody wants to hear that they just want to be a blue donkey or a red elephant and it makes me
crazy there's my political and that's why I stay away from it because I literally don't know about politics I I
hate it and that's why I hate it because we've boiled it down to freaking donkeys and elephants well welcome to my tech
talk sorry this is Emily Jones here with the social academy uh was it uh well and
and like you said we're all I think we're getting back to what you were talking about we're we're all figuring
it out we're all idiots like if everyone would just admit we're all idiots we would be in a lot better and there's so much but everyone's trying to be too
think smart and trying to pretend like they know everything if everyone would just admit we're idiots all of us we'd
be a lot better I'll be this I'll start I'm an idiot and I feel like there's good things to take maybe those people you've had on your
podcasts and like I said the the chef uh with the cookbook it's like there's I I
always find it fascinating just like I'm talking to you um how other people on different
Industries work and what what what's the mindset and how uh the practices and routines uh because I feel like it kind
of can apply to everything to a certain extent you know like and there's there's a good practices to take away and uh
advice so uh like you said yeah and and going back to the human the human relationship I think that's very
important because um you know as we're entering more in the social age the digital age they're
becoming uh you know the Met whatever it's sometimes people forget there's
another person behind the screen or that hey why don't you talk to that person I have a faith you know
that's a novel thing yeah for sure yeah whenever yeah you know
whenever all this during coven while the social unrest was happening I remember having so many conversations
um with with my my boys that have that I've known for a long time that you know I remember Delight onto Shields and
having a conversation with him he's like and like let me just tell you about what it what it was like what it's like for
me like let me tell you about some circumstances I mean I have you know friends that have been through things
and I you know it's like don't you know I would tell my my white friends this like when is the last time you had a
meaningful conversation with a person of color like literally when's the last time and they would think and I'm like you don't you don't that you that's the
problem like you're trying to like live in this la la land that shit's not going wrong and it is and there are people
that are that are experiencing it and just because you're not and you don't see it doesn't mean it's not happening
truly so it's like but people don't want to have conversations and that's one of the problems about social media is that people just want to fire stuff off and
then they don't want to actually listen to anyone they just want to fire their hot Sports opinion drop the bomb and and
then walk away and not ever listen to anyone else's perspective well I think you're perfect segue into
my next question because I and I'm I'm warned about this since you've been on the field for so long kind of really saw
the integration of social media come to play with your work just like all of us in the creative industry and
um how has those challenges of like because now it's like you have to be
much more in there in the moment to really bring that you know first look news right before anyone else because it
seems like you can go on Twitter and it's like sometimes I see things happen on Twitter before the news even reports it so I wonder how is that element of
social media and how it moves so fast how do you um how has that changed the pace and and the way you're
communicating that information well and I think it's all about your personal like preference I mean for me I like put
it out there that I'm a social media dinosaur so no one's looking at me to break news or bring them you know
whatever I just don't that's not something I'm willing or want to get caught up in
um that kind of rat race of it and so because of my position I really don't have to worry about that anyway because
I work for the team they're not that the last thing they want me to do is to release something before they do so it
kind of gets me out of that situation that I didn't want to be in to begin with but I've seen it with my colleagues that are you know that their their
livelihood is based on clicks and if they're the first to tweet or get something out and it's like that must be
exhausting and that sucks for you but it's part of the world we live in now um and it's it's it's hard for you know
organizations who are used to having controlling having control of the narrative and being able to kind of
shape it and send out a press release and then letting you react to it and the News cameras coming out it's not the way it works anymore no one's beholden to an
organization to wait on anything someone gets information they can tweet it out if they want to and so it's it's been a
whole dynamic shift and kind of who holds the who holds the power in this thing and so uh I'm thankful I don't
have to be on it I mean if I get a piece of news I I mean I I don't even usually say anything because the Rangers would
just rather them do it and I don't personally care um I just don't care about being the
first to do anything um so yeah that's kind of in the not my problem category but definitely have
seen how much affected my colleagues yeah I'm sure I mean especially like every game I mean everyone's got the
phone now I'm probably catching moments before someone you know a person actually on the field trying to capture it well and so I guess what I try to do
is I'm trying to give people like on my social media or provide for the Rangers like the things you can't see on
television and maybe things where places where I am that no one else can be that I can get and then also too it goes back
to relationships maybe I can get Nathaniel Lowe to act Goofy on a insta story or whatever
um you know all that's kind of my jam rather than you know trying to be the first to tell you that you know
somebody's been traded or something sure no no and that's that's a very good uh point is using your access to those
opportunities that no one else has and that's really I think that's probably why it's still a big thing because not
everybody's going to be in The Dugout not everybody's gonna be a real you know um was what is is sports pre is is
sports primarily on Twitter in terms of social media or is it is it becoming more on the Instagram stories or YouTube
you know like where is that mostly I feel like it's pretty Twitter dominant yeah and I feel like and this may be
totally stereotypical and out of line but I feel like it's because Twitter is so much more male dominated
um and Instagram is so much more female dominated to where that that's where it
kind of skews I feel like my female counterparts in the sports industry are definitely heavy on Instagram but I feel
like my male colleagues are far more heavy on Twitter no no that's good to know and there's I have zero facts or
knowledge to back that up no it's kind of just what it makes it I think and also Twitter kind of being more the one
of the earliest platforms uh yeah I feel like that kind of adapted Sports really adapted to and now I find it pretty wild
to see like you know coaches having a tweet or post things and oh yeah that's part oh no
they they have to there's no choice yeah that's crazy what a weird shift of of
just again just like all of us carrying multiple different hats it's like a whole new thing yeah but you have to
evolve I mean that's really what it is it's really evolving lessons yeah I mean I used to just get blown up on chat
rooms and now it's yeah
news groups now they can just come right for you uh well what's the greatest lesson
you've learned in your career I feel like you've got many and feel free sure I think just don't take yourself too
seriously don't I mean it's I mean I mean especially in my case like right it's not like I'm doing anything really
important at this point in my life like it's not like I'm saving lives or curing cancer I mean helping try to raise money
for Childhood Cancer but you know it's like at the end of the day it's I'm talking about baseball wine and momming
it's like you know it I just I think a lot of times we get so uptight and we over analyze things and we take what if
did I say this right did I say that right did I should I have said that should I not have said that should I have done that should I not have done
that it's like just I mean really at the end of the day like just take a deep breath and be it's just not that big of a deal like I
just I I take my job seriously my jobs but I just don't take myself too
seriously um so I think what a lot of times you get caught so caught up in and I'm a huge perfectionist and
um all that kind of stuff and so it's kind of a little bit of a contradiction for my personality yeah
but yeah but um but I really have I try not to to take myself
too seriously it's just I mean because really at the at the end of the day it's just whatever yeah especially for me
like what I'm doing is just not that like I just need to and it's chill out
and don't don't take it too seriously yeah remembering where you came from I feel like you kind of still find that
excitement of being on the field and the opportunity like man I had like I said when I was young having that dream sure
and now I'm living it which has got to be a weird full circle moment yeah I mean there's something very beautiful about when you get to a point where you
give very few F's and you just kind of were like I've done if I if it all ends
tomorrow I'll have had a you know a fantastic career and I'll ride up into the sunset and you know whatever but
yeah there is you know but I worked my ass off to get to that point and so and it took me you know 25 years to get
there but um but yeah you kind of reach a point to where you you stop that you
know that continuous climb and trying to reach that carrot and you just kind of do the things that are that are that are
good for you and are good for your family and they're good for your soul no uh I I agree I think that's
very beautifully put in terms of just again if it's it's got to be amazing
feeling find your place and purpose like that and then just be like I don't have to think about anymore yeah it's great and
then you have a couple kids and they tell you screw everything up and make you question everything you've ever done but on the outside my children right
we're all good well uh what about so and with your children have they kind of uh Express similar interests do you see
them kind of and do you support that or like or how do you see it uh yeah I mean my daughter is a total you know ham and
she wants to be like a YouTube star or something um my my son is not I mean he loves
baseball and loves what I do and all that kind of stuff but uh she she's the
one that that worries me a little bit especially with the you know the how
easy now it is and she sees these kids and so why can't I be on YouTube why can't I I'm like you're not going there
not not yet mommy loves you too much to expose you to all that sure right now and I feel like there was a small little
detail emission belt the link you've been doing 25 years people always
I you know I always talk about other conversations the Unseen years and people always just see the result the success they don't realize how much work
that you've um have done to get there and I was
wondering if you had maybe any kind of uh I don't know advice of just how to
stay consistent and and and maybe think of I don't know like you know the
obvious ones think of just a long picture but you know sometimes they can you can get cloudy and kind of get distracted yeah and one thing a piece of
advice I always give when I talk to like students or or whatever anybody looking for guidance
um that is you know misguided enough to come ask me advice is to start with you
know start at the top like what's the ultimate goal like mine used to be to be an anchor for sports center on ESPN yeah
and now I can't think of I mean that makes me want to gag like sitting behind a desk and reading off a prompter every day is sounds awful but the at one time
that was the ultimate goal and so then I would work backward like what's a logical step right below ESPN
SportsCenter anchor maybe it's being an anchor and a top 510 Market okay then
what's a step below that well then it would be like a you know sports reporter and a top 50 Market what's a step below
that maybe it's a you know a weekend anchor and a top 25 Market or a top 75
Market whatever like just so start at the top don't be afraid to look at that Big Goal but then step by step work your
way back with what's a direct step under each one of those and then ultimately end up to where you are to where you can
kind of map it out now my my roadmap took curves and different things but I ultimately ended up with where I wanted
to be not necessarily a sports center anchor because that ultimate goal changed along the way and that's another
piece of advice too I always tell people don't get so laser focused on that end result that you're that you're not
keeping your eyes open to the things that the pads that are open along the way as you take those steps up the
ladder yeah I always say Embrace change obviously I'm always about change and I
feel like kind of what you're saying you might be in some moments throughout your journey where you're like I don't know why I'm here whatever but I feel like
there's always a reason for it and you always learn something like oh my gosh I didn't realize that one time I had to work at a real estate magazine place and
now I'm designing something that's in that field that had nothing to do with my profession but now I'm talking about
you know well and it's not like I woke up one morning I was like well that's SportsCenter anchor job looks really
shitty now I mean it's not like I ever woke up and said that but it's like all of a sudden I was in this place where it was like oh wait wait this is where I'm
supposed to go this is where I want to be yeah and so then you just kind of realize it it's not like it was an epiphany that happened no no it's it's
in uh obviously with the the ever-changing landscape of all the kind of roles and titles it's so it's
sometimes I you know I remember my first job I was editing trailers that go on DVDs and I didn't think that that was
even a job and I used to be back man I used to watch girls and DVDs all the time I even think about who had to make those machine man but then I'm like wow
yeah I love that and you know so sometimes it's also becoming um open to
and look around go like whoa how did that get made or who's doing this I was you know so it's because some people
forget there's a lot of opportunities out there that you might not even think about sure
um well I know you said you weren't the most fluent in social media but I think with
your experience of it and how it's been involved in in your um all your facets of your career
do you have any insights of where you kind of see the future of social media going within your field oh
gosh no um I don't I mean I don't think it's going any like it's not going anywhere
obviously um I mean it's it's it's here to stay and I I feel like now especially like
with so many so many businesses you know keeping their employees at home so many
companies going to a direct sales format I mean I just feel like it's going to become so much more prevalent in the
business aspect of things um you know influencers leveraging their
followers and all that kind of stuff to to make money I mean I just think the the possibilities are endless it's kind
of terrifying honestly um I'm glad I'm getting older and hopefully soon won't need it won't need
it too much but yeah I mean I definitely don't think it's going where I'm not definitely not smart enough to tell you what's coming though sure no it seems
like also like you know I sometimes I watch Dateline you know you have Keith Morrison who's
always on those episodes and then suddenly he's on a podcast I'm like wow he has to do a podcast now because of
social media that I'm sure that's like hey we need to have a companion uh content to our main show so I'm sure
you're seeing a lot of that evolved in the sports entertainment field as well yeah I mean we had a writer that was
with the Rangers forever named TR Sullivan and when the whole you know kind of multimedia thing started
happening within Major League Baseball I mean TR was like not equipped to do he I
mean he's like an old Gruff writer and has zero camera skills and so they brought me in to do the video portion
whereas TR would do the writing and then I would provide some video content because they wanted all their teams to
have you know a written and a video content and so some people if you know I feel like now if you're going to be in
Media or in journalism or whatever you have to have both of those tools in your belt it's you can't I almost like it's
hard to be just a writer anymore you have to have that the multimedia component yeah it goes back to what
you're saying like you know it's kind of to stop being laser focused on one thing kind of like embrace all the other
things and also you might end up finding something that you didn't think was super you find that you have a natural
Talent sure um uh yeah no it's it's all moving fast and very cool it's
changing uh well I appreciate you coming in Emily I know again insanely busy I
appreciate you making the time to come chat here and this has really been really enlightening and uh inspiring in
some ways too it's really cool because again I I kind of there's a lot to learn and I'm sure we'll probably have some
more questions uh later after this but uh before we sign off one if you want to plug any kind of last uh initiatives
projects where can they find you on social in your podcast yeah yeah so uh social media is probably a good place
because if anything's important I put it there so I'm at Emily Jones 1977 which will tell you exactly how old I am
um on so Instagram Emily Jones 1977. I Think I'm Emily McCoy on Facebook does
anybody use Facebook um Twitter I'm at Emily Jones McCoy and
then the mom game is at the mom game pod and that's on Twitter and Instagram and
Facebook so yeah check us out mom gamepod um Emily Jones McCoy
Scout and seller wine yes I got it check it yeah I'm definitely gonna have to try some of this because yeah again that's a
fascinating thing it seems like you've another side thing where just what seemed like just a casual uh you know uh
Pleasures now you've learned so much about it too in that sense you know which is really cool so yeah no this has
been an amazing uh conversation Emily and I appreciate it and as for until the
next episode uh class dismissed