Working Hard to Stay in The Room

Shima 0 comments 01.02.2016

Every Monday, I will share a resident of the South Bay contributing to making our community a better place. Today’s MCM title belongs to Sean Boling, who has turned his love for football into a career at the NFL Network with hopes of only working harder than he did the day before.

Sean, 26, was born in Torrance, CA and raised in the South Bay. Upon graduating from South High School in 2007, he went to El Camino College and then transferred to U.C. San Diego soon after.

Today, Sean is a Production Assistant at NFL Network. Sean’s primary roles include graphics in which he writes, produces and operates the side ticker on live shows. In addition, he works on highlights where he assists the highlight producer and editor in producing a highlight. “I mark shots throughout the game and keep track of the entire game and press conferences,” he says.

A typical day for Sean depends on what he is assigned. “If I’m doing graphics, I will check which shows I’m assigned and prep for shows. This includes talking to show producers to gauge what they want on the show and how they want it written,” he says.

Sean has found that different producers want different ways of presenting their shows. When breaking news occurs, Sean must make decisions on the fly with everyone else since plans can be discarded at any moment for certain levels of breaking news. “If I’m doing highlights. I will check which game or sometimes games I’m assigned for the day,” he says.

Prior to creating content, Sean will do pre-game research which includes knowing story lines/injuries/producer guidelines. He calls this “purely teamwork.”  The Highlight producer, Editor and Sean all have to be on the same page so that they know what to look for and also communicate if they notice anything that has a potential to contribute to the main story line of a highlight. This could entail an injury, arguments on the field or the sidelines, reoccurring themes or chasing a record.

Sean’s role is to essentially be the constant eyes and ears on the game. “It’s a lot of multitasking for all of us because the highlights are built on the fly and edited ASAP,” he says. Despite the fast pace, Sean finds the most enjoyment out of his job doing highlights.

“The process of creating a highlight is a mix of crazy and fun. Most of all it truly is a team effort building the highlights and I have been fortunate to bond and work some of our most talented producers and editors,” he says. He says his team and him have  handled some of the craziest NFL highlights in the year that would often rattle the inexperienced, but they handled it in full stride.

Sean is most proud when his team’s work gets praised because he says it can be a real challenge. He became employed by the NFL Network with what he calls “a lot of luck and coincidence.” His high school friend works at NFL Network on the PR-side and he had met a producer golfing shortly after graduating. He made his interest known in the field and exchanged contact info and got interviewed and hired that fall after graduating.

“I’d love to say that I worked my ass off and got rewarded for it to pursue this career, but that wouldn’t be the truth. Networking is everything in this field to get your foot in the door, but it’s working hard that keeps you in the room,” he says.  It is evident how much pride and commitment Sean has in being a wonderful contribution to the NFL network. Just last year, Sean worked every holiday including Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s Eve.

When asked how one can become a member of the NFL Network team, Sean explains that there are intern spots and entry-level positions that are usually in the fall for the season (applications start in the summer). “This line of work has a lot of jumping ship to other companies and ties with each other. Somebody always knows somebody here or there and build the right reputation for yourself there will always be an opportunity opened for you likely,” he says.

He says to also make yourself noticeable and be willing to learn new things and take criticism in stride. However, he says one must have a passion in sports or football to survive because that is what is going to fuel you to grind out the long and hard days you will encounter. “Everyone here has grinded out overnight shifts, super long OT shifts, getting up at all hours of the day for work, working sick etc. Times are different. Jobs are hard to come by and it’s highly competitive especially in this field so networking is the key to success,” he says.

When Sean is not working at the NFL Network, he enjoys watching Kings games and golfing during his off time. He has always been a huge hockey fan and says he loved the Kings through the great times winning the cup to the horrible times when they were a bottom feeder team continually floundering year after year.

Golf is something he picked up as a kid and never let go of. Playing golf is the best getaway for him no matter how good or bad the day is. “I could spend a day on the course just enjoy myself and the sights,” he says.

“If there was one thing I want to point out about NFL Network is the ridiculous amount of talent we have working here. There are a lot of men and women that work hard to create an awesome product day in and day out,” he says.

The NFL also engages and gives back to communities in many ways. “Whether it’s having employees volunteer at the Special Olympics, making a family’s dream come true with player’s events or games, highlighting players’ charitable ventures, holding clothing drives or school drives those are just a few ways our company gives back,” he says.

Thank you, Sean, for being a wonderful member of the South Bay community and inspiring others to pursue their greatest passions.

“Ultimately, if I didn’t take pride in work I contributed to, I was either not trying or wasting my time. I give myself goals every day to keep myself motivated and enjoy the process of the work I put in. I’ll admit it’s not a flawless process for me, but it keeps me grinding on the road of achieving even greater work.”  -Sean Boling

Chasing the light at the end of the tunnel

Shima 0 comments 25.01.2016

Every Monday, I will share a resident of the South Bay contributing to making our community a better place. Today’s MCM title belongs to Nick Ekbatani, who has found a way to bring inspiration to those struggling to find acceptance in loss after losing a part of his leg in an accident in 2012.

Nick, 28, grew up in Torrance, CA. During his youth, Nick didn’t have many friends and was often bullied for being “chubby.” When Nick was 11, his mom decided that she would sign him up for Pop Warner Youth Football in hopes of getting him out of the house and active. Soon after signing up, Nick thought he hated the sport and wanted to quit.

Despite his frustrations with the sport, his mom did not let him quit. “We didn’t have a lot of money, so she wasn’t going to just waste it,” Nick says. In order to get through the season, Nick often cracked jokes about himself and found that laughing at himself helped him surpass the bullying too.

After making a conscious decision to work harder in football, Nick continued to get better and better. By the 8^th grade, he was one of the best linemen on his team and by his senior year in high school, Nick had been nominated as an All-CIF football player.

Nick participated in nearly every play of the game and owes a lot of his success to his mom, Tracy Ekbatani. “My mom was at every game and practice. She was the one who’d bring pizza, orange slices, Gatorade,” he says.

After graduating high school, Nick joined LA Harbor college. After one semester, he transferred to UCLA with a full scholarship and graduated with a major in Political Science.

In July of 2012, Nick’s life would be forever changed. He was involved in a catastrophic auto accident in which a van collided with his motorcycle. He woke up in the hospital and was delivered the news that doctors had to amputate his left leg.

Though highly drugged, Nick was able to laugh at himself like he did when he was younger. He explains that he went through several stages of grief, such as denial. However, in hopes of lightening an extremely difficult situation, he cracked jokes and tried to make the best of the situation.

Fortunately for Nick, he had been working out tremendously prior to the event, which ultimately is why he is still alive. Doctors explained to Nick his cardiovascular fitness helped to prevent him from bleeding to death. Despite being healthy, Nick remained in bed for 4 weeks while heavily drugged on painkillers.

Nick recalls the first two years after the accident as very challenging. He often fell in the process of recovering due to his eagerness to improve. Since he was visiting the doctor’s office at least once a week, he even moved to Santa Monica so that he was closer.

Nearly four years and a dozen surgeries later, Nick is still recovering. One of his greatest challenges has been battling a stubborn infection in his femur. He uses a prosthetic leg which he has to carefully clean and take care of, which also can be tiring to wear for a long time as it is tight on his skin. Being the joker that he is, Nick explains that he has benefitted by learning a lot about skin care in result.

When asked how Nick has been able to remain so positive during such a difficult time in his life, he explains that he is always seeking ways to chase the light at the end of the tunnel. “It only gets dark when you stop chasing it,” he says.

The accident has definitely had an impact on how Nick lives his life today. At times, he finds himself reacting overzealously in realizing that life is short. Other times, his fear/anxiety holds him back and scares him. Despite it all, he finds himself to be very grateful and has a changed perspective on life.

Nick genuinely feels blessed to have grown up playing football. He explains that he has become very disciplined due to the sport, which has helped him remain persistent to succeed. He loves football most for the virtues he has gained, relationships and mentors he’s found and how he is able to continuously improve his craft like an artist would.

Today, Nick remains as disciplined as ever. He remains very active, waking up at 4 a.m. to train clients and instruct classes at Orangetheory Fitness in Brentwood and West Hollywood. During times where he finds himself frustrated, he remembers that there are others out there who have it worse and no matter how bad it gets, he feels blessed to be alive.

Nick is currently pursuing his MBA from USC. He genuinely loves technology companies like Apple and athletic apparel brands like Nike and he hopes to establish his own business in the next five years where he can lead a team and inspire others.

When Nick is not studying, working or improving his recovery process, he is visiting patients of the doctors who’ve operated on his leg. It is very easy to see why Nick’s doctors value his presence, as he is able to present a positive, welcoming and high energy to others.

Nick spends time with patients who are in the premature stages of recovery and shows them that despite his loss, he is able to still do a lot for being in the position he is in. Helping new amputees throughout their recovery motivates Nick and gives him a deeper sense of purpose.

Thank you, Nick, for being a wonderful member of the south bay community and an inspiring and positive ray of light for those who still need help finding their way in a dark tunnel.

“Adversity has the way to advance us if we allow it. A setback is really a setup for us to come back.” – Nick Ekbatani