Her Story
About Jennifer
Jennifer Lamonaca serves as a producer editor in sports television and media. She earned her degree in telecommunications and film from the University of Alabama with a concentration in sports broadcasting. While there, she worked at the campus television station in Tuscaloosa, where she reported, produced, and operated cameras for University of Alabama football games, boxing events, high school football, and SEC championships. Lamonaca also attended Way School of the Arts as a theater major and completed a summer investigative reporting program at Boston University. After graduation, she relocated to Los Angeles without a job and soon joined NFL Network as a producer editor, advancing through increased responsibilities. She has taken on freelance and seasonal work with the LA Clippers in marketing, KTLA as a media manager handling quality control and video, and the NBA events credentialing team. Lamonaca attributes her success to determination and a strong will, particularly in male-dominated industries, and values honesty, transparency, family support, and uplifting others. She advises aspiring professionals, especially young women, to avoid backup plans and to support one another.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Jennifer
01What do you attribute your success to?
I feel like everyone says hard work, so I'm like, I guess hard work. Maybe more along the lines of that determination, like never letting anybody else tell you you can't do something. I think a strong will will go a long way in any male-dominated industry, knowing you're just on par. Having a strong will and knowing who you are as a person will keep your head on straight when it comes to really hard jobs, like 3AM shifts. Just the strong will to keep going, knowing where you're gonna get to.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
A professor in college told me basically not having a backup plan. If you always have a backup plan or something waiting for you, you're never going to accomplish your true goals. You have to make it the only thing that you want. You don't need to have a backup plan, because if you have a backup plan, you're always gonna do that backup plan. You have to just give everything to what you want.
03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
Don't let anybody tell you you can't do it. Don't let anybody convince you not to do something that you want to do. Know that there's so many other women, even the people who have been there for a little bit, that are still there to support you. We're just all constantly supporting each other. There's so much more positivity in women supporting women. Build the people up around you, because those are also the people who are going to be building you up.
04What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
TV's changing so much, or just media in general has changed so much. An individual needs to be willing to change with it, but also knowing what you're good at and really honing in on that. Sports are thriving. People love watching sports, they're everywhere right now. There's more women in sports, there's so many opportunities. There's nothing that will stop you besides yourself if you want to work in sports. Anybody can get there. Everything's streaming, everything's on your phone, so you can do it anywhere.
05What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
I'm really big on honesty and transparency, not in a mean way of course, but just definitely as a person and at work, I think honesty is always the best policy. I'm really a big fan of my family, I love them so much. Those values that go hand-in-hand with family. Your support system means so much. Always being supportive of other people, like if my friends told me they wanted to be a clown tomorrow, I would be like, you're gonna be the best clown that exists. Just supporting other people, and everyone can, there's room at the top kind of mentality.
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