Sally Ehrmann

Major: Journalism (emphasis in Strategic Communications)

Certificates: Digital Studies & European Studies

Graduation Date: May 2019

How did you end up working at Big Ten Network?

I knew I wanted to work in sports when I started at UW-Madison. I had a few internships throughout my time that taught me skills in sports journalism. My senior year, I worked with the Badgers Give Back program at Wisconsin Athletics which gave me great experience in event management, PR and social media.

After graduating from Wisconsin, I moved to Chicago to get my Master’s in Journalism with a sports media focus at Northwestern. This helped me broaden my skills in journalism and network with many people in the sports industry. The pandemic hit as I was finishing my graduate degree, so I worked for a year at a B2B media company as a writer and editor. About a year into my first full-time job, I stumbled across the Big Ten Network position on LinkedIn. I’ve been here the past two years now and have continued growing my managerial skills in addition to social content skills.

What does a typical day in the office look like for you?

When you work in sports, every day is pretty different! As a content coordinator, I work on our digital and social team. We have videographers stationed at all Big Ten campuses, and I manage half of them. I meet weekly on Zoom with our videographers where we brainstorm upcoming social and feature content, and insert that into our weekly content calendar. I’m responsible for posting their content from gamedays, so I work a lot of football, volleyball, basketball and hockey games.

I also manage our @b1gwbb Instagram and TikTok accounts. For this part of my job, I work with our TV talent to produce different women’s basketball segments. On the TikTok side, I get to play around with audio and create my own content for use on our platform.

The best part of my job is getting to attend various Big Ten sporting events where I lead the team onsite while posting our content – everything from video content to photos and graphics. Each day is truly very different but it’s a lot of content ideation and management related to Big Ten sports.

How has Digital Studies influenced your career path?

All my internships led me down the path of social media management so I wanted to expand my digital skills with a Digital Studies certificate. I have always loved writing and communicating with people, but the digital space in particular was fascinating to me because it’s ever changing. You really have to be nimble and open to learning new things in this space, and I consider myself a lifelong learner. The Digital Studies certificate really broadened my perspective on the digital landscape by giving me tangible skills in things like digital content editing and coding, which I still use today. It also gave me a broad perspective of the communications industry by providing the context to where we’ve been and where the industry can go.

Did you have a favorite Digital Studies class when you were a student?

I took Art 107: Intro to Digital Forms my senior year that gave me a lot of great skills in the Adobe Suite.

Do you have any advice for current students?

Don’t be afraid to take some risks and explore different classes. You may find a new passion you never would’ve known about if you didn’t put yourself out there and be willing to fail at something.

What achievement are you most proud of in your professional career thus far?

I launched the Big Ten Network TikTok account. We reached 100,000 followers in about ten months, which is the fastest account to reach 100k followers in BTN history.