SEASON 3 EPISODE 7 | Jackie Chang from the NFL

SEASON 3 EPISODE 7 | Jackie Chang from the NFL

In this episode of Vetted Conversations, we talk with Jackie Chang, Director of Media Strategy and Business Development at the NFL, about her path from West Point and Army intelligence to a career in media. She shares insights on her transition out of the military and her work with NBCUniversal, Peacock, and the NFL. Jackie also highlights a new veteran initiative and reflects on the lasting impact of service and community.

https://www.nfl.com

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Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:38

Join us as we learn together and help equip you with the tools to protect and preserve what matters most. Our shared American ideas.

SPEAKER_03 0:47

Here's our recent interview with Jackie Chang, the director of Media Strategy and Business Development at the NFL.

SPEAKER_02 0:54

I originally hailed from Los Angeles, and it was a post-9-11 era, right? I felt just compelled to do something more with my life, and so learned about West Point. I don't have any prior military service in my family, but learned about West Point through two cadets who had graduated earlier from my high school. They came back to do their recruiting spiel, and I happened to be, you know, in the right place at the right time. And I decided that was what I wanted to do. So went to West Point, graduated in 2007, and then entered the Army as a military intelligence officer. Oh, MI.

SPEAKER_03 1:30

So you went to Wachuka then?

SPEAKER_02 1:31

Yeah, went to Wachuka and ended up doing seven years total. I did deployment to Iraq, deployment to Afghanistan, did company command at Fort Campbell. And then after I finished that role, I was like, you know what, this is a kind of a good time, good transition time to get out. And I had no idea what I wanted to do, no idea what was out there. And so rather than take the first thing that came along, I was like, you know what, let me just buy myself two more years, I'll go back to school, I'll get my MBA. So I went over to Boston and got my MBA from Harvard Business School.

SPEAKER_03 2:07

Heard of it, heard of it. Yeah, heard of it.

SPEAKER_02 2:10

And uh yeah, it was, you know, from there that I really started to learn about what was out there and that I could actually make a career in media and entertainment. I had always been very passionate about TV and movies. My mom used to yell at me when I was a kid, stop watching so much TV, stop doing your homework in front of the TV. Yeah, now we laugh, and I was like, see look, I now do it for a full-time job. And um so after I graduated, I did two years at Comcast NBC Universal in their rotational program. Great foundation of learning about all things media. And it was in one of my rotations that I did um a stint with NBC Sports. And until then I was thinking more so I wanted to be on the movies and TV side, and then got bit by the sports bug. And ever since then I've been in what I would say more specifically, sports media. And specifically I started in streaming, so that was at a time when streaming was not big. And it was great really being part of the, you know, kind of on the ground, getting in on the ground and helping to build streaming within NBC. And eventually moved over to Peacock, uh, which is NBC Universal Streaming Service. Some may have heard of that too.

SPEAKER_03 3:26

Yep, yep, I've heard of it. Yeah, and I I they they get some of my month, my money every month.

SPEAKER_02 3:32

And after five and a half years there, I was like, okay, it's time for a transition, and an opening here at the league came along, and so now I've been here for three and a half years, and what I do is work on and lead our TV licensing deals. So I work very closely with our TV partners like NBC and CBS and Amazon, and we partner together to bring football to our fans.

SPEAKER_03 3:56

You know, I've I since uh since we've had the NFL as a partner, it's always struck me how much of an overlap there is between the people who watch football and the people who support veterans. Do you find that working with the NFL, do you find that same kind of culture, do you find similar cultural elements than to when you were in the military?

SPEAKER_02 4:18

Yeah, I would say the NFL has is definitely very much a very strong team, similar to what I, you know, learned and what how I grew up in the military. It's just a group of really smart people who want to do great things and want to work together as a team to achieve those great things. And, you know, we are a small, the league overall is a small group of people that does a lot. And so, in a way, also, we have that shared, you know, common bond of we just work a lot. You know, we we get a lot of done, a lot done, but the way that we do is we work a lot of hours together. So in a way, it's kind of like late, late hours. I think about it, you kind of equate it to, you know, being out in the field in the military with your team and like doing all this stuff together, like late hours in the office together, kind of building those team bonds.

SPEAKER_03 5:08

I'm sure very impactful though.

SPEAKER_02 5:10

Yeah, yes, for sure.

SPEAKER_03 5:11

Yeah, that's awesome. Um so let me give you a rundown of what we're doing. Um as you know, the Army will be 250 years old this year, so will the Navy and the Marines. Um so we're focused on uh acts of service as well as leaders, uh 250 leaders and 250 different acts of service, highlighting those ahead of the US turning 250 next year. And it's funny because I've been having this conversation a lot as we give our elevator pitch. And people are like, the US is 250 after the services? And I'm like, of course. Like, how do you think we got the US? Right? We had to ask people the Revolutionary War. Yeah, we're like, hey, uh, you group of people do this, you people do that. Working with the NFL, it's it's it's definitely you touch a lot of customers. Well, I mean, the product touches customers, but do you find yourself uh doing any other giving or uh like civic duties or responsibilities in your personal life or day-to-day?

SPEAKER_02 6:12

Yeah, one thing that I've always tried to do, you know, that the transition out of the military is not an easy one, right? And it's one that I have gone through, as I was going through it, I talked to so many people who helped me along the way, and so I feel it a responsibility of mine to help people who are coming after me as well. And, you know, specifically given that I work in sports, it's it's a sexy industry, and I've met a lot of folks who are either in the military currently or thinking about getting out that want to get in the same space. And it's not the easiest to break into, right? So I, you know, definitely take all the time that I can to have chats with people and kind of help them think through what do they want to do, think through how do they perfect their elevator pitch, you know, help them work on their resume and really kind of help them put their best foot forward as they get out.

SPEAKER_03 7:03

Yeah, that what you just said there, that that aligns with what we do, or just we're just right down the middle because same, right? When you're getting out of the military, so much of your identity is tied to your service. Yeah. And so for me, I I remember thinking, alright, I, you know, I've given, I did the same as you, Iraq, Afghanistan, 15, 15, uh, 15 months, four months. And I was like, alright, what do I do next? I applied to a couple of grad schools, uh, didn't get in. Uh, and then I said, you know what? I want to move to New York. And then eventually started my own uh company, and you know, but it the point about when you're getting out, you don't know what your identity is or what you're trying to do next. We like to help out in that space too. We like to give veterans something to hold on to to reach out to a community to also give. We have a uh a nature of giving and serving just most veterans. Uh so a channel to plug into when they transition out. So um other than that, are there any uh projects or programs that you're working on that you want to highlight and reach out to our audience and tell us to take a look at?

SPEAKER_02 8:23

Yeah, one one more so that I would say it's still relatively new, is uh the NFL is just getting started. I'm part of the charge in leading this of standing up a veteran ERG at the NFL. And we, you know, are still new, so we're not trying to boil the ocean all in year one, but ultimately, you know, part of our mission is not only just to educate the internal league employees around the military experience and military family experience as well, but also help, you know, leverage the NFL's resources to go out externally and help transitioning service members, help um, you know, military spouses as well and families, and so I think more to come there, but we're we're definitely just getting started.

SPEAKER_03 9:13

We partner with you all in uh, you know, obviously to to uh with with the NFL and thank you for the space. It's wonderful, but I'm sure that there's ways that we can continue to overlap. I'll I'll reach out to you and see if there's any you know calendar events or things that you all are putting on that we can add to our 250. Okay. And maybe there's an overlap there.

SPEAKER_02 9:30

No, I love that.