Stepping Stones: Sunset+Vine’s Shenaya Daley on her journey to junior assistant producer
Sunset+Vine’s Shenaya Daley took her love of sport and combined it with a degree in Television Production. The result is rapid career progression and an infectious enthusiasm for the sports broadcast industry, as this Stepping Stones interview reveals.
What is your job role today and what do you love about it?
I am a junior assistant producer at Sunset+Vine and I love that every week is different in my job. I could be working in an edit suite, be at a club’s training ground, or be pitchside at the game itself; there’s a lot of variety.
What does your current job entail on a day-to-day basis?
On a day-to-day basis, it’s all about working towards editorial for Saturday’s Premier League show (or sometimes we have a Europa League show on Thursdays too). I could be preparing for an edit for something to go into the show or I could be preparing graphics that help support the show’s editorial.
Can you talk us through your relevant education that helped you break into the sports broadcasting industry?
I graduated from Bournemouth University in 2018 with a Television Production degree. As part of my degree, I was able to undertake a couple of months of work experience with Premier League football club AFC Bournemouth in their media department. But I believe what really helped me was being able to apply sports into my degree wherever I could; I wrote my dissertation on women’s football presence in media and my major project was based around football. I was able to combine my love for sports into my degree which made it fun for me.
How did you get your first job in sports broadcasting, what was the role, and when?
In 2020, my friend from university saw a role for an entry-level junior researcher with Sunset+Vine on Instagram and told me to apply as the role was specifically working in football, which is what I wanted to do.
What happened next to get you where you are today?
Since getting the junior researcher role back in October 2020, I’ve been able to work with different people who have really helped me hone my skills. From that, I’ve been able to go from junior researcher to researcher to recently being made junior assistant producer all within two years.
What job would you like to be in in five or 10 years’ time? What are your career goals?
I’d like to become an assistant producer within sport – whether that’s in football (men or women), Formula 1 or multi-event sports such as the Olympics – and I want to be able to travel to different places with my job.
Can you give us some top tips that really helped you get where you are today?
Being able to combine my love for sport with my job is definitely a big help as you can put yourself in the viewer’s shoes as a sports fan and think ‘what would they like to watch?’. Working in sports broadcasting, you meet a lot of different people and even if you’re not the most sociable person, everyone is super-helpful and friendly so it’s really helpful to be collaborative to help you find your own voice and style.
What would you say are the barriers to getting a job in the broadcast industry?
I would say there aren’t a lot of entry-level roles in the industry, which can be an obvious barrier when you are starting out, but keep looking out for entry-level specific jobs or runner roles when applying.
“Working in sports broadcasting, you meet a lot of different people and even if you’re not the most sociable person, everyone is super-helpful and friendly”
What would you recommend to other people thinking of working in the broadcast industry?
I’d say be openminded about the jobs you’re applying for as it’s good to try out different things before deciding what route you want to go down in the future. When I graduated, I wanted to be an editor so I got a job as a runner at a post-production house, but I realised I wanted to work in something more fast-paced.
Because I was open-minded about my career options, I was able to apply for non-editing specific jobs which landed me in the role I’m in today (but I still get to work with editors in my job so it all worked out!).