If you were to ask most U of T students how they spend their weekends, there’s a high chance that they’d offer the name of their part-time job. Second-year journalism specialist Emmy Curtis is no different — that is, if you were to ignore the fact that her part-time job was assisting at the broadcast of the 2022 FIFA World Cup Qualifiers.
The experience, which Curtis describes as “the biggest in [her] career,” happened on a whim. Curtis, who recently followed Soccer Canada on Instagram, noticed that the men’s team was performing well in the qualifiers. After discovering that they would be competing in Hamilton, Curtis decided to message the account with the hopes of volunteering with them. They promptly replied with an email contact. This phenomenon is one that Curtis calls “the butterfly effect.”
Similarly, the butterfly effect was what led me to interview Curtis via Zoom. I reached out to the aspiring sports journalist over social media after stumbling across her TikTok account — a platform where she’s amassed more than 22,000 followers.
But it’s not just the butterfly effect that’s responsible for Curtis’ success. At the age of 19, Curtis moved to Toronto from Abbotsford, British Columbia, was put in charge of the Varsity Blues’ social media account, and started a partnership with TikTok Canada — all topics she explored in an interview with The Varsity.
Finding passion for broadcasting
At a young age, Curtis gained exposure to sports through her parents, who were both passionate sports fans. Curtis’ enthusiasm for basketball, together with her interest for theatre, was also a factor that originally inspired her to pursue a career in sports broadcasting.
“I loved being in front of the camera. I loved being in front of an audience,” Curtis explained. “I was sitting on the couch watching a football game with my dad one night, and this broadcaster popped onto the screen. And I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, like, I want to do that.’ ”
Pre-COVID-19, Curtis won a scholarship to pursue sports broadcasting at an American university. Due to the risk of infection and border closures during the pandemic, however, Curtis instead opted for U of T, which she described was her “backup plan.”
Curtis would bring on-air experience to campus, which she’d gathered through two volunteer positions with two British Columbia basketball teams. “I was volunteering with the basketball club in my hometown… Through that, I met the president of the Canadian Elite Basketball League. And he got me [a] volunteer position with the Fraser Valley Bandits,” Curtis explained. “And it got me my first reporter job, which was for the answer pilots, which were in Abbotsford.”
Social media roles at U of T
Once Curtis arrived in Toronto, she swiftly landed a work-study position creating social media content for the Varsity Blues, U of T’s intercollegiate sports program. Curtis learned about the position through a friend who was also an aspiring sportscaster.
Curtis also holds a position with U of T’s Sports Business Association, a student group that aims to “bridge the gap between university students and sports industry professionals and organizations,” according to the U of T student life website. Curtis’ participation with the group led her to be invited to a Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment case competition, where she had to partner a sports team with another organization and explain her marketing strategy.
“I’m not a business major… this was another thing that I got involved in [to] expand my knowledge,” Curtis admitted. “And I got put on this team with three Rotman Commerce [students]. I was like, ‘Okay, this is good because… I’m pretty good with graphic design. I can do videos, I can present well, but maybe [you] share your business knowledge.’ ”
Ultimately, Curtis’ group was presented the ‘Best Deck Aesthetics and Visuals’ award, which honoured the graphic design of their presentation. “That recognition alone is massive for us,” Curtis said.
Influencing on TikTok
Curtis’ social media platforms focus largely on the theme of her being a sports journalist. The outlier is her TikTok account, which undoubtedly popped up on my ‘For You page,’ because it boasts power suits, high energy dance compilations, and clothing hauls. Curtis laughs and explains that the discrepancy is because she didn’t intend for her account to be used professionally.
“I started off with doing outfits, like fashion stuff. Because it’s just like one of my passions and I gained [not] a huge amount of followers, but… I hit like 5,000 followers, and it was pretty quick,” Curtis explained.
Once Curtis noticed an increase in followers, she eventually decided to switch the focus of her account to document her career. “I was like, ‘Okay, maybe I should take this more down [the] path I actually want to go down.’ So then I started posting some sports stuff and then started getting those followers.”
This branding change was a decision that ultimately paid off — last Monday, Curtis signed a contract with TikTok Canada to be an influencer in their Sports and Fitness Community program. Though Curtis calls the opportunity “amazing”, she notes the irony of it — prior to starting at U of T, the broadcaster wouldn’t have described herself as “confident”.
“I just had [a] brain switch,” Curtis revealed. “And I was like, ‘From here on…I don’t care what anybody says. [We’re] just going to go for it.’ And then my confidence started growing.”
Although Curtis’ surge in confidence occurred while she was away at school, she also attributes it to her mother’s influence. “She’s always had pretty high roles [in her] work and… she always kind of just taught us like, ‘[You] can do this… [Whatever] anybody says, [you] don’t have to listen to them. If you’re passionate about something… go get it,’ ” she explained.
Currently, Curtis’ most-watched TikToks share two common themes. The first is that they’re about being a sports broadcaster. The second is that they’re about Curtis being a woman. This theme is not a reality that Curtis is oblivious to.
“I would definitely call myself feminine,” she said with a smile. “I don’t hide it at all.”
