ESPN's Jason Spells on Why Your Network Actually Matters

Most people think networking is about collecting business cards at some awful conference. That's not what Jason Spells does. He builds relationships with people because he actually cares about what they're working on, and somehow that authenticity opens more doors than any forced small talk ever could. When Ariane Lovell sat down with him for PIXO.NEWS's Ask a Journalist series, Spells didn't pitch some corporate vision of "synergy"—he talked about real conversations with producers, engineers, and reporters who've become actual friends over years of working in sports media.

The thing that stuck out? Networking isn't a side hustle. It's the job. Whether you're writing code, hosting a show, or reporting the news, the people you work with shape what you build and how you build it. Spells credits a lot of his opportunities at ESPN to conversations that started nowhere—a chat at a game, a random email that turned into a meeting, a person who remembered him from five years ago. That's not luck. That's showing up and being real with people.

Here's the question everyone's already asking: how do you actually build a network without feeling like a total fraud? Spells would probably tell you to stop trying so hard. Find people doing interesting things. Ask them about it. Listen. Then maybe grab coffee. The rest happens naturally or it doesn't, but at least you didn't waste anyone's time pretending to be someone you're not.