Cal State Fullerton alumna Katie Hennessey always wanted to be a sports reporter.
A lifelong sports fan and former athlete, Hennessey pictured a career that included holding an ESPN microphone while reporting from the sidelines.
While she may not be a sideline reporter, Hennessey is a two-time Emmy winner who is on her second stint with the “worldwide leader in sports” as a senior talent producer. She has a resume that spans working in marketing and publicity for Walt Disney Studios to booking talent for ESPN’s “This is SportsCenter” commercials. And she credits the communications degree she earned from CSUF for putting her on the path she’s on today.
Born and raised in the Inland Empire, Hennessey received some pointed advice from her father’s friend, who recommended that if she wanted to be in the sports and entertainment business, she should pursue CSUF’s communications program.
So, after graduating from high school in 2008, Hennessey began working toward her degree in broadcast journalism in CSUF’s College of Communications. On campus, she served as an ASI representative and covered sports for Titan TV.
She also completed multiple internships for networks such as MTV, KCAL/CBS and NBC. Hennessey felt that her time with MTV was the most pivotal.
“That was the one where I think I cut my teeth the most,” Hennessey said. “I worked multiple VMAs. I did movie and TV awards. I was answering phones and doing assistant work. I learned a lot on that internship and got a good experience there.”
Hennessey graduated early in 2011 and landed a job with ESPN right out of the gate, thanks to a campus tour she was asked to give to some network representatives who were visiting the university. She kept in touch with those contacts, and, upon graduation, reached out and was able to secure a position as a media operator.
Hennessey relocated to Bristol, Connecticut, and was responsible for taking in sports feeds from across the globe and packaging them for ESPN’s use. She held the 6 p.m.-to-4 a.m. position for nearly three years before she decided she needed a change.
“The role was very tedious and not exactly what I wanted to do, but I got my foot in the door, so that was the good part,” Hennessey said.
Hennessey headed home to California and joined Walt Disney Studios in Burbank, a position she landed by staying in touch with contacts from her time at MTV. She worked with the marketing, publicity and media strategy team responsible for campaigns for movies such as “Avengers: Infinity War,” “Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens,” “Black Panther” and “Frozen II.”
“I did a lot of hands-on publicity and talent relations, working junkets and working premieres across all films globally,” Hennessey said.
In 2020, she felt the pull to head back east, not only to work for ESPN again but also to be back in the same location as her then-boyfriend and now-husband, ESPN associate director and three-time Emmy winner Jonathan Weaver.
This time around, Hennessey came to ESPN with an even deeper skill set, and she initially took on a part-time talent coordinator role that evolved into the senior talent producer position she holds today. She is not only responsible for daily bookings for college shows, but she also handles the marketing and events side of talent production.
One week, Hennessey could be booking Megan Rapinoe, and the next week she could be booking the Delta State Fighting Okra mascot. And her booking work on SportsCenter has earned her two Emmy awards.
“Being able to interact against such a variety of lines of business, as well as a variety of athletes and celebrities … I’m very blessed that I get to work on two sides of the business,” Hennessey said. “It’s definitely exciting.”
She credits her time at CSUF for helping her solidify her communications experience and for teaching her how to network, a skill that she has leveraged for each of her roles.
Hennessey also feels that CSUF’s diversity helped open her mind to people who come from all walks of life – something that has helped her in her current position.
“I’m able to engage with people and personalize my experience with them, and I think that I learned that by humanizing people when I was in college,” Hennessey said.
A first-generation college graduate, she continues to support CSUF’s College of Communications through the Hennessey Family Scholarship, established in honor of her late sister to support students who have an interest in the sports or entertainment industries.
As for what it means to be Titan, to Hennessey, it means being yourself and creating your own path.
“Every person I ever met at Cal State Fullerton or ever have stayed connected with, they’ve all done something so uniquely individual,” Hennessey said. “It takes people who are willing to take the risk and be themselves to formulate this whole great campus of people who are creative thinkers or have these big dreams.”
