Elyssa Morris was recently honored as a 30 Under 30 member of the University of Maryland’s Terrapin Club for 2022. Morris, 28, works as a senior marketing manager at Monumental Sports where she creates digital content for all of DC’s favorite sports teams. After originally planning on majoring in dance, the Washington native switched to journalism and tries to find the middle ground between reporting and creative content.
What does it mean to be named a 30 under 30?
It is definitely an honor. I have a lot of family members and friends that went to the University of Maryland and I grew up visiting campus and seeing what it has to offer. When I envisioned what college looked like I always pictured Maryland, so it was always a dream to go there. It just represents how far I’ve come and how hard I’ve worked in my career and to be recognized for my accomplishments means a lot.
How did you initially get into journalism and sports journalism?
I’ve always been a very creative person and growing up was involved in all sorts of dance and theater and show choir, so I knew I always wanted to do something very creative. I actually went into college as a dance major, but I knew that I wanted to play to those creative strengths but also make a career for myself, so I switched to journalism because the program had a lot of interesting courses like photojournalism and video editing.
For sports journalism, I was a student assistant with the Shirley Povich Center for Sports Journalism and was able to assist in putting on a sports journalism camp for high school students. I was really inspired and I never realized I could make a career out of sports journalism. Not in the reporter, realm but more in the creative realm. I was working at the time with the student-run news organization and I was running their social media. That’s where that combination of social media and sports journalism really came about.
What does it mean to create digital content?
I am responsible for creating a lot of the content and managing content that you see on the social media accounts. For my career at Monumental, I worked on the Caps and Mystics digital media account, I’ve worked on our broadcasting network and most recently started working in Esports. A lot of what that entails is coming up with concepts and content, whether that’s working with players, whether that’s covering games and just essentially bringing the stories of our team and players to life. It’s something that’s super unique and I’ve loved every second of it.
What’s a highlight of your work the past couple years?
I’ve been very fortunate to cover a lot of games and moments our teams have had over the last six years. I’ve covered the Stanley Cup Finals for the Caps and the WNBA Finals for the Mystics. Those have been incredibly proud moments that I’ve been involved in. Not only dealing with the excitement of making sure we tell the story and get all of the content but also being excited myself being from this area, being able to work for the teams I grew up rooting for.
Is there a Jewish angle to your job?
There are certain moments. We have an Israeli player on the Washington Wizards, Deni Avdija, and around the high holidays I told him “Shanah Tovah,” and it was great to talk to him about that. Also speaking with Alisha Clark, a player on the Mystics. Those moments have been really fun to connect on a different level, it’s a really unspoken connection.
Anything you want to add?
Having worked in the WNBA specifically, I’m a huge advocate for women in sports. Having the ability for when I was growing up and figuring out what I wanted to do, I didn’t necessarily know a career in sports was a possibility because I didn’t know anybody, especially women, that were working in sports. Just having that representation and for younger girls to have role models, to be that voice is something I’m very passionate about.
