Welcome back to Season 2 of More Than Running with Dana. In this first episode, I sit down for a candid conversation with media extraordinaire Michelle Sammet.

Michelle wears many hats working with World Athletics at international events. She is a content creator by trade and has close relationships with many athletes who she assists with their own respective storytelling. As an announcer, social media expert and writer, Michelle works tirelessly to bring world-class coverage of athletics to life.

In our conversation, we talk about how Michelle got her start in the sport from her hometown in Germany to how she’s using her work to elevates female voices. It’s only fitting that a podcast about sharing women’s stories in running kicks off its second season with an expert.

Welcome back and I hope you enjoy the conversation!

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SHOW NOTES AND QUOTES

– “I love the fact that over the years a lot of the people that I get to work with I get to count as friends now. Traveling the circuit and being at events is tough work and long hours but you’re around people that you get along with really well. That makes the jobs that you do a lot easier to cope with.”

– “Over the last few years in particular, I’ve really tried to make an effort to go and see some of the places that we do get to visit. That tends to work the best through running and it’s something that I have re-discovered since finishing uni and starting work in the industry again. It’s picked up more or less and I’ve become better with making time on the circuit that for 30 or 45 minutes in the morning, I’ll go out and see some of the amazing places that we get to visit.”

– “If you as an athlete understand what it is that you want to communicate about yourself, about your interests or about the sport a little better, it will help other people get to know you a little better. I think the thing that has been statistically proven time and time again is that people can not remember numbers. We’re in a sport that lives on numbers. So how do you get people to connect with the athletes when they don’t understand the performances that are going on on the track or in the field? I work with athletes on storytelling things and how they can communicate their stories better whether that is through other journalists, through their own social media channels or whatever avenues they want to explore then that can only be good for the sport.”

– “Now, a lot of the time when I am on the circuit – yes, I do still help with creating content but a lot of my time is actually spent with the athletes most of the time one-on-one and working on their storytelling skills and how to better use their channels. It’s not that we sit down once and then we’re done. We’ll take a look at where you’re at and how can we gradually move it to where you want it to be. But also…planning ahead for when your career is finished on the track and where do you see yourself in 10-15 years time.”

– “I think with all of this it’s because people have given me an opportunity to do it and have had the faith in me being able to do it. I think that’s something I definitely would like to do more of but you need someone to have the faith in you and say, ‘Yeah, I think you’d be a great fit for this.’ That often is an issue in the industry with giving new people an opportunity. It’s a bit of the chicken and the egg debate. Well, we want more women in the sport or sports broadcasting or sports media but they need to be given the platform. I’ve watched my first commentary gig back just because I know that’s the only way that you can get better. It’s one of the hardest things there is and I think the only way you can get better is if you can get to do it again. If you listen to yourself, you get to see where you have to improve or get feedback from other people as well. It’s definitely something that I’d like to do more of but I wouldn’t compromise it for the other work I do because I genuinely feel that’s what drives the sport forward in helping the people in our sport become better storytellers.”

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