When Carrie Brzezinski-Hsu was a kid, she made commercials in her free time.
“For some nerdy reason, my idea of creating content wasn’t like creating a makeup show or doing a dance performance, it was setting up a VHS camcorder in our basement and creating commercials,” Brzezinski-Hsu said. “Growing up as an only child, I was like my dad’s son. I knew I wanted to do something in sports and advertising.”
By the time she was in fifth grade, she also knew she wanted to work at ESPN’s SportsCenter, which she watched every morning with her dad. “I’m in the career of a lifetime — I’m at ESPN, I’m making commercials in sports and I’m taking that to the next level and running creative,” she said. “That’s beyond what I even dreamed.”
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After graduating from her beloved University of Michigan (where she was the commencement speaker for the School of Kinesiology in 2021), she moved to New York in 2000. Six jobs — at such places as Maxim, Blender, USA Today, Hachette Filipacchi Media and DoubleClick — and eight years later, she landed her dream gig at ESPN as senior director at ESPN’s branded content studio, Creative Works. She was promoted to VP, Creative Works, in 2013.
“All of those jobs were the building blocks of my understanding of branded content,” Brzezinski-Hsu said.
Building the Creative Studio
In 2020, she worked closely with Tina Thornton, head of content operations and creative surround at ESPN, to establish ESPN Creative Studio, which incorporates Creative Works but also includes everyone who works in ESPN’s creative areas, such as editors, motion graphics designers, music producers and so forth. Creative Studio provides whatever is needed to make an ESPN story work. The team that she oversaw ballooned from 50 people to 450 people — and she made it her goal to meet every single one of those people in the following year.
“The way she’s been able to bring those teams together as one and create an efficient approach to all of our content has been something that we didn’t have in the past,” Thornton said. “Now that it’s all together, it has not only made us more efficient in the way we approach things, it has allowed people to grow in other areas. There are editors who are engaging with the branded content space, music people who are engaging with the visual storytelling team — whether they are in the linear or digital space, they are all together and that allows us to do special things.”
I’m in the career of a lifetime — I’m at ESPN, I’m making commercials in sports and I’m taking that to the next level and running creative. That’s beyond what I even dreamed.”
— Carrie Brzezinski-Hsu
While Brzezinski-Hsu is overseeing an enormous team and has many responsibilities, she still makes time to mentor others — even those who do not report to her. Several years ago, Terrell Bouza, now a coordinating producer at ESPN, observed Brzezinski-Hsu in the workplace and decided she was someone from whom he would like to learn.
“I reached out to her and asked if she had some time and she was very responsive and gracious. She connected with me for an hour,” Bouza said. “From that first meeting, it evolved into a mentor/mentee relationship.”
Since then, both Brzezinski-Hsu and Bouza have grown in their careers, but they continue to stay in touch.
“Carrie has always told me that as a leader, you have to lean into who you are,” he said. “You have to tap into what makes you uniquely you and use that superpower to build your teams and set your culture.”
An Authentic Leader
That philosophy is also reflected in the way Brzezinski-Hsu runs her teams, Ibelka Fernandez, VP of human resources at Walt Disney Studios, said. Fernandez was the HR leader “partnering with her on organizational design, transformation and leadership changes” as Brzezinksi-Hsu was building out the division.
“Carrie’s gift is bringing her authenticity while inspiring others, and she probably doesn’t even know she’s doing that,” Fernandez said. “She does it in a subtle way while she opens doors for others. She’s an absolute rock star.”
Asked what advice she gives up-and-comers, Brzezinski-Hsu said: “Honor your values but also know that the company has values. If you stray too far from your values to support the company, you aren’t going to like it, and vice versa. You need to find the intersection of your values and what the company needs. When you hit the sweet spot, a lot of synchronicity happens.”
