One Year, One Emmy

One year out of Grinnell and Kyle Espinosa ’12 has an Emmy to his name.

“I feel pretty ecstatic to win an Emmy for a project I had a significant role in,” he says. “The statue is for the team, but if I had a spare $2000 lying around, I could get mine.”

Espinosa is part of Nickelodeon’s digital team, a group that recently won an Emmy for Outstanding Creative Achievement in Interactive Media — User Experience and Visual Design. Their Nick app for iPad goes beyond free video viewing, offering a moveable tile layout with original videos, polls, games, and interactive content, as well as full episodes of Nickelodeon programs and specials.

Espinosa and his supervisor were responsible for populating the video content. He also reviewed the quality and functionality of the app, worked with the development team on technical issues, and had creative input on written copy and editorial issues.

The project added up to long hours; he also monitors the Nick.com site to ensure everything is working. “I watch Nick TV for a living,” he says. 

Espinosa has been working with the digital team in New York since his graduation, when he started in Viacom’s Summer Associate Program (SAP). In the program, he worked with Nick Digital and MTV Digital Music Production, accepting a position with Nick Digital when the program ended. 

He loves his job. “The people I work with are great and the work I do gets seen by such a huge audience that it's kind of selfish,” he says. “I’m working on making more slime for prime time! Everyone, go out and watch Legend of Korra. It’s super fun, I swear!” 

Espinosa’s not the only Grinnellian at Nickelodeon. “I know a fellow studio art major working in Nickelodeon. Dodge [Nate] Greenley ’11 is working on the West Coast offices out in LA,” he says.

Wondering how to succeed after Grinnell? Espinosa suggests you “take risks and find opportunities, even if they’re only tangential to your dreams. They’ll open up doors you never know existed. Also utilize all the resources available! I was pretty stoked to find out that Grinnell had a subscription to Lynda.com and I made sure I got everything that I wanted from that site.”