Special Olympics North America communications fellow and athlete reporter, RJ Nealon, is another Special Olympics athlete who transitioned from competing with Special Olympics to now being a journalist and reporter for Special Olympics and ESPN. RJ has worked on several top-tier sport events with Special Olympics, and external partners, and even interviewed ESPN Sports Anchor, Kevin Negandhi, at the Special Olympics USA Games on how he began and grew his career with ESPN.
Earlier this year, RJ was part of the team who lead sessions with the newly appointed Special Olympics Global Athlete Congress (GAC) and Sargent Shriver Global Messengers (SSGMs) while they were in Washington D.C. for leadership training. He and Sydnye White, Vice President of Content & Storytelling were able to educate the group on media, communications, interviewing skills, and many other topics applicable to their new roles as SSGMs and GAC members.
“RJ shows what great work is done when athletes are empowered to tell their own, and other people's, stories. RJ is not a journalist with a disability, he is simply a good journalist.”
