As the niece of a high school football coach, being present at a sporting event was quite ordinary for Alexa Landestoy. Originally from Valencia, CA, she played competitive soccer in the Elite Clubs National League until she tore both ACLs in a span of 10 months and transitioned to finding a career off the field.

One day while attending a high school football game, one of the coaches recommended to Landestoy’s uncle to let her interview the team’s star quarterback Malik Henry. With one of her parents serving as a cameraperson on an iPad, Landestoy jumped at the opportunity, using that initial interview as a springboard to conduct others at the high school level on Friday nights.

She subsequently disseminated her work on YouTube and across other social media platforms, displaying her precocious talents in broadcasting to viewers worldwide. After a short time had passed, Landestoy discovered that her interviews were being reposted by Sports Recruits on YouTube and was receiving emails from media executives inquiring about her work.

While she was still a student at Valencia High School, Landestoy worked with CollegeAthletes.com on its #D1 Bound digital series where she interviewed athletes at several sporting events, some of which included the Elite 11 Finals, Pac-5 Baseball Championship and Army All-American Bowl.

Aside from interviewing, Landestoy also learned how to edit her own clips and assisted with their distribution on social media. Gaining that industry experience early afforded her the chance to hone her craft prior to college and hasten her professional development.

“It’s getting those reps, you watch the tape, everyone learns [and] you get better,” Landestoy said. “I think having that experience at a young age and being able to build off of that kind of gave me a jump start.”

Once she graduated from high school, Landestoy began attending Texas Christian University in Fort Worth where she majored in sports broadcasting and minored in journalism. From day one, she immediately prioritized finding chances to continue building the foundation necessary to succeed in sports media.

As a freshman in college, Landestoy contacted the athletic department to try to work with the nationally-ranked TCU Horned Frogs football team and got in touch with head coach Gary Patterson. Some of her ideas were declined early because of deficiencies in resources to execute them, but she took advantage of the chance to interview high school recruits who were on-campus, potentially the next stars of the university.

As she continued to matriculate at the university, Landestoy sought opportunities to continue to broaden her skill set, one of which was by serving as the football team’s in-stadium host. During home games, she would appear on the jumbotron and also host the Big 12 Look-In, taking fans around the rest of the conference to catch up on the day’s action.

In Landestoy’s sophomore year, one of her professors posted media internships for students to review. While the common practice was for juniors and seniors to apply and work as interns, Landestoy wasted no time and applied to Fox Sports Southwest.

Before she applied though, she had co-hosted Horned Frogs Nation, a program on which she would deliver the sports report segment that aired on the network. Following the interview process, she was selected as one of three interns, but was underwhelmed when her tasks centered around logging Texas Rangers baseball games, sometimes working until 2:00 AM.

“I remember my mom just telling me: ‘Alexa, they give you an assignment. Be the best logger you can be; be the best person; go meet as many people as you can,’” Landestoy recalled. “Looking back then, we had interns on their phones or not focused and because my logs were up to date and the editors appreciated that, people started to take notice.”

Making the most of the situation, Landestoy kept in touch with executives and producers at Fox Sports Southwest, occasionally sharing work she was doing on the side. When the network decided to experiment with a new system centered around the use of a cellular device to transmit a feed back to the studio, she received a call asking if she could contribute high school football reports. As a college junior, Landestoy was working as a sideline reporter for the regional sports network, continuing her professional development and exposure in the industry.

“It turned out I was working the entire football season,” Landestoy said. “They were flying me across the state of Texas doing full reports and the Friday football coverage. Not saying no to any opportunity is just kind of how it all started and then [took] off for more and more.”

Although she had never followed the WNBA, Landestoy made a commitment to management at the Dallas Wings that she would take the time to learn about the team and the league, helping land her the job as the courtside reporter. Remaining in the Dallas-Fort Worth area for the summer, she continued to work her way upwards and eventually was given the opportunity to report at both the Cheez-It Bowl and the Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic.

She affirms that she never felt intimidated starting at a young age and knew that embracing feeling uncomfortable and cultivating professional relationships was fundamental to experiencing sustained success and progression.

“I think I was blessed to have the best people around me who were so supportive and wanted the best in me,” Landestoy said. “I always say, ‘I want the job because I’m the hardest worker and I will do the best,’ but I will say people took a chance on me too. I think they saw the potential; they loved the go-getter spirit; the age that I was; the initiative; and seeing that high school tape that I made.”

In part because of her previous experience producing content for digital platforms, Landestoy recognized the need for the TCU football program to promote itself in places where millennials were consuming multimedia content. Through persistence and motivation, she worked to create two social media-based shows – called Rookie Roll Call and The 817, respectively – in which she essentially acted as her own production team to broadcast them en masse.

“I just kind of would run through [ideas] in my dorm room [and] write down pitches for ideas of shows and also where it could be targeted, [along with] who would watch this type of content,” Landestoy said. “….You fast-forward a year or two later and [in] every athletic department now, social media is the biggest deal and the biggest way to recruit guys.”

Working freelance gigs in Texas, Landestoy figured she would remain in the area for the time being; that is, until she saw a job opening at NBC Sports Washington. Traveling to “The Nation’s Capital” for her first professional audition, Landestoy endured what she called a “grueling” two days filled with networking and on-camera work.

In the end, she was offered the job and relocated to Washington, D.C. as the host of the nightly sports talk show DC Sports Live, along with analysts Wes Hall and Nick Ashooh. Covering all of the sports teams in the city, including the Washington Nationals during the organization’s championship season, allowed her to become familiar with the passion of the fanbase and the multiplatform sports coverage they expected.

“This is a fanbase that loves winning [and] loves supporting their teams, but it also is a very transplant type of city,” Landestoy described. “People are from everywhere; [there are] a lot of government workers; a lot of diplomats [and] different people coming from different places. You just want to have a variety of content.”

Once the COVID-19 pandemic struck the world, sports took a pause and innovation lent itself to shifts in consumption habits, coercing networks to reevaluate their content strategies. Upon the resumption of hockey outside of a bubble format, Landestoy was named the new host of Washington Capitals pregame and postgame coverage on NBC Sports Washington.

She came into the role with previous hockey knowledge from growing up as a fan of the Los Angeles Kings and says the role is “the best thing” for her. The show prioritizes producing and airing content that can be easily consumed on both linear television and digital platforms, and figures to have more access with the recent purchase of the regional sports network by Monumental Sports and Entertainment.

“It’s important to engage the casual fan but also the diehard fan – especially with our panelists,” Landestoy said. “They’re diving in the film room, trying to bring the fans in and understand the game more in a way that they would and make them feel super knowledgeable.”

Working as a host, Landestoy knows that a primary aspect of her job is to set up the analysts so they can proffer their esoteric knowledge of the game and translate it in a vernacular easily discernible to all types of fans. She is able to express her opinion throughout the show as well and conducts interviews with players and executives to further enhance the broadcast – all centered around the trait of authenticity – just as she learned from her mentors in the industry.

“I always pride myself on being the same person on- and off-camera,” Landestoy said. “If you see me on the street, I’m acting the same way I am on camera. I always want to be inviting and I also always want to be the voice of the fan. Anything they’re thinking, I’m the one who’s facilitating that conversation to make sure my answers are heard.”

The typical preparation for a Capitals live game broadcast entails having a production meeting the day before to share ideas for segments and what to discuss on the show, but of course this can change with the dynamic sports news cycle.

On game days, she accesses the show rundown and adds her thoughts and ideas of what she may say, writing down what she intends to deliver on camera. Something Landestoy possesses over other studio hosts is a photographic memory, a reason why she is able to effectively host without the use of a teleprompter.

“I pride myself on covering this team for the three years that I have,” she said. “I’m coming in with this knowledge and I can take it or follow my analysts wherever they’re going. I have that photographic memory and know where maybe I want to go with my ideas, but I’m always open and you’ve got to think on your feet to wherever the conversation is going to and don’t try to force the story if it’s not there.”

Landestoy and the Capitals’ studio analysts, including Alan May, Al Koken and Bruce Boudreau, aim to prepare viewers for each game and analyze it upon its conclusion. Having a local connection to Capitals fans gives NBC Sports Washington the insight it needs to focus its content on areas that will impact the experience of the live game broadcast.

For example, Capitals forward Alexander Ovechkin recently scored his 787th career goal, marking the most goals scored with one franchise in league history.

“I’ve really loved being a host and being able to have more to say and have my opinion be heard but also to use my skills to weave the conversation in and out to wherever they’re going,” Landestoy said. “I definitely think there’s a joy and also the fans really appreciate that, ‘Hey, we are your Capitals crew. We have you covered for the ins and outs of what this team is doing. We’re your home for Capitals hockey,’ and we really try to encompass that.”

Staying informed about everything going on not just with the Capitals, but in the world of sports at large requires Landestoy to be aware of the sports news cycle. When the Capitals are not on the ice, Landestoy contributes in other areas at NBC Sports Washington and sometimes works in other hosting jobs both inside and outside of the network.

One of those hosting jobs involved working out of NBC Sports’ headquarters in Stamford, Conn. as the digital desk host for the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics, compiling the day’s events in concise segments distributed to multiple outlets. The role required Landestoy to work late at night; therefore, she adjusted her routine to sleep during the day to ensure she would be energized and ready to work throughout the 19-day stretch.

“These videos would get millions and millions of viewers because people would want to get a snapshot of the two minutes of what happened that night in the Olympics,” Landestoy said. “It was just a cool experience that, looking back, is definitely a career achievement that I’m definitely very proud of.”

Although she would be content with working as a studio host on Washington Capitals live game broadcasts for the remainder of her career, she recognizes the importance of continuing to improve and working to be the best media personality possible. Having that mindset could premise potential future movement to a national platform but for now, she is thrilled with working at NBC Sports Washington.

“I’ve learned that I love doing a variety of roles,” Landestoy said. “It’s not just sideline reporting, but I love hosting. I love the Good Morning Football-type vibes or NFL Live where you can show personality and bring the sports content. That’s where I think I can shine in those areas so probably a role like that is something that I would love to do.”

Alexa Landestoy had a precipitous rise in sports media because of her work ethic and drive to create opportunities and succeed. She grew up around high school football and the professional teams in southern California, using her knowledge and desire to tell stories to find new opportunities to refine her skills and cultivate new ones as necessary. The key is in getting started and seeing the value in every and any chance to immerse oneself in sports media.

“Just go for it if you have a passion for this,” Landestoy emphasized. “I got my start with my parents filming me on an iPad out on a high school field. It turned out all those high school players are now in college or in the NFL. Yeah, maybe it’s high school, but you’ll grow together.”