Week 2: Liz Flynn

This week, I’m sharing some insights from my conversation with New York Mets Assistant Photographer, Liz Flynn. I broke down our conversation into different points in her life, so feel free to read all the way through or pick the sections that interest you most!

Quinnipiac

Liz began her journey at Quinnipiac before even enrolling, participating in the “Bobcat for a Day” program. After a few major switches (ranging from athletic training to fine arts), she switched to Communications/Media Studies at orientation, which is the degree she’d graduate with 4 years later.

While her major provided her with a great understanding of the media industry, her involvement on campus is really what solidified her passions. Between the Quinnipiac Bobcats Sports Network (QBSN), Q30 TV, QU’s Chapter of the Association for Women in Sports Media (AWSM), and Quinnipiac Athletics, Liz immersed herself in all the opportunities that college provided.

“The biggest thing that helped me was all of the sporting events that I shot. Whether it was for QBSN or for the athletic department…I was shooting maybe 6 games a weekend,” she said. Now, that’s definitely a lot, but it helped her in more than one aspect of her career. “It was killer for my time management,” she added.

During her junior year, the Quinnipiac baseball team made their way to the NCAA tournament, which she got to attend and shoot in North Carolina. “That was really what solidified – this is 100% the route I want to take,” she said. Since Liz was always a baseball kid (like myself), she felt her passion for photography shine through when she felt the same excitement shooting the club hockey team. “Shooting hockey, I was like, okay, yeah, so photography is for sure what I love doing the most.”

But sports media isn’t the only experience at QU that shaped the professional she’s become. Liz developed her leadership skills while serving as the secretary for her sorority, Chi Omega, for 3 years. “It really helped me to be able to command a room, and especially being in a space where it’s mostly men, being in that all-girls group really helped me in that aspect,” she said.

Using all the skills she gained in college, she interned with the Brooklyn Cyclones (the Mets’ High-A affiliate) during the summer of 2018 to fulfill her internship credit (which is something to start thinking about sooner than you think!), but continued in 2019 because she genuinely enjoyed the work she was doing. “That was definitely the big stepping stone of, okay, this is a real job that could catapult me into a career…so I took it very seriously.”

Liz in the Brooklyn Cyclones dugout, camera in hand (as always!) (Photo provided by Liz Flynn)

In the fall of 2019, she had the opportunity through the Cyclones to shoot a New York Mets game. That’s when the photographer for the Cyclones introduced her to the Mets’ photographer, who is now her boss. That day, she photographed the game from the photo well with professionals from AP, Getty Images, MLB, and of course, the Mets. Liz described that day simply – “I thought that would be my life’s peak. I never thought it would get any better than that.” (Spoiler: it did.)

As she approached graduation in May of 2020, she reached out to the Mets’ photographer to do a portfolio review. Long story short, COVID took that away (along with everything else in the world), and as Liz described it, “I graduated from my couch in my living room in my pajamas.”

Post-Grad

Since finding a job during COVID was so difficult, she decided to go back to school to pursue her master’s degree in sports management. While it wasn’t what she thought she’d be doing, the skills she gained make an impact at her job today, applying concepts from courses like sports management and sports law.

As she was finishing out the year in graduate school, Liz received a phone call from the team photographer at the Mets, who she had been corresponding with occasionally, offering her a part-time photographer position. She accepted with no hesitation, traveled back and forth to Citi Field until graduation, and then finished out the season as a part-time photographer. Coincidentally, the full-time position opened up shortly after, and that’s how Liz became the full-time assistant photographer with the New York Mets. “So wild, but so incredible,” she said.

Networking

While she wants people to know that she’s a rare case, Liz 100% recognizes the power of networking. “They teach you how networking is like the thing to do. I hated hearing that because I thought, why can’t I just be good at what I do? And then, the way my life worked out, I completely ate my words, because that’s exactly how I got my job.”

Like many students, Liz said, “I was so nervous that if I ever went up to someone and tried to network with them…they would immediately think I’m in it for something.” Later in her career, she realized that “networking isn’t about talking to someone to get something out of them. It’s just about finding a connection with them and getting to know them on a professional level rather than a personal level.” From someone who was hesitant about networking, that was quite poetic.

“And now, people are networking with me,” she added. “And not once do I ever think they’re trying to get something out of it…I think they’re just trying to learn.”

Now for the part everyone’s been waiting for – her advice.

The biggest advice she has for students like me, graduating in May, “is to not let the number of applications or rejections impact you…There are so many talented people, and just not enough jobs to go around. But once you get that first one, then what was the point of all the stress over the bad one, because at the end of the day, it’s very rare to get a job without an interview. It’s even rarer to not get a single rejection.”

And she’s lived everything she’s saying. The tons of rejections that came before the Cyclones might have hurt at one point, but they’re the reason she got her dream job.

For students about to enter college, Liz encourages you to say “yes” to more opportunities, rather than being too nervous to try. “The worst thing that happens is that you wasted a couple of hours trying something that you don’t want to try again, and maybe it will lead you to something that you want to do for the rest of your life.”

Liz ended our chat with “I love my job. That’s pretty much it.” While her journey may have been crazy at times, everything led her to where she always wanted to be.