Jalyssa Eliasen took the skills she learned at Ohio University and WOUB to Twitch

When Jalyssa Eliasen graduated from Ohio University in June of 2011, the video live streaming service, Twitch, was just getting off the ground in beta testing. Now, 12 years later, the platform has grown in popularity as the place for video game live streaming with over 30 million daily visitors, and Eliasen is a part of it as a producer working on Twitch’s Creative team.

“My job is to work with our creative teams to scope, plan, and execute projects ranging from asset updates to full scale campaigns,” said Eliasen. “I supervise creative for product, brand identity, and marketing campaigns.”

While Twitch is most well-known for its video game live streaming, which includes broadcasts of esports competitions, the platform also offers music broadcasts, creative content, and "in real life" streams. It’s not the kind of place Eliasen thought she would end up when she started in journalism school at Ohio University, but it all makes sense to her now.

“There were certain aspects of journalism I gravitated toward and other parts I didn’t. Local politics and government didn’t interest me as much,” said Eliasen. “What did interest me was human interest stories. I liked taking somebody’s experience and creating a story around it. I also loved entertainment. I always watched films and studied them. I was a film minor. I loved being creative with my storytelling.”

Eliasen grew up in Cincinnati and didn’t really consider coming to Ohio University until she was offered the John Newton Templeton Scholarship. The four-year full ride scholarship opportunity was something Eliasen couldn’t pass up.

“We took a tour of campus. I loved the environment,” said Eliasen. “I could envision myself there. I loved the brick, the trees and the history. It left an impression and was one of best decisions I’ve ever made.”

Eliasen got involved at WOUB both inside and outside of the classroom. She took classes where she was doing work for WOUB and also volunteered her time at the station. Eliasen started working on WOUB radio and then worked her way to television doing on-air work for WOUB’s nightly news program, NewsWatch.

“My memories of WOUB are so intermixed with my school experience because I don’t see them as separate. WOUB is so crucial to the student experience there,” said Eliasen. “I also stayed in Athens one summer and worked at WOUB. It was a great experience.”

After graduation, Eliasen moved to Los Angeles to see what kind of jobs she could find in the entertainment industry. She worked as a production assistant intern at Cosmic Toast Studios, a tour guide at Warner Bros., as well as a page and digital assistant at NBC Universal, before landing a job as a branded project coordinator at BuzzFeed.

“The job at BuzzFeed really helped me figure out what I wanted to do,” said Eliasen. “I enjoyed creative producing and making branded content. I really loved being able to learn a little bit about a lot of things and tell stories.”

After BuzzFeed, one of the places Eliasen worked was Netflix, as a growth operations creative coordinator. In that role, Eliasen supported the creation of banner ads geared toward measuring audience acquisition and retention. Now at Twitch, she is taking that knowledge and pairing it with her love of creative storytelling. Eliasen said it all goes back to the foundation she got at Ohio University and WOUB.

“At WOUB, you get professional experience for sure and then making that transition from school to a career environment is just easier. You already understand the dynamics in media and the problems you are trying to solve because you learned them in real time. You become scrappy trying to find solutions and develop critical thinking skills,” said Eliasen. “Ohio University was a wonderful environment for personal growth. There’s something special about OHIO. I learned to work with integrity. I am reliable and dependable and those are characteristics that come out of WOUB and the journalism school.”

About WOUB Public Media

As a member station of both NPR and PBS, WOUB Public Media is a trusted source of news, local content and educational resources that have proven to be worthy of the time, effort and support of our users. WOUB, an experiential-learning unit of the Scripps College of Communication at Ohio University, is a non-profit, community-supported multimedia organization which provides online and broadcast services, along with non-broadcast educational services and student professional development. WOUB serves 55 counties throughout southeastern Ohio, western West Virginia and eastern Kentucky with its broadcast signals. WOUB Radio’s FM Network has transmitters in Athens, Chillicothe, Ironton, Zanesville and Cambridge, while WOUB AM serves the immediate Athens area. WOUB TV is made up of seven television channels (WOUB HD, WOUB Classic, WOUB World, WOUB Create, WOUB Ohio, WOUB Kids and WOUB Voicecorps Reading Service) which are broadcast from two transmitters.

Through its support of public service, teaching, research and administrative missions, along with its high-quality local content and programming, WOUB enriches, enhances and expands the lives and horizons of the people in the communities it serves, as well as Ohio University faculty, staff and students.