I guess you could say I was born to tell stories…

When my great-grandfather and his brother immigrated from Eastern Europe in the early 1900s in pursuit of the American dream, they arrived at Ellis Island where an official asked them their names. My great-grandfather turned to his brother and said “zag im,” Yiddish for “you tell him.” And so, the official wrote down “Sugam.”

A couple of generations later, I was born and raised in New Jersey and went to Rutgers University to study Journalism & Media Studies, and Sociology. With a love of storytelling and sports, I began my pursuit of becoming a sportswriter. I covered sports in the New York City metropolitan area for over a decade, nine of which have been as a stringer with the Associated Press. I’ve covered countless college football and basketball games, Big East Tournaments, March Madness, NCAA National Championships, NHL games, and the NFL. All the while, I received a post-bachelor teaching certificate from Kean University.

After a couple of years as a classroom teacher, I was offered and accepted a job at Newark Academy to work in the Marketing and Communication office. Working at one of the oldest and most prestigious prep schools in the country, I began translating my skills as a journalist to a marketing and communication role, from planning, writing, and publishing Alumni magazines, to social media campaigns, to writing, directing, and producing admissions and fundraising videos.

While quickly ascending from Communication Associate to Assistant Director of Marketing and Communication, I applied to Columbia University's School of Professional Studies for a Master of Science in Strategic Communication. Accepted January 2020, I deferred my enrollment to September 2021 due to COVID. I left my role at Newark Academy to immerse myself in the graduate school experience, moving to Manhattan, working for Columbia Athletics creating content for gocolumbialions.com while continuing to freelance for the AP, and graduating in August of 2023. In May 2022, I spent the summer working as the Interim Director of Communications for NY/NJ Gotham FC, a recently rebranded National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) team.

Upon graduation from Columbia, I began working as the Assistant Director of Marketing and Communications at Saint Andrew’s Episcopal School, a prestigious pre-K through 12th-grade school in Potomac, MD. Despite the move, I’m still freelancing for the AP, expanding my portfolio to cover NBA games in Washington, D.C. In 2024, I became a board member of Holiday Hoops & Arts, a youth basketball program, to advise the organization on its strategic communication and marketing.

As I’ve merged all of my experience in what is just the beginning of the prime of my young career, I am well-suited to be a strategic storyteller across various digital platforms on a myriad of topics, businesses, events, and experiences.

-Matt Sugam