ORLANDO, Fla. – Every night at 6 p.m. and 11 p.m., News 6 Sports director Jamie Seh brings viewers up to date on the latest in sports.
Her career that now spans over two decades started with a dream when she was 16.
“I can’t believe I’ve had this dream for so long-- for more than half my life and I’ve been able to live it for more than half my life,” Seh said.
She still remembers when she did public addressing for her high school football games in upstate New York, an opportunity that helped her pave the way for a future in sports.
“Had I not done that, I don’t know what I would’ve been doing. My career has taken me to super bowls and taken me to places to be around the best athletes in the world,” she said. “It’s just unbelievable that I was this kid from a really small town in upstate New York, you know, who had kind of a dream and stuff. You never know if you can achieve it.”
She went on to pursue a career in sportscasting during a time when few women held those roles. Seh recalled a college experience after a minor league hockey game ended.
“They said: ‘Sorry no women in the locker room’ so I just waited for about five minutes and then they discussed it and let me in,” she said. “They didn’t let me in the locker room right away because they had never had a female reporter before.”
Despite that experience, she's never felt her gender has gotten in the way of her success, but she's had to prove that she can do the job.
“I really had to work really, really hard; show that I knew my sports, show how much passion I have for not only sports, but also the job of communicating with viewers,” she said.
Since starting her career, Seh has had to shoot her own video and interviews out on the field and at sporting events.
Her first job was in Watertown, New York, where she was a sports director, a role she went on to do back in her hometown of Albany.
After 12 years, an opportunity came up at WKMG News 6.
“When I came down to Channel 6 and interviewed, I just knew it was the right move. I am so blessed that I landed here in Orlando because the opportunities that have come since I moved here have been unreal,” Seh said.
The day after Christmas in 2010, she drove down to Central Florida. Seven years later, she was promoted to sports director for News 6.
It’s a journey that has been filled with opportunities like being the voice of The Orlando Apollos football team.
“It was awesome. It was so much fun. It was too short because the league folded after eight games,” Seh said.
She traveled with the team as their radio play-by-play announcer and she’s also involved with the Cure Bowl event, now in it’s fifth year.
“Today I think it’s great and there are so many more opportunities for women and it’s come to be that it really doesn’t matter anymore, whether you’re a male, female, what you look like, it doesn’t matter as long as you can do the job,” Seh said.
And although she didn’t meet all her goals, such as working at ESPN, she’s happy with how it all turned out.
“I love the people here, I love the events that I get to cover from the Daytona 500 to the Arnold Palmer Invitational, the Orlando Magic, UCF football. I’ve been able to do so much and I wouldn’t want to now. I love exactly where I’m at,” Seh said.