How Kelsy Rios Built a Football Career Through TikTok
When Kelsy Rios was asked what her favorite app was, it was a no-brainer. “TikTok. I always say any other app can go kick rocks except Tiktok. I love the fact that I can get on my phone and talk about anything.” Kelsy’s favorite topic of discussion? Football, mainly the trials and tribulations of her beloved Barcelona. Not only did she find a platform to share her thoughts about the beautiful game, she found a community out of her 25,000 followers and counting.
“It’s so refreshing. Because you don’t even have to have all this insane lighting or camera equipment. If I want to say something, I just grab my phone and boom. And just the fact that so many people engage and like the post, it’s just so cool.”
It was something Kelsy never would have thought would be a reality five years ago. Back then, she was a soon to be college graduate whose last semester went to a grinding halt due to the pandemic. It was the downtime spent inside that made her realize that she didn’t actually want the path that she was on. “I was in school to be a lawyer, I took the LSAT and was prepping for law school. But in the back of my mind was my dad, how he would encourage me to pursue something I loved. And for me, that was always football, so I pivoted.”
Kelsy attributes her love of football and Barca to her family, who hail from El Salvador. Inspired by her family’s support, she decided to pursue a new role. A series of internships and positions with different agencies got her involved in the world of social media. As she learned how to produce content and create videos, she started to apply that to her TikTok as well, documenting stadium visits and game recaps. “Once I started getting traction on those videos, it made me want to say yes to any opportunity that came my way, getting a feel of the industry until my current position came up.”
Kelsy now works as a Content Producer for Manchester City’s social media for the US, a role she’s held for over two years. When your job is to help build an American fanbase for a Premier League team, a regular day can be anything but. Kelsy wouldn’t have it any other way: “I love the team, the people at the club are amazing. I’ve grown a lot there, working and editing videos on the fly, managing different posts on our feed. With the US account, we can take more risks with our content. It’s how we’re able to build a connection in the States, we launched last year and now we’re at 200,000 followers.”
Some memorable highlights with Man City? “My first preseason tour, and it was really fun getting to see the players practice and the fans cheering the team. And then we have different collaborations with other teams and celebs. We had OBJ with us during our trophy tour for the treble season, and we got to work with Barcelona for a post with Lewandowski and Haaland, which was amazing to work with my childhood team.”
Kelsy is looking forward to more memories with the team, especially as they compete in the FIFA Club World Cup this summer. You’ll get to see some snippets on her TikTok and now her YouTube, which will contain more long-form content. As for the next season? “Staying as consistent as I possibly can on TikTok, it’s the app that got me this far, so I always want to give thanks to the community. With this platform, I want to be able to show that you can be a woman in sport, to speak up on injustices going on in the world and our communities. I feel like if you’re able to be an ounce of positivity or to help a cause, you’re using your voice.”
