The Year of Yes

“Can I go to Vegas?” I asked my future boss.

He was offering me a job, yet my mind couldn't stray from Sin City.

It’s a funny story.

After I graduated from UCLA, one of the women’s basketball donors offered me a full-time position working for his company.

It was an amazing opportunity, but for some reason my genes were telling me I wanted to give broadcasting a shot. Whenever anyone would ask me what I wanted to do post-college my cop-out answer was always “sports reporter.”

But you see, out of the three Kornet siblings, I knew the least about sports.

Luke would run home from school every day just to turn on PTI by 3:30pm. He would have the entire 1-hour's worth of SportsCenter memorized while doing his physics homework. He knew Derek Jeter’s batting percentage, Lebron’s assist to turnover ratio, and how many yards Peyton Manning threw two Sundays ago.

I, on the other hand, knew what time and what date High School Musical’s sequel was coming out and when Hilary Duff was expected to go on tour in Phoenix, Arizona.

I knew the bare minimum when it came to sports. Except for which athletes I thought were cute. I could give you a top ten at the age of ten.

The only thing I loved about sports was playing them. I loved picking up something new, playing it til I was good enough to beat you, then doing it all over again.

So how in the world was I just going to let that go and start broadcasting about other people beating people??

The task was tough.

So tough... I almost moved to Philadelphia.

One of friends, Matt Fraschilla, was GA’ing for Villanova’s men’s team and had a spare bedroom. He said it was all mine.

Rent-free.

It was too good to be true.

I had no idea what I’d do in Philly, but I’d figure it out. It was closer to family, a train ride away from a Knicks game, and the home of Nicole Kornet’s greatest obsession of all time, Allen Iverson.

I was all in.

Until I received a phone call from my UCLA coach, Cori Close. She asked me out on a sushi date, and told me it would be best for me to stay in Los Angeles.

And work for her.

At UCLA.

And live in an apartment.

Rent-free.

Now THAT was too good to be true.

Why did she offer me a position, you might ask?? Because of this very blog. She basically created a position for me.

My job was to travel LA, write about how amazing the city was, blog about it, let recruits in on the juice, sit back, relax, and watch the magic happen.

It was a dream job.

I got to create videos, do color commentary with the LEGENDARY Dave Marcus, emcee basketball games, and write.

Not to mention...

Interview THE Sean McKaveney!

AND Wonder Woman herself!

(It's Cori).

And this guy too.

A few months later season ended.

Which brings me back to Vegas.

As soon as basketball was over I wasn’t sure what was next for me. I had a conference call with the PAC12 Network lined up.

It went smoothly, but the PAC12 Network isn’t a major television network. You have to be signed to a FOX, ESPN, or CBS first and then freelance and pick up games with PAC12 before season even begins.

So what the heck does that mean?

It means you have to get an agent.

Coincidentally, I had interned for one of the best broadcasting agents in the biz spring of my senior year at UCLA.

I was set.

For something I wasn’t sure I really wanted to do. And in sports broadcasting you better want to do it. Because the rigamorale is real.

After a long, hard sit-down of about 5 minutes, I decided I didn’t wanna do it. I didn’t know what I wanted, but I knew that I didn’t want to jump into a career I wasn’t extremely passionate about… yet.

The lease on my apartment was ending soon, which brings me to another funny little story.

After I graduated, Coach Cori wasn’t the only person who offered me a job.

Kirk Pasich did too.

Kirk is one of the country’s best-known and most respected laywers, as well as the president of Blue Élan Records. And the guy I mentioned earlier.

He wanted me to be the Social Media Manager for Blue Élan Records. My job would have been to help the artists with their social media accounts, write for the newsletter, travel to gigs, and be hands-on with the artists.

For some reason, the psycho-UCLA obsessed, spotlight hog couldn’t leave her niche.

Now here’s where it gets EVEN funnier.

I told Kirk no, Cori yes, and ended up living with Kirk.

Remember how I told you Cori said she could find me a place in LA for free? The free place was with Kirk Pasich. He had a spare studio attached to his house.

And boom goes the guilt.

Not only did I decline Kirk's incredible offer, but I would be using his gorgeous studio for FREE IN LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA.

There is no way Kirk Pasich isn’t getting extra crowns in heaven.

Mid-way through the year Kirk put his house up for sale. It sold that week.

Angel Kirk made a promise to me, however, and told me there was a place for me in the mansion in Beverly Hills.

It's casual.

Thus, the Fresh Princess of Bel-Air was formed.

This was simply a rental while his new house was being finished up. But boy did it sparkle.

My breakfast nook

There's a pool back left, do you see it?

 It made for a fantastic venue for Law Prom, too.

After about a month of mansion life, my time drew to a close. Kirk “felt so bad that he kept making me move” that he signed a lease for an apartment in Westwood for me to have as my own instead.

Crazy.

Unbelievable.

Undeniably.

The best day of my life.

I could walk to work.

And Denny’s.

They have a great build-your-own hot fudge sundae.

Kirk fulfilled his promise of housing me for a year, and outdid himself. I will forever be grateful for you, Kirk Pasich.

My lease ended a few months ago.

After it did, I wasn’t sure what my future held. All the while, I kept thinking about Kirk. I couldn’t help it. I wanted to know how on earth a human being could be so generous. I wanted to learn from him. I wanted to work for him. I wanted my job back.

So, I asked him.

I wrote him a letter. Less than a week later, I got a text from him. He asked if we could get coffee.

I walked into the coffee shop.

Sat down with Kirk.

And he offered me right there on the spot.

This time it wasn’t for the Social Media Managerial role. This time I would be traveling to New York, Nashville, Paris, London, Ireland, Chicago, and Greater LA.

Pinch me.

Harder.

New Title: Artist Coordinator.

I’ll be in charge of several artists on the label and dabble in a little bit of everything. From lining up which songs go where on the album, to contract negotiations, to music videos, to album art, to blogging— you name it! It'll have my flair on it.

Music has been my passion all my life. Some would say basketball, but some who know me best would say otherwise. 

Kirk asked when I would be available to start.

Technically, my lease had just ended. He knew that. (Because it was his).

I could have started that very next day.

But then I blurted out…

“Can I go to Vegas??”

It was May 30th. The NBA Summer League was July 7-17^th in Las Vegas, Nevada. And I desperately wanted to go and watch Luke.

Kirk looked through the calendar on his phone and abruptly said,

“Sure.”

I was astonished.

“Looks like we don’t need you here until August. We want you to travel to Nashville for Americanafest in September, so it’d be nice for you to familiarize yourself in the office for a month beforehand.”

My start date is August 6^th.

He gave me the entire summer off.

It’s like I’m a little kid again. I moved back to Nashville for the summer and have been traveling nonstop.

Destination #1 was to Colorado. I was able to road trip with Lindsey and move Coach Kari into her new stomping grounds.

Destination #2 was Lexington, Kentucky to hang out with the grandparents. And Copper.

Destination #3 was Fourth of July in Nashville.

Destination #4 was Little Rock, Arkansas to help move Johnny into his BRAND NEW house!

And lastly, Destination #5: Vegas, baby.

Next week I’m off to New York to help Luke move in, and the following week I’ll finally be home sweet home— in Los Angeles, California.

I think the moral of this blog post is HOLY MOLEY I GOT A JOB BECAUSE OF THESE BLOG POSTS.

Cheers to that!

My mom has always taught me to say yes.

Say yes to the crazy opportunities that come your way, because you never know where they’re going to take you.

So, without further ado, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, I, Nicole Kornet, am employed.

Mom bought it.