Grinnell Alum Wins Emmy with Nickelodeon Team

Kyle Espinosa can still remember the smell of Fourth of July fireworks that permeated the air when he arrived in the United States from the Philippines at the age of 15. A mere seven years later, he is a Posse alumnus, a Grinnell College graduate and an Emmy Award winner.

A member of the digital team at Nickelodeon since graduating from Grinnell in 2012, Kyle was the video coordinator for content and programming when the team won an Emmy for Outstanding Creative Achievement in Interactive Media—User Experience and Visual Design. Kyle and his supervisor acquired all the video content for the Nick iPad app, tested functionality and wrote copy for the content.

“It was fun, but I definitely put in a lot of hours,” says Kyle. “The Emmy is a pretty nice win.”

During his senior year at Grinnell, Kyle, a studio arts major, was accepted into the highly competitive summer associate program at media conglomerate Viacom, a Posse Career Program partner. One of only 10 applicants selected to work at Nickelodeon, a Viacom division, Kyle was offered a full-time position when the program ended. He has advanced at Nick Digital and is currently the full episode programming coordinator in a quickly growing department.

“Grinnell and Posse helped me learn to use the resources around me to help tackle problems,” says Kyle. “I’ve made a posse of individuals who can mentor and guide me through all the challenging technical and creative hurdles that are placed in front of me at Nickelodeon. The industry is growing and it feels like the learning potential is limitless.”