By Annabelle Persaud

In 2013, ESPN took a bold leap into Latin America’s sports media landscape, opening a state-of-the-art studio in Mexico City. Leading the charge was Ardi Dwornik, a UC Santa Barbara alumna, who joined as ESPN's director of corporate communications to spearhead expansion across the Caribbean, U.S. Hispanic markets, and Brazil. 

Brazil, in particular, held a special place in Dwornik’s heart. She completed her Master’s in the Spanish and Portuguese Language and Literature at UCSB, then fell in love with Rio de Janeiro and Brazil as a whole during a year abroad through the University of California’s Education Abroad Program (UCEAP). 

UCSB Spanish and Portuguese alumna Ardi Dwornik was featured in ESPN’s Front Row’s “Inspiring Women” series” by Rachel Siegal.

As an undergraduate, Dwornik pursued a Bachelor’s in Journalism at the University of Houston with a Minor in Spanish, and she studied abroad in Spain. Later, she took her language skills to the next level with an intensive summer immersion program in Spanish and Portuguese at UCSB, preparing her for a year-long study abroad graduate program in Brazil. This combination of immersive study and international experience helped Dwornik achieve fluency in both languages. 

Now a senior director of corporate communications at ESPN, Dwornik believes her studies at UCSB and experiences with the Education Abroad Program had a lasting impact. “Humanities can take you anywhere in terms of a career,” she said. “The reading, the research, the focus –all of those transferable skills help you.”

She decided on UCSB for her Master's degree because she believed UCSB had one of the top programs in the nation with highly renowned and respected professors in the scholarly space. “Also, Santa Barbara is gorgeous. So, it was an easy decision,” she recalls.

Photo by Carlos Ortega

Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil, the country where Dwornik participated in a year long study abroad graduate program.

A few decades ago, it was still uncommon for many Americans to be fluent in two foreign languages. Naturally, Dwornik had a competitive advantage in the job market. She believed Miami was the perfect place to work because she could use Spanish and Portuguese daily and connect herself with the rest of the Latin American region, including Brazil. 

While she lived in Miami, she met people in the pay-per-view television industry and heard that Disney Channel was launching in Brazil. With Dwornik’s skills in journalism, along with her language background in Spanish and Portuguese, and her experience of living in Brazil for a year, she was hired by the Walt Disney Company to help launch the Disney Channel in Brazil. 

Just like Disney at this time, ESPN was hoping to expand its cable television networks in the Latin American region. Dwornik says she was hired at ESPN because of her professional experience in communications for cable TV, being fluently trilingual, and her connections at Disney. 

Dwornik has now been at ESPN for over 17 years, where she leads communication strategies for Combat Sports and Racquet Sports, including UFC, MMA, Tennis, and more. In this role, she oversees business communications, media relations, and press events while advocating for ESPN’s brand values. 

“It’s tough to survive in an organization with thousands of people for a long time,” she says, “so the culture at ESPN is positive enough that I’ve stayed there all these years.” 

One of Dwornik’s biggest accomplishments was being a part of the execution and strategy team that launched ESPN’s landmark UFC deal for mixed martial arts. “I thought it was all an opportunity. I mean, if you would have said to me six years ago, ‘You’re going to be working with UFC,’ I would say, ‘There’s no way.’ I don’t know anything about fighting,” she said. “But, I love it now.” Dwornik’s open-mindedness helped her establish ESPN as the premier destination for UFC content, elevating ESPN+ in the streaming market. 

Photo sourced from: espn.com

Mixed Martial Artists Jon Jones (left) and Stipe Miocic (right) fighting at the UFC 309 event in Madison Square Garden in November. The event was broadcasted on ESPN and is available for streaming on ESPN+.

Dwornik says she's grateful for her experience as a graduate student at UCSB as it opened her to many opportunities that led to her achievements at ESPN. Chief among them was immersing herself in the Spanish and Portuguese language and culture. “You’ll never be able to put value on that, because studying abroad, meeting new people, opening up my eyes to the world, it’s the best education in the world,” she said.

Annabelle Persaud is a third-year Communication major. She wrote this piece for her Digital Journalism class.