SU alumnus Speedy Morman grants students advice on interviewing, internships
Arthur Maiorella | Staff Photographer
Morman has interviewed celebrities like Kobe Bryant and President Barack Obama since graduating from SU in 2016.
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Chris “Speedy” Morman, a journalist, on-screen host and Syracuse University alumnus, prepares for his interviews so thoroughly that almost no one can faze him. Almost.
“I sat down with the president, and I really was not nervous,” he said. “I was nervous when the Secret Service pulled up.”
Morman, a host of “The Hype,” an HBO Max streetwear design show, was the latest featured guest of the Newhouse School of Public Communications’s “Leaders in Communications” lecture series.
At just 27 years old, Morman has interviewed Kobe Bryant and Barack Obama, in addition to covering the Grammys, the NBA Finals, the Super Bowl and a presidential inauguration. Jordan Pierre, an SU junior, moderated the discussion, which took place in the Joyce Hergenhan Auditorium on Wednesday.
During the summer following his sophomore year, Morman secured an editorial internship in the sneaker department of Complex, a culture-driven media network. Many internships were unpaid at the time, so in order to gain experience and pay bills, Morman also started working at Costco. But Morman got his foot in the door — the beginning of his success story.
“There was not an intern in the building at Complex who was hungrier than me,” he said. “There was no one in there that was willing to do what I was willing to do.”
He wanted to take on more responsibility and grow his skills, so he found his way into Complex’s video production department. Morman worked efficiently to get all of his sneaker department internship work done in the first two hours of the day, all so he could wander into the TV department and ask them to put him to work. Essentially, Morman had a job and two internships at the same time.
A hard worker, Morman didn’t believe in wasting time. He spent time during the school year compiling video clips, including concert footage and interviews of hip-hop artists, into a portfolio so that if anyone was interested in hiring him, he was prepared.
“The one thing you never ever want to do is wait while doing nothing. Don’t wait and twiddle your thumbs,” he said, reflecting on his busy college years. “While you’re waiting for your turn, you need to be actively seeking out what it is you can do, so that when your moment comes, you’re ready for it.”
Morman went back to Complex the following summer, and after a successful screen test, he was offered a job as their weekend anchor. While it was a huge step for his career, this job offer presented him with a difficult decision: work or school? Complex is located in New York City, but his education was in Syracuse.
In the end, he chose both.
“For every single weekend of my senior year of college, I commuted on the Greyhound bus, five and a half hours back to New York,” Morman said.
That year was nonstop for Morman, as he would return to Syracuse late at night just to wake up early for class Monday morning. The most odd part for him, though, was taking classes about the industry he had already broken into.
“My whole senior year of college, I’m taking classes about visual storytelling, and then on the weekends, I’m going to interview a NBA superstar or a hip-hop artist,” Morman said. “It was a very, very unique time, but it was the journey.”
That journey, Morman said, required giving up many comforts. Between classes and his new job, he missed his last year of SU’s parties and nightlife and had little time to socialize with friends. But, Morman looks back on that time with no regrets.
Being back in the Herg, Morman reflected on the last time he was on that stage. Instead of being the one interviewed, he was the student interviewer, talking to the “golden standard” of hip-hop journalism, Sway Calloway. Because he wanted to open doors for college students like him, Morman required that a student of color interview him at this event.
“I know what it’s like to not have opportunities,” he said, as the crowd applauded his choice.
Selecting a student of color to be in the spotlight with him also stemmed from Morman’s experience in college. He recalled often feeling out of place; at one point, he said he was in a classroom with about 20 others and was the only person of color. So naturally, visibility for students from underrepresented groups was something Morman strived for.
As a journalist, Morman takes the most pride in his interviews — more specifically, how he prepares for them. Whether it’s a hardly known celebrity or the president of the United States, Morman dedicates the same amount of time to crafting their interview questions. As a result, he almost always gets remarks like, “How did you know that?” or “You must have really done your research!”
Morman also sets himself apart from other journalists because of how he carries himself and how comfortable he is in his own skin, he said. Referring back to his conversation with Obama, Morman said he wore a sweatsuit to the interview, just because it was the outfit that made him feel most himself.
“From early in my career, I was granted that right to be myself,” he said, referencing the people who first took a liking to him at Complex. “They liked me because of who I was.”
Morman never considered the possibility that he wouldn’t succeed in building this career for himself. He doesn’t see himself getting to his “I made it” moment any time soon — to him, there’s always more to accomplish and better work to produce. In the media industry, importance is relative, and you can become old news almost instantly, he said.
Still, Morman’s work both behind and in front of the camera just keeps growing, and so do his goals. His passion for his craft keeps him motivated to constantly reach for bigger, better things.
“It’s like an unquenchable thirst for me,” he said.
Published on March 3, 2022 at 12:18 pm
