From Penn State Baseball To The Yankees: Madyson Eisen Transforming Digital Space For Women In Sports
The saying “baseball has a funny way of bringing people together” rings true for sports social media influencer Madyson Eisen, who has fused creativity and baseball to connect fans to the sport, transform program engagement, and serve as a role model for women in sports media.
From New York to Penn State, Eisen has served at the center of revolutionizing the digital presence of Penn State Athletics, specifically Penn State baseball. Now, the senior telecommunications student has translated her simple passion into insurmountable experiences and a content creator position with the New York Yankees.
Eisen never could have imagined that she would one day live out her dreams to this extent when she began diving into sports as a writer for her high school newspaper. Beginning in her freshman and sophomore year of high school, she would cover sports and reach out to anyone and everyone that she could — players, parents, etc. — to interview and connect with.
Yet, when COVID-19 neared, her writing track was slightly derailed, and she leaned on using her extra time to make creative baseball TikToks.
“I didn’t realize that I wanted to do social media until when COVID happened, because I started doing it for fun, and then once it was blowing up, I was like, wait, this could be something,” Eisen said.
The key to developing her passion for social media involved her strong connection to New York sports, which fostered a persistent and consistent dedication to hosting, coming up with ideas, learning the algorithm, and navigating the industry. Eisen extended her baseball-oriented content to Instagram and Twitter, where the opportunities and brand partnership proposals began to flood in, all while she was just in high school.
Following this early routine development, Eisen decided in her senior year of high school to stick with pursuing social media, and she already had previous notions of wanting to pursue it at Penn State.
Since eighth grade, Eisen had her sights set on Penn State, partly because of the sports influence.
“When I was 12, I went to Hershey Park with my family, and the Penn State football team was there for some reason, and I thought it was so cool. Then I started watching Penn State football so much, which turned me into a Penn State fan,” she said.
Penn State became even more of a perfect fit once she toured the school with her dad and recognized that the school aligned directly with what she now wanted to do.
Eisen then arrived at Penn State in 2021, and although she was no longer in New York, it didn’t mean she would hesitate to develop content.
In her freshman year, she continued her work in baseball content and even had an official partnership with the company Baseball Lifestyle. So, letting up wasn’t an option, and being the creative she was, when baseball season neared, she took it upon herself to attend every home game via general admission, making independent content as both a fan and content creator.
In her sophomore year, her innovative efforts were recognized by former Penn State head baseball coach Rob Cooper, who hired her to elevate the team’s social media.
Through this role, she’s organized all of the mini-mic videos, dugout videos, and behind-the-scenes content visible across the team’s socials.
Because of her innovative content, ability to showcase and bring out the personalities of the team, and engage with the student body, Penn State baseball has grown in prominence within Penn State Athletics.
“A few years ago, when I was a freshman, there was nothing on their page, and there also weren’t a lot of fans at the games. So, last week when we had our Dollar Dog Night and we broke our attendance record, which was over 6,000, that was so cool to see because I know a lot of that comes from social media and how aware students are now of things that are going on at the games,” Eisen said.
As a senior about to graduate, she has worked up to become the team’s head media manager, as well as head of NIL, working to coordinate brand-player partnerships.
Getting to bring out the many personalities of the team and transform the digital presence of Penn State baseball has been one of the more challenging, but rewarding, parts of the job. The talent Eisen projects being able to connect with players in this manner has translated to her current role in content creation with the New York Yankees and other brands.
Eisen says in the big leagues, players will essentially do anything, and are very enthusiastic and interactive with her content.
While in this position, Eisen has had the opportunity to produce content for Fanatics during Yankees spring training and attended two games during the Yankees’ World Series run last year. Some of her favorite interviews have come from conversations with notable players and Yankees personalities Bernie Williams, Aaron Boone, John Sterling, and Oswaldo Cabrera.
Eisen excels in the creative aspect of creative content, as well. She covers lifestyle, food, travel, news, and more for the Yankees and other New York sports. Staying on top of news, understanding the algorithm, season standings, and more has allowed her to strategize her content for success. Some of her favorite content ideas have been “wrong answers only” interviews, rapid-fire sessions, and asking players to describe their fans in one word.
“I try to come up with questions that people wouldn’t necessarily ask them and that aren’t super baseball related because you want to get to know the players on a personal level,” Eisen said.
Because of her strong passion for content creation, as well as New York and Penn State sports, Eisen enjoys the transition between being around a college team while also being around such a prestigious program. But it’s not always easy, especially while pursuing a college degree.
These last two years, Eisen has had to learn how to balance schoolwork while traveling with both Penn State baseball and the Yankees. During this time, she’s navigated her limits with content for both teams to ensure she still has time dedicated to her studies.
Another contributor to this balance has been honing her platform to partner with brands that best reflect her audience. She emphasized that saying yes to any and every opportunity is pivotal. However, when she got to the point where she was juggling so many different companies, it became overwhelming. From there, she knew she had to ease up.
“I’m not looking to get millions of dollars. I’m just looking to make sure that whoever I’m working with, that their stuff is going to resonate with my following and my audience,” says Eisen.
Over the last four years, however, the senior’s dedication to social media has landed her over 115,000 followers across her various social platforms. Managing this, as a female in sports, has also been a learning curve.
Starting with her rise, in her latter years of high school, Eisen struggled with receiving hate comments from guys in her school, claiming that she did not know what she was talking about. To this day, she still receives comments of this nature. Leaning on women in the industry for advice has helped her learn to stop caring.
“Everyone is going to get hate comments and, no matter what you do, you’re just going to have people who are negative toward you,” Eisen said.
As a graduating senior, Eisen has a lot to look back on. From balancing a tremendous load of partnerships, responsibilities, and schoolwork, to overcoming adversity, she’s excited to walk the stage in pride.
She describes graduating as bittersweet and chaotic, as she still has so much more she wants to do and accomplish at Penn State these next two weeks. Yet, she reflects on everything Penn State has given her and what she will miss most.
“I’m going to miss just meeting people, making connections, making friends, and just the atmosphere, because it’s the most fun school in the world,” Eisen said.
Some of Eisen’s favorite Penn State memories included working the White Out for CBS her junior year, hosting interviews for Big Noon Kickoff as an influencer, and traveling with ESPN to last season’s Orange Bowl in Miami.
Besides the opportunities, however, Eisen shares the most important thing Penn State gave her: confidence.
“Just knowing who I am by coming here has helped. I just feel like I’ve grown so much,” she said.
Following graduation, Eisen doesn’t anticipate slowing down and has set high ambitions. Her post-grad plans involve continuing to grow her platform as much as possible, hoping to one day host her own show about athletes and their lives outside of sports or on athletes and their families. As an often under-recognized topic of athletes, Eisen hopes to showcase this side of them.
Alongside this, she will continue to travel for social media and sports while exploring work opportunities in marketing, advertising, and fashion.
Although Penn State has impacted her, she hopes that after she walks the stage in mid-May, her influence at Penn State will resonate with young women in sports.
“I hope I inspired people to follow their dreams, be consistent, and know that if someone says no to you, it doesn’t matter,” Eisen said. “Keep doing what you want to do.”
She hopes this inspiration is long-lasting.
“I hope I just taught them that anything is possible because I never thought I’d be where I am today, if you had to ask me four years ago when I started,” Eisen said.
Your ad blocker is on.
Please choose an option below.
Purchase a Subscription!
About the Author
Your Spring 2025 Commencement Weekend Weather Report
A rather beautiful weekend is ahead to send off the Class of 2025.
Finding Strength: How Ellie Koerner Turned Pain Into Purpose
“Through it all, I think I found my purpose. I love to use my voice and share my story to give other people hope that their cancer doesn’t have to be a sad story.”
Penn State Softball’s Matchup Against Iowa Moved To Monday Doubleheader
First pitch for game one of the doubleheader is set for 1:32 p.m. on Monday, April 21.