Meet Drew Elsner – Our New Intern

Hello everyone, my name is Drew Elsner and I am the new intern here at Townsquare Media. I want to take this opportunity to really let you guys know who I really am and what I'm about.

To give you a little background, I was born and raised in Newburgh, Indiana, and have lived here my whole life. Like many, I have been really into sports ever since I was little.  I started off playing just about every sport you could think of but I really found my true calling and passion when I started playing soccer. Soccer has been a huge part of my life and has taken me places I could only dream of going. I went to Castle High School and played soccer there for four years, three of them playing for varsity. I'm sure I can relate to many when I say school was definitely not my strong suit. Soccer was always that "safe haven" I could go to when school and even life really, would stress me out. All throughout high school I played for a travel soccer team called Swisa FCE which was a soccer club based out of Evansville. This team allowed me to do things and see places I never would have thought would be possible.

The highlight of my time playing for this team was when we were invited to play in the Disney Showcase down in Orlando, Florida at the ESPN Sports Complex. This is what every team dreams of being invited too because only the top team in each state is invited to play and it just so happens that we were able to win! The memories of holding up the golden Mickey Mouse trophy and playing the sport I love with some of my best friends is something I will never forget. Getting to meet Mickey Mouse at the Castle was a nice perk too! After this tournament, I started to get contacted by coaches from schools all over the country ranging from NAIA all the way to D1. Once these letters and calls started rolling in, I realized that I actually might have a future in soccer and a way to get a education as well. I went to countless ID camps and college training sessions but didn't get a good vibe from any of the schools that I was being offered from. I eventually narrowed it down to two schools that had offered me walk on spots, one being Indiana Purdue Fort Wayne and the other being University of Southern Indiana. Like I said before, school was definitely not my forte' so I really wanted to go to a school that was close to home to help me make the switch from high school to college so I decided to attend and play for USI. Everything was going great, so I thought...

I was training and all of the guys liked me and thought I was talented and I was even living with a couple players on the team that used to play for my high school. Everything seemed like a good fit until one day I got called into the coach's office thinking it was going to be an evaluation one how good I was performing but in reality it was him saying he no longer had a spot for me on the team. This was some of the most devastating news I have ever gotten and it really hit me hard. It was too late to try and play anywhere else because the season had started and all of the roster spots were filled at the other schools that wanted me. With soccer being all that I've known for so long, this put me in a depressed state for a very long time.

Now that I only had school to focus on, it really made me think what was I going to do for the rest of life. I tried switching majors multiple times and taking classes just to try and get a spark or something that was going to lead me to what I wanted to make a career out of. After switching majors so many times I lost count, I finally decided to take some advertising and public relations classes. Turns out, I got my best GPA in these classes and really started to enjoy school a little more and finally get out of this funk that I had been in for the past three years.

Since things were looking up in my life finally, I also found another passion that I didn't think I would ever pick up on and that was producing music. Music has always been there when I needed to do homework or get pumped up before a game but I had a new perspective on the concept of music once I started trying to make some of my own. The passion really grew when some of my friends convinced me to go to an electronic music show. Not to sound cliche' but this opened up a whole new world for me. The concert was a Steve Aoki concert who is one of the biggest names in electronic music and I have never enjoyed myself more in my entire life. I mean, this guy was getting paid millions of dollars to make people happy and doing what makes him happy and this really resonated with me. I never knew a show could be so elaborate with the lasers and lights and loud bass and it was all stemming from music he made on his laptop.

Ever since this experience I have really found peace and tranquillity when I put my headphones on and get my creative juices flowing on trying to make a track. With this new found passion and drive, it has motivated me to explore a career in music and entertainment which has ultimately led me to the opportunity I have here at Townsquare Media. If you asked me three years ago where I would be, I would have told you probably nowhere and still struggling to find my purpose in life but now here I am today, typing a blog for a well-established company that is involved in music and entertainment.

I am very much looking forward to what Townsquare Media has to offer and what my future holds!