Meet Sai Sriraman | Aerospace Engineer & Creative

We had the good fortune of connecting with Sai Sriraman and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Sai, what is the most important factor behind your success?
Passion is probably the most important factor behind my success, the idea of doing something just because I want to do it and have an interest in learning more about it, not for any external incentive. I stumbled upon Windows Movie Maker at a young age when I was messing around on my computer, and thought it might be nice to use for presentations in school since it was different than the usual PowerPoint slides.

I got more interested in content creation with the Adobe suite when a close friend of mine started a YouTube channel with footage of us playing NBA 2K, and we wanted to build the channel up. Many years later, my interest in the NBA 2K League as a person who loves playing NBA 2K competitively was a big factor in landing my jobs within the space. To me, passion is the leading indicator of success because you’re internally driven to get past any roadblocks and not see the work involved as a “grind”.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I currently work in content creation for the Charlotte Hornets, focusing on their esports affiliate in the NBA 2K League, the Hornets Venom GT. The 2K League is the NBA’s professional esports league where players compete for millions of dollars each summer. Previously, I worked with the NBA’s graphics team as a freelancer for the 2K League, and I’ve also worked with Warriors Gaming Squad, Raptors Uprising GC, and the Premiere Lacrosse League. My role involves graphic design and video-editing, as well as helping develop esports strategy across branding, marketing, partnerships, and social. I’ve been in the NBA 2K competitive scene for some years now, having been an avid player since 2012. I started off making Twitter headers and highlight reel mixtapes of 2K gameplay, and now make a variety of pieces based on what the team needs.

My main career is aerospace engineering – I was a college student when this hobby started getting serious a few years ago. There’s a well-known synergy between engineering and music, especially because math is a big part of both. However, there’s also a unique, less apparent synergy between engineering and creative work.

Communication skills are a big part of engineering, and it’s a big of part of creative work too, especially for pieces that are used in social media. My creative experience helps me make more visually-appealing engineering presentations, and my engineering background helps me logically work through promotional graphics where communicating information is key. The desires to innovate and problem-solve are also key in both engineering and creation.

I wouldn’t say the journey has been easy, because you always have to work for opportunities – but if you’re passionate about something and enjoy doing it, it’s not really a “grind” anymore. I got my jobs within the NBA by marketing myself on Twitter, and trailblazing like that taught me the value of proactivity to create your own opportunities. In the engineering world, there can be a set way of doing things, but that convention didn’t exist on the 2K esports side of things, forcing me to adapt. It feels unusual to not have a blueprint and have to put yourself out there without any assurances of success or support, but once you get comfortable with that feeling, it opens the door to a lot more opportunities.

I’ve built a brand for myself from scratch, purely virtually/online, and it’s led to some pretty cool opportunities, especially having been an NBA fan for as long as I can remember. It required building trust, managing time well, and a bunch of other things, but it was all worth it in the end. Getting my work on the NBA’s Instagram, in-game on NBA 2K, and on ESPN, was a dream come true.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
I enjoy watching and playing sports, so would definitely check out State Farm Arena and Mercedes-Benz Stadium of course, and the surrounding area near Centennial Park. Boating on Lake Lanier and going to Lenox Mall in Buckhead would also be part of the itinerary. For eating, there are a lot of unique restaurants to eat at in the Midtown area and Decatur, that I want to explore since I’ve only been here a year so far. Agave has been the best one so far that I’ve visited, with Jinya Ramen coming a close second.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
iBall Empire is one of the big reasons I was able to start a professional career in esports content creation. Led by Brandon Raudenbush aka ToxSiK, it gave me an opportunity to be around motivated people in the 2K space, and especially allowed me to work with talented creatives like Kemar Tate (NBA 2K League social), Heather Gagnon (ESPN production), Jasmine Ford (Atlanta Hawks), Mark Landis (Liberty University), and more. I’ve made friends for life thanks to this group, and we’ve created opportunities through our support for each other.

Other shoutouts: In the beginning, people like BigJohnTV and Spiteful Tay (YouTube channels) gave me my start in the space and heavily supported my efforts. Once I got involved in the 2K Twitter community, people like @youFamousEnough, @LTFairley, and @OGKingCurt helped me get further business because so much of success there revolves around word of mouth. Professionally, Francis McCarthy and Lawrence West were big reasons I started working with the NBA 2K League and Hornets Venom GT.

Finally, a lot of parents might see a secondary career as a dangerous distraction, especially when it starts off very small and can take time away from focusing more on the primary career. My parents supported and embraced this endeavor thankfully, and I’m grateful for that.

Website: behance.net/cyclonic_i

Instagram: cyclonic_i

Twitter: cyclonic_i

Youtube: Cyclonic – https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSzZ_hd6xBeeNWryqXzQtyA

Image Credits
Mykala Smalley