From being a kinesiology major to creative producer for the University of Rhode Island men’s basketball team, fourth-year Josh Paiva has navigated roadblocks and turned passion into a career in just a few short years.
Growing up, Paiva described himself as a big fan of Rhode Island basketball. Now, he describes his relationship with the program as one similar to family. This relationship didn’t come easy, according to Paiva. It took a lot of long days and nights, some ‘no’s’ before the ‘yes,’ and a couple of important first impressions.
That first ‘no’ was from Shane Donaldson, URI’s a ssociate athletic director and communication and new media . That summer, Paiva reached out to obtain a media pass for the home opener of the 2022 football season. He had never taken photos of a football game, but he was hoping to build his portfolio.
“Shane emailed me back and initially he said no,” Paiva said. “He emailed me back a couple days later, [saying,] ‘I hate to say no to students trying to grow their portfolios, I’ll give you a media pass.’ A couple days later I broke my leg.”
Paiva didn’t allow his broken leg to prevent him from continuing his journey, even if it had become more difficult.
“It’s crazy timing too because I had just posted personal motivation videos,” Paiva said. “I’m really ready to attack this and pursue this career and a day after this happened… everything was stripped from me.”
Paiva said that this was an extremely difficult time for him, as he had recently purchased a camera and lens with the little money he had and essentially pushed all his chips in to bet on himself and his passion.
“Without a doubt that was the hardest mental period of my life,” Paiva said. “I was going through so much anxiety and depression about the future, ‘why me? why now?’…I was stuck on a couch by myself for the entire summer.”
Paiva’s injury was severe enough that he was unable to do a lot of basic tasks without the assistance from family. However, Paiva made the most of his situation that summer and prepared himself for that first opportunity at URI.
“I spent a lot of time learning every little thing I could about the camera,” Paiva said. “Settings, shooting styles, shooting angles, that way when I came to URI I would be fully prepared to know what to do and take advantage of it.”
Paiva’s toughness and willingness to do whatever it takes to pursue this passion didn’t go unnoticed, according to Donaldson.
“That first time that he came to a football game and I didn’t know him from a hole in the wall… I was kinda impressed, here’s a kid in a walking boot on crutches and he’s basically using his crutches as his human tripod while he’s trying to take pictures,” Donaldson said. “I was like ‘ok, this kid is hungry.’”
Donaldson noticed that Paiva wasn’t just doing it for himself, but more to build up others while improving himself.
“What I really liked about Josh from the start was he wanted to improve at his craft,” Donaldson said. “But you hear so many kids these days that just say, ‘I’m going to build my brand,’ and for Josh, it was about the visuals he created and stories that he was telling, and he let his brand evolve from there.”
Telling others stories is something that Paiva has set out to do since he started this journey.
“I always say I don’t do anything for engagement and I still don’t do anything for engagement,” Paiva said. “I always just want to do stuff for other people, and the players love it and people at URI love it.”
Paiva’s desire to create a quality product led to a quick development of his talents, and by the time basketball season started in Paiva’s second-year, more people around campus noticed his work. After games, Paiva was the first person to get any content out according to Donaldson. Current URI assistant coach Benny Sander saw the video and decided to reach out to Paiva.
“He reached out to me and was like ‘hey, I would love if you came in and talked about working for us,’” Paiva said. “I was in anatomy class when I got that text, I have never jumped out of that class faster in my life, I left that class and texted him right back.”
His first task: create a hype video for the URI vs. Providence College men’s basketball game and then introduce the new Keaney Blue jerseys. Once both of those projects got great feedback, the team would bring Paiva on in a more official role.
The development was a full circle moment for Paiva and his sister, Jacquelina. For the past 15 years, Jacquelina has been a professional photographer in Rhode Island.
“I used to make fun of her and say, ‘you just press a button for work,’” Paiva said. “‘You just press a button, that’s it, that’s not a job.’ But now that I’ve come full circle with it and this is becoming my career path… I have the utmost respect for her and I’m very grateful.”
Paiva’s work can be found all over the northeast region, his videos have made it in on the jumbotron at the Barclays Center and they regularly feature on the jumbotron at the Thomas M. Ryan Center. You can also find his work on his Instagram @Paivavisuals, where he posts videos and photos of concerts and personal workouts with professional basketball players.