The AvA Connection

The Call Log: Pascual Di Tella, WME Assistant and Olympic Fencer

AvA: Walk us through your path into the entertainment industry. 

Pascual Di Tella: It was a very indirect path… I graduated college in 2018 and tried (unsuccessfully) to qualify for the 2020/2021 Tokyo Olympics in fencing. Simultaneously, I played in a band in and around New York, and was always very passionate about writing, performing and releasing music with friends. 

After not qualifying to the Tokyo Olympics, I worked in the service industry while playing in my band, and a family friend introduced me to someone who worked at WME. I was fortunate enough that Richard Lom (my boss) was looking for a Spanish speaking music assistant. My background booking shows for my band, coupled with being born and raised in Argentina, was enough to land me an interview with him, which fortunately went well. 

AvA: What was your experience like balancing training as a fencer and your role at WME? 

Di Tella: It’s been a tiring year and a half. Though my training regimen has changed several times, I spent most of my free time training – I’ve been going to the gym before work every day, and 4 times a week I do sparring/ technical work at a fencing club at night. The good thing about an individual sport is that you decide your own training regimen, so if we have a client show I have to cover on a certain day, I can take those days off training. 

I feel like there is also a level of inertia – if you get used to functioning at a certain level of stress at work, there is a diminishing cost to adding other high stakes hobbies outside work. You can only be so stressed, and each activity puts the other in perspective. 

AvA: How much of your training schedule did your boss know, and how did they take the news that you wanted to pursue the Olympics? 

Di Tella: At first, I didn’t tell Richard what I was doing, since I wasn’t sure I was going to go through with the entire year and a half of tournaments required. I started training again in late 2022, and I requested time off for the first tournament I went to in early 2023 – it went great. I think I placed in the top 16 of that World Cup. After that I was like, ok, I can actually make it to Paris. So, I went back to New York and confessed to Richard what I actually did during my “long weekend.” 

Luckily, he was and is super supportive, and I was able to work remote when traveling for tournaments. I saved up my vacation days in case I actually qualified, which I am now happily using up.  

AvA: What does the next month of your life look like? 

Di Tella: I trained in (old) Orleans, France, for a week and a half, and moved into the Olympic village in Paris on Tuesday. I’ll continue preparation here until the tournament on Saturday. After that I have a couple extra days in Paris post-tournament and then back to New York. 

AvA: Do you find skills to be transferable between the two? 

Di Tella: I’ve luckily never had to challenge a promoter to a duel… but I guess there are certain skills in common. As an agent, to build your own business, you have to be self-motivated and very driven; you have to “push” the business forward. It’s the same way in fencing – the only person that cares about your results is you, so if you aren’t self-motivated/driven, it’s difficult to do well.

There’s also a more obvious parallel: in both activities you have to fight over points. Having that internal competitiveness helps you advocate for your client. I’m willing to duel to the death over merch rates. 

AvA: What are your future goals in both fencing and in Entertainment/Music?  

Di Tella: After Paris, my focus will shift to getting promoted. I’d like to be an agent. 

AvA: What is one piece of advice for someone who may have passions outside of their job? 

Di Tella: Don’t stop, belieeeeeeving. Hold on to that feeeeeeeeliiiiing. In all seriousness, I think having a multidimensional life is important, and can make you function at a higher level in all aspects of life.

Watch our full interview here

AvA: Tune in on Saturday, July 27 (one-day competition) to watch Pascual Di Tella fight for gold.

1am PT/4am ET – Competition start (live streaming on Peacock)

If Pascual makes it through to semi-final round…

10am PT/1pm ET: Semi-finals/medal bouts (live streaming on Peacock)

2pm PT/5pm ET: Semi-finals/medal bouts (pre-recorded TV broadcast on USA Network)

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