Latest / Hurdle with Emily Abbate / 256. LaChina Robinson, Host & WNBA Analyst

Transcript

256. LaChina Robinson, Host & WNBA Analyst · Hurdle with Emily Abbate

0:00
Speaker 1: You have all the resilience, all the strength, all the love,
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Speaker 1: all the power that you need to bounce back from anything.
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Speaker 1: So forge full steam a hit into what you love
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Speaker 1: and what you care about and all the things that
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Speaker 1: make you whole and live unapologetically.
0:28
Speaker 2: Hey, Hey, Emily, a body here.
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Speaker 3: You are listening to episode two hundred and fifty six
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Speaker 3: of Hurdle, a wellness focused podcast. Reconnect with everyone from
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Speaker 3: your favorite athletes to top experts and industry CEOs about
0:42
Speaker 3: their highest highs, toughest moments, and everything in between. We
0:46
Speaker 3: all go through hurdles in life, and my goal through
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Speaker 3: these discussions is to empower you to better navigate yours
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Speaker 3: and move with intention so that you can stride towards
0:55
Speaker 3: your own big potential and of course, have some fun
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Speaker 3: a lot the way. For today's episode, I am sitting
1:03
Speaker 3: down with Lachina Robinson. She is an award winning host
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Speaker 3: and basketball analyst. You've seen her on ESPN, Fox Sports One,
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Speaker 3: NBATV and more. I am so honored to snag some
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Speaker 3: of her time during her what I'll call her busy season.
1:20
Speaker 3: And trust me, if you watch Lachina do what she does,
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Speaker 3: you would be mystify that there was ever a time
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Speaker 3: that she didn't know that this was her true calling.
1:31
Speaker 3: In today's episode, La China talks to us about the
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Speaker 3: what she calls quarter life crisis, which ultimately convinced her
1:39
Speaker 3: that a career in broadcast and communications was right up her.
1:42
Speaker 2: Ally.
1:43
Speaker 3: A former a basketball player herself, La China really struggled
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Speaker 3: with trying to sort out what came after sport for her,
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Speaker 3: and through a really helpful exercise which she expands upon
1:55
Speaker 3: in our conversation today, she was able to learn about
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Speaker 3: her and confidently march in the direction of her dreams.
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Speaker 3: La China offers up some really helpful advice today for
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Speaker 3: anyone who may be going through a difficult season themselves.
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Speaker 3: Also talks really openly about the concept that there are
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Speaker 3: going to be different people in your life that can
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Speaker 3: show up for you in different seasons, and having the
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Speaker 3: grace to accept that someone may not be able to
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Speaker 3: play the role that you'd hoped they would that doesn't
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Speaker 3: mean that they don't care. On that note, she also
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Speaker 3: shares some really big learnings about the importance of showing
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Speaker 3: up for herself, knowing that we say it all the time,
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Speaker 3: that she's got to put on her own oxygen masks
2:37
Speaker 3: so that she can better show up for those that
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Speaker 3: she cares about as well. La China is a woman
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Speaker 3: that is paving the way for so many others in sports,
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Speaker 3: broadcasting and beyond. Talking today about the importance of being
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Speaker 3: a black woman in front of the camera, commenting on
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Speaker 3: a sport that has so many black players, knowing that
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Speaker 3: in order to be her for so many you have
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Speaker 3: to see her, and she's stepping into this opportunity herself,
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Speaker 3: inspiring woman everywhere to do the same.
3:07
Speaker 2: Love this combo. I know you will too.
3:09
Speaker 3: Do me a solid, Share it with a friend, a
3:11
Speaker 3: family member, post it on your Instagram story.
3:13
Speaker 2: I want to see those tags.
3:14
Speaker 3: Hit us up over at Hurdle podcast and I'm over
3:17
Speaker 3: at emily a Body. Make sure you're subscribed to the
3:19
Speaker 3: weekly Hurdle newsletter. It comes out every Friday morning directly
3:23
Speaker 3: in your inbox. So much of the same motivation inspiration
3:26
Speaker 3: that you love from the show, and it's absolutely free.
3:30
Speaker 2: With that, let's get to it. Let's get to Hurdling today.
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Speaker 3: I am sitting down with Lechaina Robinson. She's a host
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Speaker 3: and award winning basketball analyst over at ESPN, along with
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Speaker 3: so many more things.
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Speaker 4: How are you doing today, I'm doing off some Emily.
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Speaker 1: I just wanted to say, it's great to be here
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Speaker 1: with you, especially with that hurdle light fixture you have
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Speaker 1: in the back.
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Speaker 4: It's it's incredible. I'm inspired by that.
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Speaker 3: It's always fun for me to connect to with someone
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Speaker 3: who is in the same industry as me because I
4:16
Speaker 3: feel as though the vibes are high. It's you know
4:20
Speaker 3: what you're doing, I know what we're doing, and we're
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Speaker 3: just here to have a great combo.
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Speaker 4: Yes, yes, yes, it is.
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Speaker 1: It is nice because I think when you're speaking to
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Speaker 1: someone who doesn't understand what our business is like, you
4:34
Speaker 1: just don't know where they're gonna go with answers, energy level,
4:39
Speaker 1: any number of things. But I kind of get the
4:42
Speaker 1: gist of what you would like to accomplish, even though
4:44
Speaker 1: I know the subject matter and things like that change.
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Speaker 4: So that feels good to me. I hope it feels
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Speaker 4: good to you.
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Speaker 1: And I do want to say that I usually don't
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Speaker 1: notice things in people's background, but that's a that's a
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Speaker 1: sign for me that I am My age self diagnosed
5:03
Speaker 1: is starting to get better because I'm actually like tuned
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Speaker 1: into the details of the experience in its entirety.
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Speaker 4: So after that long run, I'm sorry, you're back in control.
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Speaker 2: What I'm hearing here.
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Speaker 3: Is that you're very present for our conversation today, which
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Speaker 3: means a lot to me knowing that you have so
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Speaker 3: much going on, especially like I said, commentating over on ESPN,
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Speaker 3: specifically relevant to women's basketball, which is back in full
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Speaker 3: force right now.
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Speaker 1: How is that going for you? This is my favorite
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Speaker 1: time of the year by far. I absolutely love the
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Speaker 1: WNBA season. I love the summer. Some people complain because
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Speaker 1: they feel like summers they're off season from sport, and
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Speaker 1: I'm like, not. For the last twenty seven years it
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Speaker 1: has not been. I love it. There's nothing more that
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Speaker 1: I would rather be doing than covering the best one
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Speaker 1: hundred and forty four women athletes in the world. And yeah,
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Speaker 1: it's my time. I am Waldwall WNBA. And what's so
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Speaker 1: great is, while I am one hundred percent behind expansion,
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Speaker 1: the difference between covering the WNBA and college women's basketball,
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Speaker 1: which I once covered, was there were three hundred and
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Speaker 1: forty four Division one teams right there are twelve WNBA teams.
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Speaker 1: So my ability to get to know these teams in
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Speaker 1: and out in all the details. I know what they
6:24
Speaker 1: ate yesterday. I mean, I know so much about what's
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Speaker 1: happening with them. So it's this league is very much
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Speaker 1: in line with my passion and who I am. So
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Speaker 1: I'm living the life right now.
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Speaker 3: Living the life right now, especially because as the hurdlers,
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Speaker 3: which is what I call my audience, may or may
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Speaker 3: not know, we've got two super teams this year. So
6:44
Speaker 3: for those that don't know what a super team is,
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Speaker 3: give them some insights so they can be inside baseball
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Speaker 3: with us.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, so depends on who you ask, but for the
6:53
Speaker 1: purposes of this conversation, I'm going to cover all bases.
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Speaker 4: So it's super team is basically a team.
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Speaker 1: That has been assembled that has an extraordinary level of talent.
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Speaker 1: Now that could be talent on paper, where your draft
7:09
Speaker 1: picks came from, like the Vegas Aces who have four
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Speaker 1: number one picks, which is just wild. That could be
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Speaker 1: a signal of a super team. It could be New
7:19
Speaker 1: York where you have two former MVPs that just came
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Speaker 1: together on the same roster in Brianna Stewart and John
7:25
Speaker 1: Quell Jones. It's rare for two MVPs to end up
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Speaker 1: together because they made a free agency decision to do so,
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Speaker 1: Like sometimes you get two number one picks that are
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Speaker 1: drafted together, so that could be a super team, and
7:38
Speaker 1: then some fans in their mind just feel like their
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Speaker 1: team is a super team. But that probably does not
7:43
Speaker 1: qualify for the purposes of this conversation. So it's really
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Speaker 1: Las Vegas in New York. They have the two most
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Speaker 1: talented rosters, honestly, two of the most talented rosters in
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Speaker 1: the history of the WNBA. So most people think the
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Speaker 1: championship is going to go to one of those two
8:00
Speaker 1: teams at the end of the year.
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Speaker 2: For sure. For sure.
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Speaker 3: You know, I grew up in Connecticut, so I have
8:04
Speaker 3: a soft spot for the Suns, but I live about
8:07
Speaker 3: a ten minute walk from Barclay Center, so I'm in
8:10
Speaker 3: a pretty good space right now.
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Speaker 1: You've got Stewie, You've got Steph Dolson, you know, originally
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Speaker 1: from connectic Well went to Connecticut as far as the
8:18
Speaker 1: husky side of things, But you'll live in the best
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Speaker 1: of both worlds.
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Speaker 3: Living the best of both worlds, and basketball again a
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Speaker 3: passion point for you because you played growing up. Talk
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Speaker 3: to me a little bit about how it feels now
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Speaker 3: to have been able to turn your passion for the
8:35
Speaker 3: sport into a flourishing career.
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Speaker 2: And I'm just going to compliment you there on that way.
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Speaker 4: Thank you.
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Speaker 1: I appreciate that being very generous today on this what Wednesday.
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Speaker 1: So not everyone is going to go pro. I played
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Speaker 1: college basketball. I think one percent of all Division I
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Speaker 1: women's athletes go pro. So you have to find something
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Speaker 1: else to do when you're leegiate careers over in sport.
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Speaker 1: And it's not an easy transition because for most of us,
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Speaker 1: we've been playing for a very long time.
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Speaker 4: It's become a part of our identity.
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Speaker 1: We were basically our entire lives evolved around basketball for
9:15
Speaker 1: at least the last four years of college, if not
9:18
Speaker 1: before then. So I knew I didn't want to go pro,
9:21
Speaker 1: though I was probably different for most. It wasn't that
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Speaker 1: I didn't have opportunities. I just love basketball for what
9:27
Speaker 1: it was, and then I would put it down and
9:29
Speaker 1: go do something else.
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Speaker 4: Like I was not that young.
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Speaker 1: Girl who went to practice and then when I came home,
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Speaker 1: I was back in the yard shooting and sol the
9:37
Speaker 1: lights went out.
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Speaker 4: That was not me.
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Speaker 1: After practice. I was going to get my nails done.
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Speaker 1: I was trying to hang out the mall. I was good,
9:43
Speaker 1: you know, that was me. So in just realizing what
9:47
Speaker 1: my passions, what my natural interests were, what my makeup was,
9:51
Speaker 1: what my specialties were, I realized that playing pro was
9:55
Speaker 1: not for me, coaching was not for me, And so
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Speaker 1: I started this journ you figuring out how could I
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Speaker 1: still stay connected to sport even though that process of elimination,
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Speaker 1: which is a good thing to have, led me to
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Speaker 1: a place to understand that coaching and playing was not
10:11
Speaker 1: in my wheelhouse.
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Speaker 4: Uh.
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Speaker 1: And I was fortunate enough to I started off in
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Speaker 1: athletic administration, thought I wanted to be an athletics director,
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Speaker 1: and then after having a quarter life crisis, ended up
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Speaker 1: in broadcasting.
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Speaker 3: Ended up in a super calm field. So it talk
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Speaker 3: to me a little bit about the quarter life crisis,
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Speaker 3: because I know for certain that a lot of the
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Speaker 3: people listening to this can really relate to the pressure
10:36
Speaker 3: that goes hand in hand with feeling as though you're
10:38
Speaker 3: supposed to have it all figured.
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Speaker 2: Out at such a young age.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, and honestly, Emily, this is kind of the I
10:49
Speaker 1: won't say downside, but one of the challenges of being
10:52
Speaker 1: a former athlete.
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Speaker 4: Is that it's hard to turn that off.
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Speaker 1: You are taught to go one hundred and two, to
11:01
Speaker 1: have everything figured out, to check all the boxes, you know,
11:06
Speaker 1: when you're an athlete, and then when you get into
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Speaker 1: the real world, you realize, okay, this is I've had
11:12
Speaker 1: my entire life planned out to me for me practice,
11:15
Speaker 1: scheduling what to eat, what not to eat, what to.
11:18
Speaker 4: Wear, what, you know.
11:19
Speaker 1: I didn't even have to pick out my sweatsuit or
11:20
Speaker 1: my jersey, like it was already done. And so it was.
11:24
Speaker 1: It was a really challenging revelation to get into my
11:29
Speaker 1: first career and I'm like, okay, this isn't going very well.
11:34
Speaker 1: Like I have learned a lot from sport, but honestly,
11:39
Speaker 1: the one thing I learned from sport, which was probably
11:41
Speaker 1: the most damaging thing, was that you have to be
11:45
Speaker 1: excellent every day. And I realized how unrealistic that was.
11:51
Speaker 1: And so once I got to the other side of okay, girl,
11:55
Speaker 1: you made a mistake in picking your first career. That
11:58
Speaker 1: really wasn't that wasn't it. That's when that that's when
12:01
Speaker 1: that quarter life prices happened. And I not only did
12:04
Speaker 1: I feel lost, but I felt I was like physically sick.
12:09
Speaker 4: I was depressed.
12:11
Speaker 1: I was just like, you know, things, this is this
12:13
Speaker 1: post athletic career thing isn't going well at all. And
12:16
Speaker 1: so only through some self reflection and conversation with people
12:23
Speaker 1: that cared about me and love love me, and quite
12:27
Speaker 1: honestly letting go of this dream I once had of
12:31
Speaker 1: this perfect post collegiate career, was I able to then
12:36
Speaker 1: tap into where I was really supposed to be and
12:38
Speaker 1: who I really was.
12:40
Speaker 2: During that dark time. And thank you for sharing that.
12:44
Speaker 3: Did you talk to anyone in the thick of it
12:48
Speaker 3: about how you were feeling or did you feel as
12:50
Speaker 3: though those feelings were ones that you should keep to yourself.
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Speaker 1: I was talking to people about how I was feeling,
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Speaker 1: but I was most urgently concerned with the physical manifestation
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Speaker 1: of it. I honestly believe that, and I think most
13:09
Speaker 1: former athletes feel like this. I could have pushed through
13:12
Speaker 1: the mental side of it. Right in my mind, I'm like, Okay,
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Speaker 1: I got this. I could do this mentally emotionally, if
13:17
Speaker 1: that was it I would have. I think I would
13:20
Speaker 1: have probably not shared anything with anyone. I would have
13:23
Speaker 1: just been depressed on my own, and who knows where
13:25
Speaker 1: that would have taken me, But it was I was
13:29
Speaker 1: physically like everything that I had been holding in emotionally,
13:32
Speaker 1: all those things were manifesting themselves in my body. And
13:36
Speaker 1: so I was having physical symptoms that didn't allow me
13:39
Speaker 1: to pretend like everything was okay. I didn't have a choice.
13:44
Speaker 1: I had to call my parents, I had to you know,
13:46
Speaker 1: I was going to see multiple doctors. There was just
13:48
Speaker 1: so much going on, which would eventually the doctors were like,
13:53
Speaker 1: you are stressed, like you're depressed, Like these are some
13:57
Speaker 1: things because as you know, and that's not for all
14:00
Speaker 1: all physical symptoms, but in my case, my depression, my anxiety.
14:05
Speaker 4: All those things had started manifesting physically.
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Speaker 1: So I did start to share with quite a few
14:10
Speaker 1: people because I wanted help, I wanted prayer, I wanted support.
14:14
Speaker 1: I thought I was gonna die. I was like, I
14:16
Speaker 1: don't feel good mentally, physically or in any other way.
14:19
Speaker 1: So it was I mean, my friends will tell you
14:21
Speaker 1: to this day, they'll say, I hope I'd never have
14:24
Speaker 1: to go through anything like what you went through. But
14:26
Speaker 1: for me, Emily, it was the best thing, honestly that
14:29
Speaker 1: ever happened to me.
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Speaker 2: Yeah.
14:30
Speaker 3: Through line of the show, truly talking about the hurdles
14:33
Speaker 3: and how they help us gain a better understanding of
14:36
Speaker 3: not only what we're capable of, but mostly of the
14:39
Speaker 3: fact that we're able to continue to overcome them as
14:41
Speaker 3: they pop up in our way. So, for you going
14:44
Speaker 3: through this period of depression, if you had to offer
14:48
Speaker 3: a piece of advice for someone who feels like they
14:50
Speaker 3: may be going through a similar situation themselves, some of
14:54
Speaker 3: this really is resonating with them.
14:56
Speaker 4: What do you tell them? Let go? Let go?
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Speaker 1: Most of it for me was as soon as life
15:02
Speaker 1: started to get shaky, I wanted to grab everything I
15:05
Speaker 1: had and bring it close to me. You know, my job,
15:09
Speaker 1: my my friends, my all these things like I don't
15:11
Speaker 1: I don't want to lose. I don't want anything about
15:13
Speaker 1: my life to change. Right when, in actuality, you are
15:17
Speaker 1: brought to those moments oftentime to let go of how
15:22
Speaker 1: you've been living, how you've been thinking, sometimes, the people
15:25
Speaker 1: you've been around, the habits you've had, and it's an
15:29
Speaker 1: opportunity to start new. And I'm not talking about clinical depression,
15:34
Speaker 1: which you know, there's obviously medication, which I believe one
15:37
Speaker 1: hundred percent in So I wasn't at that point and
15:40
Speaker 1: I don't want to speak to, you know, anyone that
15:43
Speaker 1: may be struggling in that way. But for me, it
15:46
Speaker 1: was like it was clearly time for some change in
15:51
Speaker 1: my life. So I would just offer that advice to
15:54
Speaker 1: anyone that, instead of trying to fight to keep everything
16:00
Speaker 1: the same, use that moment.
16:03
Speaker 4: As an opportunity for reflection.
16:06
Speaker 3: For you as you moved through this time, who did
16:11
Speaker 3: you look to for support to get.
16:14
Speaker 1: Through at What's crazy is that the people that I
16:17
Speaker 1: thought were going to be there weren't, and not because
16:21
Speaker 1: they didn't want to. It was because they just couldn't
16:23
Speaker 1: handle it. I was always seen as the pillar of strength.
16:26
Speaker 1: So my mom, for example, who lived in Barbados, she
16:28
Speaker 1: could not handle the thought that I was not okay.
16:32
Speaker 1: So she would say, oh, yeah, you'll be fine, just
16:35
Speaker 1: you know, kind of brush it, okay, bye, gotta go.
16:38
Speaker 1: My dad, who lived very close to me, prayed with
16:42
Speaker 1: me every day, went to my doctor's appointments with me,
16:45
Speaker 1: all of that, so he was a very steady presence.
16:47
Speaker 1: But there's someone that I leaned on from Afar, and
16:52
Speaker 1: that was the late Great Kal who was the NC
16:56
Speaker 1: state coach who, as you know, battled breast cancer twice
16:59
Speaker 1: to come to the disease the second time around, but
17:03
Speaker 1: had just a incredible inspirational journey through her fight with
17:09
Speaker 1: bruast cancer to the end where she was coaching on
17:12
Speaker 1: the sideline with a terminal diagnosis, giving everything she could
17:16
Speaker 1: to the players that she coached, because she said, this
17:19
Speaker 1: is my purpose, like and this is where I would
17:22
Speaker 1: want to be in my final days. And her faith
17:25
Speaker 1: in God was Wow. It literally blew me away. And
17:30
Speaker 1: I was saying to myself, le China, this woman knows she's.
17:34
Speaker 4: About to die.
17:34
Speaker 1: You think you're about to die. How would you want
17:38
Speaker 1: this chapter to end? And how can you learn from
17:43
Speaker 1: her faith and utilize that in your life? And so
17:47
Speaker 1: I really leaned on her a lot from Afar and
17:52
Speaker 1: she strengthened me in ways that I never knew someone
17:55
Speaker 1: could without ever touching me, without ever coming into contact
17:59
Speaker 1: with me. She was definitely someone that helped me through
18:02
Speaker 1: that time.
18:03
Speaker 2: Yeah.
18:03
Speaker 3: Wow, such a beautiful reflection and also so much awareness
18:08
Speaker 3: when talking about what at the time may have been difficult,
18:13
Speaker 3: the wanting your mom's support but realizing now that she
18:18
Speaker 3: wasn't capable of offering it to you.
18:21
Speaker 2: Did you go through a period of reconciliation with that.
18:26
Speaker 1: I have, and it goes hand in hand with our
18:35
Speaker 1: ability to accept people and meet them where they are.
18:40
Speaker 1: Not everyone's going to be able to fulfill the place,
18:44
Speaker 1: the space, the role that you think they should in
18:47
Speaker 1: your life. They may not be equipped, they may not
18:50
Speaker 1: want to, they may want to and just can't for
18:53
Speaker 1: various reasons. And so my mother's inability to be there
18:58
Speaker 1: for me in that time was tough. But I also
19:03
Speaker 1: have now learned so much more about who she is
19:07
Speaker 1: and her capacity that now I know she did the
19:10
Speaker 1: best she could, and oftentimes that has to be enough
19:14
Speaker 1: for us when it comes to our relationships, friends, family,
19:19
Speaker 1: et cetera. Is we don't get to choose what the
19:23
Speaker 1: people around us are capable of doing and their limitations.
19:29
Speaker 1: We can't you know, their experiences, We can't change those things,
19:33
Speaker 1: the things that have shaped them in their lives, And
19:36
Speaker 1: so all we can do is open our arms for
19:38
Speaker 1: the people who can be there in those moments, but
19:41
Speaker 1: also hold a place of grace in our hearts and
19:45
Speaker 1: in our minds for those that aren't able to show up.
19:49
Speaker 1: And so I got to that place with my mom,
19:53
Speaker 1: and I've done that over and over again in my life,
19:55
Speaker 1: and it's probably one of the best lessons I've ever learned.
19:58
Speaker 3: You know, we hear it so often that saying maybe
20:01
Speaker 3: relevant to dating, but not always if they wanted to,
20:04
Speaker 3: they would, right, And that's not always the truth. Someone
20:08
Speaker 3: can want to show up for you, but truly, as
20:11
Speaker 3: you are articulating so beautifully here be incapable of doing so,
20:15
Speaker 3: and it has nothing to do with you.
20:18
Speaker 2: Yes.
20:19
Speaker 1: And you know, one one way, Emily, that I have
20:23
Speaker 1: really realized how true that is is because there's been
20:26
Speaker 1: places that I haven't been able to show up and I.
20:29
Speaker 2: Have about that. Talk to me about that.
20:32
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, in order to best care for myself mentally, spiritually, emotionally,
20:39
Speaker 1: there have been many a thing that I've had to
20:41
Speaker 1: say no to family members, I've had to decline phone
20:45
Speaker 1: calls from. You know, you learn over time the importance
20:50
Speaker 1: of self protection and self love. You only have this
20:54
Speaker 1: much a set amount of emotional energy every day, and
21:00
Speaker 1: when it's gone, it's gone. And so as much as
21:03
Speaker 1: I used to feel like I could help everyone, be
21:06
Speaker 1: there for everyone, be all that everyone needed me to be,
21:10
Speaker 1: the truth is I don't have that capacity, and sometimes
21:13
Speaker 1: I don't have that desire, and at the end of
21:16
Speaker 1: the day, I have to make those decisions for myself
21:19
Speaker 1: because no one else will. And it's hard to get
21:24
Speaker 1: to that point. But it's also probably one of the
21:29
Speaker 1: best realizations I've had, because I've been able to be
21:32
Speaker 1: better to me and for me, because I have now
21:37
Speaker 1: the ability and capacity to say no and not feel
21:41
Speaker 1: guilt and shame for it.
21:43
Speaker 3: Was there a certain event or circumstance that triggered this lesson,
21:48
Speaker 3: this understanding, this level of compassion for you?
21:52
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean I definitely COVID and even the years
21:56
Speaker 1: of the pandemic and the years leading up to it,
22:01
Speaker 1: my emotional capacity shrunk. While most people felt like, Okay,
22:06
Speaker 1: I'm at home so I can do more, I can
22:09
Speaker 1: be more.
22:10
Speaker 4: You know, your job may be shut down.
22:12
Speaker 1: We were all in very different, varying circumstances, but I
22:16
Speaker 1: think we all at some point felt like we had
22:19
Speaker 1: more freedom in our day to day because there were
22:22
Speaker 1: so many things that were closed or that were unavailable
22:24
Speaker 1: to us. I actually felt like I had less capacity
22:30
Speaker 1: because I in my mind was processing so many things
22:35
Speaker 1: from this pandemic to I'm now interacting with my family more.
22:40
Speaker 1: Holy smokes, is this a good thing or a bad
22:42
Speaker 1: thing to you know, like having you know, just not
22:49
Speaker 1: feeling like I could handle very much mentally and emotionally,
22:53
Speaker 1: and you know, going into to COVID a few a
22:56
Speaker 1: couple of years before then twenty eighteen, my brother passed away.
23:00
Speaker 1: We had you know, a couple of family crisises.
23:02
Speaker 4: That year.
23:04
Speaker 1: I had gotten into a relationship that I really wasn't
23:07
Speaker 1: mentally prepared to be in. So there were so many
23:11
Speaker 1: things happening and then the world shuts down. I struggled
23:15
Speaker 1: to feel valuable away from work, right, so it was like, okay,
23:19
Speaker 1: what am I good at?
23:20
Speaker 4: I'm not working? Like what am my use? What's my
23:22
Speaker 4: use out here?
23:23
Speaker 1: So, to make a long story short, that was the
23:27
Speaker 1: turning point for me where I said, la China, when
23:29
Speaker 1: you don't have it, you don't have it, like you're
23:33
Speaker 1: it's okay. And I remember my password and I hope
23:36
Speaker 1: it's not my password for anything else now moving forward.
23:39
Speaker 1: But it was replenish because I realized I was not
23:44
Speaker 1: being replenished by myself, by anyone around me. I was
23:48
Speaker 1: constantly pouring out and never getting anything back in.
23:51
Speaker 4: So I shut down.
23:52
Speaker 1: And what I did is I shut down to ground
23:55
Speaker 1: zero during COVID, and I started to rebuild as the
23:57
Speaker 1: pandemic was over based on things that were feeding me
24:02
Speaker 1: in return.
24:03
Speaker 4: Like that's where my list started, was what kind?
24:07
Speaker 1: And that it sounds selfish, right, like we're always we're
24:10
Speaker 1: supposed to pay it forward and we're supposed to and yes,
24:12
Speaker 1: I do all those things, but I am also very
24:16
Speaker 1: aware of my reserves, and I'm very aware of when
24:18
Speaker 1: I don't have free energy, if you will to give,
24:22
Speaker 1: And so that that kind of was the turning point
24:24
Speaker 1: for me of let's start this over and prioritize my capabilities.
24:34
Speaker 3: Yeah, such beautiful sentiments. I love that idea of replenish.
24:37
Speaker 3: I'm curious what triggered you to get rid of that
24:39
Speaker 3: as your password for.
24:40
Speaker 1: Everything, because I think there was a year associated with it.
24:45
Speaker 1: It was like twenty nineteen, and so I was like, well,
24:48
Speaker 1: you know, it's not twenty nineteennymore, and I need to
24:50
Speaker 1: move on from that, so let me you know, it's
24:52
Speaker 1: more like just the typing of it. I probably would
24:55
Speaker 1: have kept it if that number was associated with it,
24:58
Speaker 1: but I like passwords that are reminders of where I
25:02
Speaker 1: want my focus to be.
25:04
Speaker 4: But let me just shut up before I get.
25:05
Speaker 2: Away my passwords.
25:07
Speaker 3: I've some of them I've been using since literally I
25:10
Speaker 3: was fourteen, So I cannot goodby any of the answers
25:14
Speaker 3: on this show, any of my passwords on this show,
25:16
Speaker 3: because they're still in there. But I love this tip
25:19
Speaker 3: of making your password. It's something to actually think about
25:22
Speaker 3: every time you enter it in to your jmail, your
25:24
Speaker 3: bank account, et cetera.
25:26
Speaker 4: Try it in LA going to.
25:29
Speaker 2: Okay. So then let's dial it back.
25:31
Speaker 3: Going back to this time you overcoming this really difficult
25:35
Speaker 3: moment for you in this transitionary period, How did you
25:39
Speaker 3: first come to the realization that maybe broadcasting, maybe analyst
25:46
Speaker 3: work was the right path for you to go down.
25:49
Speaker 1: Yeah, So when I was in that quarter life crisis,
25:52
Speaker 1: and you know, I say I was moving them in
25:55
Speaker 1: the wrong direction. I actually liked athletic administration. It just
25:59
Speaker 1: was not fulfilled all aspects of who I felt like
26:02
Speaker 1: I was at that time.
26:04
Speaker 4: So I ended up.
26:07
Speaker 1: I guess my trend is always when I'm going through
26:10
Speaker 1: some kind of change of crisis, I shut all the
26:13
Speaker 1: way down and built some scratch. So I basically took
26:16
Speaker 1: everything that I thought I was supposed to be do
26:19
Speaker 1: stand for off of the table and reevaluated. And it
26:23
Speaker 1: started with a three sixty feedback exercise I did with
26:26
Speaker 1: some people around me through a leadership program I was
26:30
Speaker 1: in with the NCAA, where I just started to ask
26:32
Speaker 1: other people, like, what makes me special? When I walk
26:34
Speaker 1: into a room? What do you think about? What kind
26:37
Speaker 1: of things could you see me doing in my future?
26:39
Speaker 1: And you know, what do you think makes me unique?
26:41
Speaker 1: And it not only built confidence in me that I
26:46
Speaker 1: needed at that time, but it also allowed me to
26:49
Speaker 1: see my strengths from other people's perspectives, and I needed
26:53
Speaker 1: that at twenty six years old. You think you know
26:55
Speaker 1: what you're good at, but you don't even realize you
26:57
Speaker 1: do so much more and you're so much better or
27:00
Speaker 1: things that you may not even realize, And so it
27:02
Speaker 1: was really really valuable and it just started to build
27:05
Speaker 1: my confidence. And from there there was a lot of
27:08
Speaker 1: career exploration. I volunteered, I you know, had coffee with
27:12
Speaker 1: a million people and had discussions about what I thought
27:15
Speaker 1: I should be doing next, and was able to eliminate
27:19
Speaker 1: a few things and ultimately ended up with broadcasting. And
27:23
Speaker 1: I have not looked back and feel like I really
27:25
Speaker 1: haven't worked a day in my life.
27:27
Speaker 2: Wow, so powerful.
27:29
Speaker 3: Two things to zublem, the first being what would you
27:32
Speaker 3: say was the most valuable takeaway you left with from
27:36
Speaker 3: that roundtable experience, which in itself is so interesting and
27:40
Speaker 3: such a powerful exercise.
27:42
Speaker 1: Yeah, it was more of it wasn't necessarily feedback from
27:45
Speaker 1: one particular person because this was actually done electronically, so
27:49
Speaker 1: I knew who said what, But it wasn't like we
27:51
Speaker 1: were sitting down and everyone was like, oh, yeah, me too.
27:53
Speaker 1: But the fact that almost everyone that I interviewed said
27:56
Speaker 1: I was a really strong communicator was eye opening to me.
28:01
Speaker 1: I never thought I was a good communicator, and so
28:04
Speaker 1: I was like really and that yeah, I was, well,
28:11
Speaker 1: let me.
28:11
Speaker 4: Take a look. Where could communication get me?
28:13
Speaker 1: So it kind of snowballed from there, but that was
28:16
Speaker 1: the biggest revelation for sure.
28:18
Speaker 3: And then the other thing you said, I had, you know,
28:21
Speaker 3: hundreds of thousands of coffees, right. I think that that
28:24
Speaker 3: is something that a lot of people would feel like,
28:28
Speaker 3: I don't want to waste someone's time or no one's
28:30
Speaker 3: going to quote unquote have the time to do this
28:33
Speaker 3: with me. How did you get individuals to give you
28:37
Speaker 3: their time?
28:38
Speaker 4: Man?
28:39
Speaker 1: I networking has one hundred percent got me where I
28:45
Speaker 1: am in my career. I am intentional about speaking to
28:48
Speaker 1: the importance of networking when I'm talking to up and
28:52
Speaker 1: coming young professionals honestly persistence and not just persistence like
29:00
Speaker 1: I'm going to send you one hundred emails, persistence like
29:03
Speaker 1: I'm going to send you an email every month or so,
29:06
Speaker 1: even when you don't respond. But I'm also going to
29:09
Speaker 1: show up at an event you're speaking at and try
29:11
Speaker 1: to shake your hand afterwards. And I'm also going to
29:13
Speaker 1: sign up for this professional development event that you're putting
29:17
Speaker 1: on so I can learn more about you. And I'm
29:19
Speaker 1: probably also going to watch everything you're doing and try
29:25
Speaker 1: to learn and glean from you. And so it's an
29:28
Speaker 1: investment when you really find something in someone that you admire,
29:33
Speaker 1: or you realize that someone could be that connecting piece
29:37
Speaker 1: from getting you to where you are to where you
29:39
Speaker 1: want to be. And I'm realizing this on this side
29:42
Speaker 1: of my career, and that you just get busy, and
29:48
Speaker 1: so many people take offense when they don't get an
29:50
Speaker 1: email back or don't get a response I wanted to
29:54
Speaker 1: I thought your email was fire and I was really
29:57
Speaker 1: going to get back to you. I just have a
30:00
Speaker 1: million other things on my list. So if you re
30:01
Speaker 1: send that same email next month, I might have a
30:05
Speaker 1: second then to respond. And so it's my mother you
30:08
Speaker 1: has this saying. And I talked about my mother earlier.
30:10
Speaker 1: She's my best friend, like, we have a great relationship,
30:14
Speaker 1: but she said to me once being offended as a choice.
30:19
Speaker 1: And oftentimes we get in our feelings about the way
30:22
Speaker 1: somebody responded to us in a public space.
30:24
Speaker 4: Well that was kind of awkward. So what everybody's awkward? Right?
30:29
Speaker 3: Like?
30:29
Speaker 1: Or this person was dismissive, or it could have just
30:32
Speaker 1: been the moment. And so just being compassionate and again
30:36
Speaker 1: having grace for people and not letting our personal feelings
30:41
Speaker 1: towards an interaction or a lack of response or any
30:44
Speaker 1: of that getting the way of pursuing something that we
30:47
Speaker 1: know is important for our development.
30:54
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32:30
Speaker 3: so powerful, So you make this decision communication, you're great
32:35
Speaker 3: at it. Broadcasting and or analyst work seems right up
32:39
Speaker 3: your alley. Who is the networking connection that really helps
32:44
Speaker 3: you make it click to get it going.
32:46
Speaker 4: Yeah, So there were two very important people.
32:51
Speaker 1: I had been doing the radio for our Georgia Tech
32:54
Speaker 1: women's basketball team, where I was working full time as
32:58
Speaker 1: an athletics administrator. So I have to get shout out
33:00
Speaker 1: to Georgia Tech because they allowed me to work full
33:02
Speaker 1: time and also pursue my career. But I decided to
33:06
Speaker 1: go to this professional development opportunity at what they called
33:10
Speaker 1: NAQUA at the time. It's the National Association of Collegiate
33:13
Speaker 1: Women Athletic Administrators. And I went because I saw that
33:18
Speaker 1: one of the speakers was a woman named Carol Stiff
33:21
Speaker 1: who was one of the highest ranking women at ESPN.
33:25
Speaker 1: She was over women's sports programming. I was like, she's
33:29
Speaker 1: probably going to say something that I could learn from,
33:32
Speaker 1: and so I signed up ended up going to this event.
33:36
Speaker 1: And that's part of the intentional aspect, right of like
33:40
Speaker 1: seeking out people. Don't just go and then sit down
33:44
Speaker 1: and say, oh, this person is here no young professionals
33:48
Speaker 1: out there. Check the agenda, know who's going to be there,
33:51
Speaker 1: know who you want to connect with all that. So
33:53
Speaker 1: they ended up having an auction where Carol Stiff was
33:57
Speaker 1: auctioning off an opportunity to go to ESPN for selection
34:01
Speaker 1: Monday for the women's selection event.
34:04
Speaker 4: So, you know, here's a little twenty five, twenty six,
34:07
Speaker 4: twenty seven. I don't know, you're old in the China
34:09
Speaker 4: in the crowd, and I'm.
34:11
Speaker 1: Like, wow, if I could get to ESPN, these broadcast
34:15
Speaker 1: dreams could be expedited really quickly. So I'm sitting in
34:18
Speaker 1: the crowd and you know they're auctioning it off. It's
34:21
Speaker 1: like two hundred three hundred. I'm out, I can't afford that, right,
34:26
Speaker 1: like on my little young professional check five hundred six hundred.
34:31
Speaker 1: You know, they get up to like seven hundred and
34:33
Speaker 1: they're like the hand in the back. Mary McElroy, I
34:36
Speaker 1: was like, what. Mary McElroy is the woman that hired
34:40
Speaker 1: me to come work at Georgia Tech. She gave me
34:42
Speaker 1: the job there. She was the SWA. She ended up
34:45
Speaker 1: winning the opportunity to go to ESPN. So as soon
34:48
Speaker 1: as that auction was over, I ran up to Mary
34:50
Speaker 1: and was like, Mary, I will pay you fifteen dollars
34:52
Speaker 1: a month if you let me buy this front. It
34:56
Speaker 1: was a little it was a little more than that
34:58
Speaker 1: Aby had like twenty five bucks a month. I was like, well,
35:00
Speaker 1: please let me buy this from you, Mary, I please,
35:03
Speaker 1: I promise, you know. So she ended up let me
35:05
Speaker 1: buy buy it from her and installments. So I get
35:08
Speaker 1: to ESPN's campus and Carol Stiff, who was you know there,
35:13
Speaker 1: introduces me to the woman who is over women's basketball,
35:17
Speaker 1: who does all their scheduling. And this woman happened to
35:22
Speaker 1: be Her name is Tina Thornton. Bless her heart. She's
35:26
Speaker 1: still at ESPN and doing an amazing job there. She
35:30
Speaker 1: went to Wake Forest. We both went to Wake Forest.
35:34
Speaker 1: So there is that little connection point. I mean sometimes, Emily,
35:38
Speaker 1: you know that, it's just that little thing. And she
35:44
Speaker 1: ended up giving me my first opportunity ESPN, and the
35:47
Speaker 1: rest was history.
35:49
Speaker 2: I have Cell's first and foremost.
35:51
Speaker 3: Secondly, that truly all happened for you in the most beautiful,
35:56
Speaker 3: beautiful way. And then I've got to know what that
35:59
Speaker 3: first opportun unity was for you.
36:01
Speaker 1: Well, so I had already been doing, like I said,
36:05
Speaker 1: the radio for Georgia Tech, and I had done some
36:09
Speaker 1: little regional basketball coverage when I was working at Georgia Tech.
36:13
Speaker 4: But this was the first game ESPN gave me. It was.
36:19
Speaker 1: Madison Square Garden, the Maggie Dixon Classic is what they
36:24
Speaker 1: called it. It was Tennessee Past Summit was still on
36:27
Speaker 1: the sidelines versus c Vivian Stringer, so two Hall of
36:32
Speaker 1: Hall of Fame coaches. The other two teams were Boston
36:35
Speaker 1: College and Baylor Britney Griner's freshman year. Wow, how in
36:41
Speaker 1: the world did I end up on this game?
36:45
Speaker 2: No, your persistence. Your persistence is what landed you on
36:48
Speaker 2: this game.
36:49
Speaker 4: I knew at that moment.
36:50
Speaker 1: I was like, Okay, my first ESPN game is in
36:53
Speaker 1: Madison Square Garden in Past Summit and Vivian Stringer a coaching.
36:58
Speaker 1: This has to be destiny. That's the only thing that
37:00
Speaker 1: makes sense, because it doesn't make sense any other way.
37:05
Speaker 4: So it was. It was really awesome.
37:08
Speaker 3: Oh my god, how truly insane. I think I listened
37:13
Speaker 3: to a podcast that you had recorded with Sarah Spain
37:16
Speaker 3: and Sarah Spain had admitted that she'd never been in MSG.
37:19
Speaker 4: Oh yes, I was like, what what? And I can't
37:26
Speaker 4: take you seriously as a basketball fan.
37:28
Speaker 1: After that, don't tell me Emily if you've never been MSG,
37:33
Speaker 1: because oh.
37:34
Speaker 2: My god, well, I mean I live in Brooklyn.
37:36
Speaker 3: If I told you that I'd never been an MSG
37:37
Speaker 3: and I'd been a New Yorker for almost twelve years now,
37:40
Speaker 3: literally someone would have to force.
37:42
Speaker 2: Me to leave New York immediately.
37:43
Speaker 4: Yeah, it'd be an evacuation. But Sarah saying thing, Sarah,
37:48
Speaker 4: come on.
37:49
Speaker 2: Come on?
37:49
Speaker 3: Well okay, so truly wow, Like I still have chills.
37:53
Speaker 2: This whole story is truly remarkable.
37:56
Speaker 3: Did you know from the second that you walked into
37:59
Speaker 3: that game, that opportunity that this was the path?
38:04
Speaker 4: Yeah?
38:04
Speaker 1: I knew the first time I put a headset on
38:06
Speaker 1: when I was doing radio, I was like, I would
38:09
Speaker 1: do this for free. And to me, that's how that's
38:14
Speaker 1: the kind of work we should be doing every day.
38:16
Speaker 1: Is something that we're so passionate about and so connected
38:19
Speaker 1: to and so in touch with the mission that we
38:25
Speaker 1: would do that job.
38:26
Speaker 4: If it paid us nothing.
38:28
Speaker 1: And so since I was going to wake up every
38:30
Speaker 1: day anyway talking about women's basketball, I might as well
38:33
Speaker 1: get paid for.
38:34
Speaker 2: It for sure.
38:35
Speaker 3: So I want to pivot a little bit and talk
38:37
Speaker 3: to you about the challenges that go hand in hand
38:41
Speaker 3: with doing what you do. Let's start first and foremost
38:44
Speaker 3: with navigating the commentary of others based on your commentary.
38:50
Speaker 2: How do you feel about that these days?
38:54
Speaker 1: You know, my opinion on this has changed over time,
38:59
Speaker 1: because cause that's what I do. I provide commentary as
39:05
Speaker 1: I'm watching basketball, and I comment on people's performances, and
39:08
Speaker 1: it's just is what it is. And so as a
39:11
Speaker 1: public figure, I have to expect the same.
39:15
Speaker 2: And my.
39:19
Speaker 1: Hope and thought in all of it is that even
39:22
Speaker 1: if you don't like what I'm saying, you respect it
39:26
Speaker 1: because I am someone who will always do my homework,
39:31
Speaker 1: someone who will come well prepared, unbiased, and ready to
39:35
Speaker 1: just call the game as I see it. So I
39:38
Speaker 1: have never had a problem with people that are just
39:40
Speaker 1: like I don't like her. You know, fine, you're not
39:44
Speaker 1: gonna like this is a subjective field, like I don't
39:47
Speaker 1: like Okra.
39:50
Speaker 4: You know, it just doesn't feel good in my mouth.
39:52
Speaker 1: But Okrah still is the light in the shining light
39:58
Speaker 1: in someone's eye, and that's great, and so you know,
40:02
Speaker 1: it's it is what it is.
40:04
Speaker 4: It comes with the territory. And yeah, social media has.
40:08
Speaker 1: Made it harder because you got to stay off Twitter
40:12
Speaker 1: for a while after you've called a big game facts.
40:15
Speaker 4: But it's fine. It doesn't bother me.
40:18
Speaker 3: Yeah, and then talk to me a little bit about
40:21
Speaker 3: how it feels for your appearance to be a part
40:25
Speaker 3: of what you do for work.
40:27
Speaker 4: I don't like it.
40:29
Speaker 1: If I could, I would call a game in sweats
40:32
Speaker 1: and not do my hair and be eating popcorn at
40:34
Speaker 1: the same time. That's why I loved radio so much,
40:37
Speaker 1: because I didn't have to worry about being on television.
40:39
Speaker 1: I could just call the game and focus on that.
40:42
Speaker 1: So I don't love it because I am the kind
40:46
Speaker 1: of girl that would probably never put on makeup if
40:49
Speaker 1: I wasn't on television, and so that that's been a challenge,
40:54
Speaker 1: and I've had to ride the wave of finding myself
40:58
Speaker 1: in that way. I leaned very heavily towards what I
41:04
Speaker 1: thought a reporter or an analyst on television should television
41:09
Speaker 1: should look like early in my career, but as I've
41:14
Speaker 1: gotten older, I just don't care. The closer you get
41:17
Speaker 1: to forty, You're like, I don't have the energy to
41:20
Speaker 1: care about what other people think anymore.
41:22
Speaker 4: So I'm just gonna do what I want.
41:24
Speaker 2: Oh, I am on my way there. I am on
41:26
Speaker 2: my way there, and I hear you. I mean, I'd
41:28
Speaker 2: be even more.
41:29
Speaker 3: Interested to hear especially because you know, as a woman
41:34
Speaker 3: of color, as you were coming up, there weren't loads
41:37
Speaker 3: of women of color commentating in this space. So showing
41:41
Speaker 3: up and you know, trying to look, so to speak,
41:44
Speaker 3: how you felt like you should look.
41:46
Speaker 2: That probably also came with its fair share of challenges.
41:49
Speaker 4: It did.
41:49
Speaker 1: It did because I didn't see women that looked like me,
41:52
Speaker 1: so there was no variety, right, It was like maybe
41:56
Speaker 1: and I didn't watch a ton of sport. Actually I
42:00
Speaker 1: watch a lot of sports, but I would say the
42:01
Speaker 1: black women I remember were like Robin Roberts, Vera Jones,
42:05
Speaker 1: and Cheryl Miller.
42:07
Speaker 4: That was it. And when I.
42:09
Speaker 1: Looked around the world at sports broadcasters, I saw white men,
42:14
Speaker 1: and then when I did see women, they were white women.
42:16
Speaker 1: And I can't look like them. My hair doesn't look
42:19
Speaker 1: like that, Like we're not the same. And so I
42:22
Speaker 1: found myself trying to fit into this box of what
42:24
Speaker 1: I thought was most hirable and tried to fit the
42:30
Speaker 1: palette of as many people as I could, instead of
42:32
Speaker 1: staying centered in who I really was, and I didn't realize.
42:37
Speaker 1: At first it felt fine. I was like, Okay, I
42:40
Speaker 1: gotta get dressed up. I gotta do this. This is
42:42
Speaker 1: what TV personalities do. Until I realized that there was
42:45
Speaker 1: Every time it was time for me to get dressed,
42:47
Speaker 1: I would do something. I was like, why is this
42:50
Speaker 1: taking so much energy? And when we tap into those
42:54
Speaker 1: feelings and it doesn't matter if it's getting dressed for
42:56
Speaker 1: an event or going to a relative's house or going
43:01
Speaker 1: to a restaurant that you really don't like it, You're
43:03
Speaker 1: just going cause your spouse wants to be there is
43:06
Speaker 1: like what is that tension? And being willing to explore
43:11
Speaker 1: that feeling and what's really there for you and being
43:15
Speaker 1: honest with yourself. And so I was like, wow, I
43:18
Speaker 1: don't feel like putting this wig on today. I'm gonna
43:23
Speaker 1: just wear my hair in a braid down.
43:25
Speaker 2: Yeah.
43:26
Speaker 1: Or the best thing for me to do today is
43:30
Speaker 1: to not put makeup on my face because my face
43:32
Speaker 1: is broken out or I'm sunburn or this has happened.
43:35
Speaker 1: But like, am I gonna do what's best for me?
43:38
Speaker 1: Or I'm gonna do what I think is best for
43:40
Speaker 1: the television audience. And so those are the battles that
43:42
Speaker 1: I started to face, and it pricked me, and as
43:46
Speaker 1: you know, what is my go to scaled all the
43:50
Speaker 1: way back down and started to peel the layers back.
43:54
Speaker 4: So what are you gonna do about it?
43:56
Speaker 1: And I just stepped into who I was and what
43:58
Speaker 1: I wanted to be and what I wanted to look like.
44:01
Speaker 2: How did that feel for you?
44:02
Speaker 3: That act of stepping into who you are and what
44:06
Speaker 3: you want to look like?
44:09
Speaker 4: Oh? Man, it funds incredible.
44:11
Speaker 1: People used to say when you wear braids, when black
44:14
Speaker 1: women wear braids, they would say, this is your vacation hair.
44:18
Speaker 4: And it was like No.
44:19
Speaker 1: When I was a little girl, when my mother would
44:21
Speaker 1: braid my hair, it was a special occasion. It meant
44:23
Speaker 1: you were going somewhere. It meant you were getting dressed up.
44:26
Speaker 1: It meant like this, this is a big event. And
44:30
Speaker 1: I had allowed society to control some of that narrative.
44:34
Speaker 1: For me that was very deeply rooted in who I
44:38
Speaker 1: was in my culture, who I was in family tradition.
44:42
Speaker 1: So it felt great because now I was so much
44:47
Speaker 1: more authentically in line with who I was and where
44:50
Speaker 1: I came from. And to me, that's the best person
44:53
Speaker 1: you can show up as on television is who you
44:55
Speaker 1: really are.
44:56
Speaker 3: Yeah, we spoke about the difficulties that go hand in
44:59
Speaker 3: hand with other people commenting on your commenting and also
45:04
Speaker 3: navigating your appearance on a public stage. What else would
45:06
Speaker 3: you say has been one of the biggest difficulties for
45:09
Speaker 3: you as.
45:10
Speaker 2: You come up in this industry.
45:12
Speaker 4: Just proving that I belong.
45:14
Speaker 1: When I got into this business, it was okay, and
45:18
Speaker 1: this was I'm not speaking specifically about ESPN or any
45:22
Speaker 1: network or anyone for that matter, but it was okay,
45:25
Speaker 1: we need a black woman. Li China would be great,
45:28
Speaker 1: instead of we need someone else who's really good.
45:32
Speaker 4: Let's take a look at Lachina.
45:33
Speaker 1: Always having to prove that I should be a part
45:36
Speaker 1: of it and not because I'm am a token black woman.
45:40
Speaker 1: Also having to sell the fact that my opinions are
45:44
Speaker 1: valuable even though our viewers may not the numbers in
45:48
Speaker 1: terms of viewers may not reflect women and my demographic,
45:53
Speaker 1: that there is a population out there that appreciates the
45:56
Speaker 1: thoughts of black women, that respects the thoughts of black women,
46:00
Speaker 1: And there absolutely is a population of black women out
46:03
Speaker 1: there that would love to take in more of a
46:05
Speaker 1: sport experience, except they can't connect with the people that
46:09
Speaker 1: they're watching, and so why not bring diversity into sport
46:13
Speaker 1: coverage the way we do with every other aspect of life.
46:16
Speaker 1: If the WNBA is eighty five percent black women, some
46:20
Speaker 1: of the people covering this sport should be black women.
46:23
Speaker 1: That's been a tough journey, is proving that I belong
46:28
Speaker 1: in this space.
46:30
Speaker 3: Totally understandable. And now I'm just gonna hype you up
46:32
Speaker 3: a little bit. Twenty eighteen, you received high honors as
46:35
Speaker 3: a recipient of the Dawn Staley Excellence and Broadcasting Award.
46:38
Speaker 3: Twenty twenty one received prestigious Mel Greenberg Award, which is
46:42
Speaker 3: annually given to a member of the media or sports
46:45
Speaker 3: communications professional who has best displayed a commitment to women's
46:49
Speaker 3: basketball and to advancing the role of media in the
46:51
Speaker 3: women's game. Notably, only the second black woman ever to
46:55
Speaker 3: win this award. The other was Robin Roberts. So, hearing
46:59
Speaker 3: all of that that, knowing your accomplishments and how your
47:02
Speaker 3: voice has impacted the game today, how does that make
47:06
Speaker 3: you feel?
47:09
Speaker 1: I don't even feel like you're talking about me, which
47:12
Speaker 1: is so crazy. So I do think that I struggle
47:16
Speaker 1: sometimes with I guess they call it imposter syndrome, maybe
47:19
Speaker 1: that I feel like, Okay.
47:21
Speaker 2: Is that really be?
47:22
Speaker 4: Am I doing these things?
47:24
Speaker 1: But what I would say the most rewarding aspect of
47:28
Speaker 1: that for me, I haven't shared this with very many people,
47:31
Speaker 1: but as Sylvia Fowles was retiring last year, I did
47:35
Speaker 1: an interview with her and one of the things she
47:38
Speaker 1: said to me before we were done, she was like,
47:41
Speaker 1: you were one of the first people on the media
47:44
Speaker 1: side of this that made me feel seen. She's like,
47:48
Speaker 1: you made me feel seen, You made me feel appreciated,
47:52
Speaker 1: and I could never thank you enough for that.
47:55
Speaker 4: And it was like wow, And it.
47:59
Speaker 1: Was the the biggest compliment I could ever receive. Because
48:04
Speaker 1: absolutely part of the reason why I wanted to get
48:06
Speaker 1: into covering the WNBA is because I wanted to help
48:09
Speaker 1: to amplify the voices of black women, to give more
48:13
Speaker 1: visibility to black women. I know how society looks at
48:17
Speaker 1: us in our everyday macro role in this world, and
48:22
Speaker 1: sport is no different. And so to have this woman
48:25
Speaker 1: come to me and say, you know, I made a
48:28
Speaker 1: difference in how she felt about her experience in this,
48:31
Speaker 1: in this in her professional sports career, was It's like wow,
48:37
Speaker 1: and so that's the best part for me. If there
48:39
Speaker 1: is an athlete, and even just one is enough that
48:43
Speaker 1: says because of you, my story was told or I
48:46
Speaker 1: felt seen or I felt represented, that's everything for me
48:50
Speaker 1: so special.
48:51
Speaker 3: You know, we started this conversation talking about that quote
48:54
Speaker 3: unquote quarter life crisis.
48:56
Speaker 2: And I love that you have made.
48:59
Speaker 3: It your mission through the consulting company, that you have
49:02
Speaker 3: stretched beyond to serve as some sort of an NCAA
49:06
Speaker 3: certified facilitator and career transition coach for women and athletes.
49:10
Speaker 3: How does that feel for you to be able to
49:13
Speaker 3: give back to women knowing exactly how they may be
49:16
Speaker 3: feeling during that time.
49:18
Speaker 1: It's so important, Emily. Honestly, I feel like one of
49:23
Speaker 1: the most misleading things when it comes to our career
49:26
Speaker 1: and our life and our passions, we feel like we
49:27
Speaker 1: have to focus in one space when we are interested
49:33
Speaker 1: and talented in so many different areas. And I have
49:37
Speaker 1: always been intrigued with the student athlete transition, in particular
49:40
Speaker 1: for women, because I went through that. I felt like
49:43
Speaker 1: in college I wasn't focused enough on my career, character
49:47
Speaker 1: community building. I was very focused on academics, very focused
49:51
Speaker 1: on basketball, but there was this personal development that didn't
49:53
Speaker 1: happen for me, and I want to go back, and
49:57
Speaker 1: I wanted to help other women athletes harness their power
50:02
Speaker 1: and start to work on their post career aspirations, like
50:06
Speaker 1: while they're in school, but also for them to tap
50:10
Speaker 1: into all the things that sport has taught them that'll
50:13
Speaker 1: be valuable in their next stop in the workplace, whether
50:16
Speaker 1: it's goal setting or communication or teamwork and just all
50:22
Speaker 1: of the things that sport teaches us as former athletes.
50:27
Speaker 1: And so that was the area of ethnic administration that
50:31
Speaker 1: I was most interested in. I say, be an athletics director,
50:35
Speaker 1: but my heart was to help in that transition. So
50:39
Speaker 1: creating Stretch Beyond, which has become so many more things
50:43
Speaker 1: and it is actually going to become something else this
50:45
Speaker 1: year is probably one of the most rewarding things I've
50:50
Speaker 1: ever done in my career.
50:51
Speaker 2: Excited to follow along with that.
50:53
Speaker 3: Someone turns on their TV or goes to their Instagram
50:57
Speaker 3: and sees a woman like China that is a sportscaster
51:02
Speaker 3: and analyst, a top dog, if you will. When you
51:05
Speaker 3: look in the mirror, what is it that you see
51:08
Speaker 3: looking back at you.
51:10
Speaker 1: When I look in the mirror, I see a woman
51:12
Speaker 1: that finally really loves herself. I went through a challenging journey.
51:17
Speaker 1: As I mentioned to you, Well, I've gone through a
51:18
Speaker 1: couple of them, but definitely the last few years, including
51:22
Speaker 1: the pandemic, were hard. And what I came out of
51:25
Speaker 1: that with was I needed to love myself more. I
51:28
Speaker 1: was so concerned about pleasing others and what other people
51:31
Speaker 1: thought of me and what other people think I should
51:33
Speaker 1: be doing. And I am so much happier with the
51:38
Speaker 1: person that I see in the mirror now that I
51:40
Speaker 1: know that every decision I make is for my good,
51:43
Speaker 1: and that's okay. It doesn't make me selfish, it doesn't
51:46
Speaker 1: make me any less of a person. That I was
51:49
Speaker 1: put on this earth to do one job, and that
51:52
Speaker 1: is to govern this body, in this mind and these
51:55
Speaker 1: emotions that I have right here. Everything else is a bonus.
51:58
Speaker 1: If I ever get to do anything else, that's a plus.
52:01
Speaker 4: But I'm here to.
52:02
Speaker 1: Love myself and that there are things about us that
52:05
Speaker 1: we just will never be able to change. I used
52:08
Speaker 1: to say, Oh, I wish I had this kind of childhood,
52:10
Speaker 1: or I wish I had this kind of hair, or
52:14
Speaker 1: I wish my feet were beside twelves and of the thirteen,
52:17
Speaker 1: I'd be able to find more. Shoot, you know, there's
52:18
Speaker 1: always something you wish was different about yourself, your traumas,
52:22
Speaker 1: your triggers, your shame, all of that. But in actuality,
52:26
Speaker 1: what we have to do with those pieces of ourselves
52:29
Speaker 1: is we have to love those pieces. We got to
52:31
Speaker 1: bring that in and accept those parts of us as
52:35
Speaker 1: who we are and what makes us so special and
52:37
Speaker 1: what makes us unique. And when I was finally able
52:41
Speaker 1: to do that over the last few years, when I
52:43
Speaker 1: look in the mirror, I'm happier than I've ever been.
52:47
Speaker 3: Such a light, such a light, truly, well, I'm so
52:49
Speaker 3: happy that we were able to do this. Final two questions,
52:53
Speaker 3: who should I interview on the show next as a broadcaster,
52:56
Speaker 3: as someone that does this, You've got.
52:57
Speaker 2: To give me a hot ten.
53:00
Speaker 4: Oh Andrea Carter.
53:01
Speaker 2: Okay, I'm writing it down.
53:02
Speaker 4: Yep.
53:03
Speaker 1: She is an up and coming superstar in the broadcast world.
53:07
Speaker 1: And when I tell you, Emily, she is going to
53:10
Speaker 1: blow you away. I think she's not even thirty. She's
53:12
Speaker 1: about to turn thirty. And this young woman is her
53:16
Speaker 1: level of focus, mental toughness, her heart for people, her
53:20
Speaker 1: talent level, she's generational You're going to enjoy that conversation.
53:25
Speaker 2: My kind of woman is a woman that builds up
53:27
Speaker 2: other women.
53:28
Speaker 3: Right now, you have an opportunity to offer yourself a
53:31
Speaker 3: piece of advice looking back on that quarter life crisis
53:34
Speaker 3: hurtle moment.
53:35
Speaker 2: Knowing what you know, now, what do you tell yourself?
53:41
Speaker 4: Relax?
53:45
Speaker 1: You have so much life ahead of you. It's okay.
53:48
Speaker 1: You've got enough time to make a wrong turn. You've
53:51
Speaker 1: got enough time to make forty wrong turns, and you
53:54
Speaker 1: are going to make.
53:55
Speaker 4: Forty wrong turns. It's okay.
53:58
Speaker 1: You have all the resilience, all the strength, all the love,
54:03
Speaker 1: all the power that you need to bounce back from anything.
54:06
Speaker 1: So forge full steam ahead into what you love and
54:09
Speaker 1: what you care about and all the things that make
54:11
Speaker 1: you whole, and live unapologetically, live the life that's best
54:16
Speaker 1: made for you.
54:17
Speaker 4: Like China, It's gonna be a fun ride.
54:19
Speaker 3: It's gonna be a fun ride, live unapologetically the China Robinson.
54:24
Speaker 3: So happy that we were able to do this. For
54:25
Speaker 3: those that may not follow you just yet, how do
54:28
Speaker 3: they do?
54:28
Speaker 2: So? Give us your velo?
54:30
Speaker 4: Yep.
54:30
Speaker 1: You can follow me on Twitter at La China Robinson.
54:33
Speaker 1: I'm on Instagram at La China Robinson as well. Uh
54:36
Speaker 1: and those are the best ways to follow me.
54:39
Speaker 3: Amazing, I'm over at Emily a Body and at Hurdle Podcast.
54:41
Speaker 3: Another hurdle conquered. Catch you guys next time