Bleacher Report 's Taylor Rooks is widely regarded as one of the best interviewers insports .- The 29-year-old reporter spoke to Insider about the art of the interview and connecting with stars.
Taylor Rooks is one of the best in the business.
The 29-year-old journalist and broadcaster with Bleacher Report is widely considered to be one of the most talented interviewers in
Rooks spoke to Insider about her meteoric rise up the ranks of sports media and how she's gained the trust of superstars across the NBA, NFL, and beyond, by seeing them "for who they are — not what they do or what the overall perception of them already is."
She also detailed the importance of exuding "deep confidence" through everything she does, especially considering she's often "the only woman or the only Black person" in a sports media landscape that's still overwhelmingly dominated by white men.
This interview has been slightly edited for length and clarity.
You've become one of the leading voices at Bleacher Report and one of the most recognizable talents in the sports world. How did your career develop into what it is today?
It's certainly been a winding road. I went to University of Illinois, and while I was there, I had a blog that I would update with interviews and different writing pieces. It was truly a mess, but I really loved doing the blog, and Fox Sports and Scout.com saw that and asked if I wanted to work with them for my junior and senior year, so I did that. Through that time, I also did some Big Ten Network student U broadcasts and also some real Big Ten Network broadcasts. I also did some work with CBS Sports Network.
Then when I graduated, the Big Ten Network asked if I would come work there five days a week, so I did that for two years. Then I went to SNY in New York and worked there for two years where I hosted, reported, and started a podcast. And then after those two years at SNY I came to Bleacher Report, and that's where I'm at now.
How did all of these early-career opportunities prepare you for what you do now at Bleacher Report?
My life moved really quickly so I had to grow up really fast. My first job out of school, I just turned 22 and I'm on the Big Ten Network five days a week doing live television. I was making so many mistakes, but really learning on the go. I think I'm so much better because I was just thrown into the fire and I had to figure out what TV was. I had to figure out what being a journalist was. I had to figure out how you ask a good question and how you have camera presence. So it was a crash course.
But I also think it was still a slow accumulation. I have been preparing my whole life to do what I do now; I have wanted to be somebody who has conversations with others for my entire life. I've always loved interviewing. I've loved meeting other people, I've loved having real discussions. Everything that has happened in my life, literally since I was a kid, has prepared me for what I do right now.
Who have you looked to as a mentor in your career?
I've been very blessed to have people who really believed in me and supported me and always give me advice whenever I needed it. Cari Champion is somebody that I always think of. She gives me an ear anytime and she gives me real advice. I also look at people like Bomani Jones.
And then I'm also forever thankful for people who just decided, "Hey, I'm gonna take a chance on this person," like Quentin Carter at the Big Ten Network, who took a chance with having me on air. Or when I was in college, I had people like Fletcher Page and Joel Cox, who said, "We see the potential in you and we want to help you get better." So I just think it's too many people to name, because you learn something from everyone, and there has been somebody who's taught me something every day and every step of the way.
You've come up and found success as a young Black woman in a space that's still overwhelmingly dominated by white men. What advice would you give to someone following in your footsteps on how to overcome industry obstacles to get there?
I think those things are what makes me good at the job. My Blackness is something that has helped me because it has shaped the experiences that I have had in my life. In a lot of ways I'm having the same or similar experiences to a lot of the athletes that I cover, and there is this relatability that comes truly when you're talking to somebody who is also Black. I think that there is innate trust and an innate understanding, and that is something that, in some ways, has been an advantage for me when it comes to being an interviewer, specifically.
Obviously when I'm in rooms, a lot of the time I am the only woman or I am the only Black person, but I do view that as almost a responsibility. It means a lot to me to tell the stories that are meaningful and to also offer a perspective that is just as important as everyone else in the room.
One thing that always sticks with me is when I was reading Michelle Obama's book, "Becoming," she talks about how through her life, what she noticed about white men wasn't that they were smarter or more capable than anyone else. It's that they just felt more emboldened. And so I always tell myself when I go into spaces to be emboldened and feel like your voice is the most important because everyone else in that room thinks their voice is important.
That is something I literally say to myself every single day: Believe in your power and understand your power. Know that you should be afforded the same luxury of being loud or being wrong or learning, because that is a luxury that's afforded and has been afforded to white people historically.
I always try to try to tell myself that because it's very rare that there's like more than two of us in a place, especially in this business. And while I do sometimes feel like it's a responsibility, it also makes me sad. I feel like, Wait, why are there not more of me? And sometimes I can also feel really lonely too. But I do really try to take it as that responsibility and that me being here can mean something for someone else too.
You do a remarkable job of making athletes — many of whom are typically wary of media — feel comfortable letting their guards down in interviews. Aside from the "innate trust and understanding" you alluded to earlier, how do you encourage stars to open up and speak candidly?
There's a familiarity that begins to happen just because I have been doing this since I was in college. So for many of these players, I have followed their careers and I've been interviewing them for a very long time. I was interviewing Jayson Tatum when he was 15 years old playing in St. Louis, so he knows me as a person like, "Oh, I can trust her. She's seen my career. She's seen the evolution of my life." Same thing with like Kevin Durant. I feel like I've been doing this for such a long time. So some of these guys, they have just seen me, and so they have this trust that I have worked really hard.
My and Odell [Beckham Jr.]'s career paths really happened at the same time. I was at SNY when he was in New York, and he was having a tumultuous relationship with the media. And I remember coming into that locker room and just talking to him like a person — just like a normal person, not Odell with the blonde hair that everyone wanted to call a diva. I think he recognized that, and we've had such a good friendship since then just because I saw him for who he was.
That's what I try to do with any athlete. I try to see people for who they are — not what they do or what the overall perception of them already is. And when players do have a distrust of the media, it's maybe because they feel like people have decided who they are already. So I never try to do that with the person that I'm interviewing. I do give credit to knowing a lot of them for different stages of their careers.
Was it hard to do that early in your career?
Oh, a million percent. When I was at University of Illinois and I was doing the blog, I felt like I needed better interviews. I was literally just interviewing Illinois fans. So me and my friend badgered the NBA, sent so many emails, and somehow convinced them to give us credentials to All-Star weekend in 2012. We traveled from Champaign, Ill., all the way down to Orlando, Fla. Keep in mind that I had never been in a media scrum and I never really did a real interview.
We get into the room where everyone is, and then LeBron James walks in and Kevin Durant, Dwyane Wade, and Kobe Bryant. I'm looking at my friend, like, what are we doing here? And I'll never forget — looking back on it, I'm happy that I did this, but I shouldn't have done it — I go up to Kobe Bryant and I'm like, "I am such a big fan of your game and appreciate everything you do. Can we take a picture?" And you're not supposed to take a picture with them, but I didn't know that.
After All-Star weekend — seeing that environment and understanding what it was like to be around real working media — all that went out the window. After that moment, I felt completely cool, calm, and collected after being around any athletes. When you're 19 years old and you were in a room with all of them, it's all downhill from there. So there was no one I would want to see that I would be starstruck with. The only time I have been starstruck since that moment was when I got to interview Barack Obama on Zoom. I was like, this is insane.
Is it surreal to think of where you are now and how far you've come from that 2012 All-Star Game?
It's not surreal in the way of, "I can't believe this is my life." It's surreal in like, "I feel so thankful that everything I thought my life would be has become." I have always had this deep confidence that I could get the things that I wanted, and I could be the person that I wanted. I posted [a video] on social media a couple months ago of me when I'm 8 years old and I set up my camcorder and I'm interviewing myself because I just always knew I wanted to interview people. But the only person I had to interview was me, so I would ask myself a question and then I answer it.
So this is what I always thought my life would be in some way, shape, or form. And I don't say that in a way of like "I'm not surprised." That's not what I mean. I'm like, "This is what I pictured." And it's surreal that it's going the way I hoped it would go.
And I always try to say this — it is not just talent and it is not just hard work. I have had so many circumstances go my way and I've had so much luck. I'm never going to do a disservice to all the hardworking, talented people out there by saying that all you have to do is work harder, because we all know it's not just that. There's so many things that go into becoming a national journalist. I don't think that I am special. I think I'm special in the same way that every single other human being is special. There's just maybe a circumstance in my life that happened, that changed the direction of it. I had an advocate. I had someone who believed in me. I had a lot of luck, so I never want to attribute anything to hard work and talent because that isn't all of it. So many other things have to mesh for life to go the way that you want it to go.
Is there a particular moment that stands out as the peak of your career thus far?
The one thing that sticks out above all things is the [NBA] bubble. The bubble was a career-changing and career-defining moment for me, because I took that moment so seriously. It meant a lot to me to ask the questions and tell stories and tell the full scope of emotions in the bubble.
I wanted there to be real storytelling because so much was happening there. There was social justice; we were obviously in a pandemic, and there were games being played. There's also people dealing with mental health issues. There was so much happening, and it was important to make sure people understood it wasn't a monolithic experience in the bubble.
And that led me to really good content. I did the vlogs on Bleacher Report — I would put out videos every day on my socials. I ended up writing a piece for GQ, which was really great to be able to write again. That was such a journalistic moment and it changed my career in a lot of ways.
How do you hope you're viewed in the sports media space and what achievements are still left on your checklist?
I would hope that, at this point, people know what a Taylor Rooks interview is going to be. It's going to be a space where you can be yourself and where you'll be challenged and you'll be asked follow-ups, but you will always be able to answer fully with full context and be able to tell the world who you are. It really is about creating a trustworthy environment.
Through my career, I would say I have certainly honed in on the thing that I love the most and that's interviewing. I think hosting is fun, I think sideline reporting is fun, but the thing that makes me feel fulfilled and purposeful is interviewing people. I'm sure whatever my next thing is, it's going to be some interview that I do. In a lot of ways, I think the accumulation of the interviews I do now has changed my life. But I would like there to be that one interview that people think of when they think of me.