Sports Anchor Taylor Rooks Refuses to Limit Herself

#WeGotGoals by aSweatLife

Sports Anchor Taylor Rooks Refuses to Limit Herself—and Thinks You Shouldn’t, Either

January 09, 2018

Oprah herself may be mulling a bid for the presidency—but if you’re looking for the next Oprah, look no further than this week’s episode of #WeGotGoals.

Taylor Rooks is only 25, but she’s already a sports journalist and anchor in the number-one market in the country. She has her own podcast, Time Out with Taylor Rooks, where she’s interviewed the likes of Kevin Durant, John Wall, and Snoop Dogg. And she knows what she wants for the future—a talk show on which she’d have real conversations in the style of Ms. Winfrey or of Barbara Walters.

“I always think of Barbara Walters’ Whitney Houston interview. The way she spoke to her and the way that Whitney opened up … you leave that thinking, whatever you think of Whitney, you felt like you understood it more,” she told me. “I wish to one day be able to do something like that.”

If her past performance is any indicator, Rooks will go for that goal with full gusto. She set her sights on sports journalism early and spent her college years at the University of Illinois working hard, breaking stories for scout.com and reporting from the sidelines for the CBS Sports Network. That hustle allowed her to achieve the big goal she talks about on the episode—landing her first job out of school at a network rather than a local TV station.

“We do this thing where people kind of say, OK, this is the track you're supposed to go on. You do this. You start local. And then you eventually work your way up,” she says. “But I think that by telling people that, you’re almost conditioning them to think that that’s the only way.”

She saw a different path, and followed it, landing a gig as an onair host, reporter, and correspondent for the Big Ten Network immediately after graduating. She has nothing but positive words about her experience there—“I would have been content if it was my last job,” she says.

But when an opportunity came up a little over a year ago at SportsNet New York, she realized she couldn’t pass it up. “A really good friend of mine said, OK, this isn’t about ego or money, which place will make you better in two years? And I knew it was SNY. I kind of try to think that about everything,” she says.

She told herself: “You have to do those things that make you uncomfortable and put you in uncomfortable situations to reach that ultimate goal of having a talk show and being able to have those long conversations.”

All this takes major confidence, something Rooks has in abundance. Her family—which includes accomplished athletes like a pro-baseball-playing uncle and a father, Thomas, who was a top rushing leader for the Fighting Illini—instilled it in her from a young age.

And she continues to foster it by owning up to both her strengths and her weaknesses, and always doing whatever she can to improve her skills. For instance, she loves basketball and football most, but has been learning baseball to cover the Mets and Yankees. She spends her downtime watching SportsCenter or TedTalks instead of, say, reality shows. And while she uses social media to connect, she knows not to let either the praise or the criticism she hears there creep into her psyche.

Instead, she relies on feedback from people she truly trusts, and never forgets how she’s gotten where she is today. “You have to believe that you’re here because you're supposed to be,” she says. “You don’t really luck your way into successes or luck your way into positions. It may help get you there but it's not going to keep you there. And it’s just kind of reminding yourself, you belong there and no one can take that away.”

By the way, she wants YOU to feel this confidence, too. “I think I know what every single human can accomplish—I know that we all have this limitless potential. Every single person can be what they want to be. I truly believe that,” she says.

Listen to the episode of #WeGotGoals and you’ll finish feeling like you just got a pep talk from your kindest, smartest bestie. And if you like what you hear, be sure to rate it and leave a review (then hop on over to listen to her show).

---

JAC: Welcome to #WeGotGoals, a podcast by aSweatLife.com on which we talk to high achievers about their goals. I'm Jeana Anderson Cohen; with me, I have Cindy Kuzma and Maggie Umberger.

MU: Good morning Jeana.

JAC: Good morning Maggie.

CK: Good morning Jeana.

JAC: And, good morning Cindy. This week you interviewed Taylor Rooks right?

CK: I did. Taylor Rooks is a sports journalist. She was based here in the Midwest and she recently moved to New York and she's been able to accomplish quite an impressive list of things at a relatively young age and it was fascinating to hear how she did it.

MU: She talked about—she told you about how she did the legwork to find out what her strength and her weaknesses are at a really young age so that she can have time to work with those. Can you talk a little bit about that process for her?

CK: Yeah I mean she's always known that she's been really good with people. And so she identified that from an early age as a strength. And so she tries to put herself in positions where she capitalizes on that. But she also thinks that it's really important to have self awareness of your weaknesses and so she thinks that a lot of people maybe are kind of afraid to admit to a weakness because it will mean failure or it might mean you have to do something to change it. But she sees it as one of her—I don't know actually if she sees it this way but I see one of her strength as the ability to recognize her weaknesses and see them as opportunities versus obstacles

JAC: And that sort of points to something too, her confidence. She's overwhelmingly confident. Did you get that sense from her?

CK: I did it sort of exudes from her. She says that her parents told her from a young age that she could do anything and she believed them. And I think I've heard that from from someone else before that you think Jeana has said that before too

JAC: Once or twice.

CK: And she continues to sort of remind herself and this was something that really resonated with me too. You know as you kind of go through your life and your career it's easy to second guess yourself or doubt yourself or get a little bit of imposter syndrome. But she tries to constantly remind herself that she is where she is for a reason that she wouldn't be doing her job if she weren't good at it. That luck can maybe bring you an opportunity but it's a reflection of your good work and your hard work that you are continuing to have success.

JAC: Big snaps to that end her future goal is really big. Can you talk about that?

CK: Yeah she wants to have her very own talk show a la Oprah and I don't know. I think she just might be able to do it.

MU: All right. Here is Cindy with Taylor.

CK: This is Cindy Kuzma and I am here with Taylor Rooks, sports journalist anchor reporter. Taylor thank you so much for joining us on the podcast.

TR: Thank you for having me. I'm excited to be here.

CK: So Taylor You have been pretty incredibly accomplished from a young age. I mean I know as an undergrad at the University of Illinois you were breaking big stories about recruiting for scout.com, by 19 you were on the sidelines for the CBS Sports Network and now you're 25 and covering sports in the number one market in the country there at SportsNet New York. I mean would you say you were kind of a fairly goal oriented and driven person from a young age?

TR : Yeah I mean I definitely have always set my mind to something and then said that I was going to do it. I think it's very important to have your eyes set on something and lock into that thing. I don't think that it's possible to really accomplish something if you aren't fully dedicated to it. So I think it's just kind of having even sort of a kind of a vision board in your head of the things that you want to do and how you want to accomplish them and then trying to stick to that path and not stray from it. And I think that I've always had in my head what I wanted my future to look like. And the steps that I felt were necessary for that future to kind of manifest itself.

CK: That's really impressive because I feel like there are so many of us who spend some of those years that you've been focused on accomplishing all these goals. I'm trying to figure all that out.

TR: So yeah I mean there is definitely a time where you're still figuring out you know OK how am I gonna do this? Do I want to do this? Can I do this? And I think that's kind of the blessing of being young is figuring out the things that you're really good at but then also figuring out the things that you're really bad at. And I think sometimes people are scared to find out the things that they aren’t very good at because that maybe means you have to tweak something in that journey or tweak one of those goals. But I think that the end product is that much better if you know your strengths and you also know your weaknesses because I think that that's just as important.

CK: That's really interesting. What have you found to be your biggest strengths and maybe a weakness that you identified that you've worked on?

TR: Yeah I mean I would say my biggest strength is people. I mean I think that I'm just genuinely a people person. I love talking to people, I love getting to know people and understanding why people work the way they work. I enjoy having conversations. I don't think that people have enough conversations these days. Everything is quick and high and by and people only ask about how you're doing so you can ask them how they’re doing, you know?

But I think that that is something that's always been my strength is just really I think that I'm just a warm person in general and I've tried to harness that whether it's me interviewing me, hosting I always want that to come across whether it's in my podcast whether it's me on TV that's something that I always want to translate to people and I think that you know one of the many weaknesses that I've realized that I have is, it's very hard for me to be content with where I am. I'm always thinking ok like what's next what's next. And it's hard for me to appreciate that moment in time and learning from that moment and being in that moment because I'm always just looking forward to the next thing. And that's something that I really really had to work on is you know just embracing the time that you're in in the space that you're in and becoming better in that space that you're in.

Sometimes you can kind of think that the place that you're in is a waste because you're just thinking about the next thing but every kind of moment, every experience is something that's really really vital to the next thing. And I also think that a weakness that I had that I really worked on is making sure that I spend all my time or at least all my downtime I becoming better at the things that I need to get to get better at. Like for example I love TV. I still love TV. I'm always going to watch TV but I think that at times I would I would be wasting time watching things that weren't going to better me. You know if a show was on that I just enjoyed watching but also like a SportsCenter was on and I could watch the way that Cari Champion hosts or I could watch the way that Scott Van Pelt hosts to me that's a priority. So I would want to watch that and then watch the thing that maybe just gave me some joy at a time that there wasn't something more beneficial on for me if that makes sense. And always just trying to soak in knowledge like I tried to turn off the TV at least by midnight and read a book until I go to sleep, just to kind of soak in knowledge that way. Every morning when I wake up I watch a TED talk just because it kind of puts me in a good space for the day just because time is so fleeting and you just kind of have to spend it whatever way you can just trying to be better and trying to learn more because there's just so much to learn. So I definitely had to get better at time management for sure.

CK: I love both of those. I think that those things that you mention has weaknesses are sort of like parts of the human condition that we all struggle with. I know being mindful and appreciating the moment are things that are hard for a lot of people. So what are some practical ways that you cultivated that or worked on that?

TR: I really think it was a symbol as just like slowing down. I think I’m—I move so quickly my mind moved so quickly that I don't just stay in the moment of what's what's happening, it's just like really taking time sometimes to just reflect looking around you and just saying OK it's really amazing that this is what I'm doing right now and I need to appreciate this, I need to soak in the things that I can. It's seriously as simple as just stopping and taking it in. But then also realizing, I remember write once so quote that it wishes. It basically said that you have to let the space between where you are and where you want to be inspire you. And so I let like this kind of middle part more so drive me to the next part more than I let it discourage me that I'm not at the next part so I get to just kind of changing your perspective on your day to day. And I think that that that certainly helped me.

CK: Such a simple mindset shift but I can see how that would be really powerful.

TR: Yeah, definitely.

CK: So we touched on some of the pretty amazing things you’ve already accomplished. But I mentioned to you before that there are two big questions that we ask people on the #WeGotGoals podcast and the first one is what is a big goal that you've achieved, why was it important to you and how did you get there? So out of all those things that you've accomplished, what would you highlight?

TR: I would say the big goal, mostly just because it was a goal of mine since like freshman year of college was, I wanted my first job to be at a network. It was so important to me that I worked hard in college to make my first job something that I loved, something I would feel fulfilled doing and mostly because I didn't want to limit myself. I think that we do this thing where people kind of say OK this is the track you're supposed to go on. You do this. You start local. And then you eventually work your way up. But I think that by telling people that you're almost conditioning them to think that that's the only way and it is important to me to not put myself in that box just because you know starting local or starting in a certain market is the norm, I never wanted to feel like that was necessary. I wanted to be able to be working in college to be able to show something when I graduated and say I spent these four years basically like I was working at a local station. I was breaking stories I was covering stories I was doing actual journalism my four years in school and I did that so that I had something to show for it once I graduated. It wasn't even just about being at a network it was about not allowing myself to be put into that box or not making myself feel like I had to take a certain path because I wanted this to be about me. I didn't want to have to follow what anyone else did or feel like I had to do something that I just truly didn't want to do.

It's like I always tell people, like, everyone has to one-man-band. I totally get that. But I genuinely did not want to do that. I was like you know what I am not going to be able to carry this camera, do my live shot, edit my stuff. I want to be good enough that I don't have to do that. And even that some of it is just like OK not wanting to you know I have to do that work. I totally get it. But it was just something that I I knew I wanted to be able to skip to get to a different destination. And so I decided to work really hard to be able to to go to that next level you know I did a lot of that one-man-banding while I was in school. I wanted to learn those lessons, I wanted to make those mistakes.

But yeah I just think my goal was to make my first job something that that I mean I would have been content if it was my last job. I mean Big 10 Network I'd be content if I was there right now but it was very very important to me.

CK: How do you think you got the confidence to know that that could be a possibility for you?

TR: I think the genuine answer is that I don't know. I have just always felt like I'm a person who really thinks that if you want to do something it can happen. And probably, I probably think that too much you know. Like I I think that I know what every single human can accomplish. Like I know that we all have this just like limitless potential like every single person can be what they want to be. I truly believe that. I tried to tell all my friends everyone I know that whatever it is you want to be you can be that. And I think I've just always believed that and because I've always felt that there’s just never really been like a doubt that I could do it or that anybody could do it. It's just I think that the thing that scares people sometimes is just like starting or just like putting your all into the thing that you want to do because putting your all into it, that means that you know if it doesn't happen you may be upset and you know if you put your all into it you may be disappointed or frustrated but you're going to be much more disappointed or frustrated if you never take that step.

And I just always I think kind of think that just the limits to what we can all accomplish— there are no limits. And I just, I want everyone to just like tap into that potential and fight for whatever it is they want to do and try to accomplish that goal. And I just I don't know. I just think I've always felt that I've always been really confident in that belief.

I think that the limits to what we can all accomplish—there are no limits. I want everyone to tap into that potential and fight for whatever it is they want to do and try to accomplish that goal.

CK: So I'm inspired just hearing you talk about it. That's awesome.

CK: I did wonder too. You've always had sports around you. I know your mom is a huge sports fan and you also have some pro athletes in your family your dad Thomas Rooks is a fantastic football player for the University of Illinois. And your Uncle Lou Brock was a major league baseball player in fact a Hall of Famer for the St. Louis Cardinals. So do you think being around people who worked really hard and achieved pretty incredible things played a role in that belief that you have?

TR: Yeah I mean that's not even just because you know they played baseball or played football. It's because of the things they would tell me. Growing up literally every day, my dad would say, you can be whatever you want to be if you put your mind to it. So I've always felt that way. I hear stories from my uncle Lou just about hard work. Just about the trials and tribulations that he had to go through and that's something that sticks with you because you're surrounded by people that not only tell you but they also did it. Words hold a little more weight when there is also you know action behind or just like an actual experience behind it. So I just never thought a meeting was off limits. Everyone in my family I think worked extremely hard and they try to instill that hardworking mentality into me and my sister. Sol my sister is like she wants to be the president you know.

But she says it and she really means it. And that's really what she wants to be one day. I don't think that I will hear anybody tell me a goal and I'm like, whoa that's a hefty goal. I'm like no, well, you have to say that you have to believe that for it to be a thing. You know you're not going to be the president if you don't say hey I want to be the president. It's like when people ask athletes hey do you think that if you played LeBron one on one would you win? Why would they say no? You know, you're supposed to believe in yourself and have like a very strong conviction and your beliefs and your abilities.

You're supposed to think that that's what you can do eventually that's what you can do one day and if you don't have a full conviction in that, then the likelihood of you being able to do it is going to be a lot less. I think you have to be like your biggest advocate, your biggest supporter and just really think that you can get there.

CK: So how do you kind of maintain that when you do face obstacles or reason you faced people who are not your biggest advocates. How do you take those steps to maintain that confidence?

TR: I think that that is actually something I struggled with as well especially in college maybe my first year out of school is you want people to think you're doing a good job. I think that's just a natural human desire. You want people to think you're doing a good job you want people to tell you you're doing a good job. You want everyone to you know enjoy watching you or enjoy listening to you or whatever it may be. And I think for a while I started to find like my fulfillment or my happiness in feeling like other people enjoyed listening to me or watching me. But I think the flipside to that is if somebody doesn't enjoy it or like it it kind of brings you down a lot more because if you're living for like the praise you're also going to live for the criticism as well.

So I just kind of had to unplug from that and say you know it doesn't like this doesn't matter. You have to be content with your product—you know your producers your friends your family, people that matter and that are gonna be honest with you, that's who you have to really really do this for and not let somebody who doesn't believe in you or doesn't like you bring you down. Because you know they don't understand they don't truly know you. So that is definitely something that that I struggled with. But now it's just, I really don't pay it any mind I think that comes with time especially like you said being a woman in this field there's always literally always going to be somebody that has something to say and if you pay attention to all that if you give it any mind it will wear you down. It will break you down you just like you have to be happy with what you're doing and you just have to feel fulfilled kind of on your own, if that makes sense.

CK: It does and I always wonder how people in a position like yours handle social media. I know you must get positive reinforcement of course but also just—the world is just crazy out there with some of that stuff. And how how, like, on a practical level do you deal with that?

TR: I just I don't read the comments. Don’t read comments. Don't become too invested in it. That's the thing, social media is both the best invention and the worst invention it brings out the best in people and it really brings out the worst in people as well. And you can't let it become too much of your world. And I think right now a lot of us do, including me like like I said there was a time it really either made me or broke me that day. But it’s just letting social media be social media. Like it's not real life the people on there aren’t real life the things you see on there aren’t real life. It's just— you have to let it be what it is as hard as that is. You just have to be that way and half of the people that maybe say mean things to you would never say that to you or act that way if they saw you in real life.

It's just kind of the allure of the keyboard and the screen and who you can be when you're behind them both. So you just have to kind of remind yourself of that. And I think also you have to believe that you're here because you're supposed to be. And that's something that a lot of people struggle with like no matter what your job is you know whether you're a teacher or a doctor or a salesperson a journalist whatever it is you're in that room because you belong in that room. And so it's not second guessing yourself. You're there for a reason and you can't allow the words of other people to second guess your strengths and why you're there and where you've been and how good you've done like that’s—you don't really luck your way into successes or you know you don't like luck your way into positions it may help you know how they say I may get you there but it's not going to keep you there. And it's just kind of reminding yourself, like, you belong there and no one can can take that away.

CK: Right. I knew so many of us do struggle with that imposter syndrome and that way of reinforcing your own belief in yourself. Seems like it would be really helpful.

So Taylor I know too because you and I have talked before. And just from what I've read about you that you have some deeper motivations in your work whether it's having these really authentic conversations on your podcast or just being the voice of a black woman who has different experiences than some of your colleagues and making sure that you are that voice in the room when you're talking about cultural or political issues in sports. So does connecting with some of those deeper motivations also helps you get through some of those tough challenges?

TR: Oh definitely. Yeah because you know I I feel like I have a responsibility. I think that it's so important to have black voices and to have female voi

Download Episode

#WeGotGoals hosted by aSweatLife