Sportscaster Taylor Rooks: The way I look shouldn’t determine how good I am at my job

FOLLOW THE PIVOT PODCAST: MERCH | https://pivotpodcast.com YOUTUBE | https://www.youtube.com/thepivotpodcast INSTAGRAM | https://instagram.com/thepivot TWITTER | https://twitter.com/thepivot TIKTOK | https://tiktok.com/@thepivot FACEBOOK | https://www.facebook.com/thepivotpodcast FOLLOW HAPPY DAD: https://www.instagram.com/happydad FIND HAPPY DAD: https://www.happydad.com/find The multi talented sports journalist and broadcaster, Taylor Rooks, joins the Pivot to talk all topics from working as a female in sports, to dealing with physical appearance being a career factor to overcoming questions about her personal life while trying to keep the headlines focused on her interviews, not who she’s dating. Taylor shares her story and how she carved a niche for herself as one of the top females interviewers in sports media and how the climb in the industry is a struggle everyday. Channing comes right out and addresses the rumors swirling the internet about her personal relationships which she says is frustrating but always false! “Just because I stand next to someone or have chemistry in an interview doesn’t mean I’m dating them,” Taylor responded. Fred dives into the what they future holds for Taylor and if motherhood is something she is worries about affecting her career and Ryan talks about how the industry is changing and the respect Taylor has earned from the exclusive access to interviews she’s done. Tackling each day, Taylor shared wisdom she took from Serena Williams about always striving to be be better from one day to the next. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:01Speaker 00

  This episode is brought to you by Michelob Ultra. Good times mean competitions between you and your friends. Like seeing who can throw some pigskin the farthest, or rush the field the fastest. Winner gets an ultra. Because it's not just a superior like beer, it's also giving fans superior access to their favorite sporting events. Superior is worth playing for. Visit michelobultra.com/superioraccess to enter. Enjoy responsibly. Copyright 2026 Anheuser Busch InBev Michelob Ultra Beer, St. Louis, Missouri.

• 0:30Ryan Clark?

  Well, what's up, boys? We back on the pivot.

• 0:31Channing Crowder?

  Yeah.

• 0:32Ryan Clark?

  Young Channing, all decked out.

• 0:34Channing Crowder?

  Hmm, looking so sexy. No, don't hate on the curly hair.

• 0:38Ryan Clark?

  I see him. Freaky Freddy. And we have the multi-talented Taylor Rooks. Writer, broadcaster, reporter. I mean, you do it all. But y'all were having an argument.

• 0:49Speaker 03

  Oh, yes.

• 0:49Ryan Clark?

  Early on. Apparently, she country, Channing?

• 0:52Speaker 03

  It's not even an argument, because you're incorrect. But continue, go ahead.

• 0:55Channing Crowder?

  No, no, no, no, no, no. I just, she's from Gwinnett County. I'm from inner-city Atlanta. And we just have, we have an indifference on what Atlanta is and what Atlanta isn't.

• 1:06Speaker 03

  What do you define country as?

• 1:09Channing Crowder?

  Out in the woods.

• 1:11Speaker 03

  That's not in the woods.

• 1:12Channing Crowder?

  Have you ever seen a raccoon in your yard?

• 1:14Speaker 03

  No.

• 1:15Channing Crowder?

  You've never seen a raccoon in Gwinnett County?

• 1:16Speaker 03

  I've seen a raccoon before, but not in my yard, no.

• 1:19Channing Crowder?

  Oh, Jesus Christ.

• 1:20Speaker 03

  No, but to be fair, I've seen a raccoon in Atlanta.

• 1:23Channing Crowder?

  In the inner-city?

• 1:24Speaker 03

  Yes.

• 1:25Channing Crowder?

  Those are inner-city Atlanta.

• 1:26Speaker 03

  Okay.

• 1:27Channing Crowder?

  They got gold chains on.

• 1:28Speaker 03

  You seem to be in this argument as flawed. This is already a flawed argument. One question, it fell apart.

• 1:59Ryan Clark?

  So Taylor, we're talking about, you know, being from Atlanta or not being from Atlanta.

• 2:03Speaker 03

  Metro Atlanta.

• 2:04Ryan Clark?

  In your case, Metro Atlanta, outside of Atlanta where people like the Migos and was it Bradley Roby and Cam Haywood and all those people are from. But you went to school in Illinois.

• 2:14Speaker 03

  I did.

• 2:15Ryan Clark?

  Right, and I know you had a connection with your pops. Tell us a little bit about taking that Atlanta girl, I guess Southern belle. Can she be Southern?

• 2:22Channing Crowder?

  Oh, we gonna claim her now because she's successful.

• 2:24Ryan Clark?

  Okay.

• 2:24Channing Crowder?

  Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. She's Atlanta now because she's successful now.

• 2:27Speaker 03

  AT&T, yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 2:28Channing Crowder?

  Yeah, AT&T all day now because she's successful, yeah.

• 2:31Ryan Clark?

  You know what, and going to school there, what was that trip like? What was that change like for you and kind of the spaces you were in?

• 2:38Speaker 03

  I mean, I think I've always been a person who, as much as I love home and I love Georgia, I've always thought, okay, there's more things out there and I wanted to see what those things were. And both my parents went to University of Illinois, so I just grew up knowing about champagne, knowing about the football program, the basketball program. And when it was time to decide where I wanted to go to school, I thought, like the idea of having this legacy of people that went to U of I really spoke to me. So when they accepted me, I just instantly said that was gonna be the place that I wanted to kind of start my own, my own thing there. And I hope that whenever I have kids, one of them wants to go to U of I and it can continue on being a thing. I also think, you know, we see a lot of people that don't look like us that have this like lineage at schools.

• 3:20Speaker 03

  And I always wanted to have that for my family too. So hopefully it continues.

• 3:26Ryan Clark?

  The thing I realized when you walked up on me is you're a lot taller than I thought. And you mentioned your pops playing sports and, you know, both he and your mother going to U of I. Did you hoop? Did you, did you play sports? Was it something you wanted to do young and maybe be professional? Or was it just kind of, you know, part of your life because it's what your family was?

• 3:45Speaker 03

  Yeah, so I only do things I know I'm gonna be really, really good at. I tried basketball, I ran tracks a little bit, played volleyball, and I was like, I'm not gonna be Serena Williams, so I'm not gonna keep doing this. But I knew I was really good at talking about it because it was, it was so ingrained in me. Like I said, my dad played, my uncle was a baseball Hall of Famer, my other uncle played in the NFL, my mom is like the biggest football fan ever in my entire family. So it was just a thing that, growing up, I was always around sports. So I knew I wanted to incorporate it into what I did, but I knew that wasn't gonna be on the field or on the court, so I made it work.

• 4:21Channing Crowder?

  And like you said, your whole family played ball, like when you said you were gonna...

• 4:25Ryan Clark?

  Talk about it.

• 4:26Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 4:27Ryan Clark?

  Did they embrace it?

• 4:28Speaker 03

  Totally, yeah.

• 4:29Ryan Clark?

  They totally jumped into that you're gonna be a broadcaster?

• 4:32Speaker 03

  Yeah, I mean, my parents always talked about how I was that annoying kid that just asked 80 billion questions. I had posted this on my social media, but when I was younger, I would set up our camcorder and I would interview myself, like I would make insane stories about myself and then ask myself questions. Like in one of them, I was a singer and I was asking myself about performing on stage. Like, one of them, I was an actor and I was talking about a movie I had coming out. So I just always thought it was really cool to have conversations and my parents would give me camcorder tapes and buy me the stuff to watch it and all that. So that's something I think is really important. I had family that really embraced all the things that I wanted to do. So I never felt like I couldn't do anything that I wanted to do if I put my mind to it.

• 5:16Ryan Clark?

  You know, it's cool to listen to you talk about the support your family gave you. You're kind of having the dream and you're doing those certain things and then providing you with stuff to continue to be able to do it, but also build confidence, you know? This is the second time I've seen you and both times you walk with confidence. You could tell you understand and know who you are and what you bring. Is that something that you've tried to bring into the way that you do your job? And how do you make sure that always comes across first? That I know I'm supposed to be here, I know this is what I'm meant to do and watch how well I do it?

• 5:47Speaker 03

  I mean, I feel like that's a super... Yeah, but no, it's a super layered answer too, I feel like. You know, I've said this before, but I think any time I see a black person, specifically a black woman, in a role, I know that they are really, really good at it because everything was designed for you to not make it to whatever point that was. So the fact that you're there means you were like quite literally better than everyone that's there right now, those that do not look like you. And so I think I just always try to tell myself that you're in the rooms because you're supposed to be in the rooms. You should feel as emboldened with everything that you want to say and everything that you want to think. And I just try to keep that with me. Confidence really is, I think, the number one thing you can have.

• 6:30Speaker 03

  Even if you don't know what you're talking about, if you feel like you know what you're talking about, everyone else is gonna believe it. You know, TV is all tricks. But I do think confidence really is the most important.

• 6:39Ryan Clark?

  Have you ever been in a room just with us?

• 6:43Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 6:43Channing Crowder?

  Forget these cameras in here.

• 6:45Speaker 03

  Okay, it's me and you.

• 6:46Channing Crowder?

  Just me and you. Just with us. Have you ever been in a room that you thought you shouldn't be in, you should not have been in?

• 6:52Speaker 03

  Yeah, oh, that's a good question. I wouldn't say it was a room that I, I don't want to say shouldn't have been in, but certainly a room I was surprised I was even in there. It was actually when I saw you Super Bowl, I was coming out of like the, um, the suite with like Jay-Z and Beyonce and Rihanna and like, Naomi Osaka, and I was far and away the least cool person. That was in that suite. But that was a time I was like, this is different living. This is a different level of success. But you know, you leave those rooms too and you're like, oh no, this is, like, this is the goal. Like, I want to have my own suite at the Super Bowl that is just filled with these power movers and shakers and stuff.

• 7:36Speaker 03

  But that was a time, most recently, I remember thinking like, it's insane that I'm, that I'm in here.

• 7:41Ryan Clark?

  Yeah, you mentioned, you mentioned goals earlier, or pretending to be the singer, pretending to be the, the actress. And I know in a lot of those scenarios, you kind of exaggerate who you are. But now you're in the business where you can grow, like you said, to be in those suites and to be in those rooms. What's the, the ultimate goal for that? I mean, because right now, anytime you do these interviews, you, you know a person, but you dive deeper into it. And I see like, when you're sitting across from people, they relax, right? And, and you get Lil Will to say he's going to retire, or you get Candace to say her and Gino don't vibe. Ja says he wants to dunk on LeBron. Do, do you want to get to a point, because you, you interview so well,

• 8:27Ryan Clark?

  that you are the most sought after doing what you do? And that, that involves anybody you're, you're dealing with? And how do you get there, though?

• 8:35Speaker 03

  Yeah, I mean, I want everything. Like, I want everything that is possible out there for me to have. Like, when I think about the business I'm in now, I don't think it's the sports business as much as I think it is the people business. I don't want to shy away from an interview or a topic. And when I am interviewing athletes, I try to interview them as whole people and not just the things that they're doing on the field or on the court. Because I think that will help me in whatever the next step of my career is. I want, if somebody has something to say, they think, "I'm gonna talk to Taylor about it." And she's gonna ask me the right questions. And I'll be in an environment that I feel comfortable in, but I also know I'll be challenged in, and she'll have follow-up questions, and there'll be an exchange of thought, an exchange of ideas. So that's certainly what I want.

• 9:19Speaker 03

  And for myself, I don't want to just be seen like as a sports figure. I really want to be an overall like cultural figure. You know, I have friends that are athletes, friends that are in entertainment, friends that are singers and rappers. I think all of that is important. I've never felt like I needed to be put into this box. And too often, I think, in sports journalism, and especially for women in sports journalism, they're encouraged to like fill in and be like what our idea of a woman in that space is. And I don't think I have to fit that to be successful. I actually think that things have worked for me because I decided not to exactly fit that. And tried to carve like a lane for myself.

• 9:58Ryan Clark?

  Well, is that why you was all giddy?

• 10:02Ryan Clark?

  That's why she was all giddy when she got to interview President Obama.

• 10:05Speaker 03

  Yes, I did not stop smiling. It was insane.

• 10:07Channing Crowder?

  But you just said, you said, "in sports media or a woman in sports media." You reset it. Is it harder for a woman, like, to be a woman in sports media? What does that entail? We're three men right here. Three men players. Like, how much harder is it for you than us?

• 10:26Speaker 03

  I mean, I don't know how much time you have. We're gonna talk about how much harder it is for me.

• 10:29Channing Crowder?

  Yes, we got all the time in the world. We got all the time in the world.

• 10:32Speaker 03

  Yeah, but the reason I said it in that specific answer though was because I was talking about, you know, this box that we have to fit in and like, you know, whether it's just being sidelined or like just interviewing like the specific athlete that we're asked to. I think, so whenever people will talk about my interview style, they say, "Okay, like, she's very conversational," and all these things, and they'll compare me to other people. But I think probably the better comparison in terms of the mood I set with my interviews is somebody like Ahmad Rashad. But I don't think people feel comfortable saying it's like an Ahmad Rashad-type interview because one of the reasons Ahmad Rashad was successful was because he was friends with the people that he interviewed. So he ended up feeling like very comfortable. It's the same reason somebody like Adam Schefter, or Shams, or Woj is successful

• 11:17Speaker 03

  is because they have relationships with the people that they are connected to. People giving them news, people they're sitting down with. But it's like very weird, I think, for humans to think that a man and a woman can have trust with each other in an incredibly platonic way. So if I post an interview, all the comments are like, "Oh, are they together? Are they dating? Do they like each other? They have chemistry." But the thing I would say is like, "I'm gonna have chemistry with whoever I meet, whether that's Candace Parker, or Ja Morant, or Lou Williams, or Sue Bird." Like, having chemistry with everybody is actually a gift and a skill and a talent. It's people who don't understand that that make it something that it is not. So I'm not really

• 12:03Speaker 03

  able to even do that without somebody seeing me as a woman first and a journalist second. And really, you should be looking at the product like, "No, like, she's asking really good questions and this person feels comfortable." And that's something like, "You guys don't ever do these interviews and then worry that somebody is gonna think you're in a relationship with the person you're interviewing." And that's just like the most base level difference. But that's, there's a litany of things that are more, you know, difficult for me than they are for a man.

• 12:33Ryan Clark?

  I think another huge piece of, like, you mentioning that comparison is a lot of times, people can't take comparisons away from visuals. Right? Like, it's even in sports, you know, if you talk about, let's say, Cooper Cup, who's a wide receiver, they're only gonna compare him to white wide receivers.

• 12:49Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 12:49Ryan Clark?

  And he's better than Edelman, he's better than Walker, he's better than all those guys, and he actually doesn't play like him, like them.

• 12:54Channing Crowder?

  He's better than black dudes too now, but yeah.

• 12:57Ryan Clark?

  What I'm saying is, though, when you talk about his comparisons, those have to go to the Devonte Adams and to those people.

• 13:02Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 13:03Ryan Clark?

  But because of color, it's one thing. I think it's like that in our, in our profession, based on, on gender as well. What part of the way you look plays into that as well? Because there are other female reporters, or other female analysts, or broadcasters who do the job, that may not get that as much. They, they may look at them and say, "You know what? She just does a great job of asking questions, or she does a great job of building a relationship." And like, this is, like, this is what we do. Like, this is a real space. You're an attractive woman. And you're also very good at your job. But how much of that is attributed to us? Some of the things you get, the negativity attributed to that. They see this first and then they're not necessarily even focused on the talent.

• 13:48Speaker 03

  Yeah, well, so I think like the way you said it is really key. You know, they said to me, okay, I think people see you as an attractive person and you're very good at your job. I think people have to get this mindset that people can be more than one thing. So there's just like, you know, this corner of the internet, people who just really don't matter. The internet is not a real place anyways. But the corner of the internet, it's like, okay, I'm looking at her and I'm deciding I think she's attractive. So that's all she's going to be to me is like this attractive person. I'm gonna watch her whole hour interview where she got this athlete to reveal these amazing things. I've never heard them talk about, but I'm gonna comment about her face or her dress or whatever. And so I don't have an issue with being complimented on those things.

• 14:32Speaker 03

  I have an issue with being only complimented on those things. People don't even realize if you're watching an interview of mine, you only talk about how I look. You're in a lot of ways kind of taking away my voice. Because the reason I'm doing this is because I speak to people. I like to make connections to people. I like to have conversations. But you're stripping me of that because you're so focused on what I look like. What I look like, I have nothing to do with. Like that's my mom and my dad. I did not work for anything that I look like. Like, I don't think that's like an accomplishment, right? Like what I'm proud of are the things that I put in work to do. The research I do for the interviews, the connections I've made, being respected in the business. Like those are things that I care about.

• 15:14Speaker 03

  And I've also realized you could do, like I've done interviews. I literally have on pants and a turtleneck. And people are like, oh, my God, she's dressed, you know, it's like, it doesn't matter, right? And also I think there is a major over-sexualization of black women in this space. Because we can wear something that anyone else wears. Because our bodies need to be curved differently, it's going to be perceived as inappropriate. But it's like, it's not our fault. That's the fault of anyone that says that, you know, you can't, you can't control that. And you also really can't care about that. And it took me maybe a while to not care. But I'm certainly at the point now where these things don't really matter to me in terms of like hurting me or making me upset.

• 15:58Speaker 03

  They only matter to me because I don't want it to always be like that. For whoever else is gonna come into the space too.

• 16:04Fred Taylor?

  That's an easy conversation for shallow minds and shallow people. Aside from what you're good at, what else are you good at?

• 16:12Speaker 03

  Yeah, that's a good question. Well, I love writing. I guess maybe that goes into like journalism, but since I'm primarily on camera, I don't think people know that I really love to write. I really love reading as well. I'm an amazing dog mom. I'll show you all your photos.

• 16:27Channing Crowder?

  Oh, Jesus.

• 16:28Fred Taylor?

  What's your dog name?

• 16:30Channing Crowder?

  You have a dog?

• 16:31Speaker 03

  My dog, yes. She's a golden doodle. Her name is Bean, after Kobe Bean. And she is the best, sweetest dog of all time.

• 16:39Ryan Clark?

  Well, no, you like kitty cats, cuz that's what you play on.

• 16:41Speaker 03

  Oh, you're a cat person?

• 16:42Ryan Clark?

  That's what you play on back porch.

• 16:43Fred Taylor?

  He's a whole different type of cat person.

• 16:45Channing Crowder?

  I have a dog, but me and my wife play, um, we play sex games where I'm a cat. I can, I can write you a list, but I'm a cat with my wife and then I be on the back porch and I.

• 16:57Speaker 03

  Wait, I'm sorry, I don't get, so what's your wife?

• 16:59Channing Crowder?

  She's the old woman that loves cats and brings them in the house.

• 17:03Speaker 03

  Oh, and so, so you're a stray?

• 17:05Channing Crowder?

  I'm a stray, she brings them to the house, and then I drop meat.

• 17:10Speaker 03

  Oh, okay, wow.

• 17:11Channing Crowder?

  Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 17:12Speaker 03

  So, but, so what's like the core, like, what about that is sexy to you? Like, what makes it a?

• 17:17Channing Crowder?

  Because I'm, I'm the inferior and then she's the, the.

• 17:21Ryan Clark?

  Superior.

• 17:22Channing Crowder?

  Superior. And then when I'm on the back porch, she'll bring me to the house and I'll.

• 17:26Speaker 03

  So you actually go on the back porch?

• 17:28Channing Crowder?

  Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 17:29Speaker 03

  Do you like get on all fours?

• 17:31Channing Crowder?

  Taylor, we're nasty nasty. Like, I don't know.

• 17:34Speaker 03

  I love that you all know this about his story.

• 17:36Channing Crowder?

  Yeah, they all know, yeah, we get after it. We're nasty nasty. So I'm on the back porch and I lay down and she'll come and she'll get me to the house and then I'll.

• 17:45Speaker 03

  And when are you out of cat character? Like?

• 17:47Channing Crowder?

  Once I start dropping dick.

• 17:54Speaker 03

  I probably had like one too many follow-ups. I had like one too many follow-ups.

• 17:59Ryan Clark?

  She went into bleaching report mode. Like she got so curious, dawg.

• 18:04Speaker 03

  You all said it so flippantly and I'm like, wait a minute. Like, wait a minute. Okay, wow.

• 18:11Ryan Clark?

  That's just how things roll on this side. Yeah, that's how.

• 18:13Speaker 03

  I like it. I like it.

• 18:15Ryan Clark?

  This is like our 20th show and so by now, and they've done more shows together. And so by now, we get it, but I was just drawing the comparison between a dog mom and what's obviously a cat wife.

• 18:28Speaker 00

  This episode is brought to you by Michelob Ultra. Good times mean competitions between you and your friends. Like seeing who can throw some pigskin the farthest or rush the field the fastest. Winner gets an ultra. Because it's not just a superior light beer. It's also giving fans superior access to their favorite sporting events. Superior is worth playing for. Visit michelobultra.com/superioraccess to enter. Enjoy responsibly. Copyright 2026 Anheuser-Busch InBev Michelob Ultra Beer, St. Louis, Missouri.

• 18:59Ryan Clark?

  Cat wife, yeah. Cat wife, yeah. Yeah, you know, and so that's it. So, so we're gonna try to just get off the subject. I'm gonna try, I'm gonna pivot. We gotta pivot. I'm gonna pivot to something else and so.

• 19:09Speaker 03

  Nice segue.

• 19:10Ryan Clark?

  Yeah, and so you, you know, you got to go to the bubble, right? And you worked the bubble in 2020 and that was just a strange year overall. You know, you were trying to manage social justice. You were trying to manage also a pandemic and report on a world championship being won. What was that experience like for you? Because not everybody was allowed to do that. So it was almost like a privilege and a punishment. So how were you able to handle that and kind of navigate what it was to report from the bubble?

• 19:41Speaker 03

  So I loved my experience in the bubble. The magnitude of the moment, it was one of those times you could feel like how important the space you were in was. Like to be a part of a first and an only, to be at the intersection of obviously like a pandemic and they are dealing with social justice and then they're also playing basketball games. It was just like a pressure cooker. So many things were happening there. There were so many good questions to be asked and so many stories being told there. And you just really feel like you're at like the epicenter of it all. And there were so few of us. And I feel like all the journalists in there was kind of like a fraternity, you know, like there's, there's like such a limited amount of people that can say what

• 20:23Speaker 03

  the bubble was like. And I just feel really thankful that I was able to go and do that and eventually write that story for GQ and all that stuff. So it was certainly like, I think, a turning point in my career because I just took so seriously the stories that I wanted to tell in the bubble.

• 20:41Channing Crowder?

  In, in the bubble and just bigger picture though, like, because we were at the Miami Radio Row.

• 20:49Speaker 03

  Mm-hmm.

• 20:49Channing Crowder?

  And I saw you and I went and you gave me three fingers.

• 20:52Speaker 03

  Not true.

• 20:53Channing Crowder?

  You did. And I was like.

• 20:54Speaker 03

  So I did three fingers and then what? Was I like, nice to meet you?

• 20:56Channing Crowder?

  No, I said, I said, hey, Taylor, how you doing? And you gave me three fingers and I grabbed them.

• 21:01Speaker 03

  So it was like this?

• 21:02Channing Crowder?

  No, no, no, it wasn't a full hand. It's three.

• 21:04Speaker 03

  Three. It was this? Okay.

• 21:05Channing Crowder?

  So then you gave me those three fingers and I grabbed them like that. And I was like, damn, she gave me three fingers.

• 21:11Speaker 03

  Well, what did I say to you?

• 21:12Channing Crowder?

  But, no, no, no. You were, you said, hi, and just kept walking.

• 21:15Speaker 03

  No.

• 21:16Channing Crowder?

  But I say all that.

• 21:18Speaker 03

  I don't believe this for one second.

• 21:20Channing Crowder?

  I say all that. No, it is what it is. But I say all that to say that in Radio Row, as you know, a lot of people are around. And dudes were shooting at you.

• 21:29Speaker 03

  They were. So did I assume that's what you were doing?

• 21:31Channing Crowder?

  I, I think you assumed I was shooting at you, but I just respected what you were doing. And I just wanted to say like, hey, I respect you. But when I said, hey, Taylor, I don't know if my, my physical appearance. Turned you off because I was very beautiful.

• 21:48Channing Crowder?

  It was too much for. It was too much. When you saw me, you was like, oh, look at this big red. You were like, oh, but past all that.

• 21:58Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 21:59Channing Crowder?

  With being a beautiful, young black woman. Dude shoot at you. How do you deal with guys inquiring about you?

• 22:07Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 22:08Channing Crowder?

  Being a woman that covers sports, being a woman that covers sports that have a bunch of young black men in it.

• 22:14Speaker 03

  Yeah, I mean, I would talk to a guy that I maybe didn't want to talk to the same way that anyone in any space was, which is, no, you know, I'm not his shit, or I'm not looking, or I don't want to give my number, or I have a boyfriend. Like, it's the really the same, the same thing. What I always say, like, men are men are men are men. Like, there's obviously this idea about, like, athletes, which in a lot of ways, athletes are very hypersexualized too. But so there's this idea that in this space, men are hitting on you more than any other. But you could ask any woman that you think is attractive, and she's gonna say, men are hitting on me all the time. I happen to work around a lot of men, so maybe it feels like it's crazier.

• 22:56Speaker 03

  But like, men are men regardless of what you do, where you are, and they're gonna, they're gonna do the most.

• 23:03Channing Crowder?

  So the dude, so the dude to the Autozone hits on you the same way the dude that plays for the Hawks do?

• 23:09Speaker 03

  Yeah. At the same rate, I'm saying, I don't think it's like a.

• 23:12Channing Crowder?

  And you still deal with him the same?

• 23:14Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 23:15Channing Crowder?

  You just, oh, nice to meet you.

• 23:17Speaker 03

  Yeah, women would deal with.

• 23:19Channing Crowder?

  She gave me three fingers, bro. Think about that. Think about walking up to a woman, hey, how you doing, man? Nice to meet you. I'm Channing Crowder.

• 23:28Speaker 03

  No, I think context is missing here. I feel like you probably maybe said it after something like that, and I was like, oh, and I was maybe go. You know, I was working, so all these things, this three fingers.

• 23:39Ryan Clark?

  But even in that, right, so we're past the, we're past the point in our lives where women have to give up career for marriage. Women have to give up careers for family. And so many times when, whether you get into marriages, you're parenting, whatever it is, when you're raising kids, it's like the women have to give up all of these things in order to start families or in order to be maternal. Do you search for that balance? And are you trying to figure out if you have to put one of those things above the other? Or are you just hyper focused on being the best Taylor Rooks in her profession that she could be?

• 24:18Speaker 03

  Yeah. I mean, I certainly don't feel like I'm going to, and I want to say, it's probably easy to say this right now as a non-married, non-mother, right? I think probably everybody starts with this base and then life happens and like things change. I would hope though, I don't have to sacrifice too much of what I do for work whenever that time does come. I think right now in relationships, really the only thing that I search for and want, it's like, I want peace. Like, I want this relationship that I'm in now to just bring me peace. And that's what that does, right? I don't think that it is a place where there's going to be arguments or toxicity or somebody who doesn't like love me for me.

• 25:01Speaker 03

  Like, I think that relationship should really be that safe haven for you. And there has to be conversations that happen with your partner about what you want in life, what you want with kids, what you expect from them when you decide that you want to have kids. And I know that so much changes for women once they decide. And that is scary to me. Just will, how many of my dreams are going to shift whenever I do have a baby? Like, what plans will have to be put on hold? How will I have to readjust what I think my idea like of success is? Those are things I think about all the time because I want so many kids. I want like five kids. I thought, I probably should have had at least one by now to do five. Yeah, I want so many kids. I love children. So like now I'm like, okay, minimum three. I want to have three.

• 25:44Speaker 03

  But I just, partnership is important to me. I love being in love. Like, the feeling that it gives me is like none other. So I'm not one of those people that's like, I just want to do their career. I want both, but I want my career to be at a 10 and I want that relationship to also be at a 10. I don't feel like I need to compromise those things.

• 26:04Fred Taylor?

  You said you wanted peace first.

• 26:06Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 26:07Fred Taylor?

  You say you're in a relationship now.

• 26:11Fred Taylor?

  The one place you won't get peace is in the public or on social media.

• 26:14Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 26:15Fred Taylor?

  Do you have to work extra hard to keep it out of the public? Because everybody wants to know who you're dating.

• 26:20Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 26:21Fred Taylor?

  There's always rumors.

• 26:22Speaker 03

  So I am, and I've said this before, the internet has never once been right about anyone I'm dating. And that's by design because I don't, like whoever I'm with, I'm not gonna be seen in public with. I think that my life is my life and I've thought a lot about the things that we view as entertainment. And it's strange to me that, you know, a couple like updating their Instagram photos or going out to dinner or like having an argument is seen as entertainment to people. I think my life is my life and I never want it to be the show. And it's also weird to me that people really even care as much as they do because I don't think I'm a celebrity.

• 27:05Speaker 03

  Like I think I'm a known person, but I don't think I'm somebody that, you really should care what I'm doing. You know, like I interview the people that you would care so deeply about. But I don't, it's by design, the internet has never been right about, about anybody.

• 27:20Channing Crowder?

  How, how are you so strategic?

• 27:22Speaker 03

  Well, because I think the relationship is my relationship. We're in the house, we go eat. I also think-

• 27:26Channing Crowder?

  But, but you have to hide.

• 27:28Speaker 03

  No, you just don't have to-

• 27:30Channing Crowder?

  Do you not, do you not, so you just go anywhere you want to at all times with your spouse?

• 27:35Speaker 03

  He's not my spouse, but, well, you're also-

• 27:37Channing Crowder?

  But you, with your spouse if you're, if you're, if you're all up-

• 27:40Speaker 03

  Well, we're not married.

• 27:41Channing Crowder?

  That's not, that's not the same thing. That does not mean that, Channing. But if they're having sex.

• 27:45Speaker 03

  That's not what that means.

• 27:47Ryan Clark?

  But you said that's her spouse, though. That is incorrect.

• 27:49Channing Crowder?

  That is a spouse.

• 27:50Ryan Clark?

  You turn it up or not, Stan?

• 27:52Speaker 03

  That's not a spouse.

• 27:53Channing Crowder?

  Was that a sexual partner? What do y'all wanna call it?

• 27:54Ryan Clark?

  No, that's a... She's in a relationship.

• 27:56Channing Crowder?

  Okay, in a relationship, people would love to know who you're in a relationship with.

• 28:00Speaker 03

  You don't, you don't...

• 28:01Channing Crowder?

  Would you go to somewhere that you know the paparazzi's outside? Would you go to somewhere that you know they're gonna accentuate or publicize where you're at?

• 28:10Ryan Clark?

  She's probably on the Stephen A. plan.

• 28:12Channing Crowder?

  But I was gonna say, 'cause we...

• 28:14Speaker 03

  What's the Stephen A. plan?

• 28:15Ryan Clark?

  Oh, the Stephen A. plan is, you don't get to talk about it. When we out public, don't you put your hands on me? Don't ask you no...

• 28:21Channing Crowder?

  No, no, no.

• 28:22Ryan Clark?

  Don't ask you no PDA.

• 28:23Channing Crowder?

  PDA, he don't want no PDA. Are you PDA? Do you like PDA?

• 28:27Ryan Clark?

  PDA friendly.

• 28:28Speaker 03

  I will say this, I think it's also, I'm not saying you all, like, there's probably an assumption that whoever I'm with is like a known person. If you're with someone who's not a known person, people don't really care. Like, so, and I'm also kind of of the belief that like, a lot of times, when people are seen, they maybe like wanted to be seen. Because I don't know how, like, there's things or people that I'm friends with, and they have like dated people and no one knew. And it's because like they didn't want someone to know. So then when I see people like, quote unquote, caught with who they're dating, I'm like, why did you go to that place? You know, I don't think it's hard for people to not know the person that you're with.

• 29:12Speaker 03

  I just think that that is something that is very sacred and personal, and I'm like, like I said, it's by design. When I'm married, that's when everybody will know that I'll post in my gown.

• 29:23Ryan Clark?

  Do you feel like it's fair, or you will be viewed differently than some of your counterparts in fear? Someone, a man that is your age, whether he's white, whether he's black, whatever, a man that is your age? Or a man who is as talented or as successful as you are? Do you think by people caring about who you're dating and someone doing the exact same thing, do you feel like you're viewed differently than they would? Do you feel like there's more judgment passed on who you're dating as opposed to a man?

• 29:55Speaker 03

  Probably. I think that women are judged differently than men in literally everything on the planet. But the thing is, it doesn't matter who you're dating, people are always going to have something to say. It doesn't matter what they do, it doesn't matter what they look like, that's really always gonna be the thing. This person is not in the public space at all, so I don't really think... The judgment will probably be, "Well dang, she shouldn't be dating somebody that's..." whatever. Like, there's always going to be something. Whoever you're with is either going to be too good for you or not good enough for you. But that's why you can't care about what anybody has to say about literally anything.

• 30:34Speaker 03

  But I do think in general, people should reevaluate the injuries that they have in women and their relation to men. Because a lot of the time, we feel like what a woman is doing is cool, but who she's [BLEEP] is better. Like, who she's [BLEEP] is more interesting.

• 30:53Ryan Clark?

  You've gotten comfortable.

• 30:54Speaker 03

  Who she loves is more interesting.

• 30:55Ryan Clark?

  Welcome to the show.

• 30:56Speaker 03

  But that's...

• 30:57Ryan Clark?

  Hey, about time she make it, right?

• 30:59Speaker 03

  Hey, I'm just like, that is a thing that... I just want people to think, why does it truly matter to us so much what this person does? And like I said, I'm not saying you all, I think that's culture, that's society. But there's something to be said about, you know, why is it if I'm literally just pictured next to a man, that means that I'm with this man?

• 31:20Ryan Clark?

  Yeah, you've been through that.

• 31:21Speaker 03

  All we're doing is standing next to each other.

• 31:23Ryan Clark?

  Right.

• 31:23Speaker 03

  Why is it that if a woman in sports is interviewing somebody, it is assumed that she's with that person? Like, you can't just stand next to somebody that is the opposite sex as you without somebody having these ideas in their head. And think about how weird it is, that there are people on the internet that have made up fantasies in their head about me and what I'm doing. They know nothing about me. But they have decided on who I am or what I'm doing. And I don't know why things are that way. And it's not unique to me, and in terms of women, I probably get it on a much like smaller scale. But I just, I do want people to just think about why it matters so much.

• 32:06Ryan Clark?

  When you talk about the different people you interview, you say, "Why I can't interview this person and there not be something there." When you go back and look at some of the things you've been able to do, what are some of the interviews that stand out to you where you were like, "That was the best tailor I could be in this world"?

• 32:23Speaker 03

  I mean, I really liked the Candace Parker interview. I liked, I liked that one a lot. And the interview was really only as good as the interviewee, right? And she was super open and she revealed stuff and she told stories. And so that meant a lot. But at this point, it's like if I do an interview, if that person doesn't reveal something I've never heard them say, I feel like the interview like failed. Because that's just what I want the benchmark to be each time, that people learn something about the person that they didn't know. So that speaks to me a lot with the Candace Parker one. DeMar DeRozan, Lou, Ja. Those are just, I felt like I had good follow-ups and I was listening and they were comfortable and we made news. And to me, that's, that's the marker of success for an interview.

• 33:06Channing Crowder?

  And I gotta ask you though, with, with like...

• 33:10Speaker 00

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• 33:40Channing Crowder?

  The approach and what media is right now. And even joked about it before the show, which you, you have the, the...

• 33:46Speaker 03

  The Fodlocks?

• 33:46Channing Crowder?

  You have the Fodlocks.

• 33:47Speaker 03

  Yeah. Your shit is real though.

• 33:49Channing Crowder?

  I work for mine. I work for mine like, like, like, like Taylor. Like this is 10 years in.

• 33:54Speaker 03

  10 years in, yeah, I don't have the patience.

• 33:57Channing Crowder?

  These are real. You can take them out tomorrow. Those are real.

• 34:00Speaker 03

  No, tonight, I'm taking them out tonight and getting them redone tomorrow, yeah.

• 34:03Channing Crowder?

  But, but even that, like seeing that you have locks and you have the platform that you have. And locks weren't accepted. I don't know if locks are really accepted now. And then even how you dress. Like you accentuate your body with your clothes and how you dress.

• 34:19Speaker 03

  Do I?

• 34:21Channing Crowder?

  Yes.

• 34:21Speaker 03

  How so?

• 34:22Channing Crowder?

  Because you have the tighter clothes on and you have a body that the women that are on ESPN right now.

• 34:29Speaker 03

  Or is that just how the dress falls on my body? I'm like completely covered up.

• 34:34Channing Crowder?

  You're covered, but you just said it, when people look at it, they...

• 34:39Ryan Clark?

  I would say this, I don't mean, I'ma let her answer. So, I have two daughters and my daughters go to private school. And the skirt length is a certain length, right? And my oldest played soccer and she ran track and she was built a certain way. And so, we would measure the skirts, we would do all of these things and she would get hounded every day. They'd send her to the disciplinarian and then we'd measure the skirts in front of them and she would still have issues. And eventually, it got to the point of what it looks like. And so, we literally had to sit in the parking lot and take pictures of other girls in skirts that were shorter to then bring to the disciplinarian and be like, well, this shirt, this skirt is shorter. It just looks different on my child because of the way she's built. And I think that's something that she was alluding to earlier, right?

• 35:24Ryan Clark?

  When we look at whether it's, you know, African-American women over, we're looking at different ethnicities that are built different and put together different. It's not about what they wear. They can buy the exact same thing. It's about the fact that it's gonna fit different based on how they were made, based on their genetic pool.

• 35:40Speaker 03

  So, if I have breasts and I have a butt, whatever I wear, you're gonna see my breasts and my butt. It isn't like by design of like, oh, I want people to see my breasts and my butt. It's like, if I'm wearing pants, you'll see my butt. If I'm wearing a shirt, you'll see my chest. So, it isn't about like accentuating your body as much as it's just like, I wanna wear an outfit that I look good in. Like, I would have to, I would have to wear a trash bag for you to not see my body. But I'm not gonna sacrifice the way that I wanna look and the style that I have so that a man knows that they can look at me in my face and not in my chest or look at my butt. Like, it's not about accentuating. And also, I don't dress for men. I dress for myself.

• 36:25Speaker 03

  So, it's not being accentuated for me. Maybe you think it's being accentuated for you. But I, however, am not here or on this earth, you know, for the gaze of men. So, it isn't necessarily about like, you wanna dress so that your body parts are showing.

• 36:39Channing Crowder?

  And I love, and I love the way you put that and I'll leave that there. But about your hair as well, with the dreads.

• 36:46Speaker 03

  What about, what's the question about the hair?

• 36:49Channing Crowder?

  Do you think the dreads are accept like are accepted? Do you think you need to work work your, you know, Is it purposeful? Your hairstyle out, is it purposeful? Do you understand that on the the big time worldwide media of it are dreads accepted? To what you want to do? And are and do do you understand? And do you do it for a point that you're going to be you? No matter what they think?

• 37:14Speaker 03

  Yeah, well, so I had never worn fake hair until the pandemic happened. Then I realized how much easier it would be for me to just get braids. So I got braids initially and I loved how easy it was just on my hair and also just like doing the job. Then I wanted to try locks and now I love the locks and I haven't gone back. But I think that it's really important to do the things that are best for you. And if I have obviously black hair, I want a protective hairstyle. I'm gonna do that even if somebody else maybe doesn't agree with it. It's the thing that that works for me. But I also understand maybe not every black, young black girl or black woman feels like they're in the position they can do this at that moment. But that obviously should change. You should be able to do your hair however you want, you know? Your hair is not a personality trait.

• 37:59Speaker 03

  You shouldn't get a job or not get a job based on what your hair looks like.

• 38:02Fred Taylor?

  Did the bubble influence that because you didn't have access to?

• 38:05Speaker 03

  I went in there with braids and like my, I mean, my hair has grown so much in the locks. It's just, it's so good. The things that you do to make your hair look good in media are insane. Like before I got these, I would get my hair straightened once a week. That's terrible for your hair to put all that heat on it once a week. So even though these things maybe aren't normal, they should totally be accepted more. But I do, I do have a question for you because I think what you asked me is important. It's a conversation I want to have. What could I wear that you would think I wasn't accentuating my body?

• 38:38Channing Crowder?

  It's

• 38:39Speaker 03

  No, no, I guess specific clothing items.

• 38:41Channing Crowder?

  Specific clothing items that you could wear? A goddamn sweatsuit.

• 38:47Speaker 03

  And that's my point.

• 38:48Channing Crowder?

  You can't just can't do a job in a

• 38:50Speaker 03

  Yeah, so I have

• 38:51Channing Crowder?

  You can't do a job in a sweat suit.

• 38:52Speaker 03

  Right.

• 38:53Channing Crowder?

  No, no, no, that's, and to your point, like, I'm with you. And that's why I worded the question because I was like, what you have and what you're built with, what you're born with, is different than what the normalized media is born with.

• 39:07Speaker 03

  Yes.

• 39:08Channing Crowder?

  So for you to cover up what you naturally have, you actually have to wear a goddamn prison sweatshoe. And I have been to jail multiple times. I've been to jail four times. If they give you them white drawers and them orange pants and that orange shirt and those flip flops and those white socks, you won't look as fine as you do. But that's the only thing I can say that would hide what you have.

• 39:34Speaker 03

  So that's what I'm saying when we, when we frame these conversations about how black women look doing their jobs and how they look in the clothes. And if you use words, and I know you didn't know, but if you use words about like you're wearing this thing that accentuates whatever, it's like, no, my body just accentuates it. Like, like putting the action of accentuating on me is incorrect. Like, that's just what's going to happen if I put an outfit on.

• 40:00Ryan Clark?

  I think a lot of it too, though, and this is like way, way past it. But, you know, when we look at some of the, the sexual culture that, that we grew up in, a lot of times we put the onus on the woman to not tempt the man. The onus on the woman to not bring certain things of victimhood upon herself, when really it's on us, right? It's on, it's on me that when talking about Taylor or, or meeting Taylor, saying things that doesn't make it say she, she's dressed this way or looks this way purposely for the consumption of men. And I think, and I think so many times, one, we, we've thought that we've ruled the world and we've made everything about us. And now women have to continue to try to find ways to compromise themselves because we can't control ourselves in a certain way.

• 40:44Ryan Clark?

  And I think it does begin in our speech because now our sons and now other young men growing up, uh, under us, they hear these things and they believe those things as well. They see things the same way we do, which is why like this conversation is extremely important.

• 40:59Speaker 03

  Yeah, no, I, I'm really interested in hearing like, you know, why you, you know, said that. And that's why I wanted to ask you because I do think it's important for people to understand that you can't like blame black women for existing. You know what I mean? Like if I'm just sitting here and you have something to say about me, that has nothing to do with me and everything to do with you. You know? Like I said, if I have a turtleneck and pants, people are gonna say the same thing. And you just reach a point where you're like, this is who I am. You're either gonna make the decision to hear the questions that I'm asking and engage in the interview, or decide to be an immature person who only thinks about sex, but probably has never actually had sex with somebody.

• 41:41Speaker 03

  So much so that you wanna leave a comment about my body on the YouTube comment. I mean, we know you're-

• 41:47Ryan Clark?

  Damn, Taylor, you gonna hit me like that? I done did okay, Taylor. Like, I got three kids.

• 41:53Speaker 03

  I mean, like people-

• 41:55Ryan Clark?

  I done did my own thing now, like, you know what I'm saying?

• 41:58Speaker 03

  I was like, anybody who would feel the need to go online, you know, and like say something about someone, I'm like, you are a very specific breed of individual that I genuinely just like don't understand.

• 42:08Ryan Clark?

  Alright, so I need to get on my Taylor Rooks then.

• 42:10Speaker 03

  Okay.

• 42:11Ryan Clark?

  Right? Cause I feel like, one, you're extremely seasoned. Even you coming in here, I was like, oh, this is gonna be an easy interview. It's like, this is what she does. Like, she knows what to say, she's been through this. And I feel like you've had these conversations before.

• 42:23Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 42:24Ryan Clark?

  So, Taylor Rooks says if you do an interview and somebody doesn't reveal something new, you've sucked at your job. But Taylor Rooks is probably like better at her job than we are, and she could just ask the question to get it. So I'm gonna ask her an even simpler question. Tell me something that the world doesn't know about you. Something that you haven't revealed, something that you haven't said, something that's not written in one of these 20 articles I read going down the Taylor Rooks internet rat hole yesterday.

• 42:49Speaker 03

  Yeah. I mean, in all honesty, I feel like I already did. Like, I don't believe in addressing any type of rumor ever about me. Like, I never do it. And so the fact that I even said the internet has been wrong with every single person that I've been dating, I revealed something I never have. Like, cause- I don't care about like the internet. Like I said, the internet is not a real place. I don't get mad when the dog barks at the mailman. That's what I expect the dog to do. Like I don't, that's what the internet is to me. So I don't feel the need if somebody tweets something at me or writes something about me and it's like this is what she's doing and who she's doing with, I don't feel the need to ever like correct it because I know it's not true. I have a whole life, but I would say that and I feel like I really.

• 43:32Ryan Clark?

  So you're 100% secure in who Taylor Rooks is every single morning she wakes up?

• 43:40Speaker 03

  I don't know if anybody is always 100% secure, especially because life is growth. You know, like every single day you want to be better than the last. But I would say every morning I wake up, I'm 100% okay with who Taylor Rooks is. And maybe the security like could fluctuate some, but I'm always okay with it. And I'm also always 100% secure with someone who I don't know saying anything about me. That is something that doesn't bother me in the least.

• 44:13Fred Taylor?

  When you go back home to the country, Gwinnett?

• 44:15Channing Crowder?

  Gwinnett County.

• 44:17Fred Taylor?

  Gwinnett County.

• 44:17Channing Crowder?

  Out there in the country.

• 44:18Fred Taylor?

  Do they call you bougie?

• 44:20Speaker 03

  That's so funny. So let me qualify that.

• 44:23Fred Taylor?

  I'm telling you, people, people.

• 44:24Speaker 03

  I think the reason they're probably not calling me bougie is because if you ask anyone who like actually knows about Gwinnett, they probably think everyone in Gwinnett is bougie. Because like Gwinnett is kind of seen as like the bougie place. Like Gucci has this lyric, he's like, got a girl lives in Gwinnett and her daddy rich. Like that's like the idea of Gwinnett.

• 44:42Fred Taylor?

  Right.

• 44:42Speaker 03

  That it's like, that's like where New News from. Like that's Gwinnett. So it's not that maybe they don't think I'm bougie. Maybe if I went to another part of Georgia, they'd say I was bougie.

• 44:52Fred Taylor?

  I mean, because you articulate so well and from the country.

• 44:55Speaker 03

  And because it's not the country, look what you did.

• 44:59Channing Crowder?

  She's from the country.

• 45:00Speaker 03

  You see, he's been, he's been ten out of ten wrong this whole episode.

• 45:05Channing Crowder?

  She came out the gutter.

• 45:08Fred Taylor?

  I mean, that's right. So when people look at you different, they see you on TV, they see you all over the place.

• 45:13Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 45:13Fred Taylor?

  And what, how your old boyfriends feel?

• 45:15Speaker 03

  Oh, my gosh, it's so funny. It's so funny, because in high school, I dated someone for like, so long. Like, you know, in high school, you think that's who you're gonna marry. But I mean, I have been through a litany of different relationship situations. I've almost got married before. I've, like, like I said, with my high school boyfriend, like, I have, I feel like, experienced different love in my life.

• 45:36Channing Crowder?

  What's the ultimate goal, Taylor Rooks? What's your pinnacle?

• 45:40Speaker 03

  Yeah. Well, I just want, the example I always use, obviously, is Oprah, right? You know, you would go home every single day, and you knew what your mom was doing was like, sitting in the family room and watching Oprah. And you didn't just know your mom was doing it, you knew that, like, every woman, every person, every house was watching Oprah. And if you didn't watch Oprah, you felt like you missed out. And I just feel like Oprah was a societal and cultural thing, like, watching Oprah was a feeling. And I eventually want to get to the point where you feel like, if you didn't watch what I did, you missed out. I remember so distinctly, like, if someone had anything to say, they went on Oprah's show, and it was a whole thing, and sometimes it was two hours, and then everyone in school

• 46:25Speaker 03

  was talking about it the next day, like, that was just the overall, like, Oprah effect. And I just want, I want my interviews to feel like that, like, you had to watch them, and that that person had to talk to me. So my overall goal, it isn't like a network or a show, it's a, it's like a feeling I want to give people, if that makes sense.

• 46:43Fred Taylor?

  Two influences, other, not your mom, or your grandmother, or Oprah.

• 46:48Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 46:50Fred Taylor?

  Two other influences.

• 46:51Speaker 03

  So many people, so, I think Howard Stern is like, one of the best interviewers of all time. He's a bit too, like, shock jockey for me, but he's a great interviewer. So I've watched, like, a bunch of Howard Stern interviews, I'd say him. And I obviously don't know Serena personally, but Serena has always been a major, major inspiration for me. If I'm watching Serena play tennis, even though I don't play tennis, I just feel like the thing I do, I can be as good at it as she is in playing tennis. And like she has this documentary on HBO called Being Serena. And this one scene like always sticks out to me. She was practicing with her trainer, Patrick, and she wasn't having like a great practice. But afterward, she's working out with him on the bike.

• 47:35Speaker 03

  And he goes, "Give your all tomorrow." And Serena says, "What do you mean? I gave my all today." And he said, "I'm not talking about today. I'm talking about tomorrow." And it's just like Serena is always thinking to herself, and the people around are always thinking to herself, this isn't complacency. Like if you're gonna look at me and say, "I gave my all today," you're missing the fact that I'm saying like, "Today is over." And I need that exact same thing from you tomorrow, the next day, the day after. And I think with what we do a lot of times, it can be easy to feel complacent, especially if you just had a really good interview, you just had a good moment, you just wrote a great article, and you can like rest your laurels on that for a bit. But things move so quickly, and the media cycle moves so quickly, and people will care about the work you did one minute and not the next.

• 48:20Speaker 03

  And I just always am saying to myself like, "This isn't about today. It's about tomorrow." And I just, I always want my next interview to be better, you know, than that, that last one I did. And I really do focus mainly on interviewing. And I don't know if there's a lot of people that do that, but have any of you read Relentless by Tim Grover?

• 48:39Channing Crowder?

  I have not.

• 48:40Speaker 03

  It's a really good book.

• 48:40Channing Crowder?

  I can't really read that good.

• 48:44Speaker 03

  I'm gonna send you the audio.

• 48:45Channing Crowder?

  Okay, yeah, send me the Cliff Notes.

• 48:48Speaker 03

  It's really good because he talks about the boxer Leon Spinks and says that somebody said to Leon Spinks like, "What do you do for a living?" And Leon said, "I knock motherfuckers out." Like that's the thing that I do. I want my thing I do to be interviewing. I want to ace that specifically. Like if you have something to say, you come to me. Like someone said to me once, you know, "You can do anything, but you can't do everything." And I want my thing that I do to be...

• 49:15Channing Crowder?

  Knock your motherfuckers out.

• 49:16Speaker 03

  Yeah, sitting there and having a good conversation and a good discussion. And I wanna kind of rest my laurels on that.

• 49:22Ryan Clark?

  Well, all I can say is, you knocked this interview out for sure. We are super grateful.

• 49:27Speaker 03

  Thank you.

• 49:28Channing Crowder?

  Cause you don't cuss. She knocked this motherfucker out.

• 49:31Ryan Clark?

  Thank you. Thank you too.