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

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'...