ESPN's Maria Taylor

[Music] aler good now I'm here with Maria Taylor You've seen her on college game day you've seen her covering the NCAA Final 4 women's coverage thank you so much for joining me today I'm so excited to to chat with you about women in sports yeah glad to be here glad we finally made it work yes yes we're from a similar hometowns about 15 minutes apart so glad this can work out that you're in town actually let's clarify we're Rivals I went to Centennial you went to Roswell we don't get along in theory but we're making it work go okay I would describe you as the other school in Rosell is what I would say but but I'm an Alpharetta okay okay okay okay all right got that out the okay well I'm an alfaretta now so I guess we got that that commonality all right so I just want to uh first let's talk about um how you got started in sports obviously you had a broadcasting career in sports but where did Sports start for you I think for me it started at a very young age I mean I played softball when I was in first grade um and then that kind of transitioned into basketball when I moved to Georgia and came in the sixth grade and my best friend is like come join a church league with me and I just felt like these are my people like I love being around um competition I love athletes and the idea of waking up competing every day getting better being able to watch yourself get better being able to see your you know free throw percentage go from 70 to 85 or or anything like that um and of course when I graduated from college I I knew I wanted to find a way to stay in sports I know I did not want to be a CO coach and um I knew I didn't want to play anymore so it was just a matter of kind of whittling down the options that I had and sports broadcasting ended up being the one that stuck because so many people came and covered our women's volleyball matches and I remember thinking I was like Wow someone cares enough about women's basketball to cover it and ask us questions about our journey and what's the best way to talk about your team and I and I just thought I wanted to be the same person that goes on the road and does that for something else and you you mentioned you were a multisport athlete um and you played two sports in college which Now is really pretty much unheard of right um what did Sports teach you everything um sport taught me how to fail fast you know you miss a layup on one possession but you might get the ball in the exact same spot on the next possession what are you going to do are you going to be thinking about the fact that you failed last time or are you going to to make that free throw or are you going to make that layup and so that's something that instantly you learn you learn about adversity you learn that if you you get the same thing out of the game as what you put in it so if I'm not putting a lot of effort towards my uh swing as a volleyball player then you know I'm gonna get blocked a lot and my hitting percentage is going to be low and that's on me um so it's a lot about self-discipline um growing yourself in the game it's about studying film it's about all the things that you need in the corporate world or even as a parent to know um so it's just taught me to be a stronger individual to deal with adversity and to to work hard and always strive for better like you never as an athlete you never accept your last performance as the best right cuz you know you can always do better and so that's how I feel like I approach life that's great that's obviously while you've been successful why would you say it's important for young girls in 2018 to be playing sport it's so important number one because I think that women in our society need to recognize that their body is not just sitting on a pedestal for men to judge it's not just for putting on Instagram or sending a Snapchat it's about power cleaning and squatting and look at what my body can do when I I run this fast or how much faster I can be or you know look I'm weightlifting every day or I couldn't do a pull-up when I showed up at college but now I can um That's How Strong my body is and no one else has control over that body but me and that's what sports taught me and I do think that you know young women that don't compete in sports maybe have less of a confidence in their body and what it's capable of than someone who has been competing in sports at a high level or even at a lower level um because they they understand what they can do so for me it's it's just as much about physically having confidence in your body as it is mentally being trained tougher um and that's what women will learn as well as well and uh I think too it just creates these incredible bonds that you would never have you know some of my best friends in the whole world I played sports with um you know they're from all over when I got to school at Georgia I had a Puerto Rican volleyball player two German volleyball players and then my best friend was from Chattanooga Tennessee and she went to a Catholic school and was the sweetest person on Earth and I went to a public school you know 30 minutes outside of Atlanta Georgia and we're all together and we're on one team so learning how to um tie bonds with different people that you never thought that you would meet in life also is what sports teach you how were you able to apply those things to your career you've had again a very successful career what things did you take into that and and use to be successful I think in my career it's it's about how you relate to others so when you're on a team you have to maybe I speak to my Setter a little bit differently than I speak to my labero or my point guard as I do you know the center that I work with because their personalities are different some people you can talk to you know me like hey get it next time or whatever and the next person you're like hey you got it next time so your approach is going to be different and I take that into the corporate world or in broadcasting I meet players and I recognize what their personality is do I come in ragging them and joking with them or do I come in with praise um and then work my way back and so it's the interpersonal skills and how do you connect with others you learn that through being on a team um and I've always been very receptive to that and I and I want to make sure that people leave me feeling a little bit better than they were when I walked up to them or walked into a room or something like that so that's something that being on a team Tomy because you have to deal with every type of person and every type of coach and then I can use it now in the corporate world yeah and now you're you're dealing with a lot of personalities reporting and doing analysis um what things have you seen as a woman in the industry I mean you you cover a lot of football which is a male dominated sport um what things have you learned being a woman in that sport um I've learned that you have to tell yourself every day that you belong in that space because you will feel like you don't belong you know you have to be your number one champion because there's not going to be that many people necessarily just sitting down fighting for for you you will have male Advocates um but obviously you're not going to hear their voices as much because they they don't understand they can't emphasize with you because they haven't been in your shoes no matter how hard they really try they think they know but have no idea um and so you know I've been in situations where you go into a team meeting where you I'm with my producer and my director and my play-by-play and analyst and everyone's a man probably a white male and the coach comes in introduces himself to everyone but me um and I had to learn that I'm going to have to stand up and lead the introduction and that's okay I've had to learn that I if I have a question to ask I have to be okay with asking that question like not to shy away from the room or the table to just be comfortable um to be okay you know being an Insider so just as much as my play-by-play or analyst can have the head coach's number I can too and it's not it's not about anything other than I'm doing my job you know what I mean I can have inside access as well and so I'm just now really learning how to use flex that muscle and that power and treat myself like belong in the space and a lot of that is just a positive talk and a belief in yourself that to be honest I didn't have at first but several years later in the business I do if you had to give one the show is called major Keys sure okay if you had to give one major key to um people coming up in the industry women in sport um if you could give them one piece of advice what would it be um I would say if you're doing it for yourself or selfish Ambitions you will fail and not or not be fulfilled so you have to find what is that thing that you are really working towards like what is your purpose in life like I would say find that first um your purpose and your passion and then follow those things but if you just you know I don't know if it's selfishly you want to be on TV or you want to do certain things then even when you get there you're not going to enjoy it like you would never be happy so I would just say check your motives watch them all the time check back in with them I check back in with my motives all the time like am I doing these things for the right reasons um and it'll just help make sure that the that you're taking are the ones that um like are on the path that you you've actually been set course on well that actually led me to another question what would you say are your motives in this industry to bring the next generation of women and minorities up like I have said I want to be a mirror where someone can turn on the TV a young girl can say oh she looks like me and I can be her but I also want to be a window to her future I want her to see through me and say oh this is what my future can look like um so that's what fuels me a lot of times that's what get me from Washington State to Purdue to New York to wherever I need to be it energizes me knowing that um doing what I do matters to someone else and will help them blaze a path of their own you know well I can tell you firsthand you're definitely doing that to see you on television and see on ESPN it's just again being so close for where I'm coming from and wanting to do the same thing you're doing it's um it's Indescribable to be here and to be able to have this interview so I thank you so much for it and uh hopefully I'll see you soon for sure it's good to be here with you I'm proud of you for making you know your own experience creating your own opportunities and that's what it's all about it's what it's all about thank you so much I [Music]