Taylor Rooks reveals NBA legend who gave her advice on navigating public scrutiny originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
Having a public-facing job can sometimes come with a lot of scrutiny, but Taylor Rooks has taken it by stride and leans on the advice an NBA legend once gave her.
In a conversation with Us Weekly, Rooks revealed how her perspective on social media comments has changed since starting in the industry.
"When I was a really young person starting in this business, you do care about things like social media," Rooks said. "You do care about criticism. But the more you do it, you realize it’s fairly insignificant. What happens online has truly no effect on me.”
Rooks is currently a features reporter for Amazon Prime Video's Thursday Night Football and host of NBA on Prime, so she is constantly in the spotlight during NBA and NFL season. While she's more than made a name for herself as a broadcaster with two Emmy nominations in her career, she shared that a piece of advice from an NBA legend has stuck with her over the years on how to prepare for any negativity.
“You can go on TV, and you can be someone you’re not and half the people won’t like you,” Rooks recalled NBA Hall of Famer Charles Barkley telling her. “Or you can go on TV and be who you are, and half the people won’t like you. But the numbers are the same. I feel a lot more peace going on TV being who I am, living my life as who I am. Leading with professionalism and credibility and knowing that the job is the main thing. That’s really all you can do.”
Rooks is leading her second season with NBA on Prime as the show's host. She works alongside studio analysts Blake Griffin, Dirk Nowitzki, Udonis Haslem, Steve Nash, Dwyane Wade, Candace Parker, John Wall, Rudy Gay, Kyle Lowry, and Zach Lowe.
NBA on Prime's next broadcast will be on Friday, Oct. 30, to discuss the doubleheader with the New York Knicks at the Philadelphia 76ers and the Los Angeles Lakers at the Golden State Warriors.
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