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Taylor Rooks

2023 Speaker

TAYLOR ROOKS is an acclaimed sports journalist, who is impacting sports media as a household name across basketball, football, and pop culture itself. Recently, she became the newest member of Amazon’s Thursday Night Football coverage team, where she will serve as a feature reporter and conduct sit-down interviews with players/coaches to be shown throughout game broadcasts. Along with her role with Amazon, she hosts her own show, Taylor Rooks X, for Turner Sports and Bleacher Report. The show highlights Rook’s unique ability to connect with athletes, musicians, and other celebrity influencers on a deeper level. Best put by a Turner Sports executive: “Taylor is a formidable sports persona with a distinct ability to engage in conversations that are both insightful and entertaining”. For the success of her work, Rooks has been featured in Sports Illustrated: 100 Influential Black Women in Sports with an inspiring profile exploring her career journey, motivations, and what makes her reporting so special. “In an industry where success is measured by access and exclusives, Rooks is applying pressure without even trying.” A native of Georgia, Rooks attended the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where she majored in broadcast journalism. Fresh off the heels of an Emmy nomination, Rooks has demonstrated that she is not only dominating sports media in the present but will continue to do so for a long time to come. As she says herself: “I’m just getting started”.