For Zora Stephenson, her love for the game of basketball started at a very young age. After growing up playing the sport, she was fascinated by the impact the game had not only on her life, but on communities around the world. As she embarked on her collegiate journey as a student-athlete at Elon University in North Carolina, Zora strengthened her love for basketball and solidified her commitment to pursuing a career in sports broadcasting upon graduation. It was during this time, where her journey in the industry truly began! After speaking with her professors at Elon, she was encouraged to learn more about the journalism side of the industry rather than strictly aiming for sports broadcasting. This quickly became a very valuable lesson that allowed her to uncover her love for storytelling. After graduating from college, she began her career as a news reporter in Greenville, North Carolina. From her writing abilities to her critical thinking skills to her versatility in storytelling, Zora used her experience covering stories in areas such as education, politics, crime, and sports to further her insight in journalism. After two years, she moved to Denver, Colorado and continued her career in news reporting. Shortly after, Zora received the opportunity to become the morning anchor for the Saturday news show. It was then when she truly learned about the value of storytelling. She was inspired by the chance to share stories about others as they progressed and faced different experiences throughout their lives. Suddenly, she started to think about what was next. Would she continue expanding her path in the news space? Or should she work to bring sports back to the forefront and explore possible opportunities in that area? Little did she know, but the job she had been dreaming of all along, was right around the corner. After two years in Denver, Zora received the opportunity to work for the Milwaukee Bucks as a Sideline Reporter on Fox Sports Wisconsin and Digital Reporter for the organization. She hasn’t looked back since! Not only has she developed a series of digital segments to highlight the team, but she has also implemented powerful storytelling to shine light on the players’ stories beyond the court.
How was that transition of going from being a full-time student-athlete to being in the world of journalism/reporting full-time?
I love that question! I think the biggest transition going from student-athlete life to just simply professional-life, not even for journalism specifically, is that when you are a student-athlete your entire day is planned for you. You really don’t have to think about what you are going to do with your day. You almost wish you had the opportunity to think about it. You wake up and maybe you have weights, and then you have to run to class, and after class you have practice, and after practice you grab something to eat really quick and then you have study hall, and by the time you are done with that is like 10 p.m. Then, you do it all over again. When you get to the professional world, the only thing that is planned for you is work. For me, it was hard to find that balance—like for the first time in my life, I had to plan workouts. I had to fit that into my schedule, and then come up with the workouts too. I was so used to going places and coaches or trainers saying, “Hey, this is what we are doing today.” So I had to get creative that way, and I think that is something that really helped me when I first graduated. Also, I had to think (about) the workload and balancing work—like, “Are you going home and continuing to work on your craft? Is there a passion project that you want to work on? What do you want to do in your free time and how are you going to continue bettering yourself as a person?” I think that was the biggest transition—planning things out and planning them with a purpose.
As you transitioned into this new chapter after graduation, how did you work to overcome some of the challenges that you faced early on?
I think I leaned on my experiences as an athlete. I feel like everything that I say and I do goes back to that, but so much of who I am is because of my experiences, and what I (have) learned through the game of basketball. Oh my goodness, I love this game so much. I am so grateful for this game. It taught me how to persevere. It taught me how to overcome. It taught me how to balance. It taught me how to be in uncomfortable situations and just to figure it out. It taught me how to reach out to people for help. Basketball taught me how to be a better person, how to be an adult, and how to function in this world. I wouldn’t change it for anything. I really leaned on my experiences as a basketball player to realize that I was prepared for this. It made me think, “Okay Zora, you have been through situations where you have really had to go overcome things or go through things that are uncomfortable.” It really showed (me) that I could have an example for every situation, and it paralleled both life and basketball. Basketball really taught me how to persevere and overcome (those challenges).
You mentioned that you first started on the news side of things within the world of broadcast journalism, and you fell in love with it. How did those experiences help you as you transitioned into the world of sports reporting?
留言