Work in Progress: Malika Andrews

Drama Queens

iHeartPodcasts

Tv & Film

4.9 • 23.9K Ratings

🗓️ 13 February 2025

⏱️ 54 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Let's take a moment to applaud Malika Andrews for breaking a glass ceiling in the sports industry! She's the first woman to ever host the NBA Draft, and also one of the youngest sideline reporters for an NBA conference finals telecast, plus the youngest to host the NBA Finals Trophy ceremony . . . and she's only just begun!

The Emmy-winning journalist joins Sophia for a frank chat about her meteoric rise in a male-dominated field. She candidly discusses the impact of being the only Black girl in her class for most of her childhood, how her love of writing led her to sports journalism, and how she approaches maintaining a professional relationship with the players she covers, even during disagreements or uncomfortable moments.

Malika also opens up about the struggle to maintain a healthy work-life balance, her 'quirky' hobbies, and her funny response to Sophia's most pressing question - can she watch basketball just for fun?

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi everyone. It's Sophia. Welcome to Work in Progress.
0:04.0	Hello, friends, and particularly today, fellow sports fans, we have someone in the hot seat at Work in Progress today that I am so excited about.
0:24.4	I am sitting down with ESPN's Malika Andrews.
0:28.8	She made her debut as a sideline reporter during the 2019 and 2020 season.
0:33.6	And in 2021, at just 26 years old, she became the youngest sports broadcaster to host the NBA
0:41.2	finals trophy ceremony. She then made history again in 2022 as the first woman to ever host the NBA
0:48.4	draft. She's won an outstanding personality, emerging on-air talent sports Emmy.
0:59.7	She's appeared across multiple platforms on the Disney family of networks, from GMA to SportsCenter to ESPN.com and radio.
1:02.8	And prior to joining ESPN, she worked for both the Chicago Tribune and the New York Times.
1:08.5	I am so jazzed to ask Malika all of my nerdy fellow journalist
1:13.7	questions about how she studied, how she has achieved so much at such a young age, and my
1:20.5	most pressing question perhaps, which is, can she watch basketball just for fun? Let's dive in
1:25.3	with Malika Andrews.
1:43.2	Hello. Hello. How are you? I'm well, thanks. How are you? I am doing just fine things.
1:45.7	Are you from L.A. originally? I'm not. I'm from Northern California. I'm from Oakland. I was born and raised in Oakland. I went to boarding school
1:50.7	in Utah, but I was raised in the Bay Area. And then I went to college in Portland, moved to New York, Chicago, L.A.
2:00.8	So that was my winding major metropolitan city road.
2:06.6	I was in Portland when my little sister, who is two and a half years younger than me,
2:15.7	called me and said, you know, there's a fun little
2:18.4	television show I think you should watch. And that's when I was introduced, Brooke introduced us.
2:25.3	Your character introduced us, I guess. So my first experience with you and your work was,
2:30.5	was her. And so watching you there and seeing everything that you have done and become
	...

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