November 20, 2024 • 49 mins
In this episode of Stay A While, host Tommi Vincent sits down with Angela Ellis, Vice President of Original Content and Entertainment for the NFL. Angela shares her remarkable journey from a thriving career in news to making her mark in sports, highlighting the power of storytelling and how her global experiences have shaped her perspective. She opens up about the challenges and victories throughout her career, the influence of her sister, and the comforting role food has played during difficult moments. This insightful conversation delves into personal growth, leadership, and the deep connections that storytelling and food create.
Guest: Angela Ellis
Subscribe & Follow:
Don’t miss an episode of "Stay A While"! Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast platform. Stay connected and get the latest updates by following us on Instagram @StayAWhileShow and follow our host Tommi Vincent @cheftommiv. Watch full episodes on our YouTube channel www.youtube.com/@ChefTommiV
Join the Conversation:
We’d love to hear your thoughts on this episode! Share your insights and stories with us using #StayAWhilePodcast on social media.
Music By: Stichiz - Big T. Music / Roj & Twinkie
Guest: Angela Ellis
Subscribe & Follow:
Don’t miss an episode of "Stay A While"! Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast platform. Stay connected and get the latest updates by following us on Instagram @StayAWhileShow and follow our host Tommi Vincent @cheftommiv. Watch full episodes on our YouTube channel www.youtube.com/@ChefTommiV
Join the Conversation:
We’d love to hear your thoughts on this episode! Share your insights and stories with us using #StayAWhilePodcast on social media.
Music By: Stichiz - Big T. Music / Roj & Twinkie
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Stay a Wile, the podcast that's virtual soul
food for your ears. I am your host, Tommy Vincent,
and each week we break bread with gold passionate women
who have faced the impossible and are still standing to
share their testimonies. Make yourself at home and stay a Wile.
(00:22):
Hi everyone, this is Tommy Vincent, your host of Stay
a Wild podcast, and today we have joining us at
the table, Angela Ellis. Angela is the vice President of
Original Content and Entertainment for the NFL. Prior to that,
Angela was the executive broadcast producer at ABC's Good Morning America,
(00:46):
leading to Emmy wins and number one ratings. Interestingly enough,
Angela transitioned from a long career in the news industry
over to the sports side, and we'll talk about that
more in our converse. But Angela, before we go there,
I would like to know from you. Who is Angela Ellis?
Speaker 2 (01:07):
Oh wow, that's a big question. First, thank you, Tommy.
Happy to be on Stay Awhile. I am a genuine
person who has had a lot of experiences. I was
going to say has led, but I'm going to say
actively is leading an extraordinary life where each phase of
(01:30):
my life, I've uncovered new parts of myself and I
think where I am now at fifty, I'm bold and
happy to say that Angela is a confident person, who
is someone who sees herself of service, who approaches both
her professional life from a servant leadership standpoint, and how
(01:52):
I can kind of fulfill a leadership role but by
bringing people, helping elevate people and bring them up, and
in my personal life as well, how I can be
of service to this world, to my family, and really
embracing and knowing that that is I feel like my
God given purpose and have learned that over the course
(02:15):
of many years in my life, but really in the
last i'd say five to seven years, it's become crystallized
and really knowing who I am and standing in it now.
Speaker 1 (02:24):
You have had an extensive career in this space of media,
and there has been a journey to get where you
are today. Is this something that you always knew you
wanted to do or was it a career that found
(02:44):
you as.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
Early as college. I knew I wanted to do it before.
I think growing up I went through a phase. I
think it was just kind of this thing that I
have with my older sister like she want to be
a doctor. I want to be a lawyer. And she
used to tease me like, you're gonna work for Jacobe
and Myers, And for some reason I thought like I
was start crying. I was like eight years old. No,
I'm not, Stephanie. I'm sure they're a lovely firm. They
still exists. So after the lawyer phase, then, like all
(03:09):
through my preteen and teen years, I really wanted to
be a fashion designer and would spend hours drawing and designing.
Went to design school in the summer. I can't sew,
still can't sew, and that kind of felt like a
barrier to that career. So college is when I got
someplace and kind of heard this one thing. I think
it was second semester freshman year, and it was the
(03:31):
first class in Media and Communications department, and the professor said,
the most powerful people in the world are those who
control information. And I was like, Oh, sign me up
for that. And from that point on, I knew I
wanted to be in media. I wanted to tell stories.
I knew I want to be behind the camera, you know,
(03:52):
being the one who is sharing information and choosing information
and how to tell it to people.
Speaker 1 (03:58):
What was your very first job in the industry.
Speaker 2 (04:02):
My first job, I guess internships aside. I was at
CNN in San Francisco for a whiles in intern and
a few other places. My first job was at actually
at ABC. It was while I was in grad school.
So after I graduated college, I moved to New York
and went to Columbia Journalism School, and my last semester there,
(04:26):
the last bit overlapped with a job at ABC, and
so that was the first time I worked at ABC.
I was a production assistant. There was this news legend,
Carol Simpson who was on the air. She was the
only black woman anchor. She was did the weekend World
news and just had always had this groundbreaking career, so
(04:48):
it was amazing. So I was a PA on her
show and that was that was my first entry into
a very fulfilling but very hectic and stressful at times
industry in news and breaking news.
Speaker 1 (05:06):
Mm hmm. So that's that's the part I was going
to talk about, Like when you're young and your bright
eyed and bushy tailed and looking forward to this work,
and then you get into it and you realize there
is a hierarchy to you know the industry, and so
when you're at the bottom, if you will, there are
(05:27):
some things that come along with that territory, and there's
a lot of grunt work that takes place in that process.
Was there ever a time where you was like, you
know what, this is not for me.
Speaker 2 (05:41):
No? Actually I loved it. And I'll say, Timmy, that's
one of the things that really gets me now with
you know, I start to feel old saying like this
current generation like hard, something like oh it's a little hard,
or I have to stay here like a little extra hours,
stay out. I really I loved it. I embraced it
in that job, like really getting a chance to learn,
(06:02):
you know, put into practice things I had learned in college,
in journalism school, but actually doing television, doing news, you know,
it was a whole different thing. And so it was
just more learning opportunities. So I would just keep raising
my hand and that was job was probably maybe three
months I really count my first like full on in
(06:25):
the industry job. It was right after I graduated from Columbia.
I started at NBC News and I worked for Dayline,
and that was like another master's program. I learned so
much and in the same way I embraced all of
the I'm the lowest on the totem pole here, whatever
you need me to do, because that way I couldn't
(06:46):
absorb and learn everything in media industry, and especially at
this time in the in the late nineties, you know,
there was still you know, we're working off tape and
it's it was a lot more involved to to you know,
get content than it is now. You know, it can
easily just punch something up and look on YouTube or whatever.
(07:07):
So doing all the research, finding old video, going through
the video libraries. The first huge project that I had,
or big news story when I started at Dayline was
the death of Princess Diana and that was an all
hands on deck. Nobody has any off days. We're here
around the clock because this is just going to be rolling.
(07:29):
And so I raised my hand and volunteered. I said,
I can arrange order all of our archive tapes that
have anything they have to do with Princess Diana and
the royals, and I will log all of them, meaning
sit there, watch them, type out the time code, describe
what's happening, transcribe who's saying what, and then catalog them
by a category of Diana and fashion, Diana and Cherry
(07:53):
the kids. You know how long it took me. I
was there hours and hours overnight for days, but it
I learned a lot. It made me indispensable because every
producer and ones I really respected, who were, you know,
pretty high up on the wrong. I had all these
people coming to me like where can I find this?
Or I could suggest to them things because I knew
it better than they did, so it became an advantage.
(08:16):
And ever since then, I've you know, I might still
roll my eyes of like, oh god, it was so hard,
or this is so annoying, or like I really want
to go home because I am someone who enjoys sleep,
but I never shirked away from it.
Speaker 1 (08:31):
Did somebody teach you that, you know, was that a
knowledge transfer about just stay the course and be grateful
in the process, that this is just part of it.
Speaker 2 (08:44):
Yeah. I think overall my family work ethic. I grew
up in this this we always say, like this clan
of eight you know out here. I'm originally from from
Los Angeles, but my mom's side is from from Tennessee
and Saint Louis area, and my dad's side is from
Louisiana and they all somehow ended up here, and I
had this really great upbringing with all four grandparents, never
(09:08):
had babysitters because well, my parents were working, they would,
you know, alternate picking me and my sister up from school,
and all of them, from the grandparents to my parents,
instilled in me and my sister won the whole thing
that you know, a lot of people of color, and
especially black people here you have to give one hundred
and ten percent just to be seen as you know,
(09:30):
good enough to walk in the door. But also but
you can do whatever you want. Just put in the work,
and you know, the world is yours. So it was
kind of like not even a question, that was the ethic.
And then I think there's also a part of my
personality that's very much like, Okay, what do I need
to do to achieve this thing? And at some times
(09:54):
that could mean what do I have to do to
achieve this life goal? And in my early twenties I
was very like like five year plan, I want to
do this, I want this role, or for me it
was every two years. I ended up being promoted every
two years. So then I'm like, well, it's already happening,
so let me make that a goal to keep happening.
I've since way calmed down from that type of stuff,
(10:15):
but I think I just embraced knowing that it was
getting me to you know, doing putting in the work
was getting me to an end. Sometimes that end was
if I can finish this, then I can go the
heck home or do what I want to be doing,
which is not being at work. So sometimes, especially even
now in these days, I'm like, I get stuff done
(10:37):
quickly on time. You know, people often comment like whenever
there's you know, a group project and we all have
some piece of it, I'm one of the first to
have it done. It's not because I missed like a type.
It's like because I want to go go home, or
I want to go see my friends, or I want
to be with my family or do something else. So
in some way or function, it's basically putting in the
(10:58):
work so I could the benefits and reach some other side,
some other goal.
Speaker 1 (11:04):
Can we talk about your transition from the news industry
into the sports industry, especially since you had such a
long stint in the news industry, It's it's almost like
going into a whole new career if you will, and
so can you just talk us through that and what
that was like for you.
Speaker 2 (11:26):
That was to say, when I first had the invitation
to come on stay a while and the description about
you know, overcoming challenges to get to where you are,
and I've had questions like that before sometimes on panels
like you know, what are some big, you know hurdles
you faced in your career? And it always drives my
sister crazy whenever I'm like, I haven't really had any
(11:49):
because kind of good at what I do, and people
always seem to know that. It's like, I've never really
had any of those big, you know barriers. She did,
but she was also in a different field, like she
was in science and met and you know, in dealing
with I don't know, we just had a different experience.
But then I thought, well, let me not look so back,
you know, across my entire career. It's really been since
(12:11):
I'd say it started twenty seventeen. I was at Good
Morning America and I had been there approaching ten years
at that point, which wasn't expected for me. When I
started there, I was a freelance producer. I'd come off
another role for ABC on a show that I loved.
It got canceled. They wanted to keep me, but the
(12:31):
only thing they had was Good Morning America. Before that,
I had worked, like I said, at Dateline, so longer form,
you know, our long storytelling, in depth storytelling. In between,
I moved to Italy and was working there and in
Egypt doing documentaries long form. The show I worked on
for ABC was you know, longer form. And then here
(12:53):
comes Okay, we have this temporary job at Good Morning America.
Take it and we'll find a spot for you after.
I'm not a morning person, or wasn't at the time.
I didn't really like morning TV. It didn't feel like
the right fit. But like, okay, I'll do it. I'll
stay a while, just a short while. Fast forward ten years.
I kept getting promoted every two years. I was like dragged,
(13:15):
like by the momentum of my own like I know
I'm good at this, but like, do I want to
do this? So by twenty seventeen, the answer I was
starting to crystallize is no, I know I'm good at it,
but I don't. I'm not enjoying this. This isn't fulfilling
for me. And then I got promoted again, and that
kind of changed a lot to that last title, the
(13:36):
one you mentioned, executive broadcast producer, meaning I ran you know,
it was a two hour show, so I ran all
of the first hour, so a lot of you know,
all the hard news and breaking news and political news.
And in twenty seventeen, if you remember that time period,
and after the twenty sixteen you know, elections and kind
of going through then we were all politics all the time.
(14:00):
It was getting harder and both the topics that we
were doing, you know, school shootings, mass shootings, it was
starting to get to me. And then the responsibility of
being in that role. I took it seriously and did
well at it, but it was again like do I
want to do this? And I had a mentor at
ABC who said, you know, keep going, like you know,
(14:21):
you're going to be the first black executive producer of
Good Morning America. And I was like, man, don't put that.
And this is a white man who told me this,
and I was like, don't put that weight on my shoulders,
Like I don't. Maybe I should want that, and there's
some people who think that I should, and I know
that that would mean a lot to a lot of people,
but I don't want that. And I don't want to
keep kind of seeing my life just kind of flash
(14:43):
before me by the momentum of my work ethic. So
by twenty eighteen, I had decided it was time for
me to move on. And then that was my limbo period.
And then this is where I think I forged the
new Angela that I am now, because that ended up
being almost two years of trying to figure out I
didn't leave News. I knew I didn't. It wasn't just Jume.
(15:05):
I wanted out of News, but I didn't know what.
For the first time ever, I always knew I want
this job, this place. I didn't know what it would be,
and I certainly didn't think sports because I'd always been
a casual sports fan. I played basketball, but in high
school Watch dated a football player all four years of
college at Cal Gobert's and was the assistant to the
(15:29):
event manager, so I would be down on the field
on the sidelines with the little Gatorade kids. I was
their little manager. So I loved college football, but I
wasn't a huge, you know, sports fan. And those two
years again, you know, with hindsight of seeing how God
was working in my life, because I was trying to
(15:50):
force things and make jobs happen. I thought I wanted
to work at Netflix, and I literally they wouldn't let
me in the door. And I was trying to say, like,
I have transferable skills, I haven't done this before, but
I can do this, and they're like, literally didn't let
me up from the lobby. That some woman came down
to talk to me in the lobby and was like
bye bye, and I had to let go. And then
(16:11):
I get a text from a recruiter saying, you know,
have a job opportunity at the NFL and so one.
Because it was a text, I thought it was spam,
so I deleted it, like I'm not my mama didn't
raise no fool. Then I got an email and it
seemed more legit. And my first reaction was because this
(16:32):
was early twenty one, and you know, it was still
coming off of late twenty George Floyd, when black people
were getting so many opportunities rightfully so, but also they
were just like coming left and right all these like
big jobs and things that sometimes weren't even right for
your experience level, but like they were just you know,
(16:53):
creating all these opportunities. So I had been used to
kind of fielding all these things and a lot of
them weren't right for me, and I thought this was
one that wasn't and I said, thanks for reaching out.
You know, I'm sure I have people in my network
that you know, that might be interested. And thankfully the
woman said, you know, can we just have a conversation.
(17:15):
We want to talk to you for a reason and
just just hear me out. And me deciding to take
that call again. That was God because it turned out
to be this now is I'd say it's been a
dream job, but it's also been I think one of
my favorite jobs. And I never saw it coming. I
(17:37):
never would have known to pray about it, to ask
for it, to target it. It just came up. And
I think as women can often do with you know,
if you don't hit every single point on a job description,
you kind of discount yourself or like take yourself out
of the running. And I realized now after being here,
(18:00):
job description like they didn't even know what they wanted.
They just kind of put everything in. There was a
new department, and I thought, okay. At first I was
like I don't know about this, and then I said, okay,
let me reset. This is basically what I've been doing
at storytelling. It just happens to be storytelling about players
and about the game. But the role that I was
(18:20):
doing in the department that I was leading wasn't about,
you know, live games or having deep football knowledge. It
was about who are these players, who are these teams
and fans when they're off the field, what are they
doing in their communities? Who are they as people? What
are they passionate about? And I was like, well, I
know how to do that, And so I talked myself
(18:41):
into really wanting this job and then pursuing it as
if I really wanted it.
Speaker 1 (18:47):
So you get to do what I believe is really
critical for the game and also the men who are
playing the game. And now you know, with flag football
there's the emergence of really elevating women on the football
field as well. But you get to take the helmets
(19:10):
off and take the jerseys off and really present them
as human beings and to tell the story that actually
got them to where they are today and help to
provide them the motivation and the drive and present the
why of why they are successful or were successful in
(19:34):
this space. And I really value that, you know, knowing
that you know, Troy, my husband, who has extensive experience
as a player and as an executive. There's so much
to him that I love about him that's endearing to me,
(19:55):
and just the type of man that he is that
doesn't get to show up in those basis, but they
really are his core values, his non negotiables, and drive
him to be the excellent steward of the game that
he is as well as you know, the lover of
the players and everything that makes the NFL what it is.
(20:18):
And so I appreciate that role that you have in
all of the projects that you've done, and I know
you love them all, but is there one that when
you think about it, you just really feel good about
presenting that story?
Speaker 2 (20:35):
It was one from last season our NFL three sixty
one of our you know, long form story storytelling platforms
or franchises that we have here, and it was the
indelible legacy of Jimmy Ray. And it was you know
(20:57):
about Jimmy Ray. It was Troy who brought the story
because your husband likes to text a lot, and which
is one more things like Jimmy Ray. Okay, sorry I'm
googling because you know, again not like a depth of
football knowledge. So first every time he would text, I
don't have to like google something like mm hmm. Yeah
he's he was like, yeah, the first black quarterback in
(21:19):
this like and and you want me to do what
we need to you know, capture his story. You know,
he's he's getting older and like this needs to be
you know, on the record. And so working with one
of our great producers here, Osahan Tongo and one of
my team leads, Dallas Hitchcock and they run NFL three sixty,
(21:40):
they came up with how to tell Jimmy Ray's story
and I got to be a part of that as
you know, the executive in charge. So the feature itself
just turned out wonderfully and all credit to you know,
to them for how they produced it and told jimmy
story wove it through to today of how it because
of him we see all these black quarterbacks now, but
(22:03):
like how he was the first and was part of
this underground railroad that was coming from the South going
up to Michigan and how that like kind of opened
up this world for black players after that. But why
I'm so proud one just of the story itself and
that we got it out there. We won an Emmy
for that as well as one of the congratulations magically
(22:27):
oprom My corner. I don't have my shot like that
for nothing. There's two other on the other side that
you can't see. But also we did this great event
and it felt like a bit of a coming out
party for me because it was my second Super Bowl
so it's you know, still you know, relatively new in
the league. And it was that Super Bowl week and
(22:47):
we did a premiere VIP screening of the Indelible Legacy
of Jimmy Ray and had you know, players and it
was at you know, when we were in Phoenix, at
One of the Universe. There they had a new Sydney
Poitier Film School and it just opened. So we did
the screening there, had a panel with Jimmy Ray and
the filmmakers. Your husband was supposed to be there but
(23:11):
wrong directions and and I was like, truly but he
paid for the event, so thank you for his department
for that. But it was a real moment for me,
I think, feeling like I had arrived in this world
of sports and storytelling and how they converge and standing
(23:32):
up on that stage and introducing the filmmakers introducing Jimmy Ray.
It just it was kind of like this, this pivotal
moment for me, I think in my career because I
realized then, I think, how much, how how much fun
I was having doing this job and I hadn't felt
that in a really long time at work, and.
Speaker 1 (23:52):
You arrived with it. Emmy, Like, yes, here you talked
about how you when you were in the news industry.
You you know, you lived overseas for some time in
Italy and you've had experience in other countries. How has
(24:14):
your worldview because that's a different perspective. You've been in
other countries, so you're seeing beyond the lens of the
United States. How has that impacted your work as a
content creator?
Speaker 2 (24:26):
That's a good question. I think it helps you keep
an open mind because you know, there's so many different
different walks of life. Actually it's twofold one. It keeps
you open to like different ways people have of thinking
or doing things, motivations for why they do it, whether
it's culturally based or their family or just kind of
(24:49):
the national, you know, way of doing things, and which
you don't really think about sometimes when you're you're just
in one environment, and especially Americans, how you know, we
can vary easily think that we're the only way of
doing things, especially when it comes to work, and are
really you know, lived to work instead of work to
play ethic. I really enjoyed being in Italy, where it
(25:12):
was the opposite of that, even though I worked really hard,
they were very good at like, but when you're off,
you're off, and you're enjoying family and food and friends.
But then the other side of the coin is having
lived in these different places and met so many people,
both from that experience of living abroad, but also just
in the career that I have of you know, being
(25:34):
a journalist and being in media, traveling and interviewing so
many different people even here, like in different places in
the country, like up in the hills in Appalachia with
a self described hillbilly, like I had never seen a
world like that, just like I had never seen you
know underneath you know, tombs underneath the sands of Egypt,
(25:56):
and you know, working with you know, foreign archaeologists rus
But all of those different groups of people there were
still like common human stories of love or pain, overcoming something,
having a dream. You start to like see those common
(26:17):
themes and kind of taking it back to where I
am now and our helmets off approach as different as
you know players might be, or teams might be, or
groups of fans, we all kind of the thing that
we say about, you know, football, is that it brings
us all together. It has like some common themes that
unite us, like rooting for the underdog, overcoming strife, working hard.
(26:39):
I found the same in how having so much exposure
to people kind of kind of boiled down some like
common fundamentals where even if you may not even totally
understand the language or the accent that they're telling you
their story, and you can still relate because there's like
a common humanity there.
Speaker 1 (27:00):
You talked about in one of the things you miss overseas,
about what they call it a siesta where you're off
in the you know, they enjoy their time, and you
talked about how you talked about how even now, when
you're doing your group projects at work, you're like, no,
(27:20):
I finished, because I want to go home. So we
understand you enjoy that part of the job just as much.
What do you do on your downtime.
Speaker 2 (27:32):
Well a lot of it. So I moved back to
la in twenty twenty, and my parents have always stayed
in LA My sister now lives in Seattle, so when
I moved back from New York, they're ten minutes away,
which is both a blessing and occurs all right if
they see this very close both ten minutes from work
and ten minutes from my house, so like they can
(27:53):
catch me on the way in or on the way out.
So as they age and you know, are in their
mental late seventies, spend a lot of time with them.
But I also really enjoy their company. They're very fun
people I have. I think I'm maybe almost a year
into golf. I just started still learning, taking lessons, but
(28:15):
really loving it. So that's been kind of like taking
up a lot of my free time in a way
that was actually unexpected because I had like hit around
a couple of times and I was like, I don't
get it and it seems stupid. And then I had
that experience of like I hit one really great when
I was and so I've been chasing that feeling ever since.
(28:35):
But I, like, you know, just trying different things, and
sometimes I go through phases. Last year around this time,
I was in a tango phase, which I had gone
through about ten years ago and decided I'm going to
start taking tango classes because I just want to keep,
you know, just doing different stuff. I live by the beach,
so I like to spend a lot of time outside,
(28:58):
going for walks, riding my bike, but just kind of
pretty basic things I would like to say, like, oh,
I like to travel. I like to do this, but
you know, work realities. Maybe that's once or twice a year.
I do still love, you know, going abroad and exploring places,
but I think my regular downtime is the things I mentioned.
(29:18):
And I'm a homebody. I love, but not like you know, introverts.
I love my home. I kind of have it decorated
like it's a resort I always thought I would have.
I'm listen, spats, slippers and everything, and it's just like
(29:38):
it's all like you know, mades of like cream and
white and stone. It feels like you're in where. I
love being in the Mediterranean and some last I want
my home to feel that way, and it's my sanctuary
and I have my spot where I can look out.
I live in the marina, so I can like look out,
see the water, see boats going by. I'm a big
(29:58):
screen TV. We watch the game or watching a movie,
and like that's my sweet spot, and sometimes I have
to force myself to get out of it. I don't
have kids. I am a very dedicated auntie to both
blood related children and kind of universal auntie to many
different friends and now co workers. But I enjoy my solitude.
(30:25):
But I have just forced myself out of it to
make sure I'm having other interactions. But that's how I
recharge from like, you know, giving a lot to my parents,
giving a lot at work. I like to volunteer, so
I feel like I tick all those other boxes so
I don't feel guilty when I do, which I think,
as they're calling it now, couch fraught sounds bad, but
(30:47):
I used to go. I call it hermit hermit days
where I'm like, phones off, I don't want to talk
to anybody. I just want to be in my spot
or in my house, enjoying my space hermit time.
Speaker 1 (30:58):
Now you said your sister she is she's in the
medical field.
Speaker 2 (31:02):
No, she At the time when she was going through
her toughest career, she also did a big pivot. But
she was studying to go to medical school and was
working in science. But then crazy pivot that she had
when she moved to Seattle after she got married, met
the great black artist Jacob Lawrence, and he asked her
(31:23):
to work on a catalog project like Catalog and all
of his works that felt familiar to her from her
science background of you know, because it's you know, it's
very process oriented in your you know, just going through
and itemizing catalog and searching. But that led to a
career in the arts and charity and she's now a
(31:45):
philanthropic advisor to high net worth individuals basically and people
with a lot of money where to give it to
people who needed.
Speaker 1 (31:53):
They Yeah, I was thinking, wait a minute, she's a
real Gray's anatomy in Seattle, Washington medicine. That's my show.
Wait a minute, I could have been her, could have
been her, but she made that. So I want you
to think about your career, the span of time from
(32:17):
when you started to where you are today, and a
moment in time that if you could redo what you
would what advice would you give to yourself back then
based off of what you know today.
Speaker 2 (32:38):
I don't know that there are a lot of things
that I like regrets on the career path, but advice
that I would give myself is to lighten up because
I was. I was pretty intense internally intense. I think,
like when I mentioned before, I hadn't you know, really
had any like big challenges or outside forces telling me
(33:01):
I wasn't good enough or couldn't do something. I had
plenty of that internally, and I've thought a lot over
the last several years, like trying to figure out the
origin of that, because it didn't come from you know,
parents or a family that was always drilling into me
like you have to be perfect, or you have to
be this, or you need to have this job. They
(33:21):
were always like, do whatever you want to do. You
can do whatever you want to do. We've got your
back and you being happy. That's all we care about.
So but inside I was feeding myself these messages of
like I have to be excellent, I have to I
think I overly internalized that one hundred and ten percent,
(33:44):
and that could lead to a lot of imposter syndrome
or times when I was good at least at faking
it on the outside because I kind of have a
poker face, I guess, or a calmness. I always think
it's kind of resting bitch face. It seemed like I
had some people be like that, but I was. I
(34:06):
was very serious because I wanted to be taken seriously
as a woman, as a black woman. I looked younger,
but people always thought I was younger than I was.
I think I still do at fifty, but you look good.
But you know, especially in my twenties, like you know,
so I would overcompensate by always just being you know,
(34:26):
really serious, and I look back now, I'm just like
girl lighting up. It's like, show some personality. And it
took me several several years into my career to start
to do that, and it made a difference in you know,
successful at work because people know I was a good worker,
but I didn't really have any deep connections with people
(34:46):
or people didn't really know me. And now when I
give advice to young people and I always say, you know,
boil it down to my four h's hard work, honesty, humility,
and I ended with humor. It's like, you know, because
no one wants to work for someone who's like, you know,
basically like a pill, who's just always like only all
(35:07):
about the work and serious and doesn't show some personality
and give you an in or a way for someone
to connect with you. So I would tell myself, my
younger self, to just lighten up, because it also helps
you be more comfortable with yourself. I was always trying
to prove something.
Speaker 1 (35:26):
So let's move into our next segment, which is I
am bringing her to the table with me, and this
is your opportunity to present virtual flowers to another woman,
because you know you would not be where you are
today without her fingerprint on your life.
Speaker 2 (35:46):
So this was an interesting one because when I saw,
you know, what this segment would be, and immediately was
thinking in terms of like throughout my career and again
like something that maybe is as common. A lot of
the big fingerprints on my professional side have come from
(36:09):
male mentors or co workers who, without my trying, like,
had proved myself to or they were impressed by me
or trusted me and wanted to invest in my continuation.
And so I think I was like, but there must
have been like along the way, there were definitely inspirational
women or that women that I would have contact with
(36:32):
who would be supportive, but I wouldn't say like one
who was, you know, my ongoing mentor throughout things. So
I wasn't sure how I was going to answer, but
I have to take it back to family, and I
would really say it's my sister or four years apart,
but she's I think some of it of what I
(36:52):
was saying, of like why I'm so hard on myself
or why I had been so hard on myself, I
think when I finally got to the answer, some of
it came from her influence in my life. She's very
type A and very like, you know, things are black
and white, and she's very you know, I'm a piscis,
you know, man, I can flow left or right fish
(37:14):
you know, I'm a little bit looser with things. I'm
a little bit more emotional. I'm the you know, the
hugger in the family. My mom and I were the
ones who are more you know, affectionate and physical in
that way. And my sister who has that side to her,
but she's much more all about business and messaged a
(37:35):
lot when I was growing up in my twenties, like
you know, Angela like should be on top of things,
and you know, make sure you're on time. If you're
if you're on time, you're late, like you know, all
that type of stuff. And it used to feel like
a lot of pressure, but I've I came to appreciate
it because it also came with a lot of support
of her also, you know, backing me up and saying
(37:58):
like you can do this, and then giving me very
you know, clear instructions on how she thinks I should
do it. And I think before I had my own confidence.
When I would be in rooms like you know, people
ask me like, what's it like being the only woman,
you know at the table, the only black person at
the table, I'm like, well, I've been one of those
things almost my entire life, just of how I grew
(38:20):
up where I grew up, Like it doesn't throw me off,
but if I would get nervous in a situation, I
would channel my sister like how she would handle it,
and it would kind of just be automatic, like bat
goes up, postures up and very clear and how you
speak and you're very you know, don't sugarcoat things with people.
(38:40):
And I would have to like use her to be
able to get through a situation. And then over time
I found my way of you know, being that type
of assertive and didn't need to do that. But her
influence both watching how she's navigated her career how she
has had tough you know, experiences and being told she
(39:03):
wasn't good enough, and really being in situations where being
the only woman or the only black person when she
was still in science, like in a lab of white men,
telling her flat out like you know, you don't belong here,
and you cannot make any mistakes because people are already
looking at you like what are you doing here? Like
what type of pressure does that put on somebody? So
(39:24):
she learned how to navigate all that, and by watching her,
I think that really helped develop how I wanted to
be professionally. And then again just that she's just always
been there to support me and and now is my
person that you know, if I have a long or
frustrating day or you know, dealing with something, you know,
(39:47):
with each new responsibility in the role I have now,
and just along the way, she's my sounding board of
like I think I handled this right, or you know,
you know, what's your opinion on this? And she's really
by my flower. All my flowers go to my big
sister Stephanie.
Speaker 1 (40:06):
Oh Stephanie, we love you. That's nice. Okay, So now
we're getting into my favorite segment of our conversation, and
that is food is love. And my first question for
you is what food best describes your personality?
Speaker 2 (40:25):
And why I'm gonna go with lasagna because I'm layered, Tommy,
I got a lot of layers and people can't don't
always know like what's under there. And also it comes
in all different varieties, you know. People always think of
the you know, traditional with the meat, sauce and all
that stuff, but and having lived in Italy for four years,
(40:45):
all kinds of different types of lasagna. So I feel
like I'm layered. I'm comforting and nourishing like a very
good lasagna, and that generally most people like you know
or some outliers you know, may not be. It might
be an acquired taste for some. But I feel like
(41:05):
me and lasagna or a match. Okay.
Speaker 1 (41:10):
Has there ever been a time in your life where
food was healing and comforting for you?
Speaker 2 (41:17):
In those two years when I was not sure where
my life was going, and again just a little more contexts,
I had left ABC at the same time that coincided
with breakup in my personal life. I had because I
wasn't sure what I was going to be doing next.
I had downsized my gorgeous West Village apartment I loved
(41:41):
so much, put all my stuff in storage, and sublet
my friend's apartment, and so I didn't have any of
my stuff. I felt like I didn't have my identity.
I don't have a job, and no man, not that
these were my job. No man, I don't have my
stuff from like somebody else's house. And I just I
started cooking. I hadn't really. I've always liked to cook,
(42:04):
but I like to cook four people, so you know,
making big meals or dinners for myself. I never really
did that, but I started just finding comfort one. I
started watching a lot of cooking shows because like, well,
not working so you can only read so many books
or go to the gym so many times, and started
watching cooking shows and that became a source of comfort
(42:27):
and also just something to do in that time when
I was still trying to figure out what's next. And
then that time period led into my moving here in
twenty twenty, which happened to coincide. It wasn't because of COVID.
I was actually coming out to La for a job.
I had two jobs lined up, but I landed on
March twentieth, which was the day that everything shut down
(42:49):
and so jobs went away, which meant the apartment that
I had lined up, and I was like, oh well,
and I want to blow all my savings if I
don't know when I'm going to work. So I moved
in with the aforementioned parents at forty something years old,
which was interesting, but all during quarantine and lockdown, I
was with them, and food became our escape. It became
(43:12):
one my purpose and my activity. Like I said, I
feel like I have my purpose is to nourish or
to give or to support. And you know, my parents,
my mom had just gotten a cancer diagnosis as well,
so we were obviously like extra careful about you know,
we had to stay inside, but just being really careful,
(43:32):
like with her immune system. So I started cooking every
single day, and some of it was you know, food
that was meant to help support her as she started
her cancer treatment. And then from there it turned into
how our escape, our voyage. I'm like, Okay, tonight, we're
going to Korea. And I would make got some like
(43:54):
cool recipe of like a salted pork thing that's like
from some restaurant in New York, or we would have
like Italian night and I would make a lasagna just
everything we were like all over the world, and I
would start, you know, I'm not a big social media person,
and all my little small private Instagram would you know,
post my pictures and our little flags of where we
(44:15):
were going tonight. And it was so comforting because one
they loved it. They couldn't wait, and you know, we
would play like music from whatever country you know the
food was from, and just making an experience because wasn't
anything else to do. So food became our connection and
our escape.
Speaker 1 (44:35):
You made your life for production, Trout, You made it
a production like themes.
Speaker 2 (44:42):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (44:42):
Yeah, Does your family have an heirloom recipe that is
passed down from generation to generation?
Speaker 2 (44:51):
Gumbo? So, my dad's side of the family is from
New Orleans, from Louisiana, and my grandmother in particular, and
I don't know where she if it came from her mother,
the recipe, but she kept her secret for a long
time until one day we looked up and it turns
like she came with these little book like from the
(45:12):
church parish where they had done a church cookbook, and
she gave the recipe. She didn't even gave the recipe
to the church cookbooks. We're like, okay, well, now the
real recipe I think she left out because her secret
is like usually with gumbo you either use fela or
okra to thicken it. She uses both, so it kind
of like adds a little something. So I think in
(45:33):
the version for the cookbook, I think she only put
okra or something in there. But that's my sister has
perfected it. I've done it, I think once by myself.
Other times I've done it, like with my other grandmother,
the one whose recipe it was. She taught my other
grandmother at one point they lived together, like all four
grandparents tell you, it was like a wonderful way of
(45:56):
growing up. Taught my other grandmother how to make it,
and so then she would get competitive, like I can
make it even better. So that's our our heirloom recipes
is gumbo, and we usually have it around Christmas or Thanksgiving.
Speaker 1 (46:09):
Okay, Okay, So now this piece of our conversation surrounding
food is it's a remix, and so I need for
you to share your favorite game day meal food and
then I want you to give it to give it
the angela remix that we're going to eat when we're
sitting out on your lanai and this oasis of a
(46:33):
home that you have enjoying it watching that big screen TV.
Speaker 2 (46:37):
I would say, I like, I like dips, but like
hot dips. So there's this this crab, this hot crab
dip that I make. My little secret thing in there
is smoke paprika, but maybe that's not so secret. A
lot of people do that. Then I just last season started,
I added a corn like a hot corn dip, which
(46:59):
I think would like sometimes. I don't really like corn,
Oh my god, it's so good. But my favorite is
a spinach artichoke dip. And you know, and you get
all the different things that you can, you know, use
to to to scoop them with. But for the spinach artichoke,
the little spin I like to put on it. I know,
for a lot of women, for Beyonce in particular, they
got hot sauce in their purse. For me, it's truffle
(47:21):
oil or anything truffle. As soon as I smell truffle,
like that's my thing. So little dab of truffle oil
in there in the spinach artichoke dip in particular, in
that one that's you'll you'll it's a good way to
watch the game. You'll be like kind of hunched over.
I think more. It's delicious.
Speaker 1 (47:42):
Yes, I love all three of those dips. I would
enjoy all of them. I know already just based off
of the description. So I'm down anytime you call. I'm coming.
Speaker 2 (47:56):
In to the recipe as well, because they are just yeah,
they're fire.
Speaker 1 (48:02):
Yes. Well listen, Angela. I am so grateful that you
took the opportunity to come and join me at the
Stale Wild Table. Just know that you are welcome here anytime.
Speaker 2 (48:15):
Thank you so much, Tommy. This has been a great conversation,
great platform, and hopefully there are some takeaways that your
listeners can get from it.
Speaker 1 (48:24):
I'm sure, I'm sure, thank you.
Speaker 2 (48:26):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (48:28):
I hope you felt the love and connection in today's conversation.
Every woman you heard from has faced the impossible and
emerged stronger. This is your personal invitation to stale while
longer at tommyv dot com. That's t o mmiv dot
com for more inspiration for your mind, body, and soul,
(48:50):
and let's not forget your belly. You're always welcome at
my table. Please be sure to subscribe, make yourself at
home and stale, wild gone. Stay well, tell me me gone,
Stay well, tell me me
Welcome to Stay a Wile, the podcast that's virtual soul
food for your ears. I am your host, Tommy Vincent,
and each week we break bread with gold passionate women
who have faced the impossible and are still standing to
share their testimonies. Make yourself at home and stay a Wile.
(00:22):
Hi everyone, this is Tommy Vincent, your host of Stay
a Wild podcast, and today we have joining us at
the table, Angela Ellis. Angela is the vice President of
Original Content and Entertainment for the NFL. Prior to that,
Angela was the executive broadcast producer at ABC's Good Morning America,
(00:46):
leading to Emmy wins and number one ratings. Interestingly enough,
Angela transitioned from a long career in the news industry
over to the sports side, and we'll talk about that
more in our converse. But Angela, before we go there,
I would like to know from you. Who is Angela Ellis?
Speaker 2 (01:07):
Oh wow, that's a big question. First, thank you, Tommy.
Happy to be on Stay Awhile. I am a genuine
person who has had a lot of experiences. I was
going to say has led, but I'm going to say
actively is leading an extraordinary life where each phase of
(01:30):
my life, I've uncovered new parts of myself and I
think where I am now at fifty, I'm bold and
happy to say that Angela is a confident person, who
is someone who sees herself of service, who approaches both
her professional life from a servant leadership standpoint, and how
(01:52):
I can kind of fulfill a leadership role but by
bringing people, helping elevate people and bring them up, and
in my personal life as well, how I can be
of service to this world, to my family, and really
embracing and knowing that that is I feel like my
God given purpose and have learned that over the course
(02:15):
of many years in my life, but really in the
last i'd say five to seven years, it's become crystallized
and really knowing who I am and standing in it now.
Speaker 1 (02:24):
You have had an extensive career in this space of media,
and there has been a journey to get where you
are today. Is this something that you always knew you
wanted to do or was it a career that found
(02:44):
you as.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
Early as college. I knew I wanted to do it before.
I think growing up I went through a phase. I
think it was just kind of this thing that I
have with my older sister like she want to be
a doctor. I want to be a lawyer. And she
used to tease me like, you're gonna work for Jacobe
and Myers, And for some reason I thought like I
was start crying. I was like eight years old. No,
I'm not, Stephanie. I'm sure they're a lovely firm. They
still exists. So after the lawyer phase, then, like all
(03:09):
through my preteen and teen years, I really wanted to
be a fashion designer and would spend hours drawing and designing.
Went to design school in the summer. I can't sew,
still can't sew, and that kind of felt like a
barrier to that career. So college is when I got
someplace and kind of heard this one thing. I think
it was second semester freshman year, and it was the
(03:31):
first class in Media and Communications department, and the professor said,
the most powerful people in the world are those who
control information. And I was like, Oh, sign me up
for that. And from that point on, I knew I
wanted to be in media. I wanted to tell stories.
I knew I want to be behind the camera, you know,
(03:52):
being the one who is sharing information and choosing information
and how to tell it to people.
Speaker 1 (03:58):
What was your very first job in the industry.
Speaker 2 (04:02):
My first job, I guess internships aside. I was at
CNN in San Francisco for a whiles in intern and
a few other places. My first job was at actually
at ABC. It was while I was in grad school.
So after I graduated college, I moved to New York
and went to Columbia Journalism School, and my last semester there,
(04:26):
the last bit overlapped with a job at ABC, and
so that was the first time I worked at ABC.
I was a production assistant. There was this news legend,
Carol Simpson who was on the air. She was the
only black woman anchor. She was did the weekend World
news and just had always had this groundbreaking career, so
(04:48):
it was amazing. So I was a PA on her
show and that was that was my first entry into
a very fulfilling but very hectic and stressful at times
industry in news and breaking news.
Speaker 1 (05:06):
Mm hmm. So that's that's the part I was going
to talk about, Like when you're young and your bright
eyed and bushy tailed and looking forward to this work,
and then you get into it and you realize there
is a hierarchy to you know the industry, and so
when you're at the bottom, if you will, there are
(05:27):
some things that come along with that territory, and there's
a lot of grunt work that takes place in that process.
Was there ever a time where you was like, you
know what, this is not for me.
Speaker 2 (05:41):
No? Actually I loved it. And I'll say, Timmy, that's
one of the things that really gets me now with
you know, I start to feel old saying like this
current generation like hard, something like oh it's a little hard,
or I have to stay here like a little extra hours,
stay out. I really I loved it. I embraced it
in that job, like really getting a chance to learn,
(06:02):
you know, put into practice things I had learned in college,
in journalism school, but actually doing television, doing news, you know,
it was a whole different thing. And so it was
just more learning opportunities. So I would just keep raising
my hand and that was job was probably maybe three
months I really count my first like full on in
(06:25):
the industry job. It was right after I graduated from Columbia.
I started at NBC News and I worked for Dayline,
and that was like another master's program. I learned so
much and in the same way I embraced all of
the I'm the lowest on the totem pole here, whatever
you need me to do, because that way I couldn't
(06:46):
absorb and learn everything in media industry, and especially at
this time in the in the late nineties, you know,
there was still you know, we're working off tape and
it's it was a lot more involved to to you know,
get content than it is now. You know, it can
easily just punch something up and look on YouTube or whatever.
(07:07):
So doing all the research, finding old video, going through
the video libraries. The first huge project that I had,
or big news story when I started at Dayline was
the death of Princess Diana and that was an all
hands on deck. Nobody has any off days. We're here
around the clock because this is just going to be rolling.
(07:29):
And so I raised my hand and volunteered. I said,
I can arrange order all of our archive tapes that
have anything they have to do with Princess Diana and
the royals, and I will log all of them, meaning
sit there, watch them, type out the time code, describe
what's happening, transcribe who's saying what, and then catalog them
by a category of Diana and fashion, Diana and Cherry
(07:53):
the kids. You know how long it took me. I
was there hours and hours overnight for days, but it
I learned a lot. It made me indispensable because every
producer and ones I really respected, who were, you know,
pretty high up on the wrong. I had all these
people coming to me like where can I find this?
Or I could suggest to them things because I knew
it better than they did, so it became an advantage.
(08:16):
And ever since then, I've you know, I might still
roll my eyes of like, oh god, it was so hard,
or this is so annoying, or like I really want
to go home because I am someone who enjoys sleep,
but I never shirked away from it.
Speaker 1 (08:31):
Did somebody teach you that, you know, was that a
knowledge transfer about just stay the course and be grateful
in the process, that this is just part of it.
Speaker 2 (08:44):
Yeah. I think overall my family work ethic. I grew
up in this this we always say, like this clan
of eight you know out here. I'm originally from from
Los Angeles, but my mom's side is from from Tennessee
and Saint Louis area, and my dad's side is from
Louisiana and they all somehow ended up here, and I
had this really great upbringing with all four grandparents, never
(09:08):
had babysitters because well, my parents were working, they would,
you know, alternate picking me and my sister up from school,
and all of them, from the grandparents to my parents,
instilled in me and my sister won the whole thing
that you know, a lot of people of color, and
especially black people here you have to give one hundred
and ten percent just to be seen as you know,
(09:30):
good enough to walk in the door. But also but
you can do whatever you want. Just put in the work,
and you know, the world is yours. So it was
kind of like not even a question, that was the ethic.
And then I think there's also a part of my
personality that's very much like, Okay, what do I need
to do to achieve this thing? And at some times
(09:54):
that could mean what do I have to do to
achieve this life goal? And in my early twenties I
was very like like five year plan, I want to
do this, I want this role, or for me it
was every two years. I ended up being promoted every
two years. So then I'm like, well, it's already happening,
so let me make that a goal to keep happening.
I've since way calmed down from that type of stuff,
(10:15):
but I think I just embraced knowing that it was
getting me to you know, doing putting in the work
was getting me to an end. Sometimes that end was
if I can finish this, then I can go the
heck home or do what I want to be doing,
which is not being at work. So sometimes, especially even
now in these days, I'm like, I get stuff done
(10:37):
quickly on time. You know, people often comment like whenever
there's you know, a group project and we all have
some piece of it, I'm one of the first to
have it done. It's not because I missed like a type.
It's like because I want to go go home, or
I want to go see my friends, or I want
to be with my family or do something else. So
in some way or function, it's basically putting in the
(10:58):
work so I could the benefits and reach some other side,
some other goal.
Speaker 1 (11:04):
Can we talk about your transition from the news industry
into the sports industry, especially since you had such a
long stint in the news industry, It's it's almost like
going into a whole new career if you will, and
so can you just talk us through that and what
that was like for you.
Speaker 2 (11:26):
That was to say, when I first had the invitation
to come on stay a while and the description about
you know, overcoming challenges to get to where you are,
and I've had questions like that before sometimes on panels
like you know, what are some big, you know hurdles
you faced in your career? And it always drives my
sister crazy whenever I'm like, I haven't really had any
(11:49):
because kind of good at what I do, and people
always seem to know that. It's like, I've never really
had any of those big, you know barriers. She did,
but she was also in a different field, like she
was in science and met and you know, in dealing
with I don't know, we just had a different experience.
But then I thought, well, let me not look so back,
you know, across my entire career. It's really been since
(12:11):
I'd say it started twenty seventeen. I was at Good
Morning America and I had been there approaching ten years
at that point, which wasn't expected for me. When I
started there, I was a freelance producer. I'd come off
another role for ABC on a show that I loved.
It got canceled. They wanted to keep me, but the
(12:31):
only thing they had was Good Morning America. Before that,
I had worked, like I said, at Dateline, so longer form,
you know, our long storytelling, in depth storytelling. In between,
I moved to Italy and was working there and in
Egypt doing documentaries long form. The show I worked on
for ABC was you know, longer form. And then here
(12:53):
comes Okay, we have this temporary job at Good Morning America.
Take it and we'll find a spot for you after.
I'm not a morning person, or wasn't at the time.
I didn't really like morning TV. It didn't feel like
the right fit. But like, okay, I'll do it. I'll
stay a while, just a short while. Fast forward ten years.
I kept getting promoted every two years. I was like dragged,
(13:15):
like by the momentum of my own like I know
I'm good at this, but like, do I want to
do this? So by twenty seventeen, the answer I was
starting to crystallize is no, I know I'm good at it,
but I don't. I'm not enjoying this. This isn't fulfilling
for me. And then I got promoted again, and that
kind of changed a lot to that last title, the
(13:36):
one you mentioned, executive broadcast producer, meaning I ran you know,
it was a two hour show, so I ran all
of the first hour, so a lot of you know,
all the hard news and breaking news and political news.
And in twenty seventeen, if you remember that time period,
and after the twenty sixteen you know, elections and kind
of going through then we were all politics all the time.
(14:00):
It was getting harder and both the topics that we
were doing, you know, school shootings, mass shootings, it was
starting to get to me. And then the responsibility of
being in that role. I took it seriously and did
well at it, but it was again like do I
want to do this? And I had a mentor at
ABC who said, you know, keep going, like you know,
(14:21):
you're going to be the first black executive producer of
Good Morning America. And I was like, man, don't put that.
And this is a white man who told me this,
and I was like, don't put that weight on my shoulders,
Like I don't. Maybe I should want that, and there's
some people who think that I should, and I know
that that would mean a lot to a lot of people,
but I don't want that. And I don't want to
keep kind of seeing my life just kind of flash
(14:43):
before me by the momentum of my work ethic. So
by twenty eighteen, I had decided it was time for
me to move on. And then that was my limbo period.
And then this is where I think I forged the
new Angela that I am now, because that ended up
being almost two years of trying to figure out I
didn't leave News. I knew I didn't. It wasn't just Jume.
(15:05):
I wanted out of News, but I didn't know what.
For the first time ever, I always knew I want
this job, this place. I didn't know what it would be,
and I certainly didn't think sports because I'd always been
a casual sports fan. I played basketball, but in high
school Watch dated a football player all four years of
college at Cal Gobert's and was the assistant to the
(15:29):
event manager, so I would be down on the field
on the sidelines with the little Gatorade kids. I was
their little manager. So I loved college football, but I
wasn't a huge, you know, sports fan. And those two
years again, you know, with hindsight of seeing how God
was working in my life, because I was trying to
(15:50):
force things and make jobs happen. I thought I wanted
to work at Netflix, and I literally they wouldn't let
me in the door. And I was trying to say, like,
I have transferable skills, I haven't done this before, but
I can do this, and they're like, literally didn't let
me up from the lobby. That some woman came down
to talk to me in the lobby and was like
bye bye, and I had to let go. And then
(16:11):
I get a text from a recruiter saying, you know,
have a job opportunity at the NFL and so one.
Because it was a text, I thought it was spam,
so I deleted it, like I'm not my mama didn't
raise no fool. Then I got an email and it
seemed more legit. And my first reaction was because this
(16:32):
was early twenty one, and you know, it was still
coming off of late twenty George Floyd, when black people
were getting so many opportunities rightfully so, but also they
were just like coming left and right all these like
big jobs and things that sometimes weren't even right for
your experience level, but like they were just you know,
(16:53):
creating all these opportunities. So I had been used to
kind of fielding all these things and a lot of
them weren't right for me, and I thought this was
one that wasn't and I said, thanks for reaching out.
You know, I'm sure I have people in my network
that you know, that might be interested. And thankfully the
woman said, you know, can we just have a conversation.
(17:15):
We want to talk to you for a reason and
just just hear me out. And me deciding to take
that call again. That was God because it turned out
to be this now is I'd say it's been a
dream job, but it's also been I think one of
my favorite jobs. And I never saw it coming. I
(17:37):
never would have known to pray about it, to ask
for it, to target it. It just came up. And
I think as women can often do with you know,
if you don't hit every single point on a job description,
you kind of discount yourself or like take yourself out
of the running. And I realized now after being here,
(18:00):
job description like they didn't even know what they wanted.
They just kind of put everything in. There was a
new department, and I thought, okay. At first I was
like I don't know about this, and then I said, okay,
let me reset. This is basically what I've been doing
at storytelling. It just happens to be storytelling about players
and about the game. But the role that I was
(18:20):
doing in the department that I was leading wasn't about,
you know, live games or having deep football knowledge. It
was about who are these players, who are these teams
and fans when they're off the field, what are they
doing in their communities? Who are they as people? What
are they passionate about? And I was like, well, I
know how to do that, And so I talked myself
(18:41):
into really wanting this job and then pursuing it as
if I really wanted it.
Speaker 1 (18:47):
So you get to do what I believe is really
critical for the game and also the men who are
playing the game. And now you know, with flag football
there's the emergence of really elevating women on the football
field as well. But you get to take the helmets
(19:10):
off and take the jerseys off and really present them
as human beings and to tell the story that actually
got them to where they are today and help to
provide them the motivation and the drive and present the
why of why they are successful or were successful in
(19:34):
this space. And I really value that, you know, knowing
that you know, Troy, my husband, who has extensive experience
as a player and as an executive. There's so much
to him that I love about him that's endearing to me,
(19:55):
and just the type of man that he is that
doesn't get to show up in those basis, but they
really are his core values, his non negotiables, and drive
him to be the excellent steward of the game that
he is as well as you know, the lover of
the players and everything that makes the NFL what it is.
(20:18):
And so I appreciate that role that you have in
all of the projects that you've done, and I know
you love them all, but is there one that when
you think about it, you just really feel good about
presenting that story?
Speaker 2 (20:35):
It was one from last season our NFL three sixty
one of our you know, long form story storytelling platforms
or franchises that we have here, and it was the
indelible legacy of Jimmy Ray. And it was you know
(20:57):
about Jimmy Ray. It was Troy who brought the story
because your husband likes to text a lot, and which
is one more things like Jimmy Ray. Okay, sorry I'm
googling because you know, again not like a depth of
football knowledge. So first every time he would text, I
don't have to like google something like mm hmm. Yeah
he's he was like, yeah, the first black quarterback in
(21:19):
this like and and you want me to do what
we need to you know, capture his story. You know,
he's he's getting older and like this needs to be
you know, on the record. And so working with one
of our great producers here, Osahan Tongo and one of
my team leads, Dallas Hitchcock and they run NFL three sixty,
(21:40):
they came up with how to tell Jimmy Ray's story
and I got to be a part of that as
you know, the executive in charge. So the feature itself
just turned out wonderfully and all credit to you know,
to them for how they produced it and told jimmy
story wove it through to today of how it because
of him we see all these black quarterbacks now, but
(22:03):
like how he was the first and was part of
this underground railroad that was coming from the South going
up to Michigan and how that like kind of opened
up this world for black players after that. But why
I'm so proud one just of the story itself and
that we got it out there. We won an Emmy
for that as well as one of the congratulations magically
(22:27):
oprom My corner. I don't have my shot like that
for nothing. There's two other on the other side that
you can't see. But also we did this great event
and it felt like a bit of a coming out
party for me because it was my second Super Bowl
so it's you know, still you know, relatively new in
the league. And it was that Super Bowl week and
(22:47):
we did a premiere VIP screening of the Indelible Legacy
of Jimmy Ray and had you know, players and it
was at you know, when we were in Phoenix, at
One of the Universe. There they had a new Sydney
Poitier Film School and it just opened. So we did
the screening there, had a panel with Jimmy Ray and
the filmmakers. Your husband was supposed to be there but
(23:11):
wrong directions and and I was like, truly but he
paid for the event, so thank you for his department
for that. But it was a real moment for me,
I think, feeling like I had arrived in this world
of sports and storytelling and how they converge and standing
(23:32):
up on that stage and introducing the filmmakers introducing Jimmy Ray.
It just it was kind of like this, this pivotal
moment for me, I think in my career because I
realized then, I think, how much, how how much fun
I was having doing this job and I hadn't felt
that in a really long time at work, and.
Speaker 1 (23:52):
You arrived with it. Emmy, Like, yes, here you talked
about how you when you were in the news industry.
You you know, you lived overseas for some time in
Italy and you've had experience in other countries. How has
(24:14):
your worldview because that's a different perspective. You've been in
other countries, so you're seeing beyond the lens of the
United States. How has that impacted your work as a
content creator?
Speaker 2 (24:26):
That's a good question. I think it helps you keep
an open mind because you know, there's so many different
different walks of life. Actually it's twofold one. It keeps
you open to like different ways people have of thinking
or doing things, motivations for why they do it, whether
it's culturally based or their family or just kind of
(24:49):
the national, you know, way of doing things, and which
you don't really think about sometimes when you're you're just
in one environment, and especially Americans, how you know, we
can vary easily think that we're the only way of
doing things, especially when it comes to work, and are
really you know, lived to work instead of work to
play ethic. I really enjoyed being in Italy, where it
(25:12):
was the opposite of that, even though I worked really hard,
they were very good at like, but when you're off,
you're off, and you're enjoying family and food and friends.
But then the other side of the coin is having
lived in these different places and met so many people,
both from that experience of living abroad, but also just
in the career that I have of you know, being
(25:34):
a journalist and being in media, traveling and interviewing so
many different people even here, like in different places in
the country, like up in the hills in Appalachia with
a self described hillbilly, like I had never seen a
world like that, just like I had never seen you
know underneath you know, tombs underneath the sands of Egypt,
(25:56):
and you know, working with you know, foreign archaeologists rus
But all of those different groups of people there were
still like common human stories of love or pain, overcoming something,
having a dream. You start to like see those common
(26:17):
themes and kind of taking it back to where I
am now and our helmets off approach as different as
you know players might be, or teams might be, or
groups of fans, we all kind of the thing that
we say about, you know, football, is that it brings
us all together. It has like some common themes that
unite us, like rooting for the underdog, overcoming strife, working hard.
(26:39):
I found the same in how having so much exposure
to people kind of kind of boiled down some like
common fundamentals where even if you may not even totally
understand the language or the accent that they're telling you
their story, and you can still relate because there's like
a common humanity there.
Speaker 1 (27:00):
You talked about in one of the things you miss overseas,
about what they call it a siesta where you're off
in the you know, they enjoy their time, and you
talked about how you talked about how even now, when
you're doing your group projects at work, you're like, no,
(27:20):
I finished, because I want to go home. So we
understand you enjoy that part of the job just as much.
What do you do on your downtime.
Speaker 2 (27:32):
Well a lot of it. So I moved back to
la in twenty twenty, and my parents have always stayed
in LA My sister now lives in Seattle, so when
I moved back from New York, they're ten minutes away,
which is both a blessing and occurs all right if
they see this very close both ten minutes from work
and ten minutes from my house, so like they can
(27:53):
catch me on the way in or on the way out.
So as they age and you know, are in their
mental late seventies, spend a lot of time with them.
But I also really enjoy their company. They're very fun
people I have. I think I'm maybe almost a year
into golf. I just started still learning, taking lessons, but
(28:15):
really loving it. So that's been kind of like taking
up a lot of my free time in a way
that was actually unexpected because I had like hit around
a couple of times and I was like, I don't
get it and it seems stupid. And then I had
that experience of like I hit one really great when
I was and so I've been chasing that feeling ever since.
(28:35):
But I, like, you know, just trying different things, and
sometimes I go through phases. Last year around this time,
I was in a tango phase, which I had gone
through about ten years ago and decided I'm going to
start taking tango classes because I just want to keep,
you know, just doing different stuff. I live by the beach,
so I like to spend a lot of time outside,
(28:58):
going for walks, riding my bike, but just kind of
pretty basic things I would like to say, like, oh,
I like to travel. I like to do this, but
you know, work realities. Maybe that's once or twice a year.
I do still love, you know, going abroad and exploring places,
but I think my regular downtime is the things I mentioned.
(29:18):
And I'm a homebody. I love, but not like you know, introverts.
I love my home. I kind of have it decorated
like it's a resort I always thought I would have.
I'm listen, spats, slippers and everything, and it's just like
(29:38):
it's all like you know, mades of like cream and
white and stone. It feels like you're in where. I
love being in the Mediterranean and some last I want
my home to feel that way, and it's my sanctuary
and I have my spot where I can look out.
I live in the marina, so I can like look out,
see the water, see boats going by. I'm a big
(29:58):
screen TV. We watch the game or watching a movie,
and like that's my sweet spot, and sometimes I have
to force myself to get out of it. I don't
have kids. I am a very dedicated auntie to both
blood related children and kind of universal auntie to many
different friends and now co workers. But I enjoy my solitude.
(30:25):
But I have just forced myself out of it to
make sure I'm having other interactions. But that's how I
recharge from like, you know, giving a lot to my parents,
giving a lot at work. I like to volunteer, so
I feel like I tick all those other boxes so
I don't feel guilty when I do, which I think,
as they're calling it now, couch fraught sounds bad, but
(30:47):
I used to go. I call it hermit hermit days
where I'm like, phones off, I don't want to talk
to anybody. I just want to be in my spot
or in my house, enjoying my space hermit time.
Speaker 1 (30:58):
Now you said your sister she is she's in the
medical field.
Speaker 2 (31:02):
No, she At the time when she was going through
her toughest career, she also did a big pivot. But
she was studying to go to medical school and was
working in science. But then crazy pivot that she had
when she moved to Seattle after she got married, met
the great black artist Jacob Lawrence, and he asked her
(31:23):
to work on a catalog project like Catalog and all
of his works that felt familiar to her from her
science background of you know, because it's you know, it's
very process oriented in your you know, just going through
and itemizing catalog and searching. But that led to a
career in the arts and charity and she's now a
(31:45):
philanthropic advisor to high net worth individuals basically and people
with a lot of money where to give it to
people who needed.
Speaker 1 (31:53):
They Yeah, I was thinking, wait a minute, she's a
real Gray's anatomy in Seattle, Washington medicine. That's my show.
Wait a minute, I could have been her, could have
been her, but she made that. So I want you
to think about your career, the span of time from
(32:17):
when you started to where you are today, and a
moment in time that if you could redo what you
would what advice would you give to yourself back then
based off of what you know today.
Speaker 2 (32:38):
I don't know that there are a lot of things
that I like regrets on the career path, but advice
that I would give myself is to lighten up because
I was. I was pretty intense internally intense. I think,
like when I mentioned before, I hadn't you know, really
had any like big challenges or outside forces telling me
(33:01):
I wasn't good enough or couldn't do something. I had
plenty of that internally, and I've thought a lot over
the last several years, like trying to figure out the
origin of that, because it didn't come from you know,
parents or a family that was always drilling into me
like you have to be perfect, or you have to
be this, or you need to have this job. They
(33:21):
were always like, do whatever you want to do. You
can do whatever you want to do. We've got your
back and you being happy. That's all we care about.
So but inside I was feeding myself these messages of
like I have to be excellent, I have to I
think I overly internalized that one hundred and ten percent,
(33:44):
and that could lead to a lot of imposter syndrome
or times when I was good at least at faking
it on the outside because I kind of have a
poker face, I guess, or a calmness. I always think
it's kind of resting bitch face. It seemed like I
had some people be like that, but I was. I
(34:06):
was very serious because I wanted to be taken seriously
as a woman, as a black woman. I looked younger,
but people always thought I was younger than I was.
I think I still do at fifty, but you look good.
But you know, especially in my twenties, like you know,
so I would overcompensate by always just being you know,
(34:26):
really serious, and I look back now, I'm just like
girl lighting up. It's like, show some personality. And it
took me several several years into my career to start
to do that, and it made a difference in you know,
successful at work because people know I was a good worker,
but I didn't really have any deep connections with people
(34:46):
or people didn't really know me. And now when I
give advice to young people and I always say, you know,
boil it down to my four h's hard work, honesty, humility,
and I ended with humor. It's like, you know, because
no one wants to work for someone who's like, you know,
basically like a pill, who's just always like only all
(35:07):
about the work and serious and doesn't show some personality
and give you an in or a way for someone
to connect with you. So I would tell myself, my
younger self, to just lighten up, because it also helps
you be more comfortable with yourself. I was always trying
to prove something.
Speaker 1 (35:26):
So let's move into our next segment, which is I
am bringing her to the table with me, and this
is your opportunity to present virtual flowers to another woman,
because you know you would not be where you are
today without her fingerprint on your life.
Speaker 2 (35:46):
So this was an interesting one because when I saw,
you know, what this segment would be, and immediately was
thinking in terms of like throughout my career and again
like something that maybe is as common. A lot of
the big fingerprints on my professional side have come from
(36:09):
male mentors or co workers who, without my trying, like,
had proved myself to or they were impressed by me
or trusted me and wanted to invest in my continuation.
And so I think I was like, but there must
have been like along the way, there were definitely inspirational
women or that women that I would have contact with
(36:32):
who would be supportive, but I wouldn't say like one
who was, you know, my ongoing mentor throughout things. So
I wasn't sure how I was going to answer, but
I have to take it back to family, and I
would really say it's my sister or four years apart,
but she's I think some of it of what I
(36:52):
was saying, of like why I'm so hard on myself
or why I had been so hard on myself, I
think when I finally got to the answer, some of
it came from her influence in my life. She's very
type A and very like, you know, things are black
and white, and she's very you know, I'm a piscis,
you know, man, I can flow left or right fish
(37:14):
you know, I'm a little bit looser with things. I'm
a little bit more emotional. I'm the you know, the
hugger in the family. My mom and I were the
ones who are more you know, affectionate and physical in
that way. And my sister who has that side to her,
but she's much more all about business and messaged a
(37:35):
lot when I was growing up in my twenties, like
you know, Angela like should be on top of things,
and you know, make sure you're on time. If you're
if you're on time, you're late, like you know, all
that type of stuff. And it used to feel like
a lot of pressure, but I've I came to appreciate
it because it also came with a lot of support
of her also, you know, backing me up and saying
(37:58):
like you can do this, and then giving me very
you know, clear instructions on how she thinks I should
do it. And I think before I had my own confidence.
When I would be in rooms like you know, people
ask me like, what's it like being the only woman,
you know at the table, the only black person at
the table, I'm like, well, I've been one of those
things almost my entire life, just of how I grew
(38:20):
up where I grew up, Like it doesn't throw me off,
but if I would get nervous in a situation, I
would channel my sister like how she would handle it,
and it would kind of just be automatic, like bat
goes up, postures up and very clear and how you
speak and you're very you know, don't sugarcoat things with people.
(38:40):
And I would have to like use her to be
able to get through a situation. And then over time
I found my way of you know, being that type
of assertive and didn't need to do that. But her
influence both watching how she's navigated her career how she
has had tough you know, experiences and being told she
(39:03):
wasn't good enough, and really being in situations where being
the only woman or the only black person when she
was still in science, like in a lab of white men,
telling her flat out like you know, you don't belong here,
and you cannot make any mistakes because people are already
looking at you like what are you doing here? Like
what type of pressure does that put on somebody? So
(39:24):
she learned how to navigate all that, and by watching her,
I think that really helped develop how I wanted to
be professionally. And then again just that she's just always
been there to support me and and now is my
person that you know, if I have a long or
frustrating day or you know, dealing with something, you know,
(39:47):
with each new responsibility in the role I have now,
and just along the way, she's my sounding board of
like I think I handled this right, or you know,
you know, what's your opinion on this? And she's really
by my flower. All my flowers go to my big
sister Stephanie.
Speaker 1 (40:06):
Oh Stephanie, we love you. That's nice. Okay, So now
we're getting into my favorite segment of our conversation, and
that is food is love. And my first question for
you is what food best describes your personality?
Speaker 2 (40:25):
And why I'm gonna go with lasagna because I'm layered, Tommy,
I got a lot of layers and people can't don't
always know like what's under there. And also it comes
in all different varieties, you know. People always think of
the you know, traditional with the meat, sauce and all
that stuff, but and having lived in Italy for four years,
(40:45):
all kinds of different types of lasagna. So I feel
like I'm layered. I'm comforting and nourishing like a very
good lasagna, and that generally most people like you know
or some outliers you know, may not be. It might
be an acquired taste for some. But I feel like
(41:05):
me and lasagna or a match. Okay.
Speaker 1 (41:10):
Has there ever been a time in your life where
food was healing and comforting for you?
Speaker 2 (41:17):
In those two years when I was not sure where
my life was going, and again just a little more contexts,
I had left ABC at the same time that coincided
with breakup in my personal life. I had because I
wasn't sure what I was going to be doing next.
I had downsized my gorgeous West Village apartment I loved
(41:41):
so much, put all my stuff in storage, and sublet
my friend's apartment, and so I didn't have any of
my stuff. I felt like I didn't have my identity.
I don't have a job, and no man, not that
these were my job. No man, I don't have my
stuff from like somebody else's house. And I just I
started cooking. I hadn't really. I've always liked to cook,
(42:04):
but I like to cook four people, so you know,
making big meals or dinners for myself. I never really
did that, but I started just finding comfort one. I
started watching a lot of cooking shows because like, well,
not working so you can only read so many books
or go to the gym so many times, and started
watching cooking shows and that became a source of comfort
(42:27):
and also just something to do in that time when
I was still trying to figure out what's next. And
then that time period led into my moving here in
twenty twenty, which happened to coincide. It wasn't because of COVID.
I was actually coming out to La for a job.
I had two jobs lined up, but I landed on
March twentieth, which was the day that everything shut down
(42:49):
and so jobs went away, which meant the apartment that
I had lined up, and I was like, oh well,
and I want to blow all my savings if I
don't know when I'm going to work. So I moved
in with the aforementioned parents at forty something years old,
which was interesting, but all during quarantine and lockdown, I
was with them, and food became our escape. It became
(43:12):
one my purpose and my activity. Like I said, I
feel like I have my purpose is to nourish or
to give or to support. And you know, my parents,
my mom had just gotten a cancer diagnosis as well,
so we were obviously like extra careful about you know,
we had to stay inside, but just being really careful,
(43:32):
like with her immune system. So I started cooking every
single day, and some of it was you know, food
that was meant to help support her as she started
her cancer treatment. And then from there it turned into
how our escape, our voyage. I'm like, Okay, tonight, we're
going to Korea. And I would make got some like
(43:54):
cool recipe of like a salted pork thing that's like
from some restaurant in New York, or we would have
like Italian night and I would make a lasagna just
everything we were like all over the world, and I
would start, you know, I'm not a big social media person,
and all my little small private Instagram would you know,
post my pictures and our little flags of where we
(44:15):
were going tonight. And it was so comforting because one
they loved it. They couldn't wait, and you know, we
would play like music from whatever country you know the
food was from, and just making an experience because wasn't
anything else to do. So food became our connection and
our escape.
Speaker 1 (44:35):
You made your life for production, Trout, You made it
a production like themes.
Speaker 2 (44:42):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (44:42):
Yeah, Does your family have an heirloom recipe that is
passed down from generation to generation?
Speaker 2 (44:51):
Gumbo? So, my dad's side of the family is from
New Orleans, from Louisiana, and my grandmother in particular, and
I don't know where she if it came from her mother,
the recipe, but she kept her secret for a long
time until one day we looked up and it turns
like she came with these little book like from the
(45:12):
church parish where they had done a church cookbook, and
she gave the recipe. She didn't even gave the recipe
to the church cookbooks. We're like, okay, well, now the
real recipe I think she left out because her secret
is like usually with gumbo you either use fela or
okra to thicken it. She uses both, so it kind
of like adds a little something. So I think in
(45:33):
the version for the cookbook, I think she only put
okra or something in there. But that's my sister has
perfected it. I've done it, I think once by myself.
Other times I've done it, like with my other grandmother,
the one whose recipe it was. She taught my other
grandmother at one point they lived together, like all four
grandparents tell you, it was like a wonderful way of
(45:56):
growing up. Taught my other grandmother how to make it,
and so then she would get competitive, like I can
make it even better. So that's our our heirloom recipes
is gumbo, and we usually have it around Christmas or Thanksgiving.
Speaker 1 (46:09):
Okay, Okay, So now this piece of our conversation surrounding
food is it's a remix, and so I need for
you to share your favorite game day meal food and
then I want you to give it to give it
the angela remix that we're going to eat when we're
sitting out on your lanai and this oasis of a
(46:33):
home that you have enjoying it watching that big screen TV.
Speaker 2 (46:37):
I would say, I like, I like dips, but like
hot dips. So there's this this crab, this hot crab
dip that I make. My little secret thing in there
is smoke paprika, but maybe that's not so secret. A
lot of people do that. Then I just last season started,
I added a corn like a hot corn dip, which
(46:59):
I think would like sometimes. I don't really like corn,
Oh my god, it's so good. But my favorite is
a spinach artichoke dip. And you know, and you get
all the different things that you can, you know, use
to to to scoop them with. But for the spinach artichoke,
the little spin I like to put on it. I know,
for a lot of women, for Beyonce in particular, they
got hot sauce in their purse. For me, it's truffle
(47:21):
oil or anything truffle. As soon as I smell truffle,
like that's my thing. So little dab of truffle oil
in there in the spinach artichoke dip in particular, in
that one that's you'll you'll it's a good way to
watch the game. You'll be like kind of hunched over.
I think more. It's delicious.
Speaker 1 (47:42):
Yes, I love all three of those dips. I would
enjoy all of them. I know already just based off
of the description. So I'm down anytime you call. I'm coming.
Speaker 2 (47:56):
In to the recipe as well, because they are just yeah,
they're fire.
Speaker 1 (48:02):
Yes. Well listen, Angela. I am so grateful that you
took the opportunity to come and join me at the
Stale Wild Table. Just know that you are welcome here anytime.
Speaker 2 (48:15):
Thank you so much, Tommy. This has been a great conversation,
great platform, and hopefully there are some takeaways that your
listeners can get from it.
Speaker 1 (48:24):
I'm sure, I'm sure, thank you.
Speaker 2 (48:26):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (48:28):
I hope you felt the love and connection in today's conversation.
Every woman you heard from has faced the impossible and
emerged stronger. This is your personal invitation to stale while
longer at tommyv dot com. That's t o mmiv dot
com for more inspiration for your mind, body, and soul,
(48:50):
and let's not forget your belly. You're always welcome at
my table. Please be sure to subscribe, make yourself at
home and stale, wild gone. Stay well, tell me me gone,
Stay well, tell me me
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Football’s funniest family duo — Jason Kelce of the Philadelphia Eagles and Travis Kelce of the Kansas City Chiefs — team up to provide next-level access to life in the league as it unfolds. The two brothers and Super Bowl champions drop weekly insights about the weekly slate of games and share their INSIDE perspectives on trending NFL news and sports headlines. They also endlessly rag on each other as brothers do, chat the latest in pop culture and welcome some very popular and well-known friends to chat with them. Check out new episodes every Wednesday. Follow New Heights on the Wondery App, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to new episodes early and ad-free, and get exclusive content on Wondery+. Join Wondery+ in the Wondery App, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. And join our new membership for a unique fan experience by going to the New Heights YouTube channel now!
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.