Jemele Hill is arguably one of the best sports journalists today. Born and raised in Detroit before attending Michigan State University in East Lansing, Hill has had to overcome a lot to get to her current position.
“In college, where many people grow up, you are living on your own for the first time, and you do not have [parents] waking you up for classes. It really teaches you [that you] have to survive on your own. Or at least the way I went to college,” Hill said.
Whereas some people went to college and could afford to have their parents sending money all the time, Hill sometimes had to work 50 hours a week while balancing school.
“It taught me how to become an adult,” she said. “Detroit gave me the foundation, but Michigan State is where I grew up.”
Hill was the speaker for the Martin Luther King Jr. Commemoration as part of the Spotlight Board’s Distinguished Speakers Series during the 2019-20 school year. She answered countless questions from students, reminding us how good of a person she was.
One of the most respected people in sports media, Hill did not become an Emmy Award-winning journalist overnight. It took years for her to perfect her craft.
“I was fortunate. I knew in high school that I wanted to be a journalist, in the ninth or tenth grade. I always loved writing, reading and sports. I combined my three favorite things. Back then, you had to read the newspaper to keep up with your favorite sports team,” she said.
Hill developed and maintained her love of newspapers thanks to her experience in high school journalism, where she and her peers had to put together their student newspaper at the printing press of the local professional paper, the Detroit Free Press.
“That exposed me to a newsroom and I became hooked,” she said. “I was a part of an apprentice program in Detroit. It allowed me to be an apprentice for ten weeks. I got a newspaper job in the eleventh grade.”
Hill would remain at the paper for ten years before she joined ESPN.
Hill worked for nearly 12 years at ESPN. When she first arrived, she was a columnist for ESPN.com. Hill then began appearing on ESPN’s daytime talk shows, such as “First Take” and “Outside the Lines,” among other programs.
She finally got her big break in 2011. Along with Michael Smith, the two co-hosted their own talk show: “Numbers Never Lie.” Hill and Smith had great chemistry on camera, so ESPN decided to give them a block on SportsCenter at 6 p.m, known as “The Six.”
Not too long after “The Six” began airing, Hill sent out a tweet that changed her life forever: “Donald Trump is a white supremacist who has largely surrounded himself w/ other white supremacists.” Shortly after sending out the tweet, ESPN and Hill decided to go their separate ways.
Hill’s career did not stop at ESPN, however. She currently writes for The Atlantic magazine and speaks freely about whatever comes to her heart. The transition from talking about sports every day to having the freedom to talk about politics was very easy for Hill.
“It is important to understand the tools of journalism does not change; the only thing that changes is the subject matter. The thing that makes sports and politics something easy to transition [to] is because they have always been linked together,” she said. “As for me in my career, to write more commentary, you see how all the dots connect together. So a lot of times in sports, there are plenty of examples you can discuss racism, the lack of black coaches in the NFL. That is not just a problem in the NFL. That’s a problem in America.”
After Hill graduated from Michigan State, she did not go straight into covering the NBA. Instead, she covered high school athletics. Hill’s advice for graduating journalists who are about to enter the working world was arguably the day’s biggest takeaway.
“When I was first coming up as a journalist, you have to understand [that] very little did you cover what you want[ed] to cover, which is why you have to love the profession overall,” she said. “You want to be a sports writer? You do not start day one covering the NFL. You’ll probably start covering high school sports or maybe even lower than that. If you can do that, I feel like you have a great chance of being successful in this business.”
Early in Hill’s career, she found herself being the lone woman in the locker room. Being a woman in the sports industry is tough. Hill has a lot of young women who look up to her and would love to pick her brain about the industry.
“Be sure and know who you are before you get deep in the profession. There will be a lot of challenges and obstacles thrown at you. They will see what you aren’t before they see what you are,” she said. “You have to understand that you are under a different level of scrutiny. That does not mean you cannot be successful. It also does not mean those differences cannot be the reasons you are successful.”
It was not comfortable getting to the level of success in which she currently takes pride.
“My picture of success is constantly changing,” she said. “Early in your career, it is easy to say when you feel like you made it. My first job, I said, ‘If I make $50,000 a year, I made it. That’s my goal.’ A lot of people say, ‘You are already successful. You were at ESPN, on TV and a platform.’ Those are great, but it does not feel to me if I have accomplished anything. I’m trying to adjust my thinking and enjoy what I have been able to accomplish.I’m trying to reimagine what success looks like to me.”
