Taylor said her first NBA Draft experience was even better than she had anticipatedESPN IMAGES
ESPN’s MARIA TAYLOR is fresh off her NBA Draft debut handling post-selection interviews Thursday night, and now she is heading down to sunny Miami for the rest of the weekend as part of her non-profit foundation’s first retreat. Taylor, who joined ESPN back in ’14, helped co-found the Winning Edge Leadership Academy that same year. The organization looks to help women and minorities increase their understanding and application of skills necessary to secure positions in sports business. Taylor caught up with THE DAILY to discuss how the Draft went, shed light on the Academy’s efforts and how she kicks back on a few days off from the Worldwide Leader.
FACES & PLACES: The Winning Edge Leadership Academy is all about helping minorities and women get into the industry. This is our very first retreat that started on Thursday, so I missed the first day but we have our student-athletes here till Sunday at Miami Marriott Biscayne Bay. Before this we had one-on-one mentors for the student-athletes throughout the school year, but we realized they really don’t have time to be checking in with mentors all the time. So we tried to make it a little more intensive -- have them come in and meet some great people around the industry. Our goal is for them to end up with some internships or at the least some great contacts that they can walk away with for down the road.
WHY MIAMI? The Univ. of Miami has been really supportive of us as a partner and we wanted it to be a desirable destination. You want to have Virginia AD CARLA WILLIAMS excited about coming, so you don’t want to have it in a place like Alaska or something like that.
IN THE MEANTIME: I call Atlanta and N.Y. home. Say I’m going to cover a game at Clemson, I’m definitely going home to Mom and Dad in Atlanta to get a home-cooked meal. Then if I know I need to be in Bristol a couple times a week, I’ll stay in my apartment in N.Y. Whatever makes it a little bit easier. Recreation-wise, when I do “COLLEGE GAMEDAY,” me, DAVID POLLACK and GENE WOJCIECHOWSKI love to play some pickup basketball -- we’ve played against everyone from the team managers at TCU to some Wisconsin assistants. Then whenever I’m out in L.A. there’s a lot of pickup volleyball on the sand too. Traveling is another thing that’s important to me. I got back from Italy earlier this week -- me, HOLLY ROWE, her son and my mom all went to Milan, Lake Como and then Venice. Food-wise, I love Jacob’s Pickles in N.Y., and then in Atlanta I’ll go with The Varsity and also Mary Mac’s.
