#189: Taylor Rooks

This week on A Waste of Time with ItsTheReal, we welcome sports anchor and reporter and host of the 'TimeOut with Taylor Rooks' podcast, Gwinnett County's own, Taylor Rooks! Taylor discusses growing up in Georgia a driven student, a caring sister, and a poor parallel parker, why she chose to attend University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, her aspirations to be Barbara Walters meets Oprah, what she learned in class vs. the work she put in on her first blog, and how she hustled to get one-on-one interviews with LeBron James and Kevin Durant. We talk about how she wanted to circumvent the traditional job application formula and career ladder climb, how close she was to returning home after college without a job, what the Big Ten Network meant to her, what living in Chicago was like for a 21-year old, and the thinking behind making her way to NYC. Taylor recounts her time at SNY, why she started her podcast, how she booked Meek Mill for one of his first interviews after being released from prison, and how meaningful it is to speak directly with her audience, rather than at them. All that, plus family reunions, karaoke favorites, her sneaker collection, why she hasn't yet attended D'ussePalooza, what her grandmother thinks of her broadcasts, the effect Taylor Swift has on her name, and so much more!