Taylor Rooks Proves That Fortune Favors the Bold on ‘She’s So Lucky’

When someone tells you “no” a hundred times, Taylor Rooks says that’s where the story starts. In her conversation with Les Alfred from She’s So Lucky, the sports journalist and host opens up about what it means to create your own luck when the odds, the inbox, and the industry are stacked against you.

From navigating male-dominated spaces to refusing to let others define her worth, Rooks is a reminder that success won’t ever appear out of thin air—you’ve got to work for it.

How persistence becomes momentum

Rooks’ success story didn’t start with a viral interview or a big break—it was mostly just a bunch of unanswered emails. “When I was 19 years old, I was in college and I had been emailing the NBA like 100 times a day because I wanted them to credential me to be able to go to All-Star Weekend,” she says. Her persistence paid off, and they said yes.

That persistence led her from Champaign, Illinois, all the way to Orlando, where she met Kevin Durant—one of the few players who agreed to an interview with the then–student reporter. “Everyone was saying no, but he said yes, and I ended up asking him like three questions that I got to put on my reel,” Rooks reveals. That single moment snowballed into a long-term professional relationship and, years later, a viral interview when Durant’s trade broke live on stage.

Owning your confidence

At some point, every ambitious person hits the same wall. You stop chasing your own standard and start chasing everyone else’s. For Rooks, the turning point was realizing how much power she gave away by seeking external validation. “Something that I have seen, as people maybe get more successful, they stop judging themselves by their expectations, and they judge themselves by what other people want from them,” she says. “And when you do that, you’re kind of inherently taking away what your magic is, because it’s your expectations that got you to that place.”

For Rooks, confidence is all about alignment. “I just think I had to learn to lean into trusting what my thought is in my way, because it hasn’t really led me wrong yet,” she adds. Trusting yourself doesn’t mean ignoring feedback; it means knowing whose voice matters most—and that it should usually be your own.

Don’t let someone else’s limits define you

When people only know one version of you, they start believing that’s all you’re capable of—and sometimes, you believe them too. “Sometimes when you’re trying to ask somebody else about yourself, they only know what they know, but you know everything about you,” Rooks says. “Some people don’t understand your ability or even your mobility that you can do X, Y, and Z because maybe they’ve only seen you do X.”

Rooks gives a simple example: she built her reputation in the NBA, but she always knew she could thrive covering the NFL, too. Other people didn’t see that yet—but she didn’t need them to. “It’s silly to think that somebody else knows you more than you know yourself,” she says.

Turning bias into power

“I always really begin this conversation by saying how much I enjoy being a woman,” Rooks says. “There are a lot of things that I believe make me good at my job because of my experience as a woman, or at least what comes from being a woman.”

Instead of framing gender as an obstacle, Rooks reframes it as an advantage—warmth, empathy, and emotional intelligence are part of her toolkit. “I believe that people trust us more instantly,” she says. “There’s also just a strength and a get-it-done mentality that comes from being a woman, and those are all things that I credit a lot of my success in the space to.”

She doesn’t ignore the reality of bias—the constant proving, the oversexualization—but she refuses to let it define her. Being underestimated only reinforces how much space women can command once they decide they belong there.

Ignore the noise and keep building your own luck

The more visible Rooks became, the louder the outside commentary got. Some of it was praise, some of it wasn’t—and most of it was irrelevant. “One of the best things I did was, early in my career, [was] letting go of social,” she says. “Because, and I’m not being dramatic when I say this, I think social media will ruin you if you care too much about it.”

Rooks learned that not every opinion deserves a seat at your table, especially not from strangers online. “You can’t make their comments change what you do or don’t do,” she adds. Feedback should only come from people who share your purpose. “The only people you should care about what they have to say are your close friends, your family, and most importantly, people that are paying you,” Rooks says.

It’s the persistence to send one more email, the confidence to back your instincts, and the discipline to tune out distractions. Whether the world underestimates you or not, you define your ceiling, and Rooks is living proof that when you win big when you bet on yourself.

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