By Okla Jones ·Updated July 24, 2024
For Chiney Ogwumike, intention has always been at the forefront of her success. As the 1st overall pick in the 2014 WNBA Draft, she flourished immediately, winning Rookie of the Year, while being selected as an All-Star—an accolade she would achieve again in 2018. Although playing the game was something she dedicated her life to, her opinions, views, and opinions outside of it is what became her true calling.
During her time as a professional athlete, the Nigerian-American decided to pursue broadcasting on a more consistent basis. Ogwumike originally joined ESPN in 2017 to co-anchor SportsCenter across Africa, work as a WNBA and NBA analyst in-studio, and also lended her astute basketball knowledge to the Pac-12 Network. But it was amidst an unprecedented time in this country that put everything in a different perspective for the Stanford graduate. “Around 2020, my whole world reoriented as the rest of the world reoriented,” she tells ESSENCE. “The time that I had been playing professional basketball and broadcasting simultaneously put me in position to maximize my voice on behalf of the players of the league, women’s basketball, and just Black women in general.”
“That’s when my shift went from, ‘Okay, I’m a basketball player that has these goals and also was broadcasting,’ to, ‘Oh, what I’m doing matters, and it matters a lot,’” Ogwumike says. “With social injustice, all the things that we were fighting for, being able to have a mic, and a seat at the table to really shape conversation in an authentic way for my peers, literally for my sisters, that changed the game for me.”
From that moment on, Ogwumike realized the importance of transitioning her focus to a higher cause, and immerse herself in the complex world of broadcasting. Since realigning her goals, Chiney has shined on platforms such as NBA TV, First Take, SportsNation, and The Jump, among others. In August of 2020, she became the first Black woman to host a national, daily sports-talk radio show, and in the following year she became a Forbes 30 under 30 honoree, along with producing the ESPN Films documentary 144, which chronicled the two-and-a-half month WNBA season, and the effects of a global pandemic.
The timing with Ogwumike’s career shift was serendipitous, because now is when the most eyes have been on the WNBA in the league’s history. Chiney recognizes the opportunity, and remains humble within her craft, while staying ready—and willing—to do the work that she was chosen for.
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The post How Chiney Ogwumike Redefined Her Legacy appeared first on Essence.
