Insider Access: ESPN’s Adrienne Lawrence

This interview is presented to you by the University of Nebraska — Lincoln Master of Arts in Business with a Specialization in Intercollegiate Athletics Administration

By: Alexis Robinson, @_alexismarie24

Alright, so I have my next lady killing it in the sports world and it’s a good one! Adrienne Lawrence is a licensed attorney and a journalist/anchor at ESPN, sports’ biggest media entity.

First I had to find out from her own words, who is Adrienne Lawrence?

“I usually say I’m a sports anchor and attorney. While I’m anchoring now and no longer practicing law, my legal background is still such a defining part of me; I can’t leave it out. I’m also ambitious! I graduated high school at 16, earned my bachelors at 19, masters at 21, and completed law school by 24.”

Moving forward, I asked what was scarier; the courtroom or the ESPN stage the first time?

“The courtroom felt like second nature. As a litigator, you’re on the attack and must think quickly on your feet. It’s a complete rush. Anchoring has similar elements — aside from the attack part. But I’d say anchoring is by far scarier. I was in the legal field for 12 years, so I gradually grew into that space. Sports anchoring, however, is still new to me and the learning curve is steep. Fortunately, I’m surrounded by some of the best in the business and feel insanely blessed to learn from them.”

As mentioned earlier, Lawrence is now an ESPN anchor, so I wanted to find out what some of her favorite content for the channel has been.

“Since joining ESPN in August 2015, I’ve been a part of some amazing work. From conducting interviews for ESPN.com to providing the latest news updates on ESPNEWS, I’ve truly valued it all. Most recently, I was invited to fill-in for Toni Collins on SportsCenter Coast-to-Coast. It’s been an enriching experience learning from David Lloyd, Cari Champion and the incredible producers and team behind the scenes.”

I also asked her what the ‘defining moment’ in her professional career has been thus far.

“So far, my defining moment has been joining ESPN. I never envisioned going straight from a law firm to ‘The Worldwide Leader in Sports’ with very little on-air experience. The ESPN Fellowship made that possible. Everything else has been icing on the cake!”

Lastly, I asked Adrienne for some advice for young girls looking to break into her male-dominated field and she replied, “Young women looking to break in should be willing to volunteer their time and hustle hard. I had several full time jobs including stints at car dealerships, and even the U.S. Attorney’s Office. While in Los Angeles, I was practicing law, going to grad school at USC Annenberg and volunteering my time on sports shows for a small digital outlet. I had also clerked for the Chief Judge, practiced law for Hollywood A Listers, and even taught law and criminal justice before joining ESPN. It was exhausting and time consuming. I lost friends, a boyfriend and my mind, at times. But that year of grinding miraculously put me in a position to land at ESPN.”

You can find Adrienne on all her social networks @AdrienneESPN.