Taylor Rooks on Building Her Media Career, Interview Craft, and Business Strategy on The Deal

In this episode of The Deal, hosts Jason Kelly and Alex Rodriguez sit down with Amazon's Taylor Rooks, host of NBA on Prime and a lead reporter for Thursday Night Football. They discuss how she shaped both shows, her approach to interviewing athletes, the mentors who influenced her, and how she intentionally built a business and brand beyond sports broadcasting.

■ Career and Show-Building
- How she moved from Thursday Night Football to hosting NBA on Prime
- Designing a show that reflects her personality and her team's chemistry
- Balancing analysis, education, and entertainment on air

■ Interviewing Philosophy
- Treating an interview as a two-way exchange rather than just serving questions
- Researching what athletes have not been asked before
- What makes hosts like Ernie Johnson, Kevin Burkhardt, and Carissa Thompson stand out

■ Business and Philanthropy
- Why she pursued partnerships with Invesco and Experian around financial literacy
- Donating through her foundation, including erasing medical debt and funding scholarships
- Her strategy for reaching a broader, more female audience and expanding into new projects

Viewers interested in sports media, broadcast hosting, athlete interviews, or building a personal brand across industries will find concrete examples of how one professional approaches each stage of that work.