Q&A with Rosalyn Gold-Onwude: A rising star in the world of basketball
Ros is a mainstay in the Bay Area but her rise was anything but easy
Rosalyn Gold-Onwude has worked tirelessly over the last handful of years, and her dedication to her craft has transformed into a basketball media mainstay.
She know works for NBC Sports Bay Area, NBA on TNT, the Pac-12 Network, the MSG Network covering the New York Liberty and she covered the Rio Olympics. She’s literally everywhere.
Gold-Onwude was a star player before her broadcasting career took off as well. She led Molloy High School (Briarwood, New York) to two state titles, earned a full scholarship to Stanford, and was part of three straight Final Fours there as well. As a senior she even took home Defensive Player of the Year honors for the Pac-10 (now Pac-12).
2 Ways and 10 Days was lucky enough to talk with Gold-Onwude over the phone about her family, career aspirations, her rise in this industry, Drake and of course, memes.
Reichert: You are originally from Queens, New York but have become a mainstay in the Bay Area. What do you miss most about being away from NY?
Gold-Onwude: My family, definitely. My mom and sister are still there. I’m lucky enough to go home in the summer to cover the New York Liberty and the WNBA. Obviously family and friends are the thing I miss most. I also miss the diversity of restaurants, the diversity of people there and just the fact that the city literally does not sleep. There are endless adventures if you just look for them. A free concert in the park, tours of the city and anything else you can think of.
Reichert: You attended Stanford and were a part of three straight Final Fours as well. Did you ever have aspirations of playing in the WNBA and professionally around the world?
Gold-Onwude: I did have aspirations of being a pro. I think I could have played in the WNBA as a quality role player. I actually have overseas offers and I played with the Nigerian National Team to prepare for the London Olympics as well. Monetary motivations caused me to take other avenues. At that time we had some family struggles and I didn’t want to be halfway across the world. So, out of college I took a job with Tesla and moonlit with broadcasting to try to get my foot in the door.
Reichert: During this moonlighting period, I heard you had a web series called “The Pink Room”. What was that all about?
Gold-Onwude: Yeah. The Pink Room is an important crossroads in my career. At that time I was taking odd jobs writing and producing digital content. At one point I coached a team with my landlord’s daughter on it, so I could get half off my monthly rent. It got to the point where I was sitting in my room and I was just really frustrated. I mean, I didn’t know where my next check was coming from. I just felt silly. I was a woman who graduated from Stanford University with a Bachelor’s and a Master’s and here I was living paycheck to paycheck. So, I got motivated and I hit up my boy Kevin Danna (play-by-play commentator for the Santa Cruz Warriors) and asked if he wanted to start our own show. We decided it would be a digital show based around women’s college basketball and we would run it weekly. We made it fun so that younger people would enjoy it. We recorded in my bedroom and I had these salmon colored walls at the time, so that’s where the name came from and we just ran with it. We pitched it to the Pac-12 Network and they loved it but said they couldn’t pay us for the work, so we pulled all nighters for that first season running the show for them and the following season they offered me my first TV contract.
Reichert: Some people might not realize this, but before you were on national television, you worked for the G League (D-League at the time). How did that opportunity come about for you?
Gold-Onwude: I was drawn to the D-League because it really is about developing everyone — players, coaches, refs and even broadcasters. I went to college with Kirk Lacob and the Warriors presented me with the chance to be the color commentator for Santa Cruz. At that time I was already covering women’s college basketball and the WNBA, but it was very progressive for the Lacob’s to hire a woman to be their color commentator. I didn’t take the job for money, I just really needed to get my face out there and get more exposure. I wore a lot of hats in that job. I would run to the sidelines and interview coaches at halftime, interview players after games and commentate during the games of course. After a couple years with Santa Cruz it was actually the Warriors who pitched me to Comcast (to replace Ric Bucher) and from there it’s really been a beautiful opportunity for me. My biggest challenge while working in the D-League was hosting the Showcase. It’s hard to find information on all of these players, so I called everyone I could — all the teams, executives, general managers and coaches to get my info. There’s a lot at stake for those players and I wanted to make sure I handled their stories with the respect they deserved.
Reichert: Now that you’re on a much bigger stage, what do you miss about covering the G League?
Gold-Onwude: I remember that it was a really special time in Santa Cruz. I was lucky to be part of building something from the ground up. The team really embraced the community and the city embraced them as well. Santa Cruz went from a beach city to a beach and basketball city. I take pride in the team’s early success and I think they were a great early example of how proximity to your NBA team is really important. I would always see Casey Hill being part of the Warriors meetings and offseason stuff, so the synergy between Santa Cruz and Golden State was really flawless.
Reichert: What are some of the challenges of being not only a female, but a female of color in a male-dominated industry?
Gold-Onwude: You know, one of the challenges is there’s just not enough of us and above that you have to realize you’re representing a lot of people with your work. Women will come up to me and say, ‘Oh my daughter is always so excited when she sees you on TV’ and I never realized that would be a thing. I have to be extra diligent in establishing my credibility. I have to consider how I dress, how I carry myself and a million other things. Ultimately, I work on collecting all the information I can and asking the right questions. The guys feel comfortable talking to me and part of that is they know I played the game too. The other great part for me is that I work for a great organization and that really helps me.
Reichert: As an attractive woman in this industry, do you ever feel like your hard work is overlooked or taken for granted? Does it upset you to see the memes that go around the internet?
Gold-Onwude: Unfortunately for women that comes with the territory. I’ve had to develop some thick skin. Ultimately, I lead with my work and actions and hope that speaks for itself. I mean I’m a multifaceted human being. I’m more than just a broadcaster. I’m a woman. I’m a traveler. I’m an adventurer. I don’t want to hide any of those things. I think showing myself to people makes it easier for them to relate to me, and in the end I hope people are inspired by my work ethic. As far as the memes go I just try to keep it moving. I definitely see all of them. I’m in a group chat with some friends and they’re always sending them to me saying, ‘did you see this one?!’ and I’ve almost always already seen it. I think people mostly just want to laugh and that’s fine. Sometimes they’re funny, sometimes they’re not. I’m cool with it, I’ll take one for the culture (laughs).
Reichert: Recently you attended the NBA Awards Show with your longtime friend Drake — what’s your go to Drake song if you had to choose just one?
Gold-Onwude: Oh man, I can only pick one? That’s tough. I like “Weston Road Flows”, uhh I like “Controlla” and “Started from the bottom”. I guess I didn’t do a great job answering the question, haha.
Reichert: You have had the opportunity to interview a lot of people so far in your career. Who has been your favorite one and why?
Gold-Onwude: Man, I’ve been so lucky with who I’ve been able to connect with. This is another tough one, but I’d have to say the Draymond “nope. yep.” interview. Just watch Klay’s face in it (laughs). Andre interviews are always funny too so I enjoy those. Some other memorable ones were interviewing Manu Ginobili at the Olympics where he was saying bye to the games and Carmelo for the same reason.
