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Subscribe to stay inspired! 📺 In this exclusive Sway In The Morning conversation, Amina Hussein shares her incredible journey from Oakland roots to winning multiple Emmys and breaking barriers in sports media. From her start at ESPN to leading groundbreaking projects like NBA on Prime for Prime Video, Amina’s story is one of resilience, innovation, and empowerment for women of color in the industry. 💪🏆
Discover how her Oakland upbringing shaped her love for sports, hear behind-the-scenes insights from her Emmy-winning career, and learn how she’s redefining the future of live sports production. Featuring heartfelt moments, career advice, and candid stories, this episode is a must-watch for aspiring creators and sports fans alike. 🌟
Don’t miss this inspiring and empowering interview! Subscribe for more exclusive content and stay tuned for the latest from Sway’s Universe. 🎤✨ #AminaHussein #Oakland #Emmys #NBAonPrime #SwayInTheMorning #SportsBroadcasting #Trailblazer #SwaysUniverse
#emmywinners #sportsmedia #aminahusseinjourney #emmyawardwinners #primevideosports
CHAPTERS:
00:00 - Intro
01:12 - Heather B. - Woman to Woman Wednesday
06:02 - Heather B.’s Journey to ESPN
09:55 - Amina’s Big Break Story
12:07 - Amina’s Mom and Confidence Building
16:51 - Amina’s Blossoming Career
18:28 - Life Crisis Lessons
20:38 - Stuart Scott Tribute
23:40 - Introduction of Amina
26:40 - Assembling Amina’s Team
29:08 - CALL IN: Tyler's Audition for Amina
Show More Show Less View Video Transcript
0:00
Yes indeed, ladies and gentlemen. Woman to women winning Women Wednesday Wednesdays. Woo! Woo! A date created by Heather Be. She
0:05
happens to be a woman. Happens. God has something to do with it. No.
0:11
But no, listen. Um on on this day, we like to celebrate women who are doing
0:17
amazing things or just women in general, regardless of what it is that they're doing or how you
0:22
see um what it is that they do. And today we're going to honor somebody um who's from where I'm from, Heather B.
0:29
Oakland, California. I love this. She's someone who went to school right up the street from my grandmother's
0:34
house. Wow. Um at Holy Names uh University in Oakland, California, which is a
0:39
prestigious university right above MacArthur Boulevard. That ain't you? Okay. Um and she went on
0:48
she went on to do a whole lot of different things. Right now, people she won multiple Emmys at Prime Video for
0:54
outstanding interactive experience event coverage. Give that a big round of applause.
1:00
Okay. She uh also won Emmys for outstanding trans media sports coverage
1:05
for ESPN's college football mega cast. Okay. Heather B. She we just met her um
1:13
at when we went to the launch of Prime Video, NBA's Prime Video show, NBA on Prime
1:18
on Prime. And we got a chance to see the new studios before your average human being. And when she walked up, it felt
1:26
like somebody I knew already was talking to us. And we started doing the research on
1:32
her. She didn't realize we was googling her when she walked away from us. Ridiculous. And we start finding all of these
1:38
amazing attributes that she has and all these incredible things that she's done. She worked at ESPN for nearly 18 years.
1:46
Wow. Where she won several Emmy awards as a senior coordinating producer.
1:51
All right. served as one of the top NBA and NFL content creators in the industry at ESPN. She provided strategic vision
1:58
for the popular NBA Countdown and Sunday NFL Countdown shows where she managed a
2:03
team of 10 on air personalities. Okay. She's one of the coordinating producers for the daily editions of
2:10
Sports Center and um NFL live. Heather B, will you do the honors? Absolutely. It is my pleasure to welcome
2:18
her to the show. She was already a citizen. She told us that when we met her, I was the only Amina who said
2:29
so I need you guys to know that I feel like your family because like I told you when I met you guys, I listen to y'all
2:35
every morning cuz I have a trash commute to work every morning. But now that you guys are back or back in LA and in LA,
2:42
you recognize the traffic issues that we have here. So Tracy G, I'm so sad you're not here.
2:48
I want to meet you DB. Where's Lonnie Light? Like the whole crew m
2:54
everybody. Everybody. Okay. Torch. Torch. There's Torch. I
3:00
talk to my radio like I know y'all. Every morning I talk to I'm having conversations with y'all every morning.
3:06
DB, turn yours on so she can see you cuz she said, "Where's DB? Where's DB?" Cuz I need some of those
3:11
mixes. Let me see if he There you go. Where is he? Wow. That's amazing. There you go. That DB. There he goes.
3:18
All right. There you go. That's amazing. She needs some of those mixes. Amina, 100%. You're incredible. Welcome to the show.
3:24
You brought a crew with you, too. I did. You got to shout out the crew. A crew of women. I did. Uh Kelsey, uh she actually
3:31
handles PR for us at Amazon. Nice. Kelsey, can you step in front of the camera? This woman towoman Wednesday. We
3:37
celebrating the women. Hey, Kelsey. Kelsey worked for the NBA for a long time and um we stole her and brought her
3:44
over to As you should. She is uh New Jersey. Yes. Oh.
3:49
Oh my gosh. They're about to start set tripping. Yes. My sister over here, Tara August.
3:55
Terra August is from Sacramento. You from Oldtown Sack?
4:00
All right. Um, shout out to Ebro. You know Ebro? Of course. Oh, did y'all ever work together?
4:05
We knew each other back when we were much younger. Oh, the club days. Back in the day.
4:11
Tara and I actually met cuz she was at Turner for a long time. 20 years at TNT
4:17
while I was at ESPN. So, we were like the same person. Um, and you know, in this industry is
4:22
trying to figure out and meet black women. How many How many Emmys did you win, T? Like 50.
4:27
Terra, come on. Let them see you, man. No, man. I went in her house. I was looking at the whole sit. Yeah,
4:33
I have a few. I have a few. You have a few. More than 10, we'll say. So, since I don't like talking about
4:38
myself, we're going to talk about her. She was had a talent for uh inside the NBA Turner. All those years they won all
4:44
of those Emmys for the Emmy. It was a good time. The circus, as I like to call it. Yeah. Okay. Yeah, it was a good time. I love it, man. Give these women a round
4:51
of applause. A round of applause. A round of applause. I told her she was going to be on air.
4:57
She didn't want to do it. I want We did bring gifts. My mama said, "You can't come to anybody's house
5:02
without. Let's see what they brought, man. Maybe other guests could learn from this. I don't."
5:09
So, of course, I had to bring the NBA on Prime t-shirt. Yes, I love it. Bring all the t-shirts
5:15
of good quality, too. On top of y'all folks in New York, we will ship some. Make sure we get the Thank you.
5:20
Thank you. Thank you so much. Then I got a a bag of Oakland goodies. You better work. You better work, man.
5:26
That's for me. We got the Beast Mo. Wow. Oh my god.
5:32
We have the Bill Russell hoodies. That's for you, Heather. All right. The legend. Another Bill Russell.
5:38
There's a bunch of them in there. Oh, thank you so much. These are amaz. Y'all spend some real money on these. No, very sensitive to me.
5:44
Okay. Damn. Okay. But Oh, this is the good stuff. This food to
5:50
fight. Yeah. This is the good stuff. Yeah. Yeah. I'm very familiar. So, I had to have the touch of Oakland with beast mode. You had to have the touch of some beast mode
5:56
socks in there. Everything. Thank you very much. Amina, you all right with me? Give her a round of applause. Let's Let's talk about it.
6:02
Now, you you didn't start off in TV, did you? I started in radio. There you go. That's why I was like, where's the board
6:08
operator? Like I I started radio KMBBR radio in San Francisco. How did you get to K&BR?
6:14
I internship from Holy Names College and that's how it worked. That's how it started. So you you always was into sports.
6:20
Absolutely. I was actually telling this story outside um when I was in the 11th grade. I was Oakland Tribune Prep Player
6:26
of the Week really for basketball. And I found that news old school newspaper not that long ago
6:32
and I read the article and they had asked me at that time what did I want to what was my career uh aspirations and I
6:38
wanted to be in sports broadcasting. I said that in the 11th grade. So I always knew. Wow. You always knew.
6:44
I always knew. Love sports. You love sports. But that that took a lot of audacity because who did you see
6:49
that looked like you that was in sports? Robin Roberts. Robin. Robin Roberts. Robin Roberts. And you know, I did think
6:55
that I wanted to be on air, but the first time I grabbed a microphone, I started sweating profusely and I realized that's not for me.
7:01
That's not your thing. That's not for me. Absolutely not. Um, so, you know, growing up in Oakland, I hate to bring this, we lost all of our
7:07
teams, but because of all of those sports teams, obviously it was the best place to start my career.
7:14
We had the Raiders with A's, the Warriors, the San Francisco Giants, 49ers, San Jose Sharks. Like, I was busy
7:20
every day. Every day. Um, and growing up going to the coliseum, watching the A's, I think that
7:26
started my love just for sports in general. I used to watch the A's, too. $2 bleacher seats, man. Oh, man.
7:32
I'm dad's here. Two eye bleacher seats. And I'm not going to tell my age, but I'm going to tell my age. Late 80s, early 90s, we were watching Ricky
7:38
Henderson, Dave Stewart, Conco, Mark, the Bash Brothers, Super I mean World
7:44
Series. It was it was phenomenal experience. Did you ever go to Anita's Preole
7:49
restaurant in Hayward? No. Okay. That was like a sports bar and Anita was married to one of the Oakland
7:54
Raiders and when I was a teenager I used to do dishes and so Dave Stewart
7:59
Yeah. Ricky Henderson all of those guys used to come in the sport Yeah. Ricky Henderson. They all used to come into
8:05
the sports bar, man. Man, we Oakland, the Bay Area sports scene.
8:10
It was ridiculous. It was like the Garden of Eden of sports, right? I feel like my mom used those
8:15
double-header A's games as like daycare for us. She would just drop us off at the baseball game. My brother and I
8:20
would just run a muck at the Coliseum. That was before the Raiders came back, so it was actually a baseball stadium
8:25
back then. Um, but I still don't know how she knew how to pick us up at the Coliseum bar station though. Like
8:33
so Oakland, you so you so
8:39
years old stand out there with all the crackheads and she just roll up and roll up. Don't let her do it. Crazy. I didn't have no smartphones back
8:45
then. Nothing. Um, still don't remember how she right. That's a mom though. They know you you had to divert your dream but
8:52
understand and realize that okay, I'm not going to be on air. Well, I think the thing is and you guys
8:58
understand there's so many different roles in this business. And once you start to pay attention to that, like for
9:05
me, I always felt like the lifespan to be on air probably wasn't as long and
9:10
conducive as a woman that back then especially that I thought it would be. Also, I was just infatuated
9:17
with like the aspect of production. Um, the aspect of being able to make content. Um, you have to think about
9:24
like early 2000s, there just wasn't a lot of especially in production, Tara can attest to this,
9:29
people of color. And that's the crazy thing because all the sports are people of color. Like, we're covering NFL,
9:36
baseball, everything. It's all black people. But the people that were producing the actual content didn't look
9:41
like me. Mhm. And for most of my career, I was the only one in the room, especially early on in those Bristol ESPN days.
9:48
Um, so I just looked at it as an avenue. Um, an avenue and and I just kept
9:53
working. Kept working. Yeah. Amina Hussein is here. Amina, was there a moment though like you realized I have something? I'm on to
10:01
something. This is my big break because what Sway and I have been talking about since we met you at the studio when we
10:08
met Bo. Yeah. Your colleague. Shout out to Bo. Bo couldn't be here cuz he's
10:14
actually producing uh our studio show tonight for the double header for the double. Yeah. Shameless plug on at 4:00 local, 7:00
10:21
Eastern. Plug NBA Cup. Um we have uh the Thunder, excuse me, the Suns at the Thunder and
10:27
then the Spurs at the Lakers tonight. You did that on your sports report? Okay. Yeah, I did. I I did, Amina. Um, but
10:34
when we we I was talking to Bo first and I was just so happy to see a young brother there doing his thing and he was
10:40
like, "Well, you have to meet my boss and there she is." And I don't know what I was expecting to see, but to see this
10:47
beautiful black woman come walking across. It was like loud as hell. I'm a citizen. I'm a citizen. We were like what? Like
10:55
it was just so welcoming, Amina. And I and I thought the whole time afterwards, Sway and I were talking like how did she
11:01
get here? Like that's all we can ask guys. That's all we can ask. Like how did what was the turning point?
11:08
Well, I mean that was there was no turning point. It was just kept it was a it was just elevating the whole time. I don't I don't think there was a turning
11:14
point. I knew what I wanted to do. Um and I think you know if I'm giving advice to to the citizens out there
11:20
listening. I think something that's very important in this business is listening. Um understanding the environment that
11:26
you're in. Um and then kind of figuring out how you fit into those environments. And then pretty soon you're able to
11:32
cultivate those environments on your own. I mean, don't get me wrong, it took a lot of time. Like I'm able to hire a
11:37
belo. I'm able to hire people that look like me and women that look like me. And then in this particular role, I'm able
11:43
to cultivate who the voices are that we see that the audience that are citizens are actually watching. So,
11:48
um, I think it's really important. Um, yeah, I got a dope job. You got a dope job. Get that [ __ ] around.
11:55
Candace stood next to us like, "Hey, what up, Sway? Good. [ __ ] the [ __ ] Ken Parker. Like you know my name,
12:02
man. It was amazing, Amina. Thank you. Yeah, but you know um your your story is
12:08
is is really incredible. And there's a quote I want to read and I would love for you to break this down because
12:14
my quote. Well, you tell me if you recognize it. In this business, the business of live
12:19
sports production, the lack of women who look like me behind the camera served as my ultimate inspiration. that along with
12:26
my mom who always empowered me to be comfortable in my own skin. I definitely remember that quote. You
12:32
did some research. What article? That was a long old article. Don't play Amina. You grew up listening to me, too.
12:40
1,000% 1,000%. 106 KML. That's back when you had to put
12:48
the two-finger record to record the hip-hop songs. You want it on a cassette 100%.
12:54
I was like, "Please play the song. I want you to play so I can record it at the moment." Um, no. There's
13:00
guys, I just I love myself. Like, my mom instilled so much confidence in me. Like,
13:05
um, I can walk in a room and and nobody's ever going to make me feel insecure, unsure of myself. Um, you
13:12
know, and and again to back to the point about listening, like just to figure out where you fit into
13:18
things, but also try to establish yourself in those environments. Um, never been a shy person to say the
13:24
least. I think that's part of my Bay Area town business upbringing. Um, but yeah.
13:31
Yeah. Wait for another question. Oh, no, no, no. We just going We have a conversation. I like hearing you talk. I
13:37
don't like talking. No, I was No, because during that elevation process that you
13:44
spoke about, it can get scary and you can start to doubt yourself. If you can start to say, "Well, maybe this, maybe
13:50
that, maybe this is not how I thought it would be when I got here. The the the cons are outweighing the pros." You can
13:57
get in your head sometimes. Absolutely. And so that's why I I wondered if there was ever a point when you was like,
14:03
"Nah, I got this." But then hearing um when we found out what you said about your mom and having that
14:08
self-confidence, I I would guess that that rang in your head so much that it helped push you over every obstacle.
14:14
Absolutely. Um, I think that there's a way that you can, um, question yourself in certain
14:21
situations, you know. Um, I think I've just always been confident. Um, and I just live by like if you don't
14:28
fool with me, that's on you, not me. Um, but I do think especially early on in my career in Bristol, Connecticut, I
14:35
was definitely the only person in the room. And as a woman, uh, I just remember these 9:00 a.m. news editor meetings we
14:41
used to have um, for Sports Center. This is back in the day when Sports Center used to reair all day, all morning.
14:47
Um, so our first live show was probably outside the lines at 3:00 or the 6:00 Sports Center. So we had the news editor
14:54
meeting at 9:00 and I just remember sitting in that room. Um, one most of the time being the only woman, but two
15:01
being the only person of color and just listening and learning how um, the news of the day would get kind of
15:07
disseminated and how they'd pick out what the priorities were and what they weren't. So for me, I looked at that as
15:13
an opportunity to help shape what our discussions are when it comes to involving athletes. Um there are
15:18
definitely instances where and I know Tara and and and uh Kelse can speak about this where you bring up something
15:24
in a meeting and everybody just keeps talking and then the man across brings up the same point and everybody's like, "Yeah, that's great." Um that's
15:31
happened. You know, that happens all the time and it's like, "Okay, I just said the same thing." But that's when you
15:36
realize like they don't respect your voice as much. So something that I did um early on was like I started paying
15:43
attention and that's why I say listening and watching people's body language. So in those particular meetings, I would pay attention. Okay, who is everybody
15:49
catering to like uh you know where are the relationships and the bias? Who are
15:55
the people that I need to know? Um and I realized early on that in that meeting setting is probably not the best place
16:00
to get that uh respect, right? I I I I believe you should have respect
16:05
when you walk in a room, but outside of that, so I just started meeting with people individually, making sure that they got to know me, know who I am as a
16:12
person. And then at that point when you're in those meetings and the people feel they have some familiarity with you, you're able to get your point
16:17
across. Your voice is heard more. There's more dialogue and back and forth. Um, so that was something I learned early on in my career.
16:24
I like that. Relationships are important. Relationships are important. Relationships and always trying to you
16:29
always want to ally in the room. So if I'm not in the room and my name comes up, you gonna speak highly of me,
16:34
right? Just based off of those relationships. Um, so that's very important to me to this day. Cultivating those relationships. Write
16:41
this down, Heather. We going to take over. You write it. I'm okay. I'm writing it. You know
16:46
Oh, that's right. It's woman to woman Wednesday. Let me write it down. It's Phil. It's Phil. I appreciate you,
16:52
Amina, because this is a lot of game and you've had such a tremendous career that
16:57
continues to blossom. Um, two things. One related to what you just said about
17:02
cultivating your own relationships and sometimes the meeting place isn't the time to make the splash. More intimacy
17:10
is what can help with the one-on- ones. For those who are either climbing the corporate ladder, whatever type of um
17:17
business organization that they are part of and maybe they feel a bit of intimidation with having a one-on-one
17:24
meeting with a suit, right? What exact how would you suggest that they even
17:30
start it, especially if they think that the higherup should be the one um
17:36
having, you know, setting it up with them? I think for me like working in sports,
17:41
you're always going to have common ground and like something familiarity. I think that's trying to pinpoint um like
17:47
people who are uncomfortable with starting those uh conversations. I think they can be casual conversations in the
17:53
hallway, something familiar. Talk about a game that happened last night. You know that they're from uh New England,
17:59
so they're going to be a Patriots fan. Like talk I hate the Patriots, but start talking about being from It was a
18:06
fumble. Still, I'm still mad. Still mad. Two of me. Tuck rule.
18:11
That was the worst post game show I ever produced in my life. Worst folk on the radio. Oh, the tuck rule. Yeah. Worst. I thought we won.
18:17
You're still bothered by that. He is too. We bonding over that. Okay.
18:24
Um I'm sorry, Tracy. Did I answer your question? I got sided. No, no, you answered the question, too. But I also I would love to know, Amina,
18:31
um cuz you know, sports has so many high pressure moments and especially these days, sports news changes as quickly as
18:38
like the political landscape changes. Behind the scenes, what would you say
18:43
was perhaps a crisis that you can share with us that taught you the most about
18:49
leadership? Probably have a million examples about
18:54
that, but I'm I'm gonna go back to the early days. Um, do you guys remember um
19:00
when Ruter's women's basketball Yes, I do. And Don Imus
19:05
that comment, bro. Unforgettable. So,
19:11
like I walked into our 9:00 a.m. uh news editor meeting and I didn't know
19:16
anything about what had happened. Okay. So, I'm sitting in the meeting and they're discussing it and I remember the
19:24
head news editor was basically like, you know, he was just making a joke. It was funny, but I didn't have the context to
19:29
interject at that point because I really hadn't heard what he had said. Um, but there was a lot of discussion
19:35
about coverage, to not cover it, this, that, and the third. And I walked out of that meeting and I was like, what? Like,
19:40
what exactly happened? Man, when I saw what he said, I literally was like, he's
19:46
talking about me. like this is a problem. This is disrespectful. Um let's let's figure out what our
19:52
coverage is, who our reporters we're going to send down there. Like open up the coverage a little bit. Don't just make it a news reader and brush it off.
19:58
Like this has a lot more layers to it. So we need to have this discussion and this conversation about it.
20:04
Um and I was at that point comfortable enough to walk into the news editor's office like this is not funny.
20:10
Like we need to really seriously discuss what our coverage is going to be like in this particular moment. And then it
20:16
ended up being like then every time something happened in regards to black people or race, I felt like everybody
20:21
came to me. They came to you. Yeah. You became so journ
20:27
that's that's when I was like we got to hire some more folks up in here. I like y'all can't come to me for every controversy. Um but at the time it was
20:34
like well I'm the only one that's going to speak about it. So yeah, I'm going to speak about it. At at at your time at ESPN did you have
20:40
opportunity? I saw that actually tonight. I know it's a different network, but they're doing a a doc on
20:45
Steuart Scott, who I believe helped shape all of this, the style of
20:51
Absolutely. how we present sports right now. Yeah. And I was wondering he's everybody's father. Everybody. And I'm just wondering any
20:58
interaction with him at all? Absolutely. So, back then um in Bristol at ESPN, there was like a small
21:04
newsroom. Um, and the very first time I walked into the newsroom, I was with my home girl Nikki Godfrey, who had been at
21:11
ESPN um, a couple years, and I met her because I needed to figure out where I was gonna get my hair done in Bristol.
21:18
And then she walked me, you know what I'm talking about? So, I was like, where can I get my hair done? Anyway, so I, she was giving me a tour. So, I walk in
21:24
the newsroom and her and Stu were friends and this man is across on the
21:29
other side of the newsroom and stands up. He was like, "Oh man, we got another sister in the building in front of
21:35
everybody." Gave me a hug. And um it it it's hard for me to talk about. He was such an amazing
21:41
inspirational individual. I got to work with him on on on I think it was his last NBA finals when the Spurs beat the
21:47
Heat. Um we were on the road and just he was battling through his illnesses or
21:52
whatever. So it's just difficult to see. His daughters are amazing. Um and he'd bring them on the road, too.
21:57
So it was just it's just tough for me to talk about. He's just an amazing amazing individual
22:03
and um yeah, he's missed um I'm going to watch the documentary. I'll probably
22:08
spend some time with a glass of wine and and watch that over the weekend. Yeah, me too. Um but thank you for
22:13
sharing because um I don't know many women who has had any interaction with him in that way, you know. So, thank
22:20
you. The coolest. And then um when I got promoted to oversee Sunday NFL
22:26
Countdown, I think that was in 2010, maybe 2011, he walked up to me and he's like, "They've never had a black person.
22:33
They've never given a black person that job before. Do you understand how monumental that was this is?" And at the
22:38
time, I didn't know. I was just hyped. I was going to be working with Chris Burman and Mike, Kean John. I was just hyped. I was going
22:44
to be working on the show. But he kind of put that in my in my head and I was like, "Okay, I got to take this like I got to take this seriously so I won't be
22:50
the last one." There it is. Amina Hussein is here, man. Come on, man. I give her a big round of
22:56
applause. I miss Steu, though. Yeah, Steu was something else, man. Um, he was the hybrid. Like, he brought the
23:02
culture in the sports. I remember the first time I remember walking by the TV and I heard him and he said something and I was like, that's
23:08
who he sound like me. Literally, that was that moment back in the And it wasn't like you got a lot of um I see a
23:15
lot of broadcasters that that lean on uh trends and hip conversation but aren't
23:21
immersed in the culture and they just they might give you a biggie quote, right? Hey man. Hey man, give it to me one more
23:28
time. Biggie, what you know? I'm like what does that even apply?
23:34
You know what I'm saying? They sound corny. Absolutely. Absolutely. Um but um Amina
23:40
Hussein is here. Listen, let's give a round of applause. I'm going to open up the phone lines. You want to have any conversation with her? Absolutely. Let
23:46
me put it in perspective. She's the US sports on air talent and development for Prime Video. Okay. Uh what
23:55
Emmy awardw winning Thursday Night Football, NWSL, NASCAR, and serves as executive
24:02
producer of the new NBA on Prime. She put together the Avengers,
24:09
the broadcasters. She really did. She really did. And I'm sure she had plenty of people
24:15
who wanted the roles. We're going to find out what it take what it takes to be a broadcaster on NBA on Prime.
24:23
We got her here right now. If you want to audition, no. 8887423345.
24:30
That's up next. Say 45. We're back, man. Amina Hussein is here. Amina is here.
24:36
What What do you want me to call you? Her mic is not on the way. Hit the
24:41
phone. There you go. Go ahead. Go. Hello. There you go. Amina is fine. Amina's fine. Amina is here. You say Hussein.
24:47
Okay. That's what I've been doing. No, no relation. Okay. Oh, yeah. No, of course not. Uh
24:53
head of US Sports on Air Talent and uh development for Prime Video. when they walked in the um walked in the building
24:59
today, she and Kelsey and Tara, her um
25:05
her colleagues as well as friends, they exuded a kind of energy that just felt
25:11
like royalty, queen energy, queen energy moving through the moving through the hallways and I I immediately
25:18
um felt comfortable and relaxed and I immediately, to be honest with you, felt protective
25:24
because working in this business over the years, over the decades, I've seen how hard we all had it. But for women,
25:32
especially black women, um it's been four times, five times, 10 times as
25:38
hard. I've been in meetings when I've heard women give ideas and suggestions
25:43
in newsrooms that were just totally ignored and someone else says a variation of the
25:49
same idea and all of a sudden they get a sign. Best idea ever. Yeah. Best idea ever. And now that an
25:54
EP, the best idea ever. Absolutely. You know, and so like Stuart would do
25:59
when people would come into um and I do that here too. Um when people would come
26:04
into MTV or Viacom or they come here to Sirius XM, you'll hear me often say,
26:10
"The black woman is God." Loud in the hallways. I mean, God loud
26:17
in the hallways, scaring the [ __ ] out of people. live in the hallway. Hey, how's
26:24
everybody doing? Just in case the black woman is gone. It scared me. I was like, are you okay? This is what we on today.
26:30
All right, let me let me walk right. We do that in chess. But that's truly how I feel.
26:36
Let me put my put my crown on. Put your crown on, Amina. And we appreciate you. Um, we we we had some
26:42
callers that wanted to kind of run. They wanted to see screening these callers. Well, you know, lightning
26:49
me up, man. I don't set up. But you assembled uh the Avengers to me, you know, when it comes
26:55
to broadcast journalism, sports journalism. What do you look for? I mean, how do you
27:01
Well, Dwayne Wade is obvious, right? Yeah. Facts. Who wouldn't want to have Dwayne Wade on
27:06
their team at any capacity doing anything? Candace is obvious. Candace is obvious. You know, all of
27:12
these folks are obvious. But there's a lot of athletes, I'm sure, that wanted to audition for the role.
27:17
How do you decide who gets it? Um, for me it's about like authenticity, right?
27:23
Um, I've had a thousand and one lunch meetings with folks and obviously I think I hired almost 40 people uh for
27:30
our NBA coverage. But a lot of it is just conversation and I keep going back to listening, authenticity. Um, do you
27:37
love the game that we're covering? Um, do you care about the future of it? Do you want to elevate it? Do you want to celebrate the players that are playing?
27:44
Or do you just want to be on TV and keep being famous? Like it's two different things. There's some people that just literally your career is over. They
27:52
still want to be in the limelight, but that's not necessarily going to make you a good teammate and work well and
27:57
highlight the sport that we're talking about. So, those are the differentiators to me. When you don't choose someone, do they
28:03
ever come back and ask? Absolutely. Absolutely. Absolutely.
28:08
And they'll say why and you'll tell them truthfully what it was. I am the most honest. My my name means trustworthy in Arabic. I am the most
28:14
honest person in the world. Yes. I'll give honest feedback. Okay. And then what kind of uh
28:19
suggestions do you give people before they even audition when if they say you know what what do you tell them like do
28:25
they practice like I told I would tell people a lot of times when they would ask what what how do you how do you
28:31
suggest I improve and I used to say preparation you know 100% it's preparation and also like if
28:37
you a fake person the audience knows right and that's not some if you just fake you can't tell people not I mean
28:44
you're just going to be a fake person you can't really change that and I I think that impacts the show
28:50
negatively a lot of times. Um, but so that's not the feedback I give like stop being fake. Like I can't I
28:56
can't tell somebody that. Um, but it's like where's your genuine joy and excitement for what you're
29:02
talking about? I don't see that. It's not coming through. Um, it's not translating to the audience.
29:07
We we have we have people online right now, Amina, and we also have people in studio. We got our guy Tyler right here,
29:14
DJ Tyler. Give it up for Tyler. Tyler, what's going on? What's going on? How's
29:19
everything? Hello, friend. Hey, nice to meet you. I peeped the Wu Tang. I'm with it.
29:24
So, that's a good start. Tyler's ready to audition. The fact that he wore Wu Tang gives him an advantage, right?
29:31
All right. Cool. Uh, so if someone wants to audition, you have them tell tell you tell you about themselves or you just
29:37
tell them to go? No. Um, so an we don't really have your auditions where you sit up on stage and
29:43
actually watch video and commentate. Like for me it's more about especially former athletes. I've seen you do
29:49
interviews. I've seen your press conferences. I've seen you on the podium. For me it's more about that one-on-one interaction and how you treat
29:56
people. I literally Can I curse? Yeah. I have a no [ __ ] policy. Um, no. I'm dead serious. Like I don't
30:03
want to work with people who are shitty to other people. I just don't. And to be in a position where I don't have to do
30:09
that, I'm not going to. Um, you have to think about specifically NBA double headers, right? Like we are
30:16
together for 8 to 10 hours a day. And if you watching basketball for 8 to
30:22
10 hours a day in a green room with a shitty person, that impacts the whole flow of the show. That impacts how you
30:28
are when you get on air. Like, yeah. All that energy and that vibe. One person can mess up the whole room.
30:35
One person can infect the whole group. Um, so then by the time you get on air,
30:40
like you if I'm sitting at home watching like I don't want to hang out with y'all. Y'all look like y'all don't even like each other.
30:45
But what happens when someone's a facade, Amina? And then after some time you
30:51
recognize that they are the negative. Like can you I'm not going to sit here and act like that. That hasn't happened to me before.
30:58
I've gotten bamboozled. I'm I I consider myself a pretty good judge of character, but that has happened in the past and
31:04
that's tricky. Um, and I think like not to get too in the weeds, but it's like when you're building something from
31:09
scratch like we have been um at Prime Video, it's like how are you strategic and how do how are you doing these
31:15
deals? Like what are your outs? How long are they? How much are we willing to invest in people? Um, and is there easy out if I need it,
31:23
you know? Um, so that that's that's a good question. It's challenging when you when you you swung and missed,
31:29
you know. Um, fortunately it hasn't happened very often uh with our prime video coverage. Um, but I have I have
31:35
made some mistakes. Okay. Well, that's amazing. Yeah. Yeah. Well, you
31:42
all made mistakes. Um, Tyler, you would be the first. Let's do it. You want to say hi?
31:48
What's going on? Does that mean nobody called in? No. Oh, you got those collect. Nobody calling. No worries. No calls.
31:54
Make it easy for you calling. That's cool, though. No, no. If you want to audition or you want to get some feedback from Amina um about
32:01
No, please. You want to be a sports broadcaster, broadcaster in general. 8887423345.
32:06
Or you want to work in production. Oh, you want to work in production? T, you know, PB right here would love to
32:11
work in production. Okay. All right. Go ahead, Tyler. Give her something. Let her know what you what you about.
32:16
Let's do it. So, the first team I want to talk about is one that genuinely brings me a lot of joy and brings HB a
32:22
lot of stress, and it's the New York Knicks. I got to start there, brother.
32:27
So, my Knicks have been on a crazy run and it's just been so much fun to watch
32:32
it unfold. So, since November 3rd, they've won eight games by 15 or more. So, it's like every time I tune in, it
32:38
feels had them all three times. I don't think that they haven't lost on Prime Video yet. Tell HB real quick.
32:43
Play on Prime Video more. I heard I'm sitting right here, Tyler. I'm sitting right here, bro.
32:49
Jaylen Brunson, I think, had 30 something last night. I can't. Yes, he did. Yeah. How many did he have, Tyler?
32:54
37. Yeah, he was up there in the 30s. And you know, another person that kind of shocked me yesterday's game was uh BI
33:00
Brandon Ingram. He went off too and uh but he still he's been playing well in Toronto. Yeah, since he came back from that
33:06
injury, he's been doing his thing. But um yeah, no, the Knicks have been the question. No, the question is Tyler to Amina.
33:14
Give it up for Tyler, man. How are you going to feel in in in June and May when they just start crashing
33:20
out like the Knicks do every single year? Come on, we can talk about this. Okay, I'm I'mma switch it. I'mma switch it.
33:26
I'mma switch it because on Prime Video, we are uh the We have the NBA Cup.
33:33
Yeah, the New York Knicks have advanced to the semi-finals of the NBA Cup. So, they did
33:38
maybe I'll give you some solace and say that, you know, maybe they'll be NBA Cup champions this year. Oh,
33:44
and NBA champions. I'm I'm not giving up on my See, I mean, this is what we deal with.
33:49
Wasn't enough for him. It doesn't work. No, I get it. I got three words. I get it.
33:55
OKCario. They only lost one game. OKC Tyler. No for Tyler, man. Give us
34:03
some positive feedback. Amina with positive feedback. Mike Brown. Let's go.
34:09
All right. Joshart perspective. Josh Hart. Okay, man. We got uh we gonna go to the phone lines. We have Jimalita on the
34:15
line from Chicago. Jimalita. Jimalita. How you doing? I'm good. I'm a retired homeschool mom,
34:21
so I'm just going to do my fun drop. This is for fun. So, here we go. This is Shay 45. You're tuned in to the day spot
34:28
with the drop. I'm your host Jolita T sitting in for Tracy G for the sports report. Today, I want to extend a huge
34:36
congratulations to Holy Name College's own Amina Hussein, a fellow Sway in the morning citizen for making waves in the
34:43
sports world, blazing a trail, and opening the doors cuz she's got the keys. She's our ally in the room on
34:50
Women to Women Wednesday. Is in the name. Amina, it means honest and she's unbiased. A no [ __ ] zone, but all NBA
34:58
double headers. We're diving into all things sports today. Everything from baseball to the high-speed excitement of
35:04
Formula 1. No matter the game, we've got you covered with the latest scores, highlights, and the biggest stories
35:10
making headlines. NBA on Prime Time on Prime. Right on time. In the studio, let's shout out two more citizens. What
35:17
up Chelsea from Brick City? What up to the home of Queen Latifah and Red Man Tyra August Sack Towns on where you at?
35:24
50 Emmys is crazy. We miss you Bo. So sit back, crank up the value and let's
35:30
get ready to dive into action. This is the date spot and it's about to get real. Let's go. Thank you. Thank you.
35:40
I am retired. I'm a homeschooler. I am retired. I am retired. I'm a retired
35:46
home. Impressive. I pay attention. I pay attention. You paid attention. She definitely paid attention.
35:52
Amina, keep signing. My daughter follows what you do. My daughter follows what you do. She got her doctorate degree at
35:58
17 and you show an example. Congratulations to her of what women should be. No,
36:03
congratulations to you and y'all and keep blazing the trail. Shout out to everybody on Sway in the morning. I'm a
36:09
lifelong citizen. Shown. Stand up. D Way to everybody. No, that's all I got. That's my 5 seconds of saying uh
36:16
somebody send me the link cuz I couldn't hear it in. You know what I love? You're tremendous.
36:23
Mama, I'm famous. Mama, I made it.
36:28
Tremendous. Yo, you did. How did she do? Hold up. How did she She was tremendous. Heather B, you better watch out. She can do that sport.
36:34
Yeah. No, she could, but she thinks it's Tracy, so I'm safe. She gave Tracy a shout out, so I'm I'm good. Like I, you
36:40
know, I'm not worried. See, I listen too, Jimolita. Heather, Heather, I switched it up so
36:47
that you didn't be like, "She's trying to take my job." See, this was all fantasy.
36:55
I want to be in your Jimita. Hold on. Lonnie Lighter is going
37:01
to uh get your information and make sure he emails you that second. That was amazing. That was amazing. Give her a round of
37:08
applause. Let's go, sis. She digested. listen to everything we've been talking about
37:13
prior to and put it in a long rip. That was amazing, man. We got Sean on the line from LA.
37:18
What up, Sean? Talk to us, Sean. What's going on? What's up? What's up? What's popping?
37:24
Hi, Sean. Man, we with the boss, bro. Make it important. Yo, so so I have I definitely have a
37:31
question for you. Um, I'm a TV producer. I've been producing for for like 10
37:37
years and literally worked my way up. I worked my way up, grinded all the way
37:42
up. Now that our industry is like completely in shambles and there's no
37:47
work anywhere, what is your best advice to getting work right now? You know,
37:54
um that's a that's a million-dollar question, right? Our industry is uh upside down, but I think so is our
38:01
country at that point. Like I think a recession, everything. I think it's just hard to find work. Um I do think there
38:06
are definitely like some independent lanes. Um, a lot of people are doing their own production companies and and
38:12
and producing content. Um, I think there are ways like for instance, we work with Marshon Lynch. He does um a segment on
38:19
Thursday Night Football. Actually, we extended it to the NBA as well, but that's through his own production company. So, for me, hiring people, like
38:27
we had to be creative to figure out a way we could hire his production company to get him, too. So, those are things that networks and
38:33
things are doing. Um, so working for production companies, independent production companies, especially, I don't know if you work in sports or not.
38:40
Um, but with athletes, there's a lot of avenues there where they're trying to, you know, be their own media person. Um,
38:45
we just hired Tyrese Hallebertton, um, while he's currently playing. He's rehabbing from his Achilles. He joined
38:51
us last night, but he has a production arm, too, where they're producing his whole rehab journey. Um, but those are
38:58
those are those are other opportunities. I think looking at just straight networks might end up being a thing of
39:03
the past because people aren't leaving those jobs and they don't come that often. Um otherwise I would quit right
39:09
now if I could but I just don't wouldn't have another job. We got exhibit is going to join us
39:14
momentarily. Amino uh go out. She was like what's happening right now?
39:21
This is your life Amina. Exhibitor just won't brother man that's Amina. Nice to meet
39:28
you. Yeah, man. Exhibit walked in. What up, man? Amina's like, "Okay, what's going on?"
39:34
This is a boss right here, brother. Like from um NBA Prime Prime video. Get on the mic, man.
39:40
You know, um and and Exhibit, you know who Exhibit is, right, Amina? Absolutely. Okay. You know, and Exhibit has been
39:47
doing he's been filling in this week for one of our jocks, Lord Seir. You know who Lord Seir is. He follows this show.
39:52
Yes. Yes. Absolutely. In my car after I've gotten to work, he's on all the time.
39:59
Yeah. So, well, like Exhibit is the the in the same way that a lot of athletes are getting into broadcasting, Exhibit
40:06
has been having his his feel into broadcasting now as an artist. And he's
40:11
a very extreme he got so much experience and layers to him that I think he uh makes a great host. Um but not
40:18
everybody's always able to transition from the primary job into the new job.
40:23
Absolutely. Any advice you would give him? Just stay curious. Yeah. Like curiosity is I think it's a
40:31
I feel like you have to be able to ask questions and be curious about people. Um we go
40:37
back to how like go about hiring people. Like I'm curious about people. Like I think this is a Oakland thing. Like where you from, where you grow up?
40:43
We do that. What high school you went to? it, you know, are you first generation or, you know, like all of
40:50
these things help kind of cultivate, you know, your form how you formulate your questions and how you get to know
40:55
people. Absolutely. I I think being able to have conversations with everyone,
41:00
correct, is is is part of it. And and that that comes with humility and and also being
41:07
able to meet people where they are, you know, and and being able to speak intelligently to where they are.
41:14
Absolutely. you know, and that that's part of a good interview because when people feel comfortable, then they feel
41:19
comfortable revealing more information. Uhhuh. You know, there's a point in Amina's um career where she was on the
41:27
other side of the mic and she was being asked a question and apparently she was so comfortable
41:32
that she gave one of the best answers that this platform had ever heard. John, can you run back the time that Amina
41:39
appeared on Family Feud and Steve Harvey asked her this question?
41:45
Can you press Can we press play on? You know, let's see if we can
41:50
name something a woman might do to a man's face. Uhoh.
41:56
Lie.
42:05
Yo, Steve Harvey is crying right now. Yo, how did I miss that episode? Homie,
42:13
he did me dirty. He did me dirty. And the true self set you free. Oh my god.
42:19
Oh my hood. Oh my god. I can't.
42:26
Did your mom see that answer? No. That's a funny thing. I didn't tell anybody I did that. I didn't tell
42:31
anybody. I taped it. It just appeared on TV. Oh my god. I I Yo, that's hilarious.
42:38
Oh, I'm glad you told the truth. He said, you know, blame it on us.
42:44
This is the crazy thing though. He asked the question and I'm sitting there and I'm like, "My aunties is watching." Like, you can't say what your first
42:51
thought was. Like, so I'm like, "Shoot, I'mma have to lie." Like, I got to think of a lie. So, when
42:57
he finally came to me, I was like, "Lie. I literally was like I like when do
43:04
Yeah, it was like up there. It was up there. It was up there.
43:09
Well, look, Mina, I want to thank you for coming by today. All right. Yes, we got something for us.
43:14
Yes, we do, man. Keep talking this way cuz the NBA on Prime tonight.
43:19
Tonight, we got a double hitter, right? Double header. Cup quarterfinals. Teams advance to Vegas where unfortunately I
43:25
will be for six days. Okay. Well, that's okay. And that's not that bad. No. Yeah. Yeah.
43:31
Two days. Two days is enough. Right. Tomorrow is Thursday. What do we got going on Thursday?
43:37
Uh Thursday night football. We have the Atlanta Falcons at the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Mhm. And Thursday Night Football. How do
43:44
you see it expanding? It's been such a hit in 2026. Um I would like to say that launching
43:49
Thursday Night Football was probably one of the most rewarding things I've ever done in my career. Wow. Um just putting the cast together that
43:55
we did. Um, and I just remember that very first Thursday back in 22. Uh, we
44:00
were in Kansas City. It was our opening night and I was like, "Well, we've done all we can do. I just hope people can find us because it was the first time
44:06
streaming uh for NFL." Um, and it it was a success then and has been a big success since. We've expanded with Black
44:12
Friday football. We got a wild card game. Maybe in a couple years, 10 years down the line, we can get a Super Bowl or
44:18
something. I don't know. But I feel like that's where streaming is going. That's where it's going, right? You
44:24
got you a gift right here. you guys. I appreciate that. You want to enjoy that? Listen, um, can we get you to come back at times?
44:30
Anytime. Anytime. Anytime. Okay. And what about the crew? Y'all coming back, too?
44:36
Absolutely. You guys are all amazing. Congratulations on your journeys and thank you for coming in today. We really
44:42
appreciate you. And you have allies in us. Keep that in mind. Heard that.
44:48
Thank you guys. I appreciate.
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