Meet LaChina Robinson.
For more than two decades, she has built a career around one simple belief: women’s sports deserve to be seen, heard and valued.
Long before packed press conferences and record-setting crowds became part of the women’s basketball landscape, Robinson was told that covering men’s sports was the safer path. If she wanted to make more money, build a bigger platform or have people care about her work, she was told she needed to cover men.
She chose not to.
“I had a very firm understanding of my role as it pertained to elevating women and amplifying women,” Robinson said. “So I stayed the course.”
That decision has shaped nearly every part of Robinson’s career. After 16 years at ESPN, she is now a basketball host and analyst for NBC and Amazon Prime, where she continues to cover women’s college basketball and the WNBA.
But her work extends beyond the broadcast booth. She is the co-founder of Rising Media Stars, a nonprofit designed to help jump-start the careers of women of color in sports broadcasting. She is also the founder of The Rise with LaChina, a personal development and lifestyle platform for women.
Across all three, Robinson sees the same mission.
“The through line in everything I do is always serving women,” said Robinson.
An Early Belief in Women’s Basketball
Robinson’s advocacy for women’s basketball was deeper than one career decision. It was a commitment to giving athletes the visibility she believed they deserved.
When she began her career 20 years ago, covering women’s basketball often meant working in rooms with plenty of empty seats. She remembers being one of only two or three people in some press conference rooms.
Today, those same rooms are filled.
“It has just been a joy to see how the growth of women’s basketball has just skyrocketed over the last few years,” said Robinson.
That growth is about more than attendance numbers or increased television coverage. It’s sponsorships, media attention and better salaries that the women’s game has deserved for decades.
But according to Robinson, that growth stems from belief.
“The players believed that they were worth more,” Robinson said. “Those of us in media believed that this sport deserved more.”
Robinson admitted there were plenty of moments when she questioned whether staying in women’s basketball was the right decision.
She watched colleagues covering other sports receive more resources, higher salaries and greater recognition, knowing that part of the difference came from covering men’s sports.
Still, she never wavered.
“I get to wake up every day and do something that I love,” said Robinson.
Eventually, the athletes she covered gave her another reason to stay. Women’s basketball players began approaching Robinson to personally thank her for telling their stories.
“Everyone’s story matters,” said Robinson. “Everyone’s story deserves to be heard.”
Her Career Was Built on People, Not Just Positions
Robinson’s journey through sports media has also reinforced another belief in the power of community.
She credits the women she encountered throughout her career with giving her direction and advice. Those relationships became part of the foundation of how she now approaches mentorship.
Through Rising Media Stars, Robinson works with women of color who are trying to break into sports broadcasting. But the program is about more than connecting young broadcasters with an established industry veteran.
It creates a network.
Robinson said the women in each cohort encourage, motivate and support one another while navigating the same challenges. That sense of community is important because Robinson understands what it means to need guidance while trying to find a place in the industry.
“I can’t overstate enough the value of mentoring,” said Robinson.
Networking Is Bigger Than Knowing the Famous People
For young professionals trying to break into sports media, networking can sometimes feel like a numbers game: Find the biggest name in the room, make an introduction and hope it leads somewhere.
Robinson sees that approach as one of the biggest mistakes you can make in networking.
“Not everyone that is important or everyone that can teach you something has a visible platform,” Robinson said.
The sports industry is much bigger than the athletes, senior executives and broadcasters whose names are most recognizable. There are coordinating producers, executive producers, communications professionals, public relations representatives, agents and countless others working behind the scenes.
She believes those are the people young professionals should also be getting to know.
“There are so many more jobs in sports than I think people realize,” Robinson said.
Building a career, then, is not necessarily about knowing the most famous person. It is about understanding the ecosystem around the industry and building genuine relationships throughout it.
There are coordinating producers, executive producers, communications professionals, public relations representatives, agents and countless others working behind the scenes.
Robinson’s own career reflects that philosophy. The people she met along the way helped provide direction, mentorship and opportunities — and now she is intentionally creating those same connections for others.
Building for the Future
Robinson came into the industry during a generation of women in sports that, she said, were often made to feel they should be “quietly grateful” for the opportunities they received.
Self-promotion and visibility were not always encouraged.
Today, she sees a generation of women athletes and media professionals who are much more willing to speak openly about what they want and what they bring to the table.
She wishes she had built her own personal brand earlier, rather than waiting until later in her career to publicly develop the platform she had already been envisioning privately.
Now, she is doing exactly that through The Rise with LaChina.
“Don’t be afraid to be a thought leader,” Robinson said.
Through The Rise, she wants to explore the connection between women’s sports and personal development.
Whether she is sitting courtside as an analyst, mentoring an aspiring broadcaster or creating content for women, she is trying to do the same thing: help women see what is possible and give them the tools and visibility to go after it.
“When I’m long gone,” she said, “I would hope that I left something behind in the people that I have touched with my storytelling.”
After spending 20 years telling the stories of women in basketball, Robinson’s next chapter is about making sure more women have the opportunity to tell their own.
And if her career is any indication, she does not plan on waiting for someone else to give them a microphone.
This Arena interview is written by Janai Williams and edited by Haneyya Umer.
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