Jemele Hill, Senior Staff Writer for The Atlantic

Jemele Hill (0:00)

What I think is a core tenet of our profession in journalism, we're here to serve the viewer and reader, not ourselves. Ego will have you serving yourself. So ego will always be exposed, and I personally think people who are great and masterful at this job are people who go into it with a sense of humility.

That's why that's important for me.

Michael Gervais (0:32)

Alright, welcome back or welcome to the Finding Mastery Podcast. I'm Michael Gervais, and by trade and training, I'm a sport and performance psychologist, as well as the co-founder of Compete to Create. And the whole idea behind this podcast, behind these conversations, is to learn from people who have committed their life efforts towards mastery. And we want to better understand what they're searching for, what they crave, how they organize their inner world. We want to understand their psychological framework, which is how they make sense of themselves and the world and events in it. And then we're going to also dig to understand what are the mental skills that they've used to build and refine their craft.

I want to take a minute here to announce a really exciting event that we have coming up. As you continue to navigate the challenges and opportunities of 2024, I want to pose a question. What are you doing right now to be great with stress? How are you working with stress on your pursuit towards your most important ambitions and goals? And I just want to get right to the heart of the key elements, one in particular, for what it takes to excel in today's high heat, high stakes world. Because stress is not the problem that we think it is. Stress is a synonym for change.

And our ability to be agile with change, that is the real opportunity at hand. So if you're wanting to unlock extraordinary results and sustainable performance in your life, it's not about avoiding or reducing stress. And as simple as that sounds, it's very tricky to do. But it is about fundamentally changing your relationship with it. And that's why I'm so thrilled to invite you to a special event. It's a free virtual event that we're offering. And it's called The Power of Embracing Stress. It's on Wednesday, March 6th at 2 p.m. Pacific. So to sign up, just head over to findingmastery.com/training. Whether it's advancing in your career or improving your health or cultivating stronger relationships, I think a new approach to stress can be one of the most powerful unlocks for you in your life. So join us for this free virtual training, The Power of Embracing Stress, on Wednesday, March 6th at 2 p.m. Pacific. Go to findingmastery.com/training to sign up. Once again, that's findingmastery.com/training. And I'm really excited to see you there.

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She was previously the chief correspondent and senior columnist for The Undefeated. That's ESPN's content initiative exploring the intersections of sport and race and culture.

Prior to that, joining The Undefeated, Jemele also co-anchored SportsCenter on ESPN.

She really understands the intersection of sport and culture. She's got her arms around this thing.

I don't say that lightly.

In August 2018, the National Association of Black Journalists awarded her with the Journalist of the Year Award. And in July 2016, Jemele participated in The President and the People. It was a national conversation, a one-hour town hall with President Barack Obama on race relations, justice, policing and equality. Jemele also recently debuted a new podcast on Spotify called Jemele Hill is Unbothered, where she explores the news of the day at the intersection between worlds of sport, politics, music, identity and culture. And in this conversation, on this podcast, we touched on so many important topics, everything from courage and vulnerability and honesty and why this world could use more empathy as a source of strength. So I love getting the chance to sit down with Jemele, and I think you'll feel the same way after hearing her take on her story and her life and the experiences that have led her to today. And so with that, let's jump right into this week's conversation with Jemele Hill.