Jemele Hill has made a name for herself in journalism due to her witty and informative commentary that many folks enjoy. She began her career working for the Detroit Free Press answering phones and worked her way up to journalist. However, when she began appearing on ESPN shows such as Outside the Lines, First Take, and SportsCenter, she was quickly becoming a household name.
But while she was gaining notoriety with the popular sports network, her paycheck didn’t reflect her success. In an interview with Revolt TV’s Assets Over Liabilities show, the 46-year-old journalist said she was underpaid in comparison to her SC6 co-anchor Michael Smith.
“It wasn’t until I got to ESPN that I really got serious about the business side of journalism because I got to see what people made. I was like, ‘Oh, that’s possible?!’” she said. “ESPN forced me to really grow up because it’s a different game being played at that level than it is at the previous places I had been,” she said. This is the first time I had an agent and the first time I really had to learn how to manage my money.”
While she was making major moves securing an agent and taking care of the business side of things, she still wasn’t paid her worth revealing that she was making $200,000 less than Smith. She also said that she was an independent contractor for the network and only made $120,000 a year with most of it going towards taxes and healthcare.
“It’s not so much about what you’re worth, it’s about what you will negotiate,” she said. “I started at ESPN at such a low salary, to begin with. One of those, ‘We’ll see how it works kind of contracts. A 2-and-2 contract: two-year deal with a two-year option, one of the worst contracts I ever signed.”
However, she learned a valuable lesson. “The lesson that I learned, you can’t sell out for a name,” she said.
While she wasn’t being paid her worth at the network, she has since had a very fruitful career following her departure from SportsCenter. Jemele began writing for The Atlantic and she now has her own podcast Jemele Hill is Unbothered where she has interviewed a variety of notable figures in sports, entertainment, and politics.
Jemele Hill On ESPN, CNN, The Business Of Journalism, Her Career & More | Assets Over Liabilitiesyoutu.be
Featured image by Ethan Miller/Getty Images
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Photo by Prince Williams/WireImage
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Guests mingled, laughed, and bonded over the importance of finding a tribe that supports you. It wasn’t just about fun (although there was plenty of that!)—it was about creating a circle of inspiring, strong women. “We need to stick together. We need to be each other’s village,” Reginae says, emphasizing the power of community over competition.
Sisterhood: The Real MVP
For Reginae, it’s all about friendship—and not just the surface-level kind. “We need friends who keep it real with us. The ones who can tell us when we’re right, when we’re wrong, and when we need to calm down,” she says. As someone who navigates the spotlight, she’s got the best of both worlds: friends who understand the grind and those who can give her an honest, grounded perspective.
Her advice for building strong, intentional friendships? “Be confident in yourself and know your worth,” she explains. “Also, hurt people hurt people, so make sure you’re coming from a good place when you’re building relationships. It’s not always about being nice—sometimes it’s about being real.”
Reginae couldn’t have summed it up better: “When you have the right circle, the right tribe, everything just feels easier. And that’s exactly what BLK is giving us—space to connect, laugh, and grow with each other.”
To learn more about BLK’s Social Mode, download or update the BLK app in the App Store or Google Play Store today. Who knows? You might just find your new bestie or your next brunch crew.
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Feature image by Prince Williams/WireImage