[piano intro] - Hello, I'm Nido Qubein.

Welcome to "Side by Side."

My guest today was born, as she says, in a family of game changers.

Her father was the first black football player at West Point.

Her parents were an interracial couple married on the heels of the civil rights movement.

And she built a career in a profession dominated by males.

She's now one of the most recognized sports broadcasters on our planet.

And she's the anchor of ESPN's flagship show "SportsCenter."

Today we'll meet Sage Steele.

- [Male Narrator] Funding for "Side by Side with Nido Qubein" is made possible by.

- [Female Narrator] Here's to those that rise and shine, to friendly faces doing more than their part and to those who still enjoy the little things.

You make it feel like home.

Ashley HomeStore.

This is home.

- [Female Narrator] For over 60 years the everyday leaders at the Budd Group have been committed to providing smart customized facility solutions to our clients and caring for the communities we serve.

[calm music] -[Male Narrator] Coca-Cola Consolidated is honored to make and serve 300 brands and flavors locally [upbeat music] thanks to our teammates.

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[upbeat music] [bright music] ♪ - Sage, thank you for being side by side with me today.

I'm dying to ask you this question.

- Yes, sir?

- For a year young girl who was an introvert.

- Yes.

- You grew up into this spectacular broadcaster on ESPN.

How does an introverted person do that?

- Sometimes I ask myself the same question.

I don't know.

It has been a process, a process that I still battle sometimes.

I get those butterflies and those nerves when I walk into that "SportsCenter" studio every single morning.

When I walk into rooms full of people, I get that feeling of, oh gosh, what am I doing?

And I have to take a deep breath and stand tall and walk through those doors.

Sometimes fake it, honestly.

I will say I was 11 years old when I announced to my family that I wanted to be on television to talk about sports for a living.

And they looked at me, my mom and dad, as supportive as anyone, and said, "Okay, that's cute.

"You're probably gonna have to talk "if you wanna be on television.

"We need a little bit more."

- You've not been very social up to that point.

- With them, but not outside of the home.

And I was the oldest of three, two younger brothers, and they're quite loud, and I was so shy, and it's been a real struggle.

And I had to make a decision that if you want this dream, you're gonna have to make adjustments and get comfortable being uncomfortable.

So it's been very uncomfortable a lot, but every time I push through and stood tall and spoke a little bit with more authority in my voice, it got a tiny bit easier.

I'm almost 50 years old, but it's been a process.

- Yes, yes.

But you know, I've read about a lot of people and I've known some people on television.

I mean, way back, Johnny Carson was on television every night, and you would think he was the most extroverted person in the world, but he was an introvert.

My friend, Casey Kasem, for many years, he did a great deal, but he did a lot of television.

He was a person who was very quiet in person, not so much what you saw on TV and what you heard on radio.

- I will say this, my parents watch me every day, and they still laugh and say, who is this person claiming to be Sage Steele, my daughter because now they can't shut me up.

But it's been quite a process.

It's one thing I'm proud of because it was a fear.

- Absolutely, and you overcame it.

So, tell me this.

Run us through "SportsCenter" process.

You're on practically every day, right?

And it's at noon - [Sage] Yes.

- on ESPN.

What is it you do?

You get up in the morning.

Just run us through that routine.

You get up in the morning, you go to the studio and what?

- It's interesting because obviously COVID has changed so much.

And for a very long time, we weren't allowed to work together with producers.

And something that seems minuscule, makeup.

It's still not allowed on our campus after more than two years.

So we, as the on-air people, have had to adjust and we have to do everything on our own.

And so, I get up early in the morning, and I have one kid in college and two still in high school.

I'm with them in the morning, and then exercise.

And while I'm on my bike, I'm scrolling through scores and recaps of the sports from the night before.

It's a constant news cycle.

There's always something happening in breaking.

So as I'm exercising, I'm reading.

And I really dive in about 8:30 AM.

The one thing people don't realize is that for "SportsCenter," we write everything we say.

- Oh, I didn't realize that.

- Yeah, we have wonderful researchers, incredible producers, a great team, and we are a true team.

However, sports is personal and it's very personality oriented.

The way you do your highlights, the way you write your scripts.

I don't want anybody else writing my scripts.

It needs to come from my voice.

So while the makeup artist is at my house, we do it in a guest bedroom.

I hope someday we can get back to normal.

She's fixing me, making me appropriate for television and I'm on my laptop, and I'm writing.

And then she's like, look up, and I'm doing this, and I'm on the phone with my producers.

And then I don't leave my house 'til about 11.

I pray there's no traffic.

I get there in time.

Constant discussions with the producer all morning long.

Constant adjustments on the scripts.

But it's my favorite part.

My favorite part is writing my own copy and making it mine, and trying to think of what the fan at home.

I'm a fan.

What do they want to hear?

So it's really an organic process.

- And how did you get to be so good at sports?

- The broadcasting side.

I mean, obviously not an athlete.

I was.

My next life, I'm gonna be a professional athlete of some sort.

- I mean, what got you into it in the first place?

- Yeah, I loved watching.

I did love playing sports.

I ran track in high school, et cetera, but I knew at a young age that I would probably never be good enough to do anything past high school, not even college.

What I loved was learning about the stories of these athletes.

The first Olympics I was member is the 1984 Olympics.

I was 11, 12 years old.

And I was in awe watching these athletes, Carl Lewis, and Jackie Joyner-Kersee, and Edwin Moses, and Mary Lou Retton, and watching them get to the top level in the world.

And I was in awe of how they didn't melt down.

Where do they find that inner strength and peace?

When they've worked their whole lives to get to this moment, I pictured myself melting and running away and in fear, failing.

They did everything at the top level.

And I wanted to know why and how.

That's where my curiosity came from.

- And what did you study in college?

You went to Indiana University.

You were born in South Bend, Indiana.

- Actually, South Bend is where my first job was.

- I see.

- I was born in Panama, army kid.

- Oh, I see, I see.

Your career began in South Bend.

- Correct.

- And you went to Indiana University.

What did you major in?

- Sports communications, broadcast emphasis.

It was as narrow, Dr. Qubein, as narrow as it gets.

So I feel fortunate because if it hadn't worked out, I didn't have many other skills.

- Yes, yes, yes.

And your mom was a huge role model for you.

In what way was she a huge role model?

- She was the stable person.

She was the rock.

And also the nurturer as moms tend to be.

My father is absolutely incredible and gets all the credit for being a history maker as the first African American to play football there, and to go through so much in that civil rights era, and breaking through barriers.

And he's a retired army kernel.

He did so much.

And I think because of what he accomplished and because of my connection with sports and his as an athlete, people automatically make it father, daughter.

And my father is my guy.

He's not there though, as he would say, without my mother's strength and her ability to adjust as we moved, not just across the country, across the world with three kids and no money.

No one's getting rich in the military, right?

And so, what they were able to do and to keep this family of five together, despite moving where I remember living in Greece and in Belgium as a preteen and as a teenager, and we had Norwegian neighbors to our right and Turkish to our left, and no one spoke English, but we found a way to communicate.

Our mother shoved us out the door and said, "You don't need to speak the same language "to play kickball, go."

My mother is the one that said also through all these years, 26 plus years in this crazy broadcast business, many times where I was scared and wanted to quit, and my mother said, "Don't you dare let anybody get the best of you "and take your dream away."

She also said when there was a fear of trying new things and challenging myself, she said, "You'll always regret it."

She has some regrets from being the military spouse and being unable to go pursue her dream because she had to support my father, not a regret, just things I think that she wishes she could have tried.

So she has encouraged me no matter what, even if you fail, get back up and go do it again.

- [Nido] Keep going, yeah.

- So she's really special to me.

- Yeah, perseverance, grit, grateful courage.

So Sage, you're highly interested in veterans and all matters dealing with veterans.

That obviously come from your dad?

- Yes, for years, I was on the Pat Tillman Board.

And that was so meaningful to me, and still is.

I still contribute in ways and try to volunteer time.

But I think, and especially the younger generation, it's so important for us to teach what our veterans do and the sacrifices, truly.

It's volunteering.

And I look back at my college experience, which was incredible.

If I had had the grades, I would've gone to a military academy.

I'm that passionate about it because I just so believe in America and what we provide.

That's why people, no matter what, people still want to come here, because it is the land of opportunity.

I get emotional every time I hear the national Anthem.

And I'm so grateful to those people who continue to volunteer to go stand for freedom, stand for our constitution, stand for what America always has been and will continue to be.

And I wanna make sure that we don't forget the people who keep us safe and make it so we're able to have conversations like this.

So yes, it comes from being an army brat and seeing across the world how fortunate we are.

And I think sometimes we need to be reminded.

- Absolutely.

And you've shown a lot of interest in, I think you're involved with the cancer foundation with Coach V Foundation.

And is that based in Rowland, North Carolina?

Where is it based?

- The V Foundation for Cancer Research, well, we kind of have several different homes.

I mean, New York city, but we have a ton that happens at Duke University.

- Yes, I see.

- With the research there, it's been incredible.

Mike Krzyzewski, the head basketball coach at Duke is a fellow board member who says he recruited me to the board.

I'll take it because no one's recruited me for anything in my life.

And if Coach K is recruiting me for something so important.

- [Nido] That's an honor for you.

- Absolutely, Coach K and my father were classmates at West Point.

So that's that connection there in the late 60s and early 70s.

And what the V Foundation continues to do to me is humbling.

My father has cancer, two kinds of cancer.

So it hits home, certainly, for me.

And so we're located, really, all over the world with the money that we're giving back and hopefully raising.

We do a lot of events out in Napa and Sonoma.

And the giving is really incredible.

Dick Vitale, ESPN, and what he has done to raise tens of millions of dollars, especially for pediatric cancer research.

So it's really the thing I'm most proud of right now, is to help with the V Foundation.

I was able to bring my parents with me to the big fundraiser last August in Napa, and to have my father in the audience as he battles, as he continues his chemo treatments with Coach K by my side on stage as we raise money for millions of people.

It's really an honor.

And I think that's what I'm most grateful for with my career and my success, which is because of so many other people, is that I have this little platform, for who knows how long, and if that's something I can do on the platform is to help remind people the need to raise money and to give back because, unfortunately, we all seem to have a cancer story.

- We know somebody, somebody in our family.

All right, I wanna talk to you about some, not touchy subjects, but some subjects that are of great interest for us in society and subjects that impact and influence our lives, professionally and personally.

You are a woman of color.

- Yes.

- You have overcome to a great extent your feeling of being an introvert and so on.

You are in the public eye, you have excelled at what you do, and you have done it for a long period of time.

So, they say an overnight success, it just takes so many years.

And I wanna talk to you about the fact that you're a female, you're a woman of color.

In society, we talk a lot about the glass ceiling for women.

Now we see tremendous advancements in that thanks to individuals like you who do well and set the example for so many others.

You just talked elegantly and eloquently about your love for America and the American flag.

Not everybody feels that way, Sage.

And does that put you in a tight spot?

What are some of the difficulties that you had to overcome?

Have you received the kind of respect that you believe you deserve on merit and by design?

I guess what I'm asking you is what is it you've had to overcome to get to where you are given really these gifts that are not necessarily bad things to have some challenges in life.

Out of adversity can emerge abundance.

I'm grateful for the adversity I've experienced in my life.

Made me a stronger person and gave me more sense of initiative and commitment and determination.

Speak about those kinds of things that can help us all understand things better.

- I think the biggest thing I've had to overcome, and this hit me recently, is accepting that it's okay to not be liked by everyone.

Very difficult.

I have been a pleaser my whole life, as the oldest child, the only girl.

I wanted to please everyone, my teachers, my parents.

Everybody, my bosses, my peers.

And it's easy for a while, and then when you grow up, and I mean grow up, even when you're in your 30s and 40s, we're still growing.

- [Nido] Mature, yes.

- When you mature and you realize who you are and you accept who you are.

Are you willing to put that out there?

And today's society is so much different than when I started.

I graduated from Indiana University in 1995.

There was no internet, barely, right?

I mean, we were emailing and we'd hope it get there by the next day, you know?

There was no social media, I think is the biggest part.

And so, for someone who's always been a pleaser, to have to accept the fact that by being me, not everyone's going to like me, that was devastating, and now I'm fine with it.

It doesn't mean that it's not painful at times because I'm human and I still feel it.

- [Nido] And you care.

- And I care so much.

And at times, probably it too much.

But to let go of that, it doesn't mean I welcome it.

It just means it's okay.

- But Sage, we all go through that.

Years and years of me being on the stage and having so many people in the audience, and for many years, people would file these little surveys or questionnaires at the end, and there'll be 98% of the people loved your presentation, there'll always be those 10 or 12 who just wanna demolish your soul.

And, I too, used to read those and have them affect me, and now you just-- - Instead of focusing on the 98%.

We focus on-- - [Nido] Yes, the squeaky wheel gets the attention.

- Yes, and I think that I've had to learn again, especially through social media.

At the end of the day, I just think we have be okay being ourselves, whatever that means whoever that person is.

And I've had to over the past few years in particular, really reflect back on everything, but reflect on my why.

Why am I in this business?

Because I love storytelling and I love sports.

And I love when I get to sit down of athletes in particular, and it's easy to talk about their greatness, but what did they need to overcome to get to this point to become the big, world famous whomever.

We all have a story.

We all have struggles.

And for me, it has been being okay being myself and standing tall, even if it isn't popular.

What I also have found is that yes, the squeaky wheel, but for every loud voice, there's probably 10 on the other side who are just quietly supporting you.

And as I've gone through some things quite publicly, what I've heard privately, tens of thousands of emails and notes from people I'll never meet because they're all over the world saying, "You do you."

- [Nido] Keep on keeping on.

- Yeah, and that right there, it's not about me.

I have three amazing children.

It's about showing them that it's okay to be you, even if it doesn't seem cool, but it's about all the people I'll never meet to say, yeah, this is a little uncomfortable, but you have to be true to yourself.

Be kind, lead with kindness, but be true to yourself.

And I believe at that point, when it's all said and done, when I'm off the stage and out from being in front of the camera, that's what I know I'll be able to live with myself is that I was true to me.

- And as long as one is relevant, right?

As long as you're bringing value and relevance, and you're doing your best.

- [Sage] Do it the right way.

- Yeah, that's what matters.

- But tell me about the fact that you're a female and a woman of color.

Did that stop you in any way?

Did you ever pay attention to that?

- I never did because my parents raised us, and again, the military, it was the best upbringing because it's the true definition of diversity in every aspect.

And it's the most welcoming world, I think anywhere that people don't understand, unless you're in it.

You're moving, you're adjusting.

And if you don't accept everybody, I mean, you know what it feels like to be on the outside.

So getting into it, the only thing I think that stood out to me the most when I decided I wanted to do this as a young kid and then in college, there were no women, certainly.

And so, when I would go into the NBA locker rooms or NFL locker rooms, I was always the only woman, but I knew my stuff.

What I did was I prepared more because I was afraid that the guys would test me.

And trust me, when I write the book someday, there were many tests.

There were many tests along the way.

Some of them I can't even say out loud.

There were a lot of tests, but every time I passed the test because I knew my stuff.

And I actually found is when I got into those locker rooms and there were 25 or 30 men around me and were battling for a position to get our microphone in there, my voice was different.

My questions were usually better because I had prepared more and I knew I had to be better.

I found that being a female in a male dominated industry, because I knew my stuff, was an advantage.

And those guys and those players and those coaches respected me more because they knew I had done a lot more homework than a lot of my male counterparts, nothing against them.

I just felt this extra pressure to make sure I wasn't, oh, yeah, another girl, see.

So to me it was an advantage.

And I think the race issue has become more prominent more recently, and I think that that's unfortunate, and that's a show for another day.

I think the combination has actually helped me because I am different.

And there are been times, and even some friends, and it broke my heart, friends, peers, who I would hear through the grapevine, we know why she got that job.

Female, woman of color, sports, check, check, check, HR departments love people like her.

- And you've been at this for a long time.

- That's the key.

And it's nothing about me in particular.

It's anyone who comes in, and maybe, okay, maybe we do check some boxes, but that only gets you so far because once that camera comes on in my profession, and if you don't know your stuff and can't execute on live national TV, those check marks are only gonna last so long, You're out.

- [Nido] Short lived.

- You're out.

- [Nido] Yeah, short-lived.

- So I feel like I've taken it as a positive and as an advantage to be different.

- So what you're really saying is attitude makes a difference.

Growth mindset makes a difference, and faithful courage.

Just prodding along, even though you feel a sense of being an introvert and so on, you still plug on.

- My support system allowed me to keep pursuing.

- When you speak to young broadcasters, male or female who wanna be in broadcasting, what do you say to them?

What are the two or three most important things that one has to master to be very effective in their role?

- First I tell them to buckle up.

And I say, are you sure [Sage chuckling] because this is as cutthroat of an industry as you'll find.

I do think their timing is good in many ways, because there are so many more opportunities than when I was coming out of school.

- More channels, cable, et cetera, et cetera.

- Everywhere, the internet.

You can be hired to run the social media platform and be the face of that on Twitter, on Instagram.

There are these jobs out there that never existed.

So I think that that is definitely a benefit.

But to me, I ask them, why.

Why are you doing this?

And I'm kind of tough on them sometimes, and they don't always like my answer, but if it's because it seems cool.

That only lasts so long.

- Or ego or.

- Yeah, and you get to some cool because yes, those parts are great.

But again, it only lasts.

What is your why?

My why is because I wanted to get to know what made these people great, especially the tough times.

That's just my why, but what's your why?

And is it to tell the stories of the highlights?

Is it just basketball?

What is it about basketball?

Give me your why, and then how do you plan to do it?

Because there's out of you now.

So I think at the end of the day, you will stand out if your why is in line, not with what it should be, because that's subjective, certainly.

But it can't be the cool thing.

- By why, you mean purpose in life, vision for your future, what keeps you going, what inspires you and motivates you.

- And then you have to choose to do it the right way, and by that, I mean, professionally.

I say to young women, how you present yourself matters.

I don't care what industry you're in.

And young men, when you walk into that room, what are we wearing?

Are we looking people in the eye?

Those really basic things that I think are taken for granted.

- How to connect with people and so on.

The camera is a very difficult medium for many people, because speaking to an audience, you're literally sitting there moving from camera one to two to three.

You're trying to think about what you're gonna say, and so on.

What do you find is the most difficult thing about doing "SportsCenter" everyday in terms of communicating with the audience?

- Not thinking about the fact that there could be several million people watching.

I just can't think about it.

- You think about one person watching you, and you're talking to that person.

- Yes, and that was the best advice that someone gave me when I was first getting into the business.

When I was working in South Bend and finally got my first opportunity to be on camera because I came in as a producer and a writer.

That's all that they had from me.

And I just was like whatever it takes I'll do.

I was editing, I was shooting.

I did everything, but on camera.

And then when I got on camera, I've always talked too fast.

And now I think my bosses have given up.

That's just who she is.

In order to make it seem natural, though, what I did was I would look at that camera and I would picture my father.

- Oh, I see.

- And I was talking to my father about The Warriors and The Lakers game, and oh my gosh, dad, did you see what happened?

Let me tell you what Stephan Curry did with 10 seconds left.

And so, I pictured my dad's face at the top of the camera like I was telling him the story.

- [Nido] That's brilliant.

- And to bring it down and not try to be so rigid because people at home don't want that.

They want someone who tells a story and is natural.

So picturing my dad, just like I used to when I was a kid, yeah.

- Helped a lot.

That makes a lot of sense.

Well, we can talk for hours about all these experiences.

I just want you to know, thank you for being with me today.

"Side by Side."

Sage, you're changing the world in your own way, and you're making a big difference for all of us.

Thank you for being here.

- This is an honor for me to be with you, so thank you.

- Thank you very much.

- [Male Narrator] Funding for "Side by Side with Nido Qubein" is made possible by.

- [Female Narrator] Here's to those that rise and shine, to friendly faces doing more than their part, and to those who still enjoy the little things.

You make it feel like home.

Ashley HomeStore.

This is home.

- [Female Narrator] For over 60 years the everyday leaders at the Budd Group have been committed to providing smart customized facility solutions to our clients and caring for the communities we serve.

[calm music] - [Male Narrator] Coca-Cola Consolidated is honored to make and serve 300 brands and flavors locally [upbeat music] thanks to our teammates.

We are Coca-Cola Consolidated.

Your local bottler.

[upbeat music]