Jemele Hill shares her journalistic journey in new memoir, ‘Uphill’
The former ESPN personality returned to her hometown of Detroit to discuss her book, politics and how her career has evolved over the years.
Jemele Hill in the WDET studios on Nov. 16, 2022.
She started out as a high school journalist in a program right here in Detroit, and has gone on to become one of the most outspoken journalists of our time. She first made a name for herself as an anchor at ESPN for 12 years, and is now writing for The Atlantic and hosting the Spotify podcast, ‘Jemele Hill is Unbothered.’
When Jemele Hill talks, people listen. Her journey toward building that trust with her audience is all laid out in her new memoir, ‘Uphill.’ It follows the hardships she had growing up in Detroit, to becoming a sports journalist in a white male-dominated industry, to her 2017 tweets calling President Donald Trump “a white supremacist who has largely surrounded himself with other white supremacists.”
She joined CultureShift while promoting her book to talk about how she feels about Trump’s third presidential run, debunking the “shut up and dribble” mentality of combining sports with politics and the importance of journalists in today’s environment.
“Instead of focusing on the things that the profession can give you, focus on how you can make this profession better, and how you can be a part of shaping history because that’s what you do as a journalist.” — Jemele Hill, journalist
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