THIS IS EPISODE 46 OF THE SPORTS SPECTRUM PODCAST
Emily Austen is a former reporter for Fox Sports. She also had stints at the Golf Channel and as a digital reporter with the Boston Celtics.
In 2016, she was fired from her job for making offensive remarks on a Facebook LIVE interview with Barstool Sports. Her firing went viral and her story made national news.
In the immediate aftermath, after apologizing, Emily went to a very dark place.
Emily has since rebounded and has been determined to turn her mess into a message of positivity by renewing her faith in Christ and speaking to colleges about the mistake she made and the importance of words and what we say about others.
On this episode of the podcast, Emily shares why her dream was to become a sports reporter, how the incident with Barstool Sports came about, what she learned, how her faith in Christ was renewed and what she is doing now to change the narrative and be a positive light to college students.
Timeline:
4:25 – When her dream began
6:30 – Where her faith walk began.
7:45 – On college life and where her broadcasting career started to take shape
10:55 – How her career started to grow from Golf Channel to the Celtics to Fox Sports
14:25 – On rejection in the broadcasting business and not getting the job that she had hoped for.
16:55 – How the Facebook Live incident came to fruition.
19:55 – Why she said what she said on the show.
25:05 – The power of words and how her remarks took away everything she worked for in her past.
30:25 – Having the conversation with her mother after everything that happened.
35:15 – On the aftermath and going to a very dark place.
43:05 – The moment she was able to turn it around and try to turn it into a positive.
51:05 – What has she learned about forgiveness in the past 16 months?
56:30 – What is God teaching her right now?
Favorite Quotes:
“It was the single worst moment of my life.”
“Who am I? You define yourself and think that your whole world is just gone because I define myself and my success as a sports reporter. So when that was taken away, my world was crushed.”
“The worst part of this is being painted as this monster on social media, this evil person and hurting so many people and not having the power to be able to take that back.”
“I did this to myself. I made the mistake, nobody forced me to say or do anything.”
“I was in a very, very dark place.”
“If I did pray, ‘I would pray God please don’t let me wake up,’ because I don’t want to kill myself.”
“The love and support I received was just overwhelming and is really what kept me alive.”
“I didn’t understand why God would want me to go through something like this.”
“There’s always been something missing in my life. What I’ve learned is that what’s been missing is a relationship with God. God literally had to take everything from me, in terms of a career, a relationship and just get my attention.”
“I was searching for something that was right in front of my face. I was searching for this happiness and purpose and satisfaction in my career and in my relationship, but the truth is you’re only going to find that in Jesus.”
“My goal is to have people learn from my mistake and help as many people along the way.”
Humbled to share my story, importance of words & taking ownership to @FSU_Football. Such a class organization. Thanks again for opportunity. pic.twitter.com/WlJjDP4TuW
— Emily Austen (@emilyausten_) August 18, 2017
