“I’m always fighting for the underdog. I don’t know where I got it from, but I’ve been like that all my life. That’s why I love journalism,” said Cari Champion.

Champion is a broadcast journalist and television personality. She began her career at several news broadcasting stations before transitioning to entertainment, and sports.

She started her sports broadcasting career at the Tennis Channel in 2009, after discovering her affection for the sport when she covered several players, including the Williams sisters while at WPTV in West Palm Beach, FL. “They made me love the sport even more. They opened the door to tennis for so many different people."

While her love for tennis was blossoming, Champion strove to “prove her legitimacy to viewers” as this was a crucial part of measuring her success at the Tennis Channel.

As a Court Reporter anchor, Champion was to report four one-minute daily segments focusing on the biggest news stories in tennis. “Tennis fans are like no other,” she begins. “They are hardcore, elegant and they really know their stuff. They can spot a phony a mile away. Tennis Channel knew I had to be integrated and authentic, or the fans would know… if you don’t follow this sport, having to pronounce these names is crazy.”

After her stint at the Tennis Channel, Champion was hired as the new host of ESPN’s "First Take" with Skip Bayless and Stephen A. Smith in 2012. Throughout her time at ESPN, she had been proposing ideas for stories, but it wasn’t until 2014 that she made her journalistic debut as an "E:60" correspondent.

The November 2014 "E:60" interview profiled NFL quarterback, Cam Newton, and his impact during the first four seasons of his NFL career. The following July, Champion was promoted to fill the co-anchor position on the morning segment of "Sportscenter Coast-to-Coast" with David Lloyd.

Impressed with her captivating abilities to appease both entertainment and sports on "Coast-to-Coast", espnW, “a global multiplatform brand dedicated to engaging and inspiring women through sports,” created a podcast with Champion.

"EspnW presents Be Honest with Cari Champion" started in 2016 and “takes an honest look at the world of sports and pop culture with the help of outspoken guests.” Ice Cube, Candace Parker, Yvonne Orji, Lonzo Ball, Sheryl Crow, Chloe Kim, Allyson Felix, Todd Gurley, Joe Budden, and Amy Purdy are only some of the guests included on the podcast that discusses anything from sports and fashion to the entertainment industry.

Although it is far from over, Cari has already had an illustrious career. Aside from her additions in the sport broadcasting community, she has also fostered a mentoring program to “help young women navigate through the early stages of their careers” called, Brown Girls Dream. With the goal of “identifying the next generation of multimedia Bad Asses,” Champion is inviting and encouraging young women of color to turn “their dreams into realities.”

“The ability to use words to tell a story, to inform, to inspire and to educate has helped feed my passion,” she writes.

“Words are powerful. When I was given a platform to use my words, I realized my responsibility was quite simply to – help others – use their words.”