Access used to mean proximity; Taylor Rooks redefined it as empathy. Her interviews, like the one she did with Issa Rae for our September cover, feel like moments that should’ve stayed private — honest, emotional, unforgettable. She listens like a collaborator, not a correspondent. In a media era driven by volume, she uses silence as strategy. 2025 cemented her as the journalist athletes want to talk to, because she reminds them they’re human first, headlines second.
