Rosalyn Gold-Onwude was born on April 28, 1987, to parents Pat Gold and Austin Onwude. Gold is Russian and Jewish and Onwude is Nigerian. Gold-Onwude works as a basketball analyst.
The 30-year-old broadcaster recently inked a deal with Turner Sports. According to Mercury News, she’d spent three seasons on the sidelines for the Golden State Warriors’ broadcasting crew before moving out of the regional sports world for the big stage.
Prior to talking basketball on TV, she patrolled the court herself, playing hoops for Stanford, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in communications and a master’s degree in sociology. While she was on the roster, the Cardinal made three straight trips to the Final Four.
Here’s what you need to know:
1. She Is Covering the NBA Playoffs for TNT & Worked for Pac-12 Network, NBA TV, & the WNBA’s New York Liberty on MSG
Gold-Onwude told Warriors fans she’d be leaving the Golden State sidelines with a tweet on September 1, 2017. From there she moved on to the national stage, according to Mercury News, working Thursday night basketball on TNT alongside the likes of Charles Barkley, Kenny Smith and host Ernie Johnson. As part of that gig, she’ll be covering the 2018 NBA playoffs for TNT.
But before her broadcasting career, Gold-Onwude attended Stanford. After graduating in 2010, she took a job with Tesla Motors, according to PopSugar. While she was working for Tesla, broadcasting became her “side hustle.”
“My first role in broadcasting started in the analyst and color-commentator role, and it’s probably the best thing that’s happened for me because I [could] really talk about and break down the game. That was more helpful than I even knew,” Gold-Onwude told PopSugar.
The steady paycheck from Tesla allowed her to moonlight in broadcasting. Eventually, Gold-Onwude chose to pursue broadcasting full time. She initially worked for the Pac-12 Network, and then moved deeper into the college basketball arena, eventually working gigs for both men’s and women’s hoops. She then moved into broadcasting professional basketball, broadcasting for the WNBA before transitioning to the NBA Development league. In 2014, she started with Golden State.
2. She Played Basketball in High School & College
Gold-Onwude grew up in Queens, New York. She began playing basketball at the age of 4. Gold-Onwude attended Archbishop Molloy High School in Briarwood, where she also played basketball. Her team won two state basketball titles in 2003 and 2004.
Unfortunately for her, an injury to her knee cut her senior season short. She had done enough to impress the scouts at Stanford, however, and was offered a scholarship. Gold-Onwude became the first Archbishop Molloy player to move onto a Division I school for collegiate ball.
At Stanford, Gold-Onwude served as the team’s starting point guard her freshman year. Another knee injury forced the team to res-shirt her for the 2006-07 season. She returned the following season.
During her final season, Gold-Onwude was named the Pac-10 Defensive Player of the Year, according to PopSugar.
3. She Is all About the ‘Black Girl Magic’
#BlackGirlMagic became a thing in 2016. The Huffington Post defines the hashtag as “a term used to illustrate the universal awesomeness of black women. It’s about celebrating anything we deem particularly dope, inspiring, or mind-blowing about ourselves.”
Not only does Gold-Onwude exude the very definition of #BlackGirlMagic, but she is also a proud supporter of women, in general. In fact, you could also use the hashtag #girlpower when referring to Gold-Onwude, and that would be more than appropriate.
In fact, on April 4, 2018, Gold-Onwude captioned a photo of herself with a message about Maya Angelou and “phenomenal” women.
“Before we were hashtagging #BlackGirlMagic, Maya Angelou proclaimed she was a Phenomenal Woman! She would’ve been 90 years-old today. Not only was she an iconic poet and author, she also was a civil rights leader. In this urgent moment of social activism, let’s remember what she so beautifully taught us: phenomenal black women will be seen and heard, and we will always rise to the occasion,” she wrote.
4. She Was Drake’s Date at the NBA Awards in 2017 & Many People Have Wondered if the 2 Are Dating
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In 2017, TNT hosted the first ever NBA Awards. The network was able to land rapper Drake as its host — and every host needs a date, right? Drake asked Gold-Onwude to accompany him to the event but, according to Refinery29, it appeared as though the two were just together for the night.
When Gold-Onwude was asked about her date at the awards show, she played coy. At first, she told Entertainment Tonight that she and Drake were “just friends,” but then she teased that there was “maybe” something more between them.
“Well, maybe. We’ll leave it there,” she told the outlet.
According to celebrity dating database Who’s Dated Who, Drake and Gold-Onwude never actually dated. The site doesn’t have any information on Gold-Onwude’s relationships, but it appears as though she is currently single.
5. She Covered the Rio Olympics & Calls the Experience the Highlight of Her Career
In an in-depth interview with PopSugar, Gold-Onwude talked about her career and what she believes is the highlight. Although she has had some incredible opportunities come her way, there was one very special event that she’s quite fond of: The Rio Olympics.
“I think the highlight of my career so far has been working at the Rio Olympics. I was covering the Olympics on the international level for NBC, which was the biggest stage for men’s basketball. That is really rare, especially for a 29-year-old black woman, to do,” Gold-Onwude told PopSugar.
“It was a huge deal for me, and I think it also changed the seriousness with which I was taken in this industry. I was also able to build relationships with the top players and coaches, and it’s still helping me today in my current job. It really was a very beneficial experience. I’d say that’s the highlight,” she added.