Elle Duncan has been one of the faces of ESPN since being hired by the four-letter network in 2016. She is a co-anchor of the 6 p.m. ET version of SportsCenter with Kevin Negandhi, has appeared on other ESPN shows such as Around the Horn and Highly Questionable and is the co-host of the ESPN podcast First Take, Her Take with Kimberly A. Martin and Charly Arnolt. But how did the Atlanta native make it to the top sports network on television? In an exclusive interview with PopCulture.com, Duncan talked about her journey to ESPN, including the audition process.
“I spent many years really working on my reel, working on the reel so that I could just get the audition,” Duncan exclusively told PopCulture. “The most important thing is getting in the door where you can talk to them and charm them and audition for them, but they are bringing you in the door based on your reel. So I spent many years in Atlanta and then a couple of years in Boston, really honing on my reel, honing my skills, having enough experience that I could go to ESPN and say, ‘I think I could do this.’”
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Duncan continued: “So the process itself was mostly meeting with people. Had a chance to audition with Zubin Mehenti and he looked out for me and was so kind and gracious and was a really great partner to me. And it was cool. It was basically doing what we do, the television part of it. But that wasn’t the nerve-wracking part. The nerve-wracking part was sitting in these offices with these sort of career-long ESPN employees and finding out about what it was like. So it was a long day, but eventually, I got the job so it was all worth it. And it worked out.”
Duncan’s energy is seen on ESPN which led to her signing a multi-year contract extension with the network last year. But was being on ESPN the ultimate goal for the 39-year-old? “I think for me, it was much more of an ideology that I was chasing more than a specific job. I wanted a job where I could be myself and I sort came up with the idea of like, I want a job where I can be myself,” she explained. “I was an athlete my whole life. I love sports. We come from a sports family. Our whole life has always revolved around sports, whether playing it or watching it to some level. And I’d always looked up to Robin Roberts growing up. I’d always looked up to the Oprahs of the world and just the fact that they were master communicators. So I just sort of envisioned this world when I was 19, 20 years old were like, maybe I can go to ESPN and be a SportsCenter anchor like Robin Roberts and all of the anchors that I watched growing up, the Stuart Scotts of the world.”
As far as being on SportsCenter, Duncan loves how the people work in front of and behind the camera are focused on the same goal. “It’s just like, it’s a pinch me type of job,” Duncan said. “But I think for sure, the relationships that I’ve built, how much that I’ve learned to lean on other people and vice versa, the team part of it, the partnerships. I love working with SportsCenter for that very reason. It’s the best of the best in the country all coming together to bring you what you need on a show.”
