How Mina Kimes became a much-needed voice for ESPN

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Friends,

Mina Kimes is an award-winning journalist, NFL analyst, and podcast host. She’s extremely knowledgeable about the game of football. And I’m not talking about understanding the game on a basic level, she knows her stuff. Whether it’s coverages, what the quarterback needs to do to exploit those coverages or blown calls, she knows how to take the content and break it down for the casual fan. She has a way with words.

In case you’re wondering, Mina is half Korean and White, her mother is from Seoul and her dad is from Seattle.

Mina’s childhood was similar to many other military families. She moved around a lot, a whole lot.

“Since Kimes was a military kid, moving was as much a part of her life as brushing her teeth. She was born in Omaha, Neb., moved to San Pedro, Calif., relocated to Ann Arbor, Mich., returned to San Pedro, headed to Ashburn, Va., and finally, for high school, settled outside of Phoenix, in Gilbert, Ariz.” (Manchard, 2022)

The Kimes family moved so much that Mina learned at a very young age what it meant to make new friends and lose them in a matter of a few years, sometimes shorter.

At 3, she was already reading full sentences. According to her mother, her favorite place was the library. Mina’s mother would try to get her interested in other things, but it never worked until she grew older.

Besides reading, football was very much a part of Mina’s life. Her dad is a huge Seattle Seahawks fan and introduced her to the game. As a kid, Mina hated losing. She describes herself as “intense” and competitive,” traits more aligned with the opposite gender (Manchard, 2022).

Kimes could’ve gone to just about any school in the nation. She scored an impressive 1560 out of 1600 on the SAT. She decided to attend Yale University, graduating with the highest Latin Honor, Summa Cum Laude.

In 2014, Kimes started working as a senior writer. But before she received her big break from ESPN, she was an award-winning writer for Fortune and Bloomberg.

“An acclaimed writer, Kimes has written many memorable features for ESPN. She penned the first ESPN Cover Story in October 2019 – the incredible survival story of NFL wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins and his mother” (ESPN, 2023).

You can catch Mina all over ESPN. She’s on NFL Live, First Take, Get Up, Sportscenter, Around the Horn, and many more. About a month ago, Mina was offered and agreed to a massive new deal. The deal is reportedly worth 1.7 million.

Mina Kimes is a refreshing and much-needed voice in sports media and entertainment. Before 2019, I didn’t know much about her. I quickly realized something about her was different, something I couldn’t quite pinpoint but I knew was good. She knows how to process and deliver information in a unique way. Football is more than X’s and O’s.

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References

Marchand, A. (2022, February 8). How mina kimes became ESPN’s most unlikely star. New York Post. https://nypost.com/2022/02/08/how-mina-kimes-became-espns-most-unlikely-star/

Mina Kimes. ESPN Press Room U.S. (2023, June 20). https://espnpressroom.com/us/bios/mina-kimes/