Football has always been the sports dominated by male. And, while time and again the question rise about sexism and equal pay unbiased on gender, there is one woman that is making her marks on the football screens with a force. She is none other than the talkSport Breakfast host and presenter, Laura Woods.
Striding in the path laid by ever so beautiful and talented “Sue Barker” and “Kelly Cates,” Laura is at front seat of the spectrum when it comes to leading horses in female sports media.
Also known for her quirky smile during her Q/A sessions with football stars, Laura has made in-roads in the sports with over a decade long service. But what do we know about her apart from her professional life? Here we take bits by bits on the journey of Laura from nothing to the host we know.
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Laura Woods’s Life before Success
Laura Woods is becoming a famous household name in the sports industry. She is among those few women who have pursued a career in sports and is currently on demand. Laura, born on July 2, developed an interest in sports since her early days. She credits her dad and her two brothers for their heavy influence who too were great football fans. Her twitter suggests that she was born and raised in London by her parents. Her early educational history is unknown except the fact that she joined Kingston University to study print journalism. She has kept her personal life and family details under the bridge where no media light can fall.
Laura’s Career Journey: Tale of Hardwork and Talent
Laura joined Kingston University in London with the motive of making her career in sports. While at University, she used to contribute to the student newspaper to gain some experience. She took her first step towards her career by compiling match reports for the newspaper. Between her college assignments and interaction with new people, she encountered a man who had gained experience working at Sky Sports. This man became the deal cracker for Laura as his contacts helped her enter the Sky sports. She got a chance to work on Soccer AM for a week. Her one week tenure at the Sky sports was fruitful as realized her real passion. She told Mirror football:
“I had already done a week’s work experience in a newspaper and decided it wasn’t for me. As soon as I went into TV it was like color-everything was exciting and new. The people, the personalities and the characters.”
Woods continuously kept in touch with the Sky sports personnel until she was offered a full-time job. Soon after graduating from University, she joined Sky Sports in 2009. She worked as a runner making coffees and teas before making her way up to a producer. By the time she learned to produce shows, cut edits, and started working on every sport covered by Sky.
Inclining Career at Sky Sports
Laura Woods has become one of the examples that women too can be good at sports. She started her career at the Sky sports in 2009. And by now she is ruling the sports media world. At the initial phase of her career, she started reporting on various sports including NFL International Series Wembley and the show “Game Changers.” This show was the first-ever children show launched by Sky Sports.
Later on, Laura as a presenter joined Soccer AM’s first YouTube channel alongside Adam Smith. She has worked with numerous Premier League footballers. In 2016, she traveled around for European Championships and presented the football show “Carling in off the Bar.” Likewise, she is also a regular on Sky Sports’ Darts coverage as a reporter.
Moreover, she also anchors the Premier League output on the 1.30 pm game on Super Sunday on sky sports. Woods is recognized as the host of the popular show “Debate”. She presents the show along with two ex-players where they talk about leading football stories.
Laura Woods on Radio
After making her name in the Sky Sports, Laura established herself on the radio too. Her fans can catch her every Saturday evening anchoring the live Premier League game on talksport. On the Alan Brazil Sports Breakfast, she airs her own show “The Season Ticket” with Danny Kelly.
Recently, voiceover artist Laura joined ‘Babble‘ alongside team members Andrea Roxas, Amy Stanford, Megan Sayers Chapham, Ekua Hagan, Heather Newman, Alexa Thompson, and Ashley Lam.
Laura’s Inspiration and Her Proudest Moment
In the male-dominated sports industry, there are some women who have outshined in this field. One of them is Gabby Logan- the first female football presenter on TV. And she was a major inspiration for Laura. Laura stated:
“Gabby was the trailblazer for me. There are so many other amazing women but I remember Gabby more as a youngster, thinking she had this way about her, she looked so relaxed. Her personality was incredible and it was backed up by her confidence and knowledge. It never felt like she was out of place or overshadowed by the occasion, she was there by merit. She’s quite dominant force and I’ve always appreciated that, I’ve appreciated strong women, I have a lot of strong women in my life.”
She further added:
“And this can give you an advantage in a sports media world because it can be daunting, especially when you walk into that environment. It is heavily male-dominated, it’s getting better now but you do have to learn different skills to deal with that.”
Laura regards Kelly Cates as her new role model. she told:
Kelly for me makes it so easy and that is such a skill. When Kelly came I was like ‘Wow’. She is so cool as well, she will give you all the time of day and you can ask her any questions you want.”
Laura is leaving her dream in reality. She has lived many proud moments that she won’t ever forget in her lifetime. She described one of the proudest moments when she presented a 30- minute international stream with Ronaldo for Sky Sports. Likewise, her proudest moments include interviewing David Beckham at the official launch of his long-awaited MLS franchise alongside Alan Brazil for Nike.
Today David Beckham launched his MLS franchise in Miami and I’m the happiest woman in the world that I got the chance to be here for it ☺️❤️??
Posted by Laura Woods on Monday, January 29, 2018
Laura Woods is gaining popularity for work as a presenter. Her hard work and talent earned her millions of fans. Laura is a social media influencer who has 111k followers on Instagram and 166k followers on Twitter. Her social media accounts are filled with sports news.