When trying to breakthrough in the sports media industry, you never know what tools from past jobs can help you succeed. For the host of FOX NFL Kickoff, Charissa Thompson, the key to being able to interview any personality came from working in a different field.
Thompson was a guest on the 10 Questions With Kyle Brandt Podcast and she said that the reason she is able to do good interviews is because of her work in doing every service industry job possible. It helped her read people
“For me, it all comes down to greeting a table that you are waiting. I have to establish a connection where it’s like ‘hi, I’m Charissa, I’ll be taking care of you’…For me, it’s sort of reading people. If the interview subject is standoffish, I immediately go you don’t like interviews, don’t you? I’m already going to say what that person is thinking. For me, it’s about reading people and what they want.”
Brandt did ask Thompson about something she feels she does really well in her current job.
“I think I do a good job of putting people at ease in interviews,” Charissa Thompson answered. “If I’ve never met them before, I would like to believe that they get comfortable pretty quickly having a conversation with me because there’s that very short amount of time. I learned this in entertainment that on a red carpet and you got the publicist saying you’ve got 2 questions, let’s go. You have to immediately try to establish rapport with someone and do it authentically. I like to believe that’s a gift I have.”
When Thompson isn’t hosting FOX NFL Kickoff, she is co-hosting the Calm Down with Erin and Charissa podcast with Erin Andrews. In fact, Andrews was one of the first people to greet Thompson when she arrived at ESPN.
“She gave me a big hug and she was like I’m here for you and it was just the beginning of a long friendship…She’s like a sister to me and all the ups and down through marriage, divorce, trying to have kids, and all the other things in between and this crazy profession where it feels great to have a girl friend that knows exactly what you’re talking about.”
