She’s covered sports for the biggest outlets in the world. She spent nearly a decade at The Washington Post covering football, basketball, multiple Olympics and Grand Slam Tennis. 

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In 2004, Nichols moved on to ESPN for a nine-year run in which she earned two Emmy Awards and appeared on some of the network’s most watched programs, like SportsCenter and NFL Countdown. She was also part of the network’s Monday Night Football broadcasts as a sideline reporter.

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Her next move was to CNN and Turner Sports. The first show she created and hosted was self-titled, Unguarded with Rachel Nichols, and aired weekly on CNN and CNN International. It boasted more than a billion viewers worldwide. 

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During this time Nichols reported on TNT’s NBA broadcasts including regular season, playoffs, and All-Star broadcast teams. She also reported for TBS covering baseball and golf broadcasts, and Final Four broadcasts on CBS.

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Nichols returned to ESPN in 2016 after pitching the network on The Jump, which Sports Illustrated would go on to call “TV’s smartest basketball show.” Nichols garnered an Emmy nomination to her credit for “Best Host,” marking only the second time in the award’s 42-year-old history that a woman was nominated amongst the more than 200 nominees. The Jump ran for five years on ESPN where Nichols recruited NBA Hall of Famers like Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Scottie Pippen, Tracy McGrady, and Paul Pierce to join her on set. Nichols also joined ESPN’s premiere Saturday Night NBA package, first as the broadcast’s host and then as its sideline reporter, becoming a fixture during the NBA’s chaotic “Bubble” season.

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Nichols has earned a Gracie Award for her hard-hitting interview with Floyd Mayweather on his record of domestic violence, and an Ed Block Courage Award for her public questioning of NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell. 

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Rachel grew up in Potomac, Maryland, and earned her Bachelor of Science degree in journalism from Northwestern University. She is married with two children, and currently resides in Los Angeles.