11-year-old sports reporter Pepper Persley on how covering the WNBA empowers her
Since she was little, Pepper Persley was a natural when it came to asking questions. Her father Christopher Persley recalled the young girl asking "so many questions" when it came to "just about everything," but noted she had a particular early interest in the WNBA.
"They were like, 'We didn't play in the WNBA. I don't know. You should ask them,'" Pepper told CBS News correspondent Jan Crawford. "And I was like, 'You know what? I will.'"
So her father reached out to their hometown team, the New York Liberty, who then invited her to a practice and at six years old, Pepper began her work as a sports reporter.
"I am a kid and I feel like I've been really lucky to have players open up to me," she said. "It leads to really great conversations."
Pepper has since gone on to cover the MLB as well as the NBA, but has a personal connection to the WNBA. She said her "biggest goal" is to one day play in the WNBA herself, and that she looks up to her interview subjects as "role models."
"Empowered women empower girls, which I think definitely embodies the WNBA," Pepper said.
When she was in second grade, players helped Pepper launch an anti-bullying project in response to a negative experience she had.
"That started her just really standing up for what's right for her," her mother, Jenelle Timmins-Persley, said.
Washington Mystics player Natasha Cloud said she is "so proud" of the little journalist.
"For her to be able to see herself in us, that's a beautiful, beautiful thing," Cloud said.
Her parents say schoolwork comes first, but in her free time Pepper still finds time to play basketball, softball, the violin and taekwando — along with her reporting. They say they're most proud of her fearlessness, focus and preparation.
"I think that I'm just lucky to be able to see myself in them," Pepper said. "It empowers me to believe in myself and to believe in my dreams and to not try to find a reason to stop, but try to find a reason to keep going."
