Mykell Ramos Was Born To Honor Her Father Through Her Love of Sports
By Tadi Abedje
The host of ‘Rolling with Ramos’ explains how her and late father shared a love of sports.
According to Father Resource, the definition of “Like father, like daughter” is a similarity between a parent and child. That phrase best describes Mykell Ramos, who is the host of her own podcast called ‘Rolling with Ramos.’ She got the love of sports from her late father, Michael Ramos, who was a basketball player at Central High School in Bridgeport, Connecticut. He was a part of a team that won 23 straight games. She considers herself a sports junkie because of her knowledge and father’s experience.
“He was just so awesome and we had such riveting conversations. He always encouraged my career and always made me read newspapers. Innately, we were just hanging out. We were just chilling and what transpired was a changing of the guard in a sense where his passion became mine and I can’t do nothing but to credit him for that,” she said.
Along with the passing of her dad, she has faced a number of challenges as a young Black woman in the industry. She has had to prove she can be better than her white and male counterparts.
“You see other people getting positions and getting jobs and all you want to do is show that you want to show them to give you a shot. What you would do with it is greater than what they gave you. I think that’s the challenge, showing that you belong and that’s what I go through and what I have issues with myself in trying to prove that,” said Ramos. “I think over the years, you get better with rejection and learning how to deal with that and realizing that the journey is the journey.”
Ramos attended an Historically Black University (HBCU) called Morgan State University where she was involved with the student newspaper called The Spokesperson and eventually became the go to person when it came to sports. She graduated in 2010 with a Bachelor’s degree in broadcast journalism and said that “being at an HBCU feels like home.”
“My experience at Morgan was beautiful and I wouldn’t change it for anything,” Ramos said. “I had some wonderful professors who believed in me that I still keep in contact with ‘til this day via Facebook, etc. It’s a forever community that I’ll forever cherish. A lot of my peers stopped being in communications and now they’re cheering me on. I’m forever grateful to Morgan.”
It was also during that time where ‘Rolling with Ramos' was born. It was originally a segment on Listen Up! with Farajii Muhammad on WEAA 88.9 FM. Ramos used to help him out with his show, assist with producer, volunteer and every now and then, would give her a sports segment. In the last 30 minutes of Muhammad’s show on a Friday night, she would talk about what’s going on with the Baltimore Ravens or the big news of the day.
Even though Ramos was on a show called ‘The Flex Zone’ with buddies of hers in Andre Melton, Crevonte Hurd and Roger Herring, she had aspirations of having her own show.
“I just was like, ‘I wanted to take my own show to the next level’ and I moved on. Thankfully for them, they gave me the opportunity to get my chops up and I moved on and started ‘Rolling with Ramos’ and here we are four years later,” she said. “So I'm just happy that people allowed me to come to their nice little homes and let them see sports through my eyes. I appreciate it.”
In addition to ‘Rolling with Ramos,’ Mykell has been the Master Control Operator at WBFF Fox 45 Baltimore since 2018. She started off as a production assistant at the station and was working only part time and then eventually matriculated over to working downstairs in Master Control. Despite working overnight and working part time at a clothing store during the day, Ramos is grateful for Fox 45 as it was her first job in the industry.
“I actually count the news in and out from the live broadcast. I understand what goes on with watching television. I watch television totally differently now. So when people see the television in black, I know that that would be where I come in to try and figure out what happened to the segment, what’s going on,” she said. “It’s nice to know that I am that person.”
In the end for the Rolling with Ramos host, sports is the way to remember her dad.
“It’s more of a legacy. When you watch ‘Rolling with Ramos’, you’re not just rolling with one Ramos, you’re rolling with two.”
You can check out ‘Rolling with Ramos' with her co-host Tristan Morris, which comes out every Tuesday on Facebook Live at 7:30 pm and on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and YouTube. You can also follow her on Twitter and Instagram @MykellRamos.
Tadi Abedje is an experienced multimedia journalist. You can check out his work at https://tadiabedje.wixsite.com/portfolio and follow him on Twitter and Instagram @realTadiAbedje.
Planted, not Buried is a non-profit organization that focuses on empowering, educating, and inspiring others through outreach, events, networking, and opportunities. Learn more at www.plantednb.com, https://linktr.ee/plantednb , or follow us on all social media at @PlantedNB
