Raven Jemison has worked with sports teams in the NHL, MLB, NFL, and the NBA. She sits down with WTMJ’s Libby Collins to talk about her life and personal journey, how she began working with the Milwaukee Bucks, and her new book. It’s all ahead on this exciting edition of WTMJ Conversations. Listen in the player above.
A partial transcript is provided below, courtesy of eCourt Reporters.
LIBBY COLLINS: You came out personally, but did you come out at work as well?
RAVEN JEMISON: I did.
LIBBY COLLINS: How do you come to work one day and announce that?
RAVEN JEMISON: Yeah, so it’s — it’s interesting that you ask that question, because it wasn’t by choice. I tried to come out to my mom before, and it went disastrous, like, it was — it was awful. Went back into the closet because it went so poorly, you know, personally as well, a few friends knew.
And then I had this breakup, and I was broken. And so, put that on the shelf for a bit. I meet someone new, and she’s as perfect for me as perfect will be. So, I was like, okay, I’m going to tell a friend who I’ve gotten close to here in Pittsburgh. So, we go to the bar, and I didn’t really know how I was going to say it, but I was just like, “Listen, I met somebody, I’m so happy, and I just wanted you to know that.”
And she kept saying, “I can’t wait to meet him.”
And I could not stress how much pronouns jumped out at me. And I finally was like, “I look forward to having you meet her.”
And then she was just like, “I can’t wait to meet her either.”
I said, “Please don’t tell anybody, give me a minute.”
A couple weeks later, one of my closest friends at work — her husband actually, he comes into my office, I was like, “I want to talk to you about something.” And he leans forward, almost like he’s anticipating something. And I’m like, okay, this is interesting. And I tell him, and he’s like, “I know.” There was a moment of relief, but there was also a moment of anger because it is no one’s responsibility to out someone.
