Maria Taylor

“I would say from top to bottom, the SEC is strongest. Every now and then, another conference is going to have a great number one team. But week in and week out, having to play a really tough schedule that's preparing you for the post­season, there's no better conference than the SEC.”

“I'm energized by this idea that's live television. In the same way as an athlete when they get on the field or on the court, you have to perform in that moment or it's past you and you've missed.”

“I think NBA fans are some of the smartest you'll ever come around. They are very invested.”

“My faith is everything. It's the bedrock, the foundation and the core of who I am.”

“I think when I got into broadcasting I told myself, 'I don't ever want to be pigeonholed as one thing.'”

“When we launched the SEC Network, I think I cried.”

“It's just been this incredible steady climb, but I've seen a company that believes in me and has let me make mistakes, has let me grow and evolve and try and find new and inventive ways to use me. I feel like I came up through the farm system.”

“Nobody is going to tell me that I can't do three games in a week. No one is going to tell me that I can't do it well. I'm going to work really hard at it. I get bored if I don't have 10,000 things on my plate.”

“Nobody is following us around and primping us or telling you what questions to ask. You have to keep your eyes open.”

“I think it's so important as a woman, and especially as a minority, to lift as you climb. So having people shadow you or mentoring people - that's important to me.”

“For me, I want everything to be easy, breezy, and everyone to have a blast. And I feel like those are all the things that happened regardless of whether or not it was the perfect color scheme or the flower arrangement was this and that.”