ANN ARBOR, Mich. — You may know Ashley Adamson from the sidelines of Pac-12 sporting events or the Your Mom podcast as she wears many hats outside of her normal duties as a reporter.
Adamson was born in Denver and moved to Ann Arbor at two years old with her older brother and mother, who was getting a master's degree at the University of Michigan.
"What I just remember is that I wanted to play every sport that was available to play," Adamson said.
Her interest in sports was sparked early on, greatly in part to Michigan athletics.
"The first sports story that I have a significant memory of as a kid was when the Fab Five lost to North Carolina in the 1993 national championship game," she said. "Then I remembered the Fab Five came and spoke at our school ... Everyone wanted the baggy shorts and that was a really cool era to be in Ann Arbor."
As much as sports formed her career path, they formed her personal life as well. A memory that most Michigan fans would like to forget, but changed the trajectory of Adamson's life is the 1994 Miracle at Michigan.
"My brother moved back and was living with my dad in Denver and unbeknownst to me, my mom had really been struggling with not wanting us to be apart and go to high school in different states,” she said. “So she was going to the Colorado-Michigan game in 1994 and she said, ‘I’ve done a lot of praying about it, God give me a sign. Whoever wins this game, that will be where we’re supposed to be.'"
And then, history happened.
“Then, just to make sure (my mom) actually got the message that she was supposed to get, one of the most unbelievable plays in the history of college football happens and it’s a last second Hail Mary," Adamson said. "And I will never forget her coming home. I’m sitting at the kitchen table and I have no idea that any of this is going on, she’s like not speaking English and she’s like, 'did you see that game?'"
"It’s amazing and one of the many ways that sports has been part of the fabric of my life and directed a lot of my path," she added.
So, Adamson moved to Denver in eighth grade and continued in athletics from then on. She later attended Boston College for her undergrad and participated in track and field, but quit the sport after her freshman year.
“I always knew that I wasn’t gonna play sports professionally but I always wondered, is there a way that I could stay around sports," she said.
Adamson credits her father for putting the idea of pursuing sportscasting on her radar.
“I remember we were watching Bonnie Bernstein or Wendi Nix and he said ‘You could go do this. Why don’t you think about getting into sports broadcasting?'” she said. "And I laughed at him 'cause it was so sweet in my mind. ‘Oh dad, that’s so cute that you think that I could go do that.'"
But she did, and hit the ground running when she got her first on-air sports job in Syracuse, New York. It was her first of three before entering into the Pac-12 Network in its inaugural year of 2012.
"It was just a moment where I thought how did I get here?" she said. "They do not know who I am and they do not realize they just let some girl who does not know what she’s doing have this.
“As I started to go through my career, confidence is such a real thing, imposter syndrome is a real thing, people question you all the time," she said. "Men don’t get this question, but women do all the time who work in sports, ‘How’d you get into sports?’ And I'm like, ‘How'd you get into sports?’”
Despite the double standards, she said she has seen the industry has come a long way.
“There has never been a better time to be a woman in sports broadcasting and media,” she said. “And that is a testament to all the women who came before us, who paved the way."
Along with her reporting and hosting, Adamson is also a mother to two children. She said she was initially worried about taking on such an important role and spreading herself too thin, but she found that becoming a mother enhanced the quality of her life and work.
“Where I have landed, and I really do feel this now, is the best that I can do for my daughter and my son is to show them what it looks like to have a career that you love and that you feel so grateful you get to do," she said. “I think it also helps me become way more in tune to the stories of people because I’m looking at things through a mother’s lense now.”
With all the pending conference changes amongst collegiate athletics, Adamson is uncertain of what the future will look like.
But what she does know is her passion for sports story telling and helping those who are coming up in the industry after her will prevail.
"With the 2.0 of my broadcasting career, I hope I get to still cover great events and have that be a part of it, but what I have really been focusing on is how can we create something where we are making more room and more space to ask people’s stories."
She also has high hopes for the next generation of women in the industry.
“My message for the women coming up is I can’t wait to hand you the baton," she said. "We are so here for you. I think that’s the thing that I want young women to know is that every single woman was able to be in the position that she’s in in this industry because somebody else helped pull her up."