You Told Us: Adena Andrews of AdenaAndrews.Com

On a chilly New York night in March of 1995, my Dad and I took a short subway ride from Brooklyn to Seventh Avenue and 33rd Street, the basketball mecca, Madison Square Garden. A sea of orange and blue entered through the front entrance but not us; we were VIP that night and grabbed photos with players at the clubhouse entrance.

Knicks players teased me about my Michael Jordan jersey, which looked like a large nightgown on my 5-foot frame. But they knew what the deal was; everyone was a Jordan fan that night as Jordan returned to basketball after retirement. Unbeknown to the players, or me that night Jordan would etch a place in the big apple's frigid heart with a historic performance.

Jordan didn't just win in his comeback performance, he annihilated New York's basketball cathedral with a record-setting 55 points. With that performance, Jordan lit a fire inside this little girl from Brooklyn that kept me glued to the world of sports and enticed me to make sports my career.

After honing my journalism skills at the University of Southern California, I jumped into the world of sports reporting and landed at NBA Digital where I entertained readers with all-access multimedia pieces like practicing buzzer-beaters with seven-time world champion Robert Horry. Now I educate readers as a columnist at espnW.com by giving them an in-depth look into the world of women's sports with engaging feature and opinion pieces. These stories encompass my short-term goal to place the reader in control of their experience and bring them closer to the sport they love with every article I write.

I'm always looking to stay on top of trends in my industry, which is why I am also pursing my Masters of Science in Sports Administration from Georgia State University and participating in the inaugural Associated Press Sports Editors fellowship. The skills to be gained in these programs will help with my long-term goal to graduate from hard-nosed reporter to innovative media executive skilled to handle many aspects of the game.

Being a young, African-American woman in the sports field isn't easy. But anything worth having is never easy. Through my struggles, things like being featured as one of SHAPE magazine's best sports bloggers has added fuel to the roaring fire that Jordan's phenomenal performance lit inside me more than a decade ago.