Rachel DeMita, is the host of NBA 2KTV; a co-host of Gatorade’s The Debut — a high school basketball Twitter live stream, which brings in millions of viewers per game; and an Adidas ambassador. She travels the world interviewing the NBA’s biggest stars, including Kevin Durant, Stephen Curry and Kyrie Irving, just to name a few. Oh yeah, and she’s 27-year-old. While we may be biased since we’re big fans of DeMita, it’s evident that she’s accomplished such feats that some people only dream about. And, it wasn’t an easy road.
After getting a full scholarship to D1 school, Old Dominion, DeMita’s plans going into the University [at first] included four years of basketball. However, some things don’t always go as planned. “I played basketball my whole life… But, I actually didn’t finish out college playing basketball; It just wasn’t for me,” she told HollywoodLife.com at NBA All-Star Weekend in LA, where DeMita landed a roster spot on team Lakers in the celebrity game on February 16. “After I quit, I took a few years off of basketball and then slowly started getting back into it,” she explained. “It was was a heartbreak in a sense because I was leaving the game that had done so much for me my entire life. Then, a few years later, I slowly started getting back into it, and learned how to love the game in a different way, and not as a player; I learned to love it from a different angle. I started working with a lot of brands and was doing things on my personal YouTube channel,” which thousands of fans flock to for their daily dose of DeMita’s talent.
After garnering major success from her online presence, that’s when 2KTV came calling. “They actually found me from the videos on my channel and reached out,” she said, adding that auditions and meetings followed, which led to her full-time hosting gig. “I was actually the first person hired for the show; Then we kind of built the team from there.
DeMita continued: “So, I was kind of there from the jump on the drawing board because it was the first time they ever did a TV show. It was the first ever TV show in a video game which I think is amazing. We’re in our 4th season and we’ve grown so much, our team has grown so much. Our viewership is unreal and the fans are so supportive. It’s so cool to be a part of something that’s the first of its kind. My favorite aspect of the show is getting to interview some amazing NBA players and celebrities. We do a lot of fun things, such as going on the court and actually playing with the NBA players. We show the fun side of these players and what they do outside of the game.”
As the face of 2KTV, DeMita’s day to day entails interviewing some of the NBA’s most prominent stars, including, James Harden, Shaq, and Allen Iverson. “With 2KTV, we’re always looking for new ways to create good content and fun interviews with the guys,” she explained of the show. DeMita not only talks hoops with the league’s finest, but she takes them and herself sometimes, out of their comfort zones to do fun activities. An Akron, Ohio native, it’s on DeMita’s list to eventually sit down with fellow Akron-born star, LeBron James.
As mentioned above, DeMita is also juggles her Adidas ambassadorship and Gatorade gig, where she is a co-host of The Debut, alongside Nate Robinson. “I’ve been doing this live stream with Gatorade where we go around the country and we cover high school basketball games,” said, adding that 3.5 million people have tuned into their coverage. “It shows the power of social media and alternate outlets. — You don’t have to be on a huge cable network to get views and make a huge impact and I love how the media is changing like that.”
During NBA All-Star weekend — where she’s also working with Kia — DeMita will play in her second consecutive celeb game. But, it’s not her favorite event of the jam-packed weekend. “I actually like the Saturday night events [Dunk Contest; 3 pt. Contest] the most… They’re so entertaining!” she said. Be sure to catch DeMita on 2KTV and on ESPN when the NBA Celebrity All-Star game airs on Friday, February 16!
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