REAL ESTATE NEWS

LAS VEGAS—Broadcast journalist and entrepreneur Erin Andrews has achieved success through her career through resilience, authenticity and brand-building.

Speaking during ICSC Las Vegas 2026's professional development programming, Andrews reflected on her path from aspiring reporter at the University of Florida to one of the most recognizable figures in sports broadcasting. She credited her upbringing in a media household for inspiring her career ambitions.

"When I went to the University of Florida, sports reporting was part of the plan," Andrews said. "My dad was an investigative reporter, so I grew up a media baby. Storytelling runs in the family."

Andrews acknowledged the challenges of entering a male-dominated sports broadcasting industry at a time when few women held prominent on-air roles. During a conversation moderated by Whitney Livingston, chief operating officer of ICSC, Andrews opened up about the personal and professional obstacles she faced, including her cervical cancer diagnosis and public fertility struggles.

"I was the news at one point and I wasn't used to that," Andrews said. "The place I felt the safest was on the football field. I love these athletes' stories and sitting in production meetings — that's my safe space."

She said deciding to speak publicly about infertility stemmed from frustration with keeping difficult experiences private.

"We had so much bad news, bad news, bad news," she said. "I decided to be open about it and it blew up because a lot of people have a hard time with it. It takes honesty and vulnerability."

Drawing parallels between sports broadcasting and retail real estate, Andrews emphasized that adaptability and preparation are critical skills in any fast-paced industry.

"You can spend an entire week prepping for a game and when the ball is kicked, anything can happen," she said. "Preparedness is a superpower and is everything for me."

She noted that her rigorous preparation habits were shaped partly by the pressure to prove herself in sports media, where she has now spent decades in.

"For six months out of my life, I am an animal getting ready and preparing," Andrews said. "If anything happens in a live game, they are coming to me for a reaction."

Andrews also highlighted the importance of trust and long-term relationships, themes that resonated with the retail real estate audience.

"What I do for a living is so relationship-based," she said. "Guys trust me and they know I'm not going to burn them. They know I'm obsessed with my job and love it so much."

The keynote also touched on Andrews' retail venture, WEAR by Erin Andrews, which she launched to address a lack of fashionable team apparel options for females.

"I felt like there wasn't an option for women in team apparel," she said. "Women like sports."

She described building the brand as a lesson in patience, persistence and collaboration, adding that authenticity remains central to both her business and personal brand.

"It has to be something that speaks to you," Andrews said when offering career advice to attendees. "If it doesn't fit with my life and speak to who I am, people are going to see that."

Closing the session with leadership advice, Andrews emphasized teamwork, communication and selflessness as individual characteristics that elevate oneself.

"Give yourself some grace," she said when asked about balancing work and parenthood. "There is no 'I' in team. Communication. Never the blame game."

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Source: GlobeSt/ALM