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Sitting in a courtyard on Turner’s Techwood campus in Atlanta, Ros Gold-Onwude knows how far she’s come.

On Thursday, the former NBC Sports Bay Area Golden State Warriors sideline reporter will cover her former employer in a new role: Working the sideline for Turner Sports when the Warriors take on the Boston Celtics on TNT.

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Warriors’ Steve Kerr says NBA needs more Black head coaches Gold-Onwude’s current reality seemed like a distant dream in 2010. Upon graduating from Stanford, where she played on the Cardinal basketball team from 2005 to 2010, Gold-Onwude received word that her mother was sick back in her native Queens, New York.

The news of her mother’s health, combined with the loss of the family’s apartment, put Gold-Onwude in a bind.

“I was really at a crossroads,” she said by phone. “I was thinking, how am I going to continue to pursue broadcasting? My mother was sick. We lost our apartment. There was no home to go back to. There were financial issues. And here I was, sitting there with two Stanford degrees and no money.”

She turned to odd jobs to help supplement her freelance work as a broadcaster, such as coaching her landlord’s basketball team to cut her rent in half. Frustrated with the lack of opportunities, she decided to create a weekly college basketball show out of her bedroom. It was good and caught the attention of the Pac-12 Network, which later offered a full-time contract, setting the stage for her arrival at NBC Sports in 2014.

Ahead of her first game covering the Warriors since she left the Bay Area in September, Ros chatted with us about her new gig, missing her adopted home, and what’s in store for the future.

What went into the decision to ultimately leave NBC Sports Bay Area?

Well. First of all, it was really a very hard decision to leave the NBC Sports and the Warriors family. One, it was a family. I was incredibly supported, I had some of the best experiences of my life in those three years during that time, and I had great support and encouragement. But also you know, I think sometimes we have to be okay with the discomfort that sometimes comes with growth and there’s a lot about moving to a new state and building a new friend base, a new support base, kind of starting from scratch. Taking a completely different type of job with a new company. There’s a lot that, there’s a lot of ambiguity that comes with that, but I think that my time in the bay prepared me.

I felt confident that I had developed the skillset for the national stage. I had the very good fortune of seeing three straight finals. I understand the course of an NBA season. One of the best experiences I ever could’ve had was traveling with the team and being on a beat, and understanding the ins and outs of how a team operates, especially an organization as classy and healthy as the Warriors. For complete Warriors coverage

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All of those lessons are helping me function right now, and those are experiences that I find myself constantly leaning on as I try to find my way and find my routine and find my voice here with the Turner family.

How was the first year for you on the Warriors sideline in 2014?

I think there’s something really beautiful and sweet about the timing of all of that and the fact that it wasn’t just me who stumbled into something great. Everyone kind of did. There was a lot … there was potential there. I mean, the Warriors were a good team. A playoff type of team. Nobody expected them to be champions. You think about it, they just got a brand new coach. Steve Kerr could’ve been with the Warriors or the Knicks that year. That could’ve gone either way. Sometimes you think, gosh imagine what could’ve been, but so none of those guys were superstars or all-stars, or had found their own voice and standing in this league the way they are right now.

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Warriors have new sideline reporter: Who is Kerith Burke? It was really a very pure time. It was a time before everyone was a mega brand. Now you look at all these guys, they’re brands, they’re magazine covers, they’re investing in every company. They’ve got equity all through Silicon Valley, their families are brands. Moms, wives, kids have become worldwide superstars themselves. It’s become so big. That first year was very sweet and there will be nothing like it. That team had a number of amazing characters. The team was gelling and enjoying themselves off the courts, that would translate on the court.

How’d you feel when Kerith Burke got hired as the new sideline reporter for NBC Sports?

I was very happy for her when she got the role. I think the first thing when we got on the phone was just happiness, excitement for each other. She was happy for me, I was happy for her. And I was just telling her, just have fun. You’re about to watch some of the best basketball the league has to offer. Everyone is going to be so supportive. The guys are really a great group of guys.

I want the Warriors broadcast to be as great as it can be and they did a really great job picking a superb reporter in Kerith Burke. I’m excited when I finally get back to Oracle, seeing her and having fun.

Lastly, what do you miss most about the bay?

I miss my friends and family out there. I was there for over 10 years since college. So, I had a real comfort over there. Everyone’s been checking in. I love everybody for checking in with me. A couple of them want to come visit already. I miss Ike’s sandwiches, like one of my greatest, one of the greatest moments of my life so far was getting a sandwich (named after me). I know I’ll be getting the Ros when I come back. Of course, I miss the Warriors and Dub Nation. I’ve especially been so humbled when I see the love still. I moved to Atlanta, I’ve got a new job, and I’ll constantly get messages on social media, like ‘Hey Ros, you know, we love you. We’re happy for you. We miss you.’ It’s very much appreciated and it doesn’t go unnoticed.