Joy Taylor and Dan Le Batard share South Florida roots, but in a conversation on Meadowlark Media’s South Beach Sessions on Friday, Taylor revealed a deeper bond she shares with the longtime sports host through his late brother, David.
Discussing their shared memories of David on the podcast, Taylor revealed that the artist, who recently passed away from brain cancer, was the “catalyst” for Taylor turning one of the worst moments of her life into motivation to achieve her dreams in the industry.
“It was right after I had left the extremely abusive relationship that I was in. I was having real battles with my brother, with my family, a lot of my relationships had deteriorated,” Taylor said.
“A lot of my relationships were very rocky with my family and close friends, and I was back in Miami. I was sleeping on my friend’s couch. I had absolutely no money and I was not working at all. I was just in a real low place.”
Back in South Florida, Taylor visited David Le Batard to catch up.
“I was with him at his apartment and he was working on one of his magnificent projects that he was always working on. And I’m just laying there *****ing. Oh, I was complaining,” she added. “I can’t even imagine how I must have sounded … I was just being a huge victim.”
Suddenly David stopped and asked Taylor what she wanted to be doing in precisely three years.
“It was such a significant and stark pivot from what we were talking about and it was such an interesting time window,” Taylor explained. “And I said, ‘I want to be full-time on-air on a radio or television show within the next three years.”
David then asked Taylor how much energy she was putting into making that happen.
Her response: “I don’t have any money, I’m sitting on my friend’s couch, I’m fighting with my family, I don’t have a job. I’m just wandering around the Earth right now.”
David finally asked why, then, she would be surprised it wasn’t working out for her professionally.
The question was literally life-changing for Taylor, who now is a successful full-time panelist on Fox Sports 1’s Speak.
Reframing her troubles as a matter of energy changed her paradigm of life. David was an up-and-coming artist fighting tooth and nail for every opportunity he earned. Taylor was seemingly feeling sorry for herself.
“When we think of being successful, when we think of trying to accomplish something or change or shift or grow or heal, energy is required. Energy is not just time, it’s not money, it’s not extra stuff,” Taylor told Dan Le Batard this week. “You can apply that to anything you want to accomplish in life or whatever it is, but it requires 100 percent of your energy. Not one drop less.”
Since that night with David, Taylor has funneled her energy only toward her personal and professional goals.
“I left there and have not been off that path since that conversation,” she said.
“When I say he shifted my life, I don’t want to say hyperbolic when I say it’s the most important conversation I’ve ever had. Because I then became aware of my potential if I activated it. I felt like I knew that … but I got off my path.”
“He was really like an angel for me in that moment.”
The moment between Taylor and Le Batard is not unfamiliar to frequent South Beach Sessions viewers, but rarely does Le Batard have a shared personal history with his guest. Le Batard knew Taylor and her brother Jason (the retired NFL star) before he ever got to ESPN or became famous. The passing of his brother has dominated much of the Meadowlark founder’s emotional energy lately, and the kinship of a fellow friend of David’s clearly impacted him and made this interview shine.