How Laura Woods went from work experience girl to ‘power woman’ worth an estimated £2m with her eyes on US stardom
TNT sports anchor woman Laura Woods is in 2023 at the top of her game.
Woods heads up a female-fronted presentation team for the channel (formerly BT Sport), taking the role as the lead presenter for the Champions League and the boxing coverage.
Instagram/@laurawoodsyGolden girl Laura Woods has recently moved to a new job as lead presenter at TNT sports[/caption]
Instagram/@laurawoodsyThe stunning blonde has worked her way from work experience girl to one of the most recognisable faces on British sports channels[/caption]
The phenomenal blonde from Dagenham has scored an unusual feat in fronting sports shows for ITV, Amazon Prime Video, and now TNT Sports.
Unlike many female sports presenters who have had a nepo baby leg up Laura has shot to the top on her own merits.
Now she’s been named one of Karen Millen’s ‘Power Women’.
In an interview with the brand, she said: “Passion for sport started for me when I was very very young.
“It was something my mum threw me and my brothers into all the time to get us out the house.”
She adds that she always wanted to combine her love of football with telly, but notes: “I always remember one of the first pieces of ‘advice’ I was ever told was from a producer, and he had heard that I wanted to be a presenter…
“And he said, ‘one piece of advice is, for women, you have a much higher height to fall from, so you have to be better.’”
The blonde beauty concedes that is is unfair, “but it’s not a level playing field yet”, and it helped her to “be better, work harder, and do all her research”.
Today the Arsenal supporter has 720K followers on Instagram and 760.6K followers on X (formerly Twitter).
Yet Laura’s only introduction to her sports profession was down to her “football fans” dad and two older brothers.
She has said in the past that she always knew she wanted to be involved in sports media.
Little wonder then that she went on to study print journalism at Kingston University.
While student peers were downing jaeger bombs Laura started as she meant to go on and was compiling match reports for the student newspaper.
Instagram/@laurawoodsyLaura has just been named Karen Millen’s Power Woman, speaking in her interview about gender disparity in the sporting world[/caption]
Fate intervened for Laura. She went travelling while at uni and met a traveller who had completed work experience at Sky Sports.
Laura got the contact details of the HR department and bagged herself a week’s worth of work experience on Soccer AM.
“I had already done a week’s work experience on a newspaper and decided it wasn’t for me,” Laura has said.
“As soon as I went into TV it was like colour – everything was exciting and new. The people, the personalities, the characters.”
After uni Laura climbed the TV ranks at Sky.
She started out as a runner before becoming an editorial assistant.
She worked across all Sky shows and began to produce them. While she knew the job behind the camera, it was the job in front of the camera that Laura coveted.
“Live producing was amazing but it didn’t give me the buzz I’d hoped for,” Laura continued.
“So I basically started making YouTube videos because I couldn’t get the opportunity on camera.”
Instagram / @laurawoodsyLaura dolled up for this year’s FEVO Sports Industry Awards[/caption]
Laura’s YouTube series ‘Off the Oche’ eventually found its way on to Sky Darts. And from there her career in front of the camera began.
The FIFA Women’s World Cup presenter drive to present live meant that she covered everything from bowling to kids sports, explaining:
“For me it didn’t matter what sport I was working on, I would still get that same level of excitement,” Laura says.
“It’s live, you never know what’s going to happen. You’re watching people perform at a top level.
For those naysayers who reckon Larua has only got to where she is today thanks to being a woman – she has this to say:
“Social media will tell you all the time you’re there because you’re a woman, you’re this, you’re that.”
She continues: “It took me 10 years to work to get to this point. People aren’t just going to put you on screen if you don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Since then Laura has trailblazed sports broadcasting with the likes of Gary Neville, holding her own as the main presenter for talkSPORT’s breakfast show, presenting Monday to Wednesday.
A three-year gig that only finished earlier this year in June.
Away from the camera Laura adopts a work hard play harder motto.
This year she has clocked up trips to Glasto, Ascot, Wimbledon and Cheltenham.
Yet when it comes to female solidarity Laura is the first to admit she looks up to fellow female sports presenters.
Instagram/@laurawoodsyThe down-to-earth presenter regularly shares pics from out and about with her 720k Instagram followers, like this snap from Glastonbury Festival[/caption]
News group Newspapers LimitedThe blonde beauty on the cover of Fabulous Magazine in July[/caption]
C1 MediaThe TNT presenter dated former England rugby player Alex Corbisiero for eight years, but called time on their relationship to prioritise her career[/caption]
“Gabby was the trailblazer for me,” Laura says.
“There are so many other amazing women but I remember Gabby more so as a youngster, thinking she had this way about her, she looked so relaxed.”
The French bull dog owner who regularly shares pictures of her pooch online has been single for the last five years.
She gave a red card to her eight-year relationship with former England rugby player Alex Corbisiero just before she turned 30.
She said: “It was my decision – it was the right one and I’ve never regretted it.
“We’d lived in each other’s pockets and breaking up with him felt like coming up for air.”
“The next thing for us was probably marriage and having kids. And I do want that one day – I love being in love and I love kids.”
She then went on to explain that she is now focusing on her career since her breakup.
She said: “I’ve prioritised work because I love that too and my ambitions are important to me.”
As for her dating life today? She keeps schtum:
“I am single, but I’m also dating,” she says. “That’s a part of my life I’ve learned to keep private.”
Financial media money boffins reckon the presenter is today worth a cool £2 million.
In her prime fronting footie, boxing and the Super Bowl coverage – could Laura head to the US?
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