Aditi Kinkhabwala ’00 spends every NFL weekend as a CBS broadcaster in motion. Starting on Thursday night, she’s on a flight to that week’s stadium. Friday is spent at practices, in production meetings and interviewing coaches and players. Saturday brings another round of preparation on the visiting team. By kickoff on Sunday, she has already logged hours of research so she can deliver sharp updates from the sideline.
It’s a rhythm she never expected to adopt. Kinkhabwala didn’t plan to become a journalist — she studied American Studies at Cornell with the intention of going to law school. But writing kept finding its way back into her life, and eventually, it became the center of her career.
“I never made an active choice to be a journalist,” Kinkhabwala said. “I just fell into it and fell in love with it.”
Growing up in New Jersey, Kinkhabwala was a sports-obsessed “tomboy” who spent her time watching Knicks and Yankees games. She spent her evenings writing letters and journaling, and by five years old, she wrote her first book, The Case of The Missing Diamond. Her father, a chemical engineer who immigrated from India, always reminded her that strong writing was one of the most valuable skills anyone could have, regardless of their career path.
By high school, she was already reporting at the Home News Tribune, formally called News Tribune, in New Jersey and spent her summers interning at ESPN and Sports Illustrated — though she didn’t consider journalism her future.
“It was just something I was doing because writing is good training for anything,” Kinkhabwala said. “It [was] fun and a great side job, [but] was never a means to an end.”
At Cornell, she joined Alpha Epsilon Phi and wrote for the Cornell Athletics Information Department, covering football and features. Her post-college plan was to take a gap year before law school with a job at Bloomberg. But one week before graduation, she received an unexpected email from the sports editor of The San Antonio Express encouraging her to apply.
“My initial reaction was … ‘Texas, no thanks,’” she said. “But I realized that this was an all-expenses trip to a city I’ve never been to, so I might as well go to the interview.”
She got the job, and ended up falling in love with the work.
After two years at The San Antonio Express, Kinkhabwala returned to the east coast to cover Rutgers University football and basketball at The Bergen Record, then joined The Wall Street Journal as a sports writer covering the New York Giants. Each experience, Kinkhabwala said, built the foundation for her NFL reporting career.
“One of my editors told me that the best training to be a journalist is to go out and be a journalist,” Kinkhabwala said. “I never took a journalism class, but in each of my different experiences the same themes of writing on a deadline, interviewing and storytelling were skills that I learned covering high school and college football first.”
After more than a decade working at newspapers, Kinkhabwala transitioned to broadcast and now works as a sideline reporter for CBS and the NFL. She describes her on-air role as being the “eyes and ears” on game day, and says her print background, especially the structure and discipline of daily deadlines, prepared her for the fast-paced speed of live television.
“Writing teaches you how to tell a story in whatever way you need,” Kinkhabwala said. “For broadcast we are doing hours of research and preparing, but ultimately we serve our stories in snackable bits.”
She added that passion is as important as precision, creating an entertaining experience for viewers.
“The landscape of journalism has changed so much with the rise of social media which was not around when I first started,” Kinkhabwala said. “The storytelling platform has changed so a lot more is driven right now by soundbites then by detail and striking that balance is crucial.”
Additionally, Kinkhabwala commented on how every game she prepares for is a different story — which drives her to continue journalism.
“There are so many incredible moments that it is impossible for me to pick a favorite or to fall into a constant routine,” Kinkhabwala said. “It never gets old the feeling of running up and down the sideline and chasing the story as it happens.”
Kinkhabwala recently returned to Cornell for her 25th reunion, where she moderated an Olin Lecture featuring three Cornellian Olympians alongside former NFL offensive lineman Kevin Boothe ’05. She brought her two children, Nico and Kaya, with her to the reunion, sharing the campus and community that helped shape her career.
Kinkhabwala also sits on the boards of the Children’s Home of Pittsburgh and NFL Player Care Foundation.
Her message to young female journalists is simple: write constantly and never be afraid to ask questions.
“You have to believe in your belonging, in your merits and above all in yourself,” Kinkhabwala said. “I was told from day one that I was always going to have to work harder, be smarter and be more diligent to prove that you belong — and I have never resented that. It has been my attitude about everything.”
Zeinab Faraj is a member of the class of 2028 in the College of Arts and Sciences. She is the features editor on the 143rd Editorial Board and was the assistant sports editor of the 143rd Editorial Board. You can reach her at zfaraj@cornellsun.com.
