Reggie Wilson was the first Black sports director at KARE 11 and Alexis Rogers the first Black woman in a management role there. They join Blacklight on Sports to share how faith carried them through layoffs, a new baby and a leap into entrepreneurship.
Blacklight on Sports made history with its latest episode. For the first time, hosts Charles Hallman welcomed a husband and wife together, two journalists who individually made history of their own at KARE 11 and who have built something in the Twin Cities that goes far beyond their television careers.
Reggie Wilson served as sports director at KARE 11, the first Black person to hold that role at the station. Alexis Rogers joined as community relations manager and noon anchor, becoming the first Black woman in a management role in KARE 11’s history. Together they have navigated layoffs, a new baby, a cross-country career journey, and the launch of their own storytelling business, I Speak People, all while staying rooted in faith and pouring into the next generation of Black journalists.
The Scenic Route to Minneapolis
Reggie described his path to KARE 11 as the scenic route. He started behind the camera as a photographer in Wichita before his first on-air job in Dodge City, Kansas, then moved to Dayton, Ohio and later Cincinnati, where he hosted the longest-running sports talk show in the city. When Eric Perkins left KARE 11 and the sports director position opened, Reggie applied.
“This was a station that we watched in college and studied,” he said. “Our professor would show us Boyd Hooper stories. This is how you do it. And now here I am about to be colleagues with this man I’ve long admired.”
The role was his first time serving as a sports director, and the learning curve was steep. He turned over his entire staff during his tenure, which he ultimately saw as a blessing because it allowed him to build a team that reflected his values. The department was nominated for awards and, in Reggie’s view, was doing the best sports journalism in the market.
Alexis took a different path to Minneapolis. She knew she wanted to be in journalism since high school in the Chicago area, where she had access to a broadcast journalism program. She attended the University of Missouri, worked multiple jobs in college, reported and anchored in Little Rock, then landed in Cincinnati, a city she said she and Reggie still love deeply. From there she became lead anchor at WISH-TV in Indianapolis, the first Black-owned station where she had worked in her career.
She came to KARE 11 almost by accident. During a visit to Minneapolis for their anniversary, her agent let the station know she was in town. KARE 11 invited her in for a conversation and offered her a combined role as community relations manager and noon anchor.
“I didn’t even know that I was the first Black woman manager in all of KARE 11’s history until I got there,” she said.
Long Distance, Community, and a Turning Point
When Reggie first arrived in Minneapolis in September 2021, the pandemic made building community nearly impossible. He described feeling isolated and disconnected, far from the 47 percent Black city of Cincinnati he and Alexis had come from.
By February 2022, five months in, he was ready to quit.
“I gave it a try. I gave it a shot. I don’t think I want to do this anymore,” he told Alexis.
Her answer was firm.
“You’re not allowed to quit,” she said. “You were called to do this.”
The turning point came when he was asked to MC a gala hosted by community leader Tony Sane, one of the first major in-person events in the Twin Cities since the pandemic began. The room was packed and the love he received from the Black community that night changed everything.
“What I experienced that night was so much love,” he said. “People telling me it matters so much to us that you are there. We got your back. My whole spirit changed after that night.”
Alexis arrived later and immediately went to work building community in her own way, attending every event, meeting every leader, learning the differences between Minneapolis and St. Paul, and earning trust in a city where, she said, people do not give it easily.
“There was no benefit of the doubt. It was skepticism. Who are you?” she said. “I just really want to learn and be in community with you.”
The Layoffs
Both Reggie and Alexis lost their positions at KARE 11, and in both cases the timing was jarring.
Alexis found out she was being laid off one week after she and Reggie learned she was pregnant. She had just won an Emmy for her community work and had recently hosted a mixer that brought more than 100 community leaders into the KARE 11 building for the first time post-pandemic.
“Here it is that I’m doing the work, doing it well, and I’m award-winning at it, and all of a sudden it is stopping,” she said.
Reggie learned his position was being eliminated on his birthday. He had just returned from paternity leave. The conversation was brief and almost surreal.
“They said, ‘We’re going to eliminate your position. You’re welcome to apply for the new sports MMJ role.’ And then, ‘Hey, you going out to the State Fair today?’” he recalled. “And I was like, ‘Okay, cool.’ And I just remember getting in the car and calling Alexis.”
He chose to stay through the end of the year rather than leave immediately, which meant navigating months of what he described as a lame duck situation.
“Everybody knowing what was going on, but you just continuing to try to stay professional and do work you’re passionate about,” he said.
I Speak People and Teaching the Next Generation
Both layoffs, as painful as they were, accelerated the growth of I Speak People, the storytelling and community strategy business the couple had been building on the side for years. Alexis had been receiving more calls for strategy and storytelling work even before the layoff, and the business has since grown into their primary focus. They work with community organizations, churches, and other institutions on storytelling, communications strategy, and community engagement.
Alongside that work, both Reggie and Alexis have invested deeply in mentoring the next generation of Black journalists through the National Association of Black Journalists. They have taught at NABJ every year since 2019 and have worked with the Center for Broadcast Journalism in the Twin Cities.
Reggie said his commitment to teaching comes directly from knowing what it meant to have great teachers pour into him.
“I took the scenic route, but I don’t want other people to have that same life story,” he said. “I want them to have a little bit more of a leg up.”
Alexis said the responsibility goes beyond journalism skills.
“We have to be a community together in order to make it through and lift as we climb,” she said. “Because if our voices are not at the table, if we are not in these cities and these places, our communities will be left behind. People cannot tell our stories like we tell our stories.”
She pointed to teaching alongside NABJ co-founder Allison Davis as one of the most meaningful experiences of her career.
Faith as the Foundation
Running through the entire conversation was faith. Both Reggie and Alexis described it as the bedrock of everything they do, the thing that carried them through layoffs, loss, isolation, and the uncertainty of building a business while raising a newborn.
Reggie lost his father at 13 and described learning to hold onto God through adversity that might have derailed other people.
“I would have given up a long time ago if I didn’t have my faith,” he said. “My life is not for me.”
Alexis framed their philosophy around a principle they both carry into every room.
“Everybody eats,” she said. “You do not have to step on anyone to lift up. If I am sitting at the table and eating good, I want my people to come through and eat good with me.”
Pearls of Wisdom
Alexis closed with an encouragement to anyone sitting on a gift they have not yet acted on.
“Dare to be audacious, because what if it does work?” she said. “The life that you’re looking for is just right beyond that try.”
Reggie offered something he said came to him while teaching a student at NABJ and then stayed with him.
“You can be excellent but still be a work in progress,” he said. “We put ourselves in our own cages because we’re not a finished product. But God puts excellence in you. You can give that excellence while still working on yourself, while still improving yourself.”
He said his current work, building I Speak People outside of television, carries the same gifts he developed over a career in broadcast. The package just looks different.
“It’s still the same Reggie. It just looks a little different. So, you can still be a work in progress and yet exude excellence.”