LeaderImpact Podcast
LeaderImpact Podcast
Ep. 61 - Brit Dort - Sports Journalism and Faith
What if a life-altering tragedy could be the catalyst for your greatest transformation? In this compelling episode, Brit Dort, a TSN sports reporter, recounts how the tragic loss of a friend at just 19 prompted her to reexamine her life and confront her own unhappiness.
Brit's story is one of relentless hard work and perseverance. We'll delve into the significance of maintaining faith amidst negativity and jealousy, illustrated by an episode where a perceived pandemic failure turned into a dream job. Hear Brit's remarkable journey of making bold decisions and how embracing uncertainty and faith ultimately led her to a fulfilling career in sports journalism.
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Welcome to the Leader Impact Podcast. We are a community of leaders with a network in over 350 cities around the world, dedicated to optimizing our personal, professional and spiritual lives to have impact. This show is where we have a chance to listen and engage with leaders who are living this out. We love talking with leaders, so if you have any questions, comments or suggestions to make the show even better, please let us know. The best way to stay connected in Canada is through our newsletter at leaderimpact. ca or on social at Leader Impact. If you're listening from outside of Canada, check out our website at leaderimpact. com. L I'm your host , Peters, and our guest today is Brit Dort. Brit grew up in a small town in Saskatchewan before moving to Medicine Hat , alberta. As a teenager, she went on to attend Mount Royal University in Calgary where she was enrolled in their broadcast journalism and communications program. From there, she interned at CTV Regina and eventually was hired on as an associate producer on the Morning Show, going on to anchor and co-host for four years and eventually moving into CTV Saskatchewan's sole sports reporter position. She is in charge of covering all local sports in the province, which also earned a spot at TSN's Bureau for Saskatchewan, but mainly Brit covers CFL, hockey Canada and other various local sporting events for the national network. Welcome to the show, B Dort, we've done it we made it here.
Speaker 1:Thank you for having me. It's been a long process.
Speaker 2:Isn't it funny. We're both in relative media and we're like got issues logging on.
Speaker 1:And just issues of like trying to find time to do this, like I think it's been like a 10 month thing, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:So when I got your call yesterday, I'm like I'm available, so thank you, oh gosh, thank you. Well, I mean you're a TSN reporter and I mean this is a busy time for you. I can't actually. I think all busy time right, if you're going from one sport to the next sport, yeah it kind of is always busy.
Speaker 1:This is where it's really going to amp up. Um, and this is honestly like my last weekend of freedom and I I took a day off today like a vacation day, Cause I was thinking I'm not going to have any for a long, long time. So, yeah, I kind of, and it my fiance is working today and I was like, hey, what's the earliest you can be done, Because I want to go for dinner and I want to go like we're going to go golfing tomorrow and everything.
Speaker 2:I got everything crammed into one weekend Awesome. Well then, we really appreciate you spending the next half hour with us. So thank you All right. So our first question is obviously looking a bit of your professional story and how you got to where you are today, and we're looking for that pivotal snapshot, that moment where maybe there was a turning point along your journey.
Speaker 1:Yeah, oh my gosh, I laugh about this all the time. It's actually a really sad thing, but I laugh because of what I went through at such a Now I look back in young age. I felt old at the time but I was really thinking about this and I was like, the biggest thing I think that I've walked through was when I was 19. And so I'd finished my first year of college and I was just toward the end of it, just wrapping it up, and I ended up losing somebody that I knew in a car accident. That was my age and it was the first time I'd experienced death of somebody that was my age and very sudden and tragic, like never had walked through that. I'd experienced death, losing some family members and things like that. But again, it was the first time that it was somebody my age and I just like it hit me and it took everything out of me and I had like that wake up moment of okay, if my life ended today, like where, where would I be? Like what would I be leaving behind in this physical world? And I was so unhappy at the time, but I think I was so scared to almost face the unhappiness I was walking through, because I'm kind of like that person who was a pushover my whole life of.
Speaker 1:I always did what everybody else wanted me to do. So the program I was in at college at the time, the relationship I was in at the time, I was like very content with but not happy with. And I just had this like 19 year old quarter life crisis, if you're going to call it, and I just woke up one day and said, no, I can't do this, like I would be so unhappy if I left the world today and this is where I was at. And so I had to tell my parents like I don't want to do the program I'm in in school that I've just done a year of that they've paid for. And I also had to end a, you know, a very long-term relationship I had been in for, I think, over three years. Um, you know the person that I think everybody assumed I was going to marry, I know at 19, that seems crazy, but it just it just seemed that way and I ended both and I've never felt more lost in my entire life.
Speaker 1:I. It was very overwhelming because everything from that point in my life had always been set out. For me. It was like oh, you go to grade 10, you go to grade 11, you go to grade 12. Now we're moving on to college. And then, you know, when the summer was about to start, I was going to go do my summer job and return to college in the fall, and so for the first time, I had nothing and that was kind of like that surrendering moment where you're like, where you're like, all right, lord, send your hands, like I don't know what I'm going to do, I don't know what I want to do.
Speaker 1:And it took a lot of finding and it took a lot of you know, really, yeah, like what sparks joy in me, and through some twists and turns, I did end up landing on on broadcasting and that side of things. I initially had thought PR, and that's why I did a little more communications too, always kind of figured I wanted to do something sports and sports related and yeah, that's kind of where it at. And then, literally, you know, three months after two, I met my fiance. We've been together for almost 10 years now and it's just like, you see, all the little intricacies that worked out and it was just like at the time it felt so overwhelming, but it all worked out. So that's kind of my one big pivotal point.
Speaker 1:I think that really changed, you know, the landscape of where I headed in my career life, um, and then when I got on in my career eventually so you go to school for a few more years I interned at CTV Regina, which you mentioned, um, and I remember finishing my internship and they didn't have any job openings and I was just distraught because again now I'm at the second point in my life where I always had something planned ahead of me. So now I'm graduated from university and I have no job lined up. I had to move back in with my parents and I was just like humbled in this moment and I just remember panicking, panicking, panicking. Six weeks went by and those six weeks felt like six years because, you know, I was very, again I think I was very unhappy in that moment because I just felt like you know, god, you're leaving me, like I was so sure I was going to get a job right out of this internship.
Speaker 1:And then, lo and behold, ctv ended up calling me back and said, hey, like we have a job on the morning show, a producer job, and morning show, a producer job. And I was like, yes, I'll take it, cause I would take anything at that point. But I remember being disappointed that it wasn't a reporter position because that's what I had done when I interned. But it turned out to be the best thing. Like I ended up falling in love with working on the morning show. The crew I worked with it worked me into being the anchor just a year later. So all those things where you think you didn't want something and it happens and it works out those were those were my turning points. And then here we are today, oh, such great stories.
Speaker 2:Um, you know, and, and at 19, that is very hard to lose a friend. And I'm, when you made those changes and you, you know, you quit the program, you quit the boyfriend, did your friends kind of look at you like, whoa, you're a little crazy, you know? Because I think people think that yeah, do you know?
Speaker 1:what's funny is I think my friends could see how miserable I was and they knew that, um, and it was more my parents that I really struggle with, because I hid it a lot from them, because, you know, I was living under their roof, I was going to school, like it was. It was a lot. It was more them because I they were very cookie cutter, do things by the book that I was almost the first kid, that because I'm the youngest of three kids, that I was like no, I can't do this, I can't. And I think they thought what is going through her head? What's happening?
Speaker 2:Mm-hmm, I think that's common. I think we hide things from the people we love and I bet there's a lot of people listening wanting to make changes but, embarrassed, don't want to tell someone. And we have to. We have to tell someone, we have to, you know. So thanks for sharing that story. I'm sure it resonates with a few people. Our next question is about a principle of success. So if you have a best principle of success and tell us a story that might illustrate that, and do you know what?
Speaker 1:I think this is funny because I don't remember when we were last going to try to record this, but this has happened, I'm pretty sure, since then. But my principle and this just comes from my parents too, who are very hardworking people my fiance is extremely hardworking and he comes from a hardworking family like is literally work hard. I always work the hardest, be the hardest working person in the room, and that has gotten me to where I am today, because you know, I think a lot of it is people don't always see what happens behind the scenes. People only see me for 30 seconds on a quick sideline hit when they're watching a CFL game, but you don't know the work that went into that. But God sees it Like. God is always watching you when you are working and he knows the work that you're putting in. Um and so the story that kind of goes with this is I was the briar, was just in Regina, which, if you don't know what the briar is, it's the men's national curling championships. It is a grind. It is like 10 straight days. I didn't sleep, I was working. It was insane. Team, team Saskatchewan made the final. So like that, made it that much more work, and it was a lot, but I love what I do. And this guy came up to me who worked for, I think, curling Canada and said I've been working for 42 years covering these events and I've never seen somebody work as hard as you, cause he I guess he had just seen me throughout the week just like running back and forth to places doing live hits, you know, got to go film these scrums, got to write these stories, got to whatever. And it's so funny because I didn't realize he had even seen me, and so it's almost funny, it's almost like same thing, like God sees what you're doing. This guy saw what I was doing and I I laughed and I said can you tell my boss that? Can you email my boss please? Um, you know. So I think that's really important. And I actually wrote down a verse too that I wanted to share about that, because it goes kind of alongside this in a way, um, a verse that I really really had to tell myself in this industry when I receive negativity comes from 1 Timothy 4: 12.
Speaker 1:Um, you know, don't let anybody think less of you, because you're young and you know it goes on to say about being an example for other believers and for people and what you say and your actions. Um, a lot happened for me in my career, very young, and I was very fortunate and that's all from you. Know the man above, that's not my works. I worked hard to get where I was, but it was him on top of that. But I received a lot of negativity, even from co-workers, about things that were happening for me really fast, because other people have been in the industry grinding it out for years and here I was walking in and I got an anchor job one year into the industry.
Speaker 1:Now I'm doing what I'm doing again sports on the national stage and it comes with negativity. It comes from people rooted in, I think, a seed of jealousy and insecurity, and I understand that because I've been jealous, I've been insecure about other things. So I would have to, even in the toughest moments, just, even though you're young, just be an example, you know, and work hard. Yeah.
Speaker 2:Do you ever hear the phrase my daughter is 19 and works hard. I mean listening to you, I hear her and I asked her one day do you ever hear people ever say you're so lucky? I'm like because, Ellie, you are not lucky. You work hard for the opportunities and the blessings that come on you. But I have to give that speech to her. It's not luck, Ellie, it's work hard.
Speaker 1:And I don't know if you hear that, yeah, I think so too, cause I think and I never use the word lucky, I actually will never say good luck to somebody. I'm not a luck person, I don't believe in luck. Um, I believe in the favor of the Lord. So I'm the same way. I think when somebody says that or you know, I always say well, the man above is watching me, like he's the one that's, you know places on my path and everything's God willing. You know.
Speaker 2:So I feel that, yeah, great response. I know Ellie's listening, so she'll take that one. That's perfect, hi, Ellie, all right? Well, we I mean we learn more from our failures and mistakes than our successes, and I'm wondering if you have a short a story that can share your greatest failure, or any failure, and what you learned from it.
Speaker 1:You know. So it was during the pandemic and at the time I was the anchor co-host of the morning show, and the six o'clock anchor job opened up, um, and I wasn't going to apply for it because, again, like I naturally was gravitating towards, I really wanted to do sports someday. But it was like pandemic times, things were really shut down and my boss ended up telling me, like I think you should apply for the six o'clock anchor job. Talked to my parents about it, they were like, well, why wouldn't you, like it's considered, you know, in the media world? The six o'clock anchor was like I mean, you were the six o'clock anchor and so I applied for it. And then I ended up you know, if I'm going to do something, I'm going to go wholeheartedly to it. So I, you know, really felt like I nailed the interview. I worked really hard at proving myself, um, and I didn't get it like, and you know what I think, all along I knew I didn't want it and even like it's like, you know, like listen to almost, like that little voice, like what God's telling you, like I didn't want it, but I think he wanted me, he was preparing me for something else in that interview process.
Speaker 1:And so he, my boss, called me to tell me I didn't get it and I was almost like that little first sting of rejection Like you, kind of like oh, okay, like that hurts.
Speaker 1:But then I like hung up the phone and even on the call, I think, with him I said was I your your last call? Cause I hope so, because I was very content with not getting it. And he goes no, I have more to call. And I said, oh, like I'm sorry, I was like I wish you could end on me, cause I was like I am not one bit upset and the person you're going to choose is going to be the person that should do this, um, and like Brady's my fiance, sorry, but again like I wasn't upset. And then, lo and behold, you know, a few months later is when the sports job opened up and the interview process was very similar to that, and I think that's what helped prepare me for that job, cause then I told them in that interview process cause now I'm with the same bosses that I was trying to convince them that I wanted this other job four months prior and now I'm going, okay, I'm doing it again, but this is actually the one I want, you know.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's. It's funny when you, when you're in something and you don't get it, and you know, then you look back right, that's now four months ago, you've got. Or six months later you get what you want and it's, you know hindsight, like I never wanted that. It was part of the path, that interview was part of the process learning. Maybe you learn something about yourself.
Speaker 1:But but to be in the same interview with the same people, yeah, your answers of like, why do you think you're the best fit for this job, why do you want this job? And they were really good about it and I explained that to him. I said, you know, at the time I did really want to change. I felt like I was living in like Groundhog Day on the morning show, where it just felt like the same thing every day.
Speaker 1:So I thought I think that's the thing is. I wanted to change and I felt like the Lord was placing a change on my heart. But he was like, but just wait, you know what I mean. Just wait, yeah.
Speaker 2:And I think, I think I bet you had fire in your eyes for the job you have now, like I bet there was just this excitement, there was a difference in you. I can see it that type of person Way different. Yeah, so at Leader Impact we want to go personally, professionally and spiritually for increasing impact and I'm wondering if you'd be willing to share an example of how the spiritual makes a practical difference in your life as a leader.
Speaker 1:Yes, I wrote so many notes here because I wanted to make sure to try to sound eloquent, because I clearly go off on tangents and I'm trying to remember what part of this. You know just where the spiritual impacts on me as a leader. I think without God like I am nothing, like I am blessed because of him, and then you know my works on top of that, the gifts that he's given me.
Speaker 2:That's where I feel like I'm a leader and I just I feel like I think listening to you when you gave advice to my daughter and you know, when you said something it's in everything you talk about. You talk about it. So the way you talk about God is just refreshing. I you bring it into every conversation. Just listening to you, I'm like I think she talks about it, like just thanks, thanks.
Speaker 1:Thanks to the big guy above. Like I think it's so natural because, again, like I was doing the interview a few months ago, um, and this guy noticed my engagement ring and he was like oh my gosh, how old are you? Like you seem so young to be engaged. And I just like I was like Whoa, bless your heart, like thank you for saying that, because I don't feel young anymore. And he just immediately said oh, and he said like he recognized that I said bless your heart. And then basically was like oh, and turned out he was a pastor and I didn't even know that and I was just like so then he kind of was like when are you getting married? And we talked a lot about like marriage and things like that. So I do think that like, yeah, your words and your actions which I think kind of goes into our next question about like the legacy you leave behind but I think if you're always an example of you know God and somebody in your words and your actions, even if you're not mentioning him, I think people can tell. And you know this is like funny.
Speaker 1:I wasn't even gonna bring this up, but when I do rider games at Mosaic Stadium, there's these two security guards that kind of. They're kind of like in charge of me. They're also in charge of other security but just to make sure that I am safe, because you just never know how fans can be. And the one game I brought my parents down to the field before the game and I introduced them to them. They're the best security guards, they same thing. They just have energy and love. They're hilarious.
Speaker 1:And my mom walked away and she was like you can just tell they have the joy of the Lord, like you could just feel the presence of them. And I said, yeah, and so I think that if somebody was going to compliment me and they say, like what you just said, which is gorgeous, thank you, I just think, okay, do I have the joy of the Lord in everything that I do? And so that's. I guess me being a leader is just trying to kill people with kindness. Trying to kill, and not every day, is hunky dory, and I have games that go awful and my hits are brutal and it gets really hard on me and I get anxious and I get all in my head. But it's like if I can just be a leader in just my actions and my words and the style of the person that I am. That's good enough for me.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I would agree. You are a person of influence, so to be seen like that and for people to say and recognize it in you is a beautiful thing. So yeah, thank you, I appreciate that. All right, I don't know if you had any other notes. If you wanted to look.
Speaker 1:Yeah, like I was, I wrote a verse down, but I can't remember if it was for that answer or for another answer. I think it was. Oh, do you know what? I think it was and I was going to bring this up.
Speaker 1:So the reason we got in contact with each other is, I believe, is his name Tibby, yes, or her name, yes, sorry, his name, okay. So what had happened was he had seen me, he was watching a game and I was wearing my cross necklace which I usually wear some sort of form of a cross necklace almost daily and he saw that. Then he went to my social media, which on my social media, I have, you know, like I have a Bible verse listed in my Instagram bio. I think my Twitter has something else too, and that's where he initially was like oh, so she's a believer, she's a follower of the Lord. And so that's when he had reached out and I thought it's so funny how something so small like me, just wearing my cross necklace, made him be like oh, I'm going to look up, brit. Then he got me in contact with you and I replied and I was just like so, even that, it's like you're being a leader with something so small, of just me wearing my cross necklace, you know.
Speaker 1:And I mean I know some people wear them ironically, but I don't yeah.
Speaker 2:I, uh, I would totally agree. I'll wear mine as well. I always have it on. My daughter bought it for me and I've bought one for everyone in the family and to wear them to recognize. But I think it's more like Tibby reached out to you, he saw it and then he goes to your website and it's not just a cross, you're wearing, it's on your Instagram. You have a Bible feed or a scripture On your feeds. You know, on your feeds you are that person as well.
Speaker 1:I'm surprised you have a Jersey in the background. If anyone's watching us on YouTube, that's actually my fiance, so he used to play hockey. Yeah, I'm at his house right now, cause I'm where he is, so I'm not at my place. I'm at his place while he's at work.
Speaker 2:Yeah, Awesome, all right. Well, uh, our last, one of our, our second last question is L leader mpact is dedicated to leaders having a lasting impact. So, as you continue to move through your own journey, and as amazing as it absolutely sounds, have you considered what you want your faith legacy to be when you leave this world?
Speaker 1:Yes, okay, I this is going to be long, but I wrote down. I started writing the whole verse and then I was like I'm just going to bring it up on my phone because it's too much to write. And so I really, really wanted to highlight 1 Corinthians, chapter 13, verses one to, I believe, four. And so I'm going to read it because I just think that this is so important. If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels but didn't love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I had a gift of prophecy and I understood all of God's secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains but didn't love others, I would be nothing. If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it, but if I didn't love others, I would have gained nothing. And then it goes into the very popular verse of the love is patient, love is kind.
Speaker 1:Which I mean your biggest commandment is to love God and love others. But I think too, it's like to me the underlying text of that is if you were given all these gifts, or you were given everything, but you don't do anything with it, then you're you're just a clanging symbol or whatever it says there. Like I just think that's so important. So I mean, if I'm going to leave something behind, it may as well be what God brought me into the physical world to show you know that's great, britt.
Speaker 2:Wow, thank you for sharing that. I love that. If anyone's watching on YouTube, when your hands move all of a sudden, I get a thumbs up. I noticed that too, and I was like you got to stop putting your hands up, Britt. But I'm such a hands talker. See, I think that's just God which is on me and probably on air too.
Speaker 1:People like to point that out and I'm like I know I'm sorry, it's distracting, I know, but it's like God, I don't know.
Speaker 2:All right, yeah, there we go, all right, and our last question is what brings you the greatest joy?
Speaker 1:Oh my gosh, I know I thought about this and I was like sports. No, um, I'm extremely extroverted, if you can't tell. Um, I love being around friends and family. Brady and I are both extremely close with our families, um, and have a lot of really wonderful friends. So I think my biggest joy is honestly being around people Like we love it. We're constantly about it and then again, like I think the greatest joy, like I just said, love God, love others, like without him, without all this, I'm nothing, you know.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:I think that all comes together.
Speaker 2:Just community right. I mean being part of God's community, loving our friends, loving our family. It's all community. Um, britt, I want to thank you for taking time on your day off to join us for the. You know it was a quick time and, uh, I mean you've got some golfing and some good times with you oh, we've got time. He's not even home yet oh, but um, I think if anyone wants to number one, if they want to follow you, where's's the best place to find you? Just to follow what you do.
Speaker 1:Well, you can find me on Instagram. My username, I'm pretty sure, is stuck because I got verified on Instagram and I've learned that I think whatever you get verified at, you can't change it. So my Instagram username is underscore Dort D-O-R-T. So yeah, I feel like that's where I kind of post the most. I am on X, which is formerly Twitter, as I think, just Brit Dort. But follow along. I don't know. I don't know if I'm that interesting on social media, but and if anyone wants to contact you.
Speaker 2:Is that sort of the same thing, or yeah?
Speaker 1:you can send me a DM or something on there. I think my. No, I think my Twitter bio or X bio has my email listed in it too. So I think my Twitter bio or X bio has my email listed in it too. So I think that's how Tibby ended up getting in contact with me.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and that's how Tibby found me. It's like you got to interview Brit. Yeah, oh gosh, yeah.
Speaker 1:So thank you, Brit.
Speaker 2:And it was wonderful just to finally hook up with you, because it has been, we have tried and I know you're heading into an incredibly busy time and I know you're heading into incredibly busy time. So we're going to pray for you over the next few months because you are a blessing and I'm going to be watching you and just smiling all the way. So thank you so much, Brit, for joining us.
Speaker 1:Oh, you're so sweet, thank you. Thank you so much for having me and for battling through waiting for me to reply to you, because that's been a battle and battling through my technical issues of trying to just get onto this podcast. So I thank you for your time and for the conversation.
Speaker 2:Awesome. Thank you All right. Well, this ends our podcast with Brit. We hope you enjoyed our time together. I want to thank all of you again for joining us. If you're part of Leader Impact, you can always discuss or share this podcast with your group. And if you're not yet part of Leader Impact and would like to find out more and grow your leadership, find our podcast page on our website at leaderimpact. ca and check out our free leadership assessment. You will also find a page chapter one of Braden Douglas's book Becoming a Leader of Impact. On that page. You can also check out groups available in Canada at leaderimpact. ca or, if you're listening from anywhere else in the world, check out leaderimpact. com or get in touch with us by email info@ leaderimpact. com and we'll connect you. And if you like this podcast, please leave us a comment, give us a rating or review. This will help other global leaders find our podcast. Thank you for engaging with us and remember impact starts with you.
