We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Dj Hamilton. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with DJ below.
DJ, appreciate you joining us today. What sort of legacy are you hoping to build. What do you think people will say about you after you are gone, what do you hope to be remembered for?
I hope that when I’m long gone when people think of the name DJ Hamilton, my legacy is that of someone who made a difference in people’s lives for the better and gave them a chance to tell their stories and have their voices heard. People have always said since I was a kid that I’m like a “Ray Of Sunshine.” I brighten up a room with my personality and presence, which always means a lot to me because the world goes through enough negativity and turmoil, so why not try to bring positivity into it? Just someone who has a great spirit and a good, genuine heart.
People will also say my work ethic is insatiable and that I gave it my all for who and what I love and tried my best in everything I do. I’m a very passionate guy who wears my heart on my sleeve. I have always wanted to have no regrets in life as I got older (which I don’t) because I never want to say to myself in my 30s, 40s, 50s, and so forth, “What if I worked harder?”… “What if I kept going?” That’s what keeps me going.
The last thing I would say is creativity. Having created DJ’s Sports Show as a 19-year-old kid in June 2020, I started recording in my car in hot, humid summers and frigid winters. How I’ve taken something I started from scratch that has inspired people to want to create something for themselves and give them a voice while also having the freedom to create what I want. If I told my younger self everything I would do, people I’d meet & inspire due to something I created he wouldn’t believe me.
God gave me these gifts that make me unique, so I try to give my gift to the world as best I can while I’m here. I hope to be remembered as a relentless worker with a heart of gold and a bubbly, amiable personality who created something for himself that’s made a difference in his community and life.
DJ, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
Hi everyone,
My name is DJ Hamilton, and I’m from West Haverstraw, NY. I was born in Nyack, NY, in Nyack Hospital on July 25, 2000. Growing up, I always loved sports, especially basketball, where I was obsessed with the game. As a child, I always read books about the most significant players, games, moments, etc., in NBA history. I was the type of kid who was always outside, exercising, working on my game tirelessly for hours in blazing 100-degree sunny days to cold winters. I was obsessed.
I graduated from Nyack Middle School in 2014 and North Rockland High School in 2018, where I played basketball for the schools, even doing track my sophomore year of high school, where I won some medals. In June 2016, things took a turn at the end of my sophomore year when I tore my ACL from basketball and unfortunately missed my junior year of sports. That devastated me because I felt I was going to have my best athletic year yet coming off my first year doing track.
During my junior year in 2016-17, I needed a backup plan for what I wanted to do with my life since professional sports seemed out of the realm. I knew I loved sports and looked up what degree I needed to aspire to become a sports journalist or analyst. I researched and knew what I wanted to pursue in college: a degree in Communications Media.
My 11th-grade English teacher, Mr. Baloga, helped me enjoy writing more; he was a strict teacher but one of the most Mount Rushmore teachers I’ve ever had. Up to that point in my academic career, I didn’t “love” writing but did it to do well in school. I remember one day he told me, “You have a gift,” when talking about my writing, and it was always hard on me because he saw something I didn’t even see in myself yet.
Fast-forward to college, where I attended Rockland Community College for two years (2018-20) in Suffern, NY, and SUNY New Paltz for two years (2020-22). I met Professor Richard Connolly RCC, who said I should create a podcast with my sports knowledge and personality. I was thinking of it then but didn’t know how. I first did one with my friends Austin and Anthony, where we briefly did the ADA Sports podcast. However, with multiple co-hosts, it was hard to get schedules to align consistently.
But then COVID struck the world in 2020, and I graduated in May 2020, my sophomore year of college. At that time, I was working at KFC part-time and asking myself what I could do to get something on my resume related to what I wanted to pursue, as I hadn’t even gotten an internship heading into my junior year of college. I searched for free podcast apps you could use on a mobile device, and I found Anchor (now known as Spotify For Podcasters), which changed everything. At first, I thought I should do basketball and call it DJ’s Basketball Show (which I did at WFNP at New Paltz), but then I told myself not everyone likes basketball or football, so let’s not limit myself and do all sports.
That’s when the DJ’s Sports Show was created on June 22, 2020. I would record in my car on hot summer days to frigid winters. I didn’t even know what I was entirely doing yet as a 19-year-old kid, but it helped me reach places worldwide everywhere you could think of, from China, France, Africa, all over America, etc. I would eventually start interviewing people to get people’s stories told, and the podcast eventually helped me land two internships in the spring of 2021 in Sports Media Inc. with Dan Kost and Semi-Pro College Sports Network with Jon.
These two internships were writing internships. Until then, I was a podcaster only, but this is where my writing skills started before the website began. I remember April Callum, a former employee for the Orlando Magic who was a copyeditor for Sports Media In. I said my NBA writing was the best she’d ever seen throughout her time there, which hit me. That’s where the idea of creating a website to diversify myself started, as I’m always striving to get better and willing to learn.
I looked up how to create a website on YouTube and did it on Wix, which took me two weeks to make before leaving for my one year on campus at SUNY New Paltz during my senior year. I kept the site a secret, working on it diligently those two weeks the way I wanted it to look before its launch on September 7, 2021. It helped take things to the next level.
Adding the site helped me have a place to put my little portfolio, which shows all my work, including the podcast on the homepage and articles on various sports, as well as the merchandise. If I wanted to continue separating myself, I had to add some writing skills to my repertoire and my on-air abilities. It allowed me to cover more sports news that I didn’t talk about on the podcast, which was great at the time, considering I had the most free time of any year in my adult life that year, being away at school and only working two days a week.
The site has reached everywhere worldwide, just like the podcast. Also, while at New Paltz, I was a sports announcer for the school for women’s soccer, women’s basketball, and men’s basketball teams, in addition to getting my feet wet in radio at the WFNP radio station they have for students there at the school. These experiences as an announcer and radio host for WFNP helped me grow in not being as afraid to speak in front of a crowd and see how radio is structured and works, differentiating from a podcast’s free flow.
Since graduating from New Paltz, I’ve had writers write for my site and been invited to the Black Sports Symposium, an ESPN-sponsored event where I met LeBron James’ agent, Rich Paul of Klutch Sports, Steve Wyche of NFL Network, and more. I eventually started doing visual interviews at MicVision Studios, taught myself video editing using Filmora, and got on local radio on WRCR 1700-AM in my hometown of Garnerville, NY. I even met NBA Commissioner Adam Silver because one of my friends said he saw my incredible work and wanted to invite me to an NBA holiday party. I continued writing for MLB Bro for Hall of Fame Sports Journalist Rob Parker, whom I interviewed on my show and had on my radio show for Super Bowl weekend in 2024.
I landed my first local sponsor with Skylands Pharmacy & Compounding and have continued adding apparel to my site. My brand provides you with news on the latest in sports, giving stories a chance to be heard from people in sports, locals in my community, and people worldwide. I also attended NABJ (National Association of Black Journalists), where I was accepted into the NBCU Journalism Workshop, which was invited only. What separates my brand from others is how I am willing to go out of my comfort zone and write or talk about basketball and other sports. I’m always an email away if there are any issues with purchases or if you have any questions.
This is a place to learn, discover, and enjoy!
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
After graduating from New Paltz in May 2022, I went through the darkest time of my life. From August 2022 to February 2023, I went through life stress, lost a loved one in a tragic event, and had my heart broken. My old car also got smashed into as I was waiting at a light, and my bumper broke, which prevented me from having a car for two months, ultimately having to get a new one.
I was genuinely depressed for the first time in my life. I couldn’t eat normally for about two weeks, and everyone could tell that something was wrong since I wasn’t my usual happy self. Then I said enough is enough. I started going to the gym consistently 3-4 times a week in December 2022 and created an alter ego for myself in the Black Winter Soldier that helped me get through those dark times. Like my idol Kobe Bryant’s “Black Mamba,” the Winter Soldier feels no pain. He’s strictly business culminated from the darkest time of his life and doesn’t take disrespect from anyone.
I turned the pain into prosperity.
He can do anything he puts his mind to as he’s cold-blooded and was created in those dark winter days. After the worst year of my life in 2022 (aside from college), I’ve gone on to have the best two years of my life in 2023 and 2024. Seeing my brand grow from doing visual interviews, having people write for my website, and meeting icons in sports due to my brand, such as Rich Paul, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, Elle Duncan, Chris Haynes, Monica McNutt, and so on.
I have inspired people who have told me upfront in person or on social media from either me as a person, my sports brand, or my Black Winter Soldier persona. I could have easily given up and asked what the point of continuing after everything that happened to me was. But I didn’t because that’s not who I have been since I was a kid. I always strive for more, know I deserve the best, and good things will come.
Those dark times made me stronger forever that has made me who I am today.
What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?
A lesson I’ve had to unlearn is that not everyone is for you or will support you. The biggest supporters are usually strangers. I’ve seen this through the first four years since doing the DJ’s Sports Show, and it’s true. Sometimes, I’ll work so hard on this tremendous article, video, or interview I did and be so proud of it.
Once I release it, I’ll promote it on all social media (LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, etc.). I’ll ask some of my friends if they can repost and spread the content, but I notice quietly that they don’t. Then, I sometimes see strangers comment on my work, reach out to me individually giving me high remarks and reposting for me at times.
We all have our audience out there. We need to find them and target them.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.djssportsshow.com/
- Instagram: @djhamilton23 @djs_sports_show
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/donald-hamilton-b2577a211/
- Twitter: @djhamilton23
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@djssportsshow6801
- Other: You can also follow me on TikTok at djhamilton23. Follow and subscribe to my website and YouTube, and subscribe to the podcast wherever you get your podcast!
Image Credits
Todd- MicVision Studios for all the photos besides the one with Rich Paul, Adam Silver, and radio.