Jill Martin is an Emmy-nominated reporter who wears many hats. From fashion to sports, she has taken New York by storm. Martin always dreamed about working at Madison Square Garden. “It’s such a magical place,” she said. “Growing up I would say, wow! `We’re going to Madison Square Garden to see….’ Now it’s like my home.”
During basketball season, from October through April, the Garden really is Martin’s home. As a broadcaster for MSG Network, Martin covers home games for the New York Knicks, doing pre and post game interviews with the players. She also has made her mark with her “Gimme a Minute” segments where she grabs one of the many celebrities at the game and conducts a fast-paced sixty-second interview courtside during halftime. Her guests have included John McEnroe (with Martin above), Magic Johnson, Kevin Bacon, Paul Simon, Ron Howard, Spike Lee, and many others.
Martin’s work at MSG makes up only part of her current assignments on TV. She is a regular on NBC’s Today Show, where she does segments on fashion and entertainment. Her showcase spots are the makeovers where a lucky woman is plucked from the Today Show audience in Rockefeller Plaza and transformed with a new hairstyle, makeup, and wardrobe. From June 8 through 11, Martin and celebrity hair colorist Louis Licari will travel to four cities in four days for Ambush Makeover Hits the Road, performing their magic on women selected through an essay contest.
But that’s not all. As an US Weekly contributor, Martin does features and interviews for the top entertainment shows, Extra, Access Hollywood, Entertainment Tonight, and the Insider. She reported from the Red Carpet at both the Golden Globes and Academy Awards, talking with megastars like Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie. “I love the organized chaos,” she said. “There is nothing like it!”
Despite her access to the celebrity world, Martin remains remarkably down to earth. She enjoys and respects the people she interviews, but isn’t star-struck. Her relaxed approach helps to reassure those she approaches for interviews. She is always looking to land that one person who may be reluctant to come before the cameras, like Robert Plant, lead vocalist and lyricist for Led Zeppelin. “Robert Plant does not do interviews,” said Martin. But when she asked him to do “Gimme a Minute,” he said yes. “I told him it would be a huge coup for me so he felt like he was in on it,” she said, with a laugh. A minute isn’t a lot of time for an interview, and Martin aims for the unusual, like asking Sopranos star Steve Schirripa how many times he Googles himself a day.
If Martin is living a dream life, she never had any doubts that her dream would come true. When she was an undergraduate at the University of Michigan, her father, an attorney, asked her what she was going to do after graduation. “I told him I was going to be on TV,” she said. One of her proudest moments was making that phone call to her father to say she had been hired as a sports anchor for WFOR, the CBS affiliate in Miami. “I remember how cool that felt to tell him,” she said.
Martin spent eight years in Miami covering the Dolphins and the Heat. Her loyalties were divided in 2003 where, as a reporter covering the Florida Marlins, she came to New York for the World Series and saw the Yankees lose. She recalled going into the Yankee clubhouse and hearing the silence.
Martin was born and raised on Long Island and her parents and brother, Jonathan, remain her touchstones and biggest supporters. When she was recently featured on the cover of Palm Beach Society Magazine, her mother asked for 100 extra copies to send out to friends. Whenever Martin gets a break from her hectic schedule, she visits her family.
Charity work is important to Martin and she is committed to helping children in crisis through The Garden of Dreams Foundation. She recently received an Emmy nomination for one of her stories about The Garden of Dreams.
Martin’s fast-paced life shows no signs of slowing down. She has been working on a book, Fashion for Dummies, and also plans to launch her own clothing line. “I want it to be cost effective and versatile,” she said. During her fashion segments on Today, Martin often features clothing from affordable stores like Target. And she is aware that not all women are Size 2. “I want my line to fit all body types,” she said.
One thing Martin has trouble finding time for is dating. Even though her friends feel she must meet tons of men because of the line of work she is in, she makes it a rule not to date anyone she works with. Friends are always eager to arrange dates and she is open to meeting new people.
Asked what else she would like to be doing, Martin said: “I would like to catch up to myself. I feel like I don’t stop. But things are good. Work is good, family is good. I feel very grateful.”
And every now and then she is reminded that working in Madison Square Garden, which goes from being a basketball venue one day, a hockey rink the next, and then hosts the Ringling Brothers Circus is very special. “I came in one day and someone told me the elephants were taking a walk,” she said. “How cool is that!”
Woman Around Town’s Six Questions
Favorite Place to Shop: Calypso
Favorite Place to Eat: Sassubune (best sushi EVER!)
Favorite New York Sight: Central Park in the summer
Favorite New York Moment: When I moved back from Miami and stepped off
the plane….ahhhhhh.
What You Love About New York: The fast pace
What You Hate About New York: The fast pace
