In loving memory of my eternal hero, Kobe Bean Bryant, a complicated man who meant many different things to many people. I’d like to share how he impacted my life.
I was 21 when I received a call from the Lakers — the Los Angeles Lakers — letting me know I had been chosen as an intern in their digital department for the upcoming season. I remember running around my tiny studio apartment at USC immediately after, screaming in jubilation just like I had when I used to stage “parades” around my suburban Orange County neighborhood following the Lakers’ early 2000s championship victories.