The NFL has named Maia Chaka its first Black female game official, NBC’s “TODAY” show reported exclusively on Friday.
“It’s just an honor to join the National Football League,” Chaka said.
She said she got the call about the position on Monday and thought she was being punked.
“I just went nuts,” Chaka said. “I’ve been working at it so long.”
But “it didn’t really hit me until just now,” she admitted. “Sometimes we don’t take time to stop and smell our own roses.”
Chaka, a physical education and health teacher in Virginia Beach, said she hopes her new role shows her students that “If you have a passion for something or you have the drive for something, don’t let it hold you back just because you think that something may give you some type of limitation.”
“Work hard, and always, always, always follow your dreams,” she said.
Chaka is the second-ever female NFL referee. Sarah Thomas was hired as the first full-time female official in NFL in 2015. In February, she became the first woman to officiate in a Super Bowl.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
