In an ever-changing media panorama, girls’s sports activities content material is now, greater than ever, throughout our feeds, timelines and information protection. For these of us who’ve all the time tuned in, this ain’t something new—from media and journalists to sports activities personalities, there are a lot of, many individuals who’ve labored endlessly through the years to cowl girls’s hoops. With all the brand new followers and viewers delivering, together with the rise of social media, there’s additionally been an increase of content material creators protecting the W in their very own, distinctive methods, too
As we get able to have a good time the beginning of the 2024 WNBA season, WSLAM is hyped to highlight among the many gifted creatives within the business who’re making waves, rising the sport and serving to push girls’s basketball protection ahead, all on their very own phrases. We requested them a variety of questions, from how they bought into social to their strategy to constructing their private manufacturers, what they’re most excited for this season and, in fact, their common display screen time.
Don’t get it twisted although, this isn’t an unique record or “membership,” however relatively a celebration. And when you’re enthusiastic about girls’s hoops, too, we invite you tune in, faucet in, and share how a lot you like the sport, one publish at a time.
How do you stability being a journalist together with your social presence: I feel it’s a mix of the 2: between being genuine and actual after which naturally constructing a following. I really feel like that for me is what works greatest. There are another journalists who actually attempt to follow having their social platforms be simply reality based mostly…And that’s nice as a result of which may work for them. For me, I really feel like the explanation why folks tapped into me is as a result of not solely did I current no matter story I used to be engaged on or no matter data I had, however I did so in a method that was genuine to who I used to be and was relatable. That gave the impression to be what my model has all the time been: being genuine [and] being unapologetically me, but additionally being factual and presenting the knowledge that folks need to know.
What’s your recommendation to journalists and creators seeking to get into this house: For anybody up and coming on this house, I might positively inform them that one: by no means lose who you’re as a result of that’s essential. The extra that we’re beginning to see social platforms and content material creators take off, the extra we understand that persons are actually going to narrate with what resonates with them. And so being your self is so essential. Don’t lose that [and] something that makes you’re feeling humorous whenever you sleep at evening might be not one thing that you simply need to affiliate your self with…But additionally, there’s no restrict to creativity. I feel during the last 10 years I’ve executed possibly 50 to 60 various things creatively and a few have labored and a few haven’t, but it surely’s the truth that you must attempt it.
The way in which that algorithms and issues work within the social house, one thing could possibly be successful at this time and two months later, nobody’s enthusiastic about it. At all times be keen to be adaptable change or not essentially change, however enhance and be keen to step exterior of the field to do issues..Adaptability is unquestionably one thing that I might share with any younger up and coming journalist.
Display screen time: 12 hours.
How did you begin constructing your private model on social: I bought into social media as a result of none of my mates in highschool cared about basketball as a lot as I did and so they stopped answering my textual content messages about it. I needed to exit and discover freaks like me on Twitter, and as soon as I began having enjoyable and making mates on-line I saved going with it.
How would you describe your strategy to content material creation: I’m right here for vibes, jokes and highlights – however I feel my greatest work is after I can let my ardour for the sport and its athletes shine by means of. I’m by no means going to be as sensible as coaches or gamers on X’s and O’s, however I feel I’m good at describing why somebody is simple to root for, what makes an individual attention-grabbing or why an occasion was monumental.
What you’re most excited for this season: I promise if I had a favourite workforce I’d let you know! However I don’t. Most likely as a result of they’ve all bullied me on-line in some unspecified time in the future (I see you, 2x champs). I’m actually excited for each side of the rookies vs. vets battle, although. Are the brand new children nearly as good as marketed? However extra importantly, can the vets present us why the W is a unique stage from school?
Display screen time (how lengthy are you in your telephone per day?): 9.5 hours final week.
What does content material creation imply to you: Protecting the WNBA and protecting girls’s basketball is a public service as a result of there are legions and legions of followers which were basically underserved for a really very long time. And this is a chance to offer them, the followers, protection that girls’s sports activities and girls’s basketball must be getting. If we need to speak concerning the spirit of equality and fairness and what that each one means. And so I used to be gonna put my head proper into this. I used to be gonna dive proper in.
What you’re most excited for this season: What I’m most excited for is definitely seeing which pop cultural icons and folks come to WNBA video games. That’s gonna be one thing that I will probably be throughout as a result of clearly Caitlin Clark has introduced so many eyes to the game. that Beyonce despatched Daybreak Staley an enormous flower basket, I consider. And there have been many WNBA gamers, together with New York’s personal Betnijah Laney, who has been making an attempt to advocate to get Beyonce at Barclays Heart for a Liberty recreation…I’m wanting ahead to who’s gonna come to video games. I’m wanting ahead to how the scores are going to develop. I’m wanting ahead to extra Aces battles. I imply, these are the perfect, proper?
Display screen time: 4 hours and eight minutes.
How did you begin constructing your private model on social: The Women Speak Sports activities TV model is constructed off of three pillars the place athletes might be seen, heard and valued. I constructed my model off of the side that girls’s sports activities solely obtain lower than 4% of all media protection and fewer than 1 p.c of that illustration in newsrooms are black girls. So these three points was essential to me after I was constructing my model, but additionally constructing neighborhood was tremendous essential, particularly within the digital house. For me, I’ve all the time been a hands-on recreation grower, particularly in my neighborhood when it comes to with serving to with youth basketball applications and the nonprofit sector. So for me, constructing a model was all about simply being true to myself, but additionally simply true to that side of desirous to be a neighborhood builder.
What you’re most excited for this season: I’m most excited to see the athletes within the highlight the place they must be. I’m excited to see not solely informal followers, however new followers get to know these athletes by means of their recreation, but additionally by means of the off the courtroom storytelling. I feel that girls’s sports activities is greater than only a second, it’s a motion and it’s at its inflection level proper now. And I’m simply excited for not solely the athletes to get what they deserve when it comes to the protection and the highlight, but additionally for the folks which can be doing the storytelling to get greater alternatives.
Display screen time: 15 hours per day.
How would you describe your strategy to content material creation: What’s distinctive is I’ve been a photographer, however I’ve additionally been a social media supervisor for my jobs. And so I feel what I carry with pictures is having the ability to carry storytelling into my like social media platforms with my pictures. So after I take pictures, particularly on the ladies’s aspect, and I share them, I actually attempt to share, like utilizing the captions and phrases, I attempt to inform tales about these gamers or about these groups and applications. Utilizing my pictures, not simply , dropping the pictures is like, Hey, take a look at these cool pictures. It’s like, Hey, take a look at these pictures. And right here’s some attention-grabbing factor about these girls, or right here’s one thing like right here’s a loopy recreation that this participant had, and actually attempt to join the tales to the pictures utilizing my social media platforms.
Favourite photograph: I in all probability have a little bit of recency bias right here as a result of I only recently adopted Iowa and Caitlin Clark on like their match run. I’m additionally from Iowa. In order that was like additional particular for me. So I might in all probability say, the Caitlin Clark trophy Kobe photograph was in all probability considered one of my favorites simply because I bought to pay homage to love Kobe and a really well-known photographer whereas additionally exhibiting like Caitlin’s greatness with three again to again the Massive 10 titles. I might say that’s in all probability my favourite. However once more, there’s some recency bias there. I feel one other particular considered one of Caitlin is rather like her along with her arm stretched out and her tongue out which was like a signature Caitlin transfer. That’s a very particular one to me as a result of it was like the primary recreation of the Massive 10 match and it reveals her persona. I feel that’s one of many marks particular issues about her is just like the persona that she has on the courtroom. So, having the ability to inform that by means of my pictures, I feel is de facto particular.
What you’re most excited for this season: I’m truthfully excited for the brand new faces within the League and the brand new followers that it’s going to carry, I feel that the WNBA is at a real turning level regarding the consideration that it’s getting and the thrill and buzz round it. And so I feel I’m most excited to see, just like the information that this season breaks the historical past that we get from the season that I feel will probably be talked about for many years to come back. I’m excited to see this like new technology of followers see this league and the way particular it’s and the way particular the gamers are and the extent of expertise which can be on this league. I’m simply, it’s truthfully essentially the most excited I’ve been for a season in a very very long time, I feel that that is going to be I feel the 2024 season is one thing that we’re gonna look again on as like a needle mover regarding the WNBA. So I’m very excited for that.
Display screen Time: 9 hours and 12 minutes.
How did you get into protecting the WNBA: I had a background in advertising lengthy earlier than I turned a journalist. I used to be really a content material advertising supervisor proper earlier than I transitioned into sports activities full time. However basically, I simply, after I determined I needed to transition to sports activities, I actually needed to search for a spot that wanted extra genuine tales. And a very good pal of mine urged the WNBA as a result of he knew I used to be a superb storyteller. And he additionally knew that, , the League wanted some extra storytelling. So as soon as I simply opted in sure protecting video games, I used to be hooked. And I’ve been right here ever since.
What’s your strategy to content material creation: As soon as I [started] actually specializing in girls’s basketball, the next saved coming actually fast, and it simply escalated I might say within the final couple of weeks. I bought the superior probability to go to the WNBA draft. And in the midst of the draft, I went viral…It’s simply been a enjoyable experience to have the ability to lean into that and preserve going.
What are you most enthusiastic about this season: I feel it’s for everybody to sort of see what I’ve been seeing. I feel after I after I bought to the WNBA final season, I used to be kicking myself as a result of I’m like, The place have I been like? Why did I not get right here sooner?…To see the League rising after which girls’s school basketball rising and now they’re sort of colliding in real-time with this exponential progress, I’m so excited for anybody to get to come back to a recreation or watch a recreation on TV or actually simply benefit from the League. The [W] is tremendous, tremendous gifted.
Display screen time: 10 hours and 33 minutes a day.
How did you get into content material creation: If I’m being trustworthy, it was sort of an accident. It was one thing that I sort of fell into. I really like girls’s basketball [and] I’ve all the time been tweeting about it on Twitter trigger that’s simply what I do. Posting about it on Instagram and stuff simply naturally—it’s simply one thing that I’ve been in love with since I used to be just a little woman. I observed that I had like a following and I might say stuff and I see folks repeating it and folks could be latching on to among the issues I say.
What’s your strategy to your content material: It’s authentically me. I imply, in each sense of the phrase. At this level, folks will be capable of inform if I’m not being authentically me after which they’re going to be like, Oh no, we’re not messing with you no extra. So at this level [for] my model, it needs to be.
Display screen time: 4 hours and 31 minutes.
How did you get into being on social: I’m a sports activities author greater than I’m a content material creator. I feel it comes with the territory whenever you’re on social media. The one social media app I’ve is Twitter. I’ll do humorous memes and stuff like that…I’ve tried to leverage it to develop my platform and share my work.
What are you most excited for this season: I feel, like everyone, this new draft class, there’s simply a lot expertise, but additionally, , NIL modified issues a lot that they’re extra well-known than say different rookies who’ve are available in. They’ve already established platforms. They have already got their very own manufacturers. They have already got their very own followings. So, all of that bringing it into the League is like this injection of pleasure. I do know girls’s sports activities appears to be exploding proper now and they’re, however this WIC was led a very long time in the past. Now we’re simply seeing the explosion from it. It’s been slowly constructing to this. And I wanna see how that interprets over to the season [and] how the WNBA can capitalize on it.
Ideas on content material creation: Seeing now, particularly since I first bought into sports activities writing, so many extra people who find themselves contributors, who’re writers, who’re content material creators within the house now’s superior. There’s simply a lot protection occurring on totally different ranges and in several artistic methods. As somebody who’s been round for a short time, it’s actually cool to see.
Display screen time: I watch a variety of video games on my telephone or tablets or no matter in the event that they’re not on tv. However with social media, I attempt to take breaks on the weekends.
How did you get into content material creation: I got here throughout tunnel suits, I need to say like two years in the past, and determined to make a video about it. I ended up making a couple of however they did rather well, surprisingly effectively, and that sort of made me suppose like, oh my goodness…I simply determined to sort of begin speaking about it right here and there and I did the identical factor with NWSL. The extra I did it, the extra I noticed that: A, there’s folks watching this and like to see the movies and so they’re commenting on it and every part. However there’s additionally the people who find themselves like, oh my gosh, like I had no clue this was a factor, didn’t know tunnel suits had been a factor, didn’t learn about these gamers, yada yada. And that sort of made me need to pursue it.
What’s your strategy to constructing your model: As soon as I noticed that there was sort of a distinct segment for ladies’s sports activities, I made a decision to actually broaden it and sort of give myself the job to cowl every part. And I feel it has coincided rather well with the rise of girls’s sports activities as a result of I began [in] 2022, possibly ’21. That’s sort of after we noticed like this massive push to get to the place we are actually. So it’s been actually cool as a result of with that progress, I’ve additionally been rising as a creator. And there was just a little little bit of a swap within the fall of final yr, the place manufacturers began coming to me and all these platforms saying, ‘We wish you to make content material. We love what you’re doing. We wish you to do it for us.’ And that’s sort of truthfully how I constructed it right into a profession at this time.
Display screen time: 8 hours.
What your strategy to constructing your model on social media: I’m a freelancer. And what meaning is that almost all massive tales are being coated by beat writers or employees writers will say, not all the time in girls’s sports activities, and notably the W that’s clearly been rising, and we’re seeing an enormous change forward of this season. However I might say that almost all of my time protecting this League has been actually making an attempt to persuade publications, that there’s an viewers for this. And what has been profitable for me is looking for angles that aren’t, , this sports activities journalism market is de facto oversaturated. And so for me, both going to attempt to discover a actually distinctive angle that nobody has coated.
An instance I can consider that’s in all probability my largest story to this point was I wrote for Sports activities Illustrated about nonbinary athletes and the place they match and Layshia Clarendon was sort of the main focus, the centerpiece of that story. That was in 2021 and that was an area that nobody had entered. We had been beginning to discuss trans athletes, however non-binary athletes actually weren’t being talked about. And in order that was like a spot I might enter. I feel additionally making an attempt to pitch girls’s publications issues about girls’s athletes. I’ve been within the New York Occasions a number of instances, and I’ve by no means been revealed within the sports activities part, proper? I’m actually artistic about whether or not I’m writing about in-game proposals for the vows part, or I’m writing about WNBA vogue for just like the opinion part. I’ve all the time tried to be actually, actually artistic about the place and the way and bringing my protection and what different communities is likely to be overlapping apart from rating.
What are you most enthusiastic about this season: The W was actually my entry level into turning into a basketball fan and what I cherished was what number of athletes had been queer. I’m like, Oh, I’m queer. And I really like their coronary heart and I really like rooting for them and seeing them be superb. I feel the ladies’s soccer workforce, we hear rather a lot about that and lesbian areas, however the W has like been actually missed I feel for a very long time…I feel to me, that’s actually cool—discovering people who find themselves not solely invested within the recreation, however can discover different causes to purchase in…I’ve cherished the entire shit speaking earlier than the season. I really like all the truth that everybody’s already getting chippy…I’m simply excited to observe folks see what the W actually is.
Display screen time: 4 hours and 32 minutes.
How did you get into sports activities media: Along with creating content material, I’m a journalist, host and producer, so I’m actually a jack of all trades. I can do many issues, together with content material creation. I began my profession off at ESPN on the enterprise aspect, and after three and a half years, I noticed I needed to do one thing totally different. I needed to storytell. I needed to be round folks. And I didn’t need to be in my cubicle anymore. I used to be on the headquarters in Connecticut, and I needed to guess on myself, so I made a decision to do this and that modified my life. I actually have sort of constructed this type of lane for myself. I by no means noticed anyone who appeared like me doing what I’m doing. And it’s been a variety of studying alongside the way in which.
What’s your strategy to constructing your model: In each single house and I present up as me. I’m pleased with who I’m. A part of my journey, it has not been straightforward in any respect and I by no means inform people that it has been straightforward however I’m additionally proudly Dominican and Puerto Rican and that’s an enormous a part of my id. I’ve realized [that] the extra I lean into that, the extra I have a good time myself and individuals who appear to be me, the extra alternatives come.
What are you most enthusiastic about this season: There’s a variety of change inside the groups— Natasha Cloud in Phoenix, Skylar Diggins-Smith in Seattle, Candace Parker retired. All these adjustments inside girls’s basketball. Change might be actually good and I’m excited to simply see all of the competitors. There are a variety of eyes, a variety of younger gamers from Caitlin Clark to Angel Reese to Kamilla Cardoso. There’s a variety of pleasure proper now.
Display screen time: 7 hours and 18 minutes.
How did you get into content material creation: What has all the time been essential to me was taking the entry that I had from being in these areas [as a sports writer] and discovering methods to get that data to the followers. I began simply by reside tweeting all these press conferences as a result of they weren’t on TV and I knew that followers needed to know what these gamers had been saying. I suppose my model sort of grew out of that and since then I’ve gotten to jot down about so many gamers within the League…It began with simply making an attempt to share and inform tales and the model, no matter my following has come from there has sort of all grown from that.
Favourite WNBA workforce: I feel a lot of my job is less complicated when issues are going effectively, however the longer I’m on this house and the extra gamers that I get to know and the extra that there’s simply a lot motion within the league that I’m rooting for these gamers that I’ve constructed connections with. So now I’ve bought gamers on each single workforce that I’m rooting for as a result of I do know them personally on some stage, however I additionally am simply rooting for sort of the general League success.
The rest you’d like so as to add: To have a League that’s majority queer girls, to have a League that’s majority Black girls and to know that these are areas, that these tales are very not often advised. And to concentrate on my privilege as a white man on this house, however to have the ability to use no matter platform I’ve to have the ability to amplify these tales is de facto essential to me. It’s an honor for me.
How did you get into content material creation: It was actually one thing that simply randomly occurred again in 2018 or so. Initially, I used to be all the time a fan of the WNBA and, again in round 2019, a couple of folks reached out to me and mentioned, ‘Hey, we see these alternatives. We predict you’ll be good for it. You’re all the time speaking about sports activities.’…I used to be like, ‘I don’t have a journalism background.’ I used to be working in finance, doing the entire company America factor at the moment And I used to be like, Okay, I’ll give it a attempt. And it actually simply snowballed from there. Went [from] simply beginning out as a author after which it grew to working in social after which to being an on-camera host and a photographer. I’ve been in a position to do a variety of issues simply by me [and] somebody taking an opportunity on me and pondering that I might be good for the job.
What’s your strategy to constructing your model: I feel what lots of people take pleasure in, for me is simply, I received’t say hottakes or something, and I don’t suppose I’m a comic, however lots of people simply suppose that, Oh my God, you’re so hilarious...Individuals simply all the time suppose that it’s been one thing of only a breath of contemporary air in the case of particularly the ladies’s sports activities house surrounding girls’s basketball. They simply actually love my following, or what I’ve executed, whether or not it’s written work or on air work or pictures, or simply one thing so simple as live-tweeting concerning the recreation. I’ve all the time simply made certain that I attempt to keep true to me, proper? Issues that I like, I simply share that with folks. I don’t attempt to be anybody else. I’m all the time me. I discuss being late for touring, meals, sneakers and sports activities. And that’s what I really like and for some motive, it resonates with everybody else. They [see] that I’ve an actual life other than what it’s that I do for work.
What are you most enthusiastic about this season: This season, I’m actually simply wanting ahead to aggressive basketball. I’m wanting ahead to seeing these superb girls having the ability to play on such a bigger stage. We all know that over the previous few years, girls’s basketball and the eye that’s acquired has been on the uptick and, , we’re aware of it. We’ve been right here. We’ve been within the trenches protecting it. And so now I’m excited that everybody else is lastly beginning to take discover to one thing that we’ve recognized or I’ve recognized has been nice for simply so a few years. So, that’s what I’m actually wanting ahead to. And I feel that this new wave of expertise that’s coming in, they’re able to compete and I’m all for it.
Display screen time: 9 hours and 50 seconds.
What’s your strategy to constructing your model on social media: I feel my largest factor is that I’ve all the time been unapologetically me. I keep in mind in grad college, considered one of my professors had mentioned to me, ‘Once you turn out to be an expert, you must preserve your biases apart.’ However you take a look at sure broadcasters or radio personnel, who they root for. I feel that’s been my largest factor. I do know, too, that I’m just a little little bit of an overshare. I sort of share each the great and the dangerous of my life, the business and folks actually resonate with that as a result of it isn’t all roses. Individuals all the time say [that] social media is a spotlight reel, however I attempt to be tremendous actual with issues. And so I’m simply sort of a goofy particular person, I attempt to not take issues too critically, but additionally in the identical breath, when life will get me down I share that with different folks as a result of I feel that it’s actually essential to share that issues aren’t good on a regular basis.
I feel that’s sort of how I constructed my private model. It’s simply being true and open and trustworthy on a regular basis. And on the finish of the day, I’m nonetheless a sports activities fan. I feel that’s the most important factor, too, is that a variety of the time you see reporters and so they’re doing their job, in fact, however they’re simply tweeting issues which can be skilled and I feel I’ve a variety of enjoyable with it. I nonetheless am a fan. On the finish of the day, even after I’m protecting the WNBA, whenever you see a sick participant or a sick shot, you need to take pleasure in it the way in which you’d as an everyday fan. Sure, reporting is my job. And after I’m going to [do] a narrative, I’m going to do it with out bias, however I nonetheless need to benefit from the recreation. Benefit from the gamers, benefit from the groups the identical method any fan would…Sure, I feel I’m good at my job and I attempt to be as skilled and unbiased in my work, however on the finish of the day, I’m nonetheless a fan and I prefer to cross on with it. That’s sort of why all of us bought into sports activities within the first place.
Ideas on the expansion of girls’s sports activities and content material creation: Thanks guys for showcasing these creators. I feel it’s enormous, particularly within the girls’s sports activities house. As a lot as girls’s sports activities has been rising and we’ve seen the information develop and never even simply in girls’s basketball, however throughout girls’s soccer you’re seeing like the professional leagues for volleyball and issues like that…There’s so many individuals who’ve been protecting the W. That is my fifth season and I nonetheless really feel like a rookie as a result of there’s been individuals who have had boots on the bottom for the reason that early days. It’s actually superb that you simply guys put within the work to showcase these unbelievable girls who’ve been placing within the work since earlier than everyone else noticed the imaginative and prescient and now everyone’s catching up.
Display screen time: 8 hours and 37 minutes.
When did you get into content material creation: I created a Twitter account in like 2018 as a result of I saved occurring Twitter to examine [game] scores. I figured I’d as effectively create an account, so I simply began out as a fan. However I feel after I began to get extra into the writing aspect, that’s after I began to fulfill extra folks, particularly on WNBA Twitter, too. I feel the primary yr that I began protecting in 2021, folks had been very welcoming and it was only a matter of placing myself on the market…Simply to sort of put my title on the market, I might touch upon reside video games, issues like that. I might share the place the W video games are on what channels as a result of as we all know, it may be just a little bit troublesome at instances to simply accept these and so I feel simply by doing that, and getting my title on the market and extra folks began to see me and so they began to observe me as effectively. I feel being from Toronto, too, there are a lot of Raptors followers that are actually WNBA followers as effectively. I feel after I moved into that house of protecting a W, a variety of the fan base I had constructed from the Raptors aspect sort of observe by means of and transfer together with me by means of this journey. I feel that’s simply how my platform grew and my model sort of turned protecting WNBA and girls’s basketball in addition to tennis as a result of that’s additionally my different fundamental sport that I really like to observe and to cowl.
What are you most enthusiastic about this season: I’m so excited to see how all the brand new additions to totally different groups sort of paired out, like with the Storm getting Skylar and Nneka… I feel there was a lot motion within the offseason and so I’m very curious to see a variety of gamers who are actually carrying new jerseys after carrying, , one jersey for everything of their careers. I feel that’s going to be actually thrilling.
Display screen time: 5 hours.
What’s your strategy to constructing your model: Simply sort of having enjoyable with it. That’s sort of my largest factor is simply—I do know I love to do video content material. I prefer to be on digital camera, however in the end for me, it’s simply, [do] I need to watch this and do I’ve enjoyable making it? And usually if I’ve enjoyable making it, somebody’s going to have enjoyable watching it whether or not that be social media movies or YouTube movies or no matter that is likely to be. Simply sort of simply having enjoyable with it. And if I can have enjoyable with it, another person can have enjoyable watching it.
I really like girls’s basketball. That is what I really like to observe. If I wasn’t doing content material for it, I might be speaking about it the identical method, simply in a unique method. For me, my largest inviting issue is the truth that I’m a fan identical to everybody else. Sure, I’m within the media. Sure, I’m credentialed to issues, however I’m a fan and I really like girls’s basketball.
What are you most enthusiastic about this season: I feel you may really feel the totally different stage of pleasure for this season coming into it. I’m personally most excited [about] all the brand new followers to have the ability to see what we’ve recognized about and the way unbelievable that this League really is. And a variety of that has to do with how widespread the expertise is and the way good I feel the groups are this season. I’m able to see these groups go to battle and simply have some good video games. I’m excited for some actual, genuinely good basketball this season.
Display screen time: 11 hours.
How did you get into content material creation: I feel social media—I didn’t understand its energy in reference to sports activities. I feel till I used to be working at The Ringer and I simply noticed how not solely the corporate’s media presence was essential however every particular person author and persona had their very own following. I used to be like, Wow, that’s actually cool and I sort of had a chat with myself, OK, what do I need my following to actually be about? I don’t need to have my hand in every part. What do I need the folks following me to actually observe me for?
I keep in mind I went to my husband, who was my boyfriend on the time, I used to be like, I need folks after they consider the WNBA, that they point out my title [and] that they’ve me in these conversations. So, what do I must do to do this? I discovered by sharing my story with my fandom with the WNBA and with the Sacramento Monarchs, actually simply pulled on the heartstrings of lots of people…As soon as I tapped into that fandom, that’s after I began desirous to develop the sport by sharing extra of these tales and extra of these tales concerning the gamers as effectively. I’m not gonna be breaking information, however I need to be sure that gamers know that they will speak to me and I’m gonna see them as a human.
I’m going to verify they know that I’ve been right here from the start and as a former girls’s basketball participant myself, I see them. I’m not simply right here for the second or the motion, I’ve been right here.
What would your recommendation be to folks, particularly like younger Black girls that want to get into the house and questioning whether or not they need to go the standard media route or content material creation: I feel having your personal model and going into content material creation proper now, you’ve the ability to do this. I feel that’s each a optimistic and a unfavourable as a result of generally as somebody who went to journalism college. I’ve my diploma on this, I’m on the identical platform as any person who has none of these accolades or none of that education. You may as well simply pop up and have your personal video and make your personal YouTube present, like, the ability may be very a lot within the arms of the creator.
[For] the longest time, I used to be so hesitant and so nervous and taking a look at lots of people within the house and saying, effectively, I can’t try this. I’ll simply keep over right here or I’ll by no means get there, I’ll simply keep over right here.And as soon as I simply began and likewise going into freelance, I simply actually guess on myself. That’s all the time my recommendation to younger ladies, particularly younger Black ladies: you’re all the time advised to remain on this field or keep on this lane or do issues that everybody else is doing to get higher. After I made the choice to cowl the W NBA and girls’s basketball, it was very a lot a, I’m doing one thing utterly totally different than what you guys are wanting me to do or, , simply to cowl the NBA solely. I adopted my ardour and I mentioned, I’ve the talent set, I’ve the information and I’m going to guess on myself.
Display screen time: 8 hours.
What’s your strategy to constructing your model: I feel truthfully the most important factor is simply authenticity. Anybody who follows me on Twitter, anybody who listens to our podcast, I feel you’re all the time getting me in my truest type. I’m all the time going to be a fan of my favourite gamers and I’m all the time gonna rep the groups and the gamers that I really like whereas additionally making an attempt to stay goal and supply perception and evaluation and my opinion on issues. So I feel that relatively than like having this completely curated model the place every part’s so pristine and no matter, I feel I’ve went in the other way the place I’ve discovered that the best option to be myself and provides folks like authentic distinctive content material is to sort of let that private fan aspect come out just a little bit extra. I feel that permits me to entry a deeper stage of storytelling after I’m writing items as a result of it’s extra concerning the particular person I’m writing about. I’m not as involved with the way it seems or no matter, I simply wanna be spreading the tales of those gamers.
Favourite WNBA workforce: It’s two solutions: the true reply is the Aces, after which the opposite reply is no matter workforce Kahleah Copper is presently taking part in for. For a very long time, it’s been the Aces and the Sky, however now I’m gonna need to rep the Mercury, which is gonna be just a little bizarre for me, however wherever Kai goes, I’m gonna be a fan of them. However Aces, , Jackie Younger and A’ja Wilson are two of my all-time favorites.
Display screen time: 4 hours and 20 minutes.
How did you get into content material creation: I really feel like everybody actually began throughout COVID. I used to be like, effectively, I’d as effectively simply publish some stuff on tiktok as a result of that’s the factor and as soon as college began opening up, I began doing like just a little little bit of basketball content material with the varsity workforce that I used to be teaching and that might blow up right here and there after which the massive blow up was my niece and nephew being as cute as they’re. Me being their aunt, it was actually nothing like that particular—I imply, it’s particular to me that I’m their aunt however nothing that particular the place it was like some massive break. It was identical to, Wow, that woman loves her niece and nephew.
There was one video I did, it wasn’t even with the children, it was a dancing video on my own and I child you not each single remark was like, ‘Get it Auntie Nae! Go Auntie. Yeah, Auntie! I used to be like, OK, is that my title? Is that what folks name me. So, that’s been the factor ever since then.
I’ve all the time been a fan of the W. I publish Detroit Shock throwbacks on a regular basis, however by no means actually had the prospect or actually by no means knew l could possibly be somebody to speak about it in that method simply because I’m not a reporter, I’m not a journalist. I simply love the sport, love being there. However I used to be in the correct place on the proper time: I used to be in Dallas on the Last 4 final yr and somebody from the League was like, ‘Hey, I’ve seen a few of your Tik Toks, I actually need you to come back to the draft subsequent week…Earlier than going into the draft, I used to be speaking to my spouse and I used to be identical to, ‘I’m so scared. I don’t know anyone. I’m undecided how I’m going to be acquired there as a result of I don’t know if folks know me. I don’t need to step on toes. I simply needed to be in expertise and all that. And my first interplay strolling in, I rotated and I noticed Aliyah Boston strolling in direction of me. inside, I’m freaking out, I’m like, Oh my God, it’s Aliyah...That’s the second I used to be like, OK, possibly I’m speculated to be right here.
What’s been your strategy to content material creation and constructing your model: I don’t take a unique strategy in any respect with my private versus my skilled model. I feel that when you stay constant, your viewers is aware of the place you’re, what you’re going to do. And so by me simply authentically wanting to actually get to the meat of the story and get to know the gamers as people, it’s past simply fast hearth, proper?… Individuals need to get to know folks but it surely doesn’t need to be these fast hitting issues. I feel I do an amazing job of long-form, get to know you content material, versus brief type heavy hitting. I imply, I can do the brief type however I preserve that constant in how I speak to folks as people and meet them the place they’re as people with the way in which I inform tales. My private model, you see a variety of athletes simply having enjoyable, getting actual, and simply being open and trusting and weak and acknowledged as a privilege. They really feel comfy sufficient to do this. And then you definitely see that after I take it to an expert setting, I’ve a present with the WNBA known as Off Prime and that’s the place we simply sit down [and] I don’t have a preconceived notion of what I need to discuss. I simply say, Hey, welcome to my Massive Cozy Sofa. And I allow them to take it the place they need to take it. So I, it doesn’t matter what I do between my goal, private model or skilled model, I need to open up house for folks to be themselves. And I need to facilitate that dialog in a method that it sticks with the overall lots, and amplify that I’ve been a cheerleader to my core. And that’s what I usher in my journalism, too.
What are you most enthusiastic about this season: I’m actually excited to see gamers take possession of their tales. I’m actually excited to see them step right into a panorama that is able to absolutely digest the truth that they belong there. And for them to be celebrated the way in which they’ve all the time deserved. And due to the empowerment across the recreation proper now. It permits gamers to point out up as absolutely themselves. So whether or not that’s translating by how they play basketball stylistically, or how they costume within the tunnel, or how they impart their tales with media. I’m simply excited concerning the individuality being showcased this season…
I need most people to not be reliant on the larger names and actually know that whenever you go searching in that locker room. For the W, there are 11 or 12 gamers in there. Each single particular person’s story issues. And so going into this season, each single particular person’s story must be advised as a result of now we have so many extra eyes on it. What I worry is that the legacy gamers, the gamers who’ve been across the tremendous vets, they’re gonna be overshadowed in that. I need media to know like, it’s our duty to inform that historical past and it’s our duty to actually exit and showcase the excellence. We now have greats stepping away, [like] that Candace Parker retirement, which crushed me. And I by no means thought we gave her sufficient credit score for the way transformative she was. I’m a giant Candace Parker and actually I’m very underwhelmed about that. However like I don’t suppose we ever gave her sufficient credit score about how transformative she was. And I need these vets [that] resolve to step down and step away from the sport, an lively participant position, for them to really feel like they’ve been appreciated their complete profession. And so, whether or not that’s us reconciling and having this heavy reconciliation in pushing their tales ahead in a method we haven’t earlier than, that’s what we have to do. We’d like to take the time to actually push them in to figuring out that their flowers are there and they need to obtain them.
Display screen time: 9 hours and 37 minutes.
How did you get into content material creation: I’ve all the time been obsessive about creating content material. Even in highschool, I had an nameless Twitter web page protecting my highschool sports activities. After which after I bought to varsity, I used to be protecting Wichita State Athletics [and] males’s Basketball was like, the most important factor within the metropolis. This was in 2016, 2017, I used to be so adamant about utilizing my very own social media or like totally different social media channels to advertise our protection, just like the newspaper and every part. Lengthy story brief, I used to be advised that utilizing my social media is unprofessional and it wouldn’t get me wherever. However I actually didn’t take heed to that. And that’s after I began Sports activities with Aliyah my junior yr of faculty, and that’s the place I’m like, Okay, I’m gonna write articles, do interviews, create content material on my phrases, and I do know I can create an viewers that likes me for me and my protection.
From there, Sports activities with Aliyah has simply grown a lot. It was a chat present in Wichita— I’d like to get again to that—however a chat present or simply going to any sports-related factor I might presumably go to and simply present it from my perspective. I really like specializing in issues that make the athletes extra human as an alternative of identical to their stats, like, I need to know their private tales, I need to present their personalities. I additionally love the way in which basketball intersects with vogue, music tradition, that’s simply my favourite factor.
And in the case of girls’s sports activities, lots of people noticed me protecting girls’s sports activities as like a charity, like, Oh, that’s so good that you simply’re protecting the ladies’s recreation, too. And I’m like, ‘It’s not good. It’s what I need to do.’ That is what I’m enthusiastic about. That’s sort of how I approached it in my content material. I’ve a variety of males’s sports activities followers following me, however I might simply proceed to speak about girls’s basketball, girls’s sports activities very casually [and adding] it in with my regular content material, as an alternative of simply being like, Guys, look, I’m doing such an amazing factor by protecting girls’s sports activities. I’m identical to, Yeah, that is what I’m speaking about and get with it. And I feel that’s sort of how I’ve sort of transformed some males’s sports activities followers into liking girls’s sports activities, and it’s been simply built-in into my life at this level.
What’s been your strategy to constructing your private model: My strategy has all the time been neighborhood first and never getting wrapped in with the numbers. I imply, it’s social media, issues can go viral left and proper. However what are you doing to maintain it? I’ve all the time valued a neighborhood, that’s why I began a bunch chat with my followers to assist them break into sports activities or discuss sports activities. Group is every part after which additionally simply capitalizing off of what makes me distinctive within the house. The human tales or the tradition, I prefer to make a giant deal out of the little issues. I like to point out what a traditional broadcast wouldn’t present, these small moments between a participant and a fan. Or, two gamers having a pleasant second. I need to present issues which you could’t see by simply studying an article or watching ESPN or the printed. I feel that’s been my key.
Display screen time: 8-9 hours.
How did you get into content material creation: I really feel like TikTok actually turned massive my senior yr of highschool. [In] school, I had a really small platform, not likely a variety of followers, but it surely simply gave me a spot to be artistic and publish about my life, publish about being a student-athlete. I grew up watching a variety of YouTube and I really feel like YouTube is unquestionably tedious, so having a platform the place you may sort of share extra brief type movies and it’s a better raise was actually interesting to me. I sort of simply bought began there.
I additionally am a journalist, so I do some extra conventional work, however I really feel like TikTok is a spot for me to sort of have my very own little neighborhood and be just a little bit extra artistic and do some untraditional issues, whether or not it’s sharing my opinions or doing enjoyable interviews. That’s actually how I bought into it and I’ve continued to publish round massive sporting occasions and simply sort of giving my takes or getting alternatives to interview gamers and my platform has grown from there.
What’s your strategy to constructing your model: I feel reporting and being a journalist is a big a part of my model and I all the time need that to be the very first thing that’s conveyed after I’m posting and sharing on-line, but additionally sharing that enjoyable aspect of me and figuring out that a variety of these student-athletes who I’m interviewing, particularly in school, are comparable in age to me and doubtless folks that I could possibly be mates with if I wasn’t working as a result of I used to be additionally a student-athlete. So, I completely get the ins and outs of what they’re going by means of. Attempting to mix that perspective within the interviews, in my content material, I feel reaches them just a little bit extra as a result of they’re human, too. They’ve their favourite artists off the courtroom. They’ve hobbies that they love to do. I feel it’s only a actually great way for me to attach with these athletes.
Display screen time: 5 hours.
How did you get into content material creation: I had already been within the queer content material creation house…Soccer’s all the time been my factor and that’s the factor I knew essentially the most about—the intersection of queer and World Cup content material. I used to be in a position to make like a bunch of like breakdown movies with the World Cup and now I simply discuss sports activities and sort of attempt to make girls’s sports activities as accessible as attainable to as many individuals and inform the sort of human curiosity tales behind every part that occurs. [It]s] simply sort of the stuff I already am all for and now I get to speak about it on TikTok.
What’s your strategy to content material creation: I feel that a variety of it’s that I feel that I’ve created a neighborhood of folks that watch my movies, they care about girls’s sports activities, they care about girls’s basketball, they care about what’s occurring, and I like being round these folks. And so it’s simply sort of like, I, in my life, have had mates who I speak to about issues occurring within the W or issues occurring within the sports activities world. And now it’s like, I’ve an enormous neighborhood of these folks and like so many extra mates to speak about…The factor that I all the time come again to is rather like, I wanna develop the dialog and that sort of is the driving pressure [in] what number of extra mates can I get to speak about girls’s basketball and all that, every part with?
Favourite WNBA workforce: I’m a DC woman. I’m excited for Aaliyah [Edwards]…that’s gonna be thrilling for us for the Mystics.
Display screen time: 9 hours and quarter-hour.
How did you get into content material creation: I’ve all the time been very vocal and extroverted and any person that’s been taking footage since I used to be a younger age. I all the time felt that sharing movies [and] footage in addition to my ideas as a method of bringing folks into my life and I suppose I by no means considered myself as a content material creator, I all the time simply considered myself that was sort of sharing what was occurring in my life…
I’ve all the time simply cared about curating. I might say not solely a picture, however not a picture or a model, however authenticating and showcasing my life, what I’m doing, what I aspire for, how I may help different folks, how we will carry extra folks in. So I might say on Instagram, I actually need us to simply showcase the ups and downs, but additionally the probabilities for everyone of their life…On Twitter, which is the app that I’ve essentially the most following on, I simply speak. I’ve all the time been very vocal and I’ve all the time needed to share how my background in African American research and historical past has allowed me to take a look at a variety of issues a bit extra critically and supply some perception in addition to my very own private emotions and ideas.
What are you most enthusiastic about this season: The competitors, the outfits, the model offers that shoppers get. I feel that the Liberty have the perfect courtroom aspect expertise with the Crown Membership, with celebrities that come to video games. It’s immaculate. I’m excited for the movie footage that I’m going to take this yr—I feel I’ve actually discovered my lane with reference to capturing issues between my telephone and my cameras, and actually having the ability to help W and be a face of the League and folks know.
We get down in New York. I’ve been known as the mayor. I wouldn’t contemplate myself as such, but it surely’s enjoyable to know that when persons are coming to recreation in New York, they know they’re gonna see me and that I’m gonna carry that power to each recreation.
Display screen time: 4-6 hours a day.
What’s do you suppose makes your content material distinctive on social: I actually like taking a look at and understanding private growth: why is a participant rising? How did they adapt over an offseason? What did they begin seeing in a different way? It’s superb watching the consistency that they develop into, and understanding them as gamers and folks is what I’m all about.
What are you most enthusiastic about this season: I’m excited a couple of plethora of issues, however I’m most excited to observe the Seattle Storm discover their method as a workforce this yr. There’s a lot expertise coming collectively, and I can’t wait to observe Noelle Quinn match every part collectively
Display screen time: It’s round 8 within the low season after which about 11.5 or 12 on common in-season.
