Court to Corporate | The Athlete’s Playbook in the Business World

If you’ve been with Court to Corporate since day one, then odd ares that you’ve heard me talk about these two books I recommend for every current and former student-athlete.  Athletes Are Brands Too and Brands Win Championships are two books that I read immediately after wrapping up basketball, that have inspired the work I do today and  set the foundation for my career, so it’s an honor to share my conversation with the creator himself.

Jeremy Darlow is a leading brand consultant, former Director of Marketing for Adidas football and basketball, adjunct marketing professor, and of course author of Brands Win Championships and Athletes Are Brands Too.

We kick this episode off with jumping into how Jeremy built his career as a multi-hyphenate all at the intersection of athletes & brands. We then dive into what athletes today need to know about building their brand, from the first steps to how building your brand the right way can lead to career success.  We also discuss predictions of the next of athlete brands and what it will take for athletes to differentiate themselves in the future.  

“If there was a basketball hall of fame for what you got from the game, I would argue that I would be the first ballot.”  

Since 2001, MLT has built a leadership pipeline for over 7,000+ students and professionals nationwide and John has been featured on CNN, the cover of Fortune, and named one of Forbes Top 30 Social Entrepreneurs.

In this episode John is sharing  with us how basketball has   shaped what exists today in MLT and how sports gave him the lens to identify his gifts that he has applied to his success in entrepreneurship.

This episode is all about how you can take inspiration from your journey as an athlete to act on your ideas, build your career, and end up in the hall of fame for what you got from the game. 

The day Jackson Patterson committed to play lacrosse at Colgate, was the same day doctors diagnosed him with cancer.

On this episode, Jackson joins us to share how he overcome cancer to become a 4 year starter and team Captain, and the lessons that have stuck with him in life and his career today.

• How he decided consulting was the right career path & the importance of transferable skills
• Why being a great freshman on a team prepares you to be a great analyst & and being a great senior, prepares you to be a great manager
• Keys to success for athletes entering a summer internship in consulting or seniors beginning full time in the fall
• How he is attacking growing his career as a consultant

"Outside of shooting at the free throw line, you're only expected to succeed 40% if the time.  I take that ideology with me to career.  If I reach out to ten people and only hear back from 3, that's 3 new possibilities".

From Trinity Basketball, to ESPN, and now Facebook Brian Ford joins us to share insight on what it takes to grow in your career and how being an athlete prepares you for each step along the way (from decision making, to securing opportunities, and succeeding early in the game).

Whether it's creating his own internship path, writing 25 hand-written letters to coaches, or renting a car to get from Boston to Philly his senior year and introduce himself to Coach Jay Wright - one word defines Matt Fraschilla's journey from Harvard Basketball player to the Villanova Basketball coaching staff : drive.

As we walk through Matt's journey, he shares advice on:  

- How to find confidence in your process when following a "non traditional" career path 

- How to get creative in securing internships when there's not a set pipeline in place 

- Why we should all start writing hand written thank you letters in the interview process 

- How to differentiate yourself from the status quo in 

When Sydney Anderson was in sixth grade, she knew she liked sports, wanted to play sports, and one day wants to become a player agent and own her own company.

Today as Founder & CEO of Legacy Sports Management, the Indiana Track & Field Alumni joins us to share how she checked all the boxes of her long term vision. 

It’s all about the skill sets.

Princeton Men’s basketball alumn Ben Hazel joins us to share how he approached his time on Wall Street and built the right skill sets to launch his own financial management firm, Zenith Solutions.

We discuss:

• The biggest communication skills he took away from his time as a student-athlete
  
• Why it’s about the skill sets you develop vs. the industry you’re in
  
• How to evaluate what opportunities and skill sets to develop in your career
  
• His biggest takeaways from his time on Wall Street that led him to co-found Zenith Solutions
  
• How he made the leap to entrepreneurship and his approach to growing a successful company

Approaching any new internship, role, or industry can be frightening because it comes with uncertainty. Before Dani Feigin became a Manager of Corporate Partnerships at the Los Angeles Clippers – she spent the early stages of her career in the acting industry. She joins us today to discuss how she overcame the uncertainty in making a career switch and and how she’s approached building her career in the sports industry since. We discuss:

- How she found success in her first internships (IMG & LA Sparks)  without any previous experience in the industry

-  Why it’s important to expand beyond the scope of your role

- Her role in Corporate Partnerships at the Los Angeles Clippers

- How being in a revenue generating position directly ties back  to her experience as an athlete 

It has officially been a YEAR of Court to Corporate! To kick off year 2, Kirby is diving into the behind the scenes of building Court to Corporate and discussing how being an athlete prepares you to unlock your potential in your “both” beyond the game.

Kirby walks through the 3 “Chapters” of building the platform and sharing the never before heard stories, strategies, and lessons in each step:

Contents:

7:24 -  How Kirby strategically consumed content to act on her ideas.

16:43 - How starting a platform can help you learn what you’re capable of.

19:39 - Why being an athlete prepares you execute on big ideas, by taking little steps.

26:40 - How Kirby balances her career and Court to Corporate.

33:00  - Why it’s important for athletes to carry the mindset of doing both beyond the game.

34:12 - Why the ability to enjoy the process is a SKILLSET and how to tap into it.

Join Us: 

 Today we walk through Solo Ceesay’s journey from two time Ivy league champion with University of Pennsylvania football to Senior Analyst at Citi and discuss:  

- How he is ACTIVE in building his career path and the mindset from Penn Football that shaped this mantra  

- Why he built a massive excel sheet of 200+ names to strategically grow his network and land his path in finance   

- How to differentiate yourself while reaching out for advice or opportunities by being targeted and shooting your shot with intention   

- How he built his brand and impact at Citi from internship to full time by being purposeful  with the little things

Corie Bain joins us today to discuss  how athletes can apply their lessons in leadership to make an impact early on in their careers and share advice on seeking mentorship in the workplace.

We walk through her journey from Two-Time Harvard Volleyball Captain and Ivy League Champion, to product manager at Thrive Global and discuss:

• The mentality she brought from captain to product manager that enables her to act as a leader early on in her career
• Advice on seeking mentorship and how her perseverance in building relationships has helped her expand her career
• Perspective from her product management role and the work she's leading at Thrive Global

Today we hear how important it is for athletes to build their "brand" . But does that actually mean?  What does it for athletes mean during their career? And how  does it play to their advantage after?   

Today's guest, Solomon  Mangham, a Howard Men's Basketball Alumni,  consultant at McKinsey, real estate investor, and entrepreneur comes on today to talk exactly that.   

We discuss          -  

• How he established multiple platforms of impact while at Howard, from being a 4 year starter, founding  the Howard Consulting Club, to being the only Greek-Affiliated member on the team  
• How building his athletic influence and brand continues to add value  in his career today  
• How he thinks about the big picture of his career as a consultant, investor, and entrepreneur, and why starting at McKinsey was a no brainer

Today’s guest is Henry Lowe, Villanova Men’s Basketball Alumn and Founding Partner at Procapita Partners.  Today’s conversation is all about Henry’s journey from player, coach, to entrepreneur. What you’ll hear is how the passion he found for the game as an athlete at Villanova has allowed him to make an impact on both sides of the game - as player, coach, and now as an entrepreneur empowering athletes through the output of his work.

We go through his time in jersey and talk about how he owned his role and earned his scholarship on the National Championship team at Villanova, discuss what sparked his passion to pursue coaching at Villanova following a summer internship at Morgan Stanley, and we dive into what inspired him to bridge basketball and business and ultimately jumpstart his entrepreneurial journey with Procapita Partners.

You have the what, but what's the why?

Athletes often hear what skill sets they bring to the table in the workplace. But when it comes to the interview process and selling your story it's important to take a step back. Why are these skill sets actually of value and why should the employer care?

From Columbia Women's Basketball to growing her career talent acquisition industry, Paige Tippet joins us today to share her career insight and break down strategies on how athletes tell their story in the recruiting process.

Topics We Cover:

• Why you should put more value on your interpersonal skill sets
• The key points you need to hit when telling your story in an interview
• The why behind why your intangibles matter in the workplace 

Growing up as a kid in Nigeria, Marvellous Iheukwumere recalls the thought of attending any Ivy League, running track professionally, and working for a professional league as out of sight.

After a highly decorated career at Columbia University, working at the NBA for 3 years while simultaneously competing professionally, and now pursuing her second degree at Harvard Law - Marvellous is on a journey to be the example she wishes to see for others.

Today she joins us to share more about how her track career has shaped her impact along the way.  

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With summer internships kicking off, we're reminded that the process is not as seamless for athletes. 

Networking events during practice? Interviews scheduled on game day? We've been there.

Frank Tull, a Brown Football graduate,  joins us to deliver  some tactical advice on how to navigate your internship going into your senior year and  perspective on pursuing full-time recruiting when back on campus your senior fall.

While an internship with the PGA Tour revealed that sports wasn't the right starting ground for his career, Frank leveraged what was a unique internship to differentiate himself amongst the consulting pack in the interview process his Senior Fall.  Since, Frank is almost into a year as an associate at EY Parthenon and joins us today to share:

1) Tips on how you can package your experiences in the interview process when pivoting to different industry 

2) Perspective on how he navigated fall recruiting

3) More about his role in consulting and how you should be thinking about your experiences as you encounter them to equally find passion for the skill-sets that come along with the process  

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For individuals that have the potential to continue to play at the next level, sometimes it comes down to following your passion that's been at the core of your identity versus choosing a path forward that may be more practical and secure.

Today, our guest is an analyst at Morgan Stanley and Professional Hockey player that has miraculously continued to do both. When Chelsea Ziade she stepped foot on Harvard's campus in 2014, the NWHL had not yet been founded. And she was convinced that when she hung up her jersey last February, that that was it. As you'll hear, her unique journey back to the game gives us a deeper dive into why her ability to parallel path allowed her to take advantage of both opportunities 

Today we'll talk about the realities in how she managed her obligations to her team while interning, the mindset and tips that allow her to continue to do both at the highest level, and her advice to fellow athletes that are at the cross roads. 

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Today in the guest chair we have Matt Hillman - investor, start-up advisor, and co-founder of Cut + Sew. 

Before he founded a marketing agency that works with the likes of the NBA Players Association, MLB, Ford, Eastbay, Highsnobiety, and the Timberwolves, he laid the groundwork for what would become his expertise in Sports, Tech, and Entertainment while on the basketball team at Carnegie Mellon in undergrad. 

After moving to LA just 10 days after graduation, Matt spent his first months at CAA and a small boutique marketing firm. And just 10 months into his new chapter in the west coast, he co-founded Cut & Sew 

Today we discuss : 1) The combination of Matt's passions and skill sets that allowed him to set foot upon his entrepreneurial journey earlier than expected 2) Tips for recent graduates on how to work your perspective to your advantage while early on in your career 3) Advice for all of us on how to stop thinking, and just do.  

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