By Peter Verry, Yahoo! News
Jasmine Jordan has a famous father, but she also works for Jordan Brand as a field rep in its sports marketing division, highlighting future athlete icons — especially female ones.
What’s more, not only is Jordan Brand signing WNBA stars, but the company is committed to providing equal treatment.
“Once we started to expand the roster, [we were] having the conversations of, ‘We say we’re Jordan Family, we’re offering white-glove service to tier 1 athletes. Let’s make sure that is felt when we bring these ladies on board too,’” Jasmine Jordan, the daughter of NBA icon Michael Jordan, told FN.
Although she has a job working for the namesake label of her father, Jasmine Jordan would much rather play the background and make a difference for the better than have a role in the forefront. Below, the basketball field rep for women’s sport marketing shares her thoughts on preserving her father’s legacy and ensuring Jordan Brand is always at the forefront of sneaker culture.
ON BEING A JORDAN WORKING AT THE BRAND:
“It’s powerful, it’s special. To have the name and work for the brand, it doesn’t feel real. People say all the time, ‘That’s your brand.’ I say, ‘No, it’s not,’ [but] yes, it is. I’m aware of it, but I don’t think about it as much as people around me do. I’m blessed with the name and an opportunity, but I don’t take it for granted.”
ESTABLISHING HERSELF AS A PROFESSIONAL:
“Those who have interacted with me even for 5 seconds, they see I don’t own the room. I have no desire to own the room. I am happy to be standing in the back, grabbing water for my athletes, checking on everybody because that’s who I am. I didn’t come in with my last name printed out in an office and taking executive roles. I’m going to work my way to that point. I want to make sure that if a role or an opportunity presents itself down the line, I can say that I did the entry job, worked my way to manager, director, executive. I took my learnings to find my way to the top.”
ROLE IN SIGNING FEMALE ATHLETES:
“I did a lot of research during COVID, had a lot of conversations. I got the green light in mid-2020, saying, ‘Hey, we’re about to expand our roster’ — that’s all I needed. I had a list of ladies we could consider signing, and Anthony [DiCosmo] said, ‘Create the roster how you want it to look.’ I made sure no two players were alike, every player had their own story and they were killing it in their own way on their team.”
WHEN ATHLETES FIND OUT HER DAD IS MJ:
“Some of our ladies know from the jump like, ‘That’s Mike’s daughter.’ But I had an adorable moment with Te’a Cooper. She had no idea. It wasn’t until I posted ‘Happy Father’s Day’ on my Instagram and she texted me right after, ‘You did not tell me he is your dad.’ And I was like, ‘Te’a, I assumed you knew.’”
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