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Speaker 1: For me, I've always seen being a woman, to see

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Speaker 1: a black woman working in sports as my superpower because

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Speaker 1: the one thing you can't tell me about is what's

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Speaker 1: relevant to women or people of color. When I got

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Speaker 1: promoted to be a CMO, you're able to park in

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Speaker 1: the reserve parking area at.

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Speaker 2: The arena, which is a big deal.

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Speaker 1: And during the day I was heading over there to

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Speaker 1: a meeting I had just gotten promoted, and I parked

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Speaker 1: my car. I was walking into the building at a

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Speaker 1: security guard stop and he's like, I'm sorry, man, you

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Speaker 1: can't park there. That's reserve for executives. And I was

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Speaker 1: just like okay, and I kept walking and he's like, ma'am.

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Speaker 1: Then I showed him my badge. I was like, say,

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Speaker 1: like most of party literally says executive underneath it, and

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Speaker 1: I could see his mind.

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Speaker 2: Like like what, huh what.

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Speaker 1: But for me, it was like the best moment because

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Speaker 1: I was changing the perception of what a senior level

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Speaker 1: executive looks like for an NBA team, for that person.

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Speaker 1: And I think every time that I'm in a room,

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Speaker 1: or I'm able to let my skills or my work speak,

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Speaker 1: or i am presenting and speaking, I think it changes

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Speaker 1: the mentality.

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Speaker 2: Of like, oh oh she knows. Okay, she's good, she

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Speaker 2: got it.

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Speaker 3: Hey, everybody, welcome to another episode of Butters. I'm your host,

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Speaker 3: Brandon Butler, founder and CEO of Butter atl and today

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Speaker 3: we got the biggest M in the building. The biggest,

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Speaker 3: not the little, the biggest M, Miss Melissa Procter.

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Speaker 2: How you doing about hilarious? I'm going, well, thank you

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Speaker 2: for having me.

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Speaker 3: Oh always, always, you know, you're one of my favorite

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Speaker 3: people out here, you know, always they won you know,

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Speaker 3: I remember when when a certain person who won't be named,

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Speaker 3: said we need to connect, and you know, we had

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Speaker 3: a little breakfast one more and you know, and talked

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Speaker 3: about some stuff. And ever since then, you know, we've

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Speaker 3: been we've been building together.

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Speaker 2: So one hundred, one hundred. I recall that vividly.

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Speaker 3: Actually, you know, time flies look at that, it really does.

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Speaker 3: It's crazy. That was probably like what four or five

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Speaker 3: years ago.

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Speaker 2: Almost I looked up.

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Speaker 1: But I just celebrated ten years with the Atlanta Hawks

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Speaker 1: last month and I could not believe it.

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Speaker 3: That's crazy. Congratulations, Thank you.

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Speaker 1: Now.

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Speaker 3: Yeah. For those that don't know, Melissa is the CMO

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Speaker 3: of the Atlanta Hawks and also State Farm arena. Correct, Yes, correct,

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Speaker 3: So a lot of people don't understand that, right, A

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Speaker 3: lot of people don't understand that. You know, in your role,

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Speaker 3: you both oversee stuff for the Hawks and the arena,

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Speaker 3: So just give them a little context. It's not just

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Speaker 3: the games, but it's the concerts, the events, everything that

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Speaker 3: happens at the State Farm, right.

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Speaker 2: Yeah.

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Speaker 1: So, I mean every marketing officer role in the NBA

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Speaker 1: is different, so they are not at all apps. Even

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Speaker 1: may go to another team and their title may be

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Speaker 1: the same, but their role is completely different. So ad

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Speaker 1: my role marketing really encapsulates all of our media general marketing, traditional,

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Speaker 1: non traditional social. It also incorporates all of our retail,

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Speaker 1: so we have a brand merchandizing team. We do all

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Speaker 1: of our retail in house, our eComm all of that

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Speaker 1: we call have Hawks Studios, which is our internal agency.

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Speaker 2: So people always ask what agencies you work with? That

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Speaker 2: open was so great, and.

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Speaker 1: I'm like, we may partner with production companies, but all

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Speaker 1: of the other work is done internally, so we don't

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Speaker 1: have an agency record. Hawk Studios is our internal which

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Speaker 1: is so dopey. We have our live entertainment and production team,

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Speaker 1: which is really game operations and so that's everybody from

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Speaker 1: harryt the Hawk, to the dance team, to the engineers

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Speaker 1: that are helping make sure all of our boards and

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Speaker 1: our center Hunger are working great, all of our production,

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Speaker 1: Big Tigger, the whole team, and so that's a really

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Speaker 1: really great team. Our community impact groups, all of our

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Speaker 1: community work and basketball programs, so camps, clinics, all that

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Speaker 1: good stuff is in that world. We created a new

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Speaker 1: department recently called the Entertainment Industry Relations, So it's all

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Speaker 1: around how we work. Especially being in Atlanta with the

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Speaker 1: home of entertainment, we found the need. There were so

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Speaker 1: many you know, requests and things and not just people

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Speaker 1: coming to games, but really what we do behind the scenes.

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Speaker 1: So all of that really makes up marketing in addition

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Speaker 1: to looking at the future of fandom and all the rest.

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Speaker 2: And so we have not just.

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Speaker 1: The Hawks but also the College Park Skyhawks, which is

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Speaker 1: another part of our business, as well as our two

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Speaker 1: K league. But within that people like, oh, see work

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Speaker 1: for the Hawks, and I'm like, we know over the

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Speaker 1: Hawks and stay for Marena. While the building is you know,

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Speaker 1: for the most part of rental space. So if you

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Speaker 1: are a promoter, you want to hey, I want to

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Speaker 1: do a show. There you come in. But we have

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Speaker 1: a marketing team that also supports our promoters, so they're

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Speaker 1: helping with you know, when WWE is.

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Speaker 2: Here and they have oh we want wrestling, how do

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Speaker 2: we cross promotes?

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Speaker 1: Well, we will see cool promotions between you know, the

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Speaker 1: Hawks and you know Trey Young doing something.

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Speaker 2: And then how do we also.

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Speaker 1: Reciprocate to help push ticket sales. It's all of that

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Speaker 1: all together, which is cool. It just makes it whether

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Speaker 1: there's never a dull day.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, it sounds like it's low. How many how many

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Speaker 3: events in between events and games? How many you think

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Speaker 3: you all handle a year?

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Speaker 1: I want to say the last count for this year

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Speaker 1: was one hundred and sixty, one hundred and seventy something

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Speaker 1: like that. Goodness across the board and that I mean

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Speaker 1: that doesn't count people who want to have meetings and

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Speaker 1: there or when we have sales events where they're coasting

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Speaker 1: you know, potential season ticket members and stuff like that.

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Speaker 1: That's games or you know, big shows.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, So as a CMO for the Hawks and State

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Speaker 3: from Marina, like, what are what are some of your

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Speaker 3: overall like remits? Like what don't you set goals? How

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Speaker 3: do you set goals? Is around, attendance is around, you know,

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Speaker 3: revenue streams, Like what are some of the things that

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Speaker 3: you get measured on as a CMO at that level, I.

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Speaker 1: Mean a number of things, and I think because their

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Speaker 1: role is so varied, it just depends on which department

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Speaker 1: overall across the board. Our ownership team day one when

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Speaker 1: they came on board, said we exist to be a

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Speaker 1: civic asset before we are a basketball team, and so

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Speaker 1: we look a lot at our work. We have a

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Speaker 1: community Impact Report we put together every year that highlights

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Speaker 1: all the work across the organization that we do for

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Speaker 1: the community and through our Hawks Foundation, and so that's

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Speaker 1: kind of like part one. Obviously, revenue for any business

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Speaker 1: is important. So yeah, for the most part, So most

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Speaker 1: people say, oh, CMOS, your driver is butts and seats,

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Speaker 1: and so obviously ticket sales is important. You know, how

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Speaker 1: we work with our corporate partners My team is sitting

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Speaker 1: with our corporate partnership team when they're looking at different

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Speaker 1: sponsors that are coming in, designing the pitches that we're

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Speaker 1: going out with and so executing out all of that

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Speaker 1: flawlessly is a big part of our agreement. But it's

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Speaker 1: how do we keep the brand relevant. You know, in

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Speaker 1: the city of Atlanta, there's so much to do. So

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Speaker 1: people look at like, oh, who are your competitors? You know,

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Speaker 1: it's at the praise at the Falcons, and I'm like, no,

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Speaker 1: it's Netflix, it's your couch, it's every restaurant in the

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Speaker 1: city of Atlanta. Because ultimately, we're a basketball team, were

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Speaker 1: also a great night out. You know, we really strive

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Speaker 1: to keep our experience top nots when you're coming into

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Speaker 1: the building, regardless win or lose.

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Speaker 2: I don't control that.

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Speaker 3: You know.

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Speaker 1: I talk with other cmos all the time, and I'm like,

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Speaker 1: the difference in being a CMO of a sports team

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Speaker 1: is I don't control my product. If I worked at

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Speaker 1: you know, Pizza Huad, I can say, hey, this ingredient

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Speaker 1: is in right now. Let's you know, we can do

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Speaker 1: taste tests and focus groups and decide what the product

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Speaker 1: would be best in order to sell basketball operations and

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Speaker 1: I are good friends, but I make no I have

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Speaker 1: no claim. People like who we signed it. I'm like,

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Speaker 1: I am not the one that's not me. And so

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Speaker 1: because of those reasons, we can really focus on the

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Speaker 1: brand and the experience and that's.

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Speaker 2: What we do.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, y'all do a lot of work and

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Speaker 3: like tying into culture, especially in Atlanta, And we always

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Speaker 3: kind of talk about, you know, brands that tap into culture,

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Speaker 3: you know, are always more authentic. They make stuff happen.

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Speaker 3: But to your point, since you all can't control the

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Speaker 3: product on the field or on the court, like what

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Speaker 3: kind of do you use for inspiration around those different

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Speaker 3: ideas and activations, you know, beyond just what's happening at

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Speaker 3: the game.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, our brand, Mantra, has been true to Atlanta.

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Speaker 1: And when I started ten years ago, I came in

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Speaker 1: as a VP of Branch Strategy to help really define that,

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Speaker 1: like who do we stand for?

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Speaker 2: What do we exist for?

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Speaker 1: And we defined our target audience's next generation Atlantans. And

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Speaker 1: so we recognize that since nineteen ninety four there was

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Speaker 1: a little bit of a drop off in Hawk's relevance

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Speaker 1: to the city. Everyone said, what happened in ninety four

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Speaker 1: we traded Dominique Wilkins, And there's literally generations of people

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Speaker 1: who are like.

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Speaker 2: Oh man, the Hawks, what are y'all doing?

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Speaker 1: And so when we came on board, myself, Steve coohonan

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Speaker 1: our CEO came on board and brought me on board

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Speaker 1: to help with the brand strategy. Did a ton of research,

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Speaker 1: he says, you know what, we realized that we missed

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Speaker 1: generations after that happened, and so now it's all about

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Speaker 1: generational fan building. How do we look at building the

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Speaker 1: team for the next generation. So if I say that

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Speaker 1: you know you came from New York, doesn't matter what

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Speaker 1: I do. I can't make you a Hawks fan. You

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Speaker 1: go either love the Knicks, you clean orange and blue,

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Speaker 1: and that's just what it is. However, if you moved

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Speaker 1: to Atlanta level, which a lot of people have now

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Speaker 1: at a ten times, you're going to settle here, You'll

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Speaker 1: have a kid here. I want to be the team

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Speaker 1: for your kid. We first started how do we do that?

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Speaker 1: It was when we had those feather patterns, when old

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Speaker 1: didas jerseys. How do we become the coolest team? If

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Speaker 1: you're playing NBA two K, so like, oh wow, they

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Speaker 1: got a feather pattern on our court.

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Speaker 2: That looks cool.

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Speaker 1: I might not even be a Hawks fan, but I

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Speaker 1: like what they're doing getting all the dope artists that

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Speaker 1: are just coming out, like Who's Next?

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Speaker 2: And so for us, it was super intentional.

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Speaker 1: I remember when we launched it Jersey people over thirty

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Speaker 1: were like, oh, this is garbage.

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Speaker 2: We don't like it, and I'm like, great, it wasn't

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Speaker 2: for you.

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Speaker 3: Wasn't for you.

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Speaker 2: We intentionally made this not for you.

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Speaker 1: Obviously, we've evolved a ton since then and gone, you know,

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Speaker 1: to a look that I think is really classic but

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Speaker 1: can work both ways as well as Nike designing or

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Speaker 1: city edition program that allows us to be flexible every year.

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Speaker 1: But for us, it's all around really engaging that next generation.

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Speaker 1: So the connection to the culture is really through that

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Speaker 1: looking at what's happening. When we did Tender Night back

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Speaker 1: in the day, it was like, what's relevant today? Tender

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Speaker 1: all right? Had we bring that experience into the real world,

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Speaker 1: and so we're constantly looking at ways to do that.

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Speaker 1: Last year it was only fans we had to talk

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Speaker 1: about the Ncason Tournament.

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Speaker 2: We made this the only fans spot.

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Speaker 1: With Harry the Hawks, and I tell everybody I got

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Speaker 1: fired two hundred times and re hired two hundred and

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Speaker 1: one times that day after it hit TMZ.

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Speaker 2: It was a whole situation. But that's really what we

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Speaker 2: strive to do.

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Speaker 3: I mean, and when you're doing stuff like that. It's

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Speaker 3: always interesting because I think, you know, I see it

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Speaker 3: on the gency side a lot, right. It's like, you

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Speaker 3: come up with these big ideas, you want to get

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Speaker 3: it done, but there's always people sometimes on the inside

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Speaker 3: of the organization that don't get it and maybe a

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Speaker 3: little hesitant to it, right, And so I always say,

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Speaker 3: it's really important to have good advocates on the other

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Speaker 3: side of the table that understand what you're doing, to

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Speaker 3: kind of see the bigger picture, like how do you

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Speaker 3: work through those kinds of situations again, how do you

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Speaker 3: get people, you know, not to freak out too much.

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Speaker 3: We say I got this idea about OnlyFans, Well they definitely.

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Speaker 1: First of all, some people didn't know what only fans was,

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Speaker 1: so let's start there. But you know, I think it

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Speaker 1: really starts at the top and having a leader in

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Speaker 1: Steve Cooden that is creative and visionary but is also

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Speaker 1: understanding of culture and how to how to get things done.

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Speaker 1: And so as that as an example, the brief was

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Speaker 1: the n Season Tournament has now been created by the NBA.

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Speaker 1: No one knows what that means, and there are all

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Speaker 1: these interviews with players Tyber like.

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Speaker 2: Oh, I don't know what that is. Are you excited

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Speaker 2: for it? What is it? You know? And so we said, well,

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Speaker 2: how do we cut through the clutter?

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Speaker 1: So the league was doing their own marketing, which they

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Speaker 1: do nationally, and so the brief was cut through the

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Speaker 1: clutter to let fans know that the NCAS and tournament

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Speaker 1: is coming and then get them to learn about it

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Speaker 1: and sell some ticket.

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Speaker 3: Cool.

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Speaker 1: So when I gave that to Hawk Studios and our

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Speaker 1: creative team, the only fans idea came out, and that

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Speaker 1: was the one idea that everyone was like, oh, this

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Speaker 1: is crazy, like this cuts through the club that does

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Speaker 1: exactly what the brief stated. So they came up with

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Speaker 1: the idea, you know, shot something and I had to

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Speaker 1: be the one to deliver it, obviously represented from my team,

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Speaker 1: and I was like all right, So he got to

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Speaker 1: know how to pitch it.

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Speaker 2: And the very first time we watched it, it was like.

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Speaker 1: Okay, huh, don't know how this will land. And it

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Speaker 1: was great because at the same time it was this

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Speaker 1: is definitely cutting through the clutter in a very different way.

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Speaker 1: And so we had conversations internally and kudos to Steve.

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Speaker 1: It was like, let me make sure that we can

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Speaker 1: bring everybody along with us. So we shared with ownership,

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Speaker 1: we shared with our entire executive leadership team, and had

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Speaker 1: conversations about it. How people felt understanding. Some people doesn't

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Speaker 1: find the humor. Some people were like, what's only fans?

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Speaker 1: You know, it was a different thing ultimately, even going

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Speaker 1: to Adam Silver because the irony is when we dropped

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Speaker 1: that video, the team was playing in Mexico City and

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Speaker 1: our CEO was sitting next to Adam Silver and so

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Speaker 1: the people are asking him about this video. So we

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Speaker 1: needed to make sure that everyone was aware. But when

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Speaker 1: we had those conversations, were like, you know what, we're

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Speaker 1: going to do it. And the one thing that I

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Speaker 1: was very proud of is I said, you know, if

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Speaker 1: we don't do it, we're going to hurt our culture

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Speaker 1: because we have a team of really young creatives who

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Speaker 1: have big ideas and to what you said, it can

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Speaker 1: be disheartening, like you're not going to come with the

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Speaker 1: big ideas over and over again if it gets killed

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Speaker 1: every time, right, And so I said, you know, if

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Speaker 1: we don't at least put it out there, it's going

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Speaker 1: to hurt the culture because they fulfill the brief And

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Speaker 1: that was the ask, and I think kind of the

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Speaker 1: combination of just understanding and tally and being willing to

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Speaker 1: take risks, which a lot of people are not willing

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Speaker 1: to do. I had other CMO from NBA teams and like,

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Speaker 1: how did y'all how did you get that through? Like

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Speaker 1: what did you how did that work? We could never

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Speaker 1: and that really made me proud to know that we're

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Speaker 1: working for an organization that's willing to say, hey, you

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Speaker 1: know what, we'll try it. And it was great, then

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Speaker 1: it wasn't, then it was and it wasn't. But overall,

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Speaker 1: I think for us, it was probably one of the

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Speaker 1: biggest lessons and like things that our team like congratulates

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Speaker 1: us on. They're like, thank you for being willing to

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Speaker 1: support us in doing something that was different.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, And I mean, you know, it's also interesting because

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Speaker 3: it takes building that culture up. I mean, my guess

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Speaker 3: is the San Antonio Spurs probably wouldn't jump into an

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Speaker 3: only fans night, right, And.

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Speaker 2: Every market is different. So it's also when there send

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Speaker 2: in your market. You know, in Atlanta, we have a

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Speaker 2: lot of creativity flexibility.

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Speaker 3: What's been some of your other favorite you know, events

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Speaker 3: or promotions that y'all have done, Like, I know that

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Speaker 3: one sticks out, but has it been your favorite or

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Speaker 3: has it been another one? You just think it's just

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Speaker 3: been amazing from end to end.

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Speaker 1: I mean I always say my absolute favorite was what

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Speaker 1: we did with Doctor King for our City Edition uniforms.

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Speaker 1: And for me, it was personally my favorite because I'd

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Speaker 1: been with the Hawks maybe three or four years and

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Speaker 1: I got promoted to CMO and the first meeting that

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Speaker 1: I had was with Nike because they were talking about

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Speaker 1: the City Edition program and they're like, hey, how do

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Speaker 1: we You know, we're about three or four years out

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Speaker 1: from the time that the uniform drops when they're having

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Speaker 1: these meetings, So it has to be something evergreen, can't

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Speaker 1: be trendy, can't be something that's you know, hot today

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Speaker 1: because by the time you go to production and timelines

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Speaker 1: at Nike and delivery, three years would have passed. And

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Speaker 1: so you know, my idea said, you know, we do

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Speaker 1: something great every year for MLKDA to honor the legacy

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Speaker 1: of Doctor King, but I'd love to do it for

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Speaker 1: more than a day, So is there any way that

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Speaker 1: we could do that? And they're like, well, you know,

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Speaker 1: they work with the King of State every year around MLKDA.

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Speaker 2: They said, well, you'd have to get the estate on board.

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Speaker 1: So I built a relationship with the head of attorney

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Speaker 1: for the estate, who we were now great friends. So

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Speaker 1: we worked a lot together in that, and then we

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Speaker 1: had to get the NBA on board. We had to

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Speaker 1: get the Players Association on board. And so by getting

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Speaker 1: all those parties together on the line and Nike working

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Speaker 1: with us on the design, by the time we finished it,

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Speaker 1: it was like we knew we had something special.

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Speaker 3: Yea.

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Speaker 1: Even our ownership was like, whatever we need to do,

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Speaker 1: like we'd love this idea. And so when we designed it,

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Speaker 1: we had no idea what was going to happen in

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Speaker 1: the summer of twenty twenty. There was also a lot

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Speaker 1: on just timing, so it was like, oh, it's come

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Speaker 1: out twenty twenty twenty one, Like oh, okay, you know,

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Speaker 1: it's a couple of years covid on nobody's mind. So

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Speaker 1: the fact that it was George Ford Covid all these

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Speaker 1: things at one time, Black Lives matter signs everywhere. And

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Speaker 1: then the teams were in the bubble. The Hawks were

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Speaker 1: in the bubble, but the NBA was playing in the bubble.

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Speaker 1: And that's when we launched it on with T and

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Speaker 1: T on air. It became so galvanizing, like people who

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00:14:08,240 --> 00:14:11,439
Speaker 1: aren't even Hawks fans were like, I love that jersey

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Speaker 1: so much. So I got a call from the Pope

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Speaker 1: who ushed out and they were like, hey, like, you know,

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Speaker 1: the Pope is really inspired by the Doctor King one

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Speaker 1: of his one of his inspirations. He loves what the

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Speaker 1: NBA has been doing. Would you be willing to send

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Speaker 1: him a jerky? Absolutely?

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Speaker 2: What can we do?

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Speaker 1: So, working with our partners at UPS, we were able

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Speaker 1: to send him one and even the images of that.

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Speaker 1: This looks so crazy to me, but to know that

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Speaker 1: an idea that came out of your head of like,

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Speaker 1: oh this could be cool could end up becoming that,

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Speaker 1: And I think what took it a step further, which

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Speaker 1: is probably why.

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Speaker 2: I'm most proud of it.

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Speaker 1: As we also decided at the time we did a

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Speaker 1: lot of work with Doctor King, with the family, and

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Speaker 1: it was their desire was to help educate the next

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Speaker 1: generation of Atlantan's our target audience on the legacy of

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Speaker 1: Doctor King makes sense. This is a perfect partnership and

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Speaker 1: so because of what we said, you know, the last

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Speaker 1: work that he was doing was kind of the Poor

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Speaker 1: People's Movement, How do we look at noomic parody and

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Speaker 1: empowerment for people of color. So we decided that every

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Speaker 1: single jersey that we sold, we were going to donate

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Speaker 1: one hundred percent of our profit to entrepreneurs, and it

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Speaker 1: ended up being the Women's Entrepreneurship.

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Speaker 2: Initiative of Atlanta.

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Speaker 1: So I love the idea that, you know, professional men's

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Speaker 1: basketball team is donating money to women entrepreneurs to help

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Speaker 1: create the next generation of business people to drive our

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Speaker 1: community forward. And we did that and then fortunately the

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Speaker 1: team played the best that ever had since it's been

403
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Speaker 1: in Atlanta in them Eastern Conference finals. And so now

404
00:15:30,920 --> 00:15:33,520
Speaker 1: we keep the center court in the arena on permanent

405
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Speaker 1: display right by our hawkshop.

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00:15:35,240 --> 00:15:36,520
Speaker 2: We have a frame jersey there.

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Speaker 1: Along with a picture of the Pope and kind of

408
00:15:38,080 --> 00:15:41,880
Speaker 1: the story of all that happened, but the combination of

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Speaker 1: like community and culture and you know, religion if we're

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Speaker 1: going to bring the pope in and all of that,

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Speaker 1: as well as winning because team performance matters, Like I

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Speaker 1: don't think we could have crafted a better story, and

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Speaker 1: it was something that was it was written well before

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Speaker 1: we got here.

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Speaker 3: No, it's interesting because I mean I haven't done a

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Speaker 3: ton of researching since some of the other city day

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00:16:00,400 --> 00:16:02,040
Speaker 3: you know, jerseys and stuff like that. But I do

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Speaker 3: think Atlanta, especially with our history of culture and just

419
00:16:04,520 --> 00:16:06,760
Speaker 3: all these things like that was a perfect moment and

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Speaker 3: the court like the maze and I remember had to

421
00:16:08,200 --> 00:16:11,240
Speaker 3: stay glass element to it, and you know, the black jerseys.

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00:16:11,560 --> 00:16:13,560
Speaker 3: But at the same time, you know, kind of one

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Speaker 3: of my definitions of culture is kind of the tension

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Speaker 3: between what's old and what's new. And I think, you know,

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Speaker 3: y'all did a really good balance with it right there.

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Speaker 3: But I got to be honest, the more we do stuff,

427
00:16:22,680 --> 00:16:25,280
Speaker 3: I do love those old red you know, Hawks retro

428
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Speaker 3: jerseys sometimes, Like how do y'all balance that, especially knowing

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00:16:28,080 --> 00:16:30,680
Speaker 3: that you know, even though you're going after this younger

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Speaker 3: audience and you know, the kids of like, you know,

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Speaker 3: these next generation fans, Like, how do you kind of

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Speaker 3: give those subtle nods back to you know, the old

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Speaker 3: Atlanta or you know, again, those retro jerseys that people

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Speaker 3: I think it's really come back in style now too.

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00:16:42,760 --> 00:16:44,920
Speaker 1: Yeah, well we always sell them, so they're always available

436
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Speaker 1: in the arena. And the NBA actually has restrictions on

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Speaker 1: when teams can bring them back. So it has to

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Speaker 1: be all a big anniversary, either a zero or a

439
00:16:52,080 --> 00:16:54,240
Speaker 1: ten year or a five year or something like that.

440
00:16:54,320 --> 00:16:58,160
Speaker 1: So if you're retiring of players jersey or something like that,

441
00:16:58,400 --> 00:17:00,200
Speaker 1: you're able to bring it back for those reasons. So

442
00:17:00,240 --> 00:17:02,600
Speaker 1: it's not so much hey, we really like that, let's

443
00:17:02,600 --> 00:17:04,520
Speaker 1: just do it this year and the same thing and

444
00:17:04,600 --> 00:17:06,320
Speaker 1: has to be thought out well in advance, and so

445
00:17:06,359 --> 00:17:08,840
Speaker 1: we're fans of it too, even so much we're looking

446
00:17:08,880 --> 00:17:10,639
Speaker 1: at ways that we can incorporate some of that into

447
00:17:10,680 --> 00:17:12,879
Speaker 1: our design language as we move forward.

448
00:17:12,920 --> 00:17:14,320
Speaker 2: But we never abandoned it.

449
00:17:14,359 --> 00:17:16,520
Speaker 1: And to be honest, even from talking about those feather

450
00:17:16,560 --> 00:17:19,600
Speaker 1: pattern jerseys that we had five years after we launched it,

451
00:17:19,640 --> 00:17:21,760
Speaker 1: we were like, we want to go back closer to

452
00:17:21,800 --> 00:17:24,360
Speaker 1: the core. So even the colors of our core uniforms

453
00:17:24,400 --> 00:17:27,080
Speaker 1: now that we have kind of that golden ride red,

454
00:17:27,359 --> 00:17:30,200
Speaker 1: it was very focused on that nik era of Hawks

455
00:17:30,200 --> 00:17:31,520
Speaker 1: that a lot of people love. So it is a

456
00:17:31,560 --> 00:17:33,119
Speaker 1: little bit of blending the old with the new, but

457
00:17:33,200 --> 00:17:36,200
Speaker 1: designing something that's classic. When we look back at our

458
00:17:36,280 --> 00:17:38,879
Speaker 1: history of our uniforms, we changed a lot, like do

459
00:17:38,960 --> 00:17:41,919
Speaker 1: different ownership teams through different eras. Before the team was

460
00:17:41,920 --> 00:17:43,520
Speaker 1: in Saint Louis and it came here. We had that

461
00:17:43,560 --> 00:17:46,760
Speaker 1: bright green pistol picha like we've gone. When I look

462
00:17:46,800 --> 00:17:48,280
Speaker 1: back at it, I was like, wow, we did a

463
00:17:48,320 --> 00:17:51,160
Speaker 1: lot of different things. So when our current ownership team

464
00:17:51,200 --> 00:17:52,560
Speaker 1: came on board, we said, you know, we want to

465
00:17:52,600 --> 00:17:54,679
Speaker 1: design something that this team's going to win a championship

466
00:17:54,680 --> 00:17:57,119
Speaker 1: in from now in years to come, because there are

467
00:17:57,119 --> 00:17:59,760
Speaker 1: some teams that do have legacy brands that don't change.

468
00:18:00,240 --> 00:18:01,479
Speaker 1: Are one of them, I think the next or one

469
00:18:01,480 --> 00:18:04,360
Speaker 1: of the Lakers like and the Celtics. Yeah, those uniforms

470
00:18:04,400 --> 00:18:07,720
Speaker 1: are pretty much the same standard. They may make nuanced changes,

471
00:18:08,040 --> 00:18:10,960
Speaker 1: and as an organization, historically we just haven't been. So

472
00:18:11,040 --> 00:18:12,879
Speaker 1: what we've designed now is kind of the blend of

473
00:18:12,880 --> 00:18:15,240
Speaker 1: the old and the new in a classic timeless way

474
00:18:15,280 --> 00:18:17,800
Speaker 1: that we believe we're going to keep, you know, forever,

475
00:18:17,880 --> 00:18:20,480
Speaker 1: so we no longer have that going back and forth

476
00:18:20,560 --> 00:18:31,919
Speaker 1: kind of look.

477
00:18:33,080 --> 00:18:35,119
Speaker 3: One thing too, I always appreciate about you, Melissa, is

478
00:18:35,119 --> 00:18:36,960
Speaker 3: just kind of your intentionality and how you talk about

479
00:18:36,960 --> 00:18:39,000
Speaker 3: different things, and how you talk about marketing and branding.

480
00:18:39,040 --> 00:18:41,719
Speaker 3: But one thing I'd love to understand too, especially for

481
00:18:41,760 --> 00:18:44,760
Speaker 3: the folks that are listening, is how does a person

482
00:18:45,040 --> 00:18:47,320
Speaker 3: or how did you kind of get to that CMO level.

483
00:18:47,359 --> 00:18:48,800
Speaker 3: I think for a lot of people that's kind of

484
00:18:48,840 --> 00:18:50,840
Speaker 3: there's like a glass ceiling you kind of hitting your career,

485
00:18:50,840 --> 00:18:52,280
Speaker 3: and I know I bumped my head against it a

486
00:18:52,320 --> 00:18:54,399
Speaker 3: couple of times and was finally kind of able to

487
00:18:54,400 --> 00:18:56,520
Speaker 3: break through it through different means. But you know, how

488
00:18:56,520 --> 00:18:57,920
Speaker 3: did you kind of make that jump? Like what was

489
00:18:58,000 --> 00:18:59,960
Speaker 3: kind of the requirements of going from doing the brand

490
00:19:00,040 --> 00:19:02,000
Speaker 3: as you work to kind of making that jump to

491
00:19:02,000 --> 00:19:03,680
Speaker 3: actually getting into the C suite? Man?

492
00:19:03,720 --> 00:19:06,760
Speaker 2: You know what the biggest jump I took was was getting.

493
00:19:06,480 --> 00:19:10,080
Speaker 1: Laid off, because real talk, if I didn't get laid off,

494
00:19:10,119 --> 00:19:11,680
Speaker 1: I don't know if I'd be here, you know. But

495
00:19:11,720 --> 00:19:14,720
Speaker 1: to be honest, I've always been driven by passion, Like

496
00:19:14,800 --> 00:19:15,960
Speaker 1: I don't I still don't know what I want to

497
00:19:15,960 --> 00:19:17,520
Speaker 1: be when I grew up, and I say it all

498
00:19:17,520 --> 00:19:20,119
Speaker 1: the time, but I genuinely never was like, I'm going

499
00:19:20,160 --> 00:19:21,440
Speaker 1: to be a CMO one day, Ronie.

500
00:19:21,600 --> 00:19:22,400
Speaker 2: I love marketing.

501
00:19:22,880 --> 00:19:25,000
Speaker 1: I liked brand strategy and I liked it as an

502
00:19:25,000 --> 00:19:27,000
Speaker 1: intern at Turner, so I went to grad school in

503
00:19:27,040 --> 00:19:28,560
Speaker 1: London to learn a little bit more about it. But

504
00:19:28,600 --> 00:19:31,040
Speaker 1: I was like I'll just do brand strategy. I'd be

505
00:19:31,040 --> 00:19:33,080
Speaker 1: a brand manager somewhere. I love the idea of building

506
00:19:33,080 --> 00:19:35,920
Speaker 1: a brand as a foundation and having other things come

507
00:19:35,960 --> 00:19:36,560
Speaker 1: on top of that.

508
00:19:36,920 --> 00:19:38,119
Speaker 2: And I remember when I was at T and T.

509
00:19:38,240 --> 00:19:39,600
Speaker 2: I was like, what does branding even mean?

510
00:19:39,640 --> 00:19:42,520
Speaker 1: And a woman Jennifer Dorian, who's one of my calling

511
00:19:42,600 --> 00:19:44,160
Speaker 1: my friend tour it's a friend of de Mensal.

512
00:19:45,040 --> 00:19:46,000
Speaker 3: I still's a.

513
00:19:45,920 --> 00:19:46,520
Speaker 2: Friends are now?

514
00:19:47,440 --> 00:19:48,920
Speaker 1: She was like, you know, imagine T and T is

515
00:19:48,920 --> 00:19:50,640
Speaker 1: a television network, but we had to build a brand.

516
00:19:50,720 --> 00:19:52,120
Speaker 2: We know, drama, and you have all these.

517
00:19:52,000 --> 00:19:53,800
Speaker 1: Shows on top of it, which are kind of the products.

518
00:19:54,080 --> 00:19:55,520
Speaker 1: But then imagine you want to take T and T

519
00:19:55,600 --> 00:19:57,560
Speaker 1: and put it in the Atlanta airport. What does a

520
00:19:57,560 --> 00:19:58,679
Speaker 1: TNT store look like?

521
00:19:58,880 --> 00:20:00,760
Speaker 2: What do you sell? What does this sme? I was like,

522
00:20:01,040 --> 00:20:03,840
Speaker 2: my creative mind was like blown. I'm like that is cool.

523
00:20:04,000 --> 00:20:06,040
Speaker 1: So the idea of being able to craft that creatively

524
00:20:06,119 --> 00:20:08,080
Speaker 1: for me, and I grew up as an artist. It

525
00:20:08,119 --> 00:20:11,159
Speaker 1: was another way to take my art creativity or ideas

526
00:20:11,200 --> 00:20:12,480
Speaker 1: and apply it in a different way.

527
00:20:13,080 --> 00:20:14,080
Speaker 2: And so that was it for me.

528
00:20:14,119 --> 00:20:16,440
Speaker 1: And so I ended up staying at Turner, got jobs

529
00:20:16,440 --> 00:20:19,000
Speaker 1: and brand strategy. Soone's tapping Hey, you're interested in this

530
00:20:19,040 --> 00:20:21,760
Speaker 1: business strategy where with cartoon network and adult swims Like,

531
00:20:21,800 --> 00:20:23,720
Speaker 1: all right, cool, I'll take I'll learn about that too.

532
00:20:23,720 --> 00:20:25,520
Speaker 1: Because I didn't have a it has to be this

533
00:20:26,040 --> 00:20:28,360
Speaker 1: And I think that's probably the biggest lessons. I've talked

534
00:20:28,359 --> 00:20:29,520
Speaker 1: to people all the time and I'm like, I want

535
00:20:29,520 --> 00:20:31,800
Speaker 1: to be a CMO and I'm like why like and

536
00:20:31,880 --> 00:20:34,399
Speaker 1: the why is always either the perception of power. I

537
00:20:34,400 --> 00:20:36,720
Speaker 1: want to make decisions. I want to decide what the

538
00:20:36,720 --> 00:20:38,280
Speaker 1: strategy is. I was like, I have people who run

539
00:20:38,320 --> 00:20:40,040
Speaker 1: brand strategy or marketing strategy.

540
00:20:40,240 --> 00:20:41,239
Speaker 2: I don't get to decide. Now.

541
00:20:41,280 --> 00:20:42,960
Speaker 1: I have to manage the people who are doing the work.

542
00:20:43,040 --> 00:20:46,600
Speaker 1: So it's a very different world. But ultimately the higher

543
00:20:46,680 --> 00:20:49,320
Speaker 1: up that I got and I think I was last

544
00:20:49,720 --> 00:20:53,600
Speaker 1: VP of Communications and marketing and content for a digital

545
00:20:53,640 --> 00:20:55,600
Speaker 1: health and wellness startup that no one's ever heard of

546
00:20:56,000 --> 00:20:59,040
Speaker 1: called Upwave while at Turner, and I love that job

547
00:20:59,040 --> 00:21:01,399
Speaker 1: because I got to learn about digital and you know,

548
00:21:01,600 --> 00:21:03,840
Speaker 1: really working on building out an app from scratch and

549
00:21:03,880 --> 00:21:06,760
Speaker 1: making content and putting on HLN. And then we were

550
00:21:06,800 --> 00:21:09,320
Speaker 1: the last business started and when a new CEO came in,

551
00:21:09,640 --> 00:21:11,720
Speaker 1: we were first business cut and I was eight months

552
00:21:11,760 --> 00:21:13,439
Speaker 1: pregnant with my daughter, and I was like, hey, you

553
00:21:13,480 --> 00:21:14,399
Speaker 1: started as an intern.

554
00:21:14,720 --> 00:21:17,120
Speaker 2: We all love you. You ain't got no job, and

555
00:21:17,760 --> 00:21:18,160
Speaker 2: I didn't.

556
00:21:18,240 --> 00:21:19,919
Speaker 1: I couldn't worry about it because I had to have

557
00:21:19,960 --> 00:21:21,639
Speaker 1: my daughter, so you know, I had a little bit

558
00:21:21,680 --> 00:21:24,320
Speaker 1: of severance, but not enough to last for Maternity League.

559
00:21:25,080 --> 00:21:27,320
Speaker 1: But to be honest, I wasn't worried, but I didn't

560
00:21:27,359 --> 00:21:29,080
Speaker 1: know what I was going to do next. And I

561
00:21:29,119 --> 00:21:31,199
Speaker 1: was a ballgirl for the Miami Heat in high school,

562
00:21:32,160 --> 00:21:34,399
Speaker 1: just mopping up sweat. When I moved to Atlanta as

563
00:21:34,400 --> 00:21:35,879
Speaker 1: an intern, I made no money, so I called them

564
00:21:35,920 --> 00:21:37,680
Speaker 1: all Boston the Heat, you know, anyone at the Hawk.

565
00:21:37,720 --> 00:21:39,000
Speaker 1: So I ended up being a ball girl for the

566
00:21:39,000 --> 00:21:41,040
Speaker 1: Hawks my first year in Atlanta. I think, oh two,

567
00:21:41,320 --> 00:21:42,879
Speaker 1: the other All Star Game was here because I got

568
00:21:42,880 --> 00:21:44,760
Speaker 1: to work on the court for that. And I never

569
00:21:44,800 --> 00:21:47,080
Speaker 1: imagine going back to basketball because in my mind, I

570
00:21:47,200 --> 00:21:51,399
Speaker 1: evaal that now was an entertainment. And literally a good

571
00:21:51,440 --> 00:21:53,080
Speaker 1: friend of mine invited me to go with her to

572
00:21:53,119 --> 00:21:55,560
Speaker 1: the draft party at the Arena after I had my daughter.

573
00:21:55,760 --> 00:21:57,520
Speaker 2: She was like, you ain't got no job. It's free,

574
00:21:58,000 --> 00:21:59,360
Speaker 2: you know, why don't you come?

575
00:21:59,400 --> 00:22:01,240
Speaker 1: And I'm like, all right, So I go to this

576
00:22:01,320 --> 00:22:03,680
Speaker 1: draft party as a fan jeans and a T shirt,

577
00:22:03,680 --> 00:22:06,480
Speaker 1: and I run into Steve Conan, who was a mentor

578
00:22:06,680 --> 00:22:08,400
Speaker 1: of sorts while I was at Turner, but I never

579
00:22:08,440 --> 00:22:10,919
Speaker 1: worked for him before, I'd worked for like multiple people.

580
00:22:10,680 --> 00:22:12,280
Speaker 2: Under him, and he saw me.

581
00:22:12,320 --> 00:22:14,240
Speaker 1: He knew that I mopped up sweat at those Hawks

582
00:22:14,320 --> 00:22:16,680
Speaker 1: games because he was sitting courtside and would see me.

583
00:22:16,720 --> 00:22:19,879
Speaker 1: And we worked together on some big branch strategy projects

584
00:22:19,880 --> 00:22:22,160
Speaker 1: while I was at Turner. One was a rebredding court

585
00:22:22,200 --> 00:22:25,040
Speaker 1: TV to True TV, and a couple of projects for

586
00:22:25,119 --> 00:22:27,439
Speaker 1: Turner classic movies and things. He's like, Hey, I know

587
00:22:27,480 --> 00:22:29,719
Speaker 1: you love basketball, I know you love branding. You know

588
00:22:29,880 --> 00:22:31,560
Speaker 1: I might need your help in building a brand. Would

589
00:22:31,560 --> 00:22:33,679
Speaker 1: you mind sitting in on some meetings run the process

590
00:22:33,680 --> 00:22:38,159
Speaker 1: of redesign in this jersey? And I was kind of like, heck, yeah,

591
00:22:38,400 --> 00:22:41,480
Speaker 1: all day for free, like no issue. So he walks

592
00:22:41,480 --> 00:22:43,400
Speaker 1: me around that draft party and introduces me to every

593
00:22:43,440 --> 00:22:46,240
Speaker 1: senior level executor for the Hawks while I was there,

594
00:22:46,680 --> 00:22:48,040
Speaker 1: and I was like, in my mind, I'm like I'm

595
00:22:48,040 --> 00:22:50,320
Speaker 1: not dressed for this, Like I have been a job interview.

596
00:22:50,320 --> 00:22:51,679
Speaker 1: I just came, you know, to kick get at the

597
00:22:51,720 --> 00:22:54,680
Speaker 1: draft party, but every single one of them were like,

598
00:22:54,720 --> 00:22:56,639
Speaker 1: we've heard so much about you, we can't wait for

599
00:22:56,680 --> 00:22:59,720
Speaker 1: you to start. And I was so confused, I'm like, start,

600
00:22:59,720 --> 00:23:02,040
Speaker 1: what what are we starting? So when he asked me,

601
00:23:02,080 --> 00:23:03,719
Speaker 1: I guess he had mentioned, oh, you know someone who

602
00:23:03,840 --> 00:23:05,880
Speaker 1: was in creative and can kind of help us. They

603
00:23:05,880 --> 00:23:07,960
Speaker 1: didn't have a perspective of a woman or a woman

604
00:23:07,960 --> 00:23:10,959
Speaker 1: of color anywhere on that team. And so sitting with

605
00:23:10,960 --> 00:23:12,800
Speaker 1: the then head of marketing and the agency they were

606
00:23:12,800 --> 00:23:15,320
Speaker 1: working with on the design was such a great process.

607
00:23:15,480 --> 00:23:16,479
Speaker 2: I was just doing it.

608
00:23:17,119 --> 00:23:18,720
Speaker 1: Then maybe ten meetings in, he was like, I think

609
00:23:18,720 --> 00:23:20,800
Speaker 1: you should consult Would you mind consulting. I'd love your

610
00:23:20,800 --> 00:23:23,520
Speaker 1: perspective on, you know, designing this brand strategy.

611
00:23:24,080 --> 00:23:26,560
Speaker 2: And I was like, cool, yeah, I'm consulting. Why not?

612
00:23:27,200 --> 00:23:30,080
Speaker 2: I got time? I got nothing but time.

613
00:23:30,840 --> 00:23:32,560
Speaker 1: And then you know, by September of that year, I

614
00:23:32,560 --> 00:23:34,679
Speaker 1: came on board as a VP of brand Strategy, and

615
00:23:34,760 --> 00:23:38,280
Speaker 1: so very quickly we had our major racial crisis. We

616
00:23:38,320 --> 00:23:40,920
Speaker 1: remember back in the day with previous ownership, we had

617
00:23:40,960 --> 00:23:43,439
Speaker 1: to onboard a new ownership team. We'll go through the

618
00:23:43,480 --> 00:23:45,639
Speaker 1: process of selling the team. Onboarding a new team, no

619
00:23:45,680 --> 00:23:48,000
Speaker 1: one knew how to do that, so I figured it out.

620
00:23:48,119 --> 00:23:50,320
Speaker 1: So I ended up becoming the SVP of business strategy.

621
00:23:50,480 --> 00:23:53,200
Speaker 1: Just in doing filling gaps. It was like I was

622
00:23:53,280 --> 00:23:55,120
Speaker 1: kind of a chief of staff. I was writing speeches,

623
00:23:55,160 --> 00:23:57,840
Speaker 1: I was helping manage digital agencies.

624
00:23:57,440 --> 00:23:58,200
Speaker 2: Whatever was needed.

625
00:23:58,240 --> 00:24:00,760
Speaker 1: I'm like, hey, I got it Swiss army knife and

626
00:24:00,880 --> 00:24:04,120
Speaker 1: partnered with the whole organization. And then the reality was

627
00:24:04,320 --> 00:24:06,399
Speaker 1: one day he was like, hey, I want you to

628
00:24:06,440 --> 00:24:10,000
Speaker 1: be CMO. You know, we had worked and gotten new

629
00:24:10,000 --> 00:24:11,800
Speaker 1: ownership on board, We're about to open up. We were

630
00:24:11,800 --> 00:24:14,360
Speaker 1: about to start working with Amry on a practice facility

631
00:24:14,600 --> 00:24:17,080
Speaker 1: and start talking about redoing the arena. And so our

632
00:24:17,080 --> 00:24:19,320
Speaker 1: head of marketing was also the head of a creative

633
00:24:19,440 --> 00:24:21,639
Speaker 1: and he was pulled in different directions on those two things.

634
00:24:21,880 --> 00:24:24,720
Speaker 1: So the day to day tactic of marketing was kind

635
00:24:24,720 --> 00:24:25,680
Speaker 1: of it needed some love.

636
00:24:25,720 --> 00:24:26,879
Speaker 2: And he was like, I love you to step in.

637
00:24:26,960 --> 00:24:30,360
Speaker 1: You've worked in marketing, can you support And I was like, CMO,

638
00:24:31,400 --> 00:24:33,320
Speaker 1: I'm like me and I was like no, thank you,

639
00:24:33,760 --> 00:24:36,640
Speaker 1: And I turned it down actually multiple times, really because

640
00:24:36,680 --> 00:24:38,200
Speaker 1: I loved doing brand strategy.

641
00:24:38,320 --> 00:24:39,200
Speaker 2: I was a team of one.

642
00:24:39,320 --> 00:24:41,960
Speaker 1: It was really like being an internal consultant beginning to

643
00:24:41,960 --> 00:24:44,640
Speaker 1: work on all the cool stuff, and he asked again

644
00:24:44,880 --> 00:24:46,159
Speaker 1: and I was like, nah, I think I'm good. And

645
00:24:46,160 --> 00:24:48,000
Speaker 1: then it got to a point where he's like, all right, Melissa, look,

646
00:24:49,880 --> 00:24:51,320
Speaker 1: this is the job that we need right now. And

647
00:24:51,720 --> 00:24:53,440
Speaker 1: it was positioned in a way where I love I'm

648
00:24:53,560 --> 00:24:56,399
Speaker 1: very organized and detailed and also very creative, and so

649
00:24:56,440 --> 00:24:59,760
Speaker 1: they needed some operational help and it was campaign management

650
00:25:00,320 --> 00:25:01,480
Speaker 1: tools and I was like, oh.

651
00:25:01,359 --> 00:25:03,399
Speaker 2: That's cool, I can do that. He was like, all right,

652
00:25:03,440 --> 00:25:04,360
Speaker 2: well you'll be CMO and.

653
00:25:04,359 --> 00:25:07,600
Speaker 1: Do that and I was like, ah, you got me, gotcha.

654
00:25:07,920 --> 00:25:09,000
Speaker 2: And I was like, well, why me?

655
00:25:09,359 --> 00:25:10,840
Speaker 1: And it was the one question I asked and he's like,

656
00:25:10,920 --> 00:25:13,320
Speaker 1: you know what, my mantra has always been like I

657
00:25:13,359 --> 00:25:14,919
Speaker 1: just want to make dope shit. I'm here to make

658
00:25:15,119 --> 00:25:17,320
Speaker 1: That's what I'm That's what we do. And he was like,

659
00:25:17,440 --> 00:25:20,960
Speaker 1: it's because of that. You aren't driven by most things

660
00:25:20,960 --> 00:25:23,120
Speaker 1: that people are driven by that want this role.

661
00:25:23,280 --> 00:25:24,639
Speaker 2: It was a perception of power.

662
00:25:25,040 --> 00:25:27,960
Speaker 1: It's understanding that you know in sports doesn't pay historically

663
00:25:28,000 --> 00:25:30,719
Speaker 1: as well as you know other Fortune five hundred companies,

664
00:25:30,720 --> 00:25:33,400
Speaker 1: So you're not not just about money. Like the reasons

665
00:25:33,400 --> 00:25:35,280
Speaker 1: why you are great at what you do is for this,

666
00:25:35,359 --> 00:25:37,960
Speaker 1: You're great with people. You're great at leading teams, and

667
00:25:38,000 --> 00:25:40,520
Speaker 1: I want that energy in this role. And I was

668
00:25:40,600 --> 00:25:44,320
Speaker 1: kind of like, Okay, I could never have imagined that

669
00:25:44,960 --> 00:25:47,240
Speaker 1: seven years I'd still be in the position. And the

670
00:25:47,320 --> 00:25:50,040
Speaker 1: role has grown and evolved tremendously since then because I

671
00:25:50,080 --> 00:25:52,280
Speaker 1: was taking over a really small piece of the team.

672
00:25:52,560 --> 00:25:54,800
Speaker 1: But for people who are looking to get in that role,

673
00:25:54,840 --> 00:25:57,040
Speaker 1: I think it's so much more around the curiosity of

674
00:25:57,280 --> 00:25:59,080
Speaker 1: looking at how to fill those gaps. If I didn't

675
00:25:59,080 --> 00:26:02,000
Speaker 1: take that business strategy year old with cartoon networking Adult Swim,

676
00:26:02,040 --> 00:26:03,760
Speaker 1: I don't know if I would have had the p

677
00:26:03,840 --> 00:26:05,879
Speaker 1: and L inside of knowledge to help lead parts of

678
00:26:05,920 --> 00:26:09,199
Speaker 1: this organization. You know, creative. There's some people that come

679
00:26:09,280 --> 00:26:11,520
Speaker 1: up through creative, some are finance. There's all different ways,

680
00:26:11,560 --> 00:26:14,240
Speaker 1: you know, to get to this seat. But starting out

681
00:26:14,240 --> 00:26:16,200
Speaker 1: as an artist, I was, you know, an art school

682
00:26:16,200 --> 00:26:18,200
Speaker 1: in Miami, growing up drawing, painting, went.

683
00:26:18,119 --> 00:26:19,600
Speaker 2: To Wake Force at an art scholarship.

684
00:26:19,840 --> 00:26:22,120
Speaker 1: It's very rare that you find someone who's in creative

685
00:26:22,119 --> 00:26:24,520
Speaker 1: that has the ability to kind of I call it

686
00:26:24,760 --> 00:26:27,919
Speaker 1: the superpowers, but being both creative and strategic right, and

687
00:26:27,960 --> 00:26:31,439
Speaker 1: that is incredibly necessary in this job because there are

688
00:26:31,480 --> 00:26:33,640
Speaker 1: no two days that are the same. And so I'm

689
00:26:33,680 --> 00:26:35,480
Speaker 1: always questioning wh people say I want to be a SAMO.

690
00:26:35,600 --> 00:26:38,320
Speaker 1: I'm like why, because now why really matters because if

691
00:26:38,320 --> 00:26:41,000
Speaker 1: it's about getting the title, if I came into it

692
00:26:41,200 --> 00:26:42,840
Speaker 1: trying to become a CEMO, I probably would have made

693
00:26:42,920 --> 00:26:45,560
Speaker 1: very different decisions within my career. I would have taken

694
00:26:45,560 --> 00:26:47,080
Speaker 1: on jobs that I thought I'd have to take in

695
00:26:47,160 --> 00:26:49,720
Speaker 1: order to get there. And the reality was I had.

696
00:26:50,720 --> 00:26:52,720
Speaker 1: It was like a ladder. Career path of mine was

697
00:26:52,760 --> 00:26:55,600
Speaker 1: a jungle gym all day long. I was going left, right, back, front,

698
00:26:55,680 --> 00:26:57,040
Speaker 1: different places didn't matter to me.

699
00:26:57,320 --> 00:26:58,840
Speaker 3: Yeah, well, you know you can always connect the dots

700
00:26:58,840 --> 00:27:00,720
Speaker 3: looking backwards is what I can say, right, And like

701
00:27:00,720 --> 00:27:04,719
Speaker 3: when you look at it, you nah, when you do

702
00:27:04,760 --> 00:27:06,879
Speaker 3: you look at it, you know what if I wouldn't

703
00:27:06,920 --> 00:27:08,520
Speaker 3: been together, if I wouldn't have done this thing, then

704
00:27:08,560 --> 00:27:10,080
Speaker 3: maybe this thing wouldn't have happened. And like you can,

705
00:27:10,280 --> 00:27:11,920
Speaker 3: it makes sense when you look backwards at it. To

706
00:27:12,000 --> 00:27:14,080
Speaker 3: your point, you can't always, you know, forecast it.

707
00:27:14,200 --> 00:27:14,560
Speaker 2: You can't.

708
00:27:14,600 --> 00:27:16,159
Speaker 1: And the irony was, I remember when I was a

709
00:27:16,240 --> 00:27:18,919
Speaker 1: turner thinking about taking that digital startup job. I went

710
00:27:18,960 --> 00:27:20,720
Speaker 1: to all my mentors and I talked to Steve, who

711
00:27:20,800 --> 00:27:22,760
Speaker 1: was like a mentor to me, and he said, don't

712
00:27:22,760 --> 00:27:25,080
Speaker 1: take that job. And I was like every mentor I

713
00:27:25,119 --> 00:27:27,080
Speaker 1: had said, don't take that job, and I took the

714
00:27:27,200 --> 00:27:29,240
Speaker 1: job and ultimately.

715
00:27:29,359 --> 00:27:31,560
Speaker 2: I got hired. I did it, I loved it. I

716
00:27:31,640 --> 00:27:32,280
Speaker 2: got laid off.

717
00:27:32,720 --> 00:27:35,320
Speaker 1: And I later learned that Steve, when he left Turner,

718
00:27:35,359 --> 00:27:37,640
Speaker 1: because he was there as well, had a policy where

719
00:27:37,640 --> 00:27:40,040
Speaker 1: he couldn't take talent from Turner with him. So if

720
00:27:40,080 --> 00:27:41,600
Speaker 1: I didn't get laid off from the job that he

721
00:27:41,680 --> 00:27:44,639
Speaker 1: told me not to take not to take, I probably

722
00:27:44,680 --> 00:27:46,879
Speaker 1: couldn't even physically could not be in the role with

723
00:27:46,960 --> 00:27:49,320
Speaker 1: the Hawks. And so like I truly AMA believe that,

724
00:27:49,480 --> 00:27:51,720
Speaker 1: you know, women of faith, everything happens for a reason,

725
00:27:51,760 --> 00:27:53,159
Speaker 1: but that was like a major one to me.

726
00:27:53,560 --> 00:27:55,520
Speaker 3: Yeah, And I mean even kind of going back, I

727
00:27:55,600 --> 00:27:57,360
Speaker 3: mean over the last ten years. I mean, we won't

728
00:27:57,400 --> 00:27:59,720
Speaker 3: get into it, but I remember when that whole transition

729
00:27:59,720 --> 00:28:01,800
Speaker 3: with Ship happened, I was actually working at the Agency

730
00:28:01,840 --> 00:28:03,040
Speaker 3: and we were doing a lot of work, you know,

731
00:28:03,160 --> 00:28:05,639
Speaker 3: with the Hawks on that whole situation, and I got

732
00:28:05,680 --> 00:28:07,480
Speaker 3: a chance to kind of work with Steve Cohan directly

733
00:28:07,560 --> 00:28:09,560
Speaker 3: on that and saw the kind of leader he was

734
00:28:09,600 --> 00:28:11,520
Speaker 3: and I could. I was definitely appreciative of just, you know,

735
00:28:11,600 --> 00:28:13,960
Speaker 3: his approach to everything. I think that was the first

736
00:28:14,000 --> 00:28:16,200
Speaker 3: time I really worked with somebody at his level that

737
00:28:16,280 --> 00:28:18,840
Speaker 3: kind of saw things in a very holistic way and

738
00:28:18,920 --> 00:28:20,679
Speaker 3: kind of understood, you know, culture, but had a lot

739
00:28:20,720 --> 00:28:22,800
Speaker 3: of intentionality behind it too. So I can totally see

740
00:28:22,840 --> 00:28:24,880
Speaker 3: how he could evolve you into that kind of role.

741
00:28:25,280 --> 00:28:26,240
Speaker 2: Well yeh, yeh.

742
00:28:26,280 --> 00:28:27,879
Speaker 1: He also has a vision for what he wants and

743
00:28:27,960 --> 00:28:29,960
Speaker 1: he was like, oh, yeah, you didn't know. I already

744
00:28:30,000 --> 00:28:33,040
Speaker 1: knew he knew from the from the beginning. But what

745
00:28:33,200 --> 00:28:35,760
Speaker 1: I what I also appreciate about working with him is

746
00:28:36,560 --> 00:28:39,040
Speaker 1: like he's also not afraid to say he doesn't know

747
00:28:39,080 --> 00:28:40,800
Speaker 1: what he doesn't know, and a lot of times at

748
00:28:40,880 --> 00:28:43,040
Speaker 1: c CEO level people never want to say I don't know,

749
00:28:43,280 --> 00:28:44,760
Speaker 1: and I'd be the main one. I'm like, look, you know,

750
00:28:45,200 --> 00:28:46,800
Speaker 1: help build me a sead of brains around this, like

751
00:28:46,840 --> 00:28:49,880
Speaker 1: how do we do this better? Or sometimes it even

752
00:28:49,920 --> 00:28:52,360
Speaker 1: comes to like can you be my cultural advisor? Like

753
00:28:52,640 --> 00:28:54,160
Speaker 1: I say, this is that the right thing to say?

754
00:28:54,600 --> 00:28:56,640
Speaker 1: Some people don't want to have those conversations, but I'm

755
00:28:56,640 --> 00:28:59,200
Speaker 1: appreciative that I can be. And it's also trust, you know,

756
00:28:59,280 --> 00:29:01,720
Speaker 1: built over years, considered things that I will say to

757
00:29:01,840 --> 00:29:06,400
Speaker 1: him and he'll be like, Okay, all right, got it.

758
00:29:06,560 --> 00:29:08,400
Speaker 1: You know check where I think it's just based on

759
00:29:08,480 --> 00:29:10,680
Speaker 1: our relationship over time and so having that sort of

760
00:29:10,760 --> 00:29:13,040
Speaker 1: leadership and you know, that's rare, and I try to

761
00:29:13,120 --> 00:29:14,880
Speaker 1: have the same with my team where I'm like, please

762
00:29:14,920 --> 00:29:17,400
Speaker 1: give me feedback, because ain't nobody perfect.

763
00:29:17,400 --> 00:29:20,040
Speaker 3: As a woman in leadership too? Like, what's it been like?

764
00:29:20,280 --> 00:29:22,160
Speaker 3: Just as you've kind of navigated different elements of it?

765
00:29:22,560 --> 00:29:24,440
Speaker 3: My assumption is that a lot of this sports stuff

766
00:29:24,480 --> 00:29:26,360
Speaker 3: is kind of an old boys club in certain areas.

767
00:29:26,880 --> 00:29:29,240
Speaker 3: You know, I don't know how much basketball is compared

768
00:29:29,240 --> 00:29:30,880
Speaker 3: to you know, I really feel like football is probably

769
00:29:30,880 --> 00:29:32,960
Speaker 3: the way more, but I mean maybe they're equal. But

770
00:29:33,160 --> 00:29:35,080
Speaker 3: just especially as a black woman too, Like, what's that

771
00:29:35,200 --> 00:29:37,200
Speaker 3: process been like as you've had that role and had

772
00:29:37,200 --> 00:29:39,800
Speaker 3: to kind of institute some of these changes and ideas?

773
00:29:39,960 --> 00:29:42,160
Speaker 3: Is it you know it is there been friction? Has

774
00:29:42,160 --> 00:29:43,760
Speaker 3: there been challenges? And how did you kind of work

775
00:29:43,800 --> 00:29:44,320
Speaker 3: through those things?

776
00:29:44,440 --> 00:29:45,840
Speaker 2: You know, I've seen it evolve.

777
00:29:45,920 --> 00:29:47,560
Speaker 1: I remember when I was working for the heat when

778
00:29:47,560 --> 00:29:50,120
Speaker 1: I was in high school, and I remember every summer

779
00:29:50,280 --> 00:29:51,960
Speaker 1: in college I would go back and volunteer with the

780
00:29:52,040 --> 00:29:54,280
Speaker 1: Heat helping out draft free agency, and they're like a family,

781
00:29:54,440 --> 00:29:56,000
Speaker 1: Like I love them, I love their ownership.

782
00:29:56,000 --> 00:29:57,560
Speaker 2: They're a really really great organization.

783
00:29:58,080 --> 00:29:59,840
Speaker 1: There's a person working in scouting and I was putting

784
00:29:59,840 --> 00:30:02,200
Speaker 1: the there's skyting reports and I was doing something but

785
00:30:02,280 --> 00:30:03,800
Speaker 1: it wasn't efficient, and I was like, there's a better

786
00:30:03,840 --> 00:30:05,360
Speaker 1: way to do this, and so I made a suggestion.

787
00:30:06,000 --> 00:30:07,520
Speaker 2: And I was told, you don't get paid to think.

788
00:30:07,520 --> 00:30:08,800
Speaker 2: You get paid to do what I tell you to do.

789
00:30:09,760 --> 00:30:14,040
Speaker 2: And I was like, huh, all right, check that ain't

790
00:30:14,040 --> 00:30:16,280
Speaker 2: gonna work. But I got it.

791
00:30:16,880 --> 00:30:19,320
Speaker 1: But there were areas kind of like that where you know,

792
00:30:19,440 --> 00:30:22,400
Speaker 1: it wasn't overt just in terms of like, oh, you

793
00:30:22,480 --> 00:30:24,400
Speaker 1: know you're a woman, just sit down, shut up.

794
00:30:24,400 --> 00:30:27,000
Speaker 2: It was never that, but I felt the energy.

795
00:30:27,080 --> 00:30:29,080
Speaker 1: It's different on the basketball operations side than it is

796
00:30:29,120 --> 00:30:30,959
Speaker 1: on the business side. And I think the NBA has

797
00:30:31,000 --> 00:30:33,200
Speaker 1: done a tremendous job over even the ten years that

798
00:30:33,240 --> 00:30:35,800
Speaker 1: I've been with the Hawks of just make seeing that

799
00:30:36,000 --> 00:30:39,360
Speaker 1: change and evolving that business like from team presidents to

800
00:30:39,640 --> 00:30:42,719
Speaker 1: you know, coaches, assistant coaches obviously the w and all

801
00:30:42,720 --> 00:30:44,760
Speaker 1: the great things happening there. I definitely think there's an

802
00:30:45,480 --> 00:30:48,520
Speaker 1: evolution happening, and it's coming quickly in a way that's

803
00:30:48,520 --> 00:30:49,280
Speaker 1: super positive.

804
00:30:49,880 --> 00:30:52,000
Speaker 2: But for me, I've always seen being a woman. To

805
00:30:52,040 --> 00:30:52,960
Speaker 2: see a black woman.

806
00:30:52,880 --> 00:30:55,360
Speaker 1: Working in sports is my superpower because the one thing

807
00:30:55,440 --> 00:30:58,280
Speaker 1: you can't tell me about is what's relevant to women

808
00:30:58,880 --> 00:31:02,760
Speaker 1: or people of color. So, especially in the leadership role

809
00:31:03,560 --> 00:31:05,920
Speaker 1: with the Hawks, I do think there's being in Atlanta's

810
00:31:06,120 --> 00:31:08,480
Speaker 1: unfair to ask that question because I do think there's

811
00:31:08,520 --> 00:31:12,040
Speaker 1: a different perspective for people that live here and understand

812
00:31:12,040 --> 00:31:14,280
Speaker 1: who's coming to our games, what's happening, what's reltive. They

813
00:31:14,280 --> 00:31:17,440
Speaker 1: don't They're not listening to what's happened. They're not on Instagram,

814
00:31:17,440 --> 00:31:19,600
Speaker 1: they're not going outside like I see you outside. I

815
00:31:19,680 --> 00:31:21,040
Speaker 1: want to also live in the world. So I do

816
00:31:21,160 --> 00:31:25,120
Speaker 1: think that helps with that authenticity and being relevant, and

817
00:31:25,200 --> 00:31:28,200
Speaker 1: so I've always really proud of myself on that. Now

818
00:31:28,560 --> 00:31:31,400
Speaker 1: when I got promoted to be a CMO until the

819
00:31:31,480 --> 00:31:34,840
Speaker 1: story and is so interesting to me. But you're able

820
00:31:34,880 --> 00:31:37,480
Speaker 1: to park in the reserve parking area at the arena,

821
00:31:37,520 --> 00:31:40,000
Speaker 1: which is a big deal. If everybody knows, you know,

822
00:31:40,200 --> 00:31:41,680
Speaker 1: parking at arena, it's it's a thing.

823
00:31:41,760 --> 00:31:42,200
Speaker 3: I've seen it.

824
00:31:42,520 --> 00:31:45,080
Speaker 1: You see it so you can park in a reserve spot.

825
00:31:45,240 --> 00:31:46,680
Speaker 1: And during the day, I was heading over there to

826
00:31:46,720 --> 00:31:49,320
Speaker 1: a meeting. I had just gotten promoted, and I parked

827
00:31:49,360 --> 00:31:51,400
Speaker 1: my car. I was walking into the building at a

828
00:31:51,480 --> 00:31:53,200
Speaker 1: security guard stop and he's like, I'm sorry, man, you

829
00:31:53,200 --> 00:31:55,960
Speaker 1: can't park there. That's reserve for executives. And I was

830
00:31:56,040 --> 00:31:59,440
Speaker 1: just like okay, and I kept walking and he was like, ma'am,

831
00:31:59,440 --> 00:32:01,440
Speaker 1: I'm not to my badge. I was like to say,

832
00:32:01,480 --> 00:32:04,240
Speaker 1: like most of party literally says executive underneath it. And

833
00:32:04,320 --> 00:32:06,520
Speaker 1: he looked so confused. And I was wearing maybe some Jordans,

834
00:32:06,600 --> 00:32:09,160
Speaker 1: some sweats and sneakers, and I could see his mind

835
00:32:09,280 --> 00:32:12,360
Speaker 1: like like what, huh what. But for me, it was

836
00:32:12,480 --> 00:32:15,120
Speaker 1: like the best moment because I was changing the perception

837
00:32:15,240 --> 00:32:17,640
Speaker 1: of what a senior level executive looks like for an

838
00:32:17,720 --> 00:32:20,680
Speaker 1: NBA team, for that person. And I think every time

839
00:32:20,760 --> 00:32:22,800
Speaker 1: that I'm in a room where I'm able to let

840
00:32:22,920 --> 00:32:25,400
Speaker 1: my skills or my work speak, or I am presenting

841
00:32:25,440 --> 00:32:27,920
Speaker 1: and speaking, I think it changes the mentality.

842
00:32:27,480 --> 00:32:30,360
Speaker 2: Of like oh oh, she knows, okay, she's good, she

843
00:32:30,760 --> 00:32:31,040
Speaker 2: got it.

844
00:32:31,560 --> 00:32:34,120
Speaker 1: And so as a woman, I'm always trying to represent

845
00:32:34,480 --> 00:32:35,760
Speaker 1: not just for me, but everybody else.

846
00:32:35,840 --> 00:32:36,280
Speaker 2: On my team.

847
00:32:36,360 --> 00:32:38,280
Speaker 1: And so when I first started with the Hawks, had

848
00:32:38,360 --> 00:32:41,120
Speaker 1: just had my daughter. There were no lactation rooms. It

849
00:32:41,280 --> 00:32:44,680
Speaker 1: was not a very female friendly environment. They're actually women

850
00:32:45,200 --> 00:32:46,840
Speaker 1: that came to me when I first started and said,

851
00:32:46,840 --> 00:32:48,440
Speaker 1: thank you so much for being here. We've never seen

852
00:32:48,480 --> 00:32:51,280
Speaker 1: a woman in a VP or senior level role because

853
00:32:51,280 --> 00:32:53,160
Speaker 1: a lot of times women get promoted if they have

854
00:32:53,680 --> 00:32:56,920
Speaker 1: a kid, they either git demoted or they leave based

855
00:32:56,960 --> 00:32:58,240
Speaker 1: on the rigor of working in sport.

856
00:32:58,840 --> 00:33:01,080
Speaker 2: And so I always give props to Steve because he

857
00:33:01,200 --> 00:33:02,360
Speaker 2: was like, Nope, I want you to be here.

858
00:33:02,400 --> 00:33:04,320
Speaker 1: I want you to be able to use the family

859
00:33:04,400 --> 00:33:05,840
Speaker 1: room to take your daughter if you have to work

860
00:33:05,840 --> 00:33:06,800
Speaker 1: a game and you don't have child.

861
00:33:07,040 --> 00:33:07,280
Speaker 2: Whatever.

862
00:33:07,320 --> 00:33:09,080
Speaker 1: It is like, we wanted to make that environment. So

863
00:33:09,200 --> 00:33:11,160
Speaker 1: now that is our culture. But I think he had

864
00:33:11,200 --> 00:33:14,080
Speaker 1: to come in and really instill it. But I had

865
00:33:14,120 --> 00:33:18,000
Speaker 1: to check myself because sometimes I'm so chill, laid back, cool,

866
00:33:18,160 --> 00:33:21,760
Speaker 1: easy going that I forget that people don't just see me.

867
00:33:21,840 --> 00:33:23,280
Speaker 2: It's like, oh, you're a list. Like no, you're a

868
00:33:23,360 --> 00:33:24,520
Speaker 2: woman in the senior role.

869
00:33:25,200 --> 00:33:28,000
Speaker 1: And as an example, I had gotten a promotion and

870
00:33:28,440 --> 00:33:30,560
Speaker 1: I had a really small office that I loved because

871
00:33:30,600 --> 00:33:33,440
Speaker 1: it's facing my house and I can see traffic on

872
00:33:33,520 --> 00:33:35,920
Speaker 1: the way home, and Atlanta traffic is no joke. And

873
00:33:36,000 --> 00:33:37,600
Speaker 1: so I didn't want to move. And they had a

874
00:33:37,680 --> 00:33:40,680
Speaker 1: big corner office available. They're like, hey, you can move

875
00:33:40,680 --> 00:33:42,160
Speaker 1: into that office if you want, and I turned it

876
00:33:42,200 --> 00:33:45,600
Speaker 1: down like twice, and I have a history of doing that.

877
00:33:46,040 --> 00:33:49,520
Speaker 2: I'm like, no, I'm good, all right, it's fine, But

878
00:33:49,800 --> 00:33:51,200
Speaker 2: I really liked my space.

879
00:33:51,280 --> 00:33:53,360
Speaker 1: And I remember having a conversation with someone or like,

880
00:33:53,440 --> 00:33:56,960
Speaker 1: you know, there's no women in corner offices, and it

881
00:33:57,560 --> 00:33:59,920
Speaker 1: hit me and I was like, wow, by not taking

882
00:34:00,040 --> 00:34:03,240
Speaker 1: get you're sending a signal that that is not what

883
00:34:03,360 --> 00:34:06,760
Speaker 1: women and so it just really changed my perspective. I'm like, no,

884
00:34:06,840 --> 00:34:08,400
Speaker 1: I will not take notes in that meeting. Yes, I

885
00:34:08,520 --> 00:34:11,080
Speaker 1: want to sit in the middle of the the boardroom

886
00:34:11,120 --> 00:34:13,160
Speaker 1: and the table and not kind of shrink back. But

887
00:34:13,280 --> 00:34:15,960
Speaker 1: I think when you're more junior, it's really the experience

888
00:34:16,000 --> 00:34:18,239
Speaker 1: that kind of helps you get there. And so for me,

889
00:34:18,400 --> 00:34:20,560
Speaker 1: I've been able to grow and see that over time.

890
00:34:20,640 --> 00:34:22,839
Speaker 1: So now I'm telling my team, I'm like, hey, young lady,

891
00:34:22,880 --> 00:34:24,920
Speaker 1: you sit right here, don't sit back there like you

892
00:34:25,040 --> 00:34:28,040
Speaker 1: You've come up and I want to help give people

893
00:34:28,080 --> 00:34:29,480
Speaker 1: the same knowledge that I had to get, you know,

894
00:34:29,600 --> 00:34:33,560
Speaker 1: kind of overtime myself, asking asking questions times when I

895
00:34:33,600 --> 00:34:36,880
Speaker 1: needed help, and I'm like everyone else has an admin

896
00:34:37,040 --> 00:34:38,640
Speaker 1: or you know, help, why don't I have one?

897
00:34:39,000 --> 00:34:40,640
Speaker 2: And I want my boss. I'm like, hey, is it possible?

898
00:34:40,680 --> 00:34:43,759
Speaker 2: He's like, sure, you never asked, and I was like, man,

899
00:34:44,480 --> 00:34:47,120
Speaker 2: this is crazy. But now I understand.

900
00:34:47,280 --> 00:34:49,719
Speaker 3: You know, a big part of luck and you know,

901
00:34:49,920 --> 00:34:52,640
Speaker 3: success is always say it's asking the right combination of

902
00:34:52,680 --> 00:34:57,400
Speaker 3: really smart questions, stupid questions and obvious questions. Yeah, you

903
00:34:57,480 --> 00:34:59,319
Speaker 3: know you got to you you can't have you let

904
00:34:59,360 --> 00:35:00,880
Speaker 3: your ego get in way of that, Like you know what,

905
00:35:00,920 --> 00:35:03,200
Speaker 3: I'm asking this stupid question or maybe it's just stupid

906
00:35:03,200 --> 00:35:04,520
Speaker 3: to y'all, but I'm gonna get it outcause I didn't

907
00:35:04,520 --> 00:35:05,720
Speaker 3: even't know right.

908
00:35:07,160 --> 00:35:08,920
Speaker 1: Right, And most times people are like, oh, wow, you

909
00:35:08,960 --> 00:35:10,839
Speaker 1: know that should come with it. I'm like, people don't

910
00:35:10,840 --> 00:35:12,400
Speaker 1: know what to until you tell them, right, you know.

911
00:35:12,440 --> 00:35:15,040
Speaker 1: I mean, And it's not about being annoying or repetitive.

912
00:35:15,080 --> 00:35:16,719
Speaker 1: It's like sometimes it's just saying it.

913
00:35:28,719 --> 00:35:30,520
Speaker 3: How do you feel about all this amazing stuff that's

914
00:35:30,520 --> 00:35:32,279
Speaker 3: happening in the w NBA. Now, I mean you know,

915
00:35:32,360 --> 00:35:35,480
Speaker 3: we had an amazing College of you know, women's tournament

916
00:35:35,520 --> 00:35:38,600
Speaker 3: a couple of year ago. W NBA season. W NBA

917
00:35:38,680 --> 00:35:40,920
Speaker 3: is getting so much you know, credit and visibility now,

918
00:35:40,960 --> 00:35:42,359
Speaker 3: like things are starting to happen, and I can really

919
00:35:42,360 --> 00:35:44,840
Speaker 3: see that starting to trend and uptick. Like, how excited

920
00:35:44,840 --> 00:35:47,080
Speaker 3: are you about that in comparison with the stuff what

921
00:35:47,120 --> 00:35:48,000
Speaker 3: you're working on right now too?

922
00:35:48,239 --> 00:35:49,040
Speaker 2: I mean, I love it.

923
00:35:49,200 --> 00:35:51,080
Speaker 1: You know, I know that there's some NBA teams that

924
00:35:51,200 --> 00:35:53,120
Speaker 1: own their w team. We are not one of those teams.

925
00:35:53,320 --> 00:35:55,239
Speaker 1: To me, that's super exciting when you can blend it too.

926
00:35:55,800 --> 00:35:57,799
Speaker 1: I was talking with the young lady that's the head

927
00:35:57,800 --> 00:36:01,840
Speaker 1: of the Valkyries, Georgia Golden State's new WNA team they

928
00:36:01,840 --> 00:36:04,120
Speaker 1: are launching next season, but because they're owned by the

929
00:36:04,160 --> 00:36:06,360
Speaker 1: same team, they're doing such amazing things, like they're camps

930
00:36:06,400 --> 00:36:09,959
Speaker 1: and clinics, they're giving boys WNBA jerseys and girls NBA

931
00:36:10,080 --> 00:36:11,880
Speaker 1: jerseys because it shouldn't matter, you know what I mean.

932
00:36:11,920 --> 00:36:16,120
Speaker 1: And I love that just in the idea of taking

933
00:36:16,200 --> 00:36:19,239
Speaker 1: the perceptions way because I think before it was like, oh,

934
00:36:19,280 --> 00:36:22,640
Speaker 1: that's just this, that's just that, and so having it

935
00:36:22,760 --> 00:36:25,600
Speaker 1: being elevated on a national scale is awesome. I'm all

936
00:36:25,640 --> 00:36:29,440
Speaker 1: about parody, and so I look at salaries, I look

937
00:36:29,520 --> 00:36:32,920
Speaker 1: at what executives are making, and that still is not

938
00:36:33,200 --> 00:36:35,120
Speaker 1: where it needs to be. But I think obviously they're

939
00:36:35,120 --> 00:36:37,520
Speaker 1: taking large steps forward having teams be able to fly

940
00:36:37,640 --> 00:36:39,880
Speaker 1: on charters. I think for the w like, that's a

941
00:36:40,000 --> 00:36:44,080
Speaker 1: big deal, you know, But I think the more people

942
00:36:44,160 --> 00:36:47,120
Speaker 1: can support, and that's literally buy a ticket, watch a

943
00:36:47,200 --> 00:36:48,839
Speaker 1: game on TV because a lot of people are like, oh, yeah,

944
00:36:48,880 --> 00:36:51,400
Speaker 1: that's great, but it won't grow until they get the

945
00:36:51,400 --> 00:36:53,040
Speaker 1: eyeballs because that's at the end of the day, it's

946
00:36:53,040 --> 00:36:55,560
Speaker 1: all about the revenue, and so that's really important. While

947
00:36:55,560 --> 00:36:57,879
Speaker 1: they got a bigger TV deal, the NBA's TV though,

948
00:36:57,960 --> 00:37:00,840
Speaker 1: got even bigger, and so I love it and I

949
00:37:00,880 --> 00:37:03,440
Speaker 1: don't want it to be a blip because of Caitlin Clark.

950
00:37:03,480 --> 00:37:05,080
Speaker 1: I don't want it to be like, Okay, well it's

951
00:37:05,120 --> 00:37:06,600
Speaker 1: going to write time. I don't think that's the case

952
00:37:06,640 --> 00:37:09,239
Speaker 1: at all. But in order for that to continue growth,

953
00:37:09,480 --> 00:37:11,520
Speaker 1: I'm like, hey, buy a ticket, come out to a game,

954
00:37:11,600 --> 00:37:13,759
Speaker 1: watch a game, because that's that's how it's going to

955
00:37:13,840 --> 00:37:14,239
Speaker 1: keep growing.

956
00:37:14,480 --> 00:37:16,000
Speaker 3: Yeah, and it's got we got to support that thing.

957
00:37:16,040 --> 00:37:18,640
Speaker 3: I mean, you know, the Dreams sold out some games

958
00:37:18,680 --> 00:37:20,800
Speaker 3: that they sold out season tickets this year, which was amazing.

959
00:37:21,120 --> 00:37:22,879
Speaker 3: So you can kind of see the trends starting to happen,

960
00:37:23,400 --> 00:37:24,880
Speaker 3: and yeah, my hope is that it continues. It just

961
00:37:24,920 --> 00:37:27,120
Speaker 3: makes the game even more exciting. Like, what are some

962
00:37:27,200 --> 00:37:29,040
Speaker 3: other trends that you kind of noticed or you're you know,

963
00:37:29,080 --> 00:37:30,480
Speaker 3: you're kind of being like, you know what, let's keep

964
00:37:30,480 --> 00:37:32,440
Speaker 3: down on the radar some other things that you know,

965
00:37:32,680 --> 00:37:34,920
Speaker 3: helped the Hawks and stay from marena, kind of stay

966
00:37:34,960 --> 00:37:37,400
Speaker 3: ahead of the culture and be innovative.

967
00:37:37,880 --> 00:37:41,080
Speaker 2: I mean, there's so many things for us.

968
00:37:41,680 --> 00:37:44,399
Speaker 1: We talked like and asking about the state from arena side,

969
00:37:45,000 --> 00:37:48,719
Speaker 1: we thought in COVID, when the touring industry went from

970
00:37:49,520 --> 00:37:54,160
Speaker 1: poppingto disappeared, that you know, okay, people may start coming

971
00:37:54,200 --> 00:37:56,200
Speaker 1: back to events, but they came back with a vengeance

972
00:37:56,560 --> 00:37:58,439
Speaker 1: and which we were just talking about in one music fest,

973
00:37:58,600 --> 00:38:00,480
Speaker 1: like the idea of festivals like peace, people want to

974
00:38:00,560 --> 00:38:03,440
Speaker 1: be together, and I mean, and COVID is so far

975
00:38:03,680 --> 00:38:05,279
Speaker 1: back removed now, but we always kind of look at

976
00:38:05,320 --> 00:38:06,640
Speaker 1: that as the mark because it was like we're up

977
00:38:06,680 --> 00:38:08,880
Speaker 1: and then we're way down and then it's shot straight up.

978
00:38:09,320 --> 00:38:11,440
Speaker 1: And so currently even with the usher residency that we

979
00:38:11,560 --> 00:38:14,200
Speaker 1: have at the arena, you know, blocks of shows doing

980
00:38:14,280 --> 00:38:17,000
Speaker 1: more of those things. While he did that in Vegas

981
00:38:17,160 --> 00:38:19,239
Speaker 1: super successful, like oh can you do that on tour

982
00:38:19,280 --> 00:38:21,360
Speaker 1: and arenas? Currently we're in the process of doing that,

983
00:38:21,520 --> 00:38:23,799
Speaker 1: Like that's a trend that like I never really saw

984
00:38:23,840 --> 00:38:25,400
Speaker 1: that as a trend, and I'm like, oh, yeah, but

985
00:38:25,480 --> 00:38:27,839
Speaker 1: it is. So we're looking at what happens in three

986
00:38:27,880 --> 00:38:29,960
Speaker 1: years from now, does it start to decline? You know,

987
00:38:30,040 --> 00:38:32,800
Speaker 1: looking at the economy, looking at all these things, and

988
00:38:32,920 --> 00:38:35,960
Speaker 1: so for our business, consistently focused on what happens in

989
00:38:36,040 --> 00:38:38,160
Speaker 1: that space. How do we get more creative with types

990
00:38:38,200 --> 00:38:40,480
Speaker 1: of shows and events you see big podcasts or major

991
00:38:40,560 --> 00:38:44,080
Speaker 1: podcasts being able to use you know, big venues like

992
00:38:44,160 --> 00:38:47,120
Speaker 1: arenas to draw crowds based on all of that. So

993
00:38:47,320 --> 00:38:50,839
Speaker 1: I'm consistently looking at Influencers are a big one right now.

994
00:38:50,880 --> 00:38:53,640
Speaker 1: And people have always obviously used influencers in multiple ways.

995
00:38:53,800 --> 00:38:55,880
Speaker 1: How do you sell a ticket or make it transactional?

996
00:38:56,239 --> 00:38:58,640
Speaker 1: But for us, it's about building relationship over time and

997
00:38:59,239 --> 00:39:02,480
Speaker 1: incorporating them in different ways within our game, presentation, within

998
00:39:02,520 --> 00:39:05,520
Speaker 1: our show, within our business, a lot of different things.

999
00:39:05,600 --> 00:39:07,800
Speaker 1: I'm always keeping my eyes and ears open. Obviously everyone's

1000
00:39:07,800 --> 00:39:10,440
Speaker 1: talking about AI and I'm like, yep, sure, yep, that too,

1001
00:39:11,360 --> 00:39:13,239
Speaker 1: for all in all the ways, for all the things.

1002
00:39:13,400 --> 00:39:15,359
Speaker 1: But I have a young lady on my team who's

1003
00:39:15,360 --> 00:39:18,920
Speaker 1: focused on building the building out research to help us

1004
00:39:18,960 --> 00:39:21,719
Speaker 1: get smarter on the future of fans because we've learned

1005
00:39:21,719 --> 00:39:23,200
Speaker 1: a lot and that those are kind of the trends

1006
00:39:23,239 --> 00:39:25,680
Speaker 1: that we're focused on. Internally, the future of fandom is

1007
00:39:25,680 --> 00:39:28,040
Speaker 1: going to be very different. And one example we talk

1008
00:39:28,080 --> 00:39:31,279
Speaker 1: about is millennial parents. So when you were a kid,

1009
00:39:32,000 --> 00:39:33,719
Speaker 1: if your parent was a fan of something, they made

1010
00:39:33,760 --> 00:39:35,279
Speaker 1: you a fan of it, like you didn't have a choice,

1011
00:39:35,320 --> 00:39:37,200
Speaker 1: Like you're going to be a fan of other falcons

1012
00:39:37,200 --> 00:39:38,640
Speaker 1: if you like by like football, this is what you're

1013
00:39:38,640 --> 00:39:42,319
Speaker 1: gonna do. Millennial parents grew up with the power of choice,

1014
00:39:42,360 --> 00:39:43,920
Speaker 1: so now they're giving their kids like, oh, you know,

1015
00:39:44,000 --> 00:39:45,719
Speaker 1: my parents made me do that. You can be a

1016
00:39:45,800 --> 00:39:48,479
Speaker 1: fan of whatever you want. You don't like it, it's okay,

1017
00:39:48,760 --> 00:39:51,520
Speaker 1: we'll find something else for you. And that has changed

1018
00:39:51,560 --> 00:39:53,120
Speaker 1: the number of kids. And there's also a lot of

1019
00:39:53,160 --> 00:39:55,600
Speaker 1: research that shows the number of kids that play a

1020
00:39:55,800 --> 00:39:58,480
Speaker 1: sport have a higher propensity of becoming fans of that

1021
00:39:58,520 --> 00:40:00,279
Speaker 1: sport down the line, but there's been a de line

1022
00:40:00,440 --> 00:40:03,399
Speaker 1: and use sport participation, I think because you're up against

1023
00:40:03,440 --> 00:40:06,919
Speaker 1: an iPad and everything else. And so we're constantly looking

1024
00:40:06,960 --> 00:40:09,000
Speaker 1: at how do we grow our basketball camps and clinics.

1025
00:40:09,000 --> 00:40:11,360
Speaker 1: How do we find opportunities to do drop in at

1026
00:40:11,400 --> 00:40:13,879
Speaker 1: STEM camps or art camps or whatever else to give

1027
00:40:13,880 --> 00:40:17,200
Speaker 1: them a basketball exposure experience so that we can ultimately

1028
00:40:17,239 --> 00:40:20,520
Speaker 1: build that next generation Hawks fan with those you know,

1029
00:40:20,680 --> 00:40:24,680
Speaker 1: the difference in youth now, I really wonder so much

1030
00:40:24,719 --> 00:40:27,360
Speaker 1: of what sports looks like ten fifteen years from now

1031
00:40:27,440 --> 00:40:29,959
Speaker 1: for our for our kids, because it's a different world

1032
00:40:30,200 --> 00:40:33,480
Speaker 1: and the desire isn't necessarily the same. So while there

1033
00:40:33,480 --> 00:40:36,040
Speaker 1: are things like cosm I don't know if you've seen it,

1034
00:40:36,200 --> 00:40:38,440
Speaker 1: or like the sphere, you can go and watch games

1035
00:40:38,560 --> 00:40:43,319
Speaker 1: in these really amazing venues versusperience, right, Yeah, that's fantastic.

1036
00:40:43,520 --> 00:40:44,920
Speaker 1: Some people may love that more than come in to

1037
00:40:45,000 --> 00:40:46,600
Speaker 1: a game, you know, suppose if you can get it

1038
00:40:46,640 --> 00:40:48,680
Speaker 1: for cheap and whichever. And so it's looking at how

1039
00:40:48,719 --> 00:40:50,759
Speaker 1: do we partner with some of those things, how do

1040
00:40:50,840 --> 00:40:54,280
Speaker 1: we get inspiration from it, but really looking at evolving

1041
00:40:54,440 --> 00:40:56,320
Speaker 1: what we do because we can't just stay stagnant, do

1042
00:40:56,400 --> 00:40:57,640
Speaker 1: the same thing over and over again.

1043
00:40:58,000 --> 00:40:59,839
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's interesting. I mean, you know, I have two kids.

1044
00:41:00,040 --> 00:41:02,160
Speaker 3: I even watched my son, he plays baseball. He's starting

1045
00:41:02,160 --> 00:41:03,719
Speaker 3: to get into basketball and stuff like that. I put

1046
00:41:03,719 --> 00:41:05,799
Speaker 3: a basketball goal up in the backyard, you know, two

1047
00:41:05,920 --> 00:41:07,799
Speaker 3: years ago, just to see what would happen.

1048
00:41:07,880 --> 00:41:08,000
Speaker 1: You know.

1049
00:41:08,080 --> 00:41:09,359
Speaker 3: He goes up there every once in a while. She's

1050
00:41:09,360 --> 00:41:11,600
Speaker 3: a couple jump shots. But yeah, there's just a lot

1051
00:41:11,640 --> 00:41:13,640
Speaker 3: of challenges even as a parent, of trying to you know,

1052
00:41:14,080 --> 00:41:16,359
Speaker 3: get the practices and get them over there. I think

1053
00:41:16,800 --> 00:41:18,480
Speaker 3: that's the part where I get it, you know, frustrated

1054
00:41:18,480 --> 00:41:20,279
Speaker 3: a lot of times personally. Right, It's like I want

1055
00:41:20,360 --> 00:41:22,879
Speaker 3: him to do more things in sports. But between doing

1056
00:41:22,880 --> 00:41:24,759
Speaker 3: a million things myself and then trying to get there

1057
00:41:24,800 --> 00:41:26,080
Speaker 3: and get him to practice.

1058
00:41:25,800 --> 00:41:27,400
Speaker 1: And the world is in so much you can be like, hey,

1059
00:41:27,400 --> 00:41:28,719
Speaker 1: get on your bike and go to school and do

1060
00:41:28,800 --> 00:41:32,520
Speaker 1: that because you know safety, and it's it's a different generation. Yeah,

1061
00:41:32,840 --> 00:41:35,160
Speaker 1: and we're always looking at like, all right, so because

1062
00:41:35,160 --> 00:41:36,640
Speaker 1: of that, what do we do differently?

1063
00:41:37,040 --> 00:41:39,239
Speaker 3: Yeah. I actually I ended up coaching his tee ball

1064
00:41:39,280 --> 00:41:40,840
Speaker 3: team last year because of that, and I was like,

1065
00:41:40,920 --> 00:41:44,000
Speaker 3: look y'all, like, look, I'm just out here because I

1066
00:41:44,040 --> 00:41:45,520
Speaker 3: want him to have a good experience.

1067
00:41:46,200 --> 00:41:47,560
Speaker 2: You know, that's wonderful.

1068
00:41:47,600 --> 00:41:49,080
Speaker 3: So he's going to be the star player too, just

1069
00:41:49,160 --> 00:41:52,520
Speaker 3: so you know. But if anybody else got something to say,

1070
00:41:52,600 --> 00:41:55,319
Speaker 3: let me know. You meet y'all new star player. I'm

1071
00:41:55,360 --> 00:41:58,560
Speaker 3: the coach. It was and we had a good season.

1072
00:41:58,640 --> 00:42:01,200
Speaker 3: You know, he enjoyed it. Story about it. He said, Man,

1073
00:42:01,200 --> 00:42:02,200
Speaker 3: that's one of my favorite memories.

1074
00:42:02,280 --> 00:42:04,160
Speaker 2: No, that's awesome.

1075
00:42:05,120 --> 00:42:06,920
Speaker 3: You go sot me as she didn't. How does as

1076
00:42:06,960 --> 00:42:08,440
Speaker 3: a parent, then, how do you balance with all this

1077
00:42:08,520 --> 00:42:10,799
Speaker 3: different stuff? I mean, you got a million one thing's

1078
00:42:10,800 --> 00:42:12,799
Speaker 3: going on. You got one hundred plus events. You got

1079
00:42:12,880 --> 00:42:16,560
Speaker 3: basketball concerts, you know, not just at the venue but

1080
00:42:16,680 --> 00:42:20,080
Speaker 3: at school probably with other events. How do you banage

1081
00:42:20,120 --> 00:42:20,239
Speaker 3: on that?

1082
00:42:20,360 --> 00:42:20,480
Speaker 2: You know?

1083
00:42:20,520 --> 00:42:22,480
Speaker 1: I tell everybody you know, I love being the same

1084
00:42:22,520 --> 00:42:24,120
Speaker 1: of the Hawks, but being a mom is my number

1085
00:42:24,120 --> 00:42:27,279
Speaker 1: one job. And so you know, single mom. Daughter's ten

1086
00:42:27,400 --> 00:42:31,080
Speaker 1: years old. Marley is amazing, and she is super creative.

1087
00:42:31,480 --> 00:42:33,560
Speaker 1: I feel like I gave virtual a senior citizen because

1088
00:42:33,560 --> 00:42:36,480
Speaker 1: she's like really responsible and like cooks, and it's very

1089
00:42:36,560 --> 00:42:38,960
Speaker 1: into anime and art, which I was as well, so

1090
00:42:39,120 --> 00:42:42,640
Speaker 1: that that brings me joy. But she hates basketball, has

1091
00:42:42,680 --> 00:42:44,200
Speaker 1: no desire to come to a game, and I'm like,

1092
00:42:44,280 --> 00:42:46,000
Speaker 1: you've been going since you were two months old, Like,

1093
00:42:46,360 --> 00:42:48,120
Speaker 1: you know, come on, she just wants to eat then leave.

1094
00:42:48,840 --> 00:42:54,239
Speaker 1: So I find that I really pride myself on kind.

1095
00:42:54,239 --> 00:42:56,200
Speaker 1: I call it work life harmony. Sometimes you got to

1096
00:42:56,200 --> 00:42:57,879
Speaker 1: work a whole lot of other times, I'm like, hey,

1097
00:42:58,160 --> 00:43:00,000
Speaker 1: I took her to Japan this summer because she loves

1098
00:43:00,040 --> 00:43:02,080
Speaker 1: is anime and wanted to really learn more about the culture.

1099
00:43:02,400 --> 00:43:03,680
Speaker 2: Having the ability to do that or.

1100
00:43:03,760 --> 00:43:06,319
Speaker 1: Taking the time to do that is where I put

1101
00:43:06,360 --> 00:43:09,320
Speaker 1: my priority. So I said it a year in advance.

1102
00:43:09,320 --> 00:43:10,600
Speaker 1: I'm like, hey, all, this is what's happening.

1103
00:43:11,280 --> 00:43:11,560
Speaker 3: Cool.

1104
00:43:11,760 --> 00:43:13,840
Speaker 1: And I find on a regular basis, like yesterday it

1105
00:43:13,880 --> 00:43:15,839
Speaker 1: was Halloween, she didn't have school. I was working from home,

1106
00:43:16,239 --> 00:43:17,920
Speaker 1: the whole trick or treat thing or talking about it

1107
00:43:18,000 --> 00:43:19,400
Speaker 1: like that was what I was going to do.

1108
00:43:19,480 --> 00:43:19,680
Speaker 2: First.

1109
00:43:19,760 --> 00:43:21,800
Speaker 1: She comes to the office, hangs out with me. Everyone

1110
00:43:21,880 --> 00:43:23,600
Speaker 1: knows her because they feel like they've seen her grow up.

1111
00:43:24,600 --> 00:43:26,080
Speaker 1: But that was a big part of it. Even to

1112
00:43:26,120 --> 00:43:27,840
Speaker 1: the young lady that mentioned to me, like, oh, you know,

1113
00:43:27,880 --> 00:43:30,960
Speaker 1: and women have kids, they leave or get demoted, I'm like,

1114
00:43:31,320 --> 00:43:34,520
Speaker 1: I'm she coming with me, and we were getting promoted,

1115
00:43:34,880 --> 00:43:37,840
Speaker 1: and so I want to show that so that others

1116
00:43:37,960 --> 00:43:40,080
Speaker 1: know that it's okay if your mom be a mom.

1117
00:43:40,160 --> 00:43:41,520
Speaker 1: And I think COVID kind of put down a lot

1118
00:43:41,560 --> 00:43:45,080
Speaker 1: of those barriers, invisible barriers, and I think corporate some

1119
00:43:45,239 --> 00:43:47,239
Speaker 1: corporate people had like, oh, no, I can't show too

1120
00:43:47,320 --> 00:43:48,200
Speaker 1: much of my personal life.

1121
00:43:48,239 --> 00:43:50,320
Speaker 2: And I'm like, go, this, this is this is the

1122
00:43:50,360 --> 00:43:51,000
Speaker 2: biggest part of it.

1123
00:43:51,160 --> 00:43:51,640
Speaker 3: We get it now.

1124
00:43:51,760 --> 00:43:52,080
Speaker 2: We all.

1125
00:43:54,640 --> 00:43:57,800
Speaker 1: So I'm I'm managing girl Scouts and it was cross country,

1126
00:43:57,880 --> 00:43:59,279
Speaker 1: and you know, I want to be at every meet.

1127
00:43:59,360 --> 00:44:01,160
Speaker 1: Sometimes I can't make it. There has to be a

1128
00:44:01,200 --> 00:44:03,800
Speaker 1: big situation or reason why I can. But for the

1129
00:44:03,840 --> 00:44:06,480
Speaker 1: most part, I'm there and she knows that. And I

1130
00:44:06,560 --> 00:44:09,160
Speaker 1: think just having a strong relationship with her to me

1131
00:44:09,320 --> 00:44:10,320
Speaker 1: is most important.

1132
00:44:11,200 --> 00:44:13,160
Speaker 3: That's dope. That's dope. Well, Melissa, this has been a

1133
00:44:13,160 --> 00:44:15,600
Speaker 3: great conversation. I appreciate you pulling up before we get

1134
00:44:15,600 --> 00:44:18,680
Speaker 3: out of here. I like to ask people if there

1135
00:44:18,800 --> 00:44:23,040
Speaker 3: was a Melissa Proctor billboard somewhere in Atlanta and you

1136
00:44:23,080 --> 00:44:26,160
Speaker 3: could put any message you want to put on that billboard, Oh,

1137
00:44:27,480 --> 00:44:30,520
Speaker 3: what message would you put on your Melissa proct The

1138
00:44:30,520 --> 00:44:32,440
Speaker 3: billboard bonus points if you know where you would want

1139
00:44:32,480 --> 00:44:32,840
Speaker 3: to put.

1140
00:44:32,719 --> 00:44:35,440
Speaker 2: It, but you can't just throw that at me.

1141
00:44:35,520 --> 00:44:37,440
Speaker 3: That's would you put on it? Would you put a

1142
00:44:37,480 --> 00:44:39,520
Speaker 3: piece of advice? You put a quote? Would you put

1143
00:44:39,880 --> 00:44:41,359
Speaker 3: who was it? Would you say? Make dope? Shit?

1144
00:44:41,560 --> 00:44:43,920
Speaker 2: Like that's so funny because that's where I was going.

1145
00:44:44,200 --> 00:44:46,319
Speaker 1: We actually have it up in our offices on the wall.

1146
00:44:46,400 --> 00:44:47,840
Speaker 1: The creative team put it up there, and no, I

1147
00:44:47,880 --> 00:44:49,560
Speaker 1: don't think they know where it came from. I'm like,

1148
00:44:50,520 --> 00:44:54,960
Speaker 1: you probably can't curse on the billboard either, so huh, well,

1149
00:44:55,000 --> 00:44:58,080
Speaker 1: I would want it on our corner board selfishly, because

1150
00:44:58,080 --> 00:45:00,200
Speaker 1: it's the biggest board in the southeast right there to

1151
00:45:00,280 --> 00:45:02,839
Speaker 1: tail up at part driving Marrieta talk about that Hudson girl.

1152
00:45:03,080 --> 00:45:05,640
Speaker 1: Because it goes around around here. It does a lot

1153
00:45:05,719 --> 00:45:08,439
Speaker 1: of things, and so I would put it there for sure.

1154
00:45:09,160 --> 00:45:12,840
Speaker 2: What would it say? You know, I love fun and

1155
00:45:12,960 --> 00:45:13,480
Speaker 2: good energy.

1156
00:45:13,560 --> 00:45:15,080
Speaker 1: So when I was born my name was Melissa Bree

1157
00:45:15,160 --> 00:45:19,040
Speaker 1: McGee mmmm, so in college everyone called me that's what

1158
00:45:19,160 --> 00:45:19,520
Speaker 1: it would be.

1159
00:45:19,600 --> 00:45:22,760
Speaker 2: So I would probably have a picture of me my daughter.

1160
00:45:23,040 --> 00:45:27,080
Speaker 2: It would just say mmm. And if people knew, they'd

1161
00:45:27,120 --> 00:45:28,600
Speaker 2: be like, oh, it's so crazy.

1162
00:45:28,880 --> 00:45:31,240
Speaker 1: All she got it a little board, But I figured

1163
00:45:31,239 --> 00:45:34,239
Speaker 1: that would be like amazing and hilarious all at the

1164
00:45:34,280 --> 00:45:34,719
Speaker 1: same time.

1165
00:45:34,840 --> 00:45:36,840
Speaker 3: Well, that that would cap it off perfectly. Those who know.

1166
00:45:36,920 --> 00:45:38,279
Speaker 3: It's like, if you know, you know, if you know

1167
00:45:38,400 --> 00:45:39,880
Speaker 3: you know, if you don't know, ask.

1168
00:45:40,000 --> 00:45:42,040
Speaker 2: Right underneath it, I would probably put make dope.

1169
00:45:41,880 --> 00:45:45,239
Speaker 3: Shit for yo. Melissa, Thank you so much for pulling up.

1170
00:45:45,480 --> 00:45:45,719
Speaker 2: Thanks.

1171
00:45:46,360 --> 00:45:48,560
Speaker 3: This has been an amazing conversation. Y'all. Make sure y'all

1172
00:45:48,560 --> 00:45:50,600
Speaker 3: go out there and support the Hawks. Y'all make sure

1173
00:45:50,640 --> 00:45:53,400
Speaker 3: y'll go out to these events at State Farm Marina.

1174
00:45:54,400 --> 00:45:56,680
Speaker 3: And please y'all don't don't be calling up asking for tickets.

1175
00:45:56,680 --> 00:45:58,000
Speaker 2: Okay, Oh yeah, don't don't don't.

1176
00:45:58,200 --> 00:46:01,320
Speaker 1: Oh and check out my book too, girl, CMO almost forgot,

1177
00:46:01,440 --> 00:46:03,719
Speaker 1: but yeah, I wrote it for my daughter, So that's

1178
00:46:03,800 --> 00:46:05,560
Speaker 1: that's that's a big one, anyone. In all the gems,

1179
00:46:05,640 --> 00:46:07,400
Speaker 1: everything that I learned, I wrote in there for her,

1180
00:46:08,080 --> 00:46:09,840
Speaker 1: So that that was a good one. Starting as a

1181
00:46:09,880 --> 00:46:11,640
Speaker 1: ballgirls the CMO, well let's.

1182
00:46:11,480 --> 00:46:13,759
Speaker 3: Do it, you know, congratulations and everything, and uh, thank you.

1183
00:46:14,000 --> 00:46:17,400
Speaker 3: That's the pot. Y'all we out you've been listening to

1184
00:46:17,480 --> 00:46:20,840
Speaker 3: butteron nomics and I'm your host. Brandon Butler comments feedback.

1185
00:46:21,040 --> 00:46:22,640
Speaker 3: Want to be a part of the show. Send us

1186
00:46:22,640 --> 00:46:26,040
Speaker 3: an email today at Hello at butterdomics dot com. Butter

1187
00:46:26,120 --> 00:46:29,080
Speaker 3: Nomics is produced in Atlanta, Georgia at iHeartMedia by Ramsey,

1188
00:46:29,400 --> 00:46:32,120
Speaker 3: with marketing support from Queen and Nike. Music provided by

1189
00:46:32,200 --> 00:46:35,319
Speaker 3: Mister Hanky. If you haven't already, hit that subscribe button

1190
00:46:35,360 --> 00:46:37,640
Speaker 3: and never missed an episode, and be sure to follow

1191
00:46:37,719 --> 00:46:39,960
Speaker 3: us on all our social platforms at butter dot a

1192
00:46:40,080 --> 00:46:43,359
Speaker 3: t L. Listen to button Nomics on the iHeartRadio app,

1193
00:46:43,480 --> 00:46:46,000
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