November 18, 2025 • 47 mins
On this episode of Throttle Therapy, Katherine Legge is joined by Red Envelope Sports partner Shantal Lamelas, to discuss how she became one of the few female agents certified with the NFL. She gives insight into how boutique sports agency Red Envelope works collaboratively to support athletes during and after their careers. Also, Katherine and Shantal share their fitness philosophies and their love for adventure.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Throttle Therapy with Catherine Legg is an iHeart women's sports
production in partnership with Deep Blue Sports and Entertainment. You
can find us on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or
wherever you get your podcasts. Hey you guys, and welcome
(00:22):
Happy Tuesday again. It happens every week. I have been
doing more of the same. Actually this week I have
had like a spring clean in autumn over the weekend.
That's I spot my weekend because my mum is coming
into town on Tuesday, so I wanted to make everything
spick and span for her.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
I am.
Speaker 3 (00:42):
I feel like.
Speaker 1 (00:42):
I'm still spinning my wheels on trying to get next
year sorted out with teams and sponsors, but making progress,
I hope, pushing as hard as I can. It's tough
because you don't want to nag these people and be
a pain in their butt so they say no.
Speaker 3 (00:58):
But you also want to stay on the radar.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
So it's that season where you kind of just have
to dig in and it's more like a nine to
five and you're sending out proposals and you're doing you know,
emails and calls and working out, and you get into
a routine with working out, which is good because it's
hard to keep that routine throughout the season. I am
very happy to be joined by a new friend that
(01:22):
I've made this year.
Speaker 3 (01:24):
She's amazing.
Speaker 1 (01:25):
I'm very honored to welcome Chantal Lamellis to the pod.
Chantal is a global sports agent and a partner for
Red Envelope Sports, and she wraps elite athletes across USA
and Europe. But you're actually in La at the moment,
so we caught you.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
Yes, you've caught me. I leave for Madrid actually tomorrow.
I'm going to catch an NFL Academy versus the U
twenty one Madrid team game on Saturday, and then the
NFL actual game with the Miami Dolphins and the Commanders
on Sunday. So we actually have a receiver that plays
for the Dolphins to watch him at the first NFL
game ever in Spain. So super excited, obviously since my
(02:05):
dad was Spanish, so it means a lot to me
to actually be there.
Speaker 3 (02:09):
That's amazing.
Speaker 1 (02:10):
You do a lot of traveling and work really hard,
but it's also a really cool, unique existence. So you
specialize in partnerships within the NFL and anil strategy, so
you're one of very few women doing this, and you're
also one of very few people ever to be global
really correct.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
So as an NFL certified agent or NFL Players Association
certified advisor is the correct actual word for it. You know,
there are only ninety five women that are certified out
of I believe it's just over a thousand, so we
make up just over eight percent. But it's interesting because
even if we're certified, it doesn't necessarily mean that we
(02:53):
have individuals on teams with contracts. And there's a rule
that was implemented a couple of years ago where every
three years, if you do not have an NFL player
on a team within that three year span, you actually
lose your certification and have to retest. So even out
of the ninety five, not all of them actually have
a client. So I'm very very lucky to be able
(03:14):
to say that I do have active clients in the NFL.
Speaker 1 (03:17):
A few of them actually across the range, like.
Speaker 3 (03:20):
From people you've heard of to people who.
Speaker 1 (03:22):
Are just starting out and have First of all, I
want to know what do you have to do to
pass the test? Like do you have to take this
study and know everything about football and who's who and
what's what.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
No, So there's a collective bargaining agreement that you know
obviously now the new one that we have now it's
not new anymore, but the current one that we have
will expire in twenty thirty thirty. But we have to
basically be very well versed in that collective bargain agreement
along with the NFLPA Contract Advisor regulations for agents aka
contract advisors. So we take we used to be where
(03:58):
you go win in person to Washington, d C. Where
the NFLPA offices are, but now we do it virtually
and essentially we go through a seminar. We kind of
go over different topics. Obviously have had to have studied
for the exam a lot prior. They do give us
some study materials along with a copy of the CBA,
and then we take an exam at the end of
that seminar.
Speaker 3 (04:18):
So, how many players do you have under your purview?
Speaker 2 (04:21):
Unique thing about our agency is I don't like to
say I and I did use it before, but it's
really about we, you know, as our agency. What sets
us apart from a lot of others is it's our
clients and so everyone works with everyone so if someone
can't reach me, or someone can't reach one of my colleagues,
there's always someone. And what's great about that is each
of us have our strengths, and as you mentioned before,
(04:43):
like my strength is you know, strategy, corporate partnerships, marketing,
you know, contract negotiations where there are some individuals that
know like the ins and outs, like they're your stat
guys and they know all the coaches and the schemes,
and like there's a couple of us that are really
well versed in that. And so our agency as a whole,
(05:04):
probably between NFL NIL coaches, i'd say we probably have
about ninety clients at this point in time. So and
that's across the board.
Speaker 3 (05:13):
That's a lot of people to look after and know intimately.
Speaker 2 (05:16):
Yes, we have expanded, you know, we've grown this year
and added you know, really dived into that NIL space
even more so than before because we're realizing, you know,
that there are a lot of individuals out there that
are just in it for the money, and you know,
they don't really know what they're doing. And so our
experience being in the field of NFL before the players
(05:36):
were able to be paid, you know, four and a
half years ago almost now it's we know what we're doing,
and so as much as we tried to stay out
of it, we just we figured out that we were
doing a disservice to everyone because we did have the experience,
we did have the contacts. We you know, we're able
to look at these contracts and say you can't sign
that because you're you know, when it comes to name
(05:58):
and likeness, if you signed something that prohibits you from
signing the group licensing agreement with the NFLPA for your
NFL career, then you're screwed, right, So you know, everyone
has to be very careful and you shouldn't understand this
as an athlete as well. When you're signing agreements, your
name and likeness is everything too, right, so you have
to be very careful about who you allow use it
(06:19):
and you know how long exactly. So that's more on
the NIL side, right. The NFL side, you have your
contracts with the teams. The NFL Players Association is obviously
you know, very involved with that, and you have your
collective bargain agreement and salary cap and whatnot. So it's
just very different the NFL versus the NIL space and
(06:39):
nil covers everyone now, right, it's high school kids, college kids.
There's really no restriction with age nowadays. Now, don't get
me wrong, there are certain states that are a lot
allowing their high school students to collect money, you know.
So it just depends. Every state has its rules. The
NCUBA has rules, I mean, and it's all always changing.
(07:00):
So what I say today could be wrong tomorrow because
who knows, right, there's always something being voted on.
Speaker 1 (07:06):
It's tricky because you know that they're going to have
a life after football as well, and so speaking from
experience personal experience, you have blinkers on with what you're
trying to do, whether it's football or racing. So all
I wanted to think about is racing, racing, racing, and
I didn't want to think about, Okay, what am I
going to do after racing? And if you're one of
(07:26):
the lucky ones and you get to stay in it
and either do TV or coaching or something around that.
But it's really kind of a responsibility that you have
to them to make them think about Okay, that's all
very well and good now, but what if you hurt yourself?
What if this happens, like what you still have to
(07:47):
do your school work. You still have to study, you
still have to do this, that and the other. And
so I would find it a difficult balance of like
the show me the money that everybody probably thinks that
that's what you that's what you do. You're tom Craize
in this scenario. But it's like that, but it wasso
looking after what's the best interest if it were olds
(08:08):
go wrong.
Speaker 2 (08:10):
And I want to say, you know, bringing that to
the agent world, a lot of us are a lot
of individuals out there are going to be show me
the money and all about the money, you know. But
I pride myself as does our agency and the fact
that we do care about you even if we're not
making money off of you post career. If you need something,
call us, if we can make a connection for you,
(08:30):
let's do it. I mean, I have clients I've been
in this nineteen and a half years now at this agency,
and I still have clients from seventeen years ago that
call me, Hey, you know, I've decided that I want
to get into coaching. Or I opened up this performance studio.
Can you help me market it? You know, what do
you think about this? So? Or I'll go you know,
(08:51):
we still keep in touch to where now they have
kids and I go to their kids' soccer matches, you know,
if I'm in town, and so I think it's really
building those relationships. And you know, I always say quality
over quantity, right, because if it gets to the point
where you cannot provide the service or the attention that
an athlete needs, then you know, no one's winning, right
(09:11):
because they're going to be upset, You're frustrated, and you know,
and especially for me, like it does weigh on me
when I can't provide something around you know, oh man,
we really need to get sponsorship or this. They really
want this, and you know there are roadblocks along the way,
and it just it really depends on who you are
as a person, as an agency, and everyone that I
(09:32):
work with. I mean, I have a colleague that has
worked with me. He started probably a month before I
did so again nineteen and a half years, another one
for thirteen years. We're extremely loyal, We know each other,
we work well, and even the individuals that we've added
over the years, they fit that mold. I mean, right now,
we have a player that was our client for eight years,
played in the NFL for eight seasons, decided he wanted
(09:53):
to be an agent. You know, talk to my colleague
and I about it, and we said, you know, if
this is what you want to do, why don't you
try it? And he brought something new to our team,
right because he had the experience in the locker room.
And it just goes to show you there was a
client who played eight years in the league, happy with us,
wanted to join our team, you know, and fits that
mold and so it was just it was a perfect
(10:16):
fit in that sense. So I would like to say,
and I mean, obviously there are different agencies out there,
and we are more of the boutique agency as opposed
to some of these bigger agencies. But even though we're
a boutique, we've dealt with some high profile clients. We've
negotiated some huge contracts and you know, you are going
to just get a different quality of service in my
(10:38):
opinion when it comes to us.
Speaker 1 (10:53):
Is there competition between agents.
Speaker 2 (10:56):
Within our firm.
Speaker 1 (10:57):
No, And that's like within different and buying for clients
and trying to take deals.
Speaker 2 (11:05):
Yeah, one hundred percent. You know, obviously we've been in
the NFL world a lot more than the nil so
we haven't dealt with the nil poaching world, as we
call it. We've dealt with it in the NFL world.
You know, there's a window of time when other agencies,
when a contract for a player is about to end,
there is a window that other agencies can send marketing materials.
(11:28):
It can't be personalized, but they can send materials to
any player, even if they have an agent within that
window of time. So you do see that a lot.
I mean I have heard a lot of different agencies
that literally just have an intern or someone on their
staff say, look at whose contract is coming up, who's
going into their second or third contract, and that's who
we need to send marketing materials for. And does it happen? Absolutely,
(11:51):
do we do that. No, but it happens. Should I know,
I think about it going wait a second, you know,
And we've been fortunate enough to where we've done such
a great job that we haven't lost a lot of
clients in the last like I said, almost twenty years,
you know. So again it's building those relationships. And you
know that, I'd say, at the end of the day,
(12:13):
even when we're pitching clients, now we're boutique. If you
are looking to be with a huge agency that's in
you know, entertainment business. It's going to get you into
all these suites at all these parties and kind of
has this big hurrah. We're not the right agency for you, right,
If you want individuals that are experienced, you want individuals
that are that are going to answer your call when
you call or text message, and you have the availability
(12:35):
of anyone, pretty Mitch twenty four to seven. That's us,
Like it's just and it's just like it's our reputation
when we sign a client, it's your reputation as an
athlete as well. Right, So you better know who you're
signing with and how teams and gms at these different
colleges and NFL teams, how they perceive clients coming from us,
(12:56):
and so for up you know, when a team on
the NFL side, I can speak to this more. But
on the NFL side, if a team looks at who
your agent is, okay, they know coming from Red envelope Sports,
they are going to get an individual that shows up
on time or is early. They're going to be a
locker room person. They're not going to be dramatic and
cause all of these issues and they're going to be,
(13:17):
you know, a stand up guy. When you have all
of these players vying for that spot. When it comes
down to cutdowns in the NFL, you know, they're looking
at two players that could be equivalent. And sometimes I
do feel that they look at who their agent is
and they're like, you know what this is who reps them.
They've been in this a long time. We have had
great success with the players that have been with us,
(13:38):
and I do think that it kind of gives them
some leverage. And I'm not saying that happens every time,
because you know, at the end of the day, it's
a business. But I do feel that our reputation in
this business really can can help leverage certain situations and
just our connections as well. And that's why I've been
in this so long. To be completely honest, Catherine, I
(14:00):
I remember when I was in my master's program and
there was an agent that came to speak to us
and he said, I used to Actually I don't think
he was an agent anymore. He said, I used to
be an agent, and I hated my life. I just
we dealt with so many prima donnas. I was twenty
four to seven, and I thought, oh, my gosh, I
never want to do this, and so I didn't apply
(14:21):
for this job. You know, there was the owner of
the agency was looking for someone that actually was coming
on with a marketing partnership's background, because back then he
knew that it was going to grow and you can
see where we are now in marketing and partnerships and
social and he wanted to bring someone on board because
most of them were attorneys, you know, they were very
(14:41):
football centric. And so I came from soccer corporate partnerships,
marketing contract negotiations and brought kind of a new feel
to it. But I would have never made the jump
from the LA Galaxy, which is the major league soccer
team here in Los Angeles, to an agency had I
not known the person that knew the owner of the
see for so long. I mean she had known me
(15:02):
since I was fourteen. And I said, look, I am
very honest, very loyal. I don't really mention that gray
area it, you know, I don't like to. And she said, look,
he is black and white. He definitely has morals and values.
You know, he's been in this business a long time.
And I would not steer you in the direction of
(15:22):
someone that I thought you wouldn't like to work with
and so it was kind of this and same with him, right,
he said, well, who is this He was extremely picky,
He was very detail oriented. And she said, the only
one I know in sports that I would ever recommend
to you that would even you know, basically be what
you would like is this individual. And it turned into
(15:43):
him calling me on a Friday afternoon setting up a
meeting to meet the two colleagues on Saturday. I think
that they obviously vetted me because then he's like, oh,
I might end up meeting you after that. I mean,
it was kind of those maybes. I ended up meeting
with him and he offered me the job by the
end of our meeting, of our interview, I guess you say.
And I had three days to make a decision. And
you know, going from being in soccer and which is
(16:06):
the sport that I played, you know it, I was like,
I'm going over to football, which obviously i'd watched the
Super Bowl, you know, I had a general interest, but
I didn't really know too much about it. And I
also was like, I want to go work at a
sports agency. Are we sure about this? But I did
make the jump and here I am nineteen and a
half years later, and I will tell you that we
(16:27):
are unique in the sense that it's not all about
the money. We actually care about the players. And you know,
speaking of that post career that you mentioned earlier, that's
extremely important, you know, because all of these athletes, you know,
yourself included, I mean, but especially for football players, right,
they're in this hamster wheel. They've been playing football pretty
much their entire life, especially here in the US. Europe
(16:49):
is a little different in other things, but you know,
they've been on this hamster wheel. In college there, they know,
they go to this class, they have a tutor, they
have you know, practice at this time they watched and
so when and then they go to the NFL. Same thing, right,
So when they come out of the NFL, they're like,
what do we do with our life? Like we're always
been surrounded by people, we have a schedule, and then
(17:11):
you go to I don't have a schedule. I don't
have someone telling me I need to be somewhere. You
lose yourself, right, You lose a sense of yourself and
you don't know what to do. And I actually think
that's when we are even more important in some in
an athlete's life is that post career and helping them
navigate the unknown. And they're young still. It's not like
they're fifty years old looking for retirement, right. Some of
(17:33):
them are late twenties, some of them are, you know,
mid thirties. They're young, you know, in relation to everything.
So they have a whole career ahead of themselves. And
so it's you know, it's also like as you get
to know them while they're playing, utilize that platform, like
what do you think you want to do afterwards? You know,
can we get you into these business workshops, can you
go shadow this person? Do you want to get into coaching?
(17:54):
And so I do think that that's actually extremely important,
and that's the part of the career where you might
not make any money. I'm not sure. They go into
broadcasting and you do the deal, or you know, they
become a coach and they you know, they stay with you.
But at the end of the day, a lot of
them go do other business ventures or you know, they
go do other things, and they lean on you to
be that support because we've been with them for so long.
(18:15):
And I love that, you know, I love that relationship
and I am passionate about being there for them post career.
Speaker 3 (18:23):
Yeah, I mean it terrifies me.
Speaker 1 (18:24):
And I think that the moment that I think about
what I'm going to do after racing is the moment
that I've decided that I don't. I'm not racing anymore,
so I'm not going to look at it. I do
know that I want to do something to bring up
other young women in racing and give them the opportunity.
So we're doing a diversity program that I've spoken about
before because that's something that's really important to me because
(18:46):
it's a lonely unique path that we go down. And
I'm sure it's exactly the same for you, because I
can imagine locker rooms and other agents and players and
everything else like I imagine you don't work with on
a daily basis many other women.
Speaker 2 (19:02):
No, And I will say I have been lucky to
work with a handful and we are primarily football and
we are pretty much all football now. But back in
the day, you know, we were able to take one
off clients and it was mostly Olympic athletes of you know,
a few years back, we started working with a female
karate athlete because Tokyo Olympics had added karate as a sport.
(19:25):
Obviously that's been removed, you know for the LA Olympics
and whatnot, and for the Olympics that we just had
in twenty twenty four. But you know, just hearing her
struggles of being an individual in a sport that's really
not popular here in the US like it is in
Japan and even Europe. So and then before that, you know,
(19:46):
worked with another individual in the Olympics, and I haven't
worked with many right in that female space, and so
you're right, I mean, it's very different. And what I
will say though, is even being a female soccer player
back in the day, at least I've seen the growth
in female athletics, right, Like now you know, they're understanding,
(20:07):
like we've always tried to tell them that, you know,
marketing and partnerships and all these brands, it's the women
that you need to be working with, right It's the
girls and the females in those sports, you know. So
finally they're realizing this, right, which is great. I love, yes,
but it's difficult and you know, as you have seen
(20:28):
in your sport, it takes a lot of support from
sponsors and money to compete in your sport and you
are not. You don't have a team behind you in
the sense you don't have an NFL team that has
someone involved in player engagement and all this. Right, it's
just you and then obviously who you surround yourself with
to help you. But it's extremely hard because you have
(20:50):
so many athletes now in all different sports across the
board trying to you know, get nil deals, marketing deals,
partnerships and money right sponsorship. So it has become harder
because it is saturated now. But it is, yes, it's
but for you, I will say, I do you know
it's funny because you're like, I don't want to even
(21:10):
think about a plan be because I'm on Plan A here.
But you know you say that, But look, you have
a podcast. You know, you just wrote a book. I mean,
you're doing things that kind of will create more opportunities
when you do decide to leave racing and retire from that.
Speaker 1 (21:28):
Right, and I'm old, hopefully a few years from now.
I got a few left in. One of the first
things that we bonded over was our love of doing
crazy things. You obviously are very sporty. One of the
things that we were doing when we were at the
the Droplight conference was like showing off our guns to
(21:52):
anybody here with this.
Speaker 2 (21:54):
Look.
Speaker 1 (21:56):
But you are I mean, you've done spartans, you've done marathons,
You've done crazy climbing up big mountains and stuff. So
obviously fitness and keeping that side of your life going
is really important to you.
Speaker 2 (22:09):
To you, yes, I have done just recently this July.
I will tell you I'm a soccer player and I
will run with the ball all day long. But in
high school I had a coach that just killed us
with conditioning, with running, doing the bleachers, doing sprints, suicides
and all that. And I hate running.
Speaker 3 (22:29):
I mean so much.
Speaker 2 (22:31):
She just killed it for me, and so I laughed
because obviously part of soccer is in durance. You need
to run and condition. But there's one other time in
my life. I ran a half marathon up in San Francisco,
and I it was you know, I always try to
do something new for my birthday, And I said, all right,
I'm going to do this. I will tell you for training,
I don't think I ran more than four miles for
(22:53):
like at a for that half marathon, but I do
a lot of cross training. I was still playing soccer
on a co seven on seven. I was still going
to the gym and doing kind of hit workouts, and
you'd be surprised at how much those types of workouts
really do set you up for this endurance of running.
I mean, I guess you do have to get your
feet ready to do thirteen point two miles. Well, anyway,
(23:16):
I never thought I would do that again. Well, then
this July I decided to do the Spartan Race in Marzine, France,
and I doubled it right nearly right, I think it
was twenty two kilometers with thirty obstacles in the Alps
French Alps, so with altitude, with hills, with obstacles. But
(23:38):
you know what, I just thought, I want to try it.
I'm just going out there for fun. This is not
to competing at a time. Let's see if I can
finish this. And it was obviously beautiful. I said, if
there's not, you know, if the views aren't good, then
I'm not doing it. But it was. It was just
a great experience. And at the end, as you know,
like when you finish something, it's like all this adrenaline
(24:00):
and you're just like wow, like, look, look what I
just did. I survived. And right before that race, I
had hurt my knee playing soccer and I thought, oh
my goodness, I'm not gonna be able to do this.
And so just I think even that of the stress
of not being able to train as much leading up
to it and thinking, oh my gosh, is my knee
gonna go out? And I will tell you like I
did everything under the sun. When we talk about recovery,
(24:22):
and I know this well for all of our football
players that get injured. It's like I know everything under
the sun, and I did everything except for acupunctures, the
one thing I didn't do. But you know, I just thought,
I gotta get ready, like I've got something I've got
to I'm not going to pull out of this. And
so yes, I definitely have that adventure streak, as do you.
And if you want to do a race, right, Okay, Okay,
(24:45):
maybe not twenty I thought I was so long, But
another one five or ten.
Speaker 1 (24:50):
There's a half marathon Indie, I think, okay, well they
used to be and we could do we could maybe
do that one a five hundred.
Speaker 3 (24:58):
Oh, we can do a spot and race.
Speaker 1 (25:00):
I think it would be kind of cool to do
something in the mountains and something that's trained for, because
my struggle is I've gone to the gym and picked
up heavy things and put them down again for the
last twenty years, and it gets really boring if you
don't have something to train for.
Speaker 3 (25:16):
So that's why I did that.
Speaker 1 (25:17):
I'm man because it gave me motivation and it gave
me a goal other than just racing oriented fitness. And
that's why I love CrossFit because I have friends and
we all push each other and it's like a it's
like a community, but it's also a competition and yeah yeah, yeah,
So I love running, but it's also kind of boring.
(25:39):
So if if we've got like a really cool one,
or we do a Spartan race, but I don't know,
they've probably got them in Tennessee or somewhere.
Speaker 2 (25:46):
They have them everywhere worldwide. That's why I went to Marzine,
France to do mine. But they're worldwide, so we have
to pick a cool destination.
Speaker 3 (25:53):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (25:54):
I like Spartan because it has the obstacles because, like you,
I get bored pretty easily. That's why I don't like running,
and so this kind of you know, whether you're going
through the lake in the water or climbing up a waterfall,
which is what morzine and like the obstacles are what
sold me in the pictures because my colleague had done
the old like he did double what I did the
year before. But I will say, I agree with you
(26:18):
with training and you have to change it up. And
that's why even our players when they go train in
the off season, you know, some of them get into boxing.
Some of them. We even had, you know, one of
our players he decided to take up rock climbing, and
you know because it helped kind of with his grip
and with his endurance of his arms and his forearms.
(26:38):
I mean, completely out of the blue. But I said,
you know what, like do something that interests you so
that you can stay motivated because it is so intense.
Speaker 1 (26:47):
So absolutely, how did you train for the obstacles? Like
did you put a net in the backyard and crawl
underneath it and stuff?
Speaker 2 (26:54):
So luckily here in Santa Monica they have the rings,
because a lot of the partan had the rings where
you have to wing. We had the ropes in Santa Monica.
The monkey bars. Yes, you know, and when you're a kid,
this is so easy. You think, oh, I can do this,
and then you go try and it as an adult
and you're like, this is really hard. I don't know
what happens. I guess we be way more. I don't know,
(27:15):
but yeah, So luckily I had that not in my
backyard because it is still a drive for me, but
it's local enough to where I was able to go
do that. You know, I've been training, you know, I play,
like I said, I do still play soccer seven on
seven co eds, so I was getting a little bit
of dan endurance from that. And then also you know
I've been training. I've had a trainer for years as
well that he's always because I get bored. I will
(27:37):
tell you, I like challenges. He's always trying to just
you know, do something new, whether it's balancing on two
bosue balls or you know, I don't even know, like
doing a handstand and then you know, flipping over this,
and he I will say, like, I've challenged him to
come up with some unique exercises because I do get
(27:58):
so bored. But honestly, all of those balance exercises has
I mean, it's kind of muscle memory, even though I
haven't been training as hard recently, like it's all there.
And I will say balance is huge when you're doing
certain things I think people don't understand, like just standing
one leged and balancing can do a lot for your
core strength and just overall confidence even when I hike.
(28:20):
I mean, I have friends that are so afraid of
falling off the mountain, are taking a step, or even
when they're crossing water crossings because they don't have that balance.
And I'm so confident in standing one leged that I'm like, oh, yeah,
I hop off around. But it was interesting to hear
their perspective of how they kind of get nervous when
they hike, especially when they're cliffs or something that they
feel unsteady a little bit. And I said, oh, I've
(28:41):
never felt that way. And again I do think it's
from years of doing that balance strain and you know,
and doing those different obstacles that I'm just like, oh,
this is this is nothing.
Speaker 1 (28:50):
So I got my THEO.
Speaker 2 (28:57):
Have you ever tried the indoor board.
Speaker 3 (29:00):
Board surfboard with the thing in the middle. Yes.
Speaker 2 (29:04):
Now, the first like the first time I tried that,
I was like, I am gonna go flying. That thing
went flying out from underneath me. I was like I'm
gonna die. But let me tell you how when you
get used to it and you can like start doing
squats on it. Wow, incredible. In fact, our karate athlete
that we were working with, she does a lot of
balance work, obviously because she has to be so balanced
(29:26):
when she makes those quick movements. She does a lot
of work on the indoor board and bo sue and
and even she just juggles a soccer ball too sometimes,
like she is extremely like I love it. I feel
like we just always are coming up with new ideas
of how to train, and I love that. But yes,
even her like balance is extremely important even as we
(29:46):
get older.
Speaker 1 (29:47):
Two random questions. First question is how many keepy uppies
can you do?
Speaker 2 (29:53):
What are keep uppies?
Speaker 1 (29:55):
This is prosit I don't know, pipple, it will always
be fipbled. So how how many like bouncing on the
knees or bouncing on the feet without like the whole
keep you upies?
Speaker 3 (30:07):
You know?
Speaker 2 (30:07):
Okay?
Speaker 3 (30:08):
God?
Speaker 2 (30:08):
I was like, what are keep the uppies? If they
call it juggling for us, Like, how many? Like juggling
is what you do, it's it's dribbling is on the ground.
Juggling is when the ball's in the air. But you know,
I have never been very good at that. I don't
think I've ever kept track of a number. I have
certain friends that are just excellent at it, but I've
never been like, oh, yeah, I got to get one hundred.
(30:30):
I've probably been able to do maybe twenty five thirty
I kill a long time ago. You can do how many?
Speaker 3 (30:38):
About five? That's it? But soccer allowed to play football?
Speaker 1 (30:42):
Football was not for girls in England back when I
was in school.
Speaker 2 (30:46):
So I read that because when I moved from Miami
to Australia when I was just after eighth grade, so
probably thirteen fourteen, I was shocked when I moved to
Australia and all they had for women's sports was field
hockey and there might have been one other, but they
didn't have soccer. And I just was like, I guess
(31:07):
I'm not going to play here now. Luckily I moved
back to I moved to Los Angeles not too long
after that, and obviously they had it here. But yes,
I was surprised, and I'm sure it was similar in
England and a lot of different places in Europe and
the world other than the US.
Speaker 1 (31:21):
Yeah, I mean female soccer here is next level. It's amazing.
I'd never understood American football. So my first foray into
(31:42):
it was in two thousand and five. I think it
was when I came over here and I was racing
and I was in Indy. No, it was two thousand
and six when I was in Indy and so we
had the Colts and we won the Super Bowl that year,
and I was like, this is awesome. This is so easy.
Just come to a town and we win the Super Bowl.
Speaker 3 (32:02):
And I went to an.
Speaker 1 (32:03):
IU game and I thought, Wow, this is incredible for
college sports. But then recently I just went to a
UGA game and I was thinking, this is absolutely bananna.
Is the amount of people and the amount of commercial
stuff around these college games and all of these people's
(32:23):
emotions that is reliant on these fifteen year old.
Speaker 3 (32:27):
Kids going out and playing with the ball.
Speaker 1 (32:29):
It's just it's mind boggling how passionate these people are
about football. And I think it's the same with me
and racing. I think if you find something that you
really love and you can associate it with a team,
like whatever college you went to or whatever town football
team you grew up with, then that's why it's such
a huge industry, just like soccer is for the rest
(32:52):
of the world.
Speaker 2 (32:52):
Really, that's right, it's insane. I mean college football and
the fan base. I mean the tailgates they go all
I mean last weekend, I was at USC on Friday
and UCLA on Saturday, so two colleges in one town,
and just it was unreal. The setups, like the whole
(33:13):
RV with the TV screens set up for tailgate. They're
all decked out. But they just love it, like that's
during football season and that's what they do. That's what
they do every you know, it was Friday night for USC,
it's Saturday. But that's such a they do on the weekends,
like they live and breathe football. And a lot of
these towns like Uga right where that's based, it's just
a football town like that area college right, Like it's
(33:36):
the college town. It's the same with Alabama, right, it's
like it's all about that university. And you know for
those powerhouses, the powerhouses in football, but some of them
also in basketball. But it is intense and you do
feel that when you go to a soccer match or
football match in Europe. I mean, it is intense stadiums.
(33:56):
I mean, as you know, like there's sometimes it's too
much right where it's like people are throwing things and
getting in fights and we step here. But it's it's
in a pretty big scale in soccer worldwide. So but yes,
it's it's unreal. I mean we have some you know,
I know some people that have high school football players
recruits that are going on these official visits to colleges
and they're invited out to a game and they are
(34:19):
just like not, it's overwhelming to them everything that goes
into it, and it's like wow, mind boggling. And I said, oh, yes,
there's a lot of money in college athletics, and there's
even more money now with this whole name and likeness
that college players can make money. I mean there was
money before, There's always been money, right, but the players really,
you know, we're not allowed to gain me that money legally,
(34:40):
and now that they can, I feel like there's even
more money involved, right because everyone wants to have the
best team and win, and you know, now there's the
Cellar Cup. But it's it's very interesting. So and it's
fun too because I've been in this so long a
lot of times when these European players come over, even
just friends that visit and they go to these games,
they're just wow. And it's nice to see that because
(35:02):
I'm like, oh, this is my everyday life kind of
right for the last oh gosh, almost you guys, but
doug it. But you know, I love that because I
feed off of it. And you know, even yesterday I
took this athlete or this player that's you know, going
from a junior college he's going to transition to a
D one and he had you know, he was so
passionate about it and just everything that goes into and
(35:25):
I loved it, Like you just feel it, right, I
just love that. And even for you, like when you're yeah,
it's just it's you can't even describe it. And even
when we were at the panel, right, like you and
I are in sports, but the other individuals weren't really
in sports, except obviously with uh, you know, Bridgetom tires.
But it's like it's just a different feel, right, You're
around individuals that are pushing to be better. You know,
(35:48):
it's that overall excitement and it kind of keeps us young, right,
like keeps us motivated, like we want to be better tomorrow.
Than we are today, you know. And it's it's that
vibe and it's just hard to describe when you don't
work in it. And I can see now that people
from the outside when they see it, they're like, oh
my gosh, it's just this whole different energy. And I
mean that's just and we're lucky enough to be in it, right.
(36:11):
So and obviously there don't get me wrong, there are
pros and cons to all of it. But I will
say like it made me even more aware of it
during our panel of how one of the individuals like,
there's just so much passion and so much energy, and
I would love to go into sports, you know, and
work on this side, and she was, what in hr? Right?
So it's just it's we're very fortunate to be around that,
(36:33):
and I do think it keeps us young. And I mean,
you're an actual athlete. I'm an agent, but you know,
I am motivated because I'm around these athletes that train
all the time. Right they bust their butt in the gyms,
they're out in the hills, and I see it on
their social and I'm like, you know what, if they're
doing that, I can do it too, right. And it's
also my stress relief, right, Like, I don't use anything
else for stress relief except working out or hiking and
(36:56):
just being outside because I am in front of a
screen a lot of times or on the phone, and
you know, I enjoy That's kind of like my way
of just okay, let me just take a breath, right
and get some of this frustration out. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (37:08):
Yeah, I think we're incredibly lucky though, and I've said
this before. I think if you have a passion and
a goal and something that you want to do that
you're driven by, no pun intended, then you are lucky
because that's what makes you want to get up every morning.
A lot of people don't know what they want to
be when they grow up, and they go through life
just having a job, whereas I feel like this is
(37:31):
a passion for you, for me, for like, I feel
like we're lucky.
Speaker 2 (37:36):
Yeah, we are lucky, and I'm very fortunate to have
been in this a long time. But I tell this
to a lot of individuals that are younger that I
speak to. You know, you have to stay true to
yourself because otherwise you can get swallowed in a lot
of different things and just don't go in the direction
and you're unhappy, right, But if you stay true to
yourself and what you believe in and you obtain success
(37:58):
in that manner, I just it's even more fulfilling. Like
I mentioned earlier, like there's not a lot of female
agents on the NFL side, right, but there used to
be even less, right, So now we have ninety five.
I remember when there were like heen, okay, so it's growing.
And even the sport management programs in graduate programs. When
(38:18):
I graduated from UCLA, there were maybe five in the
US of sport management programs in that Now you can
get a JB and an mba joint for sports administration
or sports business and they're all over the world now,
So I mean, I think there's just a lot more
people in the sports world, which makes it harder to
get into. But you know, being a female in a
(38:40):
male dominant field, just like you are a female and
male dominant, you have a little bit of grit yourself
or you definitely have to grit right because it's although
you're getting pushed to the side really quick. I've got
a thick skin, yes, but you adapt and you have
to just make a name for yourself and it you know,
I like challenges like I like challenges in fitness and
(39:02):
in life and in work, like if I'm bored, I
would be out of it. And because I never know
what's going to come every day, I think it keeps
me on my toes. And you know, football is football.
I've been fortunate enough to work with other athletes and
other sports, which I loved because it's driven me to
learn about something I had never known about. I mean,
I would say, oh my gosh, I don't know how
(39:23):
long I've been working with him. But it was an athlete,
wheelchair motocross athlete, okay, and his mom cold called us
years ago. I mean, I want to say, I don't know,
maybe fourteen years ago at this point, and she said,
I know this is going to sound crazy, but my
son was born as Pina Bitha. He's in a wheelchair
and he does flips off these big ramps like X games.
(39:45):
And I was like, what are you talking about? So Cale,
I was like, all right, well let's meet them. Long
story short, We ended up taking him on as a client,
and I didn't know anything about wheelchair motocross at that point.
He was calling it hardcore sitting. It wasn't really well known,
but the growth of the sport and the evolution of it,
even with him being kind of the pioneer of it, right,
(40:07):
has been so inspirational and so fulfilling for me career
wise because he's been able to inspire so many kids
and adults that are in wheelchairs that this is my toy.
Like he has a great time. And I knew nothing
about that. Like you talk to me about wheels and
folks and this, and I'm like what, But I've learned
so much. You know, a few years back, there was
(40:28):
a formula race car driver who was based in Spain
needed some help on the partnership side. I knew nothing
about formula racing, like nothing, and I flew They flew
me out there so I could kind of understand. I
had no idea what went on with all the engineers
and every little piece of I mean, it's your world too.
I mean you're not formula, but you know there are
(40:49):
a lot of similarities. And again, knew nothing about it,
but I went and I learned, and I was like, wow,
this is fascinating. Right, So those little things in different sports,
you know, I think have really kept me on my toes.
And I love to learn, And that's why I'm still
in this right because I know a lot about football,
but I'm always learning and things are always changing. But
(41:10):
these other sports, I like, the individual sports, like for instance,
for you, right, because you actually need a lot of
help because you have to pay to play or pay
to compete. In football, they're being paid, right. There's a
big difference that I try to explain to people of
you know, when they're competing, they have to have sponsorship, right,
they have to because otherwise they can't do it. And
(41:33):
so the individual athletes, I think are the ones that
we need to help even more, and it does take
a lot more time, but even that is extremely fulfilling
because you know that they need you and they you know,
and you know this, you know, like we've talked about
this of the frustrations of it, so you know, but
it's you know, there's only one me, there's only one
(41:55):
in my colleagues, right, so there's only so much we
can do. And that's why you know, with these one
off clients, we have to a lot of times we
just don't have the time to do it, and you know,
and it's about being upfront and honest about it, like
we just don't have the bandwidth right now, but maybe
in the future if something opens up. But I enjoy that,
like learning about all these different sports, I will say,
like I love football, but I love a challenge. I
(42:16):
love a challenge. Keep say on my toes. I get
bored very easily, as you can tell. And you do too,
do I do? Yeah? That's my namesh.
Speaker 1 (42:25):
So last question before I let you go. If you
were not a sports agent or what would you be?
Speaker 2 (42:31):
I would most likely be working with animals in some capacity.
So my passion is wildlife conservation and also helping others.
I I love to travel. I love to learn about
new cultures. One of my favorite continents is Africa. I
mean obviously with the wildlife, with the people. I mean,
(42:53):
you've got everything you can think of there. And but yes,
I think it would be in wildlife conservation for sure.
Or I do love to travel, but I can't tell
you that I would be involved in travel per se,
like being a travel agent, because that's just a whole
nother stress and I don't know if I would like
travel at that point, but yes, it would be in
some capacity working with animals. And I will tell you know,
(43:14):
I grew up around animals. When I moved to Los Angeles,
I started to get involved in horses, which I had
always loved, but in Miami we really could there was
nothing really close. So I was here in LA there
was an equestrian center five minutes from where I lived,
and you know, I volunteered there. Loved it, and for
a long time I thought I would be a vet
But then being with alongside the equine vetinarians that came
(43:38):
to the barn all the time and seeing what they
had to deal with, I said, there's no way I
can do this mentally, you know, having to put down
or you know, unfortunately the sad part of it, right,
I just mentally was like I can't do this, and
so I decided to stay away from that. But you know,
when it comes to yeah, I just I don't know
(44:00):
what it is. I just love animals, and so I
would be involved in some capacity with animals. I just
love them.
Speaker 3 (44:05):
I cannot handle it.
Speaker 1 (44:07):
Like when I'm watching a movie and a dog dies
or gets killed or a whole or something else, like
I stop bowling. But if people get killed, then it's
that's like totally different.
Speaker 2 (44:19):
Say that life bather and people are gonna be like,
oh my gosh, you care about animals more than you
and it's just.
Speaker 3 (44:25):
A different thing. It's activated in my brain.
Speaker 2 (44:29):
I have this t shirt my friend gave me and
it says loves animals, Tolerance people, and I'm like, that's fine.
It I mean, animals can't really talk. I mean they can,
they can now, and they can bark and the horse
can activate their ears. But yeah, it's it's just it's
hard to explain to individuals that have never either had
their own animal or have never been around them. A
(44:50):
lot of people are actually very scared of horses, and
you know, I'm like, why are you scared of them?
They're so big, and it's like, but if you understand
how they communicate and who they are, I mean, horses
are just incredible, as are you know, obviously our cats
and dogs. But it is hard to explain individuals that
have not had an animal or been around them a lot.
Just it's just a different connection. It's it's very different.
Speaker 1 (45:12):
So it is, but I feel like being a vet
is way too much studying. I mean it's like being
a doctor. But then a doctor for I don't know
how many different species and so how long to be
a vet, you have to be in school for like
seven years or nine years or something completely bunkers.
Speaker 2 (45:27):
Right, Oh my gosh. Yeah, you do your undergraduate, then
you have to apply for vet school and I know
that's another four years and then I believe depending on
if you go into a specialty or what you go into,
then you you know, you have to do after. It's
like becoming a doctor for people. I mean, you know,
my brother was an undergraduate, then med school, then he
had to do residency, then he did a your fellowship.
(45:48):
I mean I think in total it was like fifteen years.
Speaker 3 (45:51):
It's crazy, crazy.
Speaker 2 (45:52):
So you know, it's yeah, a lot of it. And
unfortunately a lot of these jobs that are so extensive
on that study and take so long, a lot of
people aren't doing them, so we have shortages of that,
you know, especially large animal that's here. So anyway, it's
a different world. But yes, that's what I've been doing,
something a lot.
Speaker 3 (46:12):
To next life differently.
Speaker 1 (46:13):
Yes, Well, thank you so much for joining me on
the pod. It was fascinating to get to insight into
your life. I appreciate it and I wish you all
the best for your travels to Madrid.
Speaker 3 (46:25):
Tomorrow.
Speaker 2 (46:26):
Thank you appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (46:31):
Thanks for listening to Throttle Therapy. We'll be back next
week with more updates and more overtakes.
Speaker 3 (46:36):
We want to hear from you.
Speaker 1 (46:38):
Leave us a review in Apple Podcasts and tell us
what you want to talk about. It might just be
the topic for our next show. Throttle Therapy is hosted
by Katherine Legg. Our executive producer is Jesse Katz, and
our supervising producer is Grace Fuse. Listen to Throttle Therapy
on America's number one podcast network, i Heeart. Open your
(46:58):
free iHeart app and say throsto therapy with Catherine Legg
and start listening.
Speaker 2 (47:10):
H
Throttle Therapy with Catherine Legg is an iHeart women's sports
production in partnership with Deep Blue Sports and Entertainment. You
can find us on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or
wherever you get your podcasts. Hey you guys, and welcome
(00:22):
Happy Tuesday again. It happens every week. I have been
doing more of the same. Actually this week I have
had like a spring clean in autumn over the weekend.
That's I spot my weekend because my mum is coming
into town on Tuesday, so I wanted to make everything
spick and span for her.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
I am.
Speaker 3 (00:42):
I feel like.
Speaker 1 (00:42):
I'm still spinning my wheels on trying to get next
year sorted out with teams and sponsors, but making progress,
I hope, pushing as hard as I can. It's tough
because you don't want to nag these people and be
a pain in their butt so they say no.
Speaker 3 (00:58):
But you also want to stay on the radar.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
So it's that season where you kind of just have
to dig in and it's more like a nine to
five and you're sending out proposals and you're doing you know,
emails and calls and working out, and you get into
a routine with working out, which is good because it's
hard to keep that routine throughout the season. I am
very happy to be joined by a new friend that
(01:22):
I've made this year.
Speaker 3 (01:24):
She's amazing.
Speaker 1 (01:25):
I'm very honored to welcome Chantal Lamellis to the pod.
Chantal is a global sports agent and a partner for
Red Envelope Sports, and she wraps elite athletes across USA
and Europe. But you're actually in La at the moment,
so we caught you.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
Yes, you've caught me. I leave for Madrid actually tomorrow.
I'm going to catch an NFL Academy versus the U
twenty one Madrid team game on Saturday, and then the
NFL actual game with the Miami Dolphins and the Commanders
on Sunday. So we actually have a receiver that plays
for the Dolphins to watch him at the first NFL
game ever in Spain. So super excited, obviously since my
(02:05):
dad was Spanish, so it means a lot to me
to actually be there.
Speaker 3 (02:09):
That's amazing.
Speaker 1 (02:10):
You do a lot of traveling and work really hard,
but it's also a really cool, unique existence. So you
specialize in partnerships within the NFL and anil strategy, so
you're one of very few women doing this, and you're
also one of very few people ever to be global
really correct.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
So as an NFL certified agent or NFL Players Association
certified advisor is the correct actual word for it. You know,
there are only ninety five women that are certified out
of I believe it's just over a thousand, so we
make up just over eight percent. But it's interesting because
even if we're certified, it doesn't necessarily mean that we
(02:53):
have individuals on teams with contracts. And there's a rule
that was implemented a couple of years ago where every
three years, if you do not have an NFL player
on a team within that three year span, you actually
lose your certification and have to retest. So even out
of the ninety five, not all of them actually have
a client. So I'm very very lucky to be able
(03:14):
to say that I do have active clients in the NFL.
Speaker 1 (03:17):
A few of them actually across the range, like.
Speaker 3 (03:20):
From people you've heard of to people who.
Speaker 1 (03:22):
Are just starting out and have First of all, I
want to know what do you have to do to
pass the test? Like do you have to take this
study and know everything about football and who's who and
what's what.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
No, So there's a collective bargaining agreement that you know
obviously now the new one that we have now it's
not new anymore, but the current one that we have
will expire in twenty thirty thirty. But we have to
basically be very well versed in that collective bargain agreement
along with the NFLPA Contract Advisor regulations for agents aka
contract advisors. So we take we used to be where
(03:58):
you go win in person to Washington, d C. Where
the NFLPA offices are, but now we do it virtually
and essentially we go through a seminar. We kind of
go over different topics. Obviously have had to have studied
for the exam a lot prior. They do give us
some study materials along with a copy of the CBA,
and then we take an exam at the end of
that seminar.
Speaker 3 (04:18):
So, how many players do you have under your purview?
Speaker 2 (04:21):
Unique thing about our agency is I don't like to
say I and I did use it before, but it's
really about we, you know, as our agency. What sets
us apart from a lot of others is it's our
clients and so everyone works with everyone so if someone
can't reach me, or someone can't reach one of my colleagues,
there's always someone. And what's great about that is each
of us have our strengths, and as you mentioned before,
(04:43):
like my strength is you know, strategy, corporate partnerships, marketing,
you know, contract negotiations where there are some individuals that
know like the ins and outs, like they're your stat
guys and they know all the coaches and the schemes,
and like there's a couple of us that are really
well versed in that. And so our agency as a whole,
(05:04):
probably between NFL NIL coaches, i'd say we probably have
about ninety clients at this point in time. So and
that's across the board.
Speaker 3 (05:13):
That's a lot of people to look after and know intimately.
Speaker 2 (05:16):
Yes, we have expanded, you know, we've grown this year
and added you know, really dived into that NIL space
even more so than before because we're realizing, you know,
that there are a lot of individuals out there that
are just in it for the money, and you know,
they don't really know what they're doing. And so our
experience being in the field of NFL before the players
(05:36):
were able to be paid, you know, four and a
half years ago almost now it's we know what we're doing,
and so as much as we tried to stay out
of it, we just we figured out that we were
doing a disservice to everyone because we did have the experience,
we did have the contacts. We you know, we're able
to look at these contracts and say you can't sign
that because you're you know, when it comes to name
(05:58):
and likeness, if you signed something that prohibits you from
signing the group licensing agreement with the NFLPA for your
NFL career, then you're screwed, right, So you know, everyone
has to be very careful and you shouldn't understand this
as an athlete as well. When you're signing agreements, your
name and likeness is everything too, right, so you have
to be very careful about who you allow use it
(06:19):
and you know how long exactly. So that's more on
the NIL side, right. The NFL side, you have your
contracts with the teams. The NFL Players Association is obviously
you know, very involved with that, and you have your
collective bargain agreement and salary cap and whatnot. So it's
just very different the NFL versus the NIL space and
(06:39):
nil covers everyone now, right, it's high school kids, college kids.
There's really no restriction with age nowadays. Now, don't get
me wrong, there are certain states that are a lot
allowing their high school students to collect money, you know.
So it just depends. Every state has its rules. The
NCUBA has rules, I mean, and it's all always changing.
(07:00):
So what I say today could be wrong tomorrow because
who knows, right, there's always something being voted on.
Speaker 1 (07:06):
It's tricky because you know that they're going to have
a life after football as well, and so speaking from
experience personal experience, you have blinkers on with what you're
trying to do, whether it's football or racing. So all
I wanted to think about is racing, racing, racing, and
I didn't want to think about, Okay, what am I
going to do after racing? And if you're one of
(07:26):
the lucky ones and you get to stay in it
and either do TV or coaching or something around that.
But it's really kind of a responsibility that you have
to them to make them think about Okay, that's all
very well and good now, but what if you hurt yourself?
What if this happens, like what you still have to
(07:47):
do your school work. You still have to study, you
still have to do this, that and the other. And
so I would find it a difficult balance of like
the show me the money that everybody probably thinks that
that's what you that's what you do. You're tom Craize
in this scenario. But it's like that, but it wasso
looking after what's the best interest if it were olds
(08:08):
go wrong.
Speaker 2 (08:10):
And I want to say, you know, bringing that to
the agent world, a lot of us are a lot
of individuals out there are going to be show me
the money and all about the money, you know. But
I pride myself as does our agency and the fact
that we do care about you even if we're not
making money off of you post career. If you need something,
call us, if we can make a connection for you,
(08:30):
let's do it. I mean, I have clients I've been
in this nineteen and a half years now at this agency,
and I still have clients from seventeen years ago that
call me, Hey, you know, I've decided that I want
to get into coaching. Or I opened up this performance studio.
Can you help me market it? You know, what do
you think about this? So? Or I'll go you know,
(08:51):
we still keep in touch to where now they have
kids and I go to their kids' soccer matches, you know,
if I'm in town, and so I think it's really
building those relationships. And you know, I always say quality
over quantity, right, because if it gets to the point
where you cannot provide the service or the attention that
an athlete needs, then you know, no one's winning, right
(09:11):
because they're going to be upset, You're frustrated, and you know,
and especially for me, like it does weigh on me
when I can't provide something around you know, oh man,
we really need to get sponsorship or this. They really
want this, and you know there are roadblocks along the way,
and it just it really depends on who you are
as a person, as an agency, and everyone that I
(09:32):
work with. I mean, I have a colleague that has
worked with me. He started probably a month before I
did so again nineteen and a half years, another one
for thirteen years. We're extremely loyal, We know each other,
we work well, and even the individuals that we've added
over the years, they fit that mold. I mean, right now,
we have a player that was our client for eight years,
played in the NFL for eight seasons, decided he wanted
(09:53):
to be an agent. You know, talk to my colleague
and I about it, and we said, you know, if
this is what you want to do, why don't you
try it? And he brought something new to our team,
right because he had the experience in the locker room.
And it just goes to show you there was a
client who played eight years in the league, happy with us,
wanted to join our team, you know, and fits that
mold and so it was just it was a perfect
(10:16):
fit in that sense. So I would like to say,
and I mean, obviously there are different agencies out there,
and we are more of the boutique agency as opposed
to some of these bigger agencies. But even though we're
a boutique, we've dealt with some high profile clients. We've
negotiated some huge contracts and you know, you are going
to just get a different quality of service in my
(10:38):
opinion when it comes to us.
Speaker 1 (10:53):
Is there competition between agents.
Speaker 2 (10:56):
Within our firm.
Speaker 1 (10:57):
No, And that's like within different and buying for clients
and trying to take deals.
Speaker 2 (11:05):
Yeah, one hundred percent. You know, obviously we've been in
the NFL world a lot more than the nil so
we haven't dealt with the nil poaching world, as we
call it. We've dealt with it in the NFL world.
You know, there's a window of time when other agencies,
when a contract for a player is about to end,
there is a window that other agencies can send marketing materials.
(11:28):
It can't be personalized, but they can send materials to
any player, even if they have an agent within that
window of time. So you do see that a lot.
I mean I have heard a lot of different agencies
that literally just have an intern or someone on their
staff say, look at whose contract is coming up, who's
going into their second or third contract, and that's who
we need to send marketing materials for. And does it happen? Absolutely,
(11:51):
do we do that. No, but it happens. Should I know,
I think about it going wait a second, you know,
And we've been fortunate enough to where we've done such
a great job that we haven't lost a lot of
clients in the last like I said, almost twenty years,
you know. So again it's building those relationships. And you
know that, I'd say, at the end of the day,
(12:13):
even when we're pitching clients, now we're boutique. If you
are looking to be with a huge agency that's in
you know, entertainment business. It's going to get you into
all these suites at all these parties and kind of
has this big hurrah. We're not the right agency for you, right,
If you want individuals that are experienced, you want individuals
that are that are going to answer your call when
you call or text message, and you have the availability
(12:35):
of anyone, pretty Mitch twenty four to seven. That's us,
Like it's just and it's just like it's our reputation
when we sign a client, it's your reputation as an
athlete as well. Right, So you better know who you're
signing with and how teams and gms at these different
colleges and NFL teams, how they perceive clients coming from us,
(12:56):
and so for up you know, when a team on
the NFL side, I can speak to this more. But
on the NFL side, if a team looks at who
your agent is, okay, they know coming from Red envelope Sports,
they are going to get an individual that shows up
on time or is early. They're going to be a
locker room person. They're not going to be dramatic and
cause all of these issues and they're going to be,
(13:17):
you know, a stand up guy. When you have all
of these players vying for that spot. When it comes
down to cutdowns in the NFL, you know, they're looking
at two players that could be equivalent. And sometimes I
do feel that they look at who their agent is
and they're like, you know what this is who reps them.
They've been in this a long time. We have had
great success with the players that have been with us,
(13:38):
and I do think that it kind of gives them
some leverage. And I'm not saying that happens every time,
because you know, at the end of the day, it's
a business. But I do feel that our reputation in
this business really can can help leverage certain situations and
just our connections as well. And that's why I've been
in this so long. To be completely honest, Catherine, I
(14:00):
I remember when I was in my master's program and
there was an agent that came to speak to us
and he said, I used to Actually I don't think
he was an agent anymore. He said, I used to
be an agent, and I hated my life. I just
we dealt with so many prima donnas. I was twenty
four to seven, and I thought, oh, my gosh, I
never want to do this, and so I didn't apply
(14:21):
for this job. You know, there was the owner of
the agency was looking for someone that actually was coming
on with a marketing partnership's background, because back then he
knew that it was going to grow and you can
see where we are now in marketing and partnerships and
social and he wanted to bring someone on board because
most of them were attorneys, you know, they were very
(14:41):
football centric. And so I came from soccer corporate partnerships,
marketing contract negotiations and brought kind of a new feel
to it. But I would have never made the jump
from the LA Galaxy, which is the major league soccer
team here in Los Angeles, to an agency had I
not known the person that knew the owner of the
see for so long. I mean she had known me
(15:02):
since I was fourteen. And I said, look, I am
very honest, very loyal. I don't really mention that gray
area it, you know, I don't like to. And she said, look,
he is black and white. He definitely has morals and values.
You know, he's been in this business a long time.
And I would not steer you in the direction of
(15:22):
someone that I thought you wouldn't like to work with
and so it was kind of this and same with him, right,
he said, well, who is this He was extremely picky,
He was very detail oriented. And she said, the only
one I know in sports that I would ever recommend
to you that would even you know, basically be what
you would like is this individual. And it turned into
(15:43):
him calling me on a Friday afternoon setting up a
meeting to meet the two colleagues on Saturday. I think
that they obviously vetted me because then he's like, oh,
I might end up meeting you after that. I mean,
it was kind of those maybes. I ended up meeting
with him and he offered me the job by the
end of our meeting, of our interview, I guess you say.
And I had three days to make a decision. And
you know, going from being in soccer and which is
(16:06):
the sport that I played, you know it, I was like,
I'm going over to football, which obviously i'd watched the
Super Bowl, you know, I had a general interest, but
I didn't really know too much about it. And I
also was like, I want to go work at a
sports agency. Are we sure about this? But I did
make the jump and here I am nineteen and a
half years later, and I will tell you that we
(16:27):
are unique in the sense that it's not all about
the money. We actually care about the players. And you know,
speaking of that post career that you mentioned earlier, that's
extremely important, you know, because all of these athletes, you know,
yourself included, I mean, but especially for football players, right,
they're in this hamster wheel. They've been playing football pretty
much their entire life, especially here in the US. Europe
(16:49):
is a little different in other things, but you know,
they've been on this hamster wheel. In college there, they know,
they go to this class, they have a tutor, they
have you know, practice at this time they watched and
so when and then they go to the NFL. Same thing, right,
So when they come out of the NFL, they're like,
what do we do with our life? Like we're always
been surrounded by people, we have a schedule, and then
(17:11):
you go to I don't have a schedule. I don't
have someone telling me I need to be somewhere. You
lose yourself, right, You lose a sense of yourself and
you don't know what to do. And I actually think
that's when we are even more important in some in
an athlete's life is that post career and helping them
navigate the unknown. And they're young still. It's not like
they're fifty years old looking for retirement, right. Some of
(17:33):
them are late twenties, some of them are, you know,
mid thirties. They're young, you know, in relation to everything.
So they have a whole career ahead of themselves. And
so it's you know, it's also like as you get
to know them while they're playing, utilize that platform, like
what do you think you want to do afterwards? You know,
can we get you into these business workshops, can you
go shadow this person? Do you want to get into coaching?
(17:54):
And so I do think that that's actually extremely important,
and that's the part of the career where you might
not make any money. I'm not sure. They go into
broadcasting and you do the deal, or you know, they
become a coach and they you know, they stay with you.
But at the end of the day, a lot of
them go do other business ventures or you know, they
go do other things, and they lean on you to
be that support because we've been with them for so long.
(18:15):
And I love that, you know, I love that relationship
and I am passionate about being there for them post career.
Speaker 3 (18:23):
Yeah, I mean it terrifies me.
Speaker 1 (18:24):
And I think that the moment that I think about
what I'm going to do after racing is the moment
that I've decided that I don't. I'm not racing anymore,
so I'm not going to look at it. I do
know that I want to do something to bring up
other young women in racing and give them the opportunity.
So we're doing a diversity program that I've spoken about
before because that's something that's really important to me because
(18:46):
it's a lonely unique path that we go down. And
I'm sure it's exactly the same for you, because I
can imagine locker rooms and other agents and players and
everything else like I imagine you don't work with on
a daily basis many other women.
Speaker 2 (19:02):
No, And I will say I have been lucky to
work with a handful and we are primarily football and
we are pretty much all football now. But back in
the day, you know, we were able to take one
off clients and it was mostly Olympic athletes of you know,
a few years back, we started working with a female
karate athlete because Tokyo Olympics had added karate as a sport.
(19:25):
Obviously that's been removed, you know for the LA Olympics
and whatnot, and for the Olympics that we just had
in twenty twenty four. But you know, just hearing her
struggles of being an individual in a sport that's really
not popular here in the US like it is in
Japan and even Europe. So and then before that, you know,
(19:46):
worked with another individual in the Olympics, and I haven't
worked with many right in that female space, and so
you're right, I mean, it's very different. And what I
will say though, is even being a female soccer player
back in the day, at least I've seen the growth
in female athletics, right, Like now you know, they're understanding,
(20:07):
like we've always tried to tell them that, you know,
marketing and partnerships and all these brands, it's the women
that you need to be working with, right It's the
girls and the females in those sports, you know. So
finally they're realizing this, right, which is great. I love, yes,
but it's difficult and you know, as you have seen
(20:28):
in your sport, it takes a lot of support from
sponsors and money to compete in your sport and you
are not. You don't have a team behind you in
the sense you don't have an NFL team that has
someone involved in player engagement and all this. Right, it's
just you and then obviously who you surround yourself with
to help you. But it's extremely hard because you have
(20:50):
so many athletes now in all different sports across the
board trying to you know, get nil deals, marketing deals,
partnerships and money right sponsorship. So it has become harder
because it is saturated now. But it is, yes, it's
but for you, I will say, I do you know
it's funny because you're like, I don't want to even
(21:10):
think about a plan be because I'm on Plan A here.
But you know you say that, But look, you have
a podcast. You know, you just wrote a book. I mean,
you're doing things that kind of will create more opportunities
when you do decide to leave racing and retire from that.
Speaker 1 (21:28):
Right, and I'm old, hopefully a few years from now.
I got a few left in. One of the first
things that we bonded over was our love of doing
crazy things. You obviously are very sporty. One of the
things that we were doing when we were at the
the Droplight conference was like showing off our guns to
(21:52):
anybody here with this.
Speaker 2 (21:54):
Look.
Speaker 1 (21:56):
But you are I mean, you've done spartans, you've done marathons,
You've done crazy climbing up big mountains and stuff. So
obviously fitness and keeping that side of your life going
is really important to you.
Speaker 2 (22:09):
To you, yes, I have done just recently this July.
I will tell you I'm a soccer player and I
will run with the ball all day long. But in
high school I had a coach that just killed us
with conditioning, with running, doing the bleachers, doing sprints, suicides
and all that. And I hate running.
Speaker 3 (22:29):
I mean so much.
Speaker 2 (22:31):
She just killed it for me, and so I laughed
because obviously part of soccer is in durance. You need
to run and condition. But there's one other time in
my life. I ran a half marathon up in San Francisco,
and I it was you know, I always try to
do something new for my birthday, And I said, all right,
I'm going to do this. I will tell you for training,
I don't think I ran more than four miles for
(22:53):
like at a for that half marathon, but I do
a lot of cross training. I was still playing soccer
on a co seven on seven. I was still going
to the gym and doing kind of hit workouts, and
you'd be surprised at how much those types of workouts
really do set you up for this endurance of running.
I mean, I guess you do have to get your
feet ready to do thirteen point two miles. Well, anyway,
(23:16):
I never thought I would do that again. Well, then
this July I decided to do the Spartan Race in Marzine, France,
and I doubled it right nearly right, I think it
was twenty two kilometers with thirty obstacles in the Alps
French Alps, so with altitude, with hills, with obstacles. But
(23:38):
you know what, I just thought, I want to try it.
I'm just going out there for fun. This is not
to competing at a time. Let's see if I can
finish this. And it was obviously beautiful. I said, if
there's not, you know, if the views aren't good, then
I'm not doing it. But it was. It was just
a great experience. And at the end, as you know,
like when you finish something, it's like all this adrenaline
(24:00):
and you're just like wow, like, look, look what I
just did. I survived. And right before that race, I
had hurt my knee playing soccer and I thought, oh
my goodness, I'm not gonna be able to do this.
And so just I think even that of the stress
of not being able to train as much leading up
to it and thinking, oh my gosh, is my knee
gonna go out? And I will tell you like I
did everything under the sun. When we talk about recovery,
(24:22):
and I know this well for all of our football
players that get injured. It's like I know everything under
the sun, and I did everything except for acupunctures, the
one thing I didn't do. But you know, I just thought,
I gotta get ready, like I've got something I've got
to I'm not going to pull out of this. And
so yes, I definitely have that adventure streak, as do you.
And if you want to do a race, right, Okay, Okay,
(24:45):
maybe not twenty I thought I was so long, But
another one five or ten.
Speaker 1 (24:50):
There's a half marathon Indie, I think, okay, well they
used to be and we could do we could maybe
do that one a five hundred.
Speaker 3 (24:58):
Oh, we can do a spot and race.
Speaker 1 (25:00):
I think it would be kind of cool to do
something in the mountains and something that's trained for, because
my struggle is I've gone to the gym and picked
up heavy things and put them down again for the
last twenty years, and it gets really boring if you
don't have something to train for.
Speaker 3 (25:16):
So that's why I did that.
Speaker 1 (25:17):
I'm man because it gave me motivation and it gave
me a goal other than just racing oriented fitness. And
that's why I love CrossFit because I have friends and
we all push each other and it's like a it's
like a community, but it's also a competition and yeah yeah, yeah,
So I love running, but it's also kind of boring.
(25:39):
So if if we've got like a really cool one,
or we do a Spartan race, but I don't know,
they've probably got them in Tennessee or somewhere.
Speaker 2 (25:46):
They have them everywhere worldwide. That's why I went to Marzine,
France to do mine. But they're worldwide, so we have
to pick a cool destination.
Speaker 3 (25:53):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (25:54):
I like Spartan because it has the obstacles because, like you,
I get bored pretty easily. That's why I don't like running,
and so this kind of you know, whether you're going
through the lake in the water or climbing up a waterfall,
which is what morzine and like the obstacles are what
sold me in the pictures because my colleague had done
the old like he did double what I did the
year before. But I will say, I agree with you
(26:18):
with training and you have to change it up. And
that's why even our players when they go train in
the off season, you know, some of them get into boxing.
Some of them. We even had, you know, one of
our players he decided to take up rock climbing, and
you know because it helped kind of with his grip
and with his endurance of his arms and his forearms.
(26:38):
I mean, completely out of the blue. But I said,
you know what, like do something that interests you so
that you can stay motivated because it is so intense.
Speaker 1 (26:47):
So absolutely, how did you train for the obstacles? Like
did you put a net in the backyard and crawl
underneath it and stuff?
Speaker 2 (26:54):
So luckily here in Santa Monica they have the rings,
because a lot of the partan had the rings where
you have to wing. We had the ropes in Santa Monica.
The monkey bars. Yes, you know, and when you're a kid,
this is so easy. You think, oh, I can do this,
and then you go try and it as an adult
and you're like, this is really hard. I don't know
what happens. I guess we be way more. I don't know,
(27:15):
but yeah, So luckily I had that not in my
backyard because it is still a drive for me, but
it's local enough to where I was able to go
do that. You know, I've been training, you know, I play,
like I said, I do still play soccer seven on
seven co eds, so I was getting a little bit
of dan endurance from that. And then also you know
I've been training. I've had a trainer for years as
well that he's always because I get bored. I will
(27:37):
tell you, I like challenges. He's always trying to just
you know, do something new, whether it's balancing on two
bosue balls or you know, I don't even know, like
doing a handstand and then you know, flipping over this,
and he I will say, like, I've challenged him to
come up with some unique exercises because I do get
(27:58):
so bored. But honestly, all of those balance exercises has
I mean, it's kind of muscle memory, even though I
haven't been training as hard recently, like it's all there.
And I will say balance is huge when you're doing
certain things I think people don't understand, like just standing
one leged and balancing can do a lot for your
core strength and just overall confidence even when I hike.
(28:20):
I mean, I have friends that are so afraid of
falling off the mountain, are taking a step, or even
when they're crossing water crossings because they don't have that balance.
And I'm so confident in standing one leged that I'm like, oh, yeah,
I hop off around. But it was interesting to hear
their perspective of how they kind of get nervous when
they hike, especially when they're cliffs or something that they
feel unsteady a little bit. And I said, oh, I've
(28:41):
never felt that way. And again I do think it's
from years of doing that balance strain and you know,
and doing those different obstacles that I'm just like, oh,
this is this is nothing.
Speaker 1 (28:50):
So I got my THEO.
Speaker 2 (28:57):
Have you ever tried the indoor board.
Speaker 3 (29:00):
Board surfboard with the thing in the middle. Yes.
Speaker 2 (29:04):
Now, the first like the first time I tried that,
I was like, I am gonna go flying. That thing
went flying out from underneath me. I was like I'm
gonna die. But let me tell you how when you
get used to it and you can like start doing
squats on it. Wow, incredible. In fact, our karate athlete
that we were working with, she does a lot of
balance work, obviously because she has to be so balanced
(29:26):
when she makes those quick movements. She does a lot
of work on the indoor board and bo sue and
and even she just juggles a soccer ball too sometimes,
like she is extremely like I love it. I feel
like we just always are coming up with new ideas
of how to train, and I love that. But yes,
even her like balance is extremely important even as we
(29:46):
get older.
Speaker 1 (29:47):
Two random questions. First question is how many keepy uppies
can you do?
Speaker 2 (29:53):
What are keep uppies?
Speaker 1 (29:55):
This is prosit I don't know, pipple, it will always
be fipbled. So how how many like bouncing on the
knees or bouncing on the feet without like the whole
keep you upies?
Speaker 3 (30:07):
You know?
Speaker 2 (30:07):
Okay?
Speaker 3 (30:08):
God?
Speaker 2 (30:08):
I was like, what are keep the uppies? If they
call it juggling for us, Like, how many? Like juggling
is what you do, it's it's dribbling is on the ground.
Juggling is when the ball's in the air. But you know,
I have never been very good at that. I don't
think I've ever kept track of a number. I have
certain friends that are just excellent at it, but I've
never been like, oh, yeah, I got to get one hundred.
(30:30):
I've probably been able to do maybe twenty five thirty
I kill a long time ago. You can do how many?
Speaker 3 (30:38):
About five? That's it? But soccer allowed to play football?
Speaker 1 (30:42):
Football was not for girls in England back when I
was in school.
Speaker 2 (30:46):
So I read that because when I moved from Miami
to Australia when I was just after eighth grade, so
probably thirteen fourteen, I was shocked when I moved to
Australia and all they had for women's sports was field
hockey and there might have been one other, but they
didn't have soccer. And I just was like, I guess
(31:07):
I'm not going to play here now. Luckily I moved
back to I moved to Los Angeles not too long
after that, and obviously they had it here. But yes,
I was surprised, and I'm sure it was similar in
England and a lot of different places in Europe and
the world other than the US.
Speaker 1 (31:21):
Yeah, I mean female soccer here is next level. It's amazing.
I'd never understood American football. So my first foray into
(31:42):
it was in two thousand and five. I think it
was when I came over here and I was racing
and I was in Indy. No, it was two thousand
and six when I was in Indy and so we
had the Colts and we won the Super Bowl that year,
and I was like, this is awesome. This is so easy.
Just come to a town and we win the Super Bowl.
Speaker 3 (32:02):
And I went to an.
Speaker 1 (32:03):
IU game and I thought, Wow, this is incredible for
college sports. But then recently I just went to a
UGA game and I was thinking, this is absolutely bananna.
Is the amount of people and the amount of commercial
stuff around these college games and all of these people's
(32:23):
emotions that is reliant on these fifteen year old.
Speaker 3 (32:27):
Kids going out and playing with the ball.
Speaker 1 (32:29):
It's just it's mind boggling how passionate these people are
about football. And I think it's the same with me
and racing. I think if you find something that you
really love and you can associate it with a team,
like whatever college you went to or whatever town football
team you grew up with, then that's why it's such
a huge industry, just like soccer is for the rest
(32:52):
of the world.
Speaker 2 (32:52):
Really, that's right, it's insane. I mean college football and
the fan base. I mean the tailgates they go all
I mean last weekend, I was at USC on Friday
and UCLA on Saturday, so two colleges in one town,
and just it was unreal. The setups, like the whole
(33:13):
RV with the TV screens set up for tailgate. They're
all decked out. But they just love it, like that's
during football season and that's what they do. That's what
they do every you know, it was Friday night for USC,
it's Saturday. But that's such a they do on the weekends,
like they live and breathe football. And a lot of
these towns like Uga right where that's based, it's just
a football town like that area college right, Like it's
(33:36):
the college town. It's the same with Alabama, right, it's
like it's all about that university. And you know for
those powerhouses, the powerhouses in football, but some of them
also in basketball. But it is intense and you do
feel that when you go to a soccer match or
football match in Europe. I mean, it is intense stadiums.
(33:56):
I mean, as you know, like there's sometimes it's too
much right where it's like people are throwing things and
getting in fights and we step here. But it's it's
in a pretty big scale in soccer worldwide. So but yes,
it's it's unreal. I mean we have some you know,
I know some people that have high school football players
recruits that are going on these official visits to colleges
and they're invited out to a game and they are
(34:19):
just like not, it's overwhelming to them everything that goes
into it, and it's like wow, mind boggling. And I said, oh, yes,
there's a lot of money in college athletics, and there's
even more money now with this whole name and likeness
that college players can make money. I mean there was
money before, There's always been money, right, but the players really,
you know, we're not allowed to gain me that money legally,
(34:40):
and now that they can, I feel like there's even
more money involved, right because everyone wants to have the
best team and win, and you know, now there's the
Cellar Cup. But it's it's very interesting. So and it's
fun too because I've been in this so long a
lot of times when these European players come over, even
just friends that visit and they go to these games,
they're just wow. And it's nice to see that because
(35:02):
I'm like, oh, this is my everyday life kind of
right for the last oh gosh, almost you guys, but
doug it. But you know, I love that because I
feed off of it. And you know, even yesterday I
took this athlete or this player that's you know, going
from a junior college he's going to transition to a
D one and he had you know, he was so
passionate about it and just everything that goes into and
(35:25):
I loved it, Like you just feel it, right, I
just love that. And even for you, like when you're yeah,
it's just it's you can't even describe it. And even
when we were at the panel, right, like you and
I are in sports, but the other individuals weren't really
in sports, except obviously with uh, you know, Bridgetom tires.
But it's like it's just a different feel, right, You're
around individuals that are pushing to be better. You know,
(35:48):
it's that overall excitement and it kind of keeps us young, right,
like keeps us motivated, like we want to be better tomorrow.
Than we are today, you know. And it's it's that
vibe and it's just hard to describe when you don't
work in it. And I can see now that people
from the outside when they see it, they're like, oh
my gosh, it's just this whole different energy. And I
mean that's just and we're lucky enough to be in it, right.
(36:11):
So and obviously there don't get me wrong, there are
pros and cons to all of it. But I will
say like it made me even more aware of it
during our panel of how one of the individuals like,
there's just so much passion and so much energy, and
I would love to go into sports, you know, and
work on this side, and she was, what in hr? Right?
So it's just it's we're very fortunate to be around that,
(36:33):
and I do think it keeps us young. And I mean,
you're an actual athlete. I'm an agent, but you know,
I am motivated because I'm around these athletes that train
all the time. Right they bust their butt in the gyms,
they're out in the hills, and I see it on
their social and I'm like, you know what, if they're
doing that, I can do it too, right. And it's
also my stress relief, right, Like, I don't use anything
else for stress relief except working out or hiking and
(36:56):
just being outside because I am in front of a
screen a lot of times or on the phone, and
you know, I enjoy That's kind of like my way
of just okay, let me just take a breath, right
and get some of this frustration out. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (37:08):
Yeah, I think we're incredibly lucky though, and I've said
this before. I think if you have a passion and
a goal and something that you want to do that
you're driven by, no pun intended, then you are lucky
because that's what makes you want to get up every morning.
A lot of people don't know what they want to
be when they grow up, and they go through life
just having a job, whereas I feel like this is
(37:31):
a passion for you, for me, for like, I feel
like we're lucky.
Speaker 2 (37:36):
Yeah, we are lucky, and I'm very fortunate to have
been in this a long time. But I tell this
to a lot of individuals that are younger that I
speak to. You know, you have to stay true to
yourself because otherwise you can get swallowed in a lot
of different things and just don't go in the direction
and you're unhappy, right, But if you stay true to
yourself and what you believe in and you obtain success
(37:58):
in that manner, I just it's even more fulfilling. Like
I mentioned earlier, like there's not a lot of female
agents on the NFL side, right, but there used to
be even less, right, So now we have ninety five.
I remember when there were like heen, okay, so it's growing.
And even the sport management programs in graduate programs. When
(38:18):
I graduated from UCLA, there were maybe five in the
US of sport management programs in that Now you can
get a JB and an mba joint for sports administration
or sports business and they're all over the world now,
So I mean, I think there's just a lot more
people in the sports world, which makes it harder to
get into. But you know, being a female in a
(38:40):
male dominant field, just like you are a female and
male dominant, you have a little bit of grit yourself
or you definitely have to grit right because it's although
you're getting pushed to the side really quick. I've got
a thick skin, yes, but you adapt and you have
to just make a name for yourself and it you know,
I like challenges like I like challenges in fitness and
(39:02):
in life and in work, like if I'm bored, I
would be out of it. And because I never know
what's going to come every day, I think it keeps
me on my toes. And you know, football is football.
I've been fortunate enough to work with other athletes and
other sports, which I loved because it's driven me to
learn about something I had never known about. I mean,
I would say, oh my gosh, I don't know how
(39:23):
long I've been working with him. But it was an athlete,
wheelchair motocross athlete, okay, and his mom cold called us
years ago. I mean, I want to say, I don't know,
maybe fourteen years ago at this point, and she said,
I know this is going to sound crazy, but my
son was born as Pina Bitha. He's in a wheelchair
and he does flips off these big ramps like X games.
(39:45):
And I was like, what are you talking about? So Cale,
I was like, all right, well let's meet them. Long
story short, We ended up taking him on as a client,
and I didn't know anything about wheelchair motocross at that point.
He was calling it hardcore sitting. It wasn't really well known,
but the growth of the sport and the evolution of it,
even with him being kind of the pioneer of it, right,
(40:07):
has been so inspirational and so fulfilling for me career
wise because he's been able to inspire so many kids
and adults that are in wheelchairs that this is my toy.
Like he has a great time. And I knew nothing
about that. Like you talk to me about wheels and
folks and this, and I'm like what, But I've learned
so much. You know, a few years back, there was
(40:28):
a formula race car driver who was based in Spain
needed some help on the partnership side. I knew nothing
about formula racing, like nothing, and I flew They flew
me out there so I could kind of understand. I
had no idea what went on with all the engineers
and every little piece of I mean, it's your world too.
I mean you're not formula, but you know there are
(40:49):
a lot of similarities. And again, knew nothing about it,
but I went and I learned, and I was like, wow,
this is fascinating. Right, So those little things in different sports,
you know, I think have really kept me on my toes.
And I love to learn, And that's why I'm still
in this right because I know a lot about football,
but I'm always learning and things are always changing. But
(41:10):
these other sports, I like, the individual sports, like for instance,
for you, right, because you actually need a lot of
help because you have to pay to play or pay
to compete. In football, they're being paid, right. There's a
big difference that I try to explain to people of
you know, when they're competing, they have to have sponsorship, right,
they have to because otherwise they can't do it. And
(41:33):
so the individual athletes, I think are the ones that
we need to help even more, and it does take
a lot more time, but even that is extremely fulfilling
because you know that they need you and they you know,
and you know this, you know, like we've talked about
this of the frustrations of it, so you know, but
it's you know, there's only one me, there's only one
(41:55):
in my colleagues, right, so there's only so much we
can do. And that's why you know, with these one
off clients, we have to a lot of times we
just don't have the time to do it, and you know,
and it's about being upfront and honest about it, like
we just don't have the bandwidth right now, but maybe
in the future if something opens up. But I enjoy that,
like learning about all these different sports, I will say,
like I love football, but I love a challenge. I
(42:16):
love a challenge. Keep say on my toes. I get
bored very easily, as you can tell. And you do too,
do I do? Yeah? That's my namesh.
Speaker 1 (42:25):
So last question before I let you go. If you
were not a sports agent or what would you be?
Speaker 2 (42:31):
I would most likely be working with animals in some capacity.
So my passion is wildlife conservation and also helping others.
I I love to travel. I love to learn about
new cultures. One of my favorite continents is Africa. I
mean obviously with the wildlife, with the people. I mean,
(42:53):
you've got everything you can think of there. And but yes,
I think it would be in wildlife conservation for sure.
Or I do love to travel, but I can't tell
you that I would be involved in travel per se,
like being a travel agent, because that's just a whole
nother stress and I don't know if I would like
travel at that point, but yes, it would be in
some capacity working with animals. And I will tell you know,
(43:14):
I grew up around animals. When I moved to Los Angeles,
I started to get involved in horses, which I had
always loved, but in Miami we really could there was
nothing really close. So I was here in LA there
was an equestrian center five minutes from where I lived,
and you know, I volunteered there. Loved it, and for
a long time I thought I would be a vet
But then being with alongside the equine vetinarians that came
(43:38):
to the barn all the time and seeing what they
had to deal with, I said, there's no way I
can do this mentally, you know, having to put down
or you know, unfortunately the sad part of it, right,
I just mentally was like I can't do this, and
so I decided to stay away from that. But you know,
when it comes to yeah, I just I don't know
(44:00):
what it is. I just love animals, and so I
would be involved in some capacity with animals. I just
love them.
Speaker 3 (44:05):
I cannot handle it.
Speaker 1 (44:07):
Like when I'm watching a movie and a dog dies
or gets killed or a whole or something else, like
I stop bowling. But if people get killed, then it's
that's like totally different.
Speaker 2 (44:19):
Say that life bather and people are gonna be like,
oh my gosh, you care about animals more than you
and it's just.
Speaker 3 (44:25):
A different thing. It's activated in my brain.
Speaker 2 (44:29):
I have this t shirt my friend gave me and
it says loves animals, Tolerance people, and I'm like, that's fine.
It I mean, animals can't really talk. I mean they can,
they can now, and they can bark and the horse
can activate their ears. But yeah, it's it's just it's
hard to explain to individuals that have never either had
their own animal or have never been around them. A
(44:50):
lot of people are actually very scared of horses, and
you know, I'm like, why are you scared of them?
They're so big, and it's like, but if you understand
how they communicate and who they are, I mean, horses
are just incredible, as are you know, obviously our cats
and dogs. But it is hard to explain individuals that
have not had an animal or been around them a lot.
Just it's just a different connection. It's it's very different.
Speaker 1 (45:12):
So it is, but I feel like being a vet
is way too much studying. I mean it's like being
a doctor. But then a doctor for I don't know
how many different species and so how long to be
a vet, you have to be in school for like
seven years or nine years or something completely bunkers.
Speaker 2 (45:27):
Right, Oh my gosh. Yeah, you do your undergraduate, then
you have to apply for vet school and I know
that's another four years and then I believe depending on
if you go into a specialty or what you go into,
then you you know, you have to do after. It's
like becoming a doctor for people. I mean, you know,
my brother was an undergraduate, then med school, then he
had to do residency, then he did a your fellowship.
(45:48):
I mean I think in total it was like fifteen years.
Speaker 3 (45:51):
It's crazy, crazy.
Speaker 2 (45:52):
So you know, it's yeah, a lot of it. And
unfortunately a lot of these jobs that are so extensive
on that study and take so long, a lot of
people aren't doing them, so we have shortages of that,
you know, especially large animal that's here. So anyway, it's
a different world. But yes, that's what I've been doing,
something a lot.
Speaker 3 (46:12):
To next life differently.
Speaker 1 (46:13):
Yes, Well, thank you so much for joining me on
the pod. It was fascinating to get to insight into
your life. I appreciate it and I wish you all
the best for your travels to Madrid.
Speaker 3 (46:25):
Tomorrow.
Speaker 2 (46:26):
Thank you appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (46:31):
Thanks for listening to Throttle Therapy. We'll be back next
week with more updates and more overtakes.
Speaker 3 (46:36):
We want to hear from you.
Speaker 1 (46:38):
Leave us a review in Apple Podcasts and tell us
what you want to talk about. It might just be
the topic for our next show. Throttle Therapy is hosted
by Katherine Legg. Our executive producer is Jesse Katz, and
our supervising producer is Grace Fuse. Listen to Throttle Therapy
on America's number one podcast network, i Heeart. Open your
(46:58):
free iHeart app and say throsto therapy with Catherine Legg
and start listening.
Speaker 2 (47:10):
H
Host
Katherine Legge
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