A Peek Inside Her Agenda: Arlesha Amazan

In her role at SC30, Inc., Arlesha oversaw brand development and strategic initiatives, collaborating with high-profile brands such as Gatorade, Nike, and Facebook. Her work involves a balance of strategic thinking, creativity, and a deep understanding of the sports landscape. Arlesha’s journey in the industry began in 2010 during the Miami Heat’s ‘Big Three’ era, where she gained invaluable experience working alongside seasoned executives and athletes, including the retired NBA superstar Dwyane Wade. 

Arlesha’s background in marketing and public relations has equipped her with a unique perspective on the intersections of sports, culture, and community. She believes in the power of storytelling to connect brands with their audiences and strives to cultivate spaces where athletes can enhance their image.

Through her work, Arlesha not only drives SC30’s mission forward but also inspires aspiring marketers and entrepreneurs. Her commitment to innovative marketing strategies and passion for community engagement make her a powerful influence in the sports industry. 

Recently, Arlesha spoke with Her Agenda about her journey, the importance of representation in sports marketing, her biggest lesson in working with Dwyane Wade, and her dedication to empowering the next generation of leaders in the field.

Her Agenda: What drew you to sports marketing? Were you always interested in sports? Were you always a ‘marketing girlie’? Tell me a little bit about that journey.

Arlesha Amazan:  I was always interested in sports. Funny enough, I knew at an early age, without dating myself, at like 18, I wanted to pursue sports. I experimented a little bit in college with some other pursuits and found that I would not be passionate about them. And I went back to my first passion, which really underlying that was my love for writing and communications.

That’s actually what I [went on to]  study in college. I always knew that I was going to pivot into sports. I remember being that 16-year-old girl in high school, I was the editor of the sports section in the high school newspaper, interviewing the football players, interviewing the basketball players, and letting them know that one day I would manage them or I would represent them.

I didn’t know exactly what that meant or what it meant to manage or represent [athletes], but I found myself in the space after pursuing it. So yes, to answer your question, I’ve always been a sports girlie, and I pursued that.

Her Agenda: I’m sure you’re not supposed to [because of your job], but do you have a favorite sport? What was that first sport that got you interested in sports in general? 

Arlesha Amazan: Funny enough, my first sport was football for me, growing up. And then I got into basketball.

Her Agenda: There’s so much that goes into representing and working with athletes. What would you say is your creative process for working with them to help navigate their brands?

Arlesha Amazan: So every athlete is different. And their own respect, they have different focused objectives, different passion points, and north stars. When you’re working with them, funny enough, it doesn’t feel, or it doesn’t seem like you’re working with an athlete because these are brands and businesses and the athletes that I come to work with, whether that’s Hall of Famer, Dwayne Wade, Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors, are [big] brands and businesses.

The approach that I took in my working with them would be similar to the approach that you would take within the walls of a tech startup or in many aspects, a brand or an agency. It was more than just attaching a player’s name to a sports drink or a shoe. My role with my clients in the past was about creating IP and developing new revenue streams. Creating opportunities where the players can have legacy businesses and legacy brands, right? It’s also why the pivot that I made in my career to work on the brand side of the business and brand strategy was so organic because I was already working with brands and those brands were disguised as athletes. 

Her Agenda: I was just going to ask you about that pivot too, because you did 10 years at CAA right? 

Arlesha Amazan: I did. I did nearly 10 years, nine and a half. Yeah.

Her Agenda: Which is so major. How do you, as a woman in business, when it’s time to make that pivot or make that change, even if it could be a little daunting not realizing that something greater could be around the corner?

Arlesha Amazan: Yes, I love that you asked that. The approach that I took for myself was to create pivotal moments and opportunities in every role that I took on. This is a great part of working at a company like CAA Sports, which at the time when I worked for them, was the most valuable sports agency and probably still is.

You can pivot in so many ways just based on the talent that you’re representing or you’re working with. Thankfully, I spent most of my time working on the Dwayne Wade business and account. That was a very multifaceted account.

You’re talking about one minute, it’s your traditional endorsement deal with Gatorade, but the next could be we’re starting a wine company or we’re starting a capsule collection with D squared. 

That gave me skill sets. For example, I can get into the fashion industry because about 50% of Dwyane Wade’s portfolio at one time in his career was fashion businesses and fashion brands. That opened the door for me to think about how I could really make a pivot if I want to in the next five to 10 years in any direction. 

Thankfully, and I’m really privileged to say that a lot of the athletes that I’ve worked with have been business oriented athletes. Stephen Curry, [ended up] starting up his own enterprise. Not just doing business within an agency, but an enterprise.

My role was the enterprise side of the company focused on intellectual property and creating revenue generation through that. If I want to, I could go over to a Fortune 500 company and help a company build out their IP just by way of that.

Her Agenda: I feel like a lot of times people feel like they have to stay stagnant or they’re unsure. How did you find your way to SC30?

Arlesha Amazan: SC30 was an opportune moment, just the right moment in time. Just before I transitioned from CAA to SC30, I had made a slight pivot from our basketball division at CAA to the brand strategy division. I was working with blue chip brands to inform their consumer strategies, and so by that time, by the time I got the call from Stephen’s team, I had athlete management experience, athlete marketing experience, and brand strategy experience, I had developed a product within CAA to better help brands come up with their consumer strategies for diverse audiences. 

All of that was a collection of skill sets that again, made the pivot easier. But when I got a call from Stephen, it was a beautiful marriage of saying, ‘hey, we have a business that’s focused on IP. We know you have a background with athletes. How can we make this work?’  I leaned on the fact that I was literally working on a strategy function. That pivot became a seamless pivot. Getting that phone call was one, having the reputation that I had in terms of the work that I was already doing in the space with Dwyane Wade. That led to that phone call. But also, again, it was just the right moment, right time. SC30 was really that growth opportunity for me that met me at the right time and moment.

Her Agenda: What are some things that you could say to professionals who are looking to make that pivot, especially women, who are not sure what that next step is going to be, but [feel] ready for that next step?

Arlesha Amazan: I would say be strategic and intentional.

We hear it all the time, networking, and that’s one part of it, but taking the initiative. The example that I’ll go back to was around 2015, 2016 – again, Dwyane Wade focused on his business, managing partnerships, managing deliverables. I got a little bored in a sense. I got bored and told myself I need a challenge. It can’t just be managing athletes. I’m going to go and make some of these deals happen too.

I went into our client roster and saw which athlete is underserved. Who are we not bringing deals to? At that time, I recognized an opportunity with Udonis Haslem, who was also Miami-based, just like I was, also played on the Miami Heat, great friends with Dwyane Wade. I said to myself, oh, this is low hanging fruit. I’m going to go make some cold calls and get Udonis an endorsement deal.

If I can do that, then I can do that for anyone on a roster, in addition to Dwyane. So I went from a manager to now a marketing agent. And no one told me to do that. It was just me taking that initiative. And so the advice would be to take initiative and be very intentional and strategic. 

Arlesha Amazan: This also contributed to another pivot of mine.

Her Agenda: Tell me more…

Arlesha Amazan: In 2019, I remember having a conversation with Dwyane directly. We were on our way to China for his annual China tour, so a long time on a plane. We’re conversing, he had just retired from the NBA.

He asked me, ‘what’s your five-year plan?’ We were talking about the plans that the team was putting in place for Dwyane. I had a very honest conversation. And I said, ‘I want to pivot. I’m ready to make a move. I want to pivot to the brand side.’ Obviously, he had seen how I worked with him, contributions I’ve made for his brand partnerships, the strategies I was bringing to the table.

I said to him, ‘maybe it’s Gatorade, maybe Nike, but I want to make a move.’ Unbeknownst to me, Dwyane and CAA were working on starting this marketing group within the agency. I actually had no idea it was happening behind the scenes.

That was one of my biggest lessons. This goes back to the advice, speak up. Don’t be afraid to, even if it’s your boss to say, ‘hey, I’m thinking about this.’

You never know if the company or the business has plans that you’re not even aware of. You not speaking up might not give you the opportunity that you’re seeking, or you speaking up might make you head of that new department. That was such a great lesson for me. And because of that conversation with Dwyane, I was able to pivot to the brand consulting division, which planted the seeds for my ultimate role working for Steph Curry.

Her Agenda: I want to ask you about women in sports because I feel like we’re starting to see more women in sports. Jalen Hurts, for example, his whole team is full of women and they’re doing incredible things. How can we get more women involved in the sports industry sports business?

Arlesha Amazan: You know, I will say this: When I first started in the industry, although it was junior level, I recognized the gap between men and women in sports. And the credit that I will give is that you see so many more women immersed in the industry.

At one point in time at CAA, I think the representation of agents was 50% men, 50% women. The next layer to that was, okay, how can we diversify? How can we make sure that although we see some equity from a gender standpoint when you talk about how many of those are women of color? There have been improvements. I would say that when it comes to women in sports, there are so many of these functions that are happening. When you go into the room, I will give credit to the industry because you look around and wow, it’s a lot of women.

Now the question becomes, as women, how do we make sure that we create opportunities for the women next to us to get in? How can we make sure that we don’t step in their way? [Then after that] the question becomes, how is their experience? How are we making sure that we’re nurturing experiences [for women]? How are we teaching them the ins and outs? How are we making sure that we are not creating a competitive culture because that happens? How do we make sure that we don’t have crabs in a barrel mindset? That’s a dynamic in a lot of industries. So that really becomes the question for me. I would say that women in 2024 trying to get into the industry have such a bigger advantage than 20 years ago, even 10 years ago. Now there are mentors making themselves available. There’s obviously the Nicole Lynn’s of the world. There’s the Arlesha’s of the world who have podcasts and share all of this information and make sure that they’re equipped, right, making sure that they know the ins and outs.

Her Agenda: How do you balance managing your own personal brand on top of all of your clients and everyone that you’re working with?  

Arlesha Amazan: Yeah, that is a question that I am still figuring out. For a very long time, I’ve been behind the scenes, and I think I’m now in my era where I’m [like] okay it’s my time now. It’s time for me to get on the stage [and] be able to share these insights and these gems. I think it’s for me less about balancing brand, but more so balancing just my wellness and my sanity because sports is a very 24 seven high demand industry.

How do I manage my wellness so that when there is an opportunity to be my full self, be at a hundred for whatever leadership opportunity might be, I’m available for it. I’ve seen a lot of women just run themselves [into the ground]  and not have enough gas in the tank. We’re servicing and we’re building up the businesses and brands for these guys, which they’re absolutely deserving but we also need to make sure that we have the energy and the gas in our tank to serve what we’re passionate about. So I’m still figuring that out.

Her Agenda: What are some things that you do for wellness or that you enjoy in terms of self care? 

Arlesha Amazan: I love to take time off for leisure and travel. So one of the things that I would do, when I would find myself traveling a lot, especially during my CAA days, because you’re talking traveling for recruiting meetings and client activities, I would always purposely tag on an extra day or two just for leisure. Even if my colleagues were heading out and flying out on the red eye, I would stay for an extra 24 to 48 hours, because listen, the food in Chicago was too good for me to just be flying back home to Miami. That really helped me with my self-care. I would find myself coming back into the office on Monday, not rushing back from a work trip, and I would feel good. I would feel like I actually had a weekend. Another thing that I was very intentional about doing was using my PTO. 

I started full-time at CAA in 2013. I did not start using my PTO until 2019 or 2018. I don’t know why I wasn’t. I think [I did] that because there was so much travel for work, but that doesn’t count. A work trip does not count. That’s when it started dawning on me in 2018. No, I’m going to use PTO. I would be very meticulous and strategic about planning trips for me just for me.

I’ve come to terms with being in the industry and working with NBA players, you don’t really have a summer. I’d maximize my spring season and my winter season. Maximization of schedule was another component that I used to have wellness and  have balance, because you can only do what you can. That would be my answer to that.

Her Agenda: I read somewhere—correct me if I’m wrong—that you love wine and dinner. So, who are five athletes, active or retired, dead or alive, with whom you would like to have dinner and wine? Any sport. 

Arlesha Amazan: Okay, so the first one that came to mind for me was Kobe Bryant. Because I just feel like he would just have so many gems to drop for me, especially during this time, you know, coming out of sabbatical, I just feel like he would have the motivation that I would need to give me my spark.

Another person would be Magic Johnson. Just honestly, give me all of the business advice.

Someone who was an early pioneer during the WNBA times, I would say Lisa Leslie, because I would love to pick her brain and ask her what she’s thinking about all of this  traction [the WNBA is receiving] right now? I do love me some Lisa Leslie.

I would probably want to sit down with Muhammad Ali. That would just be an interesting conversation. 

And probably the last one that I would choose is probably Flo-Jo. She intrigues me about what her personality would have been like. I’m curious what would have come out of that conversation. I’d love to just pick her brain. So that would be my five.

[Editor’s note: This interview has been edited for length and clarity.]