Was the plan always to go pro?
No! No, it’s funny. Part of why I went to Stanford was to get a great degree, and then after I graduate, a great job to make a lot of money. Growing up, if you had asked me, “Do you want to play professional basketball?” I would have said, “No. I love basketball, but I think I’ll do something else.” But in my junior year of college, some of my teammates got drafted and were playing in the league. Watching it, I was like, Okay, that looks like fun. But at that time, like four years ago, it wasn’t a great career choice. If you’re graduating from Stanford, you could make double the money you would in the WNBA. So when I was making the decision, I was still not 100%. But I thought, If I ever want to do this again, I can’t. Right now is my opportunity to take the leap and see what happens, see how long I can do it, and see if it’s a good career for me. It wasn’t always part of the plan, but thank God I did. I’m so grateful. I love that I get to play basketball for a living and have all of the opportunities that come along with it.
What’s your favorite thing about starting a beauty brand?
It’s so great starting a company with one of your best friends. We can be honest and vocalize what we’re worried about, what we’re excited about, and what we don’t know the answers to. We’re learning every day. We know we’re going to have problems. We know we’re going to accidentally send an email blast to someone, which we did, but it’s like a reality TV show that we get to be a part of. There’s always something new happening.
How do you push through any self-doubt?
Playing a sport, it’s so easy to see the statistics and see how you’re performing. My first year getting to the league, I had some opportunities to get to play and was so disappointed with what the stats were. I’ve always felt like what I bring to the game doesn’t always show up on the stat sheet, but I was still disappointed, knowing the work that I continue to put in. We only won five games that year. It wasn’t the best year, in all areas.
Knowing that I wasn’t ever really intending to play in the WNBA, I could have been like, Okay, I’m gonna get a job now—this was fun. Sticking with it and continuing to show up and get shots before practice and after practice, playing in Athletes Unlimited in the offseason, and continuing to work on my game was the biggest hurdle. It’s just continuing to show up on days that don’t feel easy.
This interview was lightly edited for length and clarity.
