Episodi
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In this episode of Unguarded, Kyle Auffray, former NFL player turned Venture Partner at Champion Venture Partners, shares his journey from the football field to the forefront of venture capital and business innovation. Known for his underdog story, Kyle reflects on what propelled him into the NFL without an agent, as well as the grit required to stay ready while balancing dual careers. Now a key figure in venture capital, he leads CVPâs investment strategy and oversees the Comcast SportsTech Accelerator, where he helps top-tier startups scale and thrive.Kyle dives into the emotional aspects of career transition, the importance of ego management, and building a support network that can sustain the ups and downs of a high-performance career. He also discusses his approach to navigating contract negotiations, self-representation, and understanding the complex landscape of player unions. Kyle shares how he reverse-engineered his goals and found purpose in Champion Venture Partners, where he now encourages athletes to invest wisely and explore meaningful ownership. With insights on leveraging relationships, financial education, and aligning with the right partners, Kyleâs story offers invaluable lessons for those looking to transition, grow, and invest in their future.Produced and edited by VĂctor Revenga.
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In this episode of Unguarded, we welcome Antonio Williams, a seasoned sports management professional and former basketball player with a wealth of experience across sports operations, media, analysis, and marketing. Having worked with elite organizations like the Phoenix Suns, Nike, ESPN, the Boston Red Sox, and the NBA, Antonio has worn many hats, from securing multimillion-dollar licensing deals for Nike to scouting future stars for the Suns. Currently, he runs his own sports venture and is part of an innovative e-sports project.
Antonio dives into the often-overlooked aspects of the sports industry, discussing the transition from player to scout, the important role of scouts in player-team fit, and the differences between scouts and agents. He provides valuable insights on how athletes can avoid bad deals, network effectively, understand their role, and leverage their value in brand partnerships. Antonio also touches on the emotional challenges of transitioning careers, the importance of knowing your value and marketing oneself accordingly, and the business side of sports that athletes need to understand to make better career decisions.
Produced and edited by VĂctor Revenga.
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Episodi mancanti?
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On this episode of Unguarded, Ryan Jay Owens, a former Team USA volleyball player and now a leading agent for female volleyball athletes, joins host Jori Davis as he opens up about his journey from the court to the boardroom as the founder of Elite Volley. With a vision to help over a million athletes unlock their full potential across personal, professional, and global platforms, Ryan shares how his experience as an athlete shapes his work today.
He offers a candid look at the player-agent relationship, discussing how athletes can choose the right agent to secure a lasting career, the common misunderstandings between players and agents, and the importance of setting clear boundaries. Ryan also highlights the crucial role of asking questions and understanding different sides of the business, whether negotiating contracts or navigating team dynamics. Additionally, he explores the growing landscape of NIL deals for European athletes and his mission to reshape the athlete representation industry.
Produced and edited by VĂctor Revenga.
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Former professional basketball player Bill Amis joins us on this episode of Unguarded. During his seven-year career in Europe, Bill took a year off to explore real estate finance and reconsider his overseas lifestyle. He returned to the court, reaching the EuroCup, and later moved to the UK, where he developed a passion for angel investing and the startup ecosystem. With an MBA from London, Bill co-founded a startup aimed at helping NIL athletes and now serves as a Startup Advisor at Hyper helping founders along their journey.
In this episode, Bill shares his experiences in choosing the right agent, the dynamics of the player-agent relationship, and the challenges of an outdated agent representation system. He offers insights from his contract journey, emphasizing contract rights, the importance of education, and the value of building a strong network. Bill also discusses his transition into finance and the startup world, along with a brief stint in stand-up comedy during his playing career.
Produced and edited by VĂctor Revenga.
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Sandrine Nzeukou, founder of Playbook, joins host Jori Davis in this Unguarded Episode. Sandrine, a former professional hooper turned entrepreneur, shares her transition process to the corporate world, how she balanced school while playing overseas, and how to leverage your experiences in business.
Of African descent, Nzeukou explains her proactive involvement in the growth of the game on the continent. She highlights the talent and evolution of the sport in Africa as well as the challenges they need to overcome to keep progressing.
The former athlete emphasizes the need for transparency in the sports world as well as the importance of using playing years to build a quality resume.
Now, Sandrine is building Playbook, a media platform on the business of emerging sports economies, with a focus on Africa and the Middle East.
Produced and edited by VĂctor Revenga.
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Abiola Wabara goes unguarded again. As a former professional basketball player with over a decade of experience in Europe, she started preparing for her transition by getting her Master's degree while still playing.
In 2016, Abiola founded Goball Life, a small consulting firm dedicated to assisting athletes in their transition from professional sports to the next phase of their lives. She is now a Digital Industrial Manager at a consulting company. Outside the corporate world, she is the owner and artist behind Art by Abiola, an online gallery featuring her artwork.
Listen to this episode as she discusses her transition, challenges faced in the corporate world, the power of art, the financial realities of college athletics, and her relationship with the ball after retiring.Produced and edited by VĂctor Revenga.
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Basketball 101 CEO, â Dorian Leeâ , shares his journey to becoming one of the top skills trainers in the industry. After a solid athletic college career and a short stint playing professional tours in different countries he decided to transition into Corporate America, but his hoop dreams weren´t over, at 31, Dorian went on a European tour where he received several offers, but an eye-opening experience before heading to Europe helped him determine his calling was skills training. He transferred on-court skills into the business world and became a corporate athlete.
In this episode, Dorian highlights the importance of challenging your belief systems, reflects on past decisions and lessons learned, his transition from playing to business, living within your means, the value of training in today's game and competition, and the new generations.
Produced and edited by VĂctor Revenga.
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Horace Wormely goes Unguarded, again. Horace was one of the first guests of the show, and he is back with some new insights. As a 12-year-pro hooper who understood the importance of studying the business in sports, he reflects on his transition after retiring, how playing skills transfer to the business world, the importance of having a mentor, building leverage, and the power of athlete advocacy.
Produced and edited by VĂctor Revenga.
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â Alex Ackerâ ; with 16 years of professional basketball on his back, shares his transition process to being an entrepreneur. Now CEO of Amongst Elite Capital, Alex had to learn how find his identity to prosper beyond the court. He highlights his growth during his time in Europe and how athletes should educate themselves during their playing days.
Produced and edited by VĂctor Revenga.
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Trevor Huffman; a former 13-year overseas professional athlete, throughout his journey realized it was key to control the ego in order to be the player that would be an asset to a championship level team instead of only getting in his personal bag. Trevor first mastered himself right after saying bye to the game he loved in order to now be helping other athletes and basketball lovers master their health and fitness goals. He is the co-founder of Swish House and Founder of Huffman Basketball training.
Produced and edited by VĂctor Revenga.
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Hey, it's been a minute! We back tho. And we put Jori Davis on the hot seat as our special co-host Hyun Kim peppers the founder of â WEVOLVâ about her greatest challenges, wins, disappointments, as well as the joyful and and painful lessons she's learned along the way as an athlete founder. And of course an important update on where things are with the company.
Don't forget to like, subscribe, comment...we want to hear from the community!
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D'Andra Moss used her downtime during her pro basketball career to explore and learn new topics and skills that interested her which eventually lead to her current job as a product manager at LinkedIn. She got Unguarded about the importance of trying new things, how her experience as a pro athlete prepared her for rejection and success in the workforce, and tips on how athletes can use LinkedIn to frame their sports careers for a career after sports. Over her 10 year playing career she played in Spain, Switzerland, Ukraine, France, Turkey, Italy, Chile, and Finland. .
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Tony Easley gets Unguarded about deciding to retire as an international pro basketball player after a serious injury. He talks about how he dealt with that setback by turning it into something positive and the lessons he learned during his playing career that set him up for his current job as an assistant coach at a boarding school in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The Auburn, Alabama-native and Murray State-grad played 11 years in eight countries including Italy, Germany, Turkey, and Israel.
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Josh Owens knew exactly when he'd retire when he started his pro basketball career. And he did just that after last season. Over his 10 years overseas he played in Israel, Italy, Greece, Turkey, and France. The Stanford-grad got Unguarded about designing mini-internships for himself, reflecting on inflection points in his life and career, the importance of establishing a routine post-playing career, and using social media to say goodbye.
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Val returns as Unguarded's first ever return guest! The Ukrainian-born, 14-year-pro retired at the end of last season after playing pro basketball in France, Poland, Turkey, Spain, and France. She talked to us about the highs (buying your own pots and pans) and lows (lack of a steady pay check) of retirement life, how the war affected her last season, being able to explore hobbies, self-healing, forgiveness, looking back, and psychedelics. Featuring guest host, Hyun Kim.
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Angie retired (for the 2nd time) after last season in Spain and has since focused on building up her Mindset Coaching business, running a basketball academy for kids, earning a Somatic and Body Oriented Coaching Certificate, and writing openly and vulnerably about the new phase of her life on her blog. She gets Unguarded about how therapy has helped her with her transition and all the healing and unlearning she's had to do since leaving the game, how she wants to help the next generation of athletes live happier and healthier lives, and not getting that final game curtain call.
The Spokane Valley, Washington-native currently resides in Gernika, Spain with her partner who still plays for the team where the two played together last season.You can connect with her on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram.
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Host Jori Davis is joined by co-host Lâoreal Gamble and guest Isabelle Harrison to talk about her experience during the first AU (Athletes Unlimited) Hoops basketball season, where she was able to deepen her understanding of the coaching side, as well as the mental part of basketball on a not that politically oriented league where "every player got to tell their story". The phone call also goes over Izzy´s possibility to return overseas and her opinion of the overseas lifestyle, the evolution, and importance of branding, her internship with the Dallas Mavericks, and even hints at an upcoming shoe deal for the WNBA star. Edited by VĂctor Revenga
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Host Jori Davis is joined by co-host Lâoreal Gamble and guest Jean-François Reymond to talk about his playing days and his transition to the player´s union, how unions are distributed, the benefits professional basketball players can get while playing in Italy, the need of active leaders and how player´s unions could help the Britney Griner situation in Russia.
Edited by VĂctor Revenga.
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Host Jori Davis is joined by co-host Lâoreal Gamble and guest Stephany Skrba to discuss having kids while being a professional athlete, navigating the dating scene as a single mom while playing overseas, differences between men and women in the industry, the lack of support to women and the community the kids help build.
Edited by VĂctor Revenga.
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Host Jori Davis is joined by co-host Lâoreal Gamble and guest Vernon Taylor to discuss a the changes and challenges for pro athletes making their living overseas. The trio discuss safety when going out as an athlete overseas following the recent assault of Corey Manigault in Cyprus, as well as advice for new athletes moving overseas when it comes to lifestyle and relationships, using your background to embrace your journey, achieving your dreams even when they donât come in the amount of time you expected, interactions between leagues, teams, and players while in Europe, new FIBA rules, previous personal experiences and future plans in Europe, and problems with the current agent and sport business culture. Unguarded is brought to you by Wevolv. Edited by Kayla Kamil.Jori Davis is a pro basketball player and founder of Wevolv, a platform empowering elite athletes around the globe to manage their own careers and ways of life.Lâoreal Gamble is a former pro basketball player now taking on the challenge of motherhood abroad while also opening her own consulting firm for expats and athletes, Crossover the Net Consulting.Vernon Taylor is a 10-year pro basketball veteran currently playing for SAM Basket Massagno in Switzerland. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/unguarded/support
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