KJ Live – Alana Beard

greatest players in the history of women's basketball. She has currently partnered with the African American Sports and Entertainment Group and together they focused their efforts on bringing a w NBA franchise to the city of Oakland. It is my great honor to welcome a lot of beard to the show. Hi, kJ, Hi, how are you for having me? Thanks for reaching out to get me on absolutely. I mean, once I read about what you're doing, Uh, it was fascinating for a

lot of reasons. And I'll get into that a little bit later, but I really want to hear all about what you're doing. But something I wanted to ask you when I because I heard about it, when you when you shut it down when you retired, what made you decide to walk away from the game. I was ready right. UM. I I think I was in a position that not a lot of athletes are in UM towards the end of their career. I was fortunate to be able to make that decision, and I was ready to make that decision.

I was craving something new. I was craving the transition to the business world. UM. And on top of that, you know, I've always been I've always been that athlete that never wanted to cheat the game. Right And to me, if my body wasn't producing the way that I needed it, you are wanted to UM considering the amount of work that I put in on a daily basis, right, it

didn't make the game fun for me anymore. UM. And And to add to that, there are only a hundred and forty four spots in the w n b A, and I knew that I could stay in that league for as long as I wanted to stay in that

league because of what I brought to any locker room. UM. In fact, when I, you know, announced that I was retiring, which was a mistake because I just wanted to just roll on out, UM, coaches were reaching out to me to come on board, and I was like, no, I'm done, And I've always been big on mentoring, and I knew that if I had stayed, I was taking up another position and taking that away from young women who have dreamt for years upon years of being in the w

n b A. Absolutely you touched on your your desire to mentor um A lot of times the professional athletics, you don't you see it, but you don't hear about enough stories about the pros mentoring. I UM, I watched some of the video of you and Marissa Coleman, I believe, and you guys, actually you co owned a restaurant together. Talk a little bit about that partnership, how that developed, in that, in your role in that, in that relationship. So Marissa and I met when I was playing in

Washington for the Washington Mystics. I was our best she was my Rickie, right, And you know, I've always been that that individual to where I don't I don't speak very much. I don't I don't force anything on you. If you if you come to me and if you want to know certain things, I'm going to take the

time to explain it to you. But more than anything, I lead by example, right, And so I think Marissa Coleman saw sort of my approach to sort of the game, but also so my approach to you know, life outside of the court. And we would we would have many, many, um conversations about what's the next step, even at you know, even four and five years and we would still have

those conversations. And so she knew that I had interests of one day being a franchise z because I had this grand plan of building out a portfolio of franchises and operating it right. But thank god, a mentor of mine kind of like you know, encouraged me to start to dig into the venture capital space. But Marissa, you know, she was always there, always digging in, always interested in what I was doing, and I was always providing information.

And then eventually our relationship progressed to the point to where we had enough confidence and trust in each other that we decided to move forward. Um, you know, from a business perspective. But that opportunity came about because Marissa Coleman family had a had a family friend who had owned, my goodness, at least forty franchises, um, from Domino's Pizza

to to Jersey Mike's. And so he literally took us underneath his wing and took us through the process, step by step by step to teach us um the process of building out of franchise, and Mariska Coleman and I were all over it. Were very like minded in terms of how we see ourselves UM transitioning and living life beyond the game. That is some very valuable experience, a very very good blessing to have someone walk you through those particular ropes. Having a little bit of business background

myself and been involved in franchising. If there's there's so much I wish we would have did differently in those first three months. Okay, that that just kind of you know, changes the game for you. But but but knowing those things and getting that information is a valuable experience. Now, how early in your w NBA career did first, did life after basketball becomes sort of the priority for you

to start strategically setting it up? And then how early was it did you have that business that first for the business side of things. Was it as a graduate from Duke or did it start earlier than that, or or you know, no, it's it started. It started in high school, right and and it's impite started because you know, I would leave the gym after practicing for hours after hours, and I would go straight to I would go straight to the Smoothie Key. And so I was spending all

my money at a Smoothie King. And in my mind, why would I spend all my money when I can just own one? And then um, on top of like, you know, loving smoothie King, I found out that the headquarters were you know, it was in New Orleans, right, and so I was like, I'm gonna own hundreds of Smoothie Kings, right. And so that was something that started in high school and I've always had that in mind. In fact, if you if you go back to sort of a few interviews that I maybe did in college.

I think it was like our Duke Media Guide or something. They asked me like who do I admire? Who do I want to be? I was like, I want to be the second richest African American woman behind Oprah went Free. I don't know why I didn't say the first, but I just said behind Oprah Remfrey because she was the standard, right, And so I've always been in that mindset. So with franchising, I I followed that trend through through high through college, right,

and then I got to the professionals. We started having more and more time on our hands, and I kept following that that that trend, and then I didn't have a problem connecting with people. Right if I wasn't that athlete that walked around with a big head and an ego. Right, if someone approached me, I'm extremely approachable. I'm gonna have

a conversation with you. We're all human, right, and you will be surprised how many connections you make just by sitting at a coffee shop and engaging with people, instead of being so consumed in your own world that you don't see the life that's around you. Um. So I think that was how I I kind of started, um,

you know, developing start of the business acumen. Right. Um. But I can admit that when I was injured in two thousand and ten, when the doctors told me I had a ten percent chance of returning to the court at an elite level, I became hyper focused. I'm preparing for life after basketball. Um to where I was like, I was reaching out to people. I actually reached out

to this to this one guy. He was the founder of a cybersecurity company in Washington, and I was like, Hey, I was like, can we meet up at Starbucks once a week for you to give me many lessons um in business. Dude was like, yeah, we can do that. So for over a year, every week I would meet up at Starbucks with this guy for like two or three hours a day and just sit there and go through my own m b A. Right, because I'm no

type of person that UM. I I learned by doing right and and having someone sort of just walk me through and step by step I get it, like just like that, like with means. And so that was kind of my first maybe introduction into just really understanding what mentors are. Right. I think a lot of people can have people in their lives and they can say that they have mentors, but how you engage with that mentor is super important, right, because it's you to dictate the

journey that you want. Absolutely something. Yeah, and that's something that is basketball athletes. I won't say basketball players, I won't just generalize like that, but as athletes sometimes we take for granted is that the related ship, how to deal, how to behave with a mentor, how to maintain and cultivate UM. That's I think more of those type of classes need to be taught or seminars or whatever. But

the next generation definitely needs to understand that. But staying on that topic, on that topic, now, when did you as a player first start to think, Okay, did you think about being an owner of a of a franchise even back then? So when was that day or when was that moment that you had that that thought. I don't know that I can put like a moment on it.

Maybe it was when I was injured came back after two years of being off the court in the Washington mystics kind of said, yeah, you're not gonna be good anymore, so we're not going to resign you. Right. Maybe I don't know. That was my first lesson in business. Um, And you know, I'm probably gonna go off the routes here. But I always bring Lebron James into this conversation because I respect him for what he did right um, and when he made the decision to go from Cleveland to Miami.

I didn't necessarily like how he did it and announced it, but I respected it because Lebron James was probably one of the first athletes to start to do to an organization what organizations kind of do the athletes all the time. Like when they can't when you can't do anything for that organization anymore, it's business. Gloyd's means nothing, right, And so Lebron was that athlete that took control of his own journey, right, and he made that decision. You know what,

Cleveland isn't ready for me just yet. I'm gonna go to Miami. I'm gonna build up my brand, take control of my brand, win some championships, and then I'll come back to my hometown and win it for you went out to work, so you know, and that's what I respect. So I think that the thought of like becoming an owner has always been in my mind, whether it's a w nb A team, UM an NBA team, NFL team, like, nothing is off limits, right the w b A. Why wouldn't I want to do this when I have the

opportunity to do it? Right? Were there inspirations that you drew upon, uh, black women women in general that you said, Hey, I looked at this person as someone that inspires me to do better and achieve the highest of heights. Oprah Winfrey think it's as simple as that. It's it's it's Oprah Winfrey. I think Oprah Winfrey is every black girl's role model, or at least in my generation. It was right you you saw her just carry herself with such grace, um that that you, I don't know, I was intrigued.

I was intrigued early on. I'm still in tregued. Yeah. Yeah. When when when you they say that representation matters, what does that phrase mean to you personally? It means a ton. You got to see it in order to believe it, right. Um, when I was, you know, had aspirations of playing in the NBA because I didn't have the w n b A T to to look up to. That's that's what it means. That was my that was my meaning of

of having representation. I wanted to be the next Reggie Miller the w n b A started, I wanted to be the next India Cooper. So it means a ton, right, So what the choices that I make on this journey when I tell you that me is not at the center of any of it. I have a bigger vision and I have a bigger purpose on this on this earth, right to to to sort of create and lay a foundation or lay a path, just as those that laid that path for me before, Like I have that responsibility

and I don't take it lightly. So when I when I pursue these opportunities, whether it's in the venture capital space, whether it's owning a franchise, or are now you know, leading a group to to sort of bring the team to Oakland. It's about that generation that's coming behind me to be able to see that this is attainable, that

this is possible if you really want it. It's cliche, but it's true, and honestly a lot of the things that people call cliche are some of the most valuable lessons if we really listened to it and it really hold onto those words, we learned something from it, and that brings me. That brings me to today. Your involvement with the African American Sports and Entertainment Group and their push to bring a w NBA franchise to the city of Oakland. How did you get involved with him? Doing

my homework so you made happy yourself. You reached out to the people just doing my homework right again, just as I you know, it goes back to when I was in high school. I followed the trend with franchising, eventually on my own franchise. Same thing here, right, aspirations. If I if I were to show you my white white board, you would see an org chart where I have buckets of what I want to do and they're

not dreams. This is what I want to do. Um. And so I followed the trend they I think the announcement came out, um maybe in June of twenty one that they were pursuing ownership and I had my agents due to due diligence, right, UM. I asked them to get me the contacts and I reached out to to Ray Bob it Cold um and I and I sort of you know, provided a little information on my of myself through email and within an hour he responded, um. And so the synergies were there. We we had tons

and tons of conversations just to understand if this made sense. Um. I'm big on vibes um and and it feels right. It feels good. It felt good obviously with the other due diligence that's needed, just felt good. Right. Their their intent is there for the right thing there um. Potentially would be some roadblocks and challenges along this road. How do you envision sort of the process to go like?

Could you like because I'm you know and I know you can't really talk about too much about the particulars of it, but for the stuff you can't talk about, what is sort of the strategic roadmap owning a w NBA franchise if you will. Yeah, No, it's about getting the community to support you one to you know what. I back up. The first thing is about making sure that you have a place to host the team. A CG has already done that, right, They've laid that foundation.

There's there's just there's just they have secured a lease agreement with Oakland Arena. That's there. The second is money that's there right um. And the third I think everyone needs to understand because you have to manage to use expectations. When you see the headlines, it's like, oh, we're gonna get a team in Oakland. No, this is a process.

I compare this to a political campaign. Right now, we have to make the push to convince not only the community but also the w n b A and and the owners within the w n b A that this is a viable that Oakland is a valuable market. So it's it's a it's a ton of work, but I think that's the one thing that attracts me more than anything.

Not not that I can, you know, sort of position myself to sort of be a catalyst for change at the league level, but the process of it all, that is the most intriguing thing to me, right because there are going to be challenges, there are going to be roadblocks, but we'll figure out how to get around them or get through them. And and I think the other hard part to this is that we can do all of this work and the league is making that decision. Yeah.

Also the LEA, the decision ultimately rests with the other owners to vote on this. Absolutely the league. Yeah, absolutely, Okay, okay, um, that's interesting. You know, I looked up, I looked up all the information that I could on the group, and I read a ton of letters of recommendation from all over the community, from every corner of the community, which is super impressive. I've actually reached down and talked to

some folks in Oakland. They're extremely excited about it. They feel like this is something that definitely will go in Oakland, in particular because of how they get down in Oakland, and that that's what I mean. I'm just saying that is just what people have to understand like Oakland moves in a different way, Berkeley moves kind of in a different speed than everybody else, and they really don't really

care about what the outside world thinks of them. But they're gonna get behind a team and a franchise to support them. Bringing me to my next to my next question, what do you want the identity of this organization? Is there a name for the organization and what do you

want the identity for the organization to be? Yeah, I'm not gonna get into a part of the name, um but um, I think I've mentioned this and I will always mention is about being authentic to who I am as an individual, but more importantly, being authentic to who OPEN is. That's as simple as that. Mm hmm, and it doesn't get more simple. Final final questions, final question for you, um Elena, What I'm a part of the global basketball community is what I call it. So it

doesn't matter what love you played on. If you hoop, you love the game, then you're part of the community. What can the global basketball community do to help bridge the gap surrounding the inequities and not only women's professional basketball, but in c double a basketball high school on down what can we do as a global community to bridge that gap? Show up, right, show up and respect what

we do as women athletes. Understand that just because our counterparts are making millions and millions of more dollars than we are, it doesn't negate the amount of work we put into our craft and perfecting it. It's all the same. It's all the same, right, and that's what we we have to get people to sort of understand. Um, it's not about tearing someone else down, is about lifting those

around you up. So if if there's anything, um, the global sports community can do, it's just show up, be positive. Support um, because at some point you're gonna have a daughter, and you're gonna want your daughter to play sports, and your daughter maybe one of those elite individuals that make it to the professor at a level, and you're gonna want people to support them as well. So just be kind, be nice, UM, just do good. Pick a person, right, I I can't imagine it being that hard. We'll say it,

We'll see Elena. Yeah, thank thank you so much for your time today. UM, best of luck in your push to bring that professional basketball franchise. If anything that I could do to help, please let me know. I don't know if there's anything I can do, but if there's anything I could do, please let me know, because this is something I definitely want to get behind and you have my full support upon Thank you so much for joining kJ Live, Ladies and gentlemen, Elena Beard, thank you kJ.

This was a pleasure.