Rachel Brown

I would say it really comes back to two main things: confidence and networking. The confidence came from growing up in an 89% white community as an Asian American, which gave me this level of self-assurance that allowed me to be comfortable and succeed even when I'm the only woman, the only person of color, and the youngest person in the room. I've got three parts of my diversity right there, and that confidence was what allowed me to be myself in those situations. Second to that is networking, but not in the traditional sense of just reaching out to someone and never talking to them again. I'm talking about truly building relationships where you're introduced to someone by someone you respect, you build your own relationship with them, you introduce them to other people, and it may or may not bring you business, but ultimately it's feeding into this ecosystem where people feed into people, relationships yield deals and money, and it all lifts each other up. Beyond that, I've been really lucky to have good people around me - my support system of family and friends, but also investors who have been very friendly and helpful and eager to give me advice, and other professionals who have introduced me to people that have either resulted in opportunities or new friendships and networking opportunities.

The best career advice I've received is about networking, but not in the form that everyone thinks of - not just reaching out to someone, learning about them, and never really talking to them again. I'm talking about truly building relationships where you're introduced to someone by someone that you respect in the space, you build your own relationship with that person, you introduce them to other people, and that may or may not bring you business, but ultimately it's feeding into this ecosystem that we're all in. It's about people feeding into people, feeding into relationships, and those relationships yielding deals and money, and it all kind of lifts each other up. That's the type of networking that I'm really, really behind, and that I always push on my mentees, and it's something that I practice just daily.

I would say, and this applies to all women but even more in particular to minority women, that we always feel that we can't go out for jobs or opportunities that might seem a little out of reach for us. A lot of people suffer from imposter syndrome - it's an overused term, but for the sake of understanding what it means, it's a great term to use - people are afraid to reach beyond what they think they deserve, or reach beyond what they think they know. Like I was saying before, growing up in an 89% white community as an Asian person, that community was so safe that I really developed the opposite of imposter syndrome. I gained confidence so early, and that was the thing that really allowed me to be myself and be confident in a room when I'm the only woman, when I'm the only person of color, and I'm the youngest person. I've got three parts of my diversity right there. That confidence was the thing that allowed me to be comfortable and to succeed. So my advice is to push past that imposter syndrome and reach for opportunities even when they seem out of reach.

I think misinformation is a big one. I'm in sports, I'm in marketing, I'm in tech and AI, and I'm in a number of different industries that I just happen to cross over - investing, capital, etc. - and misinformation is really prevalent. You can get information so easily now, but that information is not always true, and it can be really damaging to parties involved. It can stagger momentum, and I think it has a bigger effect on the people in those communities. For example, in NIL specifically, there's a lot of information out there that certain athletes are receiving millions while others are receiving nothing. While it's true that some get big deals, the majority are actually receiving like $1,500 brand deals. But students out there thinking everybody's receiving tens of thousands, if not up to millions - I think that's really damaging to them, not only for their mental health, but even their interest and their confidence in the space. So misinformation is a really, really big topic right now.

I would say stewardship is the most important value to me, both personally and professionally. It's about stewardship over the opportunities you have, the people that you have around you, pouring into them and growing different projects and opportunities that you might be working on. I think stewardship really covers what I focus on in both my work and personal life.