Shaquira Martin

I think my prayer life, so my spiritual foundation, has definitely been the number one thing that continues to carry me. Having a therapist and that mental health aspect taken care of is important to understand that you're not being gaslit, you are experiencing everything, but when you are the first, there's not a way to convey what you were experiencing until you're in hindsight. It's very important for me to have my mental health up there. And then just being authentic and staying true to you - you're not going to be part of everybody's story, you're not going to fit everybody's program, but what's for you will always align with you. I have clients like Alicia who are such a representation of the athletes I want to represent and support because she's authentic to herself, she's getting it out the mud, she really has grit to be the competitor that she is, and that's just a reflection of where my own life has been. Connecting with athletes that are the underdog and really do not allow their circumstances to define what their destiny is going to be, having that type of clientele allows me to stay grounded and remember why I'm in it to begin with and remember that we can win together.

I would say to not define your confidence in the success you have, but define your confidence in what are you changing. Whether that is changing the opportunity of more women to be in the industry, whether you're changing the life of the client that you're working with, whether you're changing and dismantling a system. I definitely think that the courage that I have gotten has been from realizing that I'm leaving something bettered where I found it, rather than thinking I'm only as good as the next brand deal or I'm only as good as the next job title. I used to be very focused on thinking those things matter, but the older I get, what satisfies and feeds my soul is knowing that I'm just leaving some type of legacy behind and enhancing something to be better than where I found it.

Recruiting clients is probably the biggest challenge, only because you're in a pool of so many other agents and it's kind of an aggressive industry. You have these athletes, especially student athletes, having conversations and not knowing how to see who is authentic, who has ethics, who is morally established. There are a lot of shady and wicked things taking place. So separating yourself from the average person and just staying true to yourself is what allows me to shine. I might not get all the clients, but the clients that I work with are the clients that are really looking for somebody to be behind them and root for them, knowing that they're hiring me to do the job. Being micromanaged can be a thing because not everybody understands that if we don't have opportunities going on right now, they wonder what you're doing. We have to build trust of them knowing I'm always going to have their best interests in front. Developing relationships and trust, especially in today's society where you have things at your fingertips and you're constantly feeding yourself with different social media stuff, really establishing relationships is a challenge but it's very rewarding in hindsight. As for opportunities, they are so endless. NIL has always been a thing but legally it's become established and it is going to be ever-changing within the next 10 years. They call it the Wild Wild West because there's not a lot of regulations. The opportunities are endless, but your character and who you are when these opportunities present themselves is what will shine at the end of the day.

The values most important to me are being grounded in faith, having authenticity, integrity, compassion, empathy, and the honesty to be my true self. Perspective is also crucial - what might sound like a no right now is really an opportunity for a different door to open. Really having perspective of what's happening and knowing that things are not happening to me, but they're happening for me. I believe in staying true to yourself because you're not going to be part of everybody's story and you're not going to fit everybody's program, but what's for you will always align with you. I focus on leaving something bettered where I found it and enhancing something to be better than where I found it, rather than being defined by job titles or the next brand deal.