How This UpAndComing WNBA Agent Uses Her Experience As A Former Professional Athlete To Run An Agency

Retirement is usually a joyous occasion, celebrating decades of career dedication. However, for professional athletes, it means a time when they have to choose between health and extra years; They have to come to terms with the fact that they no longer have the competitive advantage they had before. As a result, most professional athletes retire before age 30. Recently, more people are realizing the importance of building a brand or company before retirement, but 78% of them are still broke three years after retirement. However, even with these dismal statistics, some former professional athletes are doing well to hang their jerseys on the floor.

Taylor Berner, founder of Agency 3-2, an integrated marketing agency, uses his experience as an international professional basketball player and marketing professional to develop creative advertising campaigns. Her clients include Puma, Nike, Chloe Pavlech and Chris Johnson. Additionally, the WNBPA recently approved him as an agent. Although he is currently recruiting players, next season he will represent basketball players on the court.

"I had to redefine myself, and I feel like I'm still doing that, especially since my agency is now a year old," Taylor says. "I constantly think. “Okay, I used to be a basketball player, but who am I now? "Sports is still my passion, but how can I redefine myself and find what I can be better at?" So that was the hardest thing, being disconnected from the game but finding a way to be relevant. I'm going there."

Berner started playing basketball as a teenager. After playing in college, he made the American team for Maccabiah, the Jewish Olympics. He was contacted by Israeli clients and signed his first professional contract before the Games were over. In the same year, the American team won the gold medal. After playing professionally for two and a half years, Berner decided to retire. His body couldn't handle the strength needed to succeed at this level.

In the US, I worked at Google for a job in the sports industry. He found a job at a small social impact firm in Brooklyn, working on creative programs for schools and community centers in underserved areas that helped put kids to work. However, Berner was fired two years later.

Still wanting to work in sports, she took an internship at a sports marketing agency to get her foot in the door. Berner was one of the trainees who got a permanent job after graduation. He oversaw the agency's business operations and day-to-day client interactions. What surprised him was that the time and effort he put into this job did not match his salary compared to the income he received. He knew he had what it took to start his own business. Within a year, the agency went 3-2.

Berner is currently working to make Connecticut Sun WNBA player DiJonah Carrington the first WNBA player in the metaverse. Additionally, last year she worked on a Nike project in collaboration with Hibbett Sports and City Gear, Support Her Sole. The campaign amplifies the voices of those who stand out, celebrating women who lead the way and play by their own rules. In addition, she encourages Gen Z girls and millennial women to push boundaries and create their own through self-expression and self-expression.

As Berner climbs the corporate ladder, he focuses on the following key steps:

Act. It will never feel like the right moment. If you wait for the perfect moment, you'll be waiting a long time.

Trust the people who have done it before you. If you try to do everything yourself, it will take longer to achieve your goals.

take a risk. It is normal not to have the answers to all questions at once. All this you will learn as you move forward in your journey.

"It's okay if you don't get an answer right away," concludes Berner. “It's nice to have transition times when you have ten balls in the air and you're waiting to catch one. When I started the agency, I was working with other people. I had a great income and ran. business for big companies, but I haven't done it myself. It was a different kind of belief. How can I manage the financial system? Or how do you expand and start a company? These are literally all I am learning while I am. go. But I am learning not to know the answer. I will take it.

Follow eyewitness news in the Bahamas Live on September 7, 2022