Florida A&M University (FAMU) Cheerleaders just secured a major deal.
The cheer squad entered into three-year partnership with the global hair care brand, Mielle Organics per a November 27 announcement.
The deal is worth a reported $250,000 which will include product sampling, activations, social media campaigns among a multi-year brand ambassadorship.
“I loved everything about my time at FAMU, and this is a full circle moment to give back in this way,” said Omar Goff, president of Mielle Organics and FAMU graduate. “We started the HBCU partnership journey at Howard University with the queens of the pool, and now we are here to partner with the queens of cheer.”
FAMU Cheerleader Team Coach and assistant vice president of Annual and Affinity Giving, Brandi Tatum-Fedrick, helped make the partnership happen.
“It is great to have Rattlers in great places,” said Tatum-Fedrick. “We are super excited for Omar Goff’s commitment to his alma mater. In my 18 years of coaching, this is our first partnership, so I am excited for many more to come.”
This is the first hair care brand partnership for the FAMU Cheer team.
The deal is the first of its kind for the cheer squad.
“This brand is going to evolve FAMU Cheer,” said Ashlyn Boles, FAMU cheer co-captain. “It will allow us to step out of our comfort zone to say I can wear my natural hair, and I can rock my natural hair and look good while doing it.”
NIL deals are increasingly allowing talented college athletes to control their image, and make deserved earnings.
Earlier this year, Mielle Organics announced a landmark deal with LSU basketball phenom Angel Reese.
In a news release shared with ESSENCE, it was confirmed that this would Reese’s first major beauty deal and would include Reese’s image to be used for the brand’s marketing, social media, events and a limited-edition product bundle.
Dubbed as the Bayou Barbie because of her love for long tresses and overall interest in beauty, the Mielle partnership makes perfect sense.
“Athletes are the ideal beauty icons and brand ambassadors,” said Reese in the news release. “I put it out there that I wanted to work with more beauty brands, and I’m so excited to be working with Mielle! I’m a longtime user and fan of the brand so this is the perfect partnership. I can’t wait to share more with my fans and introduce my new Mielle bundle. The last several months have been a whirlwind. I feel really blessed.”