Flau’jae Johnson and her mother Kia Brooks, who also acts as her manager, have a lot to celebrate.
Amid Johnson’s Cinderella moment helping the Louisiana State University Lady Tigers basketball team win the NCAA championship earlier this year, the duo has capitalized on America’s love for the athlete, big time. To date, Brooks has secured around $2M in NIL deals for her daughter, with companies like Puma, JBL, and Papa Johns using Johnson to further their brand reach.
The latest in the line up is perhaps one of the biggest: Amazon.
Johnson, alongside teammate Angel Reese were tapped for the retailer conglomerate’s new “Dormz” series, in which the basketball stars share their must-haves and how students can curate their dream living and study spaces for less with Amazon’s essentials, as described by an Amazon spokesperson.
“I have been an entertainment manager for the past ten years and these are the type of partnerships I strive for,” Brooks exclusively tells ESSENCE. “I pride myself on my clients, including Flau’jae. Not just taking on any partnership, but considering those that are best for her brand. This includes working with partners who understands her and the type of impact she is trying to make. Amazon understands her vision, and that has made this campaign incredibly success.”
Johnson is among the few Black NCAA athletes with a partnership of this kind with Amazon, a feat she doesn’t take lightly.
“It feels great to be one of the NCAA players that’s leading the NIL movement,” Johnson exclusively tells ESSENCE. “You know, as a black woman, just as a woman in general, it’s so hard for us to dominate in these spaces and to be one of the top athletes it’s just something I worked for my entire life. I never thought it would come from basketball. I always thought it would be music. But to see that it’s happening in both is amazing.”
She continues: “I think it’s important for little girls to see girls that look like them on big national campaigns like this—and it’s just important for women’s basketball. It’s important for the marketing of everything that we’re trying to do for women’s sports in general. So making history in that way, it feels amazing. And I just appreciate the opportunities that have been given to me.”