Christian (Cris) Ross-Francis has been passionate about the world of sports for as long as she can remember. From playing basketball during her time at Jarvis Christian College to diving into the world of coaching and training a few years after graduation to working as the Assistant General and Game Day Operations Manager for the Dallas Skyline—a professional basketball team in Dallas, Texas—, Cris was committed to exploring different realms across the sports industry since early on in her career. It was something about the business side of the industry though that continued to draw her interest. It was during her time with the Dallas Skyline, as she managed the day-to-day operations of the team and sponsorship opportunities for its athletes, that she confirmed her love for marketing and branding. She was all in. Determined to help athletes make money outside of their respective sports and build their personal brands, Cris founded her own sports marketing and branding firm. She hasn't looked back since! From current NBA, WNBA, and G League players to former athletes to sports influencers, she has worked with an array of clients to build their personal brands and secure sponsorship deals. Along with this, she has also founded her own non-profit organization—Life Beyond the Rim—where she not only teaches student-athletes the importance of balance, education, and having a backup plan; but also helps them learn about different resources to build their social media following and transition to life outside of sports. As she continues her journey in the industry, Cris is looking forward to growing her business further, organizing more in-person workshops for athletes, and releasing a marketing and branding e-book in the near future.
You mentioned that you navigated across different areas of the sports industry—coaching, training, game operations—, but then you founded your own agency. What was the inspiration behind starting your company?
The main thing for us starting this was to really start a smaller boutique to engage with those players that aren’t necessarily a top recruit, a starting five, or a star player. It was (about) just getting them to understand that everybody has a brand and everybody can monetize off of their brand. It's just about how you go about doing it. For me, I'm also into teaching—I want to teach as well. It's not just: “Hey, I'm gonna help you with your marketing and branding and that's it.” I also wanted to teach as well so I feel like (with) me starting my own agency, I can allow myself to do that as well—instead of just going to a bigger agency, getting a client, and that's it. You know, (now) if a player comes to me or anybody in the sports industry comes to me and says: “Hey, can you help me with my marketing and branding?” I'm gonna help you. I'm also going to teach you. Even if you later decide that you don't need my services anymore or whatever the case may be, I feel like I still did my job because I taught you what you needed to know. Then, you can teach other players or other influencers or other people in the sports industry as well. That's the main reason why I started my agency. Also to just target the smaller athletes—the ones that are not a LeBron James or a Steph Curry.
That's awesome! Diving more into your company, could you share with us more about your agency’s mission and some of its goals?
My mission is to teach about marketing and branding, and also to get my clients to understand the importance of marketing and branding. Anybody can have a brand—even the sixth player off the bench. That's my main mission: to let everybody know, “Hey, you have your own vision, your own plan, and you know what you want to do? Let's attack that and go for that.”
Let's talk branding! As you mentioned, you work to build the brands of athletes and sports influencers. How did you get started building your own personal brand in the space?
That's a crazy question because at first I was never working on my brand (*laughs*). I was never working on my personal brand because I'm not really the type of person who wants to be in the spotlight. So I never was like, “Hey, let me work on my brand.” It took me some solitude to myself to think: “Hey, you have to put yourself in the forefront as well. You can't just constantly push your clients upfront in the forefront and you're not building your brand. If you're not building and working on your brand, people are gonna look at you and be like ‘Ok, your brand ain't even built so how can I trust you to build my brand’.” I was like, “Ok yeah, I'm my own product. I have to show people that I’ve built my brand. I'm working on my brand. I'm staying current with the social media trends. I'm making sure I'm working on my personal brand, getting myself out there, getting in the forefront, and not standing in the shadows.” I’m one of those people that loves working in silence and for people to not even know my name; but I know that in this world now it's like a show-and-tell world. You gotta show people what you're doing in order for them to really believe in what you're doing, and believe in your business or your product.
With having an agency, building your brand, and tapping into the entrepreneurship world, what were some challenges that you faced there and how did you work to navigate through those?