"We have never liked the way that track did business. They’re only focused on business and not the athlete. I feel like we want to change that. It’s athlete first and business second. I want to change that and we are changing that." – Tara Davis

"I think that we want to do that in two steps. One is being that person and those athletes making the change. It’s also trying to do things on our own to make that more accessible to athletes. I think it’s easier said than done a lot of times because those resources aren’t available to athletes. A lot of times there isn’t someone there teaching athletes what to do or how to market themselves and how to use these platforms to grow their brand to be able to connect with brands and support themselves." – Hunter Woodhall

U.S. Olympic long jumper Tara Davis and Paralympic sprinter Hunter Woodhall are two of the most fun personalities in the sport. You may remember Davis celebrating making the U.S. Olympic team and rocking a cowboy hat and then celebrating by running into Woodhall’s arms. They’ve chronicled much of their relationship as well as their on and off-the-track story very well on social media. They’ve done such a great job of marketing themselves that they boast more than 420K subscribers on YouTube and have a combined TikTok following of more than 3 million followers. They sat down with me and my colleague Jasmine Todd to share the news that they’ve just signed a sponsorship deal with Lululemon as global brand ambassadors. In this episode, we touch on that deal, why they’ve gone about sponsorships and contracts differently in the track space and the importance of athletes harnessing their own story. 

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