Chatting With WNBA Player Dearica Hamby
By Asia Milia Ware, beauty editor at the Cut who also writes the column “Why Is Your Skin So Good.” She has covered fashion and beauty for eight years with bylines in InStyle, Teen Vogue, Paper, and Essence.
Photo: Russell Hamilton
Dearica Hamby, a WNBA basketball forward on the Las Vegas Aces, still has the email saved in her Sent folder from when she first reached out to Ron Waldon. Back when she was a junior at Wake Forest, Hamby got in touch with the former director of regional sales at Jordan Brand to ask for an internship. Hamby, who started playing basketball during her junior year of high school (which is considered late for the sport), figured if she didn’t make it as a player, she could get a corporate job with a brand like Jordan to work in the sports industry. Waldon connected her to different people at Jordan, but after a while she let the dream of interning go so she could focus on basketball.
By her senior year, she was averaging 20.3 points per game, the most in the Atlantic Coast Conference. In 2015, she was drafted to play for the San Antonio Stars.
Last year, she was named the WNBA’s Sixth Woman of the Year, the best and most valuable player in the league coming off the bench, for the second season in a row. Also, she’s working with Jordan.
We caught up with her the other day for a quick chat.
Despite some steps in the right direction, the WNBA is leaps and bounds behind the NBA when it comes to so much. Female basketball players make seven times less than their male counterparts. How do you wrap your head around this all?
We understand the logistics and economics of our sport, but gaining respect [is a challenge].
Chatting With WNBA’s Dearica Hamby
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