Nicole Lynn decided she would take a shot in the dark and DM NFL quarterback Jalen Hurts to request a meeting about his football career. The result ended up working in her favor and has made her the first Black woman to represent an NFL player in the Super Bowl.
Lynn told ESSENCE that she has been following his collegiate football career and was rapt by him being drafted into the NFL. So when she requested the meeting, she was glad that he accepted. She said the aftermath was amazing. During the meeting, she met with both Hurts and her father and enthralled them both with her impressive management career working with several NCAA players.
“I know the agent world in the NFL, and all sports, is very male-dominated,” Hurts told Sports Illustrated in a recent interview. “But Nicole was really on top of her stuff. She was prepared. She knew what she was talking about. She was hungry. And she was determined. And I feel that determination like that never rests. Once you come across such a determined individual, that just hits me a little different.”
Her determination has now broken new ground, which will hopefully allow more women to represent athletes in an industry predominately made up of White men.
“According to Zippia, the most common ethnicity among sports agents is White, which makes up 68.6% of all sports agents,” according to the report.” Additionally, women make up just 23% of U.S. NFL agents, and of that, only 10.4% are Black (men or women). With that, it’s no surprise Lynn has dealt with significant challenges navigating the space, particularly being underestimated.”
After Lynn was hired, another male agent told Hurts and her father “Hey, if baby girl doesn’t work out, give us a call. She’s sweet, but—you know,” according to SI.
Hurts would then ask Lynn “How much of this do you deal with? Why would it matter that you’re a woman?”
“Oh, Jay,” she replied. “This is just my life.”
