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Black Beyond Sport Presents: Influence & Inspiration: Sharing Stories, Providing Perspectives

Hosted by Black Talent Initiative & Hugh lawson
 
 
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Black Beyond Sport Presents: Influence & Inspiration: Sharing Stories, Providing Perspectives

On February 1st, we will feature a panel of emerging thought-leaders, who have successfully managed to transition from varsity sports to rewarding careers and will engage in a great conversation about their personal journeys.

They will discuss important topics such as:
·Being prepared for the mental impact of transitioning out of sports and overcoming "Identity Loss"
·Recognizing, honouring, leveraging your "intangibles" and transferable skills from the student-athlete experience
·The importance of finding sponsors and mentors
·Finding your "why" that will translate to a fulfilling career, post-athletics
·Building a plan to identify the right opportunities, interview, and workplace readiness

Additionally come join us to learn more about our upcoming 7-week Black Beyond Sport workshop series on Self-Development & Career Readiness. The cohort will run from February 8th - March 29nd, 2023!

​​Meet Our Moderator and Panelists:

Moderator
Nakissa Koomalsingh
U Sports Basketball Alumni, Founder HOOPQUEENS

Nakissa Koomalsingh, also known as Keesa K, is the Founder of HOOPQUEENS. Before entering her entrepreneurial journey in July 2020, Nakissa graduated with a Degree in Business Administration and a certificate in Entrepreneurial Finance.

Growing up, she played for the popular YAAACE organization.  Throughout her post-secondary education, she had the privilege of going to school away from home and being a varsity student-athlete. She started her post-secondary journey on the East Coast of Canada in Prince Edward Island attending Holland College. A couple of years later, she completed her post-secondary journey at the University of Nipissing and decided to hang up her jersey after her career-ending ACL injury.

Prior to starting HOOPQUEENS, Nakissa knew there was a niche waiting to be served. There were no spaces specifically for pro and varsity athletes to train and compete, so she created it. Being a former varsity athlete, she understands the struggles of female athletes and knows what they need to be successful in their academic and athletic careers. ​

​Today, Nakissa is focused on using the game of basketball to change the narrative of women in sport. Being a Black woman navigating through race and gender inequities isn't always easy, but Nakissa is on a mission to empower and encourage women to be confident when creating their own lane.

Panelists
Micaëlla Riché
Director of Basketball Operations, Lay-Up Youth Basketball Alumni; NCAA Basketball Alumni

Micaella brings playing experience at the provincial and national level, as well as in the NCAA at the University of Minnesota where she completed her Bachelor's Degree in Kinesiology. She went on to Kansas State University to complete her Master's in Counseling and Student Development while coaching and assisting in recruiting operations with the Wildcats. Since then, she played professionally overseas and has worked as a National Scout identifying elite talent across Canada. She is currently entering her third year as the Director of Basketball Operations at Lay-Up Youth Basketball.

Amanda Ruller
CSCS Football Canada Worlds Team Player, Seattle Seahawks, NFL Assistant Running Backs Coach; U Sports Track & Field Alumni

 Amanda played football for Football Canada Worlds Team in 2017. She also competes in Olympic lifting and holds all Saskatchewan records in snatch and clean and jerk for two weight classes. She was one of the first women to coach football at the USport level as the Running Backs coach at McMaster University where she was also the strength and conditioning coach for the football team.

Coach Ruller had the opportunity to be an assistant Running Backs coach with the Saskatchewan Roughriders in the CFL and had an opportunity to coach this season in the NFL with the Seattle Seahawks as the assistant Running Backs Coach as the first female Coach with the Seahawks.

Ed Reynolds II
NFL & NCAA Football Alumni Co-Founder & CEO, Amplio Global

Originally from Greensboro, NC, Ed has lived away from home since the 9th grade. He attended Woodberry Forest School in Orange, VA and spent half of his junior year abroad in South Africa. He took a leap of faith and chose to accept a scholarship from Stanford University in 2010. While at Stanford he studied Political Science with a concentration on International Relations.

He dealt with an ACL tear in spring practice leading into his sophomore year. He took a medical redshirt for that whole season but came back even better. The following season starting at free safety for the Stanford Cardinal, Ed led the nation in defensive TDs (3) and interception return yards (301 yd which is 1 yard off the NCAA all-time record) and went on to named All-PAC-12 first team, SI.com All-America second team and Associated Press All-America third team. This really put Ed's name out there nationally and after a successful senior season, Ed was drafted by the Philadelphia Eagles in the 5th round in 2014.

Ed played in Philly for two seasons before moving to Cleveland, OH and playing for the Browns for two more seasons. Another knee injury in 2017 forced Ed to look at other options outside of football. He was a coaching assistant back at his alma mater in 2019 and realized that he really enjoyed the mentorship part of the job, but was done investing all his time into football. He wanted to try new things which led to a couple of years of business development in the real estate space then eventually led him to meet his business partner, Roger Jones, and create Amplio Global, a solution-driven consultant firm with clients and partners all over the world in many different industries.

Dave Musambi
NCAA Soccer Alumni Sr. Director, Business Intelligence, Canadian Football League (CFL)

Dave Musambi currently works at the Canadian Football League (CFL) as Senior Director of Business Intelligence. In this role he leads their enterprise data strategy and a team of talented data engineers, analytics engineers, and data scientists. He has been with the CFL since October 2018 where he began his journey as Manager, Data Strategy and Team Services. 

He grew up in Ottawa, Ontario playing youth soccer before receiving full D1 athletic scholarship to the University of South Carolina Upstate, before transferring to the University of San Diego. He has since moved to downtown Toronto. He enjoys watching sports, staying active and socializing with friends. He escapes the Toronto winter and lives in Panama during the colder months.