Off the record

The long way to the table

"Nobody was ever going to tell you how the business works, so I did. Now pass it on."

The About page is the professional record. This page is the rest of it: where I come from, the rooms that trained me, and what I am building next. None of it came with a connection or a shortcut. It was built one rep at a time.

01 · East Oakland

94603

I grew up in East Oakland, in 94603, where nobody hands you the playbook. You learn the game at the park before you learn it anywhere else: who is running the run, who calls next, who gets the call on a close one, and how to stay calm when the game turns. Law school, a master's degree and 12+ years in HR gave me the language and the credentials. East Oakland gave me the read first.

In 94603, about 3 in 1,000 adults hold a professional degree like a J.D. By the numbers, someone from here does not finish law school. I did.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2020 to 2024, ZIP code 94603, adults 25 and older. Data current as of September 2026.

What it means here: draft boards, pay scales and scouting models all price players by the averages of where they come from. The averages were wrong about me. Every article on this site is written for the player who walks in first, without a map, carrying a family's expectations into the room.

02 · The stage

Stand-up since 2010

I have performed stand-up comedy since 2010, including billed lineups at Comedy Oakland. Sixteen years of open mics, rewrites, bombing and coming back the next night.

A room decides in the first minute whether it trusts you, the same way a road crowd decides whether it is about to get loud. It decides on timing, tone and whether you were listening. You only learn to read it by getting back up after it goes wrong, which is the same thing a shooter learns after an 0-for-6 first half.

What it means here: the library is written for how it lands, not how it sounds in a boardroom. Short answer first, the number next, the fine print after. If a rule cannot be explained to a 19-year-old and her parents in one sitting, it has not been explained yet.

03 · The table

Certified WNBA player agent

Former certified NBA agent.

Player representation is negotiation at its most concentrated: multi-part packages, public stakes, and a front office that negotiates every day of the year. The salary is one line. The guarantee dates, the options, the bonuses and the out clauses are where a contract is actually won or lost.

An agent does not disappear after the signature. He plans the next contract before this one is half done.

What it means here: every explainer reads a contract the way the other side of the table reads it. That is why the NBA rookie scale article ends on option years, and the overseas contracts article starts with net versus gross.

04 · The count

The edge is in the preparation

I am a trained advantage player. Advantage play means using only the information everyone at the table can see, and using it better: tracking the count, sizing every bet to the edge and playing every hand by the numbers. It is legal, and it is unforgiving.

Qualifying takes thousands of hours of drills before a single dollar is bet: flawless basic strategy, a running count held through noise and pressure, bankroll discipline, and the composure to look like just another player. The house does not need to catch you cheating. It only needs you to drift.

Basketball rewards the same discipline. The cap sheet, the option dates and the minimum scale are public. The edge goes to the side that has actually done the math, the way a shooter's edge comes from the reps nobody filmed.