For Brooklyn Cart Wright, the general manager of Atlanta Dream Assistant, basketball was not in love at first sight.
“I dislike that. Speaking to SB Nation, Cartwright added to SB Nation: I don't love anything I'm not good at any time. ”
However, in the summer after she turned 14, her father, a longtime basketball coach, began leading her in daily training as soon as she got home from work. She got better “really quickly” and fell in love with the sport rapidly, eventually playing high school varsity basketball for four years.
But what happens when you're in love with sports and still not talented enough to make it a career? Almost every high school athlete must find himself in that grey zone and hang it.
But Cartwright wanted to be around the game.
So, she did everything she could to get closer to it, even after her high school career was over. She was interested from Division II and III schools, but her parents urged her to go to a more famous school nearby. So she registered in Southern Georgia.
As a freshman on campus, Cartwright wanted to find a community. So she went with what she knew – and became the manager of the school's girls' basketball team. It happened quickly. At the beginning of her freshman year, she saw a child walking with a team manager's t-shirt, sent out a few emails and got a gig.
“I didn't even know that you could do that doCartwright said.
After a lot of hard work, what first began as a volunteer gig has become one of the best front office jobs in professional women's basketball.
And as she runs through the ranks, Cartwright realizes that she is helping pave the paths that other young girls in her position can follow.
How to Go From Team Manager to Higher WNBA Executives
College students across the country serve as team managers of school basketball programs, and one of Cartwright's goals is to help students show how their experiences turn into careers in professional sports.
As a freshman, she realized that the role of a university team manager involves much more responsibility than she originally envisioned. From the start, she was always in the coach's office and involved in everything she could, whether she was assembled a itinerary for a trip or spent time in the movie room.
At the beginning of a senior college student, she realized she couldn't imagine living a life away from basketball, so she decided to find a job in college coaching with all her energy.
“I just drafted an email and I didn't make you a child – I sent an email to all Division I, Division II, Division III, Georgia college coach, or states that touched Georgia – a state that sounds cool. I made an a DatabaseCartwright said. “I literally built the database by hand.
Eventually, she was hired as an assistant coach at Lenoir-Rhyne University, and then served as assistant coach for four seasons at three universities. She found that the front office was better after her early coaching. So after a few years of leaving basketball to become a family problem when it was time to re-enter the world of basketball, she patiently sought the perfect opportunity.
In 2021, the opportunity came and Cart Wright – who now had years of coaching and operational experience under her belt – applied to director of the role of basketball operations at the Atlanta Dream.
For Brooklyn Cartwright, it's all about inspiration and representation.
She has climbed the front office of her dreams for the past four years and is the top assistant at General Manager Dampaduber. Her responsibility is widespread. She works on communication and marketing, day-to-day operations, and player recruitment.
“He really gave me the opportunity to put pressure on a wide range of topics,” she said. “Free agency is huge. Drafts are huge. These are things we're just pondering, he and I are always doing rock steps, we're always making sure we're really working as a team and make sure both of our opinions are valued in the decisions we've made.”
Ultimately, Cartwright wants to become the general manager of the WNBA team. But for now, she is excited to be part of the dream organization.
“People are always laughing at me because I like it all the time.” I love it here. Cartwright said.
When she rose to her rank, she WNBA Front Office – and we recognize that she is taking part in a massive swing towards representing the entire WNBA front office.
The five WNBA teams include the Dallas Wings (Kart Miller), Atlanta Dream (Dampa Dover), New York Liberty (Jonathan Kolb), Chicago Sky (Jeff Pagliocca), and Phoenix Mercury (Nick Uren). (Jamira Wideman), Toronto Tempo (Monica Light), Indiana Fever (Amber Cox), Seattle Storm (Talisarea), Golden State Valkyrie (Ohamananinin) – Tuck, Pebry, Widiman and Wright are former players.
Cartwright hopes to ultimately join the growth list of female general managers.
“For me, it's about expression, right? Become a black woman in any other black women league and you can really achieve it at the highest level,” she said. “Being a GM is certainly my ultimate goal, and that's what I strive for every day. I'm growing and learning more about how it works.”
Cartwright remembers when she was a teenage girl who loved basketball and just wanted it to be a career and didn't know how to do it.
Therefore, she is looking for free agents in Atlanta, prepare for the upcoming 2025 WNBA draft, and understand the impact that her presence in such a high-ranking office position will have on other young girls who love sports as they prepare for the upcoming 2025 WNBA draft and make administrative decisions at the highest level.
“It really is about acting as a beacon of light for people like me who come through the ranks,” she said. “There's a manager somewhere that wants to do what I'm doing, but they don't know that yet. That's really important to me so that you can see a publication like you and see someone like me looking like them or coming from similar stories. So I do what I do.”
