Meet Sam Green, who helps athletes build brands in the collegiate NIL space

Geanice Morales sent Sam Green an Instagram direct message on a whim.

Morales, a Wagner softball player, wanted to learn more about anything she could related to NIL — her name, image and likeness. She especially wanted to partner with Quest Nutrition — a food company specializing in high-protein foods — but she didn’t know where to start. She researched, looking for any college athlete who worked with her dream brand.

That’s where Green entered the picture.

Morales found a Quest athlete who worked with Green through Instagram. Green marketed herself as an “NIL brand builder” and that’s the only information Morales needed.

Morales crafted a simple message.

“Hi! I would love for you to teach me anything you can about the NIL space.”

Green responded, offering to hop on a free phone call with Morales. Green didn’t try to take advantage or pitch Morales an agenda. Instead, she gave the athlete an actionable plan that led to a collaborative post with Quest, $1,000 from the brand and free products. The one post eventually turned into a paid brand deal.

“I wouldn’t have been able to do any of that without Sam,” Morales said. “And now we’ve just created this great relationship.”

Although Green can give advice that leads to endorsement deals today, it wasn’t always the case. The former Charlotte 49ers and Charlotte Hornets dancer didn’t know how to build an online presence. She didn’t understand how to leverage a fan base. Now, using her athletic background and time as a video editor at ESPN, she works to ensure athletes of any division and profile don’t make the same mistakes she did and created AthleteCon, a content convention that will take place June 5-6 at the AC Hotel Charlotte City Center.

While there, athletes can collaborate with brands, secure NIL deals, participate in content workshops and produce content on site.

“It really just stems from my desire to wake these athletes up to the opportunity they have in front of them,” Green said.

Green wasn’t aware of her own opportunities.

Dancing has always been in her blood. Green’s grandmother was a Radio City Rockette, and her mom was a dancer. She took to it naturally.

After taking a break from competitive dancing, Green picked it back up her senior year at Providence High School. She fell in love with dance again after teaching it. By her freshman year at UNC Charlotte, Green made the 49ers’ dance team.

She decided to take it to the next level during her sophomore season. She auditioned for the Charlotte Hornets’ Honey Bees and became the youngest person to make the team.

But by the time Green left the NBA years later, she was burnt out with social media. Every picture had to be perfect. There was negativity everywhere. She decided to delete her Instagram account to escape it all, losing her entire fan base in the process.

“I regret it really bad,” Green said. “I had to start over from scratch, and now my name was no longer on that roster spot as a Honey Bee, and it was so much harder to wake people up to care about me and who I am and my story. So, that really built the foundation of what I go and teach these athletes right now.”

After NIL was approved by the NCAA in 2021, her mission became increasingly important. She stopped worrying about prevention and focused on facilitation.

Green spoke on panels and began to notice a trend.

“I started looking around and realizing that every single event that I had been to was really about whatever sponsor paid the most money to get up in front of an athlete and kind of shove their agenda down the athletes’ throats,” Green said.

Athletes would come up to Green afterward and tell her they learned nothing useful. Sure, they took a cute photo, but it didn’t help their futures.

So, AthleteCon was born. Green raised the money for it in two months.

“The whole premise is actual hands-on content creation workshops to teach athletes how to build their brand and how to monetize it,” Green said. “Not just a brand talking about themselves, but actually giving these athletes the tools to walk away and be able to monetize their brand.”

In June, 100 athletes will travel to Charlotte. Representatives from social media platforms like TikTok, Snapchat and Meta will be there. There will be a live content creation competition where athletes will compete for NIL deals. There’s also an award night where participants receive their brand deals in-person.

The birth of AthleteCon stemmed from Green’s mistakes and it has turned into so much more. Green has helped change athletes’ lives.

Memphis track & field thrower Riley Simmons found Green on social media after Green spoke at Florida State, Simmons’ former school. Simmons wasn’t able to attend, but Green regularly hosts content creation workshops at different universities. She’s been to more than 22 schools, including Duke, Texas and Michigan State. After Green spoke at FSU, Simmons set up a call with Green and the NIL brand builder offered simple advice: trust yourself and commit to growing your audience. Simmons started with around 1,000 followers on Instagram last year. She now has more than 33,000.

“She just gave me the confidence to know that I have to start doing it small to even become anything big,” Simmons said. “So, she was the first person that told me I could do it and believed in me.”

More than anything, this work has fulfilled Green.

“It’s everything because of how much they appreciate it and really enjoy it and how much they see the success,” Green said. “To see athletes come to you completely clueless on how to develop anything, and then for them to walk away and genuinely live out their dream because of the strategy that you helped implement is so rewarding.”

This story was originally published June 3, 2025 at 5:30 AM.