80 REAL-LEADERS.COM / SUMMER 2022 LEADING LEADERS “What do we want to accomplish with our investments? It’s all about leveraging capital, influencing culture, and creating a community.” — LEGER DOUZABLE of New Orleans; and NBA star Josh Childress, who launched Landspire Group, a real estate firm that’s part of TPG NEXT, a new initiative providing growth capital and operating resources to seed, support, and scale the next generation of diverse investors and entrepreneurs. That community of peers is what attracted strong safety Johnathan Cyprien, who is building a career in real estate. “What I enjoy most is this group of like-minded current and ex-pro athletes joining together in business,” he says. “The power of I AM Nation to pool resources and assets brings an advantage to the community over other investment groups. This being the first group of its kind will not only inspire but be a resource to new professional athletes to educate themselves in investments and maximize their finances.” For Morgan, I AM Nation is all about capturing the collaborative power of professional athletes and, at the same time, overcoming the silos that sometimes form in a locker room. “On game day, you’re sitting next to your teammates, hyper-focused on the game, but a lot of the time, you don’t get to talk about things outside of that realm,” he says. “It’s such a missed opportunity. When do you get that much social and financial influence in a room?” One powerful tool for busting silos is education. In July last year, I AM Nation held its first retreat featuring Gary Vaynerchuk, chairman of VaynerX, early-stage investor Anthony Pompliano, community real estate developer Brandon Rule, and Nathan Rodland, general partner of Elefund, and founding COO, Robinhood, among an impressive line-up of investors and entrepreneurs. Cyprien, working on his first real estate project, a 373-unit community development in Orlando, says the retreat was exceptional. “The whole experience was first-class, and the educational portion was memorable and informative,” he adds. For Douzable, I AM Nation’s focus on education and collaboration has a cumulative effect. “I know people always talk about wanting to get a seat at the table, but with I AM Nation, we’re creating our own table by realizing the value of our influence to build new opportunities.” “Without professional athletes, there is no game, but too often we’ve relinquished our value to the powers that be who control the industry,” says Morgan. “So as a collective of professional athletes that is very businessminded, we’re taking our value to the next level.” The athletes are bringing that value back to their communities through impact investing. 76 MONEY 77 CLIMATE ACTION 78 SOCIAL IMPACT 74 INNOVATION & TECHNOLOGY 79 INVESTING
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