Makers of Sport® Podcast

There is perhaps no better way to end Makers of Sport's podcast then to provide what may be the most inspiring story in its history. Ali Rahmoun—3-D Designer, Creative Director, and Founder of Sports Templates, a digital asset company whose products are used by #smsports creatives in the NBA, NFL, NHL, and more—joined the show in 2021 to share his inspiring story. A native of Syria, Ali discovered the Internet in a war-torn, Isis-occupied country and began teaching himself graphic and web...

Jessie Kavana (aka JKav) is a Senior Graphic Designer at BSE Global, the company that owns the Brooklyn Nets, NY Liberty, Nets GC and more. She joined the show to discuss her career and evolution as a creative. A native New Yorker with a passion for hoops and a dream to work in sports marketing for the New York Knicks, Jess began her journey at Skidmore College as a college basketball player. Stints in college athletics and ESPN would finally lead Jess to settle down in Brooklyn to work...

Dexton Deboree, Founder & Chief Creative Officer of Falcon, and director of the award-winning documentary, "Unbanned: The Legend of the AJ1", joined the podcast to discuss storytelling, entrepreneurship and the role of filmmaking in sports culture. A lost youth in Florida, Dexton didn't have a path. He was unsure of his future; however, a revelatory moment in the middle of the night in college changed him forever and led him to creative pursuits and a transfer to a film school. Obsessed...

"Apply what you learn [online] and actually do something—even if it's not for making money—just make something. Do something with what you're learning and practice it." Matt Halfhill, founder of Nice Nicks, is not a monolith or a cliche ‘sneakerhead’. The son of college professors who moved to California from the Midwest, Matt played in a Dixieland Jazz band as a kid, fell in love with sneakers in the Caribbean in Grenada, and dropped out of college to start the Internet’s first-ever...

Tori Boykins is a creative with many layers. A boxer, entrepeneur, graphic designer and gritty midwesterner, Tori joined the show to discuss her long journey breaking into the sports design scene, first at the Kansas City Chiefs, and currently as a graphic designer with the Kansas City Royals. From majoring in interior design at a Big Ten university known for engineering, to starting a business in college and running it six years, Tori has had quite an eclectic career. We attempt to peel...

A bonus episode for your enjoyment. On Episode 25, Joe Bosack of Joe Bosack & Co. turned the mic back on my tell my own story. This was a few years ago and Makers of Sport® was just getting off the ground. Considering I have many more listeners and the podcast has played such a big role in my life since then, I figured it was time for an updated story about the host of your favorite podcast. Enjoy the listen as I joined Sports as a Job Podcast to tell my own story of running a freelance...

Dan Simon, Creative Director of Studio Simon in Louisville, KY, joined the show to discuss his lengthy career as a sports designer. Dan began his career at a west coast design studio who allowed him to freelance at night using their equipment. Him and an account rep wanted to pursue sports branding and ended up creating some mocked up work with acual sewn jerseys and it eventually led Dan down a 30-year path of designing for sports. We discuss how tough it is, even today, to win quality...

Dane Storrusten, Senior Creative Director at the NFL, joins this episode to discuss his multidisciplinary design career and path to "The Shield". From majoring in illustration in art school, to designing products at Microsoft, robot interfaces, and NFL brand identities, Dane has had quite an eclectic career. He believes in saying yes to every opportunity and how doing so can lead to amazing opportunities to learn and experience new things; something that has proved to be true for his...

William Peebles, Founder & Maker at Huntington Base Ball Co. in Boston, joins this episode to discuss industrial design, being a maker in the sports product industry and turning his love of baseball into a lifestyle business. We begin with William's time in art school which led to working as a designer at Reebok during their prime when endorsers were athletes like Shawn Kemp, Shaq, Allen Iverson, Frank Thomas and more. It was here he decided to take a crack at making his own baseball as a...

“We got in early on the digital brand stuff. We found it extremely important for us to know why we are who we are and tell that story consistently over time." Jordan Gielser, Creative Services & Brand Manager of Super Bowl LIV Champion Kansas City Chiefs, joined the podcast to discuss his lengthy career working for a historic NFL franchise. Jordan found his way into the Chiefs organization after majoring in commercial art in college; however, after a seasonal gig with the team he would...

“Fear is good, you can feed on it and it makes you work harder to be good and be better. If you get too complacent and happy, that's where you get in trouble.” A special episode from MLC Connect 2019 with two of the keynote speakers, Amy and Jen Hood of Hoodzpah Design of Southern California. Through their studio the duo have worked with companies ranging from small California businesses to major brands like Google and Target. Jay F. Hicks, a digital strategist and content lead at Bayler...

“Working with people is something you need practice with. Everybody has their own agenda, everybody has things that are important to them. You have to respect that but there’s times you have to fight for what you believe in.” Insung Kim joined the show to discuss his cross country journey from enivironmental design in Southern California to Kansas City to now working in the South as Senior Creative Director for the Atlanta Braves. Insung discusses how his immigrant parents supported his...

Damer on getting work: "You have to be a hype machine. You have to create hype around yourself and most artists are very uncomfortable doing that because they feel they are bragging or they feel like they are going to get made fun of online." Barton Damer, founding artist and creative director of the boutique 3d animation and motion design studio AlreadyBeenChewed, joined the podcast for a chat about his career and how he has grown his company into one of the leading studios for producing...

Simon Dent shares his thoughts on the future competition of sports teams as it regards to selling attention and tickets.

"On a Saturday afternoon when every sports fan is going to watch their chosen sport, there are thousands of brands barking at them whether it's a print paper, online, in stadium on LEDs, in the matchday program; there's all these messages and presumably only the best are going to get taken home with fans and that's what our job is: to be the best messengers." Simon Dent is a former sports business lawyer & agent turned creative agency founder in the U.K. As managing partner of Dark Horses,...

"It's 100% about relationships. Probably the most important part of Mitchell Bat is the people I've met along the way that I consider true friends or trusted advisors." Jeremy Mitchell, agency creative director, web designer and most notably founder of Mitchell Bat Co., joined the podcast for episode 100 to discuss his passion project; a company that provides custom, hand-painted wooden bats to passionate & passive baseball fans, corporations and brands alike. Jeremy discusses how his...

"There's so much emphasis on people getting a job right after they graduate and getting into the workforce. You'd be hard pressed to find a lot more real life lessons than working at a restaurant...the real life world lessons and the things that you learn by serving people is something that can refine skills." Starting a business as a young person takes a lot of courage. You are often looked down upon by older professionals as having too little life & professional experience and too great...

"What makes a successful brand from a brand identity and visual language standpoint is having consistent style that can also be fluid and flexible where not everything necessarily looks exactly the same but everything should "feel" the same." Sam Silverman, assistant director of creative media & branding for Ohio State Football, joined the podcast to discuss his work with one of the nation's top football programs and how classic typography inspires his work. Sam touches on how his passion...

Chris Do elaborates on why creative people should value their services more and charge accordingly without feeling guilty.

"Designer as maker is what is celebrated in school, not designer as entrepreneur; designer as business problem solver. To me, when you're in the mechanics, when you have your hands in the work, it's all production and I make no distinction between doing that versus becoming a brick layer." Creative therapy. That's how I refer to this episode as it takes us down a path MoS hasn't been on before. Chris Do, Emmy award winning creative director, entrepreneur and founder of TheFutur & Blind...