[Jay-Z's "Dead Presidents III"]
- [rapping] High school graduates
Straight to the league
I ain't waitin' for my knee to blow
Yesterday I was needin' this dough
Get it? I was kneadin' this dough
[indistinct chatter]
[indistinct conversations]
- Thanks, everyone, for being here.
Honored today to have Elena on the show.
There's people from Wilmington, Delaware, huh?
- I'm telling you, Delaware is the most loyal state there is.
[laughter and applause]
When I was younger, I can't tell you
how many times people asked me what state is Delaware in.
- [laughing]
- Like, it is the first state, number one.
So, like, one of my biggest goals
playing basketball is like,
"people are gonna know that Delaware's a state,
and it's a great state," so.
- What was it like growing up in a household with three kids?
What was family life like for you?
- You know, my family means everything to me,
and right from-- I mean, when I was born,
I knew the importance of a team
'cause my sister has special needs,
and it was always about her.
Like, how can we help Lizzie to be great
and to overcome all these disabilities
that have been thrown her way?
So I learned right away, it takes a team
to achieve a lot-- anything, really.
- And growing up that way, what did your parents
do for a living? Did they both work?
What did they do?
- So my mom was a special ed teacher,
but once she had Lizzie, she stayed at home.
And then my dad runs a real estate company.
- Got it. And did he teach you a lot
about "save money. Do this with your money.
Here's what you do when you make money"?
- He taught me all of that.
Even at home, he would do little things like,
you know, we'd have chores
and he'd be like, "All right, you get 20 bucks.
"What are you gonna do with this money?
"Like, do you want to save it and it'll grow
"because you do more and more chores
"and you're gonna get paid and it can grow,
"or do you want to just spend it all right now
"on, you know, a toy
that you're not gonna want in a couple weeks?"
So we were able to learn immediately,
you know, the importance of saving.
- You've been through a lot of things and persevered.
Where have you found, or what obstacle have you found
that you've learned the most from,
that's inspired you the most?
- Contracting Lyme disease has been the toughest battle
that I've had to fight.
I contracted it in 2008
and still, to this day, I'm fighting it.
To be a professional athlete and to have a chronic illness
can be really tough.
There's days where I'm just exhausted
and don't feel like I have it in me
and have to rest my body
and do extra things to take care of myself.
But it's--once again, it's taught me about money
and the importance of saving. [chuckles]
Because so much of the treatments for Lyme disease
aren't covered... - Oh, wow.
- By health insurance.
But it's taught me to save, you know.
- One of the main things you always stood up for
is pay equity amongst WNBA players.
- Oh, yeah. Yeah, this one--
this was eye-opening.
You can kind of just see that, you know,
women aren't valued the same way that men are
in the workforce,
and it gets frustrating,
but you just gotta continue to fight the battle,
and it's a societal problem
that I think the League and the W can spearhead
and kind of start a movement going.
It's big companies needing to step up
and, you know, put their money where their mouth is,
'cause right now the talk is, you know,
the power is female, all that.
It's--you know, that's where the talk is at,
and it sounds great to say that you believe that,
but if you're not putting your dollars behind it
and your marketing behind it,
then it's just lip service.
So I'm waiting for the dollars
to actually get behind female athletes.
And the goal is that, you know,
women's basketball players don't have to go overseas
to make their money. - Yep.
- You know, we want it to happen here in America.
- Here, exactly.
And players have to-- or feel as though
they have to play over there
to supplement their salaries, correct?
- Mm-hmm. Yeah. - Because you actually
get paid more over there. - Way more.
- Way more? - Yeah, way more.
- What is the max salary in the WNBA?
- So the max salary is $115.000.
- That, compared to the NBA minimum,
is probably around 6 1/2 times less.
- If you're not getting endorsements here,
it's not enough. - Living here?
- You're gonna have to go overseas.
- But you've never chosen to play overseas, correct?
And why is that?
- I don't want to play all year round.
I love having an offseason
to get better at my craft.
Like, if you're playing games all year round,
you're not getting better... - Of course.
- The way you can in an offseason.
I love being able to see my family--
spending Christmas and Thanksgiving with my family,
which people miss out on when they're overseas.
And then I like to do other things.
Like, I've got a woodworking business.
I love to get into the woodshop.
- Yep. - And just create things.
- So you talked about--you have a woodworking business.
How long have you had that? - Goodness.
That's been, like, 3 1/2, 4 years now.
- 3 1/2-- and are you loving it?
- Love it. - Really?
- Yeah, it's been so much fun.
My wife is more talented than I am,
and I've learned so much from her.
We're moving--we were going back to Chicago,
and we needed a little table-- a little coffee table.
- Mm-hmm. - And... just built it
because coffee tables are expensive.
- Of course. - Like, furniture
is really expensive. - Really expensive, I agree.
- I was like, "Well, shoot. Let's go to Home Depot
and buy some wood and make this thing."
- And build it, yeah.
- So we threw something together
and then, you know, good old social media--
I posted it and so much feedback of people wanting...
- Loved it? Demand. - To, you know.
So right away, we're like, "A-ha.
We're now gonna be a woodworking company."
It's called DelleDonneDesigns.
In season it's tough to do tables
'cause it's just the two of us. - Yep.
- And that's the one thing I struggle the most
with being an entrepreneur, is delegating.
We need to scale it at some point,
but I need to let go-- - Meaning you and her
make everything? - Everything.
- Holy c--Oh, my goodness. - Yeah. Everything.
- You can't scale that way. - No--it's--
yeah, it's not working the way--
- [laughs] No, exactly.
- We could be doing a lot--
- 'Cause you also have another job.
- I know. She'll be like--
- So when you're playing, it's just her.
- Hey, can you come into the shop right now?
I'm like, "No. I'm tired.
I can't be building a table."
- We were talking about earlier--
this is obviously--you're finishing your sixth season.
What are some of the things you've learned
over the six years about saving money?
Like, what are the most important things?
- I've learned that taxes are awful.
- [laughs]
- I--you see the-- you see the dollars
that you're getting paid and then it's like,
"Wait, half of that's gonna go away?"
Like, no! - [laughs]
- So I've become frugal.
The best thing ever, too,
was somebody told me, you should get a financial advisor.
- Oh, God, yes.
- Like right when I hit the League.
And he has been so great.
- Help you organize everything? - Goodness, yes.
Every month, I get a report,
and I get to look at what's coming in,
what's going out.
If, you know, we-- we even plan,
like, five years from now,
hopefully, you know, we'll have a family
and be--have a kid,
so how are we gonna prepare for that?
- Yep. And do you think you have a responsibility
to tell the rookies that are coming in now?
- Yes. - Do you--do you do that?
- Yes. - Because you didn't get it?
- Because I didn't get it,
I'm like, "Come here.
"You gotta do this. You gotta do this.
"Get yourself an advisor,
'cause you need somebody who can help you."
- Of course. - Especially with overseas
money and all that, like-- - Yeah, it's tricky.
- That gets really tricky,
and it's nice to have somebody who understands that.
- Obviously, as you finish your career,
you're gonna keep running your foundation,
which is very passionate to you.
Tell us a little bit about your foundation.
- The goal of the foundation is
to help people with special needs
and families who might not have the money
to care for their child with special needs.
So what we would like to see future, down the road
is, like, going into homes
and, like, being able to fit out the whole home
to care for a family member who might have special needs.
I know that I love basketball. I love kids.
I love people with special needs.
So one of my, you know, greatest joys
is running Unified basketball camps,
where I have, you know, the "typical" able-bodied people
playing alongside Special Olympic athletes,
and there's no greater feeling than just, you know,
being able to spend time with them
and seeing them work with one another
and the joy of sport.
- One last question to wrap-- a fun question
that we always have on the show.
It's what we call the Broke Habit.
So is there one thing that you've always done,
like, going back to college, or before that,
that was, like, a habit that you can't shake,
even though you're a professional
basketball player now?
- There are still times in the grocery store where, like,
I'll choose the cheap brand.
And, like-- like the cheap toilet paper,
or the cheap--[laughs] You know?
- You can't help it? - And it--it isn't as good,
but I'm like, "This isn't worth
spending the extra money on it."
So I make that decision. - So I'll save this money here.
- Yeah, that's when my wife is like, "Why did you not
"just get Bounty? Like, it's all ripping.
"Like, are you kidding me right now?
This is awful." And I'm like,
"Well, then you need to go
to the grocery store next time, 'cause
I made the good decision." - Exactly. Exactly.
Well, everyone, thank you for joining us.
This has been fantastic with Elena on the show.
Please give Elena a big hand.
[applause]
And thank you to the production team.
Thank you to Chase. Thank you, everyone.
Appreciate it.
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