Power Players: Meet Brandon Lee, Ashley Williams, and Courtney Kirby, sisters and founders of Her Fantasy Football
Power Players is a series by The Relish profiling the #girlbosses of the sports world. Sign up to get The Relish in your inbox and meet our newest Player each Monday.
All those stereotypes that women aren’t good with statistics? Dead wrong. Brandon, Ashley and Courtney have been football fans their entire lives, creating their own spreadsheets and holding their own in the discussions that would inevitably come up at family functions. In the three years since founding Her Fantasy Football podcast, they broadcast on SiriusXM Fantasy Sports Radio and have been finalists for the 2015 Fantasy Sports Writers Association Podcast of the Year.
Today, they’re giving us a behind-the-scenes look at a recording day, the Super Bowl party dip their whole fam is obsessed with, and the perils of being a woman on sports talk radio.
Take us through a day in the (work) life for you…
ASHLEY:
5 am: My alarm goes off and I snooze it for about 1 1/2 hours before getting up.
BRANDON:
6 am: My alarm goes off. I’m trying to be out of bed and completely ready by 6:30 am. This is a new habit that I started this season because of morning deadlines.
COURTNEY:
6:15 am: My alarm goes off and continues to go until it wakes my husband up. He always gives me an extra 15 minutes.
ASHLEY:
6:30 am: I finally roll over, cursing life as I am not a morning person. I immediately grab my phone to check emails in bed. I check to see if I got the players I want on the waiver wire… I usually don’t and am irritated for about 10 seconds.
COURTNEY:
6:30 am: I wake up and check Bleacher Report in bed before I hear “Mom!!! I’m hungry!!!”
BRANDON:
6:30 am: I write my daily article from 6:30 to 9:30 every morning. If I don’t have a specific article due that day for Pro Football Focus, I spend that time researching. These three hours are CRUCIAL for me to feel a sense of professional accomplishment at the beginning of the day.
COURTNEY:
6:45–8:10 am: My morning involves drinking a lot of coffee while cooking breakfast for my kids, getting both the children and their backpacks ready.
ASHLEY:
7 am: Now that I have checked and hopefully put out any fires, I start my fantasy football rankings for running backs and kickers, the two positions I have been tasked to cover this season.
8:30 am: With rankings done, I start my notes for my teams that I cover for our podcast that will take place that night. I only have 30 minutes before I have to start my day job.
BRANDON:
9:30 am: On Sundays, I head into SiriusXM for a show that I co-host on SiriusXM, Bleacher Report Radio. On other days, I spend one hour checking emails and checking in on social channels, then walk for an hour, then I officially get ready for the day (shower, makeup, etc.)
COURTNEY:
8:50–11:15 am: This is when I actually do the majority of my research: my rankings, update injuries, read any statements by coaches and make sure no one got arrested overnight. I’m in charge of putting together the outline for the show.
BRANDON:
12:30 pm: I normally do a few live videos on Periscope and Facebook, usually a Q+A with Pro Football Focus. I have a standing appearance on Bleacher Report on Tuesdays to talk waiver wire adds (I also do a podcast that day at 10:30). Some days I have other appearances or meetings.
I’m also in charge of our website and coordinate our partnering efforts. I don’t have a background in marketing or sales (I’m a recovering actress, actually) so this can be time-consuming, but I love it.
ASHLEY:
10 am-4 pm: My life is conference calls scheduled an hour apiece from 10 am through 4 pm. Some calls will end early so I fire up a Lean Cuisine or do a 7-minute workout. They are all video conference calls, so I have to find time to throw on makeup and a shirt so that I look like all business on top.
COURTNEY:
After 11:30 am: I am back to mom first, while I fit in as much football as possible. A little NFL Network, ESPN, but mostly Sofia the First.
ASHLEY:
4 pm-6 pm: I answer as many emails as I possibly can and complete as many tasks that have come through during the day.
BRANDON:
5 pm: My break. I basically work all day and night, so I take a 10:30 am walk and a break at 5 pm. Sometimes I cook a nice dinner. Sometimes I stare at HGTV for one hour. But I set an alarm and make sure I’m cuddling with my puppy, Lucy. Sometimes my husband gets some cuddles, too.
6 pm: Back to the grind. This is when I do my podcast notes based on research I’ve compiled through the week. The Her Fantasy Football Podcast starts as about 30 pages of notes compiled between the three of us.
We like stats. We don’t like to wing it.
This outline takes time, but it’s worth it. On non-podcast days, I coordinate our FanDuel contest called DICED. It’s like Chopped from the Food Network, but instead of food, we give participants lineup ingredients like all of your running backs have to play in away games. Or no one on your team can be named Mike or Michael. It’s fun and creative and free! People love it.
ASHLEY:
6 pm-9 pm: Now I am in crunch mode doing my research for our Her Fantasy Football podcast tonight. I have highlighted my sections so I can easily see which sections have one of my teams in it, which drives my sisters (also my co-hosts) crazy. I look at news feeds to make sure I am up to date with what has occurred throughout the week and then I turn to Yahoo to search relevant players. I then look at matchups and points against averages to determine whether I think they are a good play that week. Somewhere around 7:30 pm my husband rolls in from work and he is in charge of dinner on Wednesdays. We generally hop on a Gchat around 10 pm MST to get started with our show.
COURTNEY:
8 pm: I head over to my parent’s house to record (and leave my husband with the kids). I finish up my notes or make changes based on what happened during the day.
ASHLEY:
10 pm MST: As sisters, this is our time to chat face-to-face each week before Her Fantasy Football business.
BRANDON:
11 pm ET: I live on the East Coast, so we get this started at 11 pm my time. (Thursday is the only day that I sleep in.)
ASHLEY:
10 pm-12 am MST: We are supposed to start recording at 9 pm MST but inevitably we start an hour later.
BRANDON:
2 am ET: I roll myself to the bedroom and get ready for a new day.
ASHLEY:
12 am: My sisters and I have said goodbye, but now I need to edit the show for the morning and answer emails.
COURTNEY:
12 am MT: I go home and clear out some social media questions. There are a TON of questions. Always.
ASHLEY:
1 am MT: I will get up early to load our podcast to BlogTalkRadio, SoundCloud and herfantasyfootball.com. For now, I get into my PJs and crawl into bed… and often open up the sleep hypnosis app I use when my mind is racing and I can’t shut it off.
What are your essential apps?
BRANDON: Evernote. I keep everything there. It’s been a great tool for organizing my thoughts, ideas, to-do items and general lists. I started a new habit of recording every single thing that I eat, because otherwise I overindulge. I love food and booze. Love. I use MyFitnessPal religiously (even if I go over). Fitbit family challenges are helping me move more. AUDIBLE! I don’t have time to read like I would like, but I can listen to books on the train or while I’m taking all of those steps. And the app Clue. They calculate your fertility window, which is good information for if you’re trying or not trying… if you know what I mean.
ASHLEY:
I am an iPhone user: Clock (alarm clock), Weather, Calendar, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Fitbit (so that I can be depressed at just how little I move throughout the day), Southwest and Hilton (I travel a lot for my day job), Lyft (no drinking and driving), Yahoo, ESPN, MFL 2016, FanDuel, Bleacher Report, RotoWorld, SnapChat, DeepCalm (sound app), Sleep Well (sleep hypnosis app), 7MWC (7-minute workout app), Penny Pal (trying to brush up on my French from high school).
Name a time when it wasn’t so great to be one of the only women in the room…
COURTNEY: Social media can get weird. I think some men will see their friends asking us questions and then make a comment that they would never listen to a woman about football.
More times than not, the man who asked the question will tweet us after the game saying that we helped them win. I don’t engage with haters. It’s not worth my time.
ASHLEY: We were once asked to do an appearance and when we got there someone mentioned that they were excited to see the “catfight” that would ensue between us and another female who was hosting. I guess she had expressed some negative feelings towards us. First of all, when women talk, or even disagree, this does not and should not constitute a “catfight.” We immediately got nervous that this “catfight” was an expectation. We went back to our hotel room to game plan. “We are here to talk fantasy football, pure and simple.” We went through every question and angle we thought might be thrown at us and came up with our answers or a way to turn it back to what we were there to talk about… football. No one came at us in a negative fashion once on air. We were able to talk about what we wanted to talk about, the glorious game that is Fantasy Football, but you better believe we were prepared just in case.
BRANDON: One time I was a guest on a radio show with two male co-hosts and a male producer. There was a call-in guest that was climbing up the DFS (daily fantasy sports) ranks and the guy launched into a speech right after being introduced.
“Hey, sorry guys. I’ll get back to this interview in a second, but Brandon… what you said, right before the break, about the Indianapolis defense… that was spot on. I mean, I’ve never respected a woman before, but it sounds like you actually know the game. It’s amazing! I’m super impressed. They do have trouble covering slot receivers and you caught on to that. I’ve literally never heard any woman talk about anything like that in my life. I am blown away!”
I said something like I was happy to hear that he agreed with me and continued like nothing happened until the end of the segment. All of the men around me had their heads in their hands. Once the interviewee hung up all of the men apologized. “Oh my God! I am so sorry. I cannot BELIEVE he said that!”
I could.
I explained to these men that this isn’t all that unusual. The only thing that perhaps was unique about this instance was this particular man’s self-awareness.
I explained that this man never respected a woman before. Ever. He admitted it. And that’s a learned behavior, but perhaps today we made a difference. Maybe he’ll be more respectful of women who work in the sports industry, but more importantly, maybe he’ll respect his significant other, his daughter, his mother. If any of us can help change the perspective of even one individual, we’ve done some good.
What advice would you give to a young woman who wants to work in sports?
COURTNEY: Be the best you can be. That goes for anything you do. Make sure your voice is heard, not choreographed by someone else.
Don’t be afraid to get into a pissing contest. Sometimes OTHERS need to have you put them in their place to fully respect you in this field.
BRANDON: Schedule social media time, and stick to it. People want you to have a ton of followers, but it’s actually more important to have good, honest interaction. Also, adhering to a schedule stops you from losing your soul to busy work. I schedule one hour in the morning and one hour at night. That’s it. For all platforms.
ASHLEY: First, I would tell her to read the book Lean In. Every woman should read that book. Every man should read that book, as well (especially if he wants to be a leader in his organization) to get a glimpse at how women think and feel, and how they can also help level the playing field.
Having a job in sports has the added challenge of some people’s perception being that women know nothing about sports. Someone will treat you as inferior.
Always try to better yourself, learn as much as you can, log in enough hours to be an expert at anything you do, trust yourself, have confidence, stay kind and true to yourself. You have to know that you will have bad days but that you will also have great days. Interestingly enough, most of my professional sports experience has been positive with other fantasy football colleagues who have been nothing but respectful and supportive. Keep faith and don’t be scared to jump in.
I’m having a Super Bowl party! What are you bringing?
ASHLEY: I am bringing our family staple: clam dip. One can of minced clams to one block of regular cream cheese. You might be tempted to go with a low-fat cream cheese option, but don’t do it! It throws the consistency off and is not as yummy. My husband is allergic to all seafood and I had a moment when we first started dating where I thought I might have to break up with him as I couldn’t give up clam dip on Sundays. We worked it out… just no kissing on Sundays :) Yes, it’s that good.
BRANDON: I also bring clam dip. Is this embarrassing?
COURTNEY: We love to make a BLT dip: sour cream, onion powder, shredded lettuce, 2 tomatoes chopped, crumbled bacon, shredded cheddar cheese. Eat it with tortilla chips. Just enough vegetables.
There is a small deli in Soldonta, Alaska where they make Echo Lake Cheese Dip and it is amazing. The ingredients are: shredded cheddar cheese, mayo, chopped jalapeño, liquid smoke, garlic powder, jalapeño juice, and cayenne pepper. Served with tortilla chips.
If you could brunch with people from the sports world, who would be on your dream team?
ASHLEY: Jackie Robinson would be fascinating as I would love to hear from him personally about the struggle he encountered when he broke through the racial ceiling in MLB. I think as a woman I could get a lot of inspiration from his story.
Also, Phil Mickelson is my favorite athlete of all time and is the one person on this planet that I would maybe get starstruck around. It all started when I would go with my family to the International golf tournament in Castle Rock, CO each year and see how exciting and outrageous Phil Mickelson’s play would be. As a quiet, shy kid at the time, I took a lot of inspiration from how he just put himself out there and went balls to the wall on every play regardless of risk and potential failure.
BRANDON: A League of Their Own is one of my favorite movies. I sob like a baby at the end. First, it’s about sisters. But second, I knew that opportunity for women ceases to exist and it kills me. I would love to have experienced that heyday, eat a hot dog with some of the teammates and just be there when it existed.
COURTNEY: Greg Norman has always been one of my favorite golfers. When I was 16 I told him I loved him. The feeling is still there. Usain Bolt would have to be there. Serena Williams is one of the best athletes of all time; it wouldn’t be brunch without her. David Robinson and Ivan (Pudge) Rodriguez are not only amazing athletes but as a young girl I was in love with them. David Robinson is why I enjoy basketball and the Spurs are my favorite NBA team. Marshawn Lynch would bring the Skittles.
Who needs to be permanently benched?
BRANDON: I could never see another headline about Greg Hardy and it would still be too soon.
COURTNEY: Josh Brown, for sure. There should be no room for this kind of behavior in the NFL or anywhere else. O.J. Simpson. That’s an easy one, but I think the correctional office is taking care of that for us.
ASHLEY: Tony Romo scares me. I am genuinely scared for his health and I hope he retires. I feel the same about Jordan Cameron, who has been plagued with concussions. Jordan Reed is coming pretty close to the “it’s not worth it” status for his health as well.
Give props to a fellow #girlboss power player in the sports world:
BRANDON: I make an effort to follow and support all women in our industry. Even if someone messes up, I don’t pile on. I know that being a woman means that other people will do the dismantling. It’s tough out there. Speaking of, I don’t know how Sarah Thomas does it. Being a referee has to be the most thankless and disrespected career in sports. People are so incredibly rude to ALL referees, but being the first woman to referee a NFL game? Wow. That takes guts.
ASHLEY: Stephania Bell is a BOSS lady! We got to interview her a few years ago and she has been nothing but supportive and full of kindness since we became acquainted. She is a true delight and is boss at everything that she does. When I mentioned earlier that you need to do the work to become an expert in your field (10,000 hours of logged work is a good benchmark), Stephania is THE expert at ESPN and is the expert on anything health related for pretty much every sport. She has worked her way from not only being respected and perceived as an expert but has gotten herself a major seat at the table and has been flawless with it.
COURTNEY: Stephania Bell is also by far my favorite person to watch and listen to. She found something that is extremely important in sports and became the best at it. In the fantasy world, injuries can be your worst nightmare, but Ms. Bell makes you feel good about making a decision on whether you want to start or sit a player. I would also like to give a shout out to Sarah Thomas. Not only is she a bada$$ referee, but she also seems like a bada$$ person.
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