Lakers: Kiesha Nix Makes Players Champions Off the Court
Executive Director of the Lakers Youth Foundation, Kiesha Nix, makes sure players are champions off the court
Longtime banking executive, single mom of a 21-year-old son, and die-hard Lakers fan; Kiesha Nix was hired by the Lakers to lead the Lakers Youth Foundation. Prior to joining the Lakers, Nix held the position of Assistant Vice President in Global Marketing & Corporate Affairs for Bank of America—Merrill Lynch. She has always been involved in community service and outreach throughout her career and was honored numerous times during her 21-year tenure at Merrill Lynch. Those honors and awards include:
- The Lifetime Community Service Award and the Global Diversity & Inclusion Award from Bank of America–Merrill Lynch
- The Woman of Distinction Award by Los Angeles Teenshop
- Recognized as an Extraordinary Leader and named one of Los Angeles’ 100 Most Prominent & Influential African Americans by the Los Angeles Chapter of the National Action Network
- Single Mom Planet’s ”Humanitarian Award”
Nix has only been on the job nine months, but she’s already made an impact. She lives by the motto, “Always believe in yourself and never give up.”
The Lakers Youth Foundation is 25 years old and Nix is rebuilding the foundation within the community while the team is rebuilding on the court. The foundation has given out about $7 million to non-profit charitable organizations. Nix knows that most people aren’t aware of all the money donated from the Lakers organization and it’s her job to let the world know.
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One of the programs Nix is rejuvenating is the Junior Lakers Youth Basketball Program with the Boys and Girls Club. The Junior Lakers will consist of 10-12 teams as a pilot. Nix says, ‘There are 100,000 youth in the Boys and Girls Club in California. It is my goal to have all 100,000 of those children playing Juniro Lakers Basketball.”
“This organization cares so much; I never have to ask somebody more than once to do anything more than once,” Nix said. She sits down the hall from team president Jeannie Buss, who is happy and excited about all the things Nix is doing.
Kobe Bryant also does what he can for the community service. He was happy to oblige when asked to entertain a special needs family after a game, showing now hesitation. He’s not the only Laker to do his part as D’Angelo Russell, Jordan Clarkson, and Julius Randle and the whole team has helped Nix with community service. Nix is old enough to be Russell’s mother and yes, he does call her mom.
In The Front Row co-host McCall Hall was fortunate to get some of this extraordinary woman’s time. During the interview, she dove right in and asked how one could get their foot in the Lakers front door, who on the team was happy to join in community outreach, and how much Lakers President Jeannie Buss is involved.
Wouldn’t it be nice to hear more about this and not about spilling secrets on each other’s infidelities? Nix would love for that to be the case, but she’s going to try and make a positive difference under the Lakers brand no matter what.
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The Lakers want to partner with charitable organizations, so if you know of one which would benefit from their involvement, now you know who to contact.