Leap Academy with Ilana Golan - Steph Curry Enterprise: From Receptionist to Driving Business Success for a Sports Icon | Tiffany Williams

Episode Date: February 27, 2025

Tiffany Williams started as a part-time receptionist with the Golden State Warriors, just looking to get her foot in the door. Two weeks later, she was offered a full-time role and quickly rose into business development. In 2015, she led the planning of the Warriors’ NBA Championship parade, an experience that fueled her drive for bigger opportunities. Her work ethic caught the attention of Steph Curry, who personally reached out and brought her on to help build his business empire at Thirty Ink. In this episode, Tiffany shares with Ilana how hunger, resilience, and seizing every opportunity took her from the front desk to the front lines of brand building. Tiffany Williams is the Chief Operating Officer at Thirty Ink, the off-court business arm of NBA superstar Steph Curry. She is a key force behind Steph’s brand, media ventures, and philanthropic impact. In this episode, Ilana and Tiffany will discuss: (00:00) Introduction  (01:38) The Hustle to Get into Sports Business (03:46) Taking a Receptionist Job to Break in (07:17) Organizing the Warriors’ 2015 Championship Parade (10:26) Earning Trust and Getting Recruited by Steph Curry (14:05)  Shaping Steph’s Brand and Community Impact (15:31) Overcoming Imposter Syndrome at the Top (17:24) Learning from a Network of Mentors (21:18) How Thirty Ink Elevates the Underrepresented (24:09) Staying Driven When Success Feels Slow (25:51) The Key to Navigating Career Setbacks Tiffany Williams is the Chief Operating Officer at Thirty Ink, the off-court business arm of NBA superstar Steph Curry. She began her career as a receptionist with the Golden State Warriors, quickly rising to lead major projects like the team’s 2015 Championship Parade. Tiffany is a key force behind Steph’s brand, media ventures, and philanthropic impact, and is known for her strategic execution, resilience, and leadership across sports, business, and community. Connect with Tiffany: Tiffany’s LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/tiffany-williams-2518742/  Resources Mentioned: Thirty Ink Website: https://www.thirtyink.com/  Leap Academy: Ready to make the LEAP in your career? There is a NEW way for professionals to Advance Their Careers & Make 5-6 figures of EXTRA INCOME in Record Time. Check out our free training today at leapacademy.com/training

Wow, this is going to be such an incredible show today. But before we start the show, I want to ask you for a favor. See, I'm on a mission to help millions leap their careers, land their dream roles, fast track to leadership, jump to entrepreneurship, or create portfolio careers. Now this podcast is about giving you a blueprint of how some of the biggest leaders of our time resuccess. So subscribe, download, so you never miss it. Plus it really, really, really helps me continue to bring amazing guests. So let's

dive in. I come from a long line of very strong women who are not going to take no for an answer. When I'm told no, I'm just going to figure out a different way to do it. Tiffany Williams, the COO of 30 Inc, the company that was founded by Steph Curry, the Golden State Warriors, NBA superstar. Tiffany played such a pivotal role in shaping his brand, the business ventures, the philanthropy. I was really looking for opportunities for growth and it was just very hungry for all things in entertainment. My dad was really on me to get a job. When I heard about this part-time job as a receptionist,

I was like, okay, this should be good enough. He was like, no. But that didn't really stop me. Ended up at the Warriors, working there part-time as a receptionist. There's always times in your career where you may not be moving as fast as you want to, or maybe you don't get the promotion that you wanted.

I've really just learned to let the work speak for itself. What would you say to our audience who is trying to get the role of their dreams? I would definitely tell them to. Tiffany Williams, the COO of 30 Inc, the company that was founded by Stephen Curry. Yes, Steph Curry. How cool is that? The Golden State Warriors, NBA superstar. Tiffany played such a pivotal role in shaping his brand, The Business Ventures, the Philanthropy. And I just can't wait to hear your incredible story, Tiffany. Thank you for being on the show. And take us back in time to Tiffany as a kid. Who were you? Well, thank you for having me. As a child, I was quiet, still am probably for the most part,

but grew up in the Bay Area with my parents and my sister and just always had a love of sports. Basketball was something that me and my dad shared and he used to take me to Warriors games growing up. Okay, so you basically all loved the Warriors from day one. But again, I think between loving the Warriors, there's a lot of people that love the Warriors. I mean, we live in the Bay Area, right? I mean, everybody loves the Warriors.

But there's a big difference between loving the Warriors and getting to work with one of the most iconic, beloved, accomplished athletes of all times, right? So there's a big difference. And I wanted to take us to where do you think that jump started? How did you even have any connections in the sport business? I didn't. That was something that grew over time. I was actually always interested in entertainment. I loved music growing up, loved TV.

If you were looking for me, you could probably find me in my room watching TV or reading a book. But all things media and entertainment, I absolutely loved. I spent a lot of time on those things. I couldn't imagine why anybody would ever want to do anything else. Fast forward when it's time to start thinking about what your career would look like in growing up in such a small town and not having access to the entertainment industry, so to speak.

I thought I would probably go into business and wanted to major in business management. And then I went to San Jose State, kind of pivoted and started looking in broadcast journalism. And that's what I eventually majored in. And I think that during that time, I just did a ton of, because there was not much access to all things kind of in the entertainment industry or how do you get into that career, but I was very determined.

And so I just started looking at a ton of internships. I remember in high school, I was a part of this program and you could do an internship in high school. And they asked me what I wanted my internship to be. I said, I wanted to intern for a production studio, like musical production studio. They were like, well, we don't have that in Benicia,

so what else do you want to do? Then I ended up doing the internship at a small medical office. But that didn't really stop me. I interned at CMC in college and short-stened at KML, and it was just very hungry for all things in entertainment and trying to figure out what that could look like for me. I eventually ended up getting this internship with a PR firm in Richmond,

and through that ended up with an internship at the 49ers and that was what put me at the Warriors and working there part-time as a receptionist. And I want to go there because Tiffany, first of all, I think you said for me, it's one of the most important words, which is hunger. I think that without the hunger, you know, I mean, if somebody's way too comfortable, they just not necessarily going to have the edge to continue and to push. And I love that you said the word hunger because for me that's such an iconic word. But like you said, you started as a receptionist and you were not afraid to start basically

from the bottom and to basically prove your way up. Talk to me a little bit about what that journey was like for you. I did so many internships, my dad was really on me to get a job and so I thought that when I heard about this part-time job as a receptionist, I was like, okay, this will be good enough. And he was like, no, that's not what I had in mind. And I was actually only part-time receptionist for two weeks. And then they asked me to go full time. And I initially said no, because of my dad being on me to get a job. And me

thinking, well, you know, I don't want to be a receptionist forever. But after a few months there and talking to some people, I realized that this could be an opportunity for me to showcase my skills and get my foot into Georgia to do something else. So I went back to them and I asked if the position was still available that I was interested in that role. And I was probably only in the receptionist role for full-time receptionist for a couple months and a position actually did become available in the business. It was business development at the time, department as an assistant.

And I applied for it and got that role. And then it was like, it was really on from there. Wow. Now as a receptionist, right after, do you have accessibility to the players? Like were they able to see how you perform? Like kind of my instinct is probably not, but what kind of visibility did you have?

None at all. And that wasn't even in my mindset at the time. I was really wanting to prove myself to the front office. There wasn't even a thought that of working closely with the players or anything at that time. I think probably the most access to players I had, Monte Ellis was a rookie the year that I started and he used to come up

to the office after practice every day and hang out in the executive offices. And so that was probably the most access that I was really trying to also get into those executive offices and hopefully, you know, them see what I can do and get a role in one of their departments. And eventually, that did happen. Exactly. I mean, it's incredible. It's such a beautiful story. And if I'm not mistaken, in 2015, I think you played a very major role in organizing that NBA championship parade

for the Warriors. Do you think it was a pivotal moment or tell us a little bit how you see this? It was an incredible experience. I remember I was running the events department at the time, and the production company that we worked with for the parade, I had been working with them for many years. I used to always ask them,

how was it to produce the Giants Parade? What was that process? How long did you start in advance planning? When did you know it was time to start planning? All those type of questions is really interesting to me. And so that year as we are into the playoffs and like we're super excited initially to make the playoffs and then to continue going round after round.

And I started thinking we need to start planning. And I remember bringing it up to my boss and some of the executives. And we set up a meeting with Hartman and started that process and it was amazing. Just all the things that go into it that you don't even think about. Like you need to get almost all the bike rack around the country pretty much to plan for all of these people. Just small things like that and planning well in

advance to make sure that you have enough bike rack. Nobody thinks about bike rack. all of those things and planning with the city and the mayor's office and the police department and fire and just all of these things that, you know, nobody, everybody has an amazing time, but they don't think about what happens behind the scenes to get to that point where the guys are standing up on the stage or going down the parade route in their buses. But it was amazing. And I think that that was a pivotal time in my career because when you work for a team, you're working within a 75 mile radius. And I had done that at that point for almost 10 years.

And I was really looking for opportunities for growth. And I realized that this parade is amazing and this is an amazing opportunity for me to be this involved in this. But if I stay here, maybe the biggest thing that I do, and I was really looking for growth opportunities. So not only was it something like kind of that notch that I could put on my belt to be a part of something like that, then it was also something that triggered in me that I probably need to start looking for other opportunities if I wanted to achieve some of these growth goals that I was looking for. So first of all what I got out of this is that level of curiosity and learning to just keep on

asking the tough questions because you're right we just look at a parade like I didn't even think of the bike rack and my husband will actually spank me for this because he's a cyclist he's like always complaining about the bike rack so I should have thought about it. But I so he will love this. But seriously, just that curiosity of asking because by definition, you're doing these things that you've never done before. It bears the question, how did you know what to do? Yeah, or even things that I didn't, you know, at the when I first started working for the Warriors, they weren't the 2015 Warriors. And so, never thinking that I would have the opportunity to be involved in the parade. And so, just that curiosity of,

what was that experience like, was just always something that I thought about. So from that pivotal moment, what happened? Because within, I don't know, like a year, you already leaped into working with Steph Curry. And that is mind blowing because again, everybody would think that that needs, I don't know, he will hire his sister or is he noticing like not necessarily like, you know, like you just like climbed your way. How did you do that? What do you think were some of the main things that you got

to get there? Yeah, to take it back a little bit, I was with the Warriors, of course, when he was drafted. So I had built a relationship with him and his family over the years. So in my role in business ops, we worked within several departments. My boss was over several departments. So arena operations, community relations, the foundations were all departments that were under her leadership and I was kind of her right hand person. So I worked a lot with the players, player development as well.

I worked a lot with the players on player development and community relations initiatives. So I was constantly down there, you know, after practice asking guys to do events, producing events for them, for their foundations or the initiatives that they cared about. So through all that time, I had built a relationship with Stefan. And then fast forward to, you know, after that, that championship year in 2015, I started putting myself out there more for other opportunities, applying for jobs, I think some recruiters had reached out to me as well. And in 2016, I was in the final rounds of interviews for a position with the city of Santa Clara to be their liaison with the 49ers.

And my aunt, I think she was his step-nanny at the time had mentioned to him that that was what I was doing. And he reached out to me and said that he was looking to bring on some people on his team. And then I interviewed and got the job. Amazing. So tell me, Tiffany, what do you think you said? Or, and again, it sounds like you already kind of knew you. So that is a big difference, right?

But do you think there's something that you did or you said or that just made that cross the line? Do you think there's something in the connection that you built? Or what would you say to our audience who is, you know, they're trying to get the role of their dreams, right? And they're trying to interview. What are some of the things that you think that made a difference? I think it was seeing my work ethic and, you know, just me being always down there, diligently

working on various things for the players. I remember after he played in FIBA and they won the gold medal, I led an event for him and some of his sponsors and the Warriors. It was called the Gold Medal Reception. I worked very closely with his mom and his agency on putting that event together for them. So I think that it was seeing the work that I had done, you know, in the community. You know, Christmas with the Curry started initially

when he was with the Warriors and him and Aisha purchasing these huge trucks of food for the community. And, you know, working with them on producing those events back in, you know, 2012, 2013. So I think it was, you know, all of those things seeing me in the way that I not only working to produce events or community initiatives, but then also the way that I worked with him and his family on those things and executing the things that they wanted to see. And, you know, knowing that that would be a fit in what he was looking for.

These examples are amazing. For somebody that doesn't know a lot in the world of sports, who raises these ideas? Who is the executor? So tell us a little bit, what happens behind the scenes when you wanna build a brand for somebody like Steph Curry and all the amazing things that you are all doing with him, tell us a little bit of what's going on behind the scenes.

Stephanie is somebody who he has a lot of amazing ideas and he really had a lot of, you know, the things that he wanted to see and the work that he wanted to do in the community. He knew he, him and Aisha knew that they wanted to start their own foundation, ELP. They had been working with a lot of different organizations, but they wanted to put something together that focused on the issues that they saw in Oakland that they wanted to help to

solve. And then, you know, in terms of his brand and things, it's kind of a combination of him knowing what he wants and knowing he wanted to be intentional about the way that he showed up and making sure that the partners that he worked with had like values to his and that the work that they do in with ELP is not just that's the only community focused work that they do. They want that to have a lens through all of the work that they do with their partners and you know, anybody who knows Stefan knows that he really wants to use his platform to provide a voice to those who don't have one. And so those

are things that, you know, he came to the table with, like he knew that he wanted to do. And it's really just making sure that working with him and working with his partners and our team to make sure that those things are realized. Hey, I'm pausing here for a second. I hope you're enjoying this amazing conversation. Don't forget to like this video, subscribe to our channel. Now, if you're looking yourself to catapult your own career, figure out what's next for you. Get that clarity, fast track your own growth. Check out our free 30-minute training at leapacademy.com

slash training that's leapacademy.com slash training. Now let's get back to the show. Now I know that no matter what, anytime you need to climb up the ladder, do big things, there will be challenges that you're gonna face as a leader. Give us some examples and how do you feel like you overcome them? I will say one of the biggest challenges that I, you know,

was working over the last couple of years to overcome, and I have at this point, but was kind of imposter syndrome. I think that I was, I don't know, I've worked so many years in my career to get to this point, but I don't know, sometimes you execute and you make things happen and you may not see even in yourself the work that it took to get there. And so, you know, being around all of these leaders and executives and Stefan and the way he shows up, I did have a little bit of imposter syndrome, but I definitely have worked through that, you know, with the business coach, even just writing

down everything that I have done and everything that I was doing in my role and taking a look at that and being like, okay, yeah, I am supposed to be here and I'm doing this and it's not by accident. I love that you said that Tiffany, because for me, first of all, as we're working with thousands of people a year, imposter syndrome is one of the things that will come every single time

and for every single leader, because I think by definition, when you're driven, you're always gonna do things that are outside your comfort zone otherwise you would just stay stuck and worrying right so by definition every single person driven will do big things and if they do big things they're gonna have a little bit of that oh my god like can I do this now the only question is does that stop you or that makes you continue? And I think the beautiful thing with you Tiffany is that you just continue, which I love. And again, I think you're

also in an industry, again, that is relatively unrepresented with maybe women overall, etc. What do you think helped you navigate that space? Because again, it is not easy to get that first impression, to get people to trust you, to get that leadership. I think that really throughout my career, there's been people that have given me that seat at the table. And even if I wasn't in a speaking role or leading, I had a seat at the table to just get the information.

I'm one who sits back and kind of observes and really wants to learn as much as I can. And so from, you know, earlier in my career at the Warriors, you know, being able to just walk in certain executive offices and ask questions and them allowing me to join their meetings, my boss included, to, you know, working with Stefan and accompanying him even in those early days in most of his meetings. And, you know, just having that seat at the table to learn is something that has really helped and informed and helped guide me as I've been in this role today.

And did you have mentors beyond that? People that helped you get where you are? Or do you feel like you just leaned on your boss or your bosses? What was it for you Tiffany? I will say I definitely had mentors but it was more in the sense of being able to just call people and ask questions. Community leaders that I met working in Oakland, you know, for the Warriors that I would work with on different initiatives to some of the sponsors of some of the companies that the Warriors that I would work with on different initiatives to some of the sponsors of some of the companies

that the Warriors were working with, building relationships with women executives at those companies and being able to just still to this day pick up the phone and ask for help or ask them questions. Those were the type of mentors that I had. Every single person or especially leaders leaders are doing some big things will have some moments or two they just need to like plow through with massive resilience whether it's something in life or something in the work itself. Do you have some hard moments like this and how did

you need to pick yourself back up and continue? They're definitely worth some. I think that sometimes you may not feel heard or seen. I think it's just continuing on. I talked about this the other day, and I was speaking on a panel. My mom was an entrepreneur since I was seven. She's been running her business, and she was told, even within members of our family,

maybe you should keep your job and working in insurance. And she didn't want to do that. She wanted to, you know, go out on her own. And so seeing the work that she put in day after day when people were telling her to do something else. And, you know, it's been 30 plus years now and she's still, you know, running that same business. So I think that I got a lot of that from her. I think I come from a long line of very strong women who are not gonna take no for an answer. And so that was really instilled in me in an early age. So I was told recently that when I'm told no,

I'm just gonna figure out a different way to do it. And so I think that I've taken that approach in my career. It's like, if I can't do it here, then I have to go somewhere else where I can. And I think that that's the great part of working with Stefan with whoever he's working with, he's going to give you that opportunity, and he's going to listen to you and, you know, take your ideas. And even if it's something that can't be accomplished, he will hear you out and definitely give you feedback. And I absolutely love that. And I think this podcast episode is also an example, right? Because for us, we were like, oh, my God, like we talked to

Branson and the president of Starbucks and the president of Shopify, founder of Zillow, etc. And he's like, no, you should talk to Tiffany. And to me, that was actually so beautiful about how he's empowering his team and you to shine the light on you. So for me, that was such a beautiful example of the person that he is and how much he wants to empower you. So tell me a little bit of what you guys are doing. I mean, you're responsible for overseeing so much strategic initiatives way beyond basketball, if I'm not mistaken.

So take me a little bit of, I mean, there's like industries and media and philanthropy and business and like there's so many things. Take us a little bit into your world, Tiffany. So 30 Inc is the off the court business group for Stephen Curry. So we have several businesses, unanimous media is our production company.

We have two youth sports tours, underrated basketball and underrated golf. We have a creative agency, 7K, and then this foundation, eLearnPlay kind of sits right outside of that because it's a foundation with him and Aisha and then Gentleman's Cut, his Kentucky straight bourbon. But our mission is really to elevate the under. As I mentioned earlier, Stefan's goal is to use his platform to provide a voice to those who don't have one or who may not get the recognition. So when we're producing film and television and publishing books through unanimous, we

want to tell those stories of that community. Stefan realized a few years ago that he wouldn't have been invited to his own select camp. You know, each shoe company holds these signature athlete select camps, and he wasn't in that top ranking to be invited to that camp. So he wanted to create a space where those three-star athletes like himself would have an opportunity to showcase their skills to college coaches. And that's how underrated basketball was born. And with golf, he just wanted to create equity access

and opportunity, a space where kids can play on the best courts throughout the country, throughout the world at this point, because we're expanding into Europe and Asia. But he wants to provide that space where they can get competition at the highest level playing with their peers on the best courses And that's just really what we strive to do with 30 Inc is

how can we come together in all of these different all of our businesses all these different industries and Provide that space and that voice Well, how beautiful is that? I think this focus on Unrepresented groups is so, so, so important. I was just talking about it with my team because in Leap Academy, we're totally seeing how there's like this big cliff of tens of millions or hundreds of millions of people that will need to reinvent themselves and nobody's going to help them.

But there's rescale schools, but nobody really teaches how to reinvent yourself. I feel like there's this whole groups of unrepresented is just getting bigger and bigger. It's amazing. So I love what you guys are doing. Is there something that you went through? I mean, I'm looking at your drive, sounds like some of it is your mom,

but is there something that you went through that maybe some people don't know that has built you to the Tiffany that I'm seeing today? There's always times in your career where you may not be moving as fast as you want to, or you may not feel like you're getting the recognition that you want to be able to move up. And I've definitely had those opportunities. But I do think that it is my background that had provided those drives, even that drive even back then. You know, there were times early on in my career where I was like,

is this what I'm sure I want to be doing? It absolutely was. I talked about in the beginning how I always wanted to work in entertainment. So remembering that in those hard times, but yeah, there definitely are those moments where you have setbacks. Maybe you don't get the promotion that you wanted,

or you're not advancing as fast as you think that you should, but I've really just learned to let the work speak for itself. Eventually you will get there if you're working hard and you have that drive and that hunger. And I definitely think that I have had and had all of those things, and that's what was able to get me to this point.

So one of the things that I love doing is looking back, is there an advice that you would give your younger self about your career and chasing these big dreams and accomplishments? I don't want this to come off wrong, but no, because I think I did everything that like there's there's definitely nothing that I would change. Like I think that I did everything, I think that my younger self would be proud of what I've done and the work that I've done to get here. I don't think that there was anything, probably the only thing that I would tell my younger self is that you're going to make it happen. I love that. And so what would you say to people listening?

So some of them have been laid off and they're looking for jobs, which is really hard these days. Some of them are trying to fast track to the C-suite, to executive level. Some of them are just trying to figure out what on earth do I want to do next and maybe jumping to entrepreneurship or creating these portfolio careers. What would you say to them? I would definitely tell them to utilize your network. And I know that that, you know, in some cases, easier said than done. But in my experience, and you know, I have a lot of people that reach out to me all the time for informational interviews, I try to, if I hear about jobs and opportunities or different things,

send it out to my network so that they can send it out to theirs. But I really think that believing, utilizing your network, I think sometimes people are afraid to bug people. I get all the time like, I didn't want to reach out to you because I know how busy you are. I say reach out, it doesn't hurt to ask,

the only thing that somebody can tell you is no. And if they do, then, you know, you just move on. But do definitely utilize your network. We don't know how to help if we don't hear from you. And so I think that that's the biggest advice that I would give. Right. And I think what you said is so true because what we say to people, you already have a brand.

The question is, what are you known for and what do people have, you know, in their heads? And will they bring those opportunities to you? And, you know, if you're not top of mind, it's not going to happen. So I love that. Yeah, I love that. So how do you navigate now this world of top celebrities? I'm sure it's not just Steph Curry. I'm sure he knows a lot of people and you're working with partnerships and

all these things. For me, this is something that I'm very behind the scenes, I always say. So this world of giving interviews and being on panels for myself, I'm used to, you know, organizing and setting those up for him, not so much doing it myself. But it is something that, you know, I said, I want to grow when I started this journey. And so this is another piece of that, but I, you know,

I'm just trying to get some of these under my belt and learn from each one that I do and how to be a better speaker and not be so nervous. But I think I'm, I think I'm growing in that way as well. And yeah, it's been fun. I think that, you know that we're building an amazing business with 30 Inc. And there's so many opportunities for us

to use our platform to help others. Just the way that Stefan uses his and the way that he wants to. And so anything that I can do to continue to get the word out and help those who need that platform, I'd love to do it. That's incredible, Tiffany. So we'll definitely be in touch because I'm sure we're going to have a lot of people

that maybe can help or do other things. But seriously, Tiffany, thank you so much for joining the show and inspiring and doing the beautiful things that you're involved with. Thank you so much for having me. Wow, what an incredible conversation. I am so inspired. I hope you are too. And if you enjoyed it as much as I did,

please share it with friends. It really, really helps us bring more amazing guests. And if you at some point want to take yourself and your career to the next level, watch our free training at leapacademy.com slash training. It's leapacademy.com slash training. And I will see you in the next show of Leap Academy with Ilana Golan.