When they’re not busy training or facing off against each other on the court, WNBA players Kiki Iriafen (Washington Mystics) and Aneesah Morrow (Connecticut Sun) are partnering up with the Coach Foundation to empower the next generation of students.
Offering education, mentorship, and community support, the Coach Foundation was created to support young people achieve their dreams by removing barriers and creating new opportunities for kids in underserved communities to thrive. Since 2008, the American fashion brand’s foundation has donated over $75 million dollars and awarded over 7,000 scholarships.
“The biggest thing in partnering with Coach is being with a brand that cares about giving back to others as well,” Iriafen tells Teen Vogue in an exclusive interview. “I’m super excited to be working with kids and giving them an opportunity to achieve their dreams. I was able to be in the WNBA because I had the right people supporting me, so to be able to extend that to the next generation is super special.”
Morrow echoes Iriafen’s statements, adding that the Coach Foundation “understands that real progress happens when you invest in authentic relationships and support systems that last well beyond any single event or campaign.”
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Courtesy of Coach.
For Morrow, being a mentor means being a steady presence that someone else can count on when life gets overwhelming. “I get to be the shoulder they can lean on and the voice that reminds them they’re capable of more than they realize,” she tells Teen Vogue.
Learning from her own mentors—her parents and her coaches—Morrow says mentoring is just as much about listening as it is about giving advice. “Sometimes young people don’t want to hear solutions when they share what’s bothering them, they just need someone to truly hear them and validate what they’re going through.”
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