The NFL Wives Association is rewriting the rules for spouses of professional athletes, proving that influence off the field can be just as powerful as on it. Tenisha Patterson Brown, President of the Off The Field NFL Wives Association, corporate counsel, business strategist, and brand builder, reveals how these remarkable women are taking control of their careers, protecting their families legally, and creating lasting legacies for their daughters. They are redefining what it means to be a partner in professional sports, championing leadership, financial independence, and cultural impact. From building powerful networks to driving meaningful change, these “boss ladies” are inspiring a new generation of empowered women and transforming the narrative for athletes’ spouses everywhere.
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NFL Wives Association Off The Field, Beyond The Game: Tenisha Patterson Brown President Of Off The Field NFL Wives Association On Leadership, Legacy, And Redefining Representation In Sports
More Than Wives, These Boss Ladies Are Owning Their Power, Making Impact And Redefining The NFL Narrative
I’m doing a little thematic thing, which is a little bit different. I’m focusing my conversations on women who are in their own right powerful business buddies and corporate colonies who are changing the way that businesses we know are being done. Simultaneously, they’re helping create and empower non-profits that are helping those who are coming up behind us. That’s right, our girls. For this episode, we’re going to take a little look at an unexpected realm.
I bet when you hear NFL, you probably think of touchdowns, contracts, and highlight reels. Behind the scenes there’s another powerhouse shaping community, philanthropy, and leadership. No shock, it’s the women. At the center of our story is our guest Tenisha Patterson Brown. She’s the President of the Off The Field NFL Wives Association. She’s also Corporate Counsel, Business Strategist, and brand builder and a very successful one at that.
Tenisha’s leadership spans multiple worlds from boardrooms to locker rooms, from fashion runways to philanthropic front lines. Through her legal and business consultancy, she’s helping players and their families get ready for the future. Under her presidency, Off The Field has become more than the support network, but it’s a platform for sisterhood, visibility, and impact. It’s known for its charity fashion show, but even more so now building ever more quickly is its advocacy for girls, families, and communities across the country through such creations as a girl’s flag football leagues, scholarships, and internships.
It’s astonishing all that they’re doing. They’re terrific collaborators. Choosing to partner and help lift up and efforts that are being done by sister sporting worlds like the wives of the MLB and wives of the NBA. Tenisha’s also known. She knows the power of protecting and positioning your business through consulting practice. She helps leaders align legal clarity, business strategy, and brand vision so that their impact lasts.
In our conversation, we talked about a lot. We focus quite a bit on leadership and it’s about identity. Not just titles, how Off The Field has changed the narrative of NFL wives from Salem partners to visible changemakers. They are getting a seat at the table and what women entrepreneurs often overlook legally. This is near and dear to my heart and the strategic shifts that change everything.
Finally, she shares a little bit about what her future vision is for Off The Field and the advice she would give her younger self about ambition, purpose, and legacy. Mainly, “Do not dim that light to accommodate others.” Her conversation is about owning your story, multiplying your impact, and leading unapologetically. Be it on the field, off the field and far beyond. Let me know what you think. Stay to the end for KB’s takeaways and look forward to hearing your feedback.
I’m doing something a little fun and a little different, where I’m going to go a little thematic. For the next few episodes, I have the honor of speaking with women who are founders and CEOs in their own right, in addition to creating entities and efforts that support those coming up behind us girls. I’m excited to introduce all of you to Tenisha Patterson Brown, who is a badass and across so many different areas but primarily she’s the President Off The Field NFL Wives Association. She’s a Founder and CEO, Corporate Counsel, Legal and Business Consulting Expert and a Brand Strategist. While she’s making all that time, she’s also a law lady. With that Tenisha, welcome to the show.
Thank you for having me. I’m so excited to be here.
There are so many different places we could start, but I am trying to teach myself to be just linear in this one part. Which is, tell us about your journey and how you ended up where you are now.
The Journey To Sports: Creating Her Own Lane
My journey started in a very unique way I should say. I went off to college thinking that I was going to be a doctor. I got into baby bio and realized very quickly that was not the path for me. I shifted my major to business management but had no idea of what I wanted to do. I knew I wanted to be a boss. I know I wanted to guide people and lead people, but I had no idea where I would go. I ended up falling into sports and loved it. I started off in recruiting and fell in love with the game. I fell in love with the operations and all the not-so cutesy side of sports and I realized that I wanted to be more than just a number.
I wanted to make an impact. I also realized there were not a lot of women in sports or they were in very lower-level positions. I took it upon myself to create my own lane and law school led to creating the credential piece I should say when giving me more options. I thought I was going to be an agent. It very quickly shifted that I was not going to be an agent. I had no desire to be called in the middle of the night, but I still wanted to make an impact with athletes. That’s where Definitive Sports was born.
I worked with a lot of different athletes then added in their spouses because I also realize that a lot of them were former collegiate athletes as well. They didn’t have dreams and who were transitioning as well. The transition doesn’t matter if you are male or female, a high school athlete or collegiate athlete or pro. That transition still happens and they still try to figure out what they want to do off the field or off the court. I started to take on the spouses and girlfriends and their dreams as well. They came a family affair in helping them in their off the field and off the court endeavors.
Women In Sports Law: Challenging The Norms
That’s so smart in so many different ways. I was going to say the whole notion of the family tree, but Tenisha, I want to ask you. Oftentimes, I found myself speaking to founders who are sitting there and more on the pure business side of things or in biotech. There’s so few females in that arena. What about this notion of law and being a legal eagle in the realm of sports? Are there many women that do that?
Honestly, now yes. I got into sports many years ago. I say that and I’m like, “I’m aging myself.” When I wanted to get into the game, I thought I could only get into this sport as an agent, then I thought I can only get into sport as marketing because that’s where all the women were. They were in marketing. They were in student athlete services. Things that weren’t essentially the dominant positions that normally males dominate.
It triggered me with Amtrak’s laws. The fact that the big four was exempt from regular laws. I’m like, “How do they do this?” I was very intrigued. I was also intrigued by the fact that I was all-in on NIL before NIL was a thing. I believe that players should get paid. I believed in revenue sharing and the concept of creating a union. Honestly, that was way before the house case or any case about NIL. For me, I love the legalities of things when it comes to sports, the nuances and the exemptions.
The fact that the major sports are considered to be exempt from so many different things. They’re so special. I am also in love with the whole narrative now that’s going on with NIL and transfer portal and all the things because it’s challenging everyone legally. It’s challenging their mind or as we call it in the legal world, Wild Wild West NIL. It’s ever changing. For me, that’s where I get so excited in sports because it’s so different from a lot of different things. You have tax laws and trademark law. It’s the same but sports are different every single day.
I was going to say you probably show up and you have no clue what’s going to happen.
I have no clue because it’s state specific. You have some things that you try to implement nationally and then you have things that you’re trying to implement on a local level. It’s just wild. Everything is changing now. The things that are happening on a local level, the high school level, and the collegiate level is going to ultimately impact the pro. The pros have already.
The Ever-Changing Landscape Of Sports Law
The thing that’s also great about this is, because it can go so many different directions and you don’t know. It keeps you so facile.
You have to be. I’m a student. If I have to say, what is your title first? I’m a student first. I love to learn, engage, and figure out things on my own and constantly study my craft, even if I’m not practicing that particular area because you never know. I had the best advice from someone. A colleague of mine when I was in college. I asked them when I was volunteering, and I said volunteering because you make no money when you work in collegiate sports. It was measly, a very small salary.
I asked one of my colleagues, “Why am I having to sell these program books and work in sponsorship when I’m a marketing coordinator? That’s my job.” He politely said to me, “Tenisha, when you work in sports, you need to learn every single job because you never know when you will have to use it.” Now, fast forward to many years later, I am President of Off The Field and everything that I learned in sponsorship and sales I am implementing now in my position. That was just golden advice that someone gave me many years ago.
When you work in sports, you need to learn every job because you never know when you'll have to use it. Share on XLeading With Empathy: Diverse Leadership Roles
Isn’t it funny how sometimes those things that seem so random in the past, all of a sudden, they do? They crop up and you’re like, “Whoa?” When they’re asking, “Does anyone know this?” You’re like, “I do in fact.” For readers, Tenisha leads this organization. She’s a president of Off The Field NFL Wives Association but she’s also running her own business and legal consulting practices she’s just been sharing. How do you define your leadership across those very different but they’re also connected? Ones non-profit, more purpose-driven, none political but once for a profit and once noon-profit. Is there some difference you put on when you lead those two?
I will say one of the things that I learned in my position as business and legal consultant, my primary client is a male athlete. The difference with them is they’re looking to be coached. I put on my coaching hat. When I talk to them, I talk to them Xs and Os. It’s like, “This is a play that we’re going to have to run. I’m going to give you the schematic of what we’re going to do and you’re going to execute. This is your position and this is how you execute this position. I don’t need you to worry about all the other things. I’ll put the people in place to make sure that we can run this game plan.”
Whether it is their accountant or the financial advisor or their wife, or anyone else that they have their business partner. I assign a start off with a timeline and a game plan. When I speak to them, the language is different. I’m talking to them as, “I’m a coach. This is our game plan. This is how we’re going to follow through.” The biggest thing with a lot of people, and not just athletes but definitely with athletes. They want to be coached, period. They don’t want you to go in and expect them to tell them to throw all this information at them and then they figure it out. That’s not what they’re going to do.
They don’t have a capacity, especially if they’re playing, and even post-career. They’re not trained for that. If you think about how long they’ve been in the process of learning, it’s always in a coach-player situation then they can execute at a high level by being coached well. If I can coach you and teach you how to do all these things so that you’re better off before you started with me. That’s my win. I don’t want to be the holder of all the details. I want to make sure that I’m coaching you and educating you so that you can go now and execute.
I don’t ever worry about my job. I never worry about eliminating myself because there’s always going to be the next person that I can train and coach. That’s my approach with a Definitive Sport group and just being that legal business and legal consultant. It’s because I have so much business experience, that also gives me an opportunity to help them see it from not just a legal perspective but to see it from a management perspective, operations, logistics and HR.
I have all of those levels of experience. I speak to them from my learned experience and lived experience and also from a legal perspective and risk management as you should say, perspective. When it comes to off the field, it is very much relationship-driven and operating in a space of empathy. I get it because I have this experience with you. I understand as a fellow NFL wife, what your life is like. I know what you need because I’m a part of this community as well.
Therefore, empathizing with the needs of my members while also pushing us forward and letting them know you can achieve and show everyone how much you have achieved. For me and my leadership perspective now, this is how I’m operating. It’s letting people know that we are more than just what you see on TV. We are not a monolith. We are so much more. We’re lawyers, doctors, authors, advocates, entrepreneurs and so much more and I want the world to see that.
Stepping Into Presidency: Evolution Of Off The Field NFL Wives Association
That’s the thing that will dig even deeper into that piece. There’s just so many assumptions that are taking place. We’ll talk a little bit about some of the myth busting that we want to make sure it happens. To Tenisha’s point, there are things that they’re doing for girls and others too that are truly life altering and shifting. It’s super exciting. What ever inspired you to step into the presidency role? How have you seen the organization evolve?
I stumbled. I did not think and this is where the imposter syndrome comes in. Since I’ve settled into my 40, I am getting so much better about that because I’m such a high achiever. I just achieved it. I’ve been just achieving all my life and it’s become a thing, where this is what you do. You just achieve and it’s normal. For me, I thought that someone else was better for the job, to be honest. I realized that I was the person for the job.
It has been such an amazing experience. The founders saw something in me that I didn’t see him myself because I wasn’t the traditional president. Not a traditional NFL wife. When I say traditional, it’s based on what the perceptions are and what people assume. When I stepped into this role, it required me to step back from a lot of other things that I was pursuing because it is a full-time job. I’m in my feelings about philanthropic season. I always say that, but I have seen my organization grow so much and people look at us in such a different way.
I’ve only been president for months. It will be almost a year. We have launched our road to LA 2028 campaign. We’ve launched 30 chapters in all of the NFL cities. We are just pushing forward as an organization and solidifying ourselves as the official premiere site. Where you can come and have a safe space for our lives where our pillars, our sisterhood support and service. We have taken that on and delved into all of our NFL cities.
Sisterhood, Support, And Service: The Pillars Of OTF
Which is awesome. Talk a little bit because I’m imagining and not every reader will even be familiar with Off The Field NFL Wives Association. Share a little bit about it and talk a little bit about how you serve your members as well as a broader community.
Off The Field is the official NFL Wives Association for current and former NFL player’s wives and significant others. There are 2,000 active players and 20,000 former players. We serve all of the wise within that network, even if you are divorced. We do not kick you out. You are still a part of our membership because we understand the sisterhood is still there. As I said, our pillars, our sisterhood service and support. We want to create and we have created for almost 25 years a network of women where we are helping each other, whether you’re transitioning from city to city, being traded or your transition out of the league or into the league.
We assist with that and provide resources to our members. We have gatherings together, where we do meetups. We have our annual fashion show where we serve the NFL Super Bowl Community. The support element comes also from our OTF Cares that I also launched since being president. OTF Cares is very similar to the NFL Player Care Foundation. We provide grant assistance, financial grants to our members because one thing that we do know is that if the guys are not engaged and they do not apply for financial assistance then the wives cannot do it on their own.
We want to create a space for our wives, whether you’re getting a divorce or some medical emergency or having health issues or if you need education assistance. We want to provide that assistance to our community. We also provide scholarships to the children, to our families to collegiate scholarships. We match the scholarship with a child in the NFL city. That’s OTF Cares. We provide internships and internships as well. The service is serving our community. We serve our community. Every NFL city we touch. By the time we get to LA 2028, we will have impacted 10,000 children just in our road to LA 2028 campaign.
Girls Flag Football & Beyond: Impacting Future Generations
Which is huge. Aren’t you doing some flag football league?
That is a part of our road to LA 2028. We have four sports. We took on this initiative and started off a water safety. We had an NFL family lose their child to drowning, two-year-olds in Tampa Bay. We made a decision that we were not going to let another child die on our watch from drowning. We started this initiative in Cincinnati, partners were USA Swimming Foundation and American Heart Association. We teach 150 to 200 kids how to swim, and then we lead that swim lessons at least six swim lessons with the child. We like to partner with schools so they can do it as a summer program.
The American Heart Association also teaches them CPR as well, which is so important. The second sport we started with girls on flag. That was natural. We are football wives. Plus, we wanted to dive into a sport that didn’t have a lot of barriers to play. We also want it so that it can be available to all girls, but also encourage them. This is an opportunity for them to get NIL deals, go and get college scholarships, and play in the Olympics because it will be an active sport. We wanted to jump into that.
I didn’t know that.
It will be in the Olympics. Black football will be in the Olympics. The NFL players will try-out for the flag team but the girls will qualify from. They’ll be selected from the Olympic trials. We are so excited for them because they’re great. If you ever have opportunities to watch the girls play, they’re amazing. The girls who play flag football. Our girls on flag initiative will touch all 30 cities just like our water safety program.
We teach 150 girls the fundamentals of flag football. We host a clinic. One of our wives leads the clinic who is a coach as well and has her own team. That program will touch 150 kids in each city. We have softball which will launch in San Francisco with the MLB wives. We have youth girls basketball, which we launched our pilot location in Vegas at the summer league in partnership with the National Basketball Wives Association.
Myth Busting: Redefining The NFL Wife Narrative
Yay on you. I’m just going to say, I love that you’re collaborating with all the wives associations of all these different sports. By doing that, I bet everybody probably has similar frustrations with myths and just either profiling and some of the assumptions. What are some of the myths that you wanted to spell? Do I have time? How long?
The biggest one is that we are all flying private jets. That’s not who we are. There may be some wives that are like that and that’s fine. Once again, the majority of our community are just regular people who have our own dreams, hopes and vision. A lot of us, including myself, understand the game and the game is very short, and because of that time, we make sacrifices in our family to allow our husbands to live out their dream.
The majority of our community are just regular people with our own dreams, hopes, and vision. Many of us understand that the game is very short. Share on XA lot of the wives were brilliant and they have so much to offer and so much to do and their own businesses and careers. My vice president, I always brag about her. She is a doctor at UNC, and she also works with the UNC Football Team. She’s amazing. She’s a mom as well. I supported her husband, a former collegiate swimmer and people don’t know that. They just assumed that we’re one thing.
Exactly one level. I can only imagine just what a relief it is for you to have each other. I’m also thinking about what it is like to have to negotiate? That’s the only word I can think of. Once a husband, the career comes forth. How do you balance that and making sure that you still get to have your own too? Is it more a timing thing like you go first? It’s one of those things we’ve all had different relationships or conversations like that but each of you have had to do it. Each of you, on to your point, so in and of your own right, incredibly accomplished.
Balancing Dreams: Career, Family, And Pro-Athlete Life
Each family makes a decision and sometimes it looks different for each family. As a husband goes from place to place, the wives move with them. I did not. I stayed in Charlotte while my husband would go to different teams mainly because I was in law school. I didn’t want to lift my life and move around like that. We worked well. We traveled back and forth.
Sometimes, it doesn’t work that way, especially when you have kids. It’s harder to not go, but it’s also harder sometimes to go. It’s very different. I will say that there’s a mutual understanding among our community and just pro athlete wives in general. It’s a short time to sacrifice that you have to make for the greater good.
There’s a mutual understanding in our community, and among pro athletes in general, that this time is short — a brief period of sacrifice for the greater good. Share on XA lot of them do jobs that you can do in any place or start businesses. This is why so many of our wives are entrepreneurs because it’s something that you can take with you wherever you go. It’s very convenient and it makes you creative. It makes you innovative as well because you’re like, “I have to balance all these things.” I compared it to a military wife, where it’s a shorter time frame, obviously, and the sacrifice is different.
It’s very much a sense of you capturing that time by yourself. You’re very much by yourself because you understand the amount of focus that has to happen. You understand the amount of commitments. At the end of the day, your husband has worked for this well before you even came a part of this life, before you were thought about this dynamic.
A lot of them were playing Pop Warner Football or baseball or in AAU Basketball. For them, it’s establishing a dream twenty years before they meet you. It’s unreasonable for you to say, “You need to cut this off and do what I want you to do.” It’s very much a sacrifice on our end to understand their end-game and their goals and then work towards that as a unit.
I’m sure. In the end as they shift out, thanks to you and your ability of helping them when they transition out, everyone catches up.
It works out. I’ve had families that have started well into the career. Usually, what I’ve seen is players typically did not start thinking about post-game or post-career and so they are about to retire. It’s like two or three years out, I’m about to retire. I start thinking about it. Now in the new era of NIL, you have rookies who are like, “I want to buy franchisees. I want to plan. I don’t want to spend my game check. I want to get endorsement deals so that I can say this.” Back in the day, there’s very few players that were doing that.
Which is super smart. You never know if you’re injured and all the different things.
Too many variables.
Legal Clarity: The Unsung Hero Of Business Success
Exactly. In all of your strategic work with folks, I find oftentimes with zealous founders many underestimate the importance of legal clarity in the business. They’re like, “I don’t need that.” It’s either because they don’t understand it or it’s too hard. Talk a little bit about that and hammer at home, please so that people know. Protect yourself.
My colleagues and I would say my law school bestie. I joke about this all the time because no one ever wants to pay lawyers, and we’re literally the profession that you need the most. You can buy everyone else when you need us. You absolutely need us. I always tell my clients, “It’s better to be proactive than reactive.” It’s going to save you a lot of money because if you are reactive, now you’re responding to anything that is out there. Your risk is higher because you haven’t protected yourself. You’ve put your brand at jeopardy and your ability to continue or have your business start up.
It's better to be proactive than reactive. It's going to save you a lot of money because if you are reactive, you're responding to anything out there, and your risk is higher. Share on XWhat I’ve seen is I’ve had players come to me once their business has already been established and said, “I need you to fix this,” or they come to me before. In their mind, they have this preset notion of, “I’m only going to spend X because I can have my cousin or I can have such and such do all the things.” I give them guidance and I say to them, “Here’s what I’m going to do. I’m not going to fix it once the cousin messes it up. Full disclosure because you’re legal Google that you think you’re doing doesn’t include all the nuances that go along with this and what the unique risk is aligned with you as a high-profile athlete.” I’ve had clients put themselves in very sticky situations, not because they wanted to. It was more so of, “It’s not going to happen. It’s fine. It’s not a big deal.”
“I’ll be different.”
That was such and such. I always say, it’s better to plan. I am a firm believer. I don’t care who your partner is with. Always have a contract, partnership agreement. I don’t care how much you love them. I don’t how long you’ve known them. My husband and I have partnership agreements and operating agreements with our businesses because when things come up, I want to make sure that things are not going to go crazy. We can refer back to these documents that we signed and make sure that we have this in place.
I always would say, “Can’t you trust the other person? It’s offensive.”
It’s not about a dress.
Maybe how romantic. It has nothing to do about that at all. It just keeps it so much cleaner and builds in such boundaries. Thank you, because I’m always stunned by that. Many people are going to be the exception to the rule.
It also goes to the thought process that somehow, somehow, you are creating a permission essentially of, “You’re saying that there’s going to be something wrong with the business.” It makes you look more legit as a business if you do have this. I say this a lot of times to husband and wife, best friends, and if you’re going to partner with other family members. It makes you look more legit if you put that person on payroll and process payroll, versus you giving them just money. It’s better financially for you.
If you're trying to get funding, don't use your own money. That's not smart. Share on XIt’s better for your business if you’re trying to go get funding. I always tell people, don’t use your own money. That’s not smart. For me, it’s about the planning piece. Being proactive like jumping and having all of these things in place. Even if you’re not there now. Tell me where you want to be and then I’ll tell you what you need based on where you want to be.
Resilience And Legacy: Mindsets For High-Pressure Lives
We can reverse engineer it on the way. For you, a lot of the women who are the members of the Wives Association and yourself are juggling so much. Resilience is a recurring theme in life and your career. Are there practices or mindsets that you use that help you stay grounded or centered when there’s just so much going on and the pressure is high? What keeps you centered?
Therapy but very much perspective on why I’m doing certain things. I have to consistently remind myself why I’m doing X. I have a very close relationship with my grandmother. My motivations are understanding how much effort and time she poured into me and making sure that I achieve the dreams that I wanted to set out. Also, things that she felt like, “If you just do this one thing differently, every time your mindset was different.” If you think about it, how can I be a good human being? That sets the tone for me.
Be 2% better every day. It's better than 1%, but it's attainable. Share on XHow can I be a better human being? In that process of me being a better human being, am I honoring the legacy of my grandmother in what I’m doing? Also, it’s because of my daughter whom I’m obsessed with. It took me forever to get her, but she is my heart and my soul in human form. I always say that. How can I set the platform, the base, and the foundation for her to give her the voice, the time and space and the desire to want to be the best version of herself? Also, be a girl’s girl and to elevate those around you.
I don’t want to be the only person on a yacht. I want all my friends to have their own yachts, too. I say because when I look at her, she models what I do. I want to make sure that everything that I am doing is positive. Even if I fall short, I explain to her, “Mommy wasn’t perfect. I’m not going to be perfect but what I’m going to be is 2% better every day.” I learned that from Coach Andrews at Florida State. He always used to say, “I just want you to be 2% better every day.” That’s what he told his players. It’s better than 1%, but it’s attainable with 2%.
Vision For The Future: Sustainability And Changing Narratives
It’s a little bit of a stretch. What’s your vision for Off The Field NFL Wives Association? What do you hope your legacy is? I can think of a few things.
I want to have Off The Field sustainability. That’s the biggest thing for me. I’ve only been the fifth president in 25 years. One of the presidents served for twelve years. They kept re-electing her. They loved her. She’s great. She has big shoes to fill. I will just say that. She’s fantastic. I want to have sustainability but also for us, as we go embark into the future to change the narrative of what it means to be a pro athlete’s wife.
The service, sisterhood, growth, transformation, and empowerment. All of those things. I will say this as a woman in sports, I have a unique perspective of being on both sides of the coin. There’s very rarely a space for the wives. You have this tremendous growth in women in sports, and very rarely do you see the access for the wives as well. I’ve been in rooms where I would lead with, “I’m a wife,” and the conversation would go different than me leading with, “I’m a sports attorney.”
For me, recognizing that and seeing that, it’s like, “I’m going to do something about it.” With Off The Field, I don’t want people to think of us as just the fashion show, which is for so long people thought. Off The Field has been doing great work in the community for so long, but that’s what people just assume that we did because it’s huge during the Super Bowl. We love that. That’s a marquee event, but we have so much more in touching the lives of our members and building that sisterhood. I want our chapter to thrive. I want us to continue our programming, girls of flag well beyond, and LA 2028. For us to create a team and be the official sponsor of that team would make me happy as well.
I would also think that as players, as future generations of players and their spouses come on board, they would be less likely to be attracted to just the fashion show.
Also, I would like to elevate our NFL families. We focus so much on the players individually. We focus so much on the wives individually, but we forget about the connection. We want to elevate our families and make sure that they say connected. Also, when it comes to celebrating their businesses, celebrating their non-profits and supporting each other and having a seat at the table. If I can have a seat, and I’m saying I, I’m saying Off The Field, the wives. If we can have a seat at the table in a conversation when they’re talking about the lives of players and the lives of families. I will leave this world job well done. That is huge.
Trust yourself. Don't minimize yourself to accommodate others. Share on XI can imagine why. There’s so many things that you all see that person who’s in it, where the athlete may be missing it, or you get caught up. There’s group things. There’s all sorts of things. It’s great to have that trusted person, your partner who can help you perhaps walk into a situation with clear eyes. To your earlier point, catch the nuances.
It’s because we see things. At the end of the day, we have the unique perspective of being behind the scenes and seeing all of the impacts of the game. I had been with my husband since he played in college. I’ve seen everything from college draft, act of play, retirement and full retirement. It’s like pretend retirement and then real retirement. I’ve seen all of that and my husband also coached, so I seen that perspective. He was also in scouting and I’ve seen that perspective. It’s all of the nuances that go along with it. It’s important for us to have a seat at the table.
Advice To Her Younger Self: Trust And Don’t Minimize
In closing, knowing what you know now, what advice would you give your younger self?
Trust yourself and don’t minimize yourself to accommodate others. If I could go back all over again, there’s so many times that I let someone persuade me that this wasn’t the right thing for me, or I diminished who I was or just minimized myself. Even if it was a small amount to make someone feel comfortable. They would say, “You can’t be all the things. You can’t be attractive, smart and a good person. You have to be mean. You can’t be all these things.” I’m not going to do that anymore.
That’s the thing. You do the world such a disservice if you dim your light. It just feels better. That one resonates with me a lot. Especially if you’re someone who has a bigger personality than some. I’m also going to say, even the quiet folks. There’s always an over assumption that they have nothing to say, so both sides of it. Tenisha, thank you so much.
Thank you.
This has been so insightful across many different levels. I appreciate it. I’m just so excited and glad, and I will also admit to being embarrassed that I had no knowledge of not only your sports association, but name a sport. I’m just so glad that all the wives are stepping up and saying, “We want a seat at the table, so we’re going to, frankly, make our own table. It’s going to be bigger. You guys can maybe come on ours.” Thank you so much. I look forward to seeing what ends up happening with so many of these amazing things that you’re building out. Thank you from everybody for all that you’re doing, too.
Thank you and for your support. I appreciate it. Thank you for your time. I can’t wait to just get out there and people to see all the great things that we’re doing.
My pleasure. Until next time.
Thank you.
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Key Takeaways: Proactive, 2% Better, And Shine Your Light
I don’t know about you, but I thought that was pretty cool. What is even cooler is this whole notion that all of these professional sports, the wives, partners, spouses behind the players are wanting a seat at the table. If they don’t exist, the tables don’t exist. They’re making them their own. They’re having an impact on future generations to come. In addition to that, that’s just one piece of what Tenisha is doing. She’s got her incredible legal career and brand consulting career and she’s a mom.
I’m just saying it’s so hard to see just how multifaceted all of us are and we’re doing amazing things with these big lives that we are having, as Mary Oliver would say. For KB Takeaways, here are my top five, to be honest with you. One when Tenisha was talking a bit about this whole notion that the players like to be coached and essentially setting up any situation into a game plan and translating it into language that they deal with every day on the field. Speaking of language that your customer understands, your audience understands.
No brainer, but so many of us don’t do it. It’s important to do that. I’m always better to be proactive than reactive. You see something and you get that in your gut. Take a look at it and make a move accordingly. The notion of, “We all like to play big.” If you could even just be 2% better every day, that’s achievable and it’ll continue. You’ll want to continue to keep trying to accomplish that notion of being 2% better every day.
Lastly, to me, don’t minimize yourself to accommodate others. It’s so much easier said than done. We’ve all been taught whether intentionally or not, to do it since we were teeny weenie. Now is the time to step up, sit tall and take space. I said it in our conversation and I’ll say it again now. You do the world such a disservice when you dim your own light. Let it shine. I hope you enjoyed this conversation. I can’t wait to continue it with more on Women Advancing.
Important Links
- Tenisha Patterson Brown on LinkedIn
- Tenisha Patterson Brown on Instagram
- Off The Field NFL Wives Association
- OTF Cares
- NFL Player Care Foundation
- USA Swimming Foundation
- American Heart Association
- National Basketball Wives Association
- Definitive Sports
About Tenisha Patterson Brown
Tenisha Patterson Brown is an experienced business and legal consultant, entrepreneur, author, and philanthropist with a deep passion for empowering others to succeed. With 20 years working in sports and over a decade of experience in business and brand development, acquisitions, commercial real estate, and contract negotiations, Tenisha has built a reputation for turning vision into reality.
In 2009, she founded Definitive Sports Representation with a mission to transform athletes into successful brands and entrepreneurs. By 2015, she expanded her vision by creating Definitive Sports Group, where her clients could further their careers as associates, leveraging their athletic prowess into lasting business ventures.
Beyond her professional achievements, Tenisha is deeply committed to philanthropy. She serves as President & Legal Advisor of Off The Field NFL Wives Association, Executive Director of the Everette Brown Bag Foundation, an organization she co-founded with her husband, Board Member of Raising Resilience Foundation, Mentor in the Florida State University College of Business Mentorship Program, and Member of W.I.S.E. Her dedication to giving back reflects her belief in the power of community and the importance of supporting others on their journey.
Tenisha is also a successful entrepreneur in the food and beverage industry as a franchisee and creator of a start-up vegan brand. As a co-author of ‘100 Ways to Stay Married’ and ‘Faith, Friendship & Fertility,’ she shares her insights and experiences to inspire others.
From NIL consulting to executing complex commercial real estate deals, Tenisha’s expertise helps her clients achieve their goals and beyond. Recognized as a Top 30 Under 30 Alumni by Florida State University and featured in Forbes, Black Enterprise Magazine, Munaluchi Bridal Magazine, and TLC’s Say Yes to the Dress, Tenisha continues to make an impact across various industries.
Her greatest passions are her baby girl Banx, and speaking life into others and helping them realize their full potential.