Welcome to Knight Talks, the University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications talk sho produced by students for student I'm Anna Bernstein, a junior studyin business and public relations.

And our guest today is Latria Graham, who conjured up brand building s and community outreach for the Orlando Magic.

She is now president and CEO for a strategic communication and promotional product consulti Hi, Latria, thank you so much fo Thank you for having me, I'm hap Of course.

Now, could you tell us a littl bit about GLB and what you do fo Yes.

So GLB is a small business that We're based in Orlando, Florida.

However, we service clients all and we essentiall help our clients build positive through authenti marketing services and innovativ We got started about five years We specialize in building brand strateg for our clients, and every clien So we make sure tha we build those platforms custom So I always say all my client have a problem that I need to he So a lot of it stems from PR, do marketin campaigns, the promotional produ which is actually an advertising We use those to create experienc our clients— customers hands and Of course, a lo of those items create a lot of f we help them think about that a go deep into how they create exp customers, fans, and how the create that real, true, authenti So wit that engagement, have you been a really out of thi world unique activations for you Oh yeah.

Where do I start?

So one of the biggest funds tha we— I had a lot of fun working w So, he is on of our clients who played with t 76ers and we launched a campaign Well first, to take it back a st was reall strong about helping young peopl so hi first thought was, "Hey, I want so that we can, you know, build educatio for kids in underserved areas."

we had an opportunity to unpack with Tobias, one of the things t in ou research in the area is that it kids didn't have a school to att A lot of problems stem fro not having quality teachers in t So what type of education that t what professional development o they were getting to adapt to ki So, we reall spent some time unpacking that a by the time a child reaches thir if they don't learn to read they're going to be behind every And so we created a campaign called Tob and Tobia taught teachers to help, number and retain and fund professiona development for teachers in unde We also, with th Lit Labs, we created an environm his bran awareness to get kids excited ab So, he would go and participate in read alongs with children.

And we've been buildin a platform now where kids can ge Sinc the pandemic, we don't have a lo to engage wit a lot of the rules that come out just stipulation within the school district, but we distributed a million dollars So it created impac from a financial standpoint in c He was investing his time in the and we were seeing things change Children's reading score were improving— so their reading Teacher were getting the professional de that were cut from budgets withi So, it was really, reall it was a lot of moving pieces to But that' where I believe one of my strong build partnership and bring people together for th It's just so incredible that yo to give back to the community wh this focu on building brand recognition an What inspire your focus on cause-driven marke When I was wit the Magic, so I worked with them I started in the community relations depar the impact that we could make out in the communit just for showing up and creating And t me, that was, you know, warming, for me.

But I wante to drive a little deeper; As I g an exper in my field, I wanted to go beyo and beyond the logos and beyond How do we really drive change?

And one of the gaps that I notic within the athlete market was these guys had all of thes marketing agencies, which were h out in the market now who focuses a lot on endorsement But I felt that from a philanth standpoint and causes, there was a lot o sophistication built around that be placed strategically in that So, you know, I would be out wit would ask, you know okay, you've you're at the Boys You invested you just wrote a ten thousand do But wha have you actually changed in the And so I think that any investor any philanthropis needs to be able to answer that So as we look at headlines as th we can't look at it for a— well, $2 million out in the community thank you for the financial cont But what are you changing with t And how can I help yo build metrics and measurables, t So you ca answer that question and you can Yeah, I think it's so hard for p understand the concept that, ye I donated all of this money, but What are we doing with it?

And it's so fantasti that you were able to do that wi Have you been able to do certai campaigns with more than just sp I know you also had some time a if you did anything with enterta Yeah!

So we service pro-athletes, spor entities, corporations, and univ So with BE specifically, I was there gather help writ news briefs on their BET online and at the time, BET Nightly New was thei host, I would have to go out and about what was going on in the n And it was pretty cool because i audience that for th first time I, you know, had done And on the online side, it wa just a lot of fun events that we and one of them was a celebrity And it was the first time I had to reall interview a celebrity, and it wa It was so much fun, and I was ab connect with her and put togethe and create som excitement online with the onlin But, that was a very fun time.

And actually the reason why I got that opport is the vice president of content came to the Universit of Florida when I was here as pa there was so many peopl waiting to meet with her and I s And she actually— I followed up and And sh said "You were the only student students that waited to talk to career that actually followed up through.

So that opportunity came out of with the schoo and just being here as a univers Now I kno while you were here, you also pa in a lot of the immersion experi Did those experience also lead to the BET experience Were there anything that you go out of these experiences that he Yeah, so I did a lot with Gator Vision and the Gators' Own I had th opportunity to go in and create video packages, write my own sto you know, one-man band type thin Also, it taught me a lot of grit So, in this industry I kno that we have seen that, or there people want success fast.

And, for me, that experience tau to do the grit and grind work be So I wa in there logging women's basketb play by play for footage, tracki which continue to build up in other opportuniti to create these packages and be on air while still being in coll Also, I was part of the noon sch The noon-day.

You have to be able to communica that doesn't hav to just transpire or transform a But how do you communicat and collaborate in different gro And so, getting that experience teaches you so much beyond the a It teaches yo collaboration, partnership, rela because people, in th future, want to do business with So, I learned a lot here.

We currently have a five o'cloc news broadcast and that is an al So I can only imagine how earl you must have had to get here fo Oh yeah, oh yeah.

It was quite a production and it But we understood that in this i a lot of our professors and advi just told us tha that's part of the job and that that nobod sees is what has made me the mos Definitely.

Was there anything i particular that you participated helped yo kind of determine this was the c wanted t pursue or did you have a differe really made that lightbulb clic I'm going to pursue this, this i And these are th immersion experiences I'm going Yeah, I was a pretty planned per I knew in high school that I wan do sport journalism, that I wanted to be So I actually was on my high sch part of our class Media 101, at Raines High School But what I di was I created my own segment for So I was "Tria G with your Sports Report."

So som people in Jacksonville still kno But we had a very hig profile sports program at Raines Matte of fact, Lito Sheppard and Jabar played footbal here, were in school at my high So I woul always be reporting out on their games and just a lo of stuff that we were doing in t But I knew that I wanted to be i When I came to Florida and was r in th program at that time, there wasn specificall for sports, so there was just ne So I did the news track and thro and Gator Vision I actually sought out other oppo to ge exposed in sports, whereas now i sports is integrated within to t So I had it a littl harder but, you know, I found my I will say, too, that I did minor in sports management in that sports management progr more of the business side of spo I, as a young girl, was not expo So in watching sports growing up the players on the court o the field or the sports reporter So I'm like okay, sports reporter— didn't kn like 30 people managing a sports busines So, that realization and learning more about that, in a m from a mino perspective, was really fascinat showed me that I had a diverse space t work across in sports communicat Alright.

And I'm sure getting that new p also probably helped you when yo form GLB media because you had of a background in the business Oh, yeah.

Because out of college, I had tw So I got an offer to go to ESPN I think it was a research intern It was going to get my foot in t And then I got an offer from th Magic to work as a community rel It was, you know, obviously, if career and passion is in sports ESPN is like automatically like But I wa thinking: Bristol, Connecticut o Florida— snow, sunny.

Yeah, I'm going to go try out th And you know what?

I'm going to make that experien the experience that I would want and find my way and fit within i perfectly and parlayed to where So how did working at BET help you with the journe of deciding between ESPN and the Did tha experience help you lean one way I think it helped me experience diverse pieces of com So, at BET it was a lot of writi So, online news briefs and then video production for the online And so I got a chance to see tha And then wit the Magic in community relations uniqu sense of being able to write for Becaus I did start a blog, but it was t and th connection that really just sat And so to be able to go and conn people that was just part of who I was And I was already doin a lot of community service, out It was part of who I was.

I just shifted a little bit more to this community relations Now, will say, as we look at the clim been thi integration of marketing, commun community engagement, which real be abl to package together as you go in You kin of got to be a little diverse in So I fee like I, with all of those experi able to accumulate this well-rounde approach to strategy, brand stra So it's definitely been a journe How did you get your star and your foot in the door with t Were your skillsets kind of help Well, it really was a three-day I applied, interviewed, an then they called me, so— but it I thin the manager at the time, Deborah was just blown away., like, with al the experience and all the work prior to, you know, as a college So I didn't wast time in the summers, I was doing In the Fall and Sprin semesters, I was working, buildi So yeah, I came in with a lot of kn being able to b able to support the team that wa I started as an intern and I sor in community relations and then transition after my int into the corporate office to wo for Pat Williams, who's the foun He's stil my mentor to this day to do PR w And then transition back over t relations when the opportunity c worke my way up to oversee the departm somethin bigger with a lot of different p So I think working for a team equip you for anything because there's I don't thin people see— like people see the "Oh, I'm her at the game, I'm courtside," you the selfies out there right, that our sports professio But it's a lot of work behind th And I learned so much and I was able to build platforms wi as I launche to start my own business, it was You know, I could build anything So this is just a blessing.

And I'm very grateful to be here That's one of th fastest processes I've heard, on Three days is incredible.

It was three days, literally.

Those thre days shaped your next ten years Yeah.

So yo were with the Orlando Magic for Yes, I was.

What kind of project were you able to coordinate whil We were able to work on quite a projects but our focus areas were really education, the arts, health, and And one of the things that I rea as we grew as a team, we had jus A lot o the programs and initiatives tha were the same since the creation So you know me, you know, I'm a innovative, so I had to switch i But one of ou big projects was creating the Ma So, we were getting a lot of statistic out there on obesity in childhoo the fac that children, as video games em continue t emerge— Roblox, ask my twelve ye Yeah, yeah.

She can't stay off o We needed to find a way to ge kids active and get them excited And so as we thought about the b recognition and ho people would get excited about t around as wel as our players who are the produ how do we leverage their brand t excite to do the right thing to take ca So we create the Magic Fit Program, which we for the first time, I worke with our Basketball Operations d At the time, th strength and conditioning coach And so we built this program where the throug these exercises and they were ab points in minutes for their fitn And then we would have fit parti And the we created our first ever Magic So it wa putting the kids in the place of when a player is gettin ready to be drafted, they have t these strenuous tests to be draf So it wa so much fun to— and I think for a lot of kids, they look at the being on the court and lik they're playing, this is fun, th But what they do on the back en and strength and conditioning, t Once they ge a taste of it, they're like, "Oh see that, I don't want to be a this."

So, we were able to build Of course, it was kid-friendly a league's best practices in a sense where I had to go in and talk to during our leagu meetings to talk about how we we That's like such a great way to I can't I could never have thought of so Yes, oh yeah.

They were excited.

And, you know, I think the inte of players— I always tell my ath you know, I may say something th And I have facts and evidence to but n one's going to listen to me beca I'm not that superstar out there But if my client says it, it's l you're right."

And then they I've had some parents like, "You said tha to them, he's, you know, doing e He's changed habits.

And so it's amazing when they us well, it really does make impact So, it's been fun.

And you'v been able to help them create th Now with that, you als received the NBA Best in Class R How validating was that for you?

It was very validating because I at times when you get in certain and organizations, you really wa understan the culture within those organiz But you also want to stay innova And so that was one o the things that my team at the t creating innovative platforms th was goin to turn some, you know, heads an And s we created the Magic of Mentorin was a program that specialized i black male students in professional development.

The other part of that was as a kid, as I communicated earlier I was not exposed to the busines I had no idea that it existed an the Magic of Mentoring Program t have this opportunity where we would have a summit where they come and learn differ professional development and ta males about the challenges that on in their lives, but also learn about care So, at the time, there was this— want to do whe you grow up?"

"Oh, I want to be I want to be an NFL player.

I want to-" and you know, I real opportunity t create something that was going "Hey, at a sport franchise, there is an entire fi you do want to be a sports agen you know, you can go in and work Or if you d want to go into legal, we do hav or a legal team that specializes We do hav a business strategy team, a full PR; like all of that stuff I did existe because I wasn't exposed to it a And althoug I grew up in Jacksonville, Flori the Jacksonville Jaguars, I' a fan, of course, they always sa be fro Jacksonville, but yes, I am from I represen them well; but I remember the ma to our school and we were just s But I never had an opportunit to go behind closed doors in tho and be expose to the different careers within So we didn't get a chance to go And so with this summit, the Ma of Mentoring Program, we brought black males to com in to learn about what we were d to a differen environment, as well as let them leaders in the field.

So it was really, really validat Do you have an suggestions, tips, recommendatio for students lik myself who might be entering the Well I'm going to go back to that quo gave me, learn everything about and be flexible.

Be flexible because, and adaptab where everything is changing.

And I've never seen the innovati every industry move as fast as i So I think, you know as you have a plan together, jus you're going to take detours on it's okay to take those detours, in those detours you discover yourself and you discover what y have not been privy to that you So I would just say learn more abou everything, work extremely hard, in your thinking as well as your Wow, than you so much for that advice and I really enjoye getting to hear all about your j college with BET and to your own It's just been such a great time Well, thank you to our viewers f And until next time, goodnight.