Meet The First Black Woman VP for the Los Angeles Lakers, Kiesha Nix

Kiesha Nix has been named Vice President of Charitable affairs for the Los Angeles Lakers, making her the first Black woman to ever serve as VP for the basketball organization.

NBA icon Magic Johnson, whom Nix worked with on several community projects for over a decade, was the one who broke the news to her through a phone call. She said she almost didn’t take the call since she was in a middle of a Zoom call at that time. But when she answered, she heard him say, “Hello Miss VP.”

“I had to pinch myself,” said about what she felt upon hearing the news, according to Sports Illustrated.

Nix began her career 30 years ago as a project manager at Merill Lynch and became a contract negotiator for Bank of America when the companies merged. That’s when she first met Johnson and started partnering with him on community events.

She eventually pursued a career as a financial adviser wherein she balances leveraging her wealthy clients’ net worth with maximizing social impact. She volunteered on the bank’s charitable foundation to help organize events and fundraisings.

In 2015, Nix started to work as the executive director for the Community Lakers Youth Foundation wherein she initiated programs for the youth’s well-being. She said she always makes sure she personally reaches out to the kids they help.

“Because they get to see a lot of themselves in me, and I see myself in them. I let them know where I grew up and where I went to school because I wanted to give them some inspiration,” Nix told The Los Angeles Sentinel.

Along the way, she has built an impressive reputation in corporate philanthropy. Now with her recent promotion as the VP of Charitable Affairs, she plans to further expand the Los Angeles Lakers’ charity work.

News Source: BlackBusiness