Erika Austin is the newly appointed director of licensing at Michigan State University. She brings years of experience and a specific expertise in brand protection and product promotion to the role from both the collegiate and professional sports arenas.

In this episode, Erika shares her take on Name Image and Likeness in collegiate athletics…how it’s going so far and where she thinks it’s headed. Spoiler alert: It’s not playing out the way we all thought it would. She talks about NFTs, taking an education-first approach to student-athlete endorsement deals… and she shares a bit about what SHE is doing to promote INCLUSION for underrepresented students, athletes, families and fans…by working with her partners to offer licensed merchandise and apparel made just for them.