LOS ANGELES – For NBA agent Erika Ruiz, there was no one for her to look up to in her field who looked like her. That’s why it’s important for the Mexican American to find time to offer words of wisdom to women of color who aspire to be an NBA agent just like her one day.
“I did not have that person,” said Ruiz during an interview with The Undefeated. “It keeps me going. Anyone who says this job isn’t hard or is not challenging when you’re trying to do something where you don’t see someone like you, I’d say they are maybe not tapped into what they’re feeling. And that’s not a knock. That’s the work.
“I have these moments where I get the smallest compliment from someone saying, ‘I want to do this because of you. It makes those weeks, months go from I’d like to do this to I need to do this to I can do this.’ You got to have something that pushes you. If I can open one door, 10 doors, 100 doors, I’m going to keep fighting to do that.”
The NBA entered the 2020-21 season with roughly 450 players who are represented by a long list of agents. But only three women represented players who were on rosters at the start of the season: Ruiz and two white women, Danielle Cantor and Jessica…
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