Beyond the Game: Empowering Athletes to Leave a Legacy with Chellee Siewert

Welcome to the Legacy All Stars podcast. We feature inspirational stories from people who dedicate themselves to helping others. Here is your host, Alan Pavloski.

Welcome to the Legacy All Stars podcast. I'm your host, Alan Pavloski. I am incredibly excited for today's show. Our guest and I share some very similar experiences and have been able to kind of commiserate about some of our 3am calls sometimes. Today on the Legacy All Stars podcast, we're joined by a true force for good, Shelley Seaward, the founder and president of Capture Sports Marketing. Shelley isn't just in the business of sports marketing. She's in the business of purpose. Through Capture Sports, she's worked alongside some of the biggest names in sports to amplify their platforms and create lasting impact. From charity events and community partnerships to building foundations and raising millions for causes close to athletes hearts, Shelly has been an architect behind some of the most inspiring stories in sports philanthropy. Today we dig into her journey, her purpose, and how she continues to help athletes turn their platforms into legacies. It's great to see you. Welcome to the show.

Well, thank you for that nice introduction. Appreciate it.

Of course. You well deserved. Shelly, take us back to the beginning. What inspired you to start Capture Sports Marketing?

Absolutely. Well, I come from an entrepreneurial family. My grandpa started small, four small businesses in his lifetime. My grandma, who passed away two years ago at 98, she also had her own business. And so growing up, I had her as a role model for a woman to be an entrepreneur and always knew at some point that I wanted to do it. Spent many years in the nonprofit world and then in sports marketing and, you know, really determined at that point that given where my kids were as far as age and what I wanted to do and the impact that I wanted to make, that starting Capture was, you know, an opportunity that I wanted to take. And I can remember telling my parents that I was looking to start and, you know, my dad said, you'll never work harder, but you'll never be more proud. You know, on the flip side, my mom's like, you watched us grow up in a with a small business. You know, it's hard. It's hard. Are you sure you want to do that? And for me, it was a matter of combining my love for impact and my love for sports. And this seemed really a natural transition for me.

Absolutely. Did you always know you wanted to work in sports or was there a turning point that led you here?

I think for me it was, you know, sports was just a part of my life growing up. You know, I don't. I don't remember an evening that myself, my brothers, or even my dad wasn't playing something. So it was just kind of who we were. And I think the lessons that you learn in sports and playing sports.

Drove me to want to continue to do that. And I think for me, a turning point was I was working with a sports team. We were doing a charity jersey program, and I had the opportunity to.

Bring in Aaron Rodgers right after he had won the super bowl to meet this little boy named Jack. And Jack was so radioactive the night before in New York hospital that he had to sleep with a piece of metal between him and his mom.

And watching that interaction, clearly Jack was enamored by meeting his hero. Right. But I got to see Aaron be just as enamored with Jack and just as impacted by Jack and. And went on to continue to be a huge supporter of Jack and in Jack's life until he passed. And, you know, at that moment, it was like, these athletes, if. If they are impacted, they will continue to do good. And how do we create that platform, that ease to be able to do that so that they are having a great time, they're being impacted, and they're going to want to continue to do more?

Yeah, most definitely. Was that the moment or was there a moment before that when you realized that athletes could be powerful forces for good?

You know what I remember my very first volunteering opportunity was my dad was a board member of Easter Seals here in. In the Milwaukee area. And he was also a basketball referee. And so he put on a turn like he helped put on a tournament with Easter Seals and organized all the referees for it. And I thought I was, you know, the rock star, because I got to volunteer and, you know, work and walk the referees to their locker room. Right. But I got to see the interaction between some of the Easterseal athletes and the high school athletes that were there. And just that impact that I saw at that point kind of always resonated with me. But I think, you know, really looking at working with a sports team, looking at that interaction with Aaron and Jack, you know, really propelled that desire to mesh those two passions.

Yeah, for sure. You've said before that every athlete has a story. How do you help them discover and share it with purpose?

You know what? For us, it's a matter of finding that story, finding their why, determining what happened, what has impacted them in their life, determining what vulnerability they're willing to have. Are they willing to share what happened in their life? It takes a lot of conversations with them and their loved ones to really be able to understand and formulate what their core values are as an athlete as well as the entertainers that we work with. But it's really having those discovery calls and learning more about it. I'll give you an example. In talking with Mr. And Mrs. Jones, Aaron Jones parents, we had learned that they had always donated very discreetly and quietly to the teams that Erin and Elvin played on shoes for them. Fast forward to now. You know, Aaron is in the NFL and has a love for shoes, has an Adidas deal. And so we created a yards for shoes campaign. So for every yard Aaron rushes, a pair of shoes would be donated to kiddos in need. And so, you know, having that season long campaign of something that is authentic to them, something that resonated with their family really helps to create that. We always state, if it's not authentic, people are going to see through. Right. So do something that matters to you.

Yeah. Without naming names, did you ever have a situation where you just knew instinctively that there was a cause that an athlete said they wanted to be involved with, but you knew in that discussion, in that discovery call? No, that's not it. You got to find your why.

Yeah. You got to find your why. Absolutely. You know, I think, yes. Having those, having those discussions, you know, some of it is, you know, one individual that I'm thinking of was more team driven. Like the team's really involved with this. So I think I should be involved in this.

Right.

And I, you know, I said you absolutely can be a part of it, but that's not your mission, that's not your why. And so still be engaged. It's still, you're still part of the team. You can still do that. But it's okay to have a different mission and where we worked through as to, you know, what was truly their passion.

Yeah. Okay. I'm going to deviate a little bit and I'm going to say that, you know, you and I have had these experiences together and separately, but there are times when athletes think they have to start their own foundation to make an impact. But clearly we know from being in the business for this long that it's just as easy and or a better path to success if you find a cause that's already doing a good job that you can lend your name to as an athlete to make that a broader impact. Have you had experiences like that where you've had to kind of illustrate the different options available rather than just going to the. I'm gonna start a foundation.

100%. Yes. I would say probably 90% of our athletes that we work with do not have their own 501c3. The majority have a fiscal sponsorship so that they can still have that impact and they can still do that, but the majority of them don't. And our recommendation is typically always start at that fiscal sponsorship level or just as you said, start as lending your name to an organization so that you can understand that you get to learn. Yes, this is something I'm passionate about. Or no, maybe it's really not something I'm passionate about. But work, you know, work and have that fiscal sponsorship so that you are in compliance legally, you are in compliance from a nonprofit or from a nonprofit accounting standards. And then, you know, as. As. And if your foundation grows to the point that you still feel the need for your own 501C3, we've had quite a few that have transitioned from the fiscal sponsorship to a 501C3 at that point.

Yeah. And the beauty of a fiscal sponsorship option is that it allows them to still have it in their name and to do everything they would want to do to make sure that they get the. The recognition for the contributions they're making. But it doesn't require as much administrative overhead. So I think that's a wonderful option. I've used that tool for so many different projects.

Yeah, that's great. Yeah, without a doubt.

Yeah. What makes the work you do with capture different from traditional sports PR or marketing?

You know what? I think for us, it is.

That authenticity part of things. It is the experience that we have in the nonprofit world. We have several on our team. I, you know, I have many, many years, you know, really truly since graduating from college, I've had nonprofit experience, you know, ever since then. And so, you know, for us, we're focusing on that purpose and that impact.

And utilizing that to help with their branding versus, you know, building this brand.

And not having it have a part of it. So, you know, our. We lead with our five main core values, which is leading with integrity, driven by excellence, embrace true authenticity, collaborate for success, and then our last but most important is making a last impact. And so for us, we firmly believe that part of an athlete's brand has to include that community giving back portion of it in some way, shape or form.

You talked about your discovery call and that process. Is there any other tools that you use to ensure that an athlete's cause that they're supporting is authentic to who they are?

No, I think for us it's just that Building that relationship, building that rapport, doing that discovery call for them. I think athletes right now, even at the high school level and the collegiate level have so many opportunities to volunteer and give back. Yeah. And, and learn, you know, so it could be their personal story from when they're younger or it could be, you know, it could be a Jack that you met this child that you just really, really connected with and now that that cause becomes a really big passion of yours and so giving them exposure to the different options, whether it is, like I said, high school, collegiate, or even, you know, when they're in the professional.

If you don't, it's okay. If you don't know right this second, you know, don't put that pressure on it, but learn about different things. Figure, you know, figure it out. Some of them come to us and was like, hey, this is my story from, you know, when I was younger and this is what I wanted to focus on. Or, you know, my grandma who was, you know, very, very dear to me, had X, Y and Z health issues and now that's, you know. But others of them, you know, come and say, you know what, I've had a really great life and I've had really great opportunity and I want to give back. I just don't know where. And so it's a matter of exposing them to different opportunities.

Yeah. Fantastic. Can you share a few standout examples where capture helped an athlete create real world change?

I think, you know, probably for me, the one that stands out the most is J.J. watt. You know, we, we were very blessed and fortunate to start working with him, you know, right after his draft and throughout the last 13 years. And you know, his foundation is for middle school age after school athletics. So very specific. But we were able to do some, some massive events with him. You know, the largest being a Texans offense versus defense softball game with 30,000 people and raised about 1.6 million.

And, and to see, to see the kiddos receive their new uniforms and receive their equipment and know that for some of them is the first time that they've ever received something new like this. Like that's his why. Right. And so we, you know, they have distributed.

You know, nearly. It's definitely over $7 million worth of equipment in that. But we also had the opportunity to work with him on his Hurricane Harvey efforts that raised 40 million-plus and that.

His involvement.

Was so impactful and he took it very, very serious that all these people across the country were trusting him to do right by the money that they were donating and so what did that look like? And who was he donating that money to to truly have that impact? So I think for us, he has been kind of the epitome of. I can remember the day that I said to him, like, you're an athlete and a philanthropist.

Right.

I can remember where we were standing before one of his softball games when we had this conversation. And, and to me, that's kind of. That's the ultimate. Right? Like you, it is made such an impact.

On the field, but off the field you made an even bigger one. And he won Walter Payton man of the year that year, but which is great and wonderful. And it's kind of like our super bowl, you know that our definitely our athletes win those. But for him, like.

That athlete and like athlete and you're a philanthropist, J.J. like, so that. That has been and always will be so meaningful to be able to have been a part of that.

Yeah. One thing I liked to do when I was doing similar work is leverage the relationship with team community relations staff. Is that something you really dive into and how has that made an impact on the quality of the outcome?

Without a doubt. You know, for us, we, we firmly believe in kind of the spoke system, right. The athletes in the middle. And then there's all these spokes of individuals that are around them, from their financial manager to their marketing agent to their contract agent to the team, like you were talking about. And having everybody in sync on that and being able to communicate with the team like, okay, these are the initiatives, these are the passions. Here's what we're doing. You know, we. For our athletes, we keep a really detailed list of everything that they're doing within the community, whether it is through their foundation, whether it's through a teammates foundation or through that, so that we can track the impact that they're making. And you know, it's. Whether it's dollars or impact, looking at that data to be able to do it, but then providing that data to the team to say, okay, like, and it's the team community relations, but it's also the team PR and it's right, you know, it's also, you know, the social media person to keep everybody, you know, keep everybody in the loop to be able to, to maximize and get that support and, and even, you know, the team's corporate sponsors as to, okay, like what is, what does it look like in comparison to the athletes exclusives and how can we engage, engage, you know, some of the team's partners within that to. To maximize the impact that's made yeah, for sure.

Well said. I appreciate the input on that. Yeah, Let me shift gears a little bit. And again, I don't pay attention to gender and I've always had, you know, I have a wife that's an entrepreneur, I've got two daughters. But look, as a woman leading a purpose driven company in a male dominated industry, what has your journey been like? In that regard?

I'm very thankful to have a network of other women within sports that.

Are there to bounce ideas, bonds, concerns, cheer for each other within it, you know, it's not, it's not always easy, but again, life as a whole isn't always easy. Right. And so I just think, you know, for us, being able to work with others who have created that culture of excellence within sports has really been huge for me. To be able to have that having mentors that are within that, you know, within the sports in some way, shape or form has been really, really important to me. And, and I like to say I'm reaching the hand back right as I'm, as I'm getting older, like, how can we help other women that want to get into the sports? It's very different. It's very different now than it was 13 years ago. Still not perfect, but at least it's different. Right. We're going in the right direction, but there is, it is, there was some of those barriers, you know, initially, but it's building those relationships, it's building that trust. It is doing what you said you're going to do. It's over delivering. It's showing that your trust, you know, you're trustworthy. And it takes time. Like it didn't, it didn't happen overnight, but it takes time. And, and now I feel like I'm at a way better place obviously than I was 13 years ago because of the success that we've had.

Yeah, for sure. What advice would you give young professionals, especially women who want to lead with purpose?

Network. Network. Network. Network.

Valent. Volunteer. You know, get, get out there.

I'm an introvert by nature, right. And for me, you know, everyone in my family thinks it's funny that I own a business, that I have to talk to a lot of people.

But it is putting, you know, putting yourself out there to be able to make those connections, to be able to network.

To know that you're gonna have to work really hard, right? It's, you have to start at the bottom and work your way up. You know, it's not, you're not gonna have your dream job out of college. Like that is not realistic. And don't put that pressure on yourself. You know, utilize stuff as a stepping stone. Utilize it to learn to figure out exactly what you want to do. Do internships, you know, during your high school and your college careers. Like, as much as to say, I do not want to do that when I'm done, as to say, like, oh, I really liked that. Find yourself a mentor. Find yourself a mentor who, you know can do that. I remember my mentor.

You know, when I started capture, I was like, I'm not going to grow more than three to four people. Like, this is going to be something that I can work really, really hard. But I'm going to take my kids to school and I'm just going to pick them up when they were younger. And I remember once my kids were in. In high school and getting out of high school, I remember my mentor said, like, don't be afraid of success, Shelly. Like, you've worked with some of the best of the best now. Like, you can grow. You can do this. Like, your kids are at a good age. You know, they're going off to college. They're going to do that. And I think just having that person that is willing to say that to you and willing to encourage you to go do that, that's something really, really special. And I would highly recommend having.

Yeah, I'm really proud of some of the people that I've mentored as well.

Yeah.

Business where they've gone on to be rock stars. Yeah, totally. So I really love doing that. It's one of the things that brings me the most joy is to. Is to give to others that are trying to find their path as well. So we're definitely in alignment on that.

Yeah.

What's next for capture sports? Any new initiatives or projects on the horizon that are particularly noteworthy?

We have. We've branched out into entertainment and so, you know, obviously have spent the first 12, 13 years in solely in sports, so branching out a little bit into entertainment. Have some opportunities there that we're beginning to explore, which we're very excited about within there. I think for us, you know, the NIL is still the wild, wild west.

It is.

But I think there's some opportunity to really be able to kind of going back to that mentorship, really being able to go back to these athletes and helping them understand that they are a brand. We just did a brand workshop with.

A professional volleyball team. And it's interesting when you say, okay, giving your favorite brands and they start, you know, naming them off and not one of the people on the team was like me, like, I'm a brand, you know, So I think, you know, for us, it's. It's that branding, that personal branding, that digital footprint that these athletes, particularly some of the younger ones, can start building now for positioning themselves for that opportunity within, you know, when they are at the professional level, that they have. That they have that built and that they can, you know, even at the collegiate now, but they have that built and they can start to maximize that.

Yeah. I mean, I've even talked to an agent friend of mine recently that there's some high school athletes that are capitalizing on the nil opportunities as well. So, yeah, it is the wild, wild west. You're right about that.

Yes. Yes. We needed to swing a little bit back to the middle, you know, to be able to do that. But I do love, you know, we're working with a couple high school athletes as well. And. And we just did, you know, we did a workshop here in the Milwaukee area for.

Seven area high school women athletes that are all going to play D1 and just helping them to. To start to build out their brand. And what is. What does that look like? And, you know, even simple things like what. What. That's a hard no for you? Like, you know, I don't want to endorse X, Y and Z, or I don't want to be in the. Like, just. I. I don't need to know what that is. But you need to know if a company comes to it from your value standpoint. What is that?

Right.

Yeah. You know, so for us, you know, we see some opportunity and are excited about some possibilities in that space as well.

Yeah. Shelly, we always ask by ending with. What does the word legacy mean to you? And I'd love to hear your input on that.

Yeah, we use that word a lot. You know, we ask this question a lot, like, what is your legacy gonna. You know, what do you want your legacy to be? I think for me, legacy means, you know, what is your lasting influence? What positive change have you made in the world? How are you inspiring future generations?

And then truly, what has been that meaningful and authentic impact that you've made in life?

I think if we can combine those.

That'S legacy to me.

Yeah. So, last question. If you could be remembered for one thing, what would it be?

Impact.

I love it.

Yep. Impact. You know, for us, it is. We obviously.

Value our clients and our value our athletes and entertainers and the relationship that we've made.

But I want to be remembered as someone who helped others do good and.

And did good myself.

Yeah. Could not have said that better myself. Listen, I want to thank. I want to thank you, Shelly, for coming on the show today and for showing us that sports isn't just about winning. It's about giving. Your work proves that with the right platform and purpose, athletes can change the world. And your legacy is helping them do just that. So I applaud you. I love what you're doing. And until next time, I am Alan Pavloski. So signing off for Legacy All Stars.