Josh Leung
At the intersection of NBA and fashion is Amanda Chin. More into design than sports as a child, she has been the creative behind the Golden State Warrior’ popular City Edition uniforms, its jersey tributes to San Francisco and Oakland, its global social media campaign and its game-day presentation.
“Storytelling to me was always the most exciting part about marketing,” said Chin. “And then to do it in sports, it’s the best unscripted reality TV there is. So I did fall in love with it.”
Amanda Chin
Senior Vice President, Marketing, Golden State Warriors
Age: 39
Born: New York
Education: State University of New York Fashion Institute of Technology, B.S., advertising and marketing communications
Family: Spouse, Juan De Jesus; children, Camila (6), Amina (1.5)
Advice to my 20-year-old self: Your experience is uniquely yours. It is your advantage, not a disadvantage. That said, you are breaking generational curses. That is hard. Keep going and give yourself grace.
What my friends/family think I do all day: Hang out with Stephen Curry.
Cause supported: I am a board member with BAYCAT, which works to address racial, gender and economic inequity by creating powerful, authentic media.
First social media platform I signed up for: MySpace, but I couldn’t tell you who my top 6 were.
Person in sports business I’d most like to meet: Serena Williams. She has dominated the court, is a wife, mother, and Black woman in sports (business).
Sports business leaders should be more mindful of … : Inclusion. It is not enough to have diversity.
Chin worked at the NBA league office, where she learned under commissioners David Stern and Adam Silver and contributed to production of the 2013 “Jingle Hoops” commercial that went viral. She joined the Warriors in December 2015.
Her job has evolved to being the caretaker of the Warriors’ and now WNBA Valkyries’ marketing operations, as well as creative services, leading a team of roughly 60 full-time staffers. This past season’s City Edition uniforms paid homage to the 150th anniversary of the cable car, with a curved San Francisco logo representing the climb of the city streets. At launch, impressions totaled 14.2 million, while the Warriors Fanatics network spawned $721,000 in City Edition sales alone.
With a two-year lead time necessary to draw up the uniforms, Chin, in 2021, went to the one player she knew would be around in 2023: Steph Curry. “We’re so lucky to have Stephen so I shared it with Steph. He said, quote-unquote, ‘It’s fire,’” Chin said. “I’m like, ‘Yes!’”
Chin also was prominent in marketing the team’s move from Oakland to San Francisco in 2019. To celebrate their roots, she helped generate an “Oakland Forever” uniform, as well as a “The Town” jersey to go with the team’s “The City” jersey. “We don’t belong to just one part of the Bay,” she said. — Tom Friend
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