MLB
With her college years concluding, Uzma Rawn knew there was only one place for her: the NBA. Rawn managed basketball teams in high school and college and developed a love for the game. So, she put a full-court-press on the league, specifically Scott O’Neil, then heading NBA team marketing and business operations. Rawn was not the only college senior trying to land an entry-level NBA marketing job; she just was the most single-minded.
“I remember 25 voicemails and emails,” said O’Neil, now CEO at Merlin Entertainments. “Each one was more determined, more confident and more insistent. Part of me wanted it to stop, but it also reminded me of when I used the same approach.”
Uzma Rawn
Senior Vice President, Global Corporate Partnerships, Major League Baseball
Age: 39
Born: Basingstoke, U.K.
Education: Ithaca College; B.A., sports management
Family: Spouse, Louis; children, Nyle (3.5), Nuri (2), Jude (5 months)
Advice to my 20-year-old self: If you don’t ask, you don’t get.
What my friends/family think I do all day: Have a lot of fun. My dad did ask me how many bases there are in baseball, so I need to get him to a game.
How I deal with stress in the workplace: Eat candy and a scoop of peanut butter.
Cause supported: We built a new mosque in our community in Cary, N.C.
App I use most: MTA Train Time, since I moved to the ’burbs.
Person in sports business I’d most like to meet: Alexis Ohanian, Serena Williams’ husband. A venture capitalist and big supporter of women.
Sports business leaders should be more mindful of … : Not taking our job and profession too seriously. We work in sports and entertainment, this should be fun.
After a stint with NBA TMBO, Rawn left for Premier Partnerships in 2010, where she sold the first naming-rights deal to the Trail Blazers’ Rose Garden.
“I still love the high of selling,” said Rawn, also named to Forty Under 40 in 2020. “The notion of convincing someone to buy something they did not realize they needed until you presented.”
After years in sales, properties were chasing her. Rawn still has the 2015 voicemail from Noah Garden at MLB advising her to, “Stop messing around. You know where you need to be.” Since then, MLB’s partnerships department has grown by four times in head count. Rawn, who became MLB’s youngest senior vice president at 35, is heading a department of around 60. Over the past 24 months, MLB’s corporate sponsorship revenue has grown double digits, as 14 new sponsors, including Capital One and Corona, have come on board, along with nine renewals, including T-Mobile and Google Cloud.
“Even as a 21-year-old, she showed persistence, tenacity and confidence,” said O’Neil. “She’s also an extraordinary listener and gifted with people. On the field, they would call her a five-tool player.” — Terry Lefton
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