Lexi Donarski, who collected a number of conference honors while playing three seasons at Iowa State (2020-23) before finishing out her college career with two seasons at North Carolina (2023-25), is about to begin her professional career in Hungary for TFSE-MTK.
Before that happens, she was able to find some time to talk to Swish Appeal about being coached by her dad, getting her MBA and choosing basketball over a career in business—at least for now. Below are some highlights from the conversation:
On committing to Iowa State before playing a single high school game of basketball:
Yeah, we have been fans of Iowa State for a long time. We’ve known many players, more so on the men’s side, but a couple on the women’s side that played there and the atmosphere is just something that everyone wants to play in front of. They’re always top three in attendance every year for women’s basketball. I’ve been going to games my whole life. I’ve attended their elite camp, starting in probably seventh grade maybe, so I had played in front of the coaches for a couple of years and ultimately I knew that I wanted to go there because I wanted to be a part of the program and I wanted to play in front of that awesome fan base.
On the reasons for entering the transfer portal after three years and leaving Iowa State or North Carolina:
There were different reasons. One of them was that I ended up graduating in three years and then I started my two-year masters program and I wanted to get my MBA, and that was not an opportunity at Iowa State. Another [reason] was to move out of the Midwest. I was ready for a change and just experiencing something new, but definitely one of the biggest reasons was school, because I knew that I had a great opportunity to get my two-year masters at a great business school like North Carolina.
A special thank you to Jeanne McNulty-King of 2X Inc. for arranging the interview.