CHARLOTTE, N.C. (WBTV) – Shelly Cayette-Weston is one of only a handful of women to hold a top executive position in the NBA and one of just two Black women to lead an NBA team as president.
Cayette-Weston grew up in Louisiana and said she fell in love with basketball as a little girl.
“There are so many things I learned back to trying to figure out how to be a team player with 15 women from different places in life… mental toughness,” Cayette-Weston said.
From the court to the boardroom
The 6′4″ standout high school basketball player took her competitive drive to Tulane University.
“I just think being a student-athlete for me was so valuable because it taught me so many life lessons and business lessons that I didn’t know at the time that I’d happen to every day,” Cayette-Weston said.
She then applied what she learned on the court to the business of sports, working her way up to her current role as president of business operations at the Charlotte Hornets, leading 1,300 people.
“I just had an interest in learning the business. I started in marketing, I moved into sponsorship, I moved into community investment, and just was very intrigued about the business and what sports could do for a city, for people, and just bringing people together,” Cayette-Weston said.
The importance of visibility
For Cayette-Weston, being one of the few women in the room is about what other people see when she sits down.
“Sometimes it’s just the visibility that’s empowerment to people. And I just don’t take that for granted,” Cayette-Weston said.
She said she knows firsthand that one person’s example can change another person’s trajectory.
“I spoke at an ERG summit in Cleveland when I was there, and it was for a major hospital. A woman came back to me at a game several months later and said, ‘Shelly, I want to thank you because I actually took your advice and I went into my leader and I became the first chief community officer at the Cleveland Clinic,’” Cayette-Weston said.
Cayette-Weston said moments like that remind her why visibility matters.
“People don’t have to be a president of an NBA team. That’s not necessarily what the outcome is, but you can do whatever it is that you choose to do. So, I see a lot of responsibility and just providing visibility to people to feel confident in what it is they do,” Cayette-Weston said.
Balancing career and family
Cayette-Weston said her message isn’t just for women already climbing the corporate ladder, but also for women trying to figure out whether they can have both a career and a family.
“There was a point where I didn’t know if you could have children and be in sports, right? It’s a lot of hours. It’s a lot of long nights. And the reality is, you can. You can. You just have to find what works for you,” Cayette-Weston said.
Cayette-Weston and her husband are raising two young daughters. She said one of them has a dream of following in her footsteps.
“I asked her recently, ‘What do you want to be when you grow up?’ and she said, ‘The president of the Charlotte Hornets,’” Cayette-Weston said.
Cayette-Weston said her daughter does not see the barriers or how few women have held a position like hers.
“I don’t need her to be a president of an NBA team, but just she has no idea that there’s only four women that are presidents of a team, or she doesn’t have any idea of what it takes to get there. And so that is a possibility for her. And so the question is, what can she do? Her opportunities are open,” Cayette-Weston said.
Looking ahead
Cayette-Weston said she is thinking about her legacy; not just what she accomplishes, but what becomes possible for the people watching her.
“I want to ensure the doors are opened that anyone who’s looking at any job… again, it doesn’t have to be the president of an NBA team, of any business… are you ensuring you’re looking as wide as you could be for talent, pure talent, right? Not whether there’s a woman, whether the race, the gender — are you really open wide to the best talent? And I want to be that for others in the pipeline and generations to come,” Cayette-Weston said.
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