Rising Star Award Recipient: Haley Jones

Throughout her youth, Haley played and excelled at every sport she could: lifeguarding, gymnastics, swimming, soccer, volleyball and track and field. Her interest and knowledge in a wide range of sports allow her to have a point of view and credibly speak on them, and her love for sports led her to pursue broadcast journalism at Stanford. After a sophomore season that wrote her into the history books, both at Stanford and NCAA Women’s Basketball at large by winning the Final Four Most Outstanding Player, Haley connected with Sue Bird, Chloe Kim, Alex Morgan, and Simone Manuel to intern at Togethxr. There, Haley rubbed elbows with some of the most powerful women in sports in the world and gained valuable experience as a storyteller and taste-maker.

Later in the summer of 2021, Haley accepted an internship position at Saratoga RIM, an investment firm headquartered in Saratoga, CA just outside of San Jose. Haley continues to be mentored by CEO Kevin Tanner and is learning about a world that is quickly becoming her passion – financial literacy. Her internship opened her eyes, but the recent NIL legislation allowing athletes to profit off of their name, image and likeness threw her headfirst into the world of financial management.

Haley has built a great NIL business and personal brand over the last two years, with a number of companies that are featuring her nationally. She shared the spotlight in an NBA2K campaign with the likes of Jayson Tatum, Candace Parker and Sabrina Ionescu, then participated in the “Easy Buckets” campaign featuring NBA athletes Trae Young and Josh Hart as well as WNBA star A’ja Wilson, before becomming the newest athlete on Beats’ star-studded roster early in 2022. She has also inked deals with financial institution SoFi, training app The Program.ai, apparel giant NIKE, and beauty brands Starface and Uncle Funky's Daughter.

Though she is still only 21 years old, Haley is no stranger to the limelight and sharing her point of view. She has a way about her, a personality, that jumps out at you through your screen or headphones. The following links exemplify how articulate Haley is, even in the high stress and ecstatic state of mind after winning a National Championship.

Stanford unfortunately fell a bit short in their NCAA title defense, but Haley lived up to every bit of the hype. She notched Stanford’s first triple-double since 2002 with her 17 points, 12 rebounds, and 10 assists on Nov. 16 against Portland. Stanford is currently the number 2 ranked team in the country, winning 22 straight since losing to Number 1 South Carolina. Haley performed at the level that the writers thought she would. She was named PAC-12 Player of the Year, PAC-12 Tournament MVP, and AP First Team All-American. In the NCAA tournament, Haley led Stanford back to the Final Four and earned Spokane Regional Most Outstanding Player recognition. Her senior year has gotten off to another great start and Haley has found herself at the top of every player of the year conversation.

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