Sports Envoy
Sports Envoy Program

Region: Africa

Keia Howell

Basketball

Served as envoy

  • 2014  –  Rwanda
  • 2014  –  South Africa

Keia received her Bachelors in Kinesiology and her Masters in Sports Management from LSU. Once she graduated, Keia quickly realized that even though she had earned two degrees, she did not have a plan and was completely undecided about the direction of her professional career.

After accepting a few positions in collegiate and professional sports, she realized she wasn’t happy with the path her career had taken. She recognized that she was qualified to do more than work in the sports arena. Sports played an integral role in her life and it was where she felt most comfortable, which made change very frightening. She took a chance and interviewed for a pharmaceutical sales position and has worked in the industry for 17 years prior to founding iLettered and her non-profit organization, After Life Consulting.

Jennifer Lacy

Basketball

Served as envoy

  • 2013  –  Nicaragua
  • 2016  –  Angola

Jenn Lacy is a former American professional basketball player of the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA).

A native of Agoura Hills, California, Lacy played collegiate basketball at Pepperdine University in Malibu, California, averaging 9.1 points per game in 103 games over four years. Lacy went undrafted in the 2006 WNBA Draft and joined the Phoenix Mercury for the 2006 and 2007 seasons, winning the 2007 WNBA Championship. She went on to play for the Atlanta Dream (2008-09), Tulsa Shock (2010-14), Los Angeles Sparks (2015) and Connecticut Sun (2015). Lacy played professionally in China during the 2008-09 WNBA offseason with Beijing Shougang.

Jennifer Azzi

Basketball

Served as envoy

  • 2008  –  Tanzania

Jennifer Azzi is a former collegiate and professional basketball player, a former basketball coach, and an Olympic and FIBA World Champion. Azzi was inducted into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame in 2009.

With achievements ranging from seven hall of fame inductions, an Olympic Gold Medal, Stanford National Championship, Two World Championships, the Naismith Award, Wade Trophy, a successful WNBA career, and coaching the University of San Francisco Women’s Basketball team to its first NCAA tournament appearance in 20 years, Jennifer Azzi’s achievements have firmly established her as one of the most accomplished figures in sports.

Off the court, Jennifer is a well-regarded speaker, author and community supporter, and serves as an ambassador for the sport both locally and internationally. Locally, through her very successful Azzi Camps, she teaches lessons both on and off the court. Through her role as an NBA Academies Global Director and Jr. NBA Ambassador, Azzi has traveled thousands of miles representing the NBA to countries such as Africa, Denmark, Australia, Mexico, Canada, India and China. In addition, Azzi conducted the first-ever NBA clinic held at the White House, with President Obama. Most recently, her community involvement has been seen through the NBA Cares program, partnering with the Golden State Warriors and other notable Bay Area figures to positively serve area youth.

Hamchétou Maïga-Ba

Basketball

Served as envoy

  • 2014  –  Mali

Hamchetou Maiga-Ba was the 2001 CAA Player of the Year. She was a three-time All-CAA selection and three-time All-Tournament pick. Maiga-Ba completed her career at ODU with 1,483 points. She led the Lady Monarchs in rebounding, both in 2001 at 7.4 and 2002 at 8.1, and hauled down a career high 20 rebounds against SMU in March of 2000.

She also helped lead the Lady Monarchs to the 2002 NCAA Elite eight and the CAA championship, and was selected to the CAA’s All-Defensive squad. Maiga-Ba was selected in the second round of the WNBA draft in 2002 by Sacramento where she teamed with another Lady Monarch great Ticha Penicheiro to help the Monarchs win the 2005 WNBA title.

A native of Mali, she helped lead her country to the 2008 Olympic games. She currently lives in Sacramento, CA., with her husband Baba Ba and son Mamadou, who was born in May. Maiga Ba graduated with a degree in information systems. She was named to the CAA’s Silver anniversary team in women’s basketball.

Erin Dickerson

Basketball

Served as envoy

  • 2018  –  Benin

Erin Dickerson is in her third season at Georgetown after spending two years at Towson University, most recently as the associate head coach and recruiting coordinator.

Last year, Georgetown boasted a mark of 19-16 overall going 9-9 in BIG EAST play and winning eight of its final 10 games. The team made history advancing to the BIG EAST Tournament semifinals for the second-consecutive year, and made it to the Women’s National Invitation Tournament (WNIT) quarterfinals for the first time since 2009. Individually, Dionna White and Dorothy Adomako earned All-BIG EAST honors marking the fourth for both in their Georgetown careers.

In two years back on the Hilltop, she has been a part of teams that have posted two WNIT appearances as GU advanced out of the first round in both marking the first time since 2009. The Blue & Gray has also made two-consecutive trips to the BIG EAST Tournament semifinals. Over the past two years, she has coached four All-BIG EAST honorees as well as boasting the 2018 BIG EAST Defensive Player of the Year in White and the 2018 BIG EAST Most Improved Player in Cynthia Petke.

Off of the court, she was selected to work with Sports Diplomacy taking a trip to Benin located in Africa for the Sports Envoy Program. There she hosted clinics for local youth, held leadership workshops, performed engagement, community outreach and taught female empowerment.

At Towson, Dickerson played a key role in the Tigers becoming the first Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) squad to sweep James Madison during the regular season since 2012. Under her watch, senior guard Raven Bankston earned a pair of All-CAA accolades after ranking second in the league in scoring. She was also named to the CAA All-Defensive Team. For her efforts, she was named to the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) Thirty Under 30 presented by Marriott Rewards® honorees for the 2016-17 season. The program was created to recognize 30 up-and-coming women’s basketball coaches age 30 and under at all levels of the game.
Prior to Towson, Dickerson spent two years as an assistant at Illinois State. There she worked with the guards and helped recruit a junior college All-American and the 36th ranked point guard prospect in the nation. Dickerson also spent three years at La Salle as an assistant coach and served as the recruiting coordinator there for two of those three seasons. She began her coaching career at Furman.

The 2009 Northwestern graduate lettered all four years as a shooting guard in the Wildcat basketball program, seeing action in 112 games. As a senior she led Northwestern in 3-point shooting, converting 35 of 96 (36.5%), finishing in the top 10 in the Big 10 Conference.

Edna Campbell

Basketball

Served as envoy

  • 2011  –  Democratic Republic of Congo
  • 2012  –  Indonesia
  • 2014  –  Sri Lanka

Edna Campbell (born November 26, 1968 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.) is a retired women’s basketball player who played in the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA). The 5′ 8″ guard was a star player for the Sacramento Monarchs and has also played for three other teams, but is well known for continuing to play despite suffering breast cancer.
Campbell’s college career began at the University of Maryland, College Park, but achieved her most notable success at the University of Texas’ women’s team, known as the Lady Longhorns, where she was named the Southwest Conference’s Newcomer of the Year in 1990. She graduated in 1991 after the Lady Longhorns compiled a 48-14 won/loss record while she was there.
Campbell played for the Colorado Xplosion in the American Basketball League (ABL).
Edna Campbell was the 10th overall draft pick, selected by the Phoenix Mercury during the 1999 WNBA Draft. She was left unprotected in the expansion draft the following year, and was chosen by the Seattle Storm. She became the new franchise’s go-to option, but the team finished with a cellar-dwelling 6-26 record.
The next year, the Storm drafted its first superstar, Lauren Jackson, and Campbell was traded to the Sacramento Monarchs for Katy Steding and a draft pick. During the second of her four seasons in Sacramento, Campbell was diagnosed with breast cancer. She received treatment and was welcomed back before the fans of her two most recent teams in the Monarchs’ final game against Seattle during the 2002 season.
Campbell continued to play despite the cancer, and has become a symbol to some survivors of the disease. She became the WNBA’s national spokesperson for its anti-cancer efforts with the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation. She received the league’s Kim Perrot Sportsmanship Award in 2003.
Campbell signed a free agent contract with the San Antonio Silver Stars in 2005. She played with the Silver Stars for that one season, before announcing her retirement from the WNBA on February 28, 2006.
During the 2006 WNBA season, which honored 9 years of existence, Edna Campbell’s return from breast cancer was nominated by fans as Most Inspirational and one of the top four WNBA Anniversary decade moments.
Shortly after retiring from basketball, Edna was hired as a television commentator for the San Antonio Silver Stars games during the 2006 WNBA season. In addition, Campbell has worked in Real Estate. Edna Campbell became a nurse in 2008, and also began coaching high school girls.

Ebony Hoffman

Basketball

Served as envoy

  • 2009  –  Lebanon
  • 2013  –  Thailand
  • 2014  –  South Africa
  • 2014  –  Rwanda
  • 2015  –  Botswana
  • 2015  –  Mozambique
  • 2015  –  South Africa

Ebony Hoffman (born in 1982), played basketball at USC before being drafted by the Indiana Fever in the 1st round of the 2004 WNBA Draft. Hoffman left Indiana in 2011 when she moved to play for the Los Angeles Sparks. Hoffman spent her final WNBA season with the Connecticut Sun in 2014. Across her 11 seasons, Hoffman started 172 games, averaging 5.8 points per game.

From 2013, Hoffman has been the President and CEO of EbHoops Clinics, an organization geared towards coaching young kids interested in basketball. Hoffman is also currently Assistant Basketball Coach at Windward School in the greater Los Angeles area.

Debbie Black

Basketball

Served as envoy

  • 2013  –  Kazakhstan
  • 2018  –  Benin

Debbie Black begins her second season as the Mocs’ assistant coach. She came to UTC as Director of Operations for Jim Foster. With his departure, she was promoted to assistant in Katie Burrows’ first season.

UTC head coach Jim Foster and Black have an extensive association. She first played for the Hall of Fame coach at St. Joseph’s leading the Hawks to four straight NCAA Tournament appearances before graduating in 1984.

Her first assistant coaching position was for Foster at Vanderbilt during the 1999-2000 season. Following her retirement from the WNBA in 2005, she returned to assist Foster at Ohio State for eight seasons. The Buckeyes advanced to the Sweet 16 in 2009 and 2011.

She spent the last four seasons at Eastern Illinois in the Ohio Valley Conference. She led the Panthers to the OVC Tournament twice and finished tied for second in the West in the 2013-14 campaign.

She represented Team USA at the Williams Jones Cup competition in Taipei, Taiwan. The team had a 7-1 record and won the gold medal after defeating Japan 56-54 in the final. She played eight seasons with the Tasmanian Islanders of the WNBL in Australia and helped them to national titles in 1991 and 1995.

In the ABL she was an All-Star selection for the Colorado Xplosion and the 1997 Defensive Player of the Year. While playing for the Atlanta Glory in December 1996, she became one of just a handful of players to record a quadruple double (10p, 14r, 12a, 10s).

In 1999, Black was drafted by the Utah Starzz of the WNBA in the second round. She played for the Miami Sol from 2000-2002 and earned the WNBA Defensive Player of the Year Award at the age of 35. In 2003 she was acquired by the Connecticut Sun in the dispersal draft and was there until her retirement in 2005.

Black was hired in May 2013, and served four years as the Panthers’ head coach, compiling a 34-80 record. Her best season was her first, leading Eastern Illinois to a 12-16 record. She replaced Lee Buchanan, who coached for one season before taking the head coaching job of the LaGrange Panthers.

Cynthia Cooper-Dyke

Basketball

Served as envoy

  • 2005  –  Senegal
  • 2006  –  Senegal
  • 2019  –  Italy

One of the most decorated players in the history of women’s basketball, Cynthia Cooper-Dyke returns to lead the Texas Southern women’s basketball program as its head coach.

Cooper-Dyke served as TSU’s head coach during the 2012-13 season before taking the reins at her alma mater, Southern California. She led the Lady Tigers to a 20-12 record and a trip to the postseason Women’s NIT in her only season at TSU. She had a 70-57 record in four seasons at USC before stepping down in 2017. Cooper-Dyke provided color commentary for Texas Southern basketball home broadcasts on AT&T Sports Net Houston during the 2017-18 season.

Cooper-Dyke arrived at TSU in 2012 after spending the past two seasons at UNC-Wilmington where she led the Seahawks to two of their most successful campaigns in 2010-11 and 2011-12, guiding the squad to a school-record 24 victories (2010) and its second consecutive postseason appearance with an at-large berth in the 2012 Postseason Women’s National Invitation Tournament. During the 2010-11 season UNCW was victorious in its first postseason contest, recording a 63-54 victory over Richmond before falling to Eastern Michigan in the second round.

That same year Cooper-Dyke was named CAA Coach-of-the-Year, marking the third time in her six-year collegiate coaching career that she has earned Coach-of-the-Year accolades. Freshman point guard Alisha Andrews garnered CAA Rookie-of-the-Year honors, while seniors Brittany Blackwell and Martha White were First and Second-Team All-Conference selections, respectively. All three players were named to the league’s All-Defensive Team.

Cooper-Dyke also achieved a personal milestone during the 2010-11 season, recording her 100th collegiate coaching victory with an 85-68 triumph at Northeastern on Jan. 23, 2011.

Cooper-Dyke was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame on August, 13, 2010. Part of the largest induction class in the Hall of Fame’s history, Cooper-Dyke was enshrined along with Karl Malone and Scottie Pippen, longtime LA Lakers owner Dr. Jerry Buss, St. Anthony’s (N.J.) high-school coach Bob Hurley, Sr., as well as former players Dennis Johnson, Gus Johnson and international star Maciel “Ubiratan” Pereira, all of whom will be honored posthumously. Also included in the enshrinement ceremony were the 1960 and 1992 US Men’s Olympic teams.

The former college great, Olympic gold medalist and Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) Most Valuable Player was named the ninth head coach in UNCW’s history on May 10, 2010 following a successful five-year stint at Prairie View A&M in central Texas.

Cooper-Dyke joined the Prairie View program in May of 2005 and guided the Lady Panthers to their first Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) regular season title, SWAC Tournament crown and NCAA Tournament berth in 2006-07, collecting conference Coach-of-the-Year honors.

PVAMU repeated as SWAC regular season champions in 2008 and 2009 under Cooper-Dyke. The 2008 club made its first appearance in the WNIT and Cooper-Dyke was voted SWAC Coach-of-the-Year for the second time in 2009 after leading the Panthers to their second NCAA Tournament appearance.

Born in Chicago but raised in the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles, Cooper-Dyke was a four-year standout at Southern California, where she sparked the Women of Troy to back-to-back NCAA championships in 1983 and 1984. She later completed her Bachelor’s Degree at Prairie View A&M.

Cooper-Dyke collected five medals while representing the United States. She won a gold medal at the 1987 Pan American Games in Indianapolis, captured gold at the 1988 Seoul Olympics, claimed gold at the 1986 and 1990 FIBA World Championships and won bronze at the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games.

Cooper-Dyke began her professional career overseas and played 10 seasons in Spain and Italy. She returned to the United States in 1997 to play with the Houston Comets of the newly-formed WNBA.

She subsequently led the Comets to four consecutive WNBA championships and was named WNBA Finals MVP four times. Cooper-Dyke was voted the league’s MVP in 1997 and 1998 and was a four-time WNBA All-Star before retiring in 2000.

Cooper-Dyke moved into the coaching ranks in 2001 as the head coach of the Phoenix Mercury and spent two seasons on the sidelines before returning to the Comets’ playing roster briefly until an injury curtailed her season in 2003. She announced her final retirement prior to the start of the 2004 campaign and finished as Houston’s all-time leader in scoring (2,601 points), free throw percentage (.871) and assists (602).

Cooper-Dyke, who was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2010 and the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame in 2009, has also been active beyond the basketball court. In 2000, she published her autobiography, “She Got Game: My Personal Odyssey,” chronicling her childhood, basketball career and her mother’s battle with breast cancer.

Chinenye “Chiney” Ogwumike

Basketball

Served as envoy

  • 2015  –  Brazil
  • 2023  –  Cote d'Ivoire

Chinenye “Chiney” Ogwumike is a professional basketball player for The Los Angeles Sparks of the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA). Chiney holds the record for most rebounds in the history of Stanford Women’s Basketball and the Pac-12 Conference.

In 2014, Ogwumike signed an endorsement deal with Nike soon after being drafted first overall in the WNBA. As of 2016, Ogwumike was elected Vice-President of the WNBA Players Association, and signed an endorsement deal with Adidas. In May 2018, Ogwumike signed a multi-year contract with ESPN to become a full-time in-sports analyst.