Joe Favorito and Tom Richardson welcome Sophie Whitesell, founder of The Giving Game, to discuss how a chance encounter with NBA players led a chief nursing officer from Missouri with no sports background to build a podcast platform dedicated to amplifying athlete philanthropy. Whitesell shares how she cold-DM’d 30 athletes with over a million followers, pitched them on telling their charitable stories rather than their sports ones, and had 12 respond almost immediately. She explains the three-step process behind The Giving Game, a one-hour interview, full editing, and a seven-day social campaign for the athlete’s foundation, and why she targets smaller self-funded organizations that rarely get attention over the major celebrity foundations that already have resources. The conversation also covers her expansion into interactive coloring books that translate athletes’ charitable stories for kids, and why she shifted her marketing strategy from sports fans to cause-driven donors. Whitesell reflects on what she has learned navigating the world of athlete handlers and gatekeepers, why female athletes have been harder to reach, and why she believes the sports world is sitting on an underutilized storytelling opportunity that could transform how fans relate to the athletes they follow.

Connect with Sophie: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sophia-whitesell-98107930b/

Subscribe to the CUSP Show: Substack

The CUSP Show is hosted by Joe Favorito (@Joefav) and Tom Richardson (@ConvergenceTR) and produced by Sam Henry (@s_henry11), LJ Holmgren (@LJ_Holmgren), and Danny Hagenlocher (@DhColumbiaSPS), with social media efforts led by Lissa Ruiz and Sydney Cristall.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thecuspshow.substack.com