We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Kam Capers a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Kam thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. We’d love to hear about the things you feel your parents did right and how those things have impacted your career and life.

My parents did an amazing job raising my sister and I. They taught so many lessons and gave so much insight on life and always told my sister and I that we can do anything we wanted as long as worked for it and believed that we could do it. Along the way of them raising us I learned from each one of them and still apply them to everything I do to this day. First we’ll start with mom. She always would tell me to do my best everyday and keep going no matter the circumstances. She always made sure I was focused and confident in anything I did. One lesson I learned from her is “Don’t be nobodies fool but your own!”. She always drilled that into our heads to let us know that people will use you. My mom also stayed on me about school and let me know that education is very important. She always made sure homework, studying and projects were done before I had fun or got to chill. She would always tell me stories about my grandparents and their education and how she had to teach them certain things because they were never taught. Overall, my mother always pushed me to do my best and never accepted anything less and I apprecaite her so much for that. Secondly, my pops, he taught me so many lessons on how to be a man and not do what he did and to always be better. The most important lesson I learned from my dad was work ethic. My dads work ethic was something I had never seen before and he taught me how to work and go get what I want. Also, my dad always made sure i knew how to different tasks to get money if i needed it. For example, he taught how to use a saw for wood, tile and etc. He taught me how to lay tile down and other carpentry skills that way i could always have a backup plan to make money. Quick story, when i was about 11-12 years old my dad me that I would be spending my summer working with him and what it’s like to make my money and be responsible with my money. Of course as a 11-12 year old I don’t want to work, i want to hang out with my friends. I tried hanging out and going to work and that was not a good combination. staying outside until 2-3 in the morning and then waking up at 6:00 am everyday to work was not the best and he made sure I got up everyday and went to work to see what it’s like to work and repeat it every day to make a living. At the time, I didn’t understand him doing that but now that i’m older, I appreciate him so much more for doing that and teaching me that the only to get money and provide is to work and be happy with what you do. My dad has no idea of the impact he’s had on my life and thank him daily for teaching me how to work and be a go getter. Overall, my parents have such a big impact on my life and I’m so blessed and thankful to call them my parents. I wouldn’t trade them for anything in the world. They each contributed to may life in big ways and even through hardships they always told me keep my head and keep pushing and always have a positive attitude as tough times don’t last forever. They always told me “Only the strong survive”. My parents always say they’re proud of me and I want to let them know that I’m more proud of them than anything and i’m blessed to still have them around so they can see their son accomplishing everything he always dreamed of. I love you mom and dad!

Kam, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

My name is Kam Capers and my story started in June of 2014. Recently, graduating high school the month before, I started to look for a job because I wanted to make my own money and not have to depend on my parents for anything. I was thinking of where i wanted to work and what I wanted to do as a career. I looked at numerous of places and I randomly thought about trying to get a job with The Atlanta Hawks just to be a ball boy. So, I picked up the phone and called then Phillips Arena to see who i needed to talk to about becoming a ball boy. They put me in contact the teams equipment manager and he told me just to check their website and they should be putting an application up soon to apply for the position. However, i checked and called everyday to make sure I didn’t miss anything. I continuously checked and in August they finally posted the link and went ahead to apply and proceeded to wait to hear back. I heard back from the team within a two weeks to come in for an interview and I was super excited. Fast forward to the day of the interview, I’m super excited and the day is going by so slow because I’m just ready to get this interview out the way. I finally finish my day of classes and head straight downtown to Phillips Arena. I arrive and I’m placed in a waiting room with about 8 other candidates. About 10 minutes goes by and they walk us to the hawks practice court and the equipment manger interviews us individually and gives us the layout of the job and what it entails. After the interview he says we should hear something in about a week. That was the slowest week of my life and as the week went on, I didn’t hear anything so i assumed I didn’t get the job. I was pretty discouraged after feeling like i didn’t get the job and my mom told just wait and be patient my time will come where somebody will hire me. About 3 days after she told me that my phone rang and it was the Hawks telling me I got the job and I was so excited I left my class and went home to share the good news. My job title was team attendant (ball boy). My first year I started out on the court rebounding for players pregame and during the game I was the guy who mopped if players fell on the court. My job was to also set up the bench with gatorade, water, towels, cups, and all other essentials needed for the game. That first year I so excited to work that I always arrived about 45 minutes before they told us to arrive. I did that because i had so much fun that I wanted to move up and see what if I wanted to stay working in the NBA. I also learned that you have to talk to people and network. I used to be scared to open my mouth and talk. Until, a coach told me the only way to move up in this business is to talk to people, work hard, and maintain relationships. He told me that sports is connected and you never know who knows who and that has stuck with me to this day. After, my first year of working with the Hawks, my life began to take off and i began to keep having success with any and everything i did. I was promoted in my second year to locker room attendant and I’ve been blessed to meet and form relationships with players such as LeBron James, Kyrie Irving, Paul Millsap, and others. As I worked for the Hawks, I also took on a job at Nike in March of 2015 and was able to meet some dope individuals while working there. In the six years i spent at Nike, I learned how to really talk to people and spark conversations with strangers and build rapports with them and even stay in contact with some to this day. It also shocked me by the amount of people that really shopped at nike and who really loves the brand. As, I did both the Hawks and Nike, I heard the Atlanta Braves were looking for help with the team. I got in contact with a friend who worked for the Braves and he told them I was interested and in January of 2017 the Braves hired me. Probably the best interview of all time. The interview went like this…”You like baseball? You like the Braves? You’re hired! Congratulations!”. So from 2017 to 2021 I worked all three jobs with the Hawks, Braves and Nike. I feel like working these three jobs set me apart from most because my time management and knowledge of availability. People thought it was hard working three jobs but it was really a breeze and they rarely interfered with each other cause of how baseball and basketball seasons run. These three jobs also taught me work ethic too. No matter how tired I was, I made sure i got up and went to work and gave my best always. However, in March of 2021 I left Nike and proceeded to focus on working in sports with the Atlanta Braves and Atlanta Hawks. That was the best decision i ever made as I was along for the ride of the Braves winning the 2021 world series and the hawks making the Eastern Conference Finals as well. I am most proud of how blessed I’ve been to maintain these positions and even move up each year. I’m also proud to call my self a world series champion and to have received a ring from the team was even better. In addition, I’m proud of how all my networking relationships have blossomed on and off the field and court. They continue to get better and put me in rooms I’d never thought I’d be in. Lastly, the main thing I want people to know is to take your time and trust the process. When it’s your time it will be so much fun and so many blessings that you can look back and say i accomplished a lot and you still want accomplish more, Timing is everything. Also, enjoy what you do and have a love for it and everything will fall into place.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

Honestly, the most effective way of building my reputation is really just being available, showing up early and staying late. My dad always told me the best ability is availability. The older i got the more i started to understand. Once jobs see that you are available and willing to work, more opportunities will open up and you’ll be everywhere you wanted to be. In addition to that, showing up and staying late is really undefeated. Show up early and get stuff done and showing up early gives you chances to meet people and interact with others that could potentially help you. Staying late can be beneficial too because it shows that you’re willing to put in the extra work to ensure you know the job is done and that you and your team are covered. Lastly, just a having a love for what I do has really built my reputation. I sincerely enjoying going to work because it’s never a dull moment and its always something new. Also my work allows me to travel, meet new people and enjoy myself while working.

Any advice for managing a team?

The best advice I have for managing a team and maintaining high morale is really treating everybody with respect and holding everybody accountable. Treat people with respect and they will have no problem helping you and others achieve their goal. Also accountability goes along way because it shows you can own up to your mistakes and learn from it. Also, having good camaraderie outside of work. Working with a team has taught me that you see those guys more than your own family. So, you have to build camaraderie outside of the workplace to refrain from always talking about work or anything like that. Whether it’s grabbing a bite to eat, going over each others house or other activities. The camaraderie outside of work can really boost the morale of the team and help bond even more at work as you always have stuff to talk about.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: kamcapers
• Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/kam-capers-7740031b9

Image Credits
Matthew Grimes David J. Griffin Annie Finberg Scott Cunningham