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

Janeicia, appreciate you joining us today. How’s you first get into your field – what was your first job in this field?

I had an amazing college basketball career at Loyola University New Orleans worthy of a 2023 Hall of Fame induction. While in school, I completed quite a few internships in the mass communication field of study but I knew I wanted to continue playing basketball after graduation. I remember thinking about the former teammate I had who accomplished the feat of playing basketball professionally. I was convinced I could do the same, I just needed to figure out the process. I talked to a few of my coaches and people in the space. They all said I needed to get an agent and let them do the work. From there I spoke with a few agents and all of them said because Loyola New Orleans is an NAIA university, I’d need to wait until all of the NCAA D1 players have been placed, then I might have a chance.

I didn’t love hearing that. Instead of listening, I searched the eurobasket.com website and discovered each team’s head and assistant coaches are named. I figured out all I needed to do was get directly in touch with the coach. I went to work with crafting the perfect message that’d get a coach’s attention, attached my website, and highlight reel. I dm’ed the message to every head and assistant coach I could find on Facebook, LinkedIn, or Instagram. After at least a hundred no responses or nos, I received one yes in the form of heavy interest from the head coach of Sport Lisboa Benfica in Lisbon, Portugal.

I signed my first contract with Benfica and that was the start of my career in sports. I had a post college experience that most people dream of.

Janeicia, 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?

I’m the Executive Director of The 18th Ward. The 18th Ward is a New Orleans based youth and young adult serving non profit. We created the 18th Ward to increase youth access to sports by eliminating barriers to participation. We work with youth from ages 3-24. Everyone is welcome to play with us regardless of gender, race, income or neighborhood. We provide high-quality programs and trained coaches to make sure kids have fun and learn the foundational skills to feel successful in sports. New Orleans is divided into 17 wards. The 18th Ward is where kids from across the city play together and build community.

Following my professional basketball career, I knew how much sport had grown my life and I wanted to be a part of that for others. The 18th Ward was founded in 2019, I was a part of the second cohort of coaches. In the last five years I’m most proud of the growth we see in our players, ages 3-12, and our coaches who are young adults ages 13-24. We’re able to see and be a part of kids’ growth, leader development and community building through relationships.

I’m also proud of the growth of our organization. We started with 40 kids and this past program year we served 4000, we started with 4 coaches and this current season we employ 200+ young adults. We have a huge and attainable goal of serving 10,000 kids by 2025.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

We focus heavily on the quality of our programs. We tailor each program so that every child involved knows that they belong and are welcomed. Our programming is intentional and organized, we plan so that kids are involved and moving when they’re on the field or court instead of waiting in long lines for a drill to finish. We train our young adult coaches so they’re confident in their teaching and develop their own unique voice.

We’d love to hear about how you met your business partner.

I worked as the Youth Programs Associate for the New Orleans Pelicans and Saints for 2.5 years after returning home from playing basketball professionally. At the time, there were no adult women’s basketball leagues in New Orleans, so I decided to create one. We were in our second season and I was searching for another gym to use and one of my coworkers introduced me to Lowrey Crews, our founder. Crews was a teacher and principal for 15 plus years and had access to a gym. We had a brief conversation about the possibility of using the gym and a longer conversation about youth sports. He told me he just started a nonprofit called The 18th Ward and invited me to visit the program. From the first visit I knew I wanted to remain a part of the community.

Contact Info:

• Website: the18thward.org
• Instagram: @the18thward
• Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/the18thward/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-18th-ward
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/the18thward