Imani McGee-Stafford

Imani McGee-Stafford is a prolific speaker that has spoken at Cornell University, The United Nations, and The University of Texas to name a few. She focuses on destigmatizing mental health, all things related to being a student-athlete, navigating life post sexual violence, and following your purpose. She is an abuse survivor, mental health advocate, poet, lawyer, and self-described unicorn.

Imani is a native of Inglewood, CA. She is an avid reader, cook, and dog mom. She believes her life purpose is creating safe spaces and she strives to do that in every arena she enters. Her goal is to be whom she needed when she was younger. She does this daily by showing up as her authentic self and showing the world what being a black woman living and dealing with mental illness looks like, as well as by leading with love. She is more than the sum of her trauma and focuses on exploring the after and navigating life post traumatic experiences and/or violence. She is also more than an athlete and encourages everyone to follow their passions while living their truth.

Imani graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a degree in Accounting from the McCombs School of Business. She most recently earned her Juris Doctorate from Southwestern Law School in Los Angeles, CA. She hopes to use her degree to create better pathways for Black women to seek legal remedies when struggling with mental health and sexual violence. She also hopes to help athletes create ownership in both their brand and athletic careers.

In high school, she lettered in volleyball, softball, and track before playing basketball collegiately. She is the only Texas basketball player, men’s or women’s, to garner over 1000 points, 1000 rebounds, and 200 blocks. She was drafted 10th overall in the 2016 WNBA Draft to the Chicago Sky and holds the rookie playoff record for blocks in a game. She also played for the Atlanta Dream and Dallas Wings in the WNBA. She has played internationally in China, Australia, Lebanon, Israel, Angola, Saudi Arabia and Turkey.

She founded Hoops and Hope Foundation in 2019, a nonprofit organization dedicated to creating safe spaces. Hoops and Hope focuses on promoting arts and athletics, age-appropriate conversations about mental health, sexual education and violence, and finally breaking the school to prison pipeline via talk therapy. She has hosted basketball camps internationally in Ghana, Zimbabwe, and Tanzania and uses basketball as a vehicle to teach self-confidence, determination, hope, and purpose to young women and girls.