Tiffany Hayes knows that there’s more to life than being a basketball player.
Despite being a WNBA veteran since 2012, the Golden State Valkyries guard has found ways to expand her life and career.
When the former UConn star retired following the 2023 season, she started her own community-based fashion brand Seyah Renara. Her time away from basketball didn’t last long, as she returned to the WNBA five months later and has rejuvenated her career.
Hayes was the WNBA Sixth Woman of the Year in 2024 for the Las Vegas Aces before signing with the Valkyries and helping lead the expansion team to the playoffs in their first year.
So, while Hayes is staying busy on the court, Seyah Renara is keeping her busy off it — as she told NBC in the latest interview for the “My New Favorite Baller” series.
“Fashion is a part of our lives,” Hayes said. “As players, we don’t have to be in a box of just dribbling a ball and playing basketball. We can do other things, too. Just showing myself what I can accomplish — I can do two things at once. I can be a professional at this, and a professional at that at the same time.”
There were two main factors for Hayes creating Seyah Renara: financial literacy and mental health awareness. She explained that the aspect of giving back to communities in those areas are most impactful to her.
“What motivated me to start it was I wanted to give the community of people something that could (make them) feel good when they’re walking around (like I do),” Hayes said. “It’s family-oriented. I’m always trying to implement the things that I care about the most, which is financial literacy and mental health awareness. I’m using my brand to help spread the word on those things as well.”
Hayes has taken financial literacy to the next level by naming her latest collection “Generational Wealth” — dropping soon on the brand’s website.
“Financial literacy is one of those big things where I tell people that to this day, I’m still learning about,” Hayes said. “That’s why my next collection is the ‘Generational Wealth’ collection. Generational wealth is something I definitely want people to know and think about. You start this now, you don’t (start) this when you’re 50. It could be little, tiny ways that you add to that — to where you’re building on your generational wealth for you and your family.
“My journey as a hooper, as an entrepreneur and just as a person, I’ve had a really good journey but a lot of ups and downs. I think that’s where my resilience comes from. Unfortunate things happening in business that I have to learn the hard way.
“There’s just so many positives with me starting a brand, and I didn’t want to let that moment go to waste.”