This Female Sports Agent Is Out to Break Up the Boys’ Club at the NFL Draft

When sports agent Nicole Lynn was invited to the 2019 NFL Draft with her client Quinnen Williams, she had one problem: She had no idea what to wear. A Google search was unhelpful, showing page after page of men in suits. The occasional women that popped up were wives, girlfriends, and moms—not women like Lynn who were there to work. “I panicked,” Lynn wrote on Instagram. “Do I wear a suit? A dress? Heels or no heels? I had no clue.”

In the 83-year history of the NFL Draft, only two other female agents have had a first-round draft pick (no wonder she couldn’t find any outfit inspo), but thanks to Lynn, that’s starting to change. In April the 30-year-old sports agent became the third woman—and the first black woman ever—to rep a first-round draft pick when Williams was drafted to the Jets with the number-three pick in the league.

She had just become a game changer. But Lynn still felt out of place.

“I was the only female agent in the room,” she says. Yahoo Sports reported in May that of the nearly 800 agents registered with the NFL, only 41 were women, according to the NFLPA. Of that fraction, barely half had a client on a current NFL roster. That puts Lynn in a club with less than 3% of all NFL agents. “I was excited to be there, but there was still this gut-wrenching feeling, like, I'm not supposed to be here,” she says. “As a woman in this industry, we're always fighting for a seat at the table. But it seems when we finally get there, we feel like we're not supposed to be at the table.”

Lynn knew from a young age she wanted to work with professional athletes, but there were scarcely any women—let alone women of color—in the business of sports. Those who were weren’t exactly enjoying Ballers-level status or recognition. The lack of role models wasn’t lost on her. “It's hard to know what jobs are actually in sports because there's not a ton of exposure of women doing those jobs,” Lynn says. “It's such an uphill battle to be a sports agent in general, and more difficult being a woman, and I would say two times as difficult being a black woman and under the age of 30.” People thought her dream job was crazy. “I never really listened to the noise—and there was a lot of it. I think that is one of the reasons I am where I am,” she says. “I knew that it was possible, and I was going to keep doing it until I reached my goal.”

In 2015 she finally did, signing her first client. “He did not make an NFL team, but it was just exciting because he was the first player that ever believed in me,” Lynn says. “I never made a dollar off him, but to this day that's still one of my biggest accomplishments.”

Four years later her roster at Lil Wayne’s Young Money Sports Association is stacked. She reps 14 NFL players, a handful of coaches, three pro softball players, and a dancer with American Ballet Theatre. Still, the impostor syndrome is real. “I know it sounds very clichéd, but I have to constantly remind myself that I've put in the work to be here—I worked my butt off to get in that room.”

Beyond the star clients and the record-breaking deals, Lynn’s number-one goal is to make sure that she keeps the door open for other women. “I hope I’m known as someone who is bringing as many people along on the ride with her as she can,” she says, “especially women and minorities.” Anytime one of her players needs to hire someone, be it a financial adviser or a marketing rep, she makes sure a minority candidate is first to interview. “If you look at my clientele, almost 95% of their personal teams are made up of extremely talented and diverse individuals,” she says. “That is the bigger victory: getting [the industry] used to people that look like me.”

At the very least, when the next female agent is stumped on what to wear to the NFL Draft, she’ll have Lynn to look to for inspo.

Macaela MacKenzie is a senior editor at Glamour. Follow her on Instagram @MacaelaMac and Twitter @MacaelaMack.

This year has made one thing clear: Women are showing up, stepping up, and taking what they deserve. From politics to pop culture, women aren't just leveling the playing field—they're owning it. As we ramp up to our annual Women of the Year summit, we will be highlighting women across industries who do the work every day. Whether it's the CEO of a multinational retail corporation, a James Beard Award–winning chef, or the World Cup champions, here are the women you need to know right now. First up: 10 profiles of women who are making their mark on the world of sports, where female athletes and businesswomen are fighting it out for championships, equal pay, and culture-shifting change. Spoiler alert: They're winning.

See all of the Glamour Women of the Year All Year: Sports.