Long before the NBA tunnel became a daily fashion feed, brand strategist Tammy Brook saw a stage.
NBA superstar Russell Westbrook was already turning pre- and postgame appearances into miniature style events, though television cameras usually framed him from the waist up. Brook believed that the walk into the arena could tell a bigger story, so she began pitching the tunnel as a runway where sport, fashion and personality could meet.
“We said, ‘Hold on, he’s a fashion icon,’” Brook told Newsweek.
Her agency, FYI Brand Group, pursued major fashion coverage, helped develop recurring looks around playoff themes, and built partnerships around an identity Westbrook already claimed, including collections with Tumi, Acne Studios and Barneys New York. The work became an early case study in the method she now calls “cultural IP”: identify a genuine interest, build a public narrative around it and turn attention into a durable platform.
Brook has applied the formula across music, sports, fashion, art, philanthropy and technology, yet the central principle stays remarkably consistent.
“Authenticity threads through everything I do,” she said. “It’s my driving force.”
...
Building Cultural IP Beyond the Court
Brook launched her sports division in 2009, starting with her first client, renowned boxing champion Mike Tyson, and the premise was expansive from the beginning: athletic achievement could anchor a career while an athlete’s interests created new lanes beyond competition.
“She’s building athletes off the field, off the court, outside the octagon, outside the boxing ring,” Brook recalled people saying as word of her work spread.
Her approach depends on listening closely before building the architecture. When NBA star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander wanted to enter high fashion while spotlighting emerging designers, Brook recognized a story rooted in his taste and originality. Gilgeous-Alexander found young designers on Instagram, wore their bespoke pieces in the tunnel and offered small labels a public incubator few marketing campaigns could manufacture.
“I love high fashion. I want to get into high fashion, and I still want to really expose young designers,” Brook recalled of the two-time league most valuable player’s vision.
Her role was to frame the instinct without sanding away its specificity.
“It’s listening to them and doing what they want and then utilizing my expertise to figure out how to take it to the next level,” she said.
The same logic guided earlier work with recent Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame enshrinee Amar’e Stoudemire, whose interests in film and art opened paths far beyond basketball. Brook helped connect him with film production and later brokered an ambassador relationship with Sotheby’s. Together, those projects advanced a public identity around sports, art and storytelling before athlete art collecting became a familiar cultural narrative.
“I realized the value I brought was how I could bring most of my athletes into the world of music, fashion and arts,” Brook said. “How do we intercept culture? How do we build brand reputation in all these places where they can ultimately build businesses?”
Authenticity Before the Deal
In Brook’s telling, the strongest partnerships begin with evidence: what a client already wears, follows, collects or discusses; which relationships already carry mutual respect; and where a brand can add scale without distorting the person at the center.
“We’re the agency for Pusha T who will say, ‘I love [English fashion designer] Kim Jones’ work. I’m a big fan of him,’” she said.
Her response was to explore a Dior relationship grounded in mutual admiration, resulting in the luxury fashion house celebrating the Virginia rapper's Grammy-nominated Daytona album.
As the 2026-2027 NBA season tips off on October 20, Brook sees the strategist as a coach who develops the play around the athlete’s own read of the floor.
“I’m just here to run the ball, run the play,” she said. “I’m the coach.”
The metaphor captures a balance between authorship and service. She brings contacts, pattern recognition and a willingness to pursue ambitious partners, while the client supplies the passion capable of making a move believable.
When Sports, Music and Fandom Converge
A favorite example arrived through 21 Savage’s lifelong support of English Premier League soccer team Arsenal FC, after Brook spent a year in talks with the club, a lyric from "Circo Loco" off the rapper’s collaborative album Her Loss with Drake—“I want to see the Gunners win Premier League”—created a ready-made bridge among music, football and fandom. Brook flew with him to Emirates Stadium, where the verse came alive on the field during the club’s title run. A Spike Lee-directed commercial and related content extended the moment to a global audience.
“Those type of moments are the most exciting,” Brook said. “It’s thought partnership. I partner with my clients, and then: ‘Who are our partners? Who do we need to go to to bring this to life?’”
The work often unfolds at game speed. Brook described a planned French Montana performance connected to the New York Knicks championship playoff run this year. When the season ended before the activation could happen, the team returned to the studio, reworked the song around the Knicks and pursued broadcast partners, before eventually securing the track "Ever Since U Left Me" as the official theme song of the NBA Finals for ESPN. “Don’t be afraid of the nos,” she said. “Go find another yes.”
Speed, Intuition and the Cost of Red Tape
Brook considers speed a competitive advantage, especially when athletes, artists, leagues and brands must align around a fleeting cultural window.
“We move with speed,” she said. “I kind of thrive in the rapid part of what social and what celebrities require.”
Planning still matters, although rigid systems can drain momentum before an idea reaches the public.
The core challenge, she said, is “bureaucracy, red tape.” A campaign tied to a fresh song, playoff surge or viral moment may need approval while the institution’s budget cycle and legal process move on another clock.
“Partners have to be able to work at speed,” Brook said, adding that flexible collaborators can turn an opening into an event before public attention moves elsewhere.
...
A Career Built at the Intersections
Brook’s instinct for intersections began well before the tunnel. Growing up in Los Angeles with a global outlook, she gravitated toward entertainment and fashion, moved to New York during a defining era for hip-hop and learned early how access, ideas and relationships could reinforce one another. Work across styling, celebrity relations, music and campaigns eventually became an agency built around brand architecture rather than a single discipline.
Her long relationship with DJ Khaled taught her how a temporary platform moment could become a career engine, while her work with athletes clarified the value of multi-hyphenate branding.
“You can’t just be Doja Cat, the rapper,” Brook said. “You’ve got to be Doja Cat, the beauty founder, the fashion designer, the TV and film star.”
The same model applies across her roster. Talent becomes the foundation for businesses, causes, creative partnerships and long-term reputation.
Brook still studies the market with the urgency of an entrant. She follows emerging designers and global creative directors, attends major sports and fashion events and watches how younger audiences assign cultural value.
“Knowledge is power,” she said. “Immerse yourself in culture. You have to know who’s moving culture and lock in, and never stop learning.”
Research sharpens her view, and intuition helps her choose where to act. Though the platforms and ways of dissemination have changed, the root of her success remains the same: hear what a client values, connect it with the right collaborators and build a story capable of surviving the moment that introduced it.
“I’ve evolved. I continue to reimagine, and I’ve given myself no glass ceiling,” Brook said.
For the self-described coach and strategist who helped teach basketball how to use the walk before the game, the next opening is already somewhere in culture, waiting for the right play.
Contact Newsweek editors on this story: Mark Muir and Dave Siminoff.