Shana Stephenson

Shana Stephenson – Chief Brand Officer

As Chief Brand Officer, Shana Renee Stephenson oversees strategy and day to day management of branding, marketing, creative, game presentation, performance marketing, digital content, and brand innovation for the New York Liberty. With her visionary leadership, Shana shepherded the Liberty through a transformational era, culminating in the team’s first WNBA championship win in franchise history and New York City’s first professional basketball championship since 1973. Stephenson’s brand and marketing strategy has positioned the Liberty at the epicenter of New York City culture and made significant contributions to the current renaissance of women’s sports. She previously served as Vice President of Marketing with the Liberty for three seasons.

Shana joined the Liberty family in 2018 before they relocated to Barclays Center and played a key role in the team’s transition to Brooklyn. As a native New Yorker, she drew inspiration from her hometown as she led the team’s complete rebrand. Core to her responsibilities are engaging and maintaining strong connections with the Liberty’s existing fan base, as well as attracting and building relationships with new fans. Her work securing critical partnership and sponsorship deals, boosting game attendance, growing the Liberty fan base, and turning mascot Ellie the Elephant into an icon in her own right continues to elevate the Liberty’s presence as a leading team of the WNBA and professional sports.

Featured in Fast Company, Andscape, The Washington Post, Billboard, The Guardian, Sports Illustrated, and more, Shana’s vision and innovative leadership has been recognized across the sports industry. She was honored as Ad Age’s Leading Women 2024, took home Gold in the CLIO Sports Awards 2024 for Gameday/In-Game Experience for creating “Ellie the Elephant: A Cultural Icon”, and was named to Crain’s New York’s list of Notable 2023 Black Leaders. In October 2020, Shana was named to the Sports Innovation Lab Women’s Sports Leadership Board, the first of its kind, specifically dedicated to accelerating the growth and commercialization of women’s sports.

A former ESPN marketing professional with nearly twenty years of sports industry experience, Shana has a passion for storytelling – adding a unique perspective, relatable relevance and necessary perspective to the sports community. Her keen knowledge of sports inspired her All Sports Everything, a New York centric sports blog with a range of lifestyle, news and other sports-relevant content. She has also contributed to Bleacher Report, espnW, Essence, Madison Square Garden, MSNBC, and Refinery29, to name a few.

Shana currently resides in Harlem. She received her BA in Psychology from Spelman College, and her MS in Sports Business from New York University.