Naomi Osaka continues to build a successful roster of businesses off of the court.
On Monday the tennis star announced she signed five collegiate athletes to NIL deals with her suncare brand Kinlò, which was created specifically for people with melanated skin.
“To help with Naomi’s mission, we partnered with five college athletes to educate communities of color about the benefits of wearing sunscreen all year round for melanin-rich skin,” wrote the brand on IG.
The five featured athletes are Deja Kelly (UNC women’s basketball), Reilyn Turner (UCLA women’s soccer), Robert Dillingham (Kentucky men’s basketball), Xolani Hodel (Stanford women’s beach volleyball) and Ziyah Leigh Holman (Michigan women’s track and field). They will be featured in the brand’s #GlowOutside campaign, which was designed to educate communities of color about caring for their skin in the sun.
“I’m so excited to partner with these amazing student athletes to help spread awareness for our Glow Outside campaign,” said Osaka in a statement. “As young, influential voices in the space, they are the perfect fit to help champion such an important initiative and as a brand, we couldn’t be prouder to empower and support NCAA athletes.”
As you could imagine, these athletes are excited to work with Osaka to help raise awareness among people of color about proper suncare and educate them about skin cancer and sun damage prevention.
“As a Black woman and Mexican American, I think about those who have paved the way for me and how they used their platforms to create so much change, even beyond sport,” said Turner. “I want to continue to push myself to get better every day and focus on areas I want to improve on. I’ll keep chasing my dreams, and along the way, I hope to inspire young kids to chase their dreams as well.”
