Hanna Cavinder explains how she, sister Haley, adapted to NIL

If you’ve spent more than a few minutes in the NIL space in college athletics you’ve likely heard of the Cavinder twins, a pair of college basketball players who have put their marketing skills to absurdly good use and become almost synonymous with NIL.

But it didn’t necessarily start that way. Neither Haley nor Hanna Cavinder quite knew the windfall that was coming when NIL was first introduced.

“Right, I think when NIL first passed we didn’t really understand it as much, kind of like everybody else,” Hanna Cavinder said at the On3 Elite event in Nashville, Tenn. “It was kind of like the Wild Wild West. But then we obviously created an amazing team around us with our attorney Darren Heitner and of course our agency, ESM. And then just being able to work with them throughout the years and truly understand working with brands and being able to have creative control within them has been amazing.

“Our life has changed since then, so couldn’t be more thankful.”

The Cavinder twins, who star for the Miami Hurricanes, both have massive followings.

Haley Cavinder currently boasts a social media following of more than 5.4 million people, something that has helped give her the No. 37 NIL valuation in the country (No. 3 in women’s college basketball). Hanna isn’t far behind at 5.3 million followers and No. 42 in the NIL100 (No. 4 in women’s college basketball).

Their reach makes them spokeswomen for the sport and what it can do for elite college athletes.

Both Cavinder twins point toward their robust social media followings a big part of their NIL success so far.

“I think social media is such a powerful tool for businesses nowadays,” Haley Cavinder said. “And you can see how much has grown with the student-athletes since NIL has passed. When I realized that we could really do this as a dream job would probably be since NIL has passed.

“I think Hanna and I have done a great job with our team and working with my parents and just setting ourselves up for being successful long-term. I would just say networking, connecting as much as you can down the road has taught us so much in the business space. You can manage it all and be very proactive with the right team and people in your corner.”