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Renee Montgomery traded the locker room for the boardroom as the first WNBA player to become a team owner.
The WNBA is always on the frontlines of the fight for equality and representation, and despite her 5-foot 7-inch stature, Renee Montgomery is a giant among them. She made last year's The Root 100 list for leaving her 11-year career as a two-time WNBA champion with the Atlanta Dream to dedicate her time to social justice. Montgomery embodied her "turn moments into momentum" philosophy by taking her activism from the Atlanta streets to the boardroom of the Atlanta Dream. She is the first former WNBA player to become a team owner. "My dream has come true," said Montgomery said in a statement. "Breaking barriers for minorities and women by being the first former WNBA player to have both a stake in ownership and a leadership role with the team is an opportunity that I take very seriously." This boss move is even more epic because she will replace former Republican Sen. Kelly Loeffler, who previously co-owned the Dream and condemned the league's social and racial justice advocacy. Montgomery and fellow Dream players campaigned to help Rev. Raphael Warnock defeat Loeffler in a runoff with record voter turnout. Montgomery also has an impressive resume in sports media as an Atlanta Hawks analyst, podcast co-host of Talkline, NCAA women's basketball announcer and host of her own new podcast called Remotely Renee. She is the epitome of a gamechanger for women's basketball.