Chiney Ogwumike is a Renaissance woman. She was first pick in the 2014 WNBA draft out of Stanford, she's been WNBA Rookie of the Year and an All-Star, she is an athlete contributor to Uninterrupted and she is a host of SportsCenter Africa.

This has put Ogwumike at the forefront of promoting her league.

"That's my No. 1 job when I'm not playing," she says. "I always tell rookies to focus on their careers while they're playing, not just when they hang up their shoes, because in the WNBA, you don't have security, you don't have a security net, you don't have a safety net. So it's important for us to be able to share our voices and let brands know how we should be heard and who we are as people, especially in the WNBA, where we have to fight for respect for everything that we do."

Ogwumike spoke about the value of the athlete voice on a Hashtag Sports panel in New York with Uninterrupted colleagues Jimmy Spencer, head of athlete content, and Giants guard Justin Pugh, a fellow contributor.

"I always tell people, you come to a game and you fall in love with us as players and you fall in love with us as athletes because you go an NFL game and maybe you're lucky if Odell scribbles on your jersey," Ogwumike says. "At a WNBA game, you can run down to the court, you can meet people, you can engage and become lifelong fans. So respect means getting people there and showing them that our game is just as valid as men's."

Ogwumike won't play in the WNBA this season because of an Achilles injury. It will be the second time she has missed an entire season after a knee injury sidelined her in 2014. For her career, Ogwumike has averaged 14.0 points in 64 career WNBA games for the Connecticut Sun.

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