TRENDSETTER: SU alumna Lauren Fitzmaurice stars as an athlete-creator

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Lauren Fitzmaurice is no longer a Division I basketball player. Nor does she play professionally. But in many ways, she’s a professional athlete, morphing her athletic lifestyle and social media content to reach millions.

Through a unique blend of content leveraging her name, image and likeness, Fitzmaurice is a full-time athlete-creator — a newfound profession made possible by the ever-changing landscape of social media and sports marketing. Out2Win Sports, a media company that has popularized the “athlete-creator,” ranked Fitzmaurice as the third-best professional in the world. With her unique platform, she wants to put a spotlight on women’s basketball.

“I’ve made a focus on women, women’s basketball … which is no easy task because the primary audience on YouTube, especially for sports, are boys that can be hateful,” Fitzmaurice said. “In the last two years, I have been able to convince a primarily male audience that women’s basketball is worth watching.”

Fitzmaurice, a guard on Syracuse’s women’s basketball team from 2017-2020, has used her creative background to produce basketball and lifestyle videos. Fitzmaurice has generated 1.6 million followers across TikTok, Instagram and YouTube. In the process, Fitzmaurice has leveraged her NIL to secure partnership deals with brands including Amazon, Adidas and Gatorade.

“She takes the sport of basketball, which people have such an affinity for, and makes it into content,” said Jack Adler, the founder and CEO of Out2Win Sports. “That’s what an athlete-creator really is and she’s just a perfect example of someone who does it in amazing fashion.”

While athletics has been at the forefront of Fitzmaurice’s life, she always wanted to work in video and film. As a student-athlete, she filmed SU games, edited footage and brainstormed video concepts and social media content as a creative intern for Syracuse Athletics.

Fitzmaurice also founded Opulent Productions in college, which she utilizes to make her content today. The brand’s mission is to serve as a premier media production company and talent agency, according to its Instagram.

As a result of her media success while at Syracuse, Fitzmaurice moved to Los Angeles after graduation. She originally moved out west to grow Opulent Productions, but after being featured in a YouTube video by AMP — a group with over five million subscribers — her career path drastically changed.

A collection of LA-based YouTubers, including AMP, influenced Fitzmaurice to start making her own videos. Ten days later, on July 22, 2021, she posted her first YouTube video — an 11-minute question-and-answer session. After her first two uploads, which now have over 110,000 views, Fitzmaurice said she became monetized.

Then, her next YouTube video energized her success. Along with female influencers Jenna Brandy, Stephania Ergemlidze, Grace Hunter and Kookie, Fitzmaurice dominated basketball runs at LA Fitness. Her high-level basketball play stood out, but her creative prowess is what shined, as the video has since garnered 220,000 views.

After her next video, Fitzmaurice said her YouTube channel was already more profitable than her production company. But instead of abandoning Opulent Productions, Fitzmaurice used the production company to create content for the channel.

“Most YouTubers are just the star of their video, they don’t do much else,” Fitzmaurice said. “They hire people that have a background in media to film (and do) everything else. But because my background is in media … I’ve edited all of my videos.”

Fitzmaurice is the star, director, editor and producer for all of her videos. While she would produce more content if she split responsibilities, Fitzmaurice said she ensures her content is produced at the highest quality by taking full control.

Throughout her content creation process, Fitzmaurice emphasizes creativity and empowering women’s basketball. On April 24, 2022, Fitzmaurice — because her comments thought boys didn’t play as hard against girls — dressed up as a man while playing. After the game, Fitzmaurice revealed who she was, stunning the players. The video exploded for eight million views and 1.5 million likes on TikTok.

“(Engagement is) something that can be hard once you start growing,” Fitzmaurice said. “Once you have followers, you have this expectation to perform and it can be really hard when you’re only focussing on followers and views when it’s really a creative process.”

Cindy Zhang | Digital Design Director

Using her creative skills, Fitzmaurice produces one-of-a-kind viral videos. On April 14, 2023, she dressed up as a doctor alongside Ty Glover. In the 30-second TikTok, Fitzmaurice drains a long-range 3-pointer, but the viral moment came when she threw an alley-oop lob to Glover, who dunked on an opponent. Notching 18.3 million views and 2.9 million likes, it’s one of her most viral videos.

As an athlete-creator, Fitzmaurice has utilized her NIL, but it was amplified after she signed with Raymond Representation on Sept. 13, 2022.

“I told (Fitzmaurice) from the beginning, I wanted her to be the face of our women’s basketball creators and she’s been that for the last year and a half,” said Michael Raymond, Fitzmaurice’s agent.

In a year-and-a-half of working with Raymond, Fitzmaurice has capitalized on brand deals, attending Super Bowl LVII and the 2023 NBA All Star Game as an influencer. Additionally, Fitzmaurice has reached brand deals with companies like Seat Geek, 2K Sports, Draft Kings, House of Highlights and MGM Resorts to engage her fans and new potential customers through NIL. When executed correctly, Raymond estimates that high-level athlete-creators can make $500,000 or more in a year.

Fitzmaurice wouldn’t be in this position without basketball, which she says has “opened every door” in her life. She’s not a professional athlete, but she’s expanded her influence as an athlete-creator.

“Although she didn’t have the opportunity to take advantage of NIL while she was in school, she is the perfect example of what certain female athletes can do if they don’t go to the WNBA or they don’t go pro,” Raymond said.