REAL LIFE WITH SAMANTHA GREENBERG

While the Bravosphere and SLOMW worlds have essentially gone into a tailspin these last few weeks (looking at you Amanda Batula, West Wilson and especially you Dakota Mortensen), I decided this blog installation called for a breather from that drama and opted for something a little more fun.

I had the opportunity to interview someone that everyone should get to know, former WNBPA Agent, FIBA Agent soon to (hopefully) be “Love is Blind” Contestant, and someone very inspiring to me, Samantha Greenberg.  Sam and I sat down and talked all things WNBA, Hockey, Women’s Pro Baseball, life as an agent, and of course, our favorite reality TV shows.

MEET SAM

Sam has spent years working as a Women’s Professional Basketball Player’s Association (“WNBPA”) agent and an International Basketball Federation (“FIBA”) agent.  Her career started with an internship at an agency where she focused mostly on football. Here, she learned the ins and outs of cold calling athletes and how to set up meetings with them.  From there, she interned at another agency that was more focused on sports marketing and getting endorsement deals for players.  After that, she made her way to her first full time agent role, where she spearheaded the agency’s women’s sports department, was one of only two WNBPA certified agents and served as the Director of Business Operations.  During her first year at this new agency, or what she refers to as her ”rookie” season, she represented two women who were drafted into the WNBA and stayed on rosters.  One was drafted to the Las Vegas Aces and won a national championship during her first season

Before that, Sam received her undergraduate degree in sports management, with a minor in marketing from the University of Miami, following that she received her Master’s degree in sports and fitness, and more recently received her Master’s degree in applied data science from Syracuse University.

Currently, Sam has taken her talents to the other side of the field, working now for a hospitality company as their Marketing and Data Analytics Manager.  In this role, Sam builds partnerships for her company with different brands, and she is now opposite agents who reach out looking for Name, Image and Likeness (“NIL”) deals for their clients with Sam’s hospitality company.  Sam’s previous work as an agent has been instrumental in helping her succeed in this role because it has given her the ability to “see both sides”, it provided her with experience in obtaining partnerships and sponsorships that fit a brand and taught her how to negotiate and to find creative solutions for that work for both the brand partner and the athlete – “having that [agent] knowledge is definitely so beneficial because you are able to evolve in the current landscape”.

SPORTS WITH SAM

As a child, Sam spent many a summer’s night with her Grandfather at baseball games, which set the foundation for her love of this sport, so I wanted to hear her take on the new Women’s Pro Baseball League (“WPBL”), which she is very excited for.  We discussed how this really changes the landscape of playing baseball for women, because a lot of women start out at a young age playing baseball, rather than softball, as the two sports really are not the same. 

In fact, many women, like Sam, end up stopping playing baseball entirely as they hit high school because the only option becomes softball and “it’s such a different dynamic than the game of baseball”.  This was also the case for Philly native and now Pro Baseball player Mo’ne Davis, who won the 2014 Little League World Series as a pitcher in the all-boys league (throwing a shutout on the way to the finals) at just age 13, and then ended up only playing one season of college softball.  The new WPBL opens the door for Mo’ne to get back to the sport she loves and Sam and I are both excited to see what this does for many other young women.  As excited as we both are for the WPBL, Sam raised a great point of what becomes of softball going forward when now women have a professional baseball league? Will schools field both softball and baseball teams for women or will softball because obsolete? This will be interesting development in the sports world to keep our eyes on in the future.

SAM’S REALITY TV WORLD:

Growing up in Miami led Sam to become a major Real Housewives of Miami (“RHOM”) fan .  Like Sam, I also love these ladies, because really, who doesn’t love a good Marysol “Cockie” moment?  Watching RHOM was almost a research project for Sam, as while she watched, she got to see if she knew any of the filming locations, could scout any new restaurants to try, or knew anyone appearing on her screen.  To be honest, my viewing of Real House Wives of Orange County and Beverly Hills is based on a similar viewing directive. I currently have two running notes in my phone listing all the bars and restaurants I want to try after seeing them on these shows.

The proximity to the Florida yachting scene from growing up in Miami also got Sam interested in the Below Deck franchise and of course I had to know who her favorite Captain is, and it it’s none other than the legendary Captain Lee – “hes’s the OG.”

Sam is also in the midst of an entire rewatch of my personal favorite, Real Housewives of New Jersey (“RHONJ”), “because now you see them grown up and you are like, ‘Wait, I know who this is! Let me go back in and watch it”.  Which is great because now she knows where the breakout hit by the one and only Gia Giudice, waking up in the morning, thinking about so many things, I just wish things would get better originates from.

Sam is also a superfan of Netflix’s Love is Blind.  She has been watching from Season 1 and has applied several times to get on it herself! “They came to Boston and I was like, ‘gotta do it’. Even, like, Florida and I was like ‘Wait, I’m not there anymore, but maybe I can get in.’”  Love is Blind execs if you are reading this CAST HER ALREADY, as you can see from the above, she’s seriously awesome!!!

THE REALITY TV OF SPORTS:

The entire premise behind Bravo and Ball is that sports and reality are more alike than they are different – so I had to ask Sam if she felt there were any sports that really fit this idea, and to my surprise, she said “for some odd reason [hockey] resonates with me for reality TV” and I think she is right.  If we take a look at everything that happened at the Olympics, with both the Men’s and Women’s USA teams beating Canada, the drama that ensued after the Men’s Team spoke with the White House and made a joke about the women, who accomplished the exact same thing they did, it does start to give reality TV vibes.  Then we had the Women’s Hockey Team on Jimmy Kimmel, declining an invite to the White House and saw Hilary Knight and Megan Keller return some shade to the Hughes’ brothers on SNL.  I think after this discussion I am going to start paying a lot closer attention to the Reality TV of Hockey.

Sam also brought up another great comparison – the WAGS show from E! This is a prime example that sports and reality are, and will always be, intertwined.  The entire premise of this reality TV show is following the wives and girlfriends of professional athletes.  Discussing this also got us thinking about how many of the Housewives franchises feature women married to professional athletes, think Kim Zolciak and Kroy Biermann (former Atlanta Falcons linebacker) (they even ended up with their own Bravo show) and Monique and Chris Samuels (former offensive tackle for Washington) on the Real Housewives of Potomac.  Sam and I both then discussed that the most interesting thing about these former athletes appearing on Reality TV is that a lot of times this how people find out who these athletes are – “if you don’t know [the athletes], if you don’t follow sports, you might not know who it is” and now you are watching them on reality TV and they become “Kim’s husband” or “Monique’s husband.”

THE FUTURE OF SAM:

At the end of my conversation with Sam, I wanted to know whether she would ever go back to the sports agent world.  She loves her current role but I think she left the door slightly cracked open for an agency return one day: “It’s one of these things you always get drawn back into, you try to get out, you’re like, you love sports, get drawn back in, and I can’t complain because I do like it.”

I can’t wait to see where her career takes her (which better include a role on Love is Blind!)

For more on Sam connect with her here.

WPBL kicks off August 2026.