How’s this for teamwork? Former UConn women’s basketball player Nika Muhl tallied one more assist for former teammate and fellow Husky Olivia Nelson-Ododa earlier this month.
How's this for teamwork? Former UConn women’s basketball player Nika Muhl tallied one more assist for former teammate and fellow Husky Olivia Nelson-Ododa earlier this month.
Nelson-Ododa, who plays for the Connecticut Sun, was set to debut her new brand, Kayelise Beauty at Paris Fashion Week, only there was a problem: she plays in China during the WNBA offseason and getting from China to France around her game schedule wouldn’t work.
That’s when Nelson-Ododa called Muhl, knowing her former college teammate was in her home country of Croatia – much closer then she was in China.
“Just get your butt in Paris and do the runway show, please and thank you,” Nelson-Ododa said with a laugh.
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So, from Croatia to Paris and into the teal blue fashion of Kayelise Beauty. Nelson-Ododa said the brand is inspired by the women in her life and their battles with ovarian cancer and reproductive health.
“Really how Kayelise came about was mixing my passion for fashion together with some like a cause with reproductive health that just means so much to me,” said Nelson-Ododa.
But to not be there in person for this personal project wasn’t easy, but Muhl had one more assist for her former teammate. Muhl FaceTimed Nelson-Ododa and walked her down the runway too.
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“She held me up on facetime on the phone and it really hit me when people were clapping and cheering,” said Nelson-Ododa. “I could hear that through the phone and that's when I started to get super emotional about it.”
