- Kailey Edwards has left WME to become Vice President of Women's Sports and Business Development at LIFT Sports Management, reporting directly to founder Donnie McGrath out of New York.
- She's bringing two WNBA clients with her: Minnesota Lynx guard Olivia Miles and Washington Mystics center Lauren Betts, both of whom she'll continue representing on and off the court.
- A former Boston College guard who also played pro in Germany, Edwards will work alongside LIFT Chief Content Officer Gina Paradiso to grow the agency's women's sports, NIL, and brand-partnership business.
- The move follows a run of expansion at LIFT, including a new creators division and fresh basketball signings across the WNBA and NBA.
LIFT Sports Management has hired Kailey Edwards as its new Vice President of Women’s Sports and Business Development, pulling the veteran agent from WME to help expand its women’s division.
Edwards will report directly to LIFT founder Donnie McGrath and work out of New York. She’s bringing two clients over from WME: Minnesota Lynx guard Olivia Miles, whom she’s represented since Miles’ high school days, and Washington Mystics center Lauren Betts, for their on- and off-court representation.
At LIFT, she’ll partner with Chief Content Officer Gina Paradiso to shape the agency’s women’s roster across NIL, commercial partnerships, and emerging properties in soccer, volleyball, softball, and other Olympic sports.
A former Division I guard at Boston College who also played professionally overseas, Edwards previously worked at Voltage Management before WME, where she helped guide Aneesah Morrow‘s transfer to LSU ahead of the 2025 WNBA Draft. Morrow has since signed with LIFT for representation.
The hire caps a busy stretch for LIFT. The agency launched a creators division this spring under former UTA agent Paul Coggiola and has kept adding basketball talent, from Wizards forward Julian Reese in June to Morrow’s signing in May.
LIFT’s roster now includes roughly 10 WNBA clients, and the firm led all agencies with five first-round picks in the 2026 NBA Draft.
Takeaways
This hire is less about one executive switching agencies and more about what it signals: women’s sports representation has become valuable enough that a firm like LIFT is willing to build a dedicated leadership seat around it.
Edwards isn’t walking in empty-handed, either; arriving with Olivia Miles and Lauren Betts instantly gives LIFT two of the WNBA’s most marketable young names, and it continues a pattern of agencies poaching entire client relationships, not just executives.
Will Miles and Betts’ move with Edwards encourage other WME clients to follow their agent rather than stay put? Can LIFT keep pace with heavyweight rivals like WME and CAA as competition for top women’s basketball talent intensifies?
