By Marissa Wells
Contributing Writer
“Building Your Brand 101: A Playbook for Student-Athletes on Money, Media & Mental Health,” by Ed Robinson, presents practical tips on how to effectively engage with various media platforms, manage personal well-being and handle money.
Robinson’s work as a mentor helped serve as inspiration for his debut book.
“The genesis for the book came to life after providing media training to one of my mentees, Jalen Woods, who was in high school at the time, but now plays football for the UCLA Bruins,” said the author.
The playbook is intended for high school and college student-athletes, coaches, athletic directors, player development staff and parents.
It was important for Robinson to create a book that would fulfill an untapped need for the community of student-athletes.
“In speaking with both student-athletes, parents, as well as athletic directors and player development staff, I discovered that there was a lack of information for student-athletes in the areas of media, mental wellness and money management,” Robinson said. “This playbook can help to augment the aforementioned skills for student-athletes.”
In the book, Robinson answers the question, “What do student-athletes need to know?”
The book is broken into three sections that address media, mental wellness and finances. Within each section are subsections that address topics like public speaking, social media, interviews, mental health disorders, substance abuse disorders, financial literacy and more. There’s a reflection area at the end of each section where readers can record what they gained from the text.
“Building Your Brand 101” will prove to be beneficial to readers.
“My hope is that student-athletes, parents, athletic directors, coaches and player development staff will recognize that the information in the book can help student-athletes, both while in school and for their future careers outside of sports,” Robinson said. “Furthermore, I hope that this book will help readers, including non-athletes, better brand themselves for optimum outcomes.”
In addition to being an author Robinson is a retiree of Southern California Edison and is currently serving as an interim pastor at Tabernacle of Faith Baptist Church. He also has an inspirational podcast. He is based in Compton. For more information about the author and his work visit samraylife.com.
“Building Your Brand 101: A Playbook for Student-Athletes on Money, Media, & Mental Health” is available for $19.99 on Amazon.
