Good morning. I’m taking a detour from hard finance today to talk about how NBA great Stephen Curry and his wife, Ayesha Curry, are building a business empire and what these two superstars have learned about leadership along the way. I recently interviewed them about their latest venture as co-founders and brand ambassadors for Plezi Hydration, a sports drink line from Plezi Nutrition, a public benefit company co-founded by former First Lady Michelle Obama. We talked about the relaunch of the brand and the business case behind the nutritious sports drink. You can read more here.
The Currys bring serious entrepreneurial credentials to the partnership. Stephen, a four-time NBA champion with the Golden State Warriors, is the founder and CEO of Thirty Ink, a business conglomerate. Ayesha, an actress, cookbook author, and restaurateur, is the founder and CEO of lifestyle company Sweet July. Together, they also co-founded Eat. Learn. Play., a nonprofit launched in 2019 to support children in Oakland.
So I asked them how they’ve managed to find success in both business and philanthropy. “You want to be as authentic to your core beliefs and mission values as you can,” Stephen told me. It may look different for everyone based on their interests, he said, but Eat. Learn. Play. was “built off of a heart of service, but then realizing how we can leverage the resources and the platform that we both have for a meaningful impact in a community.” Understanding the value you can bring to opportunities matters too, he said—and “sticking to it, because there isn’t a straight line to success.”
Ayesha points to a different but equally essential skill—listening. “I think the success comes in how much you’re willing to listen rather than to speak,” she told me. Many people are quick to give their opinions and lend their ideas without taking enough time to hear what people actually want, she said. “I think for us, it’s really important to ask the questions: What do you enjoy? What do you like? What do you want to hear? What do you need to see change within your environment? I think we do a pretty good job of just being quiet and listening to what people have to say.”
Research backs her up. A 2025 peer-reviewed study on supervisor listening found that leaders’ active empathetic listening, processing, responding, and sensing, improves how employees relate to the organization and reduces disconnect between them and leadership. And “The State of Employee Listening 2026” by Perceptyx finds that organizations that connect listening to business strategy and act on feedback at every level continue to outperform their peers in engagement, retention, innovation, and financial outcomes.
I also asked the Currys for the best piece of business advice they’ve ever received. “I would say understanding that in leadership or managing a business and people, you never stop learning,” Stephen said. To hear what else they pointed to as solid business advice, watch the video here. Sheryl Estrada [email protected]
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