Who I Am
Founder
I dedicated myself full time to bringing my message to corporations, schools and conferences to bring positive change to the world. Whether as a keynote speaker or a workshop leader, I help break through the boundaries that are limiting your team and get them ready to defy the odds and know that anything is possible if we Believe in ourselves. Let me help you forge forward with bringing out the inner strength that lives in you.
Collette V. Smith Bio
Collette has always had a true LOVE of Football but there were no programs she was aware of for women, until she heard about THE NY SHARKS, Women’s Pro Football Team and tried out for the team in 2011 as a 42 Year Old Woman. She made the team and after three years of being a player and then having to undergo double knee surgery which ended her football career she was asked by the Owner of the NY Sharks to coach her position, the Defensive Backs…she accepted.
Shortly thereafter she was also appointed to be their Director of Marketing, PR, Promotions and Events. In a week’s time Collette was sitting at the CBS News Station with the Sports Anchor being interviewed on television regarding women in football and her NY Sharks and has had many other networks respond to her efforts including NY1 News, Fox 5, PIX 11 News, Brooklyn 12 News, Verizon Fios and countless local stations, print media and blogs. Due to Collette’s efforts, Ashton Kutcher’s company, ‘A Plus’ featured the NY Sharks in a campaign to bring awareness to Lupus.
Collette as a child used to watch football games with her dad and recalls in particular the games between The Pittsburgh Steelers and the Dallas Cowboys rivalry! Her favorite team is the New York Jets, so when asked by the NY Jets Head Coach Todd Bowles to be one of his Coach Interns for their 2017 Training Camp she jumped at this opportunity knowing that it would help level the playing fields for girls and women around the world as the 1st Female Coach for NY Jets in their Franchise History, the 3rd Female Coach in the NFL and the NFL's 1st African American Female Coach.
She also just launched her own company October 10th, 2017 “Believe N You, Inc.”. This is a company near and dear to her heart as she visits public schools in low income and under-served communities, colleges, universities, corporations, organizations and events to tell her story of hard knocks and triumphs to instill in kids and women to believe in themselves, dream BIG, go the distance and to never give up pursuing their dreams! She finds it extremely important that these kids see someone that looks like them with a similar background where the possibilities of greatness may seem bleak but that all things are possible if you take pride in yourself, know your self-worth and never give up. Her goal is to give them hope and encouragement to lead happy successful and productive lives. Believe N You, Inc. is also a place where companies and universities can reach out to hire her to speak at their events, run workshops and do mini football camps.
Collette V Smith is an Ambassador for the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence. Collette, a survivor herself, is a pioneer in the movement on empowering women and how we can change the world if we continue to use our voices to make positive change. Collette finds this cathartic to be involved with NCADV and to empower women and girls to help put an end to DV and also teach the men to do better.
Also an Ambassador UpsUsSports and the Voss Foundation which is dedicated to funding access to clean water, sanitation and hygiene as a means to enable community-driven development in Sub-Saharan Africa and raising awareness of the ongoing need in the region.
She has been invited to Cameroon Africa by the Cameroon Federation of American Football's President for their 5th Edition of it's signature series event titled "Camer Football Women" coaching girls to play American Football, hold speaking engagements for the community to empower, inspire and encourage women to believe in themselves and to defy the odds at their International Day of Women in March of 2019.
Collette studied at Tuskegee University in Alabama where football is a BIG DEAL and she loved going to her University’s games but she couldn’t wait to get back to the Big Apple in hopes of utilizing her education in the city where she embraces the well-known adage of “Making it here, meant making it anywhere!”.
In prior years, Collette was a high end real estate broker specializing in luxury new developments in the NYC Market on the seller side from marketing, negotiations and execution of buyer transactions. Collette cultivated her interpersonal skills working for Swatch as their marketing coordinator and as a liaison for the 1996 Olympics. She also worked for Reflections LTD boutique as a fashion buyer, CS Aviation marketing aircraft to Fortune 500 companies as well as securing prestigious hospitals as clients for paperless environment technologies at Radiology Software Companies.
Collette also is a true believer in giving back to her community as she was a Mentor with Allan Houston of the NY Knicks Entrepreneurial Program for Urban Youth. Not only was she a mentor with this group, but she has won awards for BEST MENTOR. Collette now does a great deal of community work with schools that are overlooked, in need of attention and positive role models that look like them. Her gender specific loyalty is very important to her as she sees that girls do not get as much attention when it comes to sports programs as boys do. She emphasizes the importance of building positive self-esteem through team sports to at-risk teens. She believes in empowering girls and giving them the right tools to succeed in life both on and off the field. Her mission is to have a positive impact on the development of young girls, who will become the strong, effective leaders of tomorrow. She dedicates her time working with groups like i.e. Up2UsSports, Girls Inc., the “Fins Up! Sports Camps for Female Athletics” as well as many other organizations. She has also ventured into having herself and her team the NY Sharks become Official Wish Granters for Make A Wish, since this collaboration many more wishes have become fulfilled for children fighting life threatening illnesses. She believes in taking on everything she encounters seriously, passionately and with great care and drive.
“It is a great honor to be a part of such a dynamic league and gain new achievements in my life through the love of football where society says we shouldn’t be….so now I must!”
- Collette V. Smith