Chicago Sky's Marina Mabrey's "This is My Kitchen"

 

CHICAGO, Ill. --- Two former Notre Dame Women’s Basketball players, Marina Mabrey of the Chicago Sky, and Jackie Young with the Las Vegas Aces went head-to-head in Chicago in a WNBA match up for Notre Dame Night.

ABC57 caught up with one of those former players, Marina Mabrey beforehand.

Mabrey said although she was excited about Tuesday's match up, she’s been focused on advancing women’s basketball through her brand "This is My Kitchen.”

She started the brand back in 2019 after men told female athletes to stay in the kitchen.

“I saw a lot of hate on women's basketball coming out and just being able to be that voice I was on a platform that people were listening to, and the WNBA was coming up and getting more popular. So, we kind of just put together something where we could come together as a unit and have something to, to have in common and also to be able to stand up and use our voices to promote women's basketball,” said Mabrey.

Mabrey talked about the brand inspiring not just women but girls too.

She also discussed the brand’s growth since it was started in 2019.

“I think like at the time, when we were in the Final Four, it was like the most watched women's Final Four for a while, obviously now. It's growing. That's great. I love to see that. But that was the first year that had like a big spike, and, like, the common theme was like, go make us a sandwich,” she added.

“So we were kind of just like joking around after the game, and I was like, I'm going to tweet something like whatever and then it got a lot of traction. Like a lot of people kind of stood up for us and was like, I agree.”

Mabrey's brand is also expanding into pickleball, the world's fastest growing sport.

View more information about Mabrey’s brand.