Drafted in 2019, Marina Mabrey has been a strong force on the court. Being a vet, she knows all the tricks of the trade. Perhaps that’s why she recently recorded her name in WNBA history books, scoring a playoff-high 27 points off the bench (most ever). A prolific shooter, Mabrey makes it rain while she shoots from the perimeter. Similar to her on-court success, she has amazed fans by her actions off the court.

Five years ago, Mabrey brought her creativity to life with her clothing brand – THIS IS MY KITCHEN, and made waves with the perspective that birthed the idea. But now, it is fulfilling a more positive purpose, leading to growth and skill development. So let’s dive a little deeper and explore the whole story behind it.

Marina Mabrey knows how to send a message

In July 2019, Mabrey walked down the Staples Center tunnel donning a black t-shirt that struck everyone with the strong message that it gave. In large black and yellow letters, the t-shirt read, “THIS IS MY KITCHEN,” above which was written Mabrey’s full name.

The idea may have been birthed from a tweet of hers that she posted after the Notre Dame Fighting Irish defeated Mississippi State and won the National Championship in 2018, which read, “To all the male women’s basketball haters, y’all can get in the kitchen and make us a sandwich now, thanks.” But today it is serving a much bigger purpose.

“This is My Kitchen Brand was about encouraging young girls to get out there and keep playing no matter if they’re inclusive, if they’re not, and to become a stronger version of yourself and to go out there and be authentic and love playing the sport and be aggressive and competitive and anything that’s not the normal stereotype of girls,” said Mabrey in an interview.

The brand’s t-shirts and hoodies feature in both unisex and female styles with a black background. The design contains Mabrey’s name at the top of the basketball court while the four-word statement lies over the middle.

She gathered the design in collaboration with Represent, which is a merchandising firm that encourages its customers to showcase what they stand for and turn into a logo out of it. And that’s what Marina Mabrey did. “I gave [Represent] the idea, I told them what I wanted out of it, and we did a couple runs with what the shirt could look like, and I picked one,” Mabrey told High Post Hoops in 2019. But the question still lingers. What made her pursue this unique business idea?

The reason behind the effort

The driving force behind Mabrey creating the shirt was fueled in response to the sexist comments online in reaction to the posts related to women’s basketball. At the time, there appeared to be a wave of people hating the WNBA and how it was slowly growing as one of the most competitive and popular sports leagues in the world.

One such instance can be recalled from back in 2019, when a post containing the All-Star Game starters was shared on Instagram and someone commented, “Nothing beats a cookout with all-star chefs.” It turned out to be the most-liked comment on that post. By which Mabrey was taken a step back as she put it as, “just plain disrespectful.”

She reasoned her response based on a lot of people feeling angry because women’s basketball has been coming up, and they don’t like the fact that women can be as powerful as men.

It is indeed a sad reality that WNBA players like Marina Mabrey often come across people who casually disrespect women’s sports and, above that, they also pull out narratives that they should pursue a profession running in parallel with cooking. But we can all see the numbers the W is pulling in nowadays and it’s safe to say, women’s basketball is the hottest it’s ever been and it’s coming for the men’s game.

Stay tuned for more such updates and join us for the exciting second episode of the “Dual Threat Show” as our host BG12 sits down with Georgia Bulldogs star and Mountain West All-Freshman Team Selection, Asia Avinger