Holland, Kimberly N.

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Kimberly N. Holland

19(??)—

Sports agent, business executive

When Olympic silver medalist Terrence Trammell persuaded her to act as his agent in negotiating a sports contract, Kimberly N. Holland found her calling. As one of very few African-American women sports agents, Holland was able not only to help young athletes navigate the complex world of professional and amateur athletics, but also to provide an example of honesty, integrity, and respect, both to her clients and to other young women who aspired to a career in sports law. Holland found that sports law enabled her to serve her religious principles and her community.

Determined to Pursue a Law Career at an Early Age

Kimberly Novella Holland was born in Norfolk, Virginia. When she was three years old, she, her sister, Sabrina, and her mother Joyce moved to Washington, D.C., where her mother married a police officer named Don S. Sauls. Sauls would become not only young Kimberly's stepfather, but also the man she considered her true father. During the later years of Holland's childhood, Joyce Sauls worked as a unit secretary at the city's prestigious Columbia Hospital for Women.

The Sauls lived in a largely black neighborhood in the nation's capitol city. Even though, she was raised as a Baptist, Kimberly attended local Catholic schools, chosen for their academic excellence and disciplined structure: St. Thomas Moore for grade school and All Saints Academy for high school. Holland's parents were watchful and protective of their children, driving them to school and scheduling after school activities to keep them busy and out of trouble. Holland achieved good grades and involved herself in student government as well as many other school programs, including becoming editor of the yearbook and co-captain of the cheerleading squad. She was also an expressive girl who liked to discuss and debate, prompting her parents to suggest that she become a lawyer. Because she liked the idea of solving problems and making peace between conflicting parties, Holland decided at a young age to become not just a lawyer, but a judge.

When she was in the eighth grade, Holland also developed an interest in modeling. Tall, thin, and attractive, she attended classes at the internationally known John Casablancas Modeling and Career Centers. She found work as a model in high school and in college. She also earned extra money working part-time babysitting and clerking in a shoe store.

After graduating from All Saints Academy, Holland returned to her Virginia birthplace to attend the historically black Norfolk State University. She earned her bachelor's degree in political science, a common pre-law major. While in college, Holland began exploring different areas of law, hoping, as she related to Contemporary Black Biography (CBB), that the God she worshiped would make it clear to her which direction she should take. Following her childhood ambition, she worked as an intern in judges' offices and other types of law offices, from personal injury to criminal law, but did not find the work as satisfying as she had hoped. After graduation, she returned home to Washington, D.C., to work in the offices of Massachusetts democratic Senator Edward M. Kennedy starting in 1992. Though she found the work interesting, she left after two years. The values of the political arena clashed with her own deeply held spiritual values, and she continued to feel that she had not found the work she was meant to do.

Energized by Entertainment Law

While she was at college, Holland had become aware of another area of law practice when, after emceeing a campus concert, she was offered an ongoing job by the concert promoter. Working as a personal assistant to the entertainers, Holland enjoyed meeting such performers as Whitney Houston, Bobby Brown, Boyz II Men, and Babyface, and she began to feel that entertainment law might be the right field for her. Though she continued to investigate other areas of law, she eventually accepted a job offer with Allan Haymon Productions, one of the biggest promotion companies in the world. The company was based in Atlanta, Georgia, and Holland moved to Atlanta, excited at the prospect of working in the entertainment field. Once in Atlanta, however, she decided not to accept the position at Allan Haymon and took a job instead at LaFace Records, a successful music company formed during the 1990s by musicians Antonio Reid and Kenneth Edmonds. The name LaFace is a combination of Reid's and Edmonds' stage names, "LA" and "Babyface." Holland worked as a paralegal, or legal assistant, for LaFace's legal affairs department.

After leaving LaFace Records, Holland married and took what she felt was a more stable job as an executive consulting assistant with the prestigious accounting firm of Ernst and Young. After three years there, she decided it was time to fulfill her lifelong dream of entering law school. Still devoutly religious, Holland wanted to attend a law school that was founded on Christian principals. She chose Regent University School of Law in Virginia Beach, Virginia, and began attending classes in the fall of 1999.

During her last year of law school, Holland stumbled on still another kind of legal career. Terrence Trammell, her then brother-in-law and a talented track athlete, was dissatisfied with his sports agent and asked Holland to replace him. (At the time, Holland used her married name, Kimberly N. Trammell professionally.) She refused at first, saying that she had no experience and little interest in sports, but Trammell was persistent and persuasive. He had confidence that Holland could perform well as a sports agent, and, after many prayers, she finally agreed to give it a try.

As Holland began to pursue her career in entertainment law, she herself was pursued by track and field athletes who had heard of her through Trammell. She began to consider the idea of opening her own agency. She had never before considered starting her own business, and the idea of being on her own was a bit frightening. However, she had not found the career she believed God intended for her in any of the law offices where she had worked. She wanted to do work that she could be proud of, and the idea of being her own boss appealed to her. As a sports agent, she would not only use her legal education, but she could help young athletes achieve their goals and protect their careers. As one of a very small number of female black sports agents, she could provide an example of integrity and self-confidence to athletes and other agents. Finally, Holland felt that she had found the work she was meant to do, and it seemed appropriate that it took courage and faith to make the leap to do it.

In 2002, she got her sports agent license from the U.S.A. Track and Field Association and the International Association of Athletics Federation and opened her business, Icon Management, Inc. She did not advertise or recruit; all of her clients were referred to her by word of mouth. By 2004, Icon Management had a roster of 11 world-class track and field clients, including Olympic gold medalist Shawn Crawford. The company opened a new facility in the Buckhead area of Atlanta, and Holland hired a new assistant, her youngest sister. In 2007, Holland was on a panel at the first University of Virginia School of Law Symposium on Sports and Entertainment Law.

Trusted by her clients and respected by her colleagues, Holland has become a successful sports agent, but she has not abandoned her interest in entertainment law and still considers creating an artists division of Icon Management, Inc.

At a Glance …

Born Kimberly Novella Holland on February 25, 19(??) in Norfolk, VA; married 1996 (divorced 2006). Education: Norfolk State University, BA political science, 1992; Regent University, JD, 2002.

Career: LaFace Records, paralegal, 1994-96; Ernst and Young, executive consulting assistant, 1996-99; Icon Management, president, chief executive officer, and sports agent, 2002-.

Memberships: Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority.

Addresses: Office—3455 Peachtree Road, Suite 500, Atlanta, GA 30326.