Creating impact and sharing sports with the world

From building basketball courts in neighborhoods and school assemblies to free basketball clinics and more, one person at the Storm helps see it all through and believes sports are especially powerful in building community and fostering social change.

Hanifah Bellaluz joined the Storm in 2022 as senior manager of social responsibility. Her role explores the intersection of sports and community, and she focuses on ways the organization can use its platform to create a positive impact, uplift voices, and give back to the community.

“Sports have a really unique way of bringing people together,” Hanifah said. “You can be standing shoulder to shoulder with someone at a sporting event that has a completely different background and lived experience than you do, but cheering for the same team gives you something in common and a wonderful, shared experience.”

Hanifah’s expertise on community impact and events comes from her experience working in youth sports and nonprofits.

The bulk of this experience came from her time with the Boys & Girls Clubs of Whatcom County, where she served as the county-wide athletic director. Overseeing youth sports leagues serving thousands of kids per year, she found a passion in serving the community through sports.

“Working at the Boys & Girls Clubs gave me the confidence to really invest in this passion-turned-career,” she said. “It gave me a critical framework of how to create sports opportunities that were accessible, safe, and positive for a community with diverse needs and resources.”

Finding herself in a position of leadership as a young woman, often leading league meetings where she was the youngest in the room by two decades and managing volunteer coaches that were predominantly men, also contributed to her development.

“I was fortunate to have an amazing supervisor and mentor who saw my potential, and although I struggled with imposter syndrome in the early years, my experience there allowed me to grow exponentially as a leader and gain confidence in myself, in my ideas and abilities.”

Hanifah worked at the Boys and Girls Club for several years, until the pandemic brought all of youth sports to an abrupt halt.

“In 2020, during the pandemic and simultaneous social upheaval, I spent a lot of time reflecting on what I wanted to prioritize with my life and what my future could be,” Hanifah said. “I realized that I was passionate about advocating for people who couldn’t advocate for themselves, and that it was something I was good at.”

The role and influence of professional sports on social justice issues was becoming a big topic of conversation during this period, especially in the WNBA, and she saw an opportunity.

“I began to see very clearly that there was a place in pro sports where my skills and experience were not only valued but needed, and I committed to pursuing that.”

In 2021, Hanifah started her MBA degree in Seattle University’s Sports & Entertainment Management program, with a focus on honing her business skills and building connections to pursue that goal. Not long after, interviewed for her role with the Storm, which she describes as a dream opportunity.

“I grew up watching the Storm and beyond that, I knew by then, I wanted to work at the intersection of sports, social impact, and business, and the Storm was an organization who had been doing that long before anyone.”

Now, in Hanifah’s current role, she’s focused on bringing that support to the community. She organizes the Storm’s free basketball clinic, Together We Rise, and puts together game activations like the annual Toy Drive, where fans can donate toys to Seattle Children’s locations.

Hanifah is a prime example of what can happen when someone combines their skills and passion to create positive outcomes that go beyond a basketball game.

“I believe in sport as a catalyst of social good. Bringing people together over sports is step one, and everything that follows can change how people engage with each other.”

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