{"id":252069,"date":"2025-10-26T05:30:28","date_gmt":"2025-10-26T05:30:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/252069\/"},"modified":"2025-10-26T05:30:28","modified_gmt":"2025-10-26T05:30:28","slug":"former-wnba-player-runs-franchisee-flynn-wendys","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/252069\/","title":{"rendered":"Former WNBA player runs franchisee Flynn Wendy’s"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u2013 Slam dunk. This weekend, the world\u2019s best women\u2019s basketball players will match up in Indianapolis for the WNBA All-Star Game<\/a>. For the league\u2019s stars, the weekend and the hype around it is a sign of how far the sport has come and how much opportunity there is for a top player today.<\/p>\n

But 85% of the league\u2019s players aren\u2019t chosen as All-Stars\u2014and despite the growing sponsorship opportunities<\/a> in women\u2019s sports, many players still must figure out what comes after their professional careers. Rasheeda Clark is a former WNBA player who has found excellence off the court, in a very different field: fast-food franchising.<\/p>\n

Clark played D1 basketball at Pepperdine, played for USA Basketball, and was drafted in the WNBA\u2019s third round in 2001 (she\u2019d been expected to be a first-round pick, but suffered an injury her senior year). Between 2001 and 2003, she played for three WNBA teams\u2014the Portland Fire, the Charlotte Sting, and the Connecticut Sun. Her time of play coincided with a change in fortunes for the WNBA<\/a> as teams began folding following financial restructuring of team ownership. Of those three teams, only the Connecticut Sun is still around\u2014although Portland\u2019s new WNBA franchise will start play in 2026 with the same name<\/a> in homage to the city\u2019s first.<\/p>\n

\"RasheedaRasheeda Clark went from playing in the WNBA to overseeing $724 million in sales for a major Wendy\u2019s franchisee.<\/p>\n

Courtesy of Elle Yeon<\/p>\n

Clark\u2019s injuries\u2014and the WNBA\u2019s low player salaries, around $37,000 at the time, she says\u2014ultimately led her to leave the sport. She started looking elsewhere for the satisfaction she got from basketball\u2019s teamwork and leadership opportunities. As an athlete, she felt she was sometimes at a disadvantage breaking into the business world; while her fellow students were interning and exploring job fairs, she had been training and traveling for games. She got into retail operations, and then was chosen for PepsiCo\u2019s famed management training program<\/a>, which helped her gain more formal experience\u2014her business version of \u201ctraining camp.\u201d<\/p>\n

Today she is the president of Flynn Wendy\u2019s, the Wendy\u2019s segment of the largest franchisee operator in the world. She oversees more than 300 Wendy\u2019s locations, almost 10,000 employees\u2014and $724 million in annual sales. She\u2019s one of seven presidents within the Flynn Group, which also runs franchising operations for Applebee\u2019s, Arby\u2019s, Panera, Pizza Hut, Planet Fitness, and Taco Bell.<\/p>\n

Post-retirement, today\u2019s athletes are pursuing a range of paths, from podcasting and sports commentating<\/a>, to investing and startups, to coaching and team ownership<\/a>. Players are eager for more former athletes to work in league offices, too. For Clark, that didn\u2019t feel like an option at the time. \u201cIt was almost like I had to cleanse my system of it,\u201d she remembers. \u201cI would have continued to try to be on a team or go, \u2018Maybe I\u2019ll give it one more shot.\u2019 For me, it wasn\u2019t an option. But those are very viable avenues for current players.\u201d<\/p>\n

She urges corporations to recognize athletes\u2019 unique skill sets\u2014helping those who wish to enter new industries to make the jump as she did. Athletes have a \u201cdie-hard mindset,\u201d she says. At the same time, they know that \u201cno one victory is won by the individual effort of one player on the team,\u201d she says. \u201cYou\u2019re always collaborating, learning the roles of other players on the court in order to be successful.\u201d<\/p>\n

Emma Hinchliffe
emma.hinchliffe@fortune.com<\/a><\/p>\n

The Most Powerful Women Daily newsletter is Fortune\u2019s daily briefing for and about the women leading the business world. Today\u2019s edition was curated by Sara Braun. Subscribe here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

ALSO IN THE HEADLINES<\/p>\n

– PBS fights back. Congress is expected to vote this week on a proposal that would end federal support for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which distributes funds to NPR, PBS, and local public media across the country. The impending deadline has led to an influx of ads, meetings with local officials, and media appearances to garner lawmaker support. New York Times<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

– Abortion travel. A provision of President Trump\u2019s domestic spending bill that prevents Planned Parenthood and other reproductive health clinics from billing services to Medicaid could have a devastating effect on abortion travel, as clinics in states that have become abortion havens are most at risk of major funding losses and even closing health centers. The statute is temporarily blocked as it moves through the courts. The 19th<\/a><\/p>\n

– Citi celebration. Citigroup, led by CEO Jane Fraser, shocked analysts with high second-quarter results that dramatically outperformed the market. The company\u2019s net income of $4.02 billion climbed 25% from the same quarter last year. Citigroup said in a presentation on Tuesday that it now expects $84 billion in revenue for the full year, a figure that is on the high end of the bank\u2019s previous guidance. CNBC<\/a><\/p>\n

– Female-led society. Scientists have discovered evidence of one of the oldest known matrilineal societies at a settlement based in the Shandong province of eastern China. The site, named \u201cFujia\u201d after a village in the province, dates to around 2750 B.C. to 2500 B.C. and, researchers say, is a sign of how norms people today consider set in stone can change. Wall Street Journal<\/a><\/p>\n

MOVERS AND SHAKERS<\/p>\n

Disney president of global advertising<\/a> Rita Ferro is now chair of the board of directors for the Ad Council, succeeding YouTube VP, Americas Tara Walpert Levy.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Lyft appointed Dana Rasmussen as chief people officer. She most recently served as the chief people and culture officer at Stitch Fix.<\/p>\n

March Capital, a venture growth firm, appointed Melissa Montan as vice president of platform and marketing. She most recently served as senior vice president at HSBC Innovation Banking.<\/p>\n

Zum, a student transportation provider, hired JoAnn Covington as general counsel. She most recently was the chief legal officer at Glydways. \u00a0<\/p>\n

ON MY RADAR<\/p>\n

The work from home gender gap is wider than ever as women continue to resist return-to-office efforts Fortune<\/a><\/p>\n

She helped launch COVID-19\u2019s vaccine in the depths of the pandemic. Now, she\u2019s planning her next act Business Insider<\/a><\/p>\n

Men might be the key to an American baby boom The Atlantic<\/a><\/p>\n

PARTING WORDS<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t not care; I just don\u2019t carry.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2014 Singer Lizzo<\/a> on how her self-worth has evolved as a public figure\u00a0 <\/p>\n

This is the web version of MPW Daily, a daily newsletter for and about the world\u2019s most powerful women. Sign up<\/a> to get it delivered free to your inbox.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u2013 Slam dunk. This weekend, the world\u2019s best women\u2019s basketball players will match up in Indianapolis for the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":252070,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[4553,25351,57584,57585,4322,99,15273,434],"class_list":{"0":"post-252069","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wnba","8":"tag-career","9":"tag-franchise","10":"tag-most-powerful-women","11":"tag-mpw-daily","12":"tag-restaurants","13":"tag-sports","14":"tag-wendys","15":"tag-wnba"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252069","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=252069"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252069\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/252070"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=252069"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=252069"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=252069"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}