Edy Lawson-Jackson and her daughter Samira recently made history as the first mother-daughter sports agent duo in the NFL, according to The Baltimore Sun.
Before becoming a sports agent, Lawson-Jackson pursued activities in band, track, and field while growing up in Baltimore, MD, and even became homecoming queen. She also developed a passion for writing, language, and history, which ultimately sparked her goal to become a sports and entertainment lawyer.
She enrolled in Baltimore City College, where she graduated in 1986, and proceeded to Howard University, where she earned a juris doctor degree in 1993, per the outlet. Her passion for sports saw her intern under a sports entertainment attorney at a law firm.
Lawson-Jackson took and passed the Pennsylvania bar exam on the first try in the very year she graduated from Howard. At the time, she was in the final stages of pregnancy and experiencing Braxton-Hicks contractions with Samira, her daughter, according to Baltimore Sun.
A newly minted lawyer, Lawson-Jackson launched her solo practice called the Law Office of E.A. Lawson-Jackson, LLC in 1999. In 2010, she obtained her NFL Players Association contract adviser certification.
“When I saw an opportunity… I said, ‘I’m going to get into the sports field… I’ve been wanting to do something with sports all my life,’” Lawson-Jackson said, according to The Baltimore Sun. “I love watching sports. I love playing sports. I’ve got my daughter involved in sports. I was like, ‘I’m going to do this. I’m going to go ahead and take the exam to be a certified contract adviser for the NFL.’”
In Baltimore, she worked with NFL players like Super Bowl champs Shaquil Barrett and Demone Harris, as well as Justin Wells and Bruce Figgins, and has five current contracts she has negotiated.
In 2022, her daughter, Samira, also secured the NFL Players Association contract adviser certification after passing her bar exams. They both work at Affiliated Sports Advisors (ASA) and have made history as the first mother-daughter duo to work as sports agents. They are also two of 88 women out of 994 total certified agents in the NFL.