Game Day Ready With Hally

Student-athletes at the University of Maryland like to look good and play good, For many of the female athletes that means using different hair products. As a result, when the new NIL laws and regulation passed, it made it possible for several of them to form partnerships with Hally Hair, exchanging social media advertising for compensation and access to products.

Seven different student-athletes have known deals with Hally Hair: gymnastics’ Emma Silberman & Sierra Kondo, women’s soccer’s Sydney Urban & Kelsey Smith, volleyball’s Ally Williams and track’s Kasey Ebb.

“I saw the company on OpenDorse and I thought it would be a fun opportunity since I love adding stuff to my hair,” Williams said. “I thought it would be cool to reach out to them and they ended up sending me stuff and I made a TikTok for them.”

Both using the products and creating the TikToks have been enjoyable for the girls.

“For the 4th of July I did a 4th of July hair-do” Williams said about her Hally Hair TikTok. “I got red white and blue hair coloring for it, so it was like a little hair stick and it was really easy to apply. I just stripped it into my hair and then I braided my hair for them and then I posted a TikTok of me doing that.”

Urban and Smith touched on their experiences as part of the company where they work to spread awareness about the products to others. 

“I post on TikTok, which is the platform that they asked me to and I kind of review their products and let them and whoever is watching know what I think about them,” Smith said.

“I’m a part of their ambassador program, so I basically post their products and give products to either my friends or someone to use,” Urban added. 

Both of the soccer players also appreciate the mutual benefits that the partnership provides. 

“I feel like it gives an opportunity for not only myself but for other brands that are working with Hally to reach out and collaborate with athletes,” Urban said.

“I think it's a good way for brands to get their products out there because at our age social media is a huge platform where everyone can share their ideas and stuff like that,” Smith added. “So I think it really helps us and future student athletes to share both sides of what we are doing and try to help each other out.”

As Kondo sums up, the various deals that Maryland student-athletes have made with Hally Hair have created a plethora of benefits and opened up new doors in the NIL landscape. 

“I partnered with Hally Hair because I thought their Shade Stix was so fun for meets and showing school pride,” Kondo said. “I also love a good self care product which the Fluffy G hair gloss is perfect for. Hally Hair was one of my first brand deals so I was able to put my foot in the door and figure out the whole NIL process. After working with them, I actually became a college ambassador for them. So, I promote not only Hally Hair products but Too Faced makeup, who they recently collaborated with. I post on Tiktok and Instagram and in return I have received a bunch of products and payment.”