(This story originally appeared on gobearcats.com)
Name, Image and Likeness is more than financial compensation, but an opportunity for holistic development for not only the next four, but 40 years.
Cincinnati tennis sophomore Gabby Guenther has been as active as anyone on campus. She has numerous deals with different companies and was part of the Bearcats' cohort that went to Atlanta last summer to claim the nation's Best Institutional NIL Program honor.
Part of that trip included the introduction of the NCAA x Meta NIL Empower collaboration, focused on helping women maximize those endeavors. Nine months later, it has continued to pay dividends.
"When we were at the NIL Summit, they showed a QR code and explained what the program was," Guenther said. "They had someone who had already been a part of it, and they discussed how it influenced them. They helped me apply, and I did it while there and got accepted a few weeks later."
According to Eddie Taylor, Cincinnati's Director of NIL and Innovation, the process was "super selective," with hundreds to thousands of applicants with only 50 people.
"She was one of the one percent," he said.
The program included segments on financial literacy, a Q-and-A with sports business professionals and another on how to continue brand-building and the other resources to utilize.
This also includes the most unique, and favorite, part of Guenther's NIL journey so far: official Meta sunglasses. She says she opted for the shades over the regular glasses since she doesn't have a regular pair of the former.
"I love using them because you can capture moments through your eyes," she said. "It takes pictures, video and is like Siri talking to you through the glasses. You can ask it the weather or what I'm looking at, let's say it's my kitchen, and it'll list the (appliances). It's another way to create content, and you need content that others haven't seen before. You can press a button, press record, record conversations and more."
That has continued with her other brand partnerships.
"(The glasses) are another way to build content and it's more authentic that way since it's through your eyes and what you're seeing," Guenther said. "You don't have to have a phone in your hand all the time. You're basically wearing your camera: it's like a Go Pro or wearable camera. I did a deal with Honey Mama's, and I created content through the glasses. There's an app that all the content uploads automatically there. You can have it already saved to your camera roll through there.
Guenther says she still follows other NCAA x Meta NIL Empower participants, including those who were not as active on social media and have since started podcasts and video series.
"Sometimes, I'll DM them to say it's cool and ask how they did it, any tips, etc.," she said. "We're all still connected somehow, some way around the country as female athletes with NIL and growing with each other.
Guenther did say last summer, when recapping the NIL Summit, that she was going to shift her focus once the season began. She offered her own insight on how to keep tennis on the forefront while still balancing academics and NIL.
"One of the things I've learned is timeboxing," she said. "I've started writing down every hour of the day to manage my time. Study for this class for this hour, then another hour reach out to brands, then the next hour I'll eat lunch. It's really helped me through the season stay on top of everything."
The Bearcats' back-loaded home schedule includes seven more matches in the Queen City, including against Thursday and Saturday afternoon against BYU and Utah, respectively.
