Lamonte Harris: CEO & Co-Founder | Prominent Sports and Entertainment

The Ballers Magazine
Jun 24
9 min read

Who knew an unexpected introduction to the world of NIL and athlete representation would lead to the creation of a dynamic sports marketing firm for collegiate and professional athletes alike. For Lamonte Harris, this is exactly how it all unfolded. As the uncle of a standout high school quarterback, Lamonte recalls the spark that ignited his journey in the industry: a representation contract proposition for his nephew with a bad stipulation. An experience that prompted him to dive into sports marketing and athlete branding head-on, and one that lead him to discover his passion for helping athletes with their NIL and partnership endeavors. It was up from there. Shortly after

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embarking on his journey representing his nephew, Lamonte co-founded Prominent Sports and Entertainment—a sports marketing firm rooted in the pillars of family, integrity, and the power of relationships—alongside his brother. The rest is history. Since then, Prominent Sports and Entertainment has expanded its roster to over 11 clients while maintaining its mission at the forefront of it all. As Lamonte looks to the future, he is personally excited for the continued growth of the firm and opportunity to shape the future of athlete marketing through authentic and meaning connections. Incredible!

Take us all the way back! How did you get your start in the sports industry?

I was actually interested in hip-hop. I performed hip-hop for some years and I had a lot of success in what I was doing. I had a pretty good run but it came to a point where it was either going to be my music career or starting a family. Of course, I chose being father and husband, and going that route. As far as the sports industry goes, the way that that kind of happened…my nephew is a top quarterback. He is now a quarterback at Colorado State, but at the time, he was a high school quarterback in Long Beach Poly. He was really sought-after. Then NIL came, and we started getting a bunch of phone calls about: “Hey, we want to represent Darius.” My sister, myself, and my older brother entered the conversation. One thing led to another and we started getting inquiries from other agencies. We unfortunately got a bad contract—not a contract that we signed, but a contract with a stipulation that was bad. After that, it just kind of turned to: “Well hey, if anybody's going to represent you, let's keep it in the family. Why don't you do it?” It kind of turned into a situation where I was looking to protect my family, my sister and my nephew, and I grew a love for it. I just went ahead and studied up on it there. At the time, there were no resources for NIL. So I just started searching up how to be a sports agent. I watched “Jerry Maguire” a bunch of times. I watched every episode of “Ballers.” I read a lot of books from other sports agents that have had those experiences, and gained the love for it—just how I had a love for music at one (point in) time. When I knew that I had that love for it, myself and my brother came together and created Prominent.

As you reflect back on that journey early on, what were some challenges that you faced and how did you work to overcome them?

My challenges were more so personal—as far as myself having to take these meetings and not being nervous in these meetings that I would have with people. You know, being more genuine instead of just getting on the phone with somebody or getting on Zoom with somebody and wanting to go straight to the business. I had to learn how to be more genuine and start being able to take some time to get to know people. (From there), everything else kind of just slows (down) and it goes in place. I had to learn how to be more business savvy in that new space that I was navigating. I have a mentor, an older brother-type friend, that really led me down the right path and taught me some things about the industry. I've been blessed to always have great company around me and have great minds around me that always put me in the right spaces.

You mentioned your connection to the music industry. What were some key takeaways or lessons that you learned from your career in music both from a business standpoint and also in being the talent that you have carried with you into the world of sports?

Relationships—that is everything. Every relationship that I had built previously in the music industry has kind of paid for it here in the sports industry. For instance, I'm partnered with a restaurant here in the DFW area called “Breakfast Brothers.” The owner of the restaurant, he was previously in the music industry as well and we had that mutual respect between each other. He sees what I'm doing now and we picked up conversations that made it so much easier for us to be able to partner and for me to bring my athletes over and facilitate deals. Those relationships (are key). I've never been somebody that's burned bridges. I've never done anybody wrong. I've never been that type of person. Because I've always been straightforward and straight up with people, since I started in the sports industry, I've always gotten (those referrals). I’ve always had people brought to me. I’ve never really had to search for clients. I've always had clients brought to me, and that's really how I’ve built up my roster—through referrals.