Harrison Barnes

“At the end of the day, you're a person before you are a basketball player.”

“My goal from an early age was always to play in the NBA.”

“Staying low, not dipping the basketball, being efficient on my jabs and movements - paying attention to these things helped me grow and made me the player I wanted to be.”

“As we know, one of the dark sides of social media is online harassment.”

“Anytime you have opportunities to spread the game of basketball, it is a big thing.”

“The longer you stay in college the better a brand you build.”

“I know there is an opportunity to make some money and have a life-changing effect on me and those things are great. I don't take those things for granted whatsoever, but my focus is really on my craft.”

“It is pretty cool to see how quickly things can change.”

“The NBA is a business.”

“You know, seeing the analytics explosion in the NBA. It wasn't something I was really into in college but in the NBA everything is numbers and how you can be more efficient, so that led to me trying to make my body more efficient, and obviously Fitbit was at the top of the line for that so it made sense.”

“Because of my profession, I'm interested in team culture and how that can bring out the best in its players.”

“The opportunity to intern at Facebook was an unbelievable experience. Just to see how they operate and the attention to detail to every single product they have was a learning experience.”

“Putting on that powder blue uniform was truly a dream come true for me and my family. Because I was so personally connected to UNC basketball, I had a particular understanding of what responsibilities came with the opportunity that was presented to me.”

“You know, when we talk about leadership - in sports, politics, business - we talk a lot about success but not a whole lot about failure.”

“Coach Kerr is cool, I got a chance to spend a lot of time with him and talk to him not only about basketball, but adjusting to the Bay Area as well as his experiences and my experiences.”

“I remember throughout middle school and high school how excited my mom, sister and I would be when a UNC game was on TV. It was required viewing.”

“I would say that I'm not the next anybody, man. I'm Harrison Barnes.”

“Ever since I was a kid - growing up in a small town in Iowa, going to Chapel Hill for college and then to the Bay Area - I've been interested in how communities come together to solve their differences. And I've always been drawn to politics and social change.”

“I've always wanted to partner with a family business because their stories inspire me. One of my biggest hopes is that the family will invest in me, educating me about their business, and imparting many other valuable lessons. This process of helping an owner transition her business to trusted hands really excites me.”

“I realize I got to where I am because people took the time to invest in me and make sacrifices and hopefully I can pay that forward and try to my part to help somebody else.”