Continuing its spate of agreements with high profile sports stars, social trading focused brokerage startup Public.com has announced a new partnership with WNBA All-Star, Olympic gold medalist, and Phoenix Mercury guard Skylar Diggins-Smith.

Coming off an amazing 2021 season, where she helped her team reach the WNBA Finals, the company said that Diggins-Smith’s new partnership with Public.com will help level the playing field off the court and bring conversations about women’s pay equity, investing, and money to the forefront.

As an WNBA player who has spoken out about the WNBA and NBA wage gap and advocated for her fellow players, as well as an entrepreneur in her own right who has signed deals with Nike, Roc Nation, and more, Diggins-Smith brings a unique perspective to Public’s community of 1M+ investors (40% women and 45% BIPOC) on how to speak out about pay equity and getting more women of color invested in the public markets.

As part of the partnership:

• Diggins-Smith will join the Public community, sharing her perspectives and participating in the conversation. You can follow her there @SkylarDigginsSmith.
• For the duration of the partnership, Public will be giving away free stock for Diggins-Smith’s fans who start a portfolio on Public to help them start their investing journeys.
• Diggins-Smith will appear on a special edition of Public Live, our in-app live audio broadcast, to speak about her inspiring story, from her days as an NCAA star over at Notre Dame to her prolific career in the WNBA, as well as her passion for helping more women — within and outside of the WNBA — build wealth.
• Diggins-Smith will serve as advisor to Public’s recently-launched program for NCAA student-athletes, One Team, which brings financial literacy tools and training to student-athletes following the NIL policy changes announced earlier this summer.

“After doing everything I can to one-up competition on the court, I’m excited to partner with Public to level the playing field for young women of color investing in the markets for the first time,” Diggins-Smith said. “Conversations about pay equity and the wage gap, which I’ve seen firsthand, are never easy, but I hope to inspire this next generation of investors to talk more openly about these topics.”