Home LifestyleHealthFitness Hoboken’s Hannah Valente Becomes One of The Youngest NBA Agents In The U.S.

Hoboken’s Hannah Valente Becomes One of The Youngest NBA Agents In The U.S.

by Diana Cooper
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Hannah Valente, a fifth generation Hobokenite, became one of the youngest NBA agents in the U.S. earlier this year. And what’s more, she’s taking the male-dominated industry by storm and did it in the midst of earning her college degree from Providence. Later this year, she’ll be sitting for the bar exam to be a licensed attorney in the state of NJ in hopes of helping college athletes reach their goals of becoming a professional basketball player. Read on to see Hoboken Girl’s exclusive profile on rising star Hannah Valente.

hannah valente elon law

(Photo credit: Rob Brown/Elon University)

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Growing Up In Hoboken

Hannah’s family’s history in Hoboken began in the late 19th century after her grandparents, of Irish and Italian descent, immigrated to Hoboken. Her parents met in Hoboken and raised three daughters the oldest sibling being fiery redhead Hannah. The now 24-year-old college student worked at Johnny Pepperoni throughout high school, and became “pretty loyal” to all the uptown spots, including Tenth Street Pizza, Madison Bar & Grill, and City Bistro. 

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“I’ve grown up in such an incredible community in uptown Hoboken. I did all of the Hoboken rec leagues. It always felt like a special community,” Hannah told Hoboken Girl. “I think due to the fact that most of my family lives in town and also I had a great group of friends. We’d go to Elysian Park and just always be able to find other kids to play with growing up. There was never a lack of fun going on.”

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hannah valente parents

^ Hannah courtside with her proud parents

Hannah commuted to NYC every day to attend Loyola School, a private Jesuit high school in the Upper East Side. It was there that she got her “first taste” of managing a boys’ basketball team. She then went on to attend Providence, a private Catholic college in Rhode Island, where she continued on managing the men’s basketball team.

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“That’s what really sparked me wanting to pursue this career professionally. During my time at Providence, I really got to know and hang out with the players,” Hannah shared. “Most of the time I was with the players more than my friends and I got to know the coaching staff pretty well and it really led me to this path of wanting to become a sports agent and wanting to pursue being an attorney with the focus on sports law. It’s the sport I love the most and I knew that there was never a shot that I’d be playing, but I knew that there was a shot where I could represent athletes.”

hannah valente running

^ Hannah loves running in her downtime and has run several half-marathons.

Becoming A Sports Agent

The college alum received her degree in the fall of 2021 and spent the next few months going through the exam process to get her certificate from the National Basketball Players Association to be a sports agent for NBA athletes. Lo and behold, she became an agent in February 2022 and was told by the NBPA that she was “one of the youngest to be certified.”

“It was a cumulation of so much hard work, excitement, and I just felt a great sense of pride too that I was able to achieve this at such an early age,” Hannah explained, reflecting back on her emotions. “Once I received the certification, I was getting a couple job offers and it really just propelled my professional career a year forward than it would be had I waited until I graduated law school, waited to be a licensed attorney and then took the exam. But this is the career I decided I wanted to do back in high school so it really is just a cumulation of a lot of preparation and well planning to get to this point now.”

hannah valente providence basketball

She’ll be soon returning to Elon to finish her last semester of law school and then sit for the bar exam to become a licensed attorney in NJ. Although the go-getter is waiting to officially take on agent life full time, she continues to gain experience and spent this past summer working at MetLife stadium with the general counsel.

“I’ve been fortunate to have several experiences working with sports agents. What I’m focusing on right now is representing and talking to college athletes for name, image and likeness. My first client I’m primarily working with is my sister who’s on the track and field team at High Point University,” Hannah shared. “I’m in the process of figuring out which sports agency I’m going to work for and that would be the professional representation. It’s mostly recruiting, getting to know athletes and their families while they’re still in college, and then just talking to different teams and trying to figure out where they will flourish the best.”

hannah valente sports agent

^ Hannah with Providence’s Head Coach for the Men’s Basketball Team, Ed Cooley

Hannah grew up a Seton Hall fan and says she hopes to continue on her love for the game, specially the Big East tournament, in her career by working with college athletes, which she says “would be the most fulfilling career for me.”

“I built most of my connections going to school in North Carolina with the hope of returning to the NY/NJ area. It’s where I’m most comfortable and I hope to move back. I’m taking the bar in NJ so my plan would be to have my law license in NJ, apply for NY and, ultimately, whether it’s a remote job or in the city, my plan is to move to Hoboken as soon as I make that final decision,” Hannah said. 

Becoming An Inspiration

The half-marathon runner says her NJ fame, which came after appearing in headlines from becoming a young agent, has brought “incredibly positive feedback” from her friends, family and the community.

hannah valente providence team

“When I was studying for the exam, in case I didn’t pass on the first try, I really didn’t tell a lot of people because I didn’t want a lot of people to be disappointed. Then once I passed the exam and got the other certifications, it was definitely major news to a lot of people around me and those closest to me,” she shared. “But I think the biggest take away that I experienced the last couple of months is to be able to answer so many questions from [others] that want to enter this industry… I do a lot of informational calls with mostly law students who want to take the same path.”

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Hannah says she wants to also be a role model for her two younger sisters who want to enter the same industry. “I’m incredibly blessed to have the support of my family and friends and the encouragement to enter this quote-on-quote male dominated industry,” she said.

hannah valente graduating

The greatest achievement, though, for the soon-to-be lawyer was empowering other women who want to become agents as well. “I’m very fortunate to have had experiences early on being a manager in the Division 1 Men’s Basketball Program. I think if I didn’t have that experience, my career interest might’ve shifted a little bit. But I think that I’ve learned the past couple of years to not be afraid to speak up and even though there’s this kind of misconception that if you don’t play the sport or if you’re not very good at the sport, there’s a misconception for women sometimes that they won’t be able to understand, they won’t be able to call plays, won’t be able to full quote-on-quote get it,” Hannah shared.

“But I think I learned from my time at Providence that you do sometimes need to work twice as hard to get the recognition, but once you really are respected and understand the game, you kind of earn that first and then you’re treated as an equal. But I’ve had nothing but an incredible positive experience at Providence and I’ve continued to build a network of women in sports who continue to inspire me and encourage me and I hope to be that person for the next generation.”

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