Brandi Rhodes: I Have To Work Harder Than Everyone Because Of My Last Name
Brandi Rhodes won’t rest on her last name.
As the Chief Brand Officer of All Elite Wrestling, Brandi Rhodes has many responsibilities. She helps oversee the women’s division, builds partnerships with other brands, helps with media relations, and more. With AEW, she became the first African American woman to hold an executive position in a North American wrestling promotion. Before she became one of the faces of AEW, Brandi was a competitive figure skater. Early in her life, her parents told her that she would be judged differently in skating due to the color of her skin. In wrestling, she’s learned that she’s judged differently due to her last name.
“That was a hard, hard lesson to tell an 8-year-old girl,” Rhodes said in an interview with The Undefeated. “But now, here, as a 35-year-old woman and still making my way as an in-ring performer, it’s something that I hear all the time in my head because it’s not because I’m black that I have to work harder than everyone else. It’s because my last name is Rhodes that I have to work harder than everyone else.”
Brandi continued, “The moment I married Cody, I was supposed to be very, very elite and strong in the ring, as far as people were concerned. I’ve always had to grin and bear it. … I’ve always known that if a mistake is made, no matter what, it’s my fault. No matter what, it’s my fault. So I should just make sure there are no mistakes made.”
Brandi has already done big things for AEW, most notably signing a partnership with KultureCity to make AEW Double or Nothing the First Sensory Inclusive Wrestling Event in History.
