Speedy turtles fc: TST’s ‘25 Cultural Darling
player-first, fan-first, culture-first.
Speedy Turtles FC is Atlanta’s premier women’s soccer team built from the ground up to compete in TST (The Soccer Tournament), the $1 million winner-takes-all 7v7 tournament. Born with no blueprint and no rulebook, the Speedy T’s weren’t just a team, we were a cultural experiment. A re-imagination of what women’s soccer could look like, feel like, and stand for. As if the Savannah Bananas had a baby with Unrivaled.
But this wasn’t just about stepping on the field. It was about building a world people could step into and believe in. A brand designed to entertain, connect, and storytell across every touchpoint. From custom kits and limited drops to ATL takeover weekends, mic’d up content, and community-first partnerships.
It wasn’t just a team, it was a proof of concept.
Built Different. Built to Entertain.
Built Different. Built to Entertain.
No legacy. No sponsors. No fanbase.
Speedy Turtles FC was born out of a question. Created for The Soccer Tournament (TST), we weren’t just here to compete, we came to shift the energy. The brand became a cultural movement, built from scratch in just 6 months powered by storytelling, community, and pure belief.
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I served as the Chief of Brand & Creative, which is a fancy way of saying: All things Speedy Turtles FC: I dreamed it up, mapped it out, and brought it to life.
From day one, I was responsible for setting the vision and building the brand from the ground up. Setting not just what Speedy Turtles would be, but how we’d show up, what we’d stand for, and why people would care.
I built the strategy behind our voice, look, feel, and vibe, then led the execution across every single touchpoint.
Brand identity & positioning
Storytelling strategy & campaign development
Creative direction across brand, kits, merch, social, and digital
Partnerships & sponsorship management
Experiential & event activation planning
Social media rollout & content roadmap
Culture-building and community engagement
Built and led a 12-person team across creative, brand, team, and op functions to launch and sustain a brand-first soccer experience unlike anything else at TST.
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TST is the annual 7v7 soccer event that’s redefining the sport itself. With a $1 million winner-takes-all prize, it brings together sports legends, entertainment figures, global icons, elite athletes, and celebrities for an action packed-few days. Broadcast on ESPN it has become a massive stage featuring fast-paced matches, fan engagement, and a festival atmosphere.
The 2024 tourney drew in 42,436 fans to Cary, NC for the event-weekend in 2024
With a total of 134 matches, each match averaged roughly 243,000 viewers on ESPN+
The tournament itself consists of 16 Women’s Teams & 48 Men’s Teams with elite competition including: US Women’s National Team, Hope Solo’s Team, Michael B. Jordan’s AFC Bournemouth, Wrexham A.F.C., Nani FC and more
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In a tournament dominated by men’s teams and legacy names, we wanted to build something that made people stop, watch, feel, and remember, even before they even knew who we were. Our goal? To make people care about a women’s soccer team they'd never heard of.
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To re-imagine how women's soccer is marketed, celebrated, and experienced by thinking boldly and transforming every moment into a spectacle: on the field, digitally, and everywhere in between.
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To be the most electrifying and instantly recognizable team at TST. The fan favorite, the underdog with main character energy, the team even the pros are watching.
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Fast & Fearless → Speed isn’t just in our name—it’s in our DNA.
Subvert Expectations & Cultivate Curiosity → From name to tactics to tone, nothing about us was predictable.
Electric & Entertain First → Built to be felt, not just followed.
Celebrate Women, Loudly →We centered the sport and the stories of women. No asterisks.
Design like a disruptor. Market like a myth maker.
= Build something the world hasn’t seen before & tell the story like it’s already a classic. that’s exactly what We did with Speedy Turtles.
A team that didn’t exist 6 months prior became one of the most talked-about women’s team at TST.
10+ major crossovers with sports orgs and creators
—Like the Atlanta Dream, Jolene Jolene, and Megan Reyes amplifying by cultural relevance, not just reach.
Top 5 most engaged teams on TST’s social
—Across all men’s & women’s brackets despite being a brand-new, unseeded team in our inaugural year.
0 ad spend. 100% organic.
Our growth was fan-generated and moment-led—built through memes, meaning, and momentum.
30%+ engagement rate on top Instagram posts
—10x the sports industry average (typically ~2–3%). That’s not just interest. That’s investment.
129.3% spike in profile activity during TST week
— proving culture-first content drove real-time traffic and engagement.
200,000+ profile views in 30 days
— fueled by community buzz, not brand dollars.
Creator spotlight
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Creator spotlight *
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Speedy Turtles Player | 74.1k followers
Former D1 @ UNC and U-17 Mexico National team, 1 of 5 founding members of CBS Sports Golazo, Emmy-Award Winner, Host of CBS Sports, Attacking Third, and Scoreline
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To be the most electrifying and instantly recognizable team at TST. The fan favorite, the underdog with main character energy, the team even the pros are watching.
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Speedy Turtles Player | 35.2k followers
U-17 Colombia National team, Former and Current Host: La Liga, CBS Sports, Apple TV+, 433's World Cup Breakfast Show, NBC Universal
We took three powerful forces: emotion, Showmanship, and identity & built a brand that people chose to belong to.
We turned curiosity into conversion: A name like “Speedy Turtles” was weird enough to grab attention and the story was deep enough to hold meaning. Belief got us buy-in. We built a movement, not a moment. Everything from tone to merch felt alive, so people didn’t just watch, they participated. We made our fans the main character. Our marketing wasn’t about hype. It was about inviting people into the story at every turn.
Why it worked
We didn’t try to mimic the system, we reimagined it.
We built a women’s team like you’d build a cult brand: grounded in story, fueled by emotion, and made to be shared. Instead of chasing credibility or begging to be taken seriously, we built something so distinct, and so full of life, it couldn’t be ignored.
This wasn’t marketing in the traditional sense. It was cultural storytelling in motion. With every post, every moment, every detail, we made people feel something before we ever asked them to care. We didn’t rely on hype or legacy, but rather story, identity, and community. And that kind of connection? It sticks.
We didn’t have time, money, or legacy. What we had was energy. In 6 months, we built a brand that felt like it had existed for years by making people feel like it was theirs from day one.
What We Built
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What We Built *
What We built
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Brand Identity
Built Different. Built to Entertain.
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Partnerships
Partnered to build.
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Content + Social
Built for the feed, made to be felt.
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Activations
IRL magic.
