Mo’ne Davis is on fire. Not her baseball pitch, but her brand.
Eight months after the 13-year-old’s 70-m.p.h. arm helped take Philadelphia’s Taney Dragons to the Little League World Series, Davis is the inspiration behind a line of high-top sneakers and silicone watches. She’s got a biopic in process for the Disney Channel, HarperCollins published her 191-page memoir in late March, and the April issue of Seventeen magazine features the tidy South Philadelphia bedroom — complete with zebra-print sheets — that Davis shares with her little sister, Mahogany.
And Davis and Tulsa Shock point guard Skylar Diggins introduced pop stars 5 Seconds of Summer to millions of youngsters tuned in to the Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards during the last weekend in March.
“It’s cool,” Davis said, nonchalantly, peering from behind black-rimmed Ray-Bans. “There are some fun things like meeting some of my favorite celebrities.”
Add these recent image-building coups to Davis’ already substantial optic moments — starring in a Spike Lee-directed commercial for Chevrolet, landing a Sports Illustrated magazine cover, and being crowned the Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year — and you’ve got a Philly-bred girl on her way to Grace Kelly status.
But unlike our East Falls’ princess, Davis has the power of today’s social media (she even gets tweets from FLOTUS). And with the effective management of her mother, stepfather, and personal advisers, she may one day sit at the helm of a lifestyle and entertainment brand as recognizable as Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen.
“She’s more than just a great baseball player,” said Davis’ coach Steve Bandura, who, since she pitched those two shutout games in a row, has been fielding requests for appearances on talk shows from Good Morning America to Jimmy Fallon. It was also through Bandura that Davis was photographed by fashion photographer Albert Watson for the November “Women who Dare” issue of Harper’s Bazaar.
“She’s being chosen because of what she represents — an inner-city, African American girl
