Rough Notes + Faith Masonius: "There is beauty in the struggle."
The coalescing of one twenty four year old, who is also a college basketball star.
This is a Rough Notes Portrait/Sketch: a close-up view of one person from the world of women’s basketball, presented as a one-one-one conversation, poetic snapshot, or other colorful rendering. These portrait/sketches are sometimes free and sometimes just for paying subscribers; upgrade your Rough Notes subscription to access every single one.
Faith Masonius is a 24 year-old NCAA basketball player in a moment of coalescence: she’s a fifth year graduate student transfer, co-captain at Seton Hall, and the heartbeat of her team. She’s also a college basketball player and person I’ve long admired, which I wrote about after seeing Faith play in January and watching a bunch of her Tik Toks. During that game, Faith made this unbelievable trick shot at the buzzer that she called “probably the coolest thing I’ve ever done” in basketball. Ever since, I’ve had the feeling that I could learn a lot from Faith. Here’s a rendering of our conversation, edited for clarity, speckled with my self-consciousness, rich with Faith’s kindness, and the first-ever Rough Notes Portrait Sketch.
Rough Notes + Faith Masonius
Rough Notes: OK, hi, do you remember me from the game?
Faith: Of course I remember you. I'm sorry it took so long for me. I've just been, like, busy and stuff.
Rough Notes: Oh my God, no apologies at all: “I'm just a little bit busy in my last year of playing college basketball as the star of a team, no big deal.” Don’t worry about it! Okay, so: I think my impression of you is that you're known for being funny and maybe you've always been known as being funny. Is that true?
Faith: I don't know if I would say “funny.” The more you get to know me, I could be funny… but I wouldn't say I'm your, like, typical funny person. I feel like I'm just very open and sometimes people perceive it as funny. But I'm like, no, “I'm being dead serious.”
Rough Notes: I also have this feeling like you're the oldest amongst like the middle kids in your birth order.
Faith: Yeah, I'm the 6th child, so I'm like smack in the middle. I'm the second youngest girl. It’s almost like I was the oldest of the four younger than me, so it was kinda like those are my children. I'm not saying I had to grow up early, but I had to mature in ways that other people probably wouldn't have just because I come from such a big family.
Rough Notes: Yeah, your family feels like such a big part of who you are!
Faith: Yeah, it definitely is. I've always been like this person in my family who everyone comes to, like I'm very much the mediator, I would say. I don't like conflicts. So I'm definitely the type of person who's always trying to resolve conflicts. I was always the one sitting at the younger kids table but talking to the older kids table, if that makes sense.
Rough Notes: Like a bridge builder or being able to translate both sides.
Faith: Yeah, I think so. I like when people are all on the same page, so being able to bridge that gap.
Rough Notes: So do you guys have, like, a giant group family text message thread?
Faith: Oh yeah, we do. There's like 150 people on it.
Rough Notes: Oh my god, ok! So… I also wanted to talk to you about social media. It’s cool to me that you taught yourself so much about how to be successful on social media. How do you maintain your confidence in putting content out there? Do you ever feel not confident and kind of dumb?
Faith: Yeah, I feel like TikTok more so gives you the opportunity to actually show who you are off the court, so you're not just perceived as just a basketball player. And I feel like everyone has to get over feeling like it’s embarrassing or like it's weird. Honestly, it just takes practice.
In the beginning when I was doing [NIL deals on social media], I thought everything had to be perfect and it really doesn't. It’s the videos that don't take that much effort that's just like more realistic goes further because people can relate to it more. You kind of just have to get over that and be like, whatever. At the end of the day if people are making fun of me, I'm like, “well, I'm making money off of it.”
Rough Notes: Okay, maybe it’s because I’m like, in my 30’s and millennial, but I’m just not organically good at that. Do you ever have any self doubt though? Not self-doubt like “am I good at basketball” because clearly you are but like, do you ever doubt whether you’re telling a good story?
Faith: Yeah, I guess there's definitely times where I'm like, “Ok, this video is really dumb and it's not doing anything for me,” but I'll post it anyway. Maybe someone can relate to it, even if it's just something like “I'm freaking tired.” Like I was talking to my mom recently and I was upset after a game and she's like “take a video.”
Rough Notes: And did you do it?
Faith: I took a picture and I posted, but I didn't take a video. I was like, “OK, I'm not for that right now.”
Rough Notes: Amazing boundaries. So what do you most want people to take away from your content?
Faith: Honestly, it’s just letting people know that being yourself is okay. That there is beauty in the struggle.
Rough Notes: Wow, yeah, it's such a radical shift from back in the day when players were only known by these few questions that they're asked by journalists. Versus now players being able to say who they are directly. Like people really get a sense of you.
Faith: Yeah. Like I’m the type of person who always needs to be doing something. I’m not the type of person who can sit still. I don’t even know, like just running stupid errands, getting my nails done. I'm the type of person that can’t push things off because then they will just pile up and I'll get overwhelmed.
Rough Notes: Where does that come from?
Faith: I feel like I do get that from my mom. She's definitely the type of person who loves to stay busy. She can’t sit down and relax to save her life.
Rough Notes: That also seems like a really good quality for being a business person. You seem like a good business person. I'm just starting to freelance so I'm like, “what is going on?” But it seems like you kind of understand it… like, can you explain taxes to me?
Faith: Oh my gosh, honestly, my mom has definitely helped me a lot with that. Going back to NIL, you have to figure out how to do that. I'm definitely blessed and my mom still helps me. So I wouldn’t be able to fully explain that to you. I just know that if you’re getting paid, you gotta pay taxes on it.
And so for me, like if I were to make money on social media or NIL, there's certain things that I could have tax write-offs on, whether that's like, miles I'm driving to go do a deal, or things I have to buy, or using a camera. So I understand that aspect of it and having to save money because all the money I am earning is not all mine.
Rough Notes: Are you like, so good at tracking receipts really carefully?
Faith: That's actually something I'm trying to do better at. My mother is definitely pushing that. Honestly, it’s teaching and maturing me. I can't just swipe and ignore budgeting. Keeping those receipts is definitely something that's really important. And like, having all my shit together.
Rough Notes: It’s a lot! I’m like, where’s the 1099 for this?
Faith: I know it is, it is a lot and I'm like, “OK, well what's a 1099? What's a W9?” Like what are they sending me in the mail?!
Rough Notes: Seriously, I hate mail. Do you feel like your business manager is helpful to you?
Faith: I don't even have a business manager. It's literally all through me and through learning. I do everything myself when it comes to deals and stuff. I just have to stay on top of it.
Rough Notes: Wow, that’s amazing Faith. Okay, switching gears… Do you feel like you sort of left a part of your heart in Maryland or do you feel more sort of complete when you're in Jersey?
Faith: I mean definitely a piece of me is always gonna be in Maryland. I was there 5 years and I still consider it a home. And obviously Shy[anne Sellers, Faith’s girlfriend and former teammate] still being in Maryland, there's a big piece of me still there. I go back and visit a lot. With a long distance relationship, there's definitely hurdles that we had to get over, but I mean, it's really easy to be in a relationship with Shy. We’re making it work.
But being in Jersey has definitely healed me internally. I've been able to see my family a lot more and there’s just peace of mind after leaving for 5 years. It’s definitely a big adjustment period, but I feel like at the end of the day it's taught me a lot about myself. I've definitely grown to be more independent. I’m honestly learning how to be by myself again. I’m definitely an extrovert.
Rough Notes: What was the part of you that needed a little bit of healing in coming back?
Faith: My family. I think a big part of me almost had FOMO when it comes to my family. We're all really close. Just missing out on daily hangouts, barbecues, movie nights, family dinners, birthdays, stuff like that. I had a really hard time missing out of that. And now I'm able to, you know, go home and see my nephew and hang out with him and watch him grow up. It just makes me really happy. I'm able to be there a lot and they're able to come to my games all the time.
Rough Notes: Ok so what did your family say about “the shot”?
Faith: Oh, they were just really happy for me and I mean, I've been doing that shot my whole life, so they're not surprised by the shot, just happy it went in and they're all really excited for me.
Rough Notes: Are you sick of talking about “the shot” at this point? Is that a dumb question?
Faith: No, part of me is still in shock and I'm like, “oh my gosh, like that was literally so cool.” I’m still in disbelief that it happened.
Rough Notes: Do you remember what you were thinking as it was happening?
Faith: I'm just like, “oh man, I hope it goes in.” I didn't even know, I thought we were about to tie the game. That's just me being oblivious. I couldn't think. I just had to do.
Rough Notes: Yeah, to me one of the coolest things was that in the final seconds they were all descending on you so hard, like they had 4 defenders on you, you know what I mean? Could you feel the defense crushing in on you?
Faith: I didn't realize at the time that there were 4 people on me. I was like, “I know if I pass this ball, it's gonna be too late,” so I have to shoot. I just let it go and let God!
Rough Notes: Yes! Okay, I know I’ve had you for almost half an hour. Are you like, “I need to go right now”?
Faith: No, you’re fine!
Rough Notes: Okay. Well, thanks so much for talking to me. I'm just trying to write about basketball in a way that's more about who people are as people. And sometimes I just get intimidated, like, “oh this isn't the right way to do it in a traditional sports space,” you know what I mean? Like how press conferences can oftentimes sound exactly the same every time? I don't know, do you have any advice for me?
Faith: I feel like sometimes it might be intimidating just because other people aren't asking that. But better understanding of people, I feel like at the end of the day that allows you to see them outside their sport. People aren't playing sports their whole lives. So, yeah, obviously like you might be asking different questions, but it's not a bad thing and it's not something you should stop because you're getting the full picture of who they are. I think it’s really especially because on social media, people can be brutal. It’s like sometimes people don't see athletes as humans too. But we have feelings.
Rough Notes: You definitely have feelings!
Faith: Yeah, I think it’s really important and refreshing to see athletes as more than just that, as people.
Rough Notes: Well, I know you still have, um, more unfolding before you. Are you thinking about the draft, or… ?
Faith: I mean, obviously I would be dumb not to put my name in, but we’ll see. Whatever is gonna happen is gonna happen. I don't know what I'm doing next. We'll see. I'm gonna let it come and let it develop on its own.
Rough Notes: I really relate to that. I think that's very brave to let yourself be open to the mystery.
Faith: Yeah, exactly. Let it be.
Rough Notes: Well, I hope you have a really good rest of the day, Faith.
Faith: Thank you, it was nice talking to you too.
Yesssss Maya. So so cool. I cannot wait to keep watching you do your thing!!!
Awesome!