Alumnus Pasha Hashemi Just Doing It at Nike – And Bringing it Back to Leavey
It might seem like Pasha Hashemi was destined to grow up and work in the sports industry.
He grew up in Vancouver, Wash., just across the Columbia River from Portland, Ore., deep in the heart of Nike territory. An avid athlete, he primarily played soccer as a goalkeeper but also spent time on the basketball court in his younger years. He also knew early on that he wanted to go into business.
Still, the journey from being a kid watching Nike Soccer videos on YouTube to helping create those campaigns as a Global Brand Director for Nike Football (soccer) is more about planning, hard work, and thoughtful decisions than it is about destiny.
Hashemi has worked his way through the ranks of the company, including positions covering basketball, soccer and more. Along the way, he has led social media strategy for Nike Football during key moments like the 2019 World Cup, delivering content to more than 43 million followers. He has also played a key role in NBA All-Star Weekend, numerous product launches, and global campaigns such as the recent Phantom 6 “Feed the Phantom” and the brand’s bold new “SCARY GOOD” campaign.
In his current role, he’s responsible for setting the tone and strategy for product and brand campaign launches, among other tasks. “My job is at the hinge of many different work streams and partners,” he says.
If the company is coming out with a new soccer cleat for a global market, for example, Hashemi must carefully orchestrate the marketing strategy across teams and stakeholders, everyone from social media marketing to retail in order to ensure maximum impact across various markets. In addition to internal partners, club (team) partners and sponsored athletes are often an integral part of bringing these products to market. He’ll use those same skills to oversee marketing strategy for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, jointly hosted by the U.S., Mexico, and Canada
Getting in the Game
A pivotal moment in Hashemi’s journey to his career was choosing Santa Clara University and the Leavey School of Business.
When searching for a college, Hashemi weighed his plans for a future in business and his desire to keep playing high-level soccer. With no scholarships available, he opted to take his chances and try out as a walk-on. Already familiar with the university’s reputation in business and entrepreneurship in Silicon Valley, he knew it was the right opportunity.
“It was a risk,” Hashemi says, “but I knew that, at the very least, I was going to be getting a great business education in an incredible part of the country that only Santa Clara could offer.”
He got much more than that as a Bronco. As a walk-on goalkeeper, he was part of a soccer team that won the West Coast Conference championship in 2015. As a student in the Leavey School of Business, he found inspiration in professors such as Kumar Sarangee, whose marketing courses and mentorship edified Hashemi’s future path.
“I was drawn-in by the reality that there must be both an art and a science to marketing,” Hashemi says. “It has to be creative and aesthetically pleasing, and it has to catch the consumer's eye, but at the same time, it needs to serve a purpose.”
Merging Goals
Upon graduation from Santa Clara, Hashemi was searching for his own purpose. Still passionate about playing sports, he considered pursuing opportunities to play abroad in lower decisions, as many of his peers were doing.
Still, he felt there was a ceiling for his prospects as a pro athlete. Starting a business career seemed more full of possibilities. Then came a moment when he realized sports and business weren’t necessarily mutually exclusive. “I realized maybe I don’t have to choose, and that I could still be involved in the two things that interest me the most,” he says.
As his former teammates sought pro gigs and his business classmates took roles in Silicon Valley, Hashemi turned his sights back home — and to the home of Nike. He had done his research and knew that the company tended to hire junior talent first on a contract basis. That knowledge, plus a Santa Clara connection, got him started. Former Bronco soccer standout and assistant coach Ryan Cochrane was then working at a staffing agency in the Portland area and connected Hashemi to his first contract job with Nike just a few months after graduation.
Bringing the Nuances of Sports to the Leavey Classroom
It’s safe to say Hashemi’s decision to merge his skills and experiences in sports and business has paid off — and he also wants to pay it forward.
When Kumar Sarangee asked him to help advise him when starting Leavey’s MS in Sports Business, Hashemi immediately said yes. Hashemi says much of his advice centered on tailoring the education Leavey professors already provide to the nuance that comes with sports-specific situations.
“Business law already exists,” he says, as an example. “So how can it be modified for the nuances of negotiation in sports? What does it mean for an athlete, or a content creator, even? What’s different when you're signing as an athlete for a team or you're signing an athlete with a brand? These are nuances that these students should learn about on the legal side.”
Hashemi is glad present and future Leavey students will have the opportunity to study such nuances before they enter the world of sports business. He’s clearly grateful for the opportunities sports have provided for him — from his playing days to his current role.
“There's something really special about working at a place that inherently wants to encourage more kids to play sports,” he says. “I likely would not have gone to Santa Clara had there not been a soccer program of interest that I wanted to pursue walking onto, I likely would not have even gotten my job at Nike — a path that has led me through a series of, honestly, dream jobs — had it not been for sports. None of it would have been possible without sports.”