Meet your 2024 Financial Fitness Panelists!

Tasha Schwikert Moser

“I enjoy following the various NIL deals being made with athletes from all different backgrounds and sports. As a former gymnast, I know there is a fan base for a wide variety of sports and now we have the opportunity to bring those fans, brands, and athletes together.”

Tasha Schwikert is a senior associate with Munck Wilson Mandala (MWM) and co-chairs and is the NIL Practice Lead of the MWM WeAreNIL team. She also works in the corporate group where she represents clients in mergers and acquisitions, including a merger transaction that was over $100 million in value.  She also supports the firm’s commercial real estate transaction practice with purchase and sale transactions ranging from $20 to $60 million a month. As a former Olympic gymnast, Tasha is a member of MWM’s sports practice and leads the NIL practice, focusing on amateur athletes and the legal issues they face.  Being an athlete for 25 years helps her understand the dynamic of what a high-level athlete goes through, and she has the experience of being both an Olympian and a collegiate athlete on the UCLA gymnastics team for four years on a full scholarship.

Tasha became an advocate for institutional change within USA Gymnastics and the United States Olympic Committee, motivating her to attend law school in her late 20s. She now serves as co-chair of the special committee for over 500 Larry Nassar survivors. Tasha testified before Congress on behalf of the Nassar survivors and continues to advocate for institutional change within USA Gymnastics and the United States Olympic Committee.

Tasha and her sister Jordan are among those survivors. In addition to co-chairing this special committee, Tasha is involved in ongoing efforts to advocate for sexual assault victims in all 50 states.  In May 2019, she was instrumental in the effort to extend the Texas statute of limitations for child sexual abuse victims as a result of her testimony before the Texas Senate State Affairs Committee.

Tasha earned her J.D. from the William S. Boyd School of Law at the University of Nevada where she was VP of community relations for the Sports and Entertainment Law Association and treasurer of the Black Law Students Association (awarded 2015 BLSA National Chapter of the Year). Prior to law school, Tasha earned her B.A. in sociology from the University of California Los Angeles.

Bri Cassidy

Bri Cassidy is a former Nebraska softball student-athlete and currently serves as the Director of NIL Education for Opendorse. After missing the NIL window as an athlete, she started her own business leveraging her brand to offer camps/lessons, mentorship and apparel in the Lincoln community. She worked for both Nebraska and Univ. of Kansas athletics departments leading student-athlete development and DEI efforts. During her time at Kansas, she developed the first female-athlete specific NIL pilot program.

Opendorse is the leading student-athlete marketplace and NIL technology company that supports Rice Athletics. Since April 2022, Cassidy has led all facets of the education services offered to Opendorse’s college partners which includes providing custom education and consultation for athletes, administrators, coaches and any stakeholder (like businesses and collectives) involved in the NIL ecosystem. Under her leadership, the Opendorse education team has completed over 1,000 education sessions for over 130 associations, organizations and institutions across all NCAA, NAIA and NJCAA divisions. In addition, Cassidy helped launch major education partnerships with U.S. Bank, Keller Williams x NIL Real Estate, Movember and Amazon.

Alexis Garrett

Garrett currently serves as the Director of Student-Athlete Development & Letterwinner
Engagement as of July 2024, after joining the Owls as the Assistant Director of Student-Athlete
Development & Letterwinner Engagement in December of 2022.

As the director, Garrett supports the mission of the SOAR program and the R Association, which
is designed to empower and equip student-athletes with the personal and professional training
they need to thrive in, through, and beyond Rice University.

Additionally, she serves as the point of contact for both Rice letterwinner events and mentorship
programming. Garrett also leads the Career Development Pillar in the SOAR office, leveraging
relationships with alumni, campus, corporate and community resources to provide
student-athletes with opportunities for personal growth and professional preparation.

Garrett holds a Bachelor of Science in Hospitality, Sport, and Tourism Management from Troy
University, where she was a former track and field student-athlete stand-out and actively
engaged in NCAA and SunBelt conference committees. She later earned a Master of Science in
Sport Management from West Virginia University, where she dedicated two years as a Graduate
Assistant in the Office of Student-Athlete Engagement.

Garrett is a native of Union, South Carolina and a member of Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority Inc.

Malia Fisher '25

Malia has been one of the top Rice athletes active in the NIL space, by leveraging her success on the court and building a strong personal brand off the court – including deals with major brands like Powerade and Epsilon.

ATHLETIC ACCOLADES
2024 AAC All-Tournament MVP
2023-24 All-AAC Third Team
2023-24 AAC Honor Roll (2/19/24), (3/7/24)
2022-23 C-USA All-Conference Second Team
2021-22 C-USA All-Freshman Team
2021-22 C-USA All-Conference (Honorable Mention)
2021-22 C-USA Freshman of the Week (3x)

ACADEMIC HONORS
2022-23 C-USA Commissioner's Honor Roll

As a Junior, Fisher appeared in 28 games with 25 starts, averaged 13.1 points, 6.9 rebounds, 1.7 steals and 1.6 assists per game. During the AAC Tournament, she averaged 14.5 points, 7.8 rebounds and 1.2 steals per game, earning the All-Tournament MVP honors. Her sophomore year, she ended the season with a 48.2% shooting percentage from the floor and led the team with a 37.8% shooting percentage from three-point range. Fisher Started 25 of 27 games as a true freshman and was named to the C-USA All-Freshman Team and an All-Conference Honorable Mention. She also was named C-USA Freshman of the Week three times, ranked fourth in NCAA among freshmen in rebounds per game, and recorded a team-leading 8 double-doubles, the most among C-USA freshmen.

Fisher graduated from Hebron Christian Academy (Dacula, Ga.) where she played under head coach Jan Azar. She finished her career as Hebron’s career leading scorer and rebounder with over 1,700 points and over 900 rebounds, along with 200 assists in two seasons. Fisher also played volleyball and won a state championship with Hebron Christian Academy as a junior and was the Region 6 Co-Player of the Year and set the single-season school record for kills. She also competed in track & field where she was a school record holder in the high jump.

Fisher is pursuing a major in Psychology and Sport Management and a minor in Business at Rice University. Her family shares her passion for sports where her mother, formerly Stephanie Capley, was a high school basketball All-American in her native Tennessee and had a stellar college basketball career at Middle Tennessee State. And her father, Lavoisier Fisher, was a linebacker for the Tennessee Volunteers from 1982-85. Her brother, also Lavoisier, plays baseball at Georgia State.

Lindsay Edmonds

Entering her fourth season as head coach in 2024-25, Lindsay Edmonds has elevated the Owls back to a championship-caliber program and continues to shatter coaching records, securing Rice Athletics' first-ever American Athletic Conference title in the team's debut season in the conference. 

Through her first three seasons with the Owls, Edmonds has the most wins (56), became the first coach in program history to open their Rice career with back-to-back-to-back winning seasons and became the fastest coach to win a conference title in program history.

Her third season at the helm was a season for the ages, as the Owls entered the AAC Tournament as a 10 seed and proceeded to win four games in four days, knocking off the second and third-seeded teams en route to the AAC Championships. The Owls defeated East Carolina 61-41 in the championship game to secure the automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament, Rice's fourth trip to the big dance and first since 2019.

Edmonds was named the sixth head coach in program history on April 23, 2021, coming to Rice after eight successful seasons with the Wolfpack. She served as an assistant coach from 2013-18, adding Recruiting Coordinator duties in 2018, before being elevated to associate head coach prior to the start of the 2019-20 campaign.
 
During her tenure in Raleigh, N.C., Edmonds and head coach Wes Moore led the Wolfpack to an overall record of 190-65, including an 89-39 mark in the ACC, along with five NCAA Tournament appearances and three NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 berths (2018, 2019, 2021).
 
Edmonds and the Wolfpack won the program’s first conference tournament since 1991 in 2019-20, posting a 28-4 overall record as they compiled the most single-season conference wins in program history.
 
Edmonds’ first collegiate coaching stop came at her alma mater, Appalachian State, from 2007-09. Edmonds was recruiting coordinator and worked with the Mountaineer backcourt. In 2005-06, she served as assistant coach at Andrew High School in High Point, N.C., and also coached the AAU elite Team Phoenix.
 
Edmonds (then Lindsay Smith) was a four-year starter and 1,000 point scorer at Appalachian State. She holds the school record for career three-pointers (177) and was a team co-captain in her final two seasons. She led the Mountaineers in assists during her junior and senior years.
 
Edmonds is a native of Winston-Salem, N.C., and holds a bachelor’s degree in health promotions and is also a graduate of the NCAA Women’s Coaches Academy. Edmonds is married to Ulrick Edmonds and the couple has three daughters – Nylah, Halyn and Ahlyna.

Teresa Hudson

Teresa Hudson is a Principal Attorney with Munck Wilson Mandala and a member of the WeAreNIL team as an NIL Advisor and Educator.  Teresa is an accomplished executive with nearly 30 years of experience as a trusted adviser and consult to senior leadership, board members, and business partners.  Her legal practice focuses on employment and labor law.  She has a successful track-record aligning complex employment programs with business objectives and establishing long lasting relationships. Teresa has worked in the C-suite as an HR executive, credentialed mediator, and served as a strategic partner to Fortune 500 companies, Tier 1 institutions of higher education, and various non-profit organizations. 

Teresa actively supports DEI initiatives as a Sub-Committee Chair of the DEI Committee with the Houston Bar Association. She works with many community initiatives, including Social Action, and is the current Vice President of the LaMarque Alumni Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated. She is a member of the Thurgood Marshall School of Law Alumni Board and serves as the Board Secretary. 

As mom of a collegiate D1 athlete, who played his sport since the age 7, she know college sports from the perspective of the athlete as well as the school and parent. Teresa earned her Bachelor’s degree in Social Sciences & HR Management from Tulane University and is a graduate of Texas Southern University’s Thurgood Marshall School of Law.

In 2006, Teresa founded The Hudson Law Group and represented clients in all phases of litigation and consulted on various employment law and human resources matters.

Representative Accolades:

Received favorable settlement of less than $1 million in wage claim class action suit filed under the Private Attorney General Act (PAGA) demanding $18 million 

Obtained favorable settlements on behalf of nationwide companies sued in various employment actions in state and federal agencies, such as the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Department of Labor, and the Texas Workforce Commission, regarding claims of discrimination, harassment, and retaliation using mediation and negotiation, significantly reducing company exposure. 

Received favorable decisions ranging from $300 to $90,000 and a favorable settlement alleging sexual harassment under the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing for less than 10% of complainant’s demand.

Implemented the initial COVID-19 response and emergency implementation of internal program/processes early 2020, including guidance regarding the Families First Coronavirus Response Act and the CARES Act.