Courtesy from Chelsea Starks
Meet Chelsea Starks, the senior Marketing Major here at the University of Hartford who is doing everything she can to create her own image, instead of living under her father’s shadow.
Oh, by the way, her father is ex-NBA All-Star John Starks, who played in the National Basketball Association for over a decade, including a tenure with the New York Knicks, where he grew in popularity.
Yeah, he was the guy who dunked over Michael Jordan and had a glorious on-the-court relationship with Indiana Pacers Reggie Miller, but enough of that, Chelsea has something she wants to say.
“If you hung out with me for one day, you wouldn’t even know who my dad was and you’d come to like me for my personality and nothing else,” Starks said, who comes from a humbled family that values hard work.
It’s tough to imagine growing up in a family where your father is on the road so much playing professional basketball, but that’s just life in the Stark’s household. The standard family structure where the father works a 9-to-5 and comes home to spend time with the wife and children didn’t really exist in Chelsea’s life, it’s all she knew, however.
“I traveled a lot growing up. I was born in New York and moved around as my dad moved from team to team, so I went to different schools growing up,” said Starks, “It was tough because I made and lost a lot of friends, but it was a great experience seeing my dad play basketball every night and see his intensity on the court.”
Growing up in the middle of older brother, John Jr. and younger sister, Tiara, Chelsea was able to witness eight years of her father’s professional basketball career, including in his prime with the Knicks.
The general impression one might get about someone who grew up in a family with wealth, a lavish lifestyle and a father in the public eye is that they’d be stuck up, conceited and walk around with their $10,000 designer handbag, but nope, not Chelsea.
“I’ve had so many random jobs in my life, like Blockbusters and California Pizza Kitchen because I don’t like being given things in life, I get a rush out of working for everything I own,” said Starks.
Famous for his intensity on the court, father John has rubbed off on her daughter as she pursues a career in business, looking to use some connections she has to work her way up the food chain.
“That’s probably the coolest thing about my dad is that he has so many connections in the corporate world that I can use if I work hard enough to help me succeed in the future,” said Starks.
Really? The coolest thing about your father being a notable ex-professional basketball player is that he has some great connections in the working world? Yeah, she’s that kind of person who appreciates the little things in life and doesn’t get caught up in the limelight.
Granted, being able meet people like Kobe Bryant in China, hang out at Hall of Fame basketball player Julis Erving’s house and casually take pictures with Waka Flocka at basketball games might make some people a little star struck, but not Chelsea, who grew up in that lifestyle.
“To me they’re just people. I have seen a lot of celebrities in my life, but after you get to know them, they’re just normal people,” said Starks.
Starks’ life has been anything but normal in her 21years on this planet earth, but that’s all she wants to be seen as when it all comes down to it, just a normal girl trying to make her way in this world.
“At the end of the day, I’m just me, trying to get through my senior year of college and see what life has for me on the other side,” said Starks.