WASHINGTON — With the third overall pick in the WNBA Draft, the Washington Mystics selected Fredericksburg, Virginia native and Riverdale Baptist School alum, Shakira Austin.
The 6-foot-5 center who shined at the University of Maryland before transferring to Ole Miss, is now focused on making a name for herself in D.C., in more ways than one.
“I just couldn’t believe that it was actually happening -- it was surreal,” Austin said. "Definitely just happy, feeling blessed and just really excited to start this journey back at home."
Austin brings skill and size to the Mystics. She’ll be the tallest woman on the team, standing eye to eye with Mystics superstar, Elena Delle Donne.
“I feel like on the offensive end there’s nothing I cant do," Austin said. "I’m trying to get more comfortable with my three ball but I feel like I can go inside, I can go outside, and on the defensive end, I’m able to guard anyone on the floor."
But basketball isn’t Austin's only passion.
“Cooking is something I love to do off the court, and I aspire to one day have my own restaurant," she said. "I'm big on nutrition, and big on wanting to eat healthy. I want to own my own restaurant and I want to have my own farm too, so we’ll see."
Austin jokes that her teammates are often her taste testers, and they’ve never tried a meal of hers they didn’t like.
“I love so many things, there's a wide range of options," she said. "I have chicken pot pie, I have pastas, pot roast, stuffed salmon, stuffed pasta -- I really am just creative with it."
Austin is a young entrepreneur, and her career goals don’t stop at food and basketball.
“You know me being 6’3 in like 7th grade and middle school, it was tough to find stuff to wear that fit, so it kind of just sparked a passion off the court," she said. "It’s just something I taught myself how to do, I taught myself how to sew clothes and it’s just been a dream that lowkey started to grow."
Austin designs and makes clothes for herself and after posting pictures of herself wearing her recently designed clothes on Instagram, she received dozens of messages from other tall girls, inquiring about her fashion.
“I feel like with fashion, it doesn’t have to be expensive or designer, it just has to represent you,” said Austin.
Right now her name is synonymous with basketball, but the 21-year-old has aspirations of putting her name on a restaurant, and a fashion label sometime in the near future.
“I definitely have a lot of goals and dreams outside of just basketball," she said.
When she’s not playing basketball, sewing clothes, or cooking for teammates, Austin likes to go to parks and paint while picnicking with her cat, Katarina.