Milk & Honey’s New Sports Agency Hits The Ground Running [Interview]

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Pictured (L-R): Rawleigh Williams, Lucas Keller, Jacob Presser, Dave Frank, Alex Harrow. Photo: Courtesy of Milk & Honey

Milk & Honey has grown into a successful international music agency representing artists such as J. White Did It, David Hodges, Oak Felder and many more. In January of 2021, Founder and President Lucas Keller announced their expansion into the sports world with the Milk & Honey Sports Division which already has 15 NFL players on their client list.

This idea of starting a new sports agency came to fruition after conversations between Keller and Dave Frank, co-head of Artist Management/Sports Advisor/Manager, where they both agreed that the sports world and music world shares a lot of similarities. The duo also felt that they already had a foot in the door with the success of their music and entertainment agency.

“Frank said, ‘Man, what about starting a sports division?'” says Keller. “I didn’t totally get it at first, because we were so focused on music. I didn’t really understand what the intersection was to have both. Then the more we talked about it, the more I realized there’s all this overlap and these relationships.”

Frank, along with longtime agents Jacob Presser (sports division co-head) and Rawleigh Williams,  (Client Development, Head of Dallas Office, Sports Division) lead the new sports agency and helped build the new division from last October up to its launch in January of 2021.

Presser, a graduate of Indiana University and New York Law School, has been an agent in the sports industry for 10 years. NFLPA certified, he had always dreamt of being a sports agent since he was young.

“I knew I wanted to be an agent since I was 13 or 14 years old,” says Presser. “All anybody wanted to say is how hard it is to get into and that I should find something else–go be a doctor, go be a lawyer, go get into finance. But for me, I knew I’d be great at it and when I’m doing something I’m passionate about you get a great version of me. I think that’s where I’m at right now.”

When approached with this idea, Presser knew it was the right move and that Milk & Honey had already proven themselves as a music agency. The transition from music to sports was also a point of interest for him. After making the move to Milk & Honey, Presser found little to no resistance from his current clients to come with him.

“The support of of all of my clients has never wavered,” Presser shares. “I think they were excited about the new opportunities that were going to come. I think they also saw the value in coming over here. They saw that now there’s other doors that are going to open for them and there is going to be an opportunity for them to build their brand off the field, meet new people, network, and see the support that we have.”

On the other hand, Keller’s experiences in sports have been relatively scarce. Growing up in Wisconsin, he was a dedicated Green Bay Packers fan. However, outside of that Keller’s mind was on anything but sports. Over time, though, he began to feel that being an agent in the music industry was not all that different from being one in the sports realm.

“One of the similarities is that we’re committed to development,” says Keller. “A huge part of what we’re going to do on the sports side is invest in young athletes. Funding development is something that we’ve been doing on the music side for a long time. We develop people on the master and publishing side and develop young artists, songwriters, and producers. It’s important for us as a company to always be developing the next step.”

As of right now, Milk & Honey Sports will be focusing on football, but with offices in L.A., New York, Atlanta and London, Keller sees room for expansion in the future.

“It would make sense for us to scale a little more in football. I think there’s no question that when we meet the right athlete that wants to be part of what we’re doing, we will staff around that athlete and create something. I think what’s more realistic is to meet an agent, like Jake and Raleigh, that already have a business and they come in and be a part of us,” Keller explains. “The idea is that when you start a business in your first couple of years, you stay really sharp and focused on one thing, and we have a lot to do in football. We’d love to expand into other sports, but we realize that it’s going to take some time. We’re really committed and not impatient in the slightest because we understand that this will take a while to build. But we have a long-term plan to be in other sports, for sure.”

Keller and Presser are excited to bring the Milk & Honey Music model into sports, offering both sports marketing and management.

“One of the things that is unique is that we’re going to do all of the marketing and all of the branding–we’re going to build intellectual property for athletes just like we do with our songwriters, producers, and artists,” says Keller.

“It will be full service at its finest,” adds Presser.

Steven Boero
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