How Allison Feaster Became Kash Cannon's Role Model in Boston

How Allison Feaster became a front-office role model with Celtics originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston

Kash Cannon didn't take Allison Feaster's praise lightly.

Cannon, a former basketball star at Northeastern and current senior coordinator of community engagement with the Boston Celtics, earned some glowing praise last year from a key member of the organization:

"Kash is a star in my opinion. ... It's effusive praise, but it's the way it is. It's real."

Forsberg: Kash Cannon and the Celtics are making a difference

Those words were from Feaster, the Celtics' vice president of player development and organizational growth, for Mass Live's October 2020 feature on Cannon.

Cannon now looks at those words every day.

"When I first read that article, I was blown away," Cannon recently told NBC Sports Boston, as seen in the video above. "I took that quote from Allison and it's literally framed in my house."

Feaster, a Harvard graduate who enjoyed a 10-year WNBA career, became the first Black woman -- and the first woman, period -- to have her role with an NBA team when the Celtics hired her in September 2019. Since then, she's served as an inspiration and trail blazer for other women like Cannon, who joined the team earlier that year.

Celtics Talk Podcast: Allison Feaster a role model in Celtics front office; Tristan Thompson 1-on-1 | Listen & subscribe | Watch on YouTube

"She is a role model to me. Having Allison at the Celtics organization not only helped me, but other women in the organization who look like me. She's just been incredible taking us under her wing. Just seeing her in this senior leadership position, it means a lot, and it's very inspiring to say the least.

"She's really great at elevating all of us, elevating other women who look like her, really just blazing a path that we're excited to follow."

The respect is mutual between Cannon and Feaster. Speaking to Chris Forsberg on the latest Celtics Talk Podcast, Feaster raved about Cannon and her role as the team's ambassador for community events in the Boston area.

"I adore Kash," Feaster told Forsberg. "I adore the work that she and her group does. I think aside from our 17 players and coaching staff and front office, she's an ambassador. She's a face of this brand. And it means a lot that my words or something I could say or do would have that type of impact on her. So, that's tremendous."

Feaster also described the moment she got the call from Danny Ainge about working for the Celtics, her role in the Celtics United Initiative and more as NBC Sports Boston celebrates Women's History Month. Tristan Thompson joined the podcast for an exclusive interview, as well.

Check out the latest episode of the Celtics Talk Podcast on your favorite podcast app or watch it on YouTube below.