Angel Reese has always been that girl.
She spent her first two seasons in Chicago being one of the most watched, most talked about, most everything players in the WNBA, and her move to Atlanta hasn’t changed a thing about that.
“Atlanta has really been a breath of fresh air, and that feeling hasn’t worn off,” Reese tells ESSENCE.
“Chicago will always be part of my story and I’m forever grateful for the fans and the city, but I’m so excited for this new chapter. The city has its own energy too, Black excellence, culture, fashion, music. I feel at home.” Her arrival in Atlanta also comes at a moment when the Dream are making some of the biggest changes the organization has seen in years, starting with how they think about their fans.
At the center of those changes is the Homegrown collection, and Reese is the face of it. It was developed in partnership with Monarch Commerce, a division of Monarch Collective, a venture capital firm built entirely around women’s sports, and nothing in the league looks quite like it. The line ranges from everyday fan pieces to more expressive items like lounge sets, scarves, and bags made from upcycled jerseys. The centerpiece is a new Nike Rebel Edition uniform that Dream players Rhyne Howard and Allisha Gray designed themselves, pulling from Atlanta in every detail: black as the foundation, peach for Georgia’s heritage, and the city’s area codes woven into the fabric.
“The Dream’s Homegrown collection just feels like Atlanta,” Reese said of the line. “Atlanta has its own energy and people here know when something is authentic versus when it’s just trendy. I think that’s what makes it special.”
For a long time, women’s sports fans have been buying what was available (usually in men’s sizing or styling) rather than what was actually made for them. The Dream asked a question that not enough teams have bothered to ask: what do our fans actually want to wear?
And when they got the answer, they got straight to work. “Women’s sports fans have been telling us what they want for years,” she said. “They want products that actually reflect them, their style, their body type, and how they move through the world. I think fans can feel when real thought, design, and intention go into something. And I think this collection proves that women’s sports deserve the same level of creativity, infrastructure, and investment that every major cultural brand gets.”
Monarch Commerce was built specifically to close that gap, creating a retail operation around how women’s sports fans actually shop rather than forcing them into a system designed for someone else.
Away from the collection, Reese’s mindset is the same as it’s always been, and we love that for her. “I’m not focused on proving anything. I’m focused on winning,” she said. “I’m showing up every day and giving everything I’ve got for my team to help us win.”
But winning, for Reese, is part of something bigger. She arrived in Atlanta already holding ownership stakes in DC Power FC and TOGETHXR, a sold-out signature Reebok, and a brand portfolio that most athletes twice her age haven’t come close to building. The Dream partnership is the latest piece of that. “This was the era I took ownership. Of my game, my voice, my business, my peace. This chapter in Atlanta is about turning all of that into something that lasts, executing at the highest level to win and driving impact on and off the court.”
She cares about what the collection represents, but she cares even more about what it feels like to the girl putting it on. “I’d want her to feel like this was made for her,” Reese said. “Confident. Girls here are expressive, creative, unapologetic, and influential. I’d want somebody putting this on to feel connected to that. And honestly, I’d want her to feel proud. Proud of the city, proud of this team, proud of this league and proud of women’s sports overall.”
