The more that athletes are transforming themselves into brand sponsors, the more that they need to heed the advice of Vickie Saunders, who has consulted with several professional athletes looking to make a transition toward more sponsorship affiliations. Saunders talks about the current marketplace, especially when it comes to the defining category of social media as well as attention of the local public toward what an athlete endorses. Saunders shares her vision of how to further develop an athlete's brand identity, as well as how sponsors have to best protect themselves against the frailties of human nature when athletes endorsing products create national issues of public relations crisis. Twitter: @GetSponsorship