Magazines have immortalized some of basketball’s best players through spectacular imagery. From SLAM to Street & Smith’s, they’ve always played an essential role in spreading the game worldwide.
Some magazines have gotten lost in the shuffle of online sports media. However, that cannot be said of Ashtyn Butuso’s Flagrant Magazine, one of the most popular periodicals today, which was created from Butuso’s vision and lifelong commitment to the game of basketball.
I.) The City Of Trail Blazers
Butuso was raised in the suburbs of West Linn, OR. She knew early on that she wanted to do something special with her life. One of her best characteristics is her inquisitive mind; her curiosity about the world fueled her delusions of grandeur.
“I did a lot of writing, journaling, guitar, but I also played soccer,” said Butuso. “I was also outside a lot using the Razor Scooter or playing a lot of sports as a very young child with my dad. That’s where it all started for me.”
One hobby after another, it was only natural for a rambunctious young girl growing up in America to dive into the deep end of her crafts. It was the late 90s, and multiple sports leagues were in their heyday. The NBA was peaking, and it was an interesting time for the Portland Trail Blazers. From 1998 to 2000, Rasheed Wallace led the Blazers to back-to-back Western Conference Finals.
“I want to say it was the 2000 Western Conference Finals against the Lakers. My parents were very juiced for that whole series. It was a very stressful and exciting time, but we ended up losing,” Butuso said. “My dad was also a big Rams fan. In 1998, I started watching them and watching the NFL. I really liked Priest Holmes and became a Chiefs fan myself, just because I wanted to do something that my parents weren’t doing. My mom was also a Raiders fan, so I’d say those are the highlights of my childhood.”
II.) For The Love Of The Game
After losing their championship aura, the notorious ‘Jail Blazers’ made the playoffs from 2000-03.
Seeing her favorite team on the world stage fighting for golden glory sparked a flame in Ashtyn that grew into a raging fire.
“I fell in love with sports because of the highs and lows that come with it, and it was a distraction. It gave me something to root for in a world where maybe there’s not a lot to root for,” Butuso said. “I always really enjoyed the bonding element with my family. So, I think it was a good distraction to sort of keep the family together.”
It wouldn’t take long for Butuso to find her niche. Soccer is the world’s most popular sport, and she was captivated by the global phenomenon. The Butusos signed Ashtyn up for youth soccer, purchased a pair of cleats, and she hit the field with her new teammates. All of the kids were united by the desire for championship aspirations, but Ashtyn’s end goal was something far deeper than the back of a soccer net.
“I think I spent a lot of my childhood being insecure and feeling a little bit unseen. With soccer, I felt like I could be a part of something, and I could have all the eyes on me for a second. That was really fun,” Butuso said. “There was a part of me that I think was trying to make everybody proud and happy. I think it’s where I learned my drive and my discipline.”
III.) A New Kind Of Stage
After acclimating to the pace of the game, she fell in love with it. For the next decade of her life, Butuso was dedicated to that black-and-white sphere. While the ball flew up and down the field, time passed with it.
Before Ashtyn knew it, her high school days were approaching, and like any other teenager, her heart began to long for something different. Athletics were essential to her self-discovery, but she wanted a different medium that could offer the same answers.
She played soccer her freshman year, but it was impossible to rekindle her flame with familiarity.
“I think the sad answer is that it was the thing that most girls go through, which is, we leave sports early on, and we don’t stick to sports throughout all of high school,” Butuso said. “People are always commenting on girls’ bodies, and how they should be, and how they should fit into the world. I think that’s why there’s such an intense drop-off in girls’ sports, and I think I probably fell victim to that as well.”
With so many emotions building up in her 14-year-old heart, Ashtyn needed a way to express them all. Luckily for her, drama clubs are staples in schools across the country.
Theatrics are a whole new ball game, and Ashtyn was thrilled with the thought of a new mountain to climb. She traded the lush green field for the bright lights of the auditorium, acting in a litany of productions over the next two years
Time flew by yet again, but this time was different. It was time for graduation, and the real world was waiting for her.
IV.) The Film Room
Ashtyn shot out of a cannon alongside millions of other students around the globe in the summer of 2009. She landed about 80 miles from home at Oregon State University, and it wouldn’t take long for her to get caught up in the whirlwind of freshman year.
There weren’t many opportunities for first-year students trying to break into the sports industry, so she found herself waiting around for a while. With one school year in the hole, Ashtyn had to move fast. Classroom connections weren’t cutting it, so she got creative in her on-campus job search.
“They had posted on Craigslist to work in the coach’s film room, so I was editing their footage and shooting their highlights. Every Friday, the team would watch a highlight reel from the last week to get ready for the Saturday game,” Butuso said. “I would make that highlight reel for them, and then I would also be working on practice footage and game footage for the coaches to watch in their meetings.”
Butuso cut up clips with constant deadlines breathing down her neck. Sacrifices felt effortless when it came to her dream, and she was rewarded with the tools to make it a reality.
“After doing that for a little bit, traveling with the team, going to bowl games, doing all those fun things, I kind of realized that I could foray that into a career in TV,” Butuso said. “Rather than doing the school news, since I didn’t have time because I had two other jobs in college as well.”
V.) Sports Clips & Coffee Cups
Butuso was in the right place at the right time. On July 1, 2011, the NCAA announced that the University of Colorado and the University of Utah would leave the Big-12 for the Pac-10.
The 2011-12 season saw the Oregon State Beavers seeking redemption. They finished the prior season 3-10, so Butuso’s arrival was timely when they finished 9-4 in 2012. She shined, slicing and dicing their highlights for Beavers fans far and wide. Her skill set created a mutually beneficial relationship with the athletics department.
They appreciated her services, and their film room was a place of refuge. It calmed her nerves after hard nights of working as a barista and a jeweler to keep the lights on in her apartment.
“I truly was working 60-hour weeks in college. I was a barista at a cafe, and I worked at Jared Jeweler. It taught me, maybe even to a fault, that you have to work as hard as you can,” Butuso said. “If you say yes to every opportunity, if you totally bust your ass, even for very little money, good things will come to you. The things you want will come to you. They might look a little bit different, but you can really make anything out of whatever you’ve got.”
VI.) Pac-12 Productions
Juggling sports and classes became second nature for Ashtyn. Job after job, an innocent pursuit of education became a test of patience and endurance. One pro of such a busy schedule was how quickly two years flew by.
Commencement was on the horizon in the spring of 2013, and her time covering the Pac-12 created an affinity for the powerhouse conference. Giving up the familiarity for another gig didn’t seem worth it, so she reached out to the Pac-12 directly.
“Before I graduated, I was just like, ‘hey, if you ever need a video editor, let me know’ to their producer, and they were like, ‘yeah, absolutely, let us know when you move down here, and you can work here.’ So, that’s how I ended up getting into TV.”
They kept their promise, and she was hired shortly after crossing the stage at graduation.
VII.) Butuso’s Bon Voyage
One year later, in 2014, she moved to San Francisco and covered the 12-team conference at the professional level. Butuso’s talent behind the camera was apparent from the start. By 2015, she was promoted to one of the head producers on staff. After grinding for two more years, she accepted a role at Relish Media Group in 2017.
Her name bloomed with every new opportunity. Although the experience she gained was valuable for her career, the tools of the trade came with a price.
“I kind of learned that you’re never gonna make a ton of money. Your hours are gonna be kinda crazy, but it’s very fulfilling. You will wear so many hats you’ll know how to do so many things,” Butuso said. “Even now, I have Flagrant Magazine, and I’m a writer. But I gained so many other skills that are soft skills, but also hard skills, like editing, producing, shooting, lighting — all of those things.”
Butuso’s hat rack was completely overrun by 2018, and her experience working for others inspired Ashtyn to invent her own platform. By September of 2018, Butuso traded her warm life in the Bay Area for a new job opportunity in Denver, CO.
VIII.) Finding Flagrant Magazine
The Oregon native wasn’t used to the cons of a cold tundra, but she still made the most of it. She was the content manager and producer for the marketing agency Motive. It was a good place to be, but Butuso was far from satisfied with yet another job.
“I was living in Denver and feeling a little bit unchallenged in my work. I was working at this ad agency and was out of sports for the first time. And I wanted to get back into them.”
Her patience ran thin by March of 2019, but her frustration would prove to be a blessing in disguise. Butuso’s brainstorming flooded her mind with ideas, and she turned to her favorite soccer magazine for more inspiration.
“I was looking through this soccer magazine called SEASON Zine. It’s a British soccer magazine, and it was sort of my first understanding that magazines could still exist. And I just felt like basketball should have that,” Butuso said. “Because basketball is so about the culture, there’s so much beauty and art. I wondered if I could get this going for basketball. I hit up a couple people that I’d known throughout different parts of my life, and asked them to take on different roles, and they said yes”
IX.) The A-Team
Butuso got to work assembling her rendition of the Avengers like a Marvel comic book.
“Our designer, Alex Haigh, I had known her through Blazer’s Twitter because she had a sort of an in-person community called Rip Twitty. They did a bunch of events, but I knew she was designing the posters for them and whatnot. So, I reached out to her to be the designer, and to my friend Bethany Marie Ito, who became our creative director. I met her randomly at a bar in San Francisco, and we hit it off. We both loved basketball, and she has such an eye for imagery and design.”
Some CEOs base their qualifications on an employee’s resume, but Ashtyn was different; she wanted true friends in the workplace.
“And then Brazilia Morales, I also met in the Bay. She worked with me at the Relish. Originally, we thought we were gonna have two creative directors, and so she signed on as that, but then became the business director when we kind of realized that’s where the need was,” Butuso said. “So she’s been doing all the QuickBooks and all the taxes and all the things that I have no idea how to do, and payroll and all these things that are a godsend. So she’s been great at that, but she’s also very creative, so we all help out with everything in between. We’re all doing everything.”
All of the ladies embraced the grind, fighting their way through the COVID-19 Pandemic. Since people were indoors and reading more than ever, 2020 was somewhat beneficial.
It laid the foundation for Flagrant Magazine, earning hundreds of new readers daily. Now, six years later, the basketball magazine has established a devoted fanbase that will only grow over time.
X.) Biodegradable Basketball
Basketball will never die. The sport has become entrenched in pop culture, and the Flagrant Magazine staff ensures news coverage evolves.
Their volumes continue to sell worldwide, and readers are wearing their merchandise in the streets. While the world gives to them, they also give back.
“After a few years, we realized we should be doing merch, so we work with a supplier in Los Angeles that does recycled garments, biodegradable garments, all these sustainable garments,” Butuso said. “That’s really important to us because we want it to be sustainable. Bethany designs all of that, for the most part, because she has a bunch of suppliers.”
Butuso’s staff are united by their affinity for their environment, and it’s become part of their brand’s identity.
“Three of the four founders are vegan, love animals, and I would say we’re all very eco-conscious. It’s just something that really matters to us,” Butuso said. “We just want to be very considerate about the way we move through the world. I think that shows itself in other ways in the magazine.”
It’s clear that this is much more than another basketball digest. They’re using their platform to be a voice for the voiceless.
“We’re telling stories about trans people. People whose stories haven’t been told, or Palestinians, and trying to get causes going for them and donate to them,” Butuso said. “And so we’re always focused on the little guy, or the eco-friendly choice. The thing is that we’re gonna prove we can make something amazing, but we can also do it while caring about other people and uplifting them.”
XI.) The Future Of Flagrant
The ladies have made so much progress in seven years, and Ashtyn is thrilled about what’s to come.
“Our ultimate goal is nothing major in terms of insights or sales; We just want people to realize they can enjoy something without scrolling. It’s really important to us that there’s a tangible piece of art to consume in a much more thoughtful way, and take the time with it that is required,” Butuso said. “I think if we can get people off of their phones, and more into flipping pages, smelling pages, that’s what it’s all about.”
Now that Ashtyn Butuso has carved out a life in basketball for herself, Antwane asked, “So now what is your ultimate goal for yourself?” to which she replied:
“That’s a question I’ve been asking myself a lot. I don’t know the answer, and I want to know the answer. I’ve sort of been feeling existential about that, because I’m not totally sure, but I think the ultimate goal is still the same,” Butuso said. “I still want to tell sports stories, maybe on TV, and have a connection with viewers and followers. The community of sports is sort of slipping through our fingers, and I wanna move people with our stories”
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