When Shaq Griffin retires, his off-field impact is going to surpass his Pro Bowl career.
He's planning to join his twin brother, Shaquem, who made history as a one-handed NFL linebacker when he was drafted by and played for Seattle from 2018-20 alongside Shaq, as a motivational speaker.
Shaquem officially moved on from football in 2022. Lately, his schedule is full of speaking gigs, and business ventures like developing A.I. prosthetics that hopefully make daily movements feel natural.
Shaq shares the same entrepreneurial spirit, and a dream to inspire.
"I like talking. I like to put people at ease," Griffin said. "I like seeing people smile."
The veteran cornerback, playing in his first season with the Vikings, is obsessed with his job. He's a football player, of course, but also a determined father and supportive partner. He read New York Times bestselling author Grant Cardone's book Be Obsessed or Be Average and lives by that rule of thumb.
Griffin and his girlfriend Shauntrell Pender, who rose to fame on the hip-hop scene as "Tokyo Jetz" before Griffin was Richard Sherman's successor in Seattle and signed a substantial second NFL contract in Jacksonville, are a power couple.
One of their superpowers is an unrelenting spirit of positivity. Griffin shared his mindset – motivation from his oldest brother Andre – when a challenge presents itself: he's built differently; keep pushing.
"I want to be that person," Griffin said, sitting at a high-top table near the locker room. "If I gotta be the shield that takes some heat off everybody else, cool. My shield? I got the Captain America shield!"
We met with Griffin at team headquarters for this Water Break presented by Crown Royal to ask about his post-playing career goal of motivational speaking. The initial conversation evolved into a bigger story of Griffin being on the other side of dark times at 29 — and now thriving in a locker room that feels like family.
Q: What moment do you reflect on for motivation?
A: My first injury ever was when I got to the league, I had a little AC joint [injury], but surgery – surgery, where you had to cut something? – that was two years ago. And I felt like around the time we had a lot going on between my back surgery, and my girl was going through it; she was pregnant, and we ended up having a miscarriage. Then I'm trying to figure out if I'm going to be back on the Jacksonville team. I end up getting released to finish my rehab. You go from all these different things – surgery, miscarriage, released from the team, rehab – it was a lot of emotions right there. I feel like this was the moment where it should kind of make or break me. I was dealing with different doctors, dealing with different people [and they're saying], 'It's hard to come back from a back injury,' which I get, but I always felt like I was a tad bit different than a lot of people. So going through that is kind of what made me who I am today. I remember telling [Texans Head Coach DeMeco Ryans] I got to a point when I was training with no music. I said, 'I can train by myself. I don't need no extra motivation.' … I can't preach what I don't practice. If I tell my kids, 'Hey, I promise you, we just keep pushing, keep pushing, no matter how hard it gets or how unclear it is, if you keep pushing, you'll find yourself on the other side of it.' I can't say that if I never experienced that. Now I'm at a time in my life where there ain't too many things that'll scare me.
Q: Did the weight on your shoulders feel like it was going to break you?
A: Oh yeah. There were a lot of times. A lot of sleepless nights. A lot of crying. But like I said, I wasn't the only person going through it. So besides me just with surgery, my lady was also going through a miscarriage, and that's a lot on the woman herself. As a partner, it hurt me, too – but it's her body going through that, so it's a lot. I had to be there for her, had to be there for my kids, had to be there for myself and then I had to provide. So there were a lot of things that I had on my mind: I got to continue this game; I got a chance to see a second contract, see a lot of money and that was good, but stuff like that doesn't last for the next 60 years. … And there were a lot of times where I was like, 'You know what, maybe football is not for me. Maybe they're right. Maybe I can't come back from this. Maybe I should focus on – or let me figure out how I can get this business going.' In that moment of not trying to give up I ended up coming up with different business schemes. I'm not glad I was thinking like that, but in a way, it helped me figure out [life] outside of football. Being in that mindset made me push myself even more. … Now we've got a daycare [opening] in Houston and a daycare that's being built in Jacksonville. All this stuff came from my back against the wall and having to fight my way out of it. … I never knew it was going to happen that way. I wouldn't wish it on anybody, but it pushed me to a whole 'nother level that I didn't know I had. 'Breaking them ceilings,' 'sky's the limit,' 'just keep going' – it's one of those moments.
Q: How rewarding is it to look back and realize you persevered?
A: It's things I can use for the rest of my life, or advice I can give for the rest of my life. … Even if it's just my brother with his new journey. Now, he sees it, 'Just keep going, just keep going.' There was a little thing we used to see on Instagram a long time ago where there's a guy who was digging and digging, and as soon as he got to the end – diamonds are on the other side of the wall – he's like, 'You know what? I'm tired.' He walks back, and someone else who was digging this whole time comes and finishes it for him. It's little things like that, but that's literally how life is. No matter if it's tomorrow, next month, next year, 10 years from now. If I promise you 10 years from now, you'll be on the other side of it, you'll probably try it. That's literally what it is, you just can't see it. That was something that changed my life forever, honestly. It's kind of crazy because I wouldn't wish it on nobody, but in a way, I think I needed it.
Q: How did your upbringing prepare you to be strong?
A: My dad wouldn't let me give up. He wouldn't let me shortcut anything. He wouldn't let me give up on anything. I think a lot of it was because he kept saying if you come back here, it's $450 a month for rent. I didn't want to do that! Haha. He's got his own ways of teaching, but it worked, it definitely worked. … I mean my dad dealt with an injury that was similar where he got hit with a forklift at work and he still had to provide for us because it's not like me and my brother at that age – we were just trying to figure it out; my mom was a nurse. My dad had to figure out how to get back on his feet and start over, and he ended up coming from that to creating his own tow truck business that helped us – propelled us – for years to come, for us to have the chance to be able to do what we're doing now. I've seen it firsthand.
Q: What words would you use to describe your parents?
A: My dad is more determined. I feel like I don't see him waver. I don't see him ever break. He kind of lives his life that way – growing up the way he grew up – and I feel like a lot of things can't stop him. No matter what it is. My mom is more passionate, and I feel like not just with the things she can do for herself, business-wise. I feel like she's passionate about her family, her kids. She'll give her last shirt. I think she'll give her heart and kidney if she could. If there's anybody who me and my brother treat like family, a best friend who we feel like is a brother, a best friend we might consider a cousin, she treats them all the same way: 'This is our kid.' She's passionate about that. Her love pours over everybody.
Q: What's the one word you want used to describe you?
A: Consistent. I think that's a common word I want to live by. If it's being consistent with how I talk or raise my kids; being in a game that's so aggressive, being consistent with controlling different emotions; especially ups and downs in the football season, then coming home and dealing with the kids. As a dad, I feel like in a way you gotta be like Superman. … When I'm in, I'm all in. It's not one foot in, one foot out.
Q: How do you think your resilience will serve you as a motivational speaker?
A: It makes it easier. I never want to say something that I can't do. … I remember my oldest brother, he's 10 years older than me – maybe this happened right before [the COVID-19 pandemic] started – he told me, 'The reason why you go through all the things you go through is because none of us could handle it. … None of us could take what you're going through.' He said he felt like the Lord chose me, because I was different up here mentally. And when he told me that, I bought into it. This was before the [back] surgery and all that. I took it upon myself, 'You know what? That's gotta be me. I'm gonna take that head on.' So anything I went through after that, I kept that in the back of my head – I was like, 'I'm the only person who could go through this.' … Now, being a motivational speaker, I want to be able to speak about that. I told my brother when it comes to all this – when I say I'm obsessed with what I do – I want people to understand that it don't gotta be just me obsessed with football; you can be obsessed with your job. Thing is, I'm crazy up here about it. Whatever I decide I want to do I want to be crazy up here about it. Like I need this. And when I motivate people, I want their scenarios to match mine. It doesn't gotta be the same story, but the way we feel, the way we are thinking in those moments, I want all those feelings to be the same – like I'm unstoppable. … That's why I think when me and my brother do the motivation thing, our main goal is we want everybody there in the room to feel how we feel. If my story don't touch you, I ain't say it right. And whatever I went through, if it didn't motivate you [to] push through your situation, I ain't say it right – that's my fault. That's not on you. … That's why I feel like a lot of people naturally gravitate to us, because we treat everybody the same. I don't care how much money I make; I don't care where I've been or what I've done; everybody in the circle is the same as us.
Q: Is this the best you've felt the past couple of years?
A: Oh yeah! I feel like physically, mentally, emotionally, to go from that to now, it's night and day. I tell my brother, I tell my family, 'I like this feeling, I'd rather keep this feeling,' and now that I know how to, that's the only thing that I surround myself with. I focus more on family things. Being here is easy, 'cause now a lot of it is open arms, it's a family type vibe in this building. [Talking to my agent] about how long I want to play, I said, 'Football, if it feels like this – for as long as I've played – I can do this for a long time!'
