Riviera Beach, Fla. – A “Star" is born in a Major League Soccer historic business deal! Star Rice and Delano Allen, the awesome duo that produces FlippyMagz, the nation’s first and only reversible sports magnet, have done it again. In 2020, these two brazen entrepreneurs inked a contract with Super Bowl LIV. Now they’ve amassed a historical deal with Major League Soccer (MLS) thanks to Rice. She pursued soccer relentlessly, and kept on ticking despite being turned down twice. The third time was clearly a charm. “We ended up getting the All-Star celebration!” said Rice, upon returning from Los Angeles along with Allen, where the AllStar game and festivities were held last week.

The young entrepreneurs from Riviera Beach, contracted with MLS to design three reversible sports magnets with the MLS and All-Star logos for VIP gift bags and other events. It was a landmark deal. Major League Soccer is on the cusp of a major diversity program, and it was the first deal ever with a minority owned business such as FlippyMagz, which bears a reversible magnet. MLS has utilized other promotional companies but none with the special reversible signature as FlippyMagz. It was a first for both entities.

FLIPPYMAGZ, FROM 1A Jamie Batey, Senior Manager (MLS) Commissioner’s Office, League Events, says FlippyMagz is a class act. “As the first ever reversible magnet, FlippyMagz provides MLS fans the versatility to showcase their fandom in unique ways. The custom designs and creative process from FlippyMagz is second to none and their detailed approach to collaboration was first class.”

Likewise, Rice said Batey couldn’t have been a better MLS representative to work with on the project. But Rice said nothing great comes easy. “We went through at least 20 designs to get to the end. It was quite challenging but worth every second,” said Rice, who hails from the Tampa/St. Petersburg area but now resides in Palm Beach County. Meanwhile Allen, the brain behind the company, is from Riviera Beach and was a standout football player at William T. Dwyer High School class of 2005. He got the idea of FlippyMagz while playing football in college.

Rice points out that Allen is a prime example that the NFL is not the only road to success. The two also have a legendary deal with Circle K stores for their reversible college magnets. Their product is now in upwards of 50 of the popular stores throughout Florida and Georgia.

Allen says their faith has been important in the process. Spiritual Mentor and Adviser, Johnathan McFadden has been a key factor in their success. “It’s an honor and a privilege he felt led to pull me in. We pray throughout the day,” said McFadden, who was also Allen’s defensive coach in high school. “All they have to do is stay focused. I believe this is only the beginning.”

Meanwhile MLS’s Batey says she looks forward to working with Flippy-Magz in the future. “FlippyMagz is an incredible product and business. We are thankful not only to team up with FlippyMagz for our All-Star Game presented by Target, but also to include them on our registry of minority owned businesses for our soccer community to leverage their expertise and well manufactured products in the future,” said Batey, who’s been with MLS three years, and with the NBA prior to that. “It has been a wonderful experience working with FlippyMagz and we will certainly look for opportunities to include additional products into our future events.”

Rice, who is a relentless entrepreneur and businesswoman, says she is ecstatic she never gave up in her pursuit of Major League Soccer. “The third time surely was the charm!”