Redefining Sports, Fashion, and Culture: In Conversation with Daniel-Yaw Miller
- Nov 3, 2025
- 6 min read
In the fluid space where sports culture meets fashion, very few voices carry as much authenticity as Daniel-Yaw Miller. As an award-winning journalist, Dan has carved out a distinct place in the industry – one that bridges the worlds of sport, fashion, and culture.
During his three and half years at The Business of Fashion (BoF), Dan founded the publication’s first-ever sports-focussed vertical, redefining how the fashion industry covered athletes, brands, and style. Today, through his bi-weekly newsletter, SportsVerse, he continues to explore the evolving relationship between performance and aesthetics. From athlete-brand partnerships to the cultural meaning behind luxury-sportswear collaborations, his writing is vast and impressive. But to understand how that lens was formed, you have to go back to where it all began.
Early Beginnings
Born and raised in Wembley, London, Dan’s love of sport started at an early age. “Growing up in a Ghanaian-English household, I’d say my upbringing was traditional, but we were all obsessed with sports,” he says. “My mum, who was a national-level athlete in Ghana, had me holding a tennis racket before I could properly walk. We didn’t have Sky TV, PlayStation, or anything like that. My entertainment was being outside, playing sport.”
In the Miller household, Arsenal fandom ran deep. “Thierry Henry was my hero,” he smiles. “Even back then, I was always drawn to the cultural side of sport - the boots, the socks above the knees, the baggy shorts…all of that. I was fascinated by how athletes expressed themselves through style.”
That fascination between performance, style, and sports culture would later become the foundation of his journalism.
The Squiggly Career Path
Academics didn’t come easily to Dan. “I was never amazing in school. My mum always says my lights didn’t switch on until I was 14,” he laughs. Like many kids, Dan once dreamed of going pro. “For a while, I thought tennis might be the thing. But I realised pretty early that it wasn’t going to be my full-time career.”
Still, he wanted to stay close to the world of sport and help athletes navigate the industries surrounding it. That ambition led him into law, with a specific goal in mind.
“I applied to a law firm specifically because they had the Premier League as a client. One of their training lawyers bragged about his secondment there, and I was like 'that's exactly what I want to do'.”
In 2020, that vision came true. Dan was seconded to work with the Premier League right as the pandemic hit. His 6am-12am workdays turned to slower, more restful ones when working from home. “Suddenly I had time to think,” he says. “I had so much free time and remembered how much I loved writing.”
Reminiscing on his teenage days where he had a successful blog dedicated to women’s sports, he decided to start writing again. “When I was 16/17, I had a women’s sports blog that got picked up by the BBC during the Women’s World Cup,” he recalls. “So, I started DMing editors and publishers from my private Instagram account with about 200 followers.” The first to reply was Joe Ellison from the Financial Times, and Dan’s debut FT article marked the start of a new chapter.
At the time, Dan was still working as a fulltime lawyer. Any spare time he had was dedicated to freelance journalism. When his training contract ended and his firm offered him a lucrative role in Dubai, Dan stood at an important crossroad: security or self-belief. “I could’ve gone to Dubai, enjoyed a big salary tax-free, flights included - or I could take a leap of faith and try to become a journalist.” He chose the latter.
Bridging Two Worlds
That leap of faith paid off. After seven rounds of interviews, Dan landed a junior role at The Business of Fashion and within a few years, he became one of the most respected voices at the company. Shaping how the publication, and the wider fashion industry, viewed sport, he realised that “sports media didn’t understand fashion, and fashion media didn’t understand sport. There was a massive gap, and I felt like I might be the best person to write about it.”
Starting with few connections, Dan built his network from scratch. “I never approach an interview like an interrogation,” he says. “People open up when you create an environment of trust. I always try to be kind, and I’ve built valuable relationships that way - from interns to CEOs - purely based on mutual respect.” In an era when many journalists rely on “gotcha” tactics, his empathy-driven approach stands out.
“There's this common thing in journalism where people think you have to be this tough person and ask hard questions...I don't think that's how you get the best out of people."
The New York Chapter
By 2025, Dan felt ready for a new challenge. In March 2025, he relocated to New York, a move that felt both natural and necessary. “I felt like I’d achieved everything that I personally set out to achieve in my old job…it was time to unlock a new chapter of growth and experiences,” he says.
At that point in his career, almost everyone he interviewed was already based in New York or LA. “It just made sense. New York has this unmatched relationship with sport and style - from the Knicks and the city’s sneaker legacy to the way fashion and music interacts with sport. The lines between those worlds are so thin and blurred.”
Now, through his independent platform, SportsVerse, Dan is writing in his most personal and unfiltered voice yet. “I wanted to go back to how I fell in love with writing. Writing in my voice, direct for people who want to read me in an unfiltered way,” he says. Alongside his newsletter, he’s consulting on brand strategy and producing longform features that continue to bridge sports, fashion, and commerce.
Lessons in Persistence
As the media landscape shifts, Dan remains pragmatic.“Mainstream news organisations are cutting jobs and funding to certain teams. Great journalists are creating their own platforms now – starting newsletters, podcasts, building their own audiences.”
For aspiring journalists, Dan’s guidance is direct and grounded. “Don’t wait for the perfect journalism job - it probably doesn’t exist anymore. Get a stable job and use every spare minute to build. Go to events. DM people. Be persistent but polite. Create your own platform - newsletter, podcast, TikTok, whatever. The people who want to read your work will find you.” He adds, “Everyone thinks they need permission to start. You don’t. Just start. The audience comes later.”
He also encourages creative “reverse engineering”. “If you want to write about football, maybe work in a football data company. Build industry knowledge and relationships in your 9-5 - then leverage it to support your writing.”
Dan’s top tips for emerging journalists:
Build relationships. Authentic connections will take you further than credentials.
Accept feedback. “Editors were tough - and rightly so. I’d hand in pieces I thought were solid, and they’d come back covered in red, capital letters. It was humbling, but it made me sharper and taught me discipline.”
Check your facts. “Misinformation spreads fast. Accuracy matters.”
Full Circle
From Wembley to New York, Dan’s journey is one of reinvention, humility, and unwavering belief. From holding a tennis racket as a toddler to shaping global conversations around sport and fashion, every chapter built on his last. More importantly, his story reminds us that success rarely follows a straight line. Be pragmatic. Stay curious. Stay kind. Life is a continual cycle of learning - and the ability to evolve, as Daniel-Yaw Miller shows, is at the heart of success.
Get to know Dan:
Born: London, UK
Ethnicity: Ghanaian 🇬🇭 and English 🏴
Dead or alive, an athlete he'd love to interview: Lebron James. I’d love to understand his mindset and what it takes to outlive so many generations of an NBA player
One-to-watch: Azzi Fudd. I also think she’ll be the 2026 number 1 draft pick in the WNBA (you read it here first!)
Most interesting thing an athlete or sports exec has said to him: “Sport is now the only by-appointment thing to watch on TV or tune into live at that point in time. To be in the conversation, you need to watch sport at that point in time, which makes it the only thing left in society that really drives a huge volume of people at specific moments, which for brands is very special and valuable.” — Clive Reeves, Global Football Business Director at City Football Group
Song on rotation: sun by Jim Legxacy
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