Type Amari Bailey mom into a search box, and you land on Johanna Leia. She is a former Ford model who spent two decades driving her son to gyms, then built a management company out of what she learned. She raised him in Chicago, moved the family west so he could play at Sierra Canyon, and spent one summer as tabloid copy herself. This page sticks to what has actually been reported.
The short answer
Johanna Leia is a Chicago-raised model, influencer, and sports manager. The children are basketball player Amari Bailey and a younger daughter, Savanna. Her company, Just Living, handles sports marketing and management, and she appeared alongside her son on Lifetime’s 2017 reality series Bringing Up Ballers.
Johanna Leia at a glance
| Detail | What is on the record |
| Known for | Modeling, social media, and managing her son’s basketball career |
| Age | About 45. Us Weekly called her 41 in September 2022 |
| Raised her family in | Chicago, then Los Angeles |
| Business | Just Living, a sports marketing and management company |
| Television | Bringing Up Ballers, Lifetime, six episodes, 2017 |
| Children | Son Amari, born February 17, 2004; daughter Savanna, born 2015 |
| Children’s father | Aaron Bailey, ex-Indianapolis Colts wide receiver |
| Publicly reported relationship | Drake, several dates in 2021 |
Key takeaways
- Leia is a working manager, not just a courtside parent.
- No major outlet has ever published her exact birth date.
- Her son was 12 when the family filmed a reality show they both later regretted.
- The Drake story lasted a few months in 2021, and she has said little about it since.
- No credible outlet has ever printed a net worth figure for her.
How old is Johanna Leia?
Johanna Leia is roughly 45 as of August 2026. That figure comes from arithmetic, not from a birth certificate. Us Weekly’s September 2, 2022 profile referred to her as “Leia, 41”, which puts her birth year at 1980 or 1981.
Plenty of biography sites print February 19, 1981 with total confidence. None of the major outlets that have profiled her carry that date, and she has never posted it herself. Treat it as a claim that circulates between aggregators rather than a confirmed fact.
From Ford model to sports manager
Leia modeled with Ford, one of the older agencies in the business. Instagram came later, along with brand work that includes Fashion Nova. People reported her audience at more than 300,000 followers. That commercial instinct is the thread running through everything she has done since.
Just Living, the company she founded, does sports marketing and management. She has described walking into a men’s club and being ready for it. The pitch is straightforward: she has already taken one player from a Chicago youth gym to an NBA contract, so she knows where the process breaks. Readers who follow this kind of profile may also recognize model and actress Jesiree Dizon, another woman whose career gets flattened into a single relationship headline.
Leia has been candid that the job cost her something. For years she has said the same thing: the kids came before her own plans.
Bringing Up Ballers, the show they both regret
In 2017, Lifetime aired Bringing Up Ballers, a six-episode series following Chicago mothers whose sons were chasing basketball careers. Leia and her son were part of it. He was 12.
Neither of them enjoyed the result. Leia has said she hoped the show would spotlight women juggling businesses and kids in sport, and that it turned catty instead. Her son, by her own account, hated it. It never came back for a second season.
One season of a canceled Lifetime show is a thin basis for calling someone a reality star, which is what several profiles do. A career built on television looks more like reality TV star Natalie Nunn, who has spent well over a decade in the format. Leia’s television credit is a footnote to her actual work.
Chicago to Los Angeles
Her son was born in New Orleans, but Chicago is where he learned the game. Leia has told the story of a baby who woke her at 3 a.m. and settled only when he had a ball in his hands.
They moved to Los Angeles before he started high school. He enrolled at Sierra Canyon School in Chatsworth and played alongside Bronny James, which turned a local prospect into a nationally televised one. He won a state title as a freshman, was named California Mr. Basketball in 2021, and made the McDonald’s All-American roster in 2022.
Leia has been direct about the trade-off. Chicago was and is a basketball city, and leaving it right before high school was a gamble that paid off in a UCLA scholarship.
Who is Amari Bailey’s dad?
Aaron Bailey, a wide receiver and return specialist who played for the Indianapolis Colts from 1994 to 1998. Born October 24, 1971, he is 54. He came out of Louisville and left the Colts as the franchise leader in kickoff return yards.
He and Leia split, and neither has discussed why in public. They have continued to co-parent both children.
Does he have a sister?
Yes. Leia’s second child, Savanna, was born in 2015 and is also Aaron Bailey’s daughter. Her brother posts about her often and has called her his mini me. Beyond her name and birth year, the family has kept her out of the public record, and there is no reason to fill that gap with guesswork.
The Drake story, briefly
In 2021, Leia and Drake were photographed on several dinner dates, including one at a Dodger Stadium he had rented out. Reports at the time said the rapper had taken an interest in her son, who was about to start at UCLA. Reports put the whole thing at a few months.
What she did say publicly was about her son rather than herself. The media will be the media, she said; trolls will talk, and the noise was useful preparation for the next level. Since then she has kept her personal life quiet.
What her son has done since the draft
Leia’s day job now tracks a professional schedule, so the timeline matters. Her son averaged 11.2 points, 3.8 rebounds and 2.2 assists across 30 games in his single UCLA season, then went to the NBA.
| Date | Move |
| June 2023 | Drafted 41st overall by the Charlotte Hornets |
| July 14, 2023 | Signed a two-way contract with Charlotte |
| November 12, 2023 | NBA debut against the New York Knicks |
| November 17, 2023 | First G League game, 26 points for the Greensboro Swarm |
| September 21, 2024 | Signed with the Brooklyn Nets, waived October 19 |
| Late 2024 | Joined the Long Island Nets |
| December 30, 2024 | Traded to the Iowa Wolves in a three-team deal |
That is a G League grind, not a fairytale. It is also exactly the stage where a manager who knows the paperwork earns her keep.
What the Amari Bailey mom results get wrong
Search results for this name are unusually noisy, and the errors repeat from site to site. Four worth flagging:
- Net worth figures. Several profiles publish a dollar amount. No credible outlet has reported one, and a private manager’s books are not public.
- The birth date. February 19, 1981 appears everywhere and is sourced nowhere.
- A second modeling agency. Some pages add Wilhelmina to her resume. Us Weekly names Ford.
- Her job title. She is described as a reality star. One 2017 season does not carry that description.
Family names cause their own confusion. Amari and Aaron really are father and son, so that one holds up. Two athletes sharing a surname often are not related at all, which is why people keep asking about Saquon Barkley and Charles Barkley.
If a page cannot tell you where a fact came from, treat it the way you would treat a stat with no box score behind it.
Where to go next
If you came here for a birth certificate and a bank balance, the honest answer is that neither exists in public. What does exist is a clear record of a woman who moved cities, launched a company and got her son to the league. Follow her son’s G League team through the season if you want the next chapter, and check any bio page you read against a named outlet before you repeat it.
If you want to know about James Hetfield Net Worth then visit our Entertainment category.
Frequently asked questions
The Amari Bailey mom question has one answer: Johanna Leia, a former Ford model who now runs the sports management firm Just Living and manages her son’s career.
About 45 in 2026, based on Us Weekly describing her as 41 in September 2022. She has never published a birth date.
She runs Just Living, a sports marketing and management company, and she earns from brand partnerships on social media.
Yes, Lifetime’s Bringing Up Ballers in 2017. It ran for six episodes and was not renewed.
They were photographed on several dates in 2021, including one at Dodger Stadium. Reports said it lasted a few months.
He was born on February 17, 2004, so he turned 22 in February 2026.
