Gail Miller joined Ekpe Udoh at one of NBA's most unique events

SALT LAKE CITY — Ekpe Udoh looked at Gail Miller seated next to him and bluntly asked, “How do you feel about artificial intelligence?”

That question, which drew laughs from the small crowd assembled at the Utah Jazz practice facility on Thursday, was just one scene from one of the more unique things happening around the NBA.

Udoh’s book club, which has steadily expanded since he started it during his time with the Milwaukee Bucks, is unique enough. But having authors come in and discuss books at an NBA training facility? It's safe to say that hasn't happened much before.

Thursday night’s version of Author's Talks had Udoh welcoming in the Jazz owner to discuss her book “Courage to be You,” along with plenty of other random things. It was a night filled with laughter about Miller’s attempts at skiing.

“I went skiing twice,” she said. “I went the second time to prove I didn’t like it the first time.”

A small discussion of Udoh’s desire to play the piano.

“I want to, I really do," the Jazz center said. "Have fun, romance a little bit."

And, of course, plenty of talk about Miller's book and her life.

“Courage to be You” isn’t an autobiography. It’s a book where Miller gives her perspective and insight on things such as faith, hard work, service and a number of other topics. It’s an honest book that doesn’t sugarcoat her own life, which is how she approached the discussion Thursday in discussing it.

When asked how she went from a timid housewife to confident businesswoman, she gave a simple answer.

“I went to therapy,” Miller said. “Really, I did. … When I got teenagers, they were kind of hard to handle and I had a daughter that was having difficulties, so I took her to see a therapist. He looked at me and said, ‘I’m happy to help your daughter but you are the one who needs help.’

“And I thought, ‘Whoa, I didn’t think I was that bad.’ But I did start going and it did help me a lot," she added. "I was quite lonely, very shy and unsure of myself. And when we bought the Jazz, we had to go out to social things."

Miller said she "almost had panic attacks" because she didn't want to go to where "all these high-profile people were." But she added that "therapy helped me learn that I was a whole person, that I had a voice and I should learn to use it be confident in myself.”

Miller said the most challenging part of being at the head of the Larry H. Miller group is being looked at as the person in charge.

“I think it’s because I’m a woman and I’ve never worked in the business, so there is no credibility for my ability to do what I’m doing,” she said. “I have to really work hard to get that.”

Hard work is nothing new for her. Miller grew up poor and came to realize that she had to earn everything she got. That mindset helped her raise a family as her late-husband put in 80-hour weeks building a company.

“I worked every bit as hard as he did — nobody counted my hours,” she said, drawing laughs from the crowd.

The Miller’s story has been well-documented. Larry H. Miller turned one car dealership into a business empire that included a chain of movie theaters and an NBA franchise. It led to unimaginable riches — Miller is the wealthiest person in Utah, according to Forbes — but it also allowed the Millers to give back, again and again and again.

“I was always grateful that neither one of us cared about having a lot of money, just about doing good things with money,” Miller said.

That includes donating money to the homeless, having scholarship programs and giving to hospitals. She said she wants to be remembered as "a kind person who cared about others."

“That’s important to me because that’s really where my heart is. And having the opportunity to do that is an added bonus. And I think that’s probably all.”

The book club was initially started by Udoh years ago to help bring people of all backgrounds together through words and encourage the younger generations to read.

“I think it's special,” Udoh said. “It builds little communities. It shows to the youth that reading is cool, and it’s a way to bring people together to discuss whatever they want to. Because these books have all the brightness that you could possibly want."

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