After a long day, Elizabeth Lindsey to the Wasserman agency sends the NFL income director, denies Anderson, an emoji in glass of wine. This means it’s time to have a drink and catch up.
Lindsey and Anderson are part of a group of high power women sports leaders whose regular gatherings have become a source of transmission, professional advancement and support in their corner of the industry.
Their connection began to grow 15 years ago, when Lindsey gathered about 10 friends to have a drink while they were in Miami for the CAA World Sports Congress. Other women in the world of sport have spotted them at the bar and joined their conversation. They decided to meet it, which Lindsey has helped to organize since.
“It is difficult to be an elderly woman in this industry,” Business Insider Lindsey, World President of Brands and Properties for Wasserman, told Business. “What this gathering has done for these women is to give a little outlet at least once a year when you could breathe.”
Lindsey estimates that the cocktail of sports women, as the annual April event is now known, has grown up to include a database of around 800 to 900 women in sports. This helped connect them to mentoring and propeling jobs and propeling to develop female sports. In addition to Lindsey and Anderson, the participants included the former CEO of the La28 Olympic Games, Kathy Carter, the US Tennis Association’s commercial chief, Kirsten Corio, and Kerry Tatlock, executive vice-president of the National Basketball Association’s worldwide partnerships and media.
“For one night per year, you are not the only woman in the room,” said Lindsey.
How the cocktail time brings together women of all ages and all positions
The annual meeting has become a who’s who of women leaders in sport and a key networking forum. Participants are encouraged to bring friends and colleagues to enlarge the network.
“We are more at the senior level, and I think there are more through the system,” said Tatlock de la NBA about the growth of women leaders through sport.
Lindsey, Anderson and Tatlock said this network had led to job opportunities. Anderson said that she had personally hired a few women she had met during the event. Lindsay said that hiring managers who wanted to hire more women contacted it for recommendations to fill in roles such as team presidents, sports directors or income leaders.
Other times, women come to Lindsey, who has become known for these events, simply to obtain an introduction to another leader.
“These relationships are precious and can lead to a lot of really positive things for someone who wants to take advantage of the moment,” said Anderson.
During the pandemic, this network of women continued to connect to Zoom. They helped Mori Taheripour, an author of sports origin, launched his book on negotiation, in an example of the way in which they rallied each other during this period.
These meetings also inspired Wasserman to launch his women’s sports research branch, the collective six years ago. Wasserman already represented athletes, executives and other women in sport, and the collective aimed to help others see the potential of the female sports market.
“It is about thinking about how we take all the resources we have at Wasserman, how can we take advantage of some of these incredible executives to be more intelligent about women as consumers or female sports fans?” said Thayer Lavielle, managing director of the collective.
The event also led to negotiations. Anderson and Lindsay said they had worked on sponsorship agreements involving NFL and brands like Nationwide and Microsoft.
“We have done a lot of transactions together, and it’s, and it’s cool to be able to do it with someone you respect,” said Anderson.
Lindsey said that she had seen many women rise in the ranks of low -level managers to senior executives from large organizations, and hopes that the network will only develop.
“The more we change the goalkeeper and put the women in charge of the key areas of this industry, the more we are hyper-servants this industry,” said Lindsey.
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