Students, faculty and alumni gathered in the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism) on Wednesday to celebrate National Girls and Women in Sports Day and hear from the female sports executives and athletes responsible for shaping the future of women in sports.
It was the school’s first time hosting an event for the national day, which falls on the first Wednesday of February each year. While the day was established almost 40 years ago, creating an empowering space for women working in sports remains a work in progress. Annenberg hopes to propel the mission forward by creating opportunities for young women and inspiring them to pursue their dreams.
“This event will honor the accomplishments of women in athletics, sports media, and sports leadership,” Annenberg’s website stated. “It also aims to inspire the next generation of women and provide them with role models in the sports industry.”
Associate Director of the Public Relations and Advertising program and Annenberg professor Melanie Cherry kicked off the event as moderator of the first panel, titled “New Playmakers: Driving Women in Sports Forward.” She was followed by the Associate Dean for Student Life, Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging, Nickey Woods, who moderated the second panel, “Game Changers: Trailblazers in Sports.” The last discussion provided a unique perspective to the event with former and current Angel City FC players shedding light on their professional soccer careers.
“I was hoping to get a different perspective on these women’s upbringings and paths to get to where they are today,” freshman business major Amayah Bakham said. “Everyone comes from a different background and as someone aspiring to work in the sports industry, I want that reassurance that you don’t have to come from a specific background to find a successful career.”
Panelist guests ranged from Olivia Cheng, the vice president of marketing and brand engagement for LA28, and Amy Trask, the former CEO of the Oakland Raiders, in addition to the pros from Angel City.
Program Administrator of USC Next Level Sports Immanuel Onuoha helped curate this roster of diverse professionals who have decades of industry experience. He says they are the driving forces helping to “innovate the space.”
“Now more than ever, it’s an important time to shine a light on, not only what’s to come, but where we’ve been,” Onuoha said. “When we say ‘women in sports,’ we don’t just mean women’s sports. We mean women who are working in the sports industry broadly.”
Cherry also acknowledged Annenberg’s responsibility in empowering young women to pursue a career in sports, explaining it starts by creating a safe environment for growth.
“We want to create a pipeline for more women to get involved in sports,” Cherry said. “I think there’s a lot in the industry, both in journalism and in PR and communications that needs to be changed to be more female-friendly. And I think that [Annenberg has] the ability to do that.”
The second panel consisted of “trailblazing” women who hold top positions in the largest sports leagues in the world. General Counsel for the LA Clippers Jenn Lewis, Vice President of DEI for the LA Dodgers Courtney Moore and Trask shared their personal experience navigating the industry, offering invaluable advice.
“It’s okay to not know what you’re doing, as long as you’re willing to acknowledge you don’t know what you’re doing, and you need to find people to help you,” Trask said. “Asking for help, admitting when you don’t know what you’re doing, telling others you need their help, is a tremendous sign of strength. That is not a sign of weakness.”
Angel City FC midfielder Elizabeth Eddy guided the final conversation of the day with her teammates midfielder Madison Hammond, forward Katie Johnson and goalie Angelina Anderson.
The women shared their experiences playing in the National Women’s Soccer League and the challenges they’ve faced with raising awareness for the league and expanding the space for women’s sports. Their conversation included topics like the evolving landscape of college sports and NIL, the importance of getting a college education and how resources and conditions have evolved for women’s professional soccer over the past years.
“My vision for women’s sports is to change your mindset, to not view it as a subset of sports or a charity case,” Hammond said. “You should invest your time, your spirit, your like fandom into female sports because we’re good at what we do.”
Eddy highlighted the NWSL’s growth in recent years, as proven by the league signing a four-year, $240 million media rights deal in 2023 after previously having a three-year, $4.5 million deal. The women explained that while the space for women’s sports has drastically evolved since the beginning of their careers, there’s still a lot of work to do — something law student Aaliyah Pitts agrees with.
“I hope women get better recognition,” Pitts said. “I think they’re starting to with NIL, but when talking about professional athletes, it seems like they still don’t get enough recognition.”
As reiterated throughout the discussions, there is still much work to be done in establishing a welcoming space for women working in the sports industry, which is why Annenberg is playing an important role in the process.
“Something that [Trask] said that really impacted me was, ‘I feel success is when people stop asking me what it was like to be a woman in sports,’” Onuoha said. “My version of success would be that enough women … join the conversation… [that] this won’t be something that’s remarkable.”