Champions of Change: Shattering Ceilings in Sports

On this week’s episode of the Most Powerful Women in Sports podcast, Adweek’s former chief content officer Lisa Granatstein sits down with Jessi Miley-Dyer, Senior Vice President of Tours and Head of Competition of the World Surf League.

Miley-Dyer grew up in New South Wales, Australia and began surfing when she was 8. She spent 15 years as a pro surfer, winning many prestigious competitions, before joining WSL in 2011. And in 2018, Miley-Dyer played a key role in bringing pay equity to pro surfing. WSL became the first U.S.-based sports group to offer equal pay globally for every competitor. 

We’ll hear from Miley-Dyer about how she rode the wave from pro surfer to league leader and discuss what’s next for women in sports. 

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On today’s episode, we’ll be speaking with Katrina Adams- former president, CEO of the United States Tennis Association. Katrina is also the author of Own the Arena – Getting Ahead, Making a Difference, and Succeeding as the Only One – it’s both a memoir and a career playbook.  

Katrina was one of a few black women on the pro circuit, one of several top black coaches, the first black commentator of the Tennis Channel and the only black woman and youngest person to hold the post of USTA CEO. We’ll hear from Katrina about her incredible tennis career on and off the court, the role of mental health in sports, and what it’s like to host and report on the US Open in New York. 

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Today we’ll be speaking Melissa Proctor, CMO of the Atlanta Hawks and State Farm Arena. Melissa also is author of From Ballgirl to CMO, it’s both a memoir and a playbook for how to build a successful career. It’s based on Melissa’s five guiding principles, which we’ll get to in just a moment. 

Melissa started her career at Turner serving in senior brand development and strategy roles. She joined the NBA in 2014 and then two years later became the CMO of the Atlanta Hawks. Melissa got a taste of basketball early on in life, literally starting on the ground floor, as a ball girl for the Miami Heat and you are going to hear more about that as Melissa shares her personal goals that form her guiding principles to balancing life and work. 

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Today we’re speaking with Julie Uhrman - cofounder and president of Angel City, an LA-based National Women's Soccer League franchise rolling out this spring. With star-power investors that include Natalie Portman, Eva Longoria, Serena Williams, Billie Jean King, Mia Hamm, Julie Foudy, and Abby Wambach, to name just a few, this team is in it to win it as a global brand – think FC Barcelona, with equality as its core mission. 

A serial tech and gaming entrepreneur, Julie was the founder and CEO of Ouya, an innovative Android-based gaming console. She’s also a big sports fan and follows USC Trojans basketball, and of course, professional women’s soccer. Julie will share how her experience in tech and startups helped boost her business game that put Angel City FC in play. 

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Childhood sports and other interests can serve as formative aspects of professional careers and leadership qualities. This is exemplified by Johanna Faries, General Manager of Call of Duty at Activision Blizzard who dabbled in martial arts, soccer, basketball and music during her time in primary school and then at Harvard University. 

During their conversation, Faries spoke to her tenured experience at the NFL, the exciting future of esports, the importance of an open dialogue in the workplace and core values and ideals that have influenced her leadership style.

Follow Lisa on Twitter: @lgranatstein

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Welcome to Adweek’s Most Powerful Women in Sports Podcast! Throughout this series, you’ll hear from the world’s greatest marketers, media pros, athletes and coaches who share their remarkable career journeys and how they achieved peak performance. 

For many years, Adweek has celebrated these extraordinary women, both on and off the field. Each year, we bestow 30 sports stars with a Most Powerful Women in Sports Award online and in print with many more sports pros featured at our events, including our Women Trailblazers and Brandweek Sports Marketing summits. 

We are excited to finally roll out our women’s sports podcast, an extension of our biweekly video series hosted by Adweek's chief content officer, Lisa Granatstein. It’s an especially pivotal moment for women in sports, even as their popularity and fan engagement grows, the struggle is real – challenges like pay equity, support from media and sponsors, and addressing workplace misconduct continue to persist.

There’s just so much to tackle and this podcast is where we’ll address these topics head-on. We’ll also talk about everything from motivation and personal growth to leadership and career strategies. Whether we’re talking about sports or any other business, the same life rule applies– it’s all about balancing head and heart. 

Be sure to subscribe to Adweek’s Most Powerful Women in Sports podcast on your favorite podcasting app. Thanks for listening, and we hope this Most Powerful Women in Sports series will leave you inspired and empowered.

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