Leadership is Female

Jaclyn Hawkins, CEO of Women’s Hockey Life.  When Jaclyn does something she goes ALL IN and currently navigates building a women’s hockey empire while raising toddler twins in Ottawa, Ontario.

The idea for Women’s Hockey Life began over a slice of pizza in Switzerland—where Jaclyn decided how she’d stay involved in women’s hockey after retiring from a successful playing career with the University of Connecticut Huskies in the NCAA D1, Boston Blades of the CWHL, ZSC Lions in Switzerland, and even a stint with Hockey Canada, as well as an accomplished coaching career.

Fast forward 10+ years and Jaclyn has created and runs the leading women’s hockey website and community, along with multiple branches under WHL, to help give other women the opportunities she had (without the mistakes she made).  She also runs an eight week online course to help high school girls navigate the college recruiting process.

Women’s Hockey Life (WHL) focuses on highlighting, promoting and supporting women’s hockey around the world at every level.  From youth and university hockey, to the pros and the beer league heroes—they cover it all.

Instagram: @womenshockeylife

Twitter: @WHLOfficial

Facebook: @womenshockeylife

LinkedIn: Jaclyn Hawkins

Website(s): www.WomensHockeyLife.com , www.WHLAcademy.com

Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaclyn_Hawkins

WHL Bio: https://womenshockeylife.com/about-us/

www.WHLAcademy.com.

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Larra Overton is a host, reporter and producer for the Indianapolis Colts. She joined the team in July 2019 after five years at Fox59 and CBS 4, most recently as sports reporter and anchor. With the Colts, she serves as the sideline reporter for the Colts radio broadcasts, hosts the weekly Colts 360 program and produces multiple series’ for Colts Productions. In addition to her role with the Colts, she serves as a track & field analyst and sideline reporter for USATF, ESPN and BTN.

Larra grew up in New Albany, IN and attended Indiana University where she was a captain on the track & field and cross country teams, competing in several NCAA Championships.

After receiving her bachelor’s degree in Journalism and master’s in Sport Communication from IU, she began her broadcasting career at Fox41 WDRB in Louisville, KY. Larra moved to Indianapolis in 2010, working for the Pacers, Fox Sports and the National Sports Journalism Center at IUPUI.

Twitter: https://twitter.com/LarraOverton

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/larraoverton/

Our Amazon Favs:

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Best portable Coffee Frothier!

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Dionna Widder is in her third season with the Houston Dynamo and Dash and serves as the club’s Chief Revenue Officer. Widder is responsible for the revenue-generation strategy and execution for the Club, including overseeing the ticket sales and service along with the corporate partnership sales and marketing teams for the Houston Dynamo, Dash, and BBVA Stadium.  Dionna was recently honored by the Sports Business Journal as a member of the Game Changers Class of 2020.

Widder broke into professional sports in 2006 upon graduating from Central Michigan University with the NBA’s Indiana Pacers and WNBA’s Indiana Fever. She advanced rapidly within the club, starting out as a group sales executive before being named the Director of Group Ticket Sales and ultimately Sr. Director of Ticket Sales. Widder spent two years as a Director in the NBA’s Team Marketing and Business Operations group, providing league support to individual teams with a focus on ticket sales, corporate partnerships and marketing functions to NBA, WNBA and G-League teams.  Next, Dionna was the Vice President of Ticket Sales and Service for the Cleveland Cavaliers.  

Widder is a native of Flint, Michigan and reside now in Houston along with her husband Mark and their three children, eight-year-old fraternal twins Wells and Ellis and three-year-old daughter Rowan. As a passion project, Dionna hosts a podcast titled Women Blazers, which is features conversations with women who are leading the way in the sports and entertainment industry.

Dionna's favorite quote: As Oprah Winfrey, once said: “Passion is energy. Feel the power that comes from focusing on what excites you.”

Follow Dionna at:

Twitter: @DW_Dynamo

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Tara Wilson, CEO of the Tara Wilson Agency, entrepreneur of the year 2018 for Auburn University’s Harbert School of Business. The Tara Wilson agency has a fortune 500 client list that includes Nike, Lou & Grey, and Samsung and leds experiential marketing for for these brands and more that want to connect with the female consumer.  Tara has identified her niche, she leads an agency who “gets women”.

We discuss teamwork, leveling-up your circle, finding success in saying NO, being patient with your growth and finding your niche.

https://www.tarawilson.com/

https://www.instagram.com/tarawilsonagency/

https://www.instagram.com/taramwilson/

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Host Emily Jaenson at:

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A common denominator for all successful female leaders?  CONFIDENCE!! This episode lays out the pathway for you to get it or get more.

1. Confidence is a skill set, you are NOT born with it!

2. Confidence can waiver. That's normal!

3. Confidence is a process and a practice!

Join your host, Emily Jaenson on this week's solo episode honing in and extracting the best tips to give you the confidence to LEVEL-UP!

Follow and get in touch with Emily at:

https://www.instagram.com/leadershipisfemale/

www.leadershipisfemale.com

Jessica Kleinschmidt worked for Major League Baseball's CUT 4 and was then hired by NBC Sports in the Bay Area, and now covers the Oakland Athletics and San Francisco Giants. She’s the co-host of the Cork’d Up podcast produced by Momentum and Balk Talk with NBC Sports.

Jess is one of the most authentic people I have met. Her brand is Jess Kleinschmidt and she owns that All. Day. Long. Think about this, if you be yourself and find a way to be confident in who you are (which Jess also discusses) there is no pretending! There is one and only, YOU, and you get to be that person.

Follow Along or ask Jessica for help at:

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/jessicakleinschmidt/

https://www.instagram.com/corkdup/

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This week’s interview on the Leadership is Female podcast is in the sports tech world, our guest is Megan Kurcwal, Director of Sales & Marketing at StellarAlgo (a customer data platform focused on helping sports organizations better understand and nurture their fans with data). Megan is a former 2-sport student athlete and national champion at the University of Calgary in swimming and rugby, and graduated with a Business degree with a specialization in marketing.

Megan worked in the Canadian Football League with both a team – the Calgary Stampeders – and then the League office, then moved to the college athletics world and led the marketing and fan experience team for Dinos Athletics at the University of Calgary.

Her story today covers planning, courage (courageous conversations and behavior) and consistency in your efforts.

Connect with Megan at https://www.linkedin.com/in/megankurcwal/

On Twitter @megkurcwal

Email: [email protected]

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Ashley is an Emmy-nominated creative in the sports industry, with experience working in-house for teams in the NFL, MLB, and NCAA.

She currently serves as Creative Director for the Detroit Lions, leading and overseeing the ideation and design of all Detroit Lions and Ford Field branded campaigns. Past roles include Design Manager at both the San Diego Padres and Tennessee Titans as well as creative leadership and design positions at Indiana University and Mississippi State University.

Her work has been featured in several sports properties and organizations such as Brand New, Adidas America, ESPN, the SEC Network, Bleacher Report, SB Nation, Saturday Down South, Makers of Sport Podcast and the National Association of Collegiate Marketing Administrators (NACMA).

Ashley earned both her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Graphic Design ('09) and a Masters in Sport Management ('12) from Eastern Michigan University.

Follow Ashley at @ashleystrauss on Instagram, Twitter, and Ashley Strauss on LinkedIn

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Host Emily Jaenson at:

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Professor Alicia Jessop is an attorney licensed to practice in California and Colorado who focuses on the intersection of sport, business media, and the law and Pepperdine University. She’s the founder of RulingSports.com and a contributor to The Athletic and The Washington Post.

Twitter @rulingsport

Instagram @rulingsport

Founder, RulingSports.com

Contributor, The Athletic

Contributor, The Washington Post

Assistant Professor, Pepperdine University

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Deputy Commissioner & EVP, Business Affairs  at the National Lacrosse League where she provides strategic direction on all growth initiatives and legal matters facing the NLL. When hired in 2019, she became and continues to be the first FEMALE Deputy Commissioner of a men’s professional sports league. In 2020, Jessica became one of the founding Advisory Board Members for the Pro Sports Assembly, dedicated to advancing diversity & inclusion in the professional sports industry. Jessica discusses the hurdles she has overcome, the importance of a great network, including your children in your work, when to leave a job and so much more! 

Follow Jessica at: 

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jessica-berman-52654876/ https://www.nll.com/staff/jessica-berman/

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Host Emily Jaenson at:

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