Leveling The Playing Field

This week’s episode of Leveling The Playing Field starts with Bobbi-Sue talking about the debacle at the US Open’s ladies finals and how mad she is about it. We move quickly to reminding everyone about the MLB Player’s Trust’s Michael Weiner Scholarship for Labor Studies. Go to Playerstrust.org to apply.

Our guest this week is Kathy Burrows, CEO (“Chief Energy Officer”) at Sold Out Seating. Kathy began her career as a nurse and quickly realized that wasn’t her true calling. By participating in a volunteer sales club with the Cleveland Indians, she realized she was good at selling. However, she wanted to sell differently than others. She was very creative and saw how many opportunities were being missed by doing the old “Dialing for dollars.”

She left her role with the team to start her own consulting company. It started as a way to help people learn how to sell. Over the years, however, she has created a name for herself as one of the best sales team developers/trainers. She goes into teams and helps them truly asses their sales staff and how to best engage them. She then works with the individuals to develop as total professionals. Kathy is also known for overall leadership team training and development.

The conversation is more nuts and bolts than usual. Kathy talks about how to find the right fit for a job, how sales techniques need to evolve, and ways that organizations can keep great employees from leaving the industry.

This episode of Leveling The Playing Field is brought to you by RXBar. For 25% off your first order, visit RXBAR.com/LTPF and enter promo code “LTPF” at checkout.

This episode is also brought to you by the Sports MBA program at San Diego State University. A unique feature of the program is its study abroad trip to the Dominican Republic. This hand-on course explores each step of a prospect’s path to the big leagues, from skinny kids on makeshift playing fields to the high-pressure world of scouts, agents, and contracts. This once-in-a-lifetime experience is only available through SDSU Sports MBA. Apply today at SDSU.edu/sportsMBA!

You can follow the podcast on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at @LTPFPod or check out the website at LTPFPod.com. Bobbi-Sue can be found on Twitter at @BobbiSue. Please send us your comments and thoughts. You can also email us at [email protected].

Don’t forget to subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, TuneIn Radio, and Google Play!

The post Leveling The Playing Field: Kathy Burrows of Sold Out Seating appeared first on Radio Influence.

We are coming up on the 40th anniversary of the landmark victory of Ludkte v. Kuhn. Melissa Ludtke, at the time a 20-something sports reporter for Sports Illustrated, was barred from entering the Yankees clubhouse while on assignment during the World Series. MLB policies banned women from locker rooms at the time. Ludtke’s suit was about equal access. And the judge saw it that way. Melissa moved on from sports a few years later and focused on societal issues of women and children.

Melissa Ludtke is an author, filmmaker, and award-winning journalist. She’s reported for Sports Illustrated, CBS News, and Time Magazine. Melissa won the Front Page Award from the Newswomen’s Club of New York, the Mary Garber Pioneer Award from the Association of Women in Sports Media, and the Yankee Quill Award for Lifetime Achievement, citing her distinguished history of fighting for equal opportunities for women sportswriters.

You can follow the podcast on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at @LTPFPod or check out the website at LTPFPod.com. Bobbi-Sue can be found on Twitter at @BobbiSue. Please send us your comments and thoughts. You can also email us at [email protected].

Don’t forget to subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, TuneIn Radio, and Google Play!

The post Leveling The Playing Field: Melissa Ludtke appeared first on Radio Influence.

Laura Okmin is one of the most recognizable faces and voices in sports broadcasting. Her relationships with athletes, coaches, and front office staff are what make her one of the most respected in the business. As a sideline reporter for NFL on Fox and Westwood One, she has one of the most coveted broadcasting jobs in the industry. What she does off the field, though, is what she’s truly passionate about. That’s why she started GALvanize – to help young women navigate the crazy waters of sports broadcasting.

Bobbi-Sue and Laura go around the world in this conversation. They share a lot of laughs and they share some tears. In a long but touching episode, the women talk about everything from dealing with aging in a part of the industry all about looks, to the death of a loved one, to how puppies make them smile. You don’t want to miss it!

You can follow the podcast on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at @LTPFPod or check out the website at LTPFPod.com. Bobbi-Sue can be found on Twitter at @BobbiSue. Please send us your comments and thoughts. You can also email us at [email protected].

Don’t forget to subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, TuneIn Radio, and Google Play!

The post Leveling The Playing Field: Laura Okmin of Fox Sports & Westwood One appeared first on Radio Influence.

Jean Afterman is one of the most powerful women in baseball. As only the third female Assistant General Manager in the big leagues, Jean is a force. She did not come into this role through a traditional path. She was a history of art major at Cal Berkley, had an acting career, and found a loophole to bring Japanese baseball players to the US. All before becoming the Assistant GM of the Yankees! She is long rumored to eventually become the first woman in a GM role in MLB but if you ask her, she doesn’t want that gig.

This is such a great interview with a legend in our industry!

You can follow the podcast on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at @LTPFPod or check out the website at LTPFPod.com. Bobbi-Sue can be found on Twitter at @BobbiSue. Please send us your comments and thoughts. You can also email us at [email protected].

Don’t forget to subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, TuneIn Radio, and Google Play!

The post Leveling The Playing Field: Jean Afterman, Assistant GM Of The New York Yankees appeared first on Radio Influence.

Janet Marie Smith’s imprint on the sport of baseball is seen by millions of people each year. As the architect/planner behind the Camden Yards ballpark, Turner Field, and renovations of Fenway Park and Dodger Stadium, she brought that intimate feel back to the ballpark experience. Her entrance into the sport was part luck, part persistence. She had no ballpark experience but knew that she could provide a unique perspective to Larry Lucchino and his crew for the Camden Yards project.

This conversation covers her “non-traditional” entry into sport, the various projects she’s had the opportunity to work on, including one special project in the Dominican, and how she did it all while living in Baltimore. Yes, the entire time!

Definitely another fun episode and full of information that Bobbi-Sue would never have thought about pre-podcast.

You can follow the podcast on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at @LTPFPod or check out the website at LTPFPod.com. Bobbi-Sue can be found on Twitter at @BobbiSue. Please send us your comments and thoughts. You can also email us at [email protected].

Don’t forget to subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, TuneIn Radio, and Google Play!

The post Leveling The Playing Field: Janet Marie Smith, Los Angeles Dodgers’ Senior VP Of Planning & Development appeared first on Radio Influence.

Danita Johnson, Director of Business Development for the LA Clippers, joins Bobbi-Sue Doyle-Hazard on this week’s episode. Danita’s career has always been in pro basketball but she bopped around from D-league (now G-league) teams to WNBA teams back to the NBA with the Clippers. Much of her time has been in sales but her new role takes into account marketing, sales, community outreach, and anything that can drive revenue. Starting in community relations, she was taught early on how important a skill set in sales would be to future success. Danita and Bobbi-Sue talk about these transitions, an amazing women-focused campaign Danita ran while at the Sparks, and how important it is to “show up.”

You can follow the podcast on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at @LTPFPod or check out the website at LTPFPod.com. Bobbi-Sue can be found on Twitter at @BobbiSue. Please send us your comments and thoughts. You can also email us at [email protected].

Don’t forget to subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, TuneIn Radio, and Google Play!

The post Leveling The Playing Field: Danita Johnson, Director Of Business Development For The LA Clippers appeared first on Radio Influence.

We have our first guest in the eSports space this week! Nicole Pike is the Managing Director of Nielsen Esports. Nicole went to school thinking she would go into international affairs and politics. Instead, she ended up at one of the largest market and product research companies in the world working on eSports. She has been with Nielsen for almost her entire career. Nicole tells Bobbi-Sue about her passion for figuring out what drives consumer behavior and how she landed in a space that didn’t exist just 5 years ago. The discussion captures a lot of the background info on eSports and where it’s headed. Olympics, anyone? The dynamics with eSports and brand sponsorships takes the main stage during this conversation. Obviously, Bobbi-Sue asks Nicole about women in eSports, the lack of diversity overall, and how Gamergate-type events can be prevented moving forward. It’s a comprehensive look at a side of the sports industry that many, especially Bobbi-Sue, are trying to wrap their hands around.

Big thanks to FIU for sponsoring this episode! If you’re thinking of going to grad school, check out Florida International University‘s online graduate programs!

You can follow the podcast on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at @LTPFPod or check out the website at LTPFPod.com. Bobbi-Sue can be found on Twitter at @BobbiSue. Please send us your comments and thoughts. You can also email us at [email protected].

Don’t forget to subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, TuneIn Radio, and Google Play!

The post Leveling The Playing Field: Nicole Pike, Managing Director of Nielsen eSports appeared first on Radio Influence.

Brenda Andress is the Commissioner of the Canadian Women’s Hockey League and founder of the #SheIs movement. Brenda’s goal has been to grow the women’s game across all leagues. A hockey player herself, she fell in love with the game and knew she wanted to work in sports somehow. Her path included the unconventional route of parks and recreation and community facility development. Brenda has been making serious moves in sport since she was in college where she was the first female to play on a men’s collegiate team in Canada. Later in life, she would become one of the first women to be a level 6 referee in hockey. Now, she works every day to increase awareness, participation, and growth of women’s sports. With the other women’s leagues, she is pushing for greater attendance and viewing of all women’s sporting events.

This interview is so fun. Brenda’s career has been fairly unique, which of course we love. Her current work speaks to our heart. We discuss her career path, of course, but also have a good discussion on Canada Day, women’s leagues being a way to get more women in typically male-centric roles, Lebron and Tavares contracts, and how we can each impact women’s sports. Bobbi-Sue also goes off on a rant about the American Alliance of Football and their all-male pictures. Finally, Bobbi-Sue comes up with an incentive for all of her listeners to join the #SheIsChallenege.

Big thanks to FIU for sponsoring this episode! If you’re thinking of going to grad school, check out Florida International University‘s online graduate programs!

You can follow the podcast on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at @LTPFPod or check out the website at LTPFPod.com. Bobbi-Sue can be found on Twitter at @BobbiSue. Please send us your comments and thoughts. You can also email us at [email protected].

Don’t forget to subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, TuneIn Radio, and Google Play!

The post Leveling The Playing Field: Brenda Andress, Commissioner of the Canadian Women’s Hockey League appeared first on Radio Influence.

Emily Jaenson is the first woman in two decades to be named General Manager of a ball club in the Pacific Coast League of Minor league baseball. She is currently the only female GM in all of Triple-A and one of 5 total in MiLB. Her path to the GM role is one of Bobbi-Sue’s favorites thus far.

Emily started as a ticket sales intern with her hometown team, Chicago Bulls. After the program ended, she moved over to the Muscular Dystrophy Association where she worked on everything from fundraising to events for over 3.5 years. She has been a small business owner and a big sister (and employee) of Big Brothers Big Sisters.

Emily found home with the Reno Aces as she moved up the ranks to VP of Corporate Partnerships. A move to Houston for her husband’s job kept her away for two years, working in other organizations until this spring she received a phone call from the President of the Reno Aces asking her to come home and be the GM. This conversation highlights the same lesson over and over again: pivoting is good, gaining new skills is good, and you don’t have to move through your career in a straight line.

Big thanks to FIU for sponsoring this episode! If you’re thinking of going to grad school, check out Florida International University‘s online graduate programs!

You can follow the podcast on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at @LTPFPod or check out the website at LTPFPod.com. Bobbi-Sue can be found on Twitter at @BobbiSue. Please send us your comments and thoughts. You can also email us at [email protected].

Don’t forget to subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, TuneIn Radio, and Google Play!

The post Leveling The Playing Field: Reno Aces General Manager Emily Jaenson appeared first on Radio Influence.

This week, Bobbi-Sue sits down with Stephanie Jarvis, principal of SJarvis Consulting, a sports and events consulting firm, and lecturer at Arizona State University’s Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law. Stephanie’s career started in compliance in collegiate athletics. She continued in that role for quite a while before moving over to the Fiesta Bowl and focusing on the legal work for large sporting event organizing committees.

Bobbi-Sue and Stephanie talk about what compliance is, how Stephanie took advantage of opportunities that arose, and what the heck a senior woman administrator is. In addition, they get into some of the nitty gritty of what occurs in lead up to large sporting events and the organizing committees that get those events. Finally, Bobbi-Sue and Stephanie talk about HOW DIFFERENT it is when all of a sudden you (as a lawyer) become the one that needs advising on your own business.

Big thanks to FIU for sponsoring this episode!

If you’re thinking of going to grad school, check out Florida International University‘s online graduate programs!

You can follow the podcast on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at @LTPFPod or check out the website at LTPFPod.com. Bobbi-Sue can be found on Twitter at @BobbiSue. Please send us your comments and thoughts. You can also email us at [email protected].

Don’t forget to subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, TuneIn Radio, and Google Play!

The post Leveling The Playing Field: Stephanie Jarvis, Principal of SJarvis Consulting appeared first on Radio Influence.