WOMEN IN SPORTS

A message from the Founders:

Hi! Meghan and Sam here! We want to tell you a little bit about us and how we came up with the idea for empowHERed. We met the summer before our senior year, when we both secured internships at ESPN, Sam with espnW and Meghan with the Stats and Info Group. Living in a dorm with roughly 50 other interns, we were lucky enough to be paired as roommates, the beginning of one of the most important friendships in either of our lives.

With a shared desire to make the most out of our 10 weeks in Bristol, we spent every possible moment (literally, we were on campus from 6 am to 1 am on more than one occasion!) conducting informational interviews, shadowing other departments, and interviewing some of the most talented anchors at the Worldwide Leader for a behind-the-scenes show we’d created for an intern pitch competition. That experience ultimately landed us the opportunity to travel with College GameDay, creating content and taking in the best college football games in the country, all while completing our senior years.

While we went our separate ways after graduation (Sam started her career with the Salem Red Sox, while Meghan returned to ESPN), our internship experience was the beginning of a lifelong friendship. In the sports industry, having a genuine supporter and advocate, someone who always has your back and knows exactly what you’re going through, is rare and truly special. That friendship has sustained us through the ups and downs of our careers in sports. We’ve been able to bounce ideas off of one another, help each other prepare for job interviews, cheer each other on from afar, and most importantly, be a much-needed support system when we need to vent, brainstorm, or just talk.

Informed by our real-world experience, empowHERed was born out of a desire to help others navigate the challenges and obstacles that we’ve endured throughout our time in sports. Our goal is to provide the career services, self-care habits, and most importantly, the support system that we’ve developed and leaned on over the course of our careers.

Why?

Because we know how difficult it can be to manage on your own. We’ve been in countless situations where we’re the only women in the room. In many of those, our contributions, no matter how insightful, were belittled or devalued. (At ESPN, Meghan had a male manager laugh at her in a meeting when she pitched a storyline about the “battle in the trenches” between two top college football programs that were facing off, one with an elite offensive line and the other an otherworldly defensive line. It wasn’t that he didn’t like the idea, he did. But it was “funny to hear a woman talk about the ‘battle in the trenches’. They don’t usually know about stuff like that.”)

We’ve dealt with female managers who not only didn’t help promote, uplift, and encourage other women, they actively sabotaged or stepped on them. (Sam had a boss lie about the team flight being full for a road game, just so that she wouldn’t be able to travel with the team, even though her help was much needed.)

Even worse, we’ve experienced blatant sexual harassment in the workplace that made us question our desire to stay in the industry. Without having one another to lean on during that time, our careers may have taken a very different course.

To make a long story a little bit shorter: we’ve been in your shoes. While working in sports can be incredibly fun and fulfilling, it can push your limits, negatively impact your mental health, and make you question yourself and your beliefs. We’re here to help.

We want the empowHERed community to be a network of support, one that promotes career growth and self-care. And we’re so excited to be on this journey with you!