WNBA superstar and Minnesota Lynx player Maya Moore took home MVP honours as Team Parker won the WNBA All-Star game at Target Center in Minneapolis on Saturday and a day earlier, Sportradar proudly hosted a panel focused on empowering women in the sports industry.
The cocktail event took place on a downtown Minneapolis rooftop and featured panellists who brought unique insights from a player, team, and sports tech perspective. Panellists included Jennifer van Dijk (EVP marketing, Wasserman) as moderator and Terri Carmichael Jackson (director of operations, WNBPA), Dr Uma Jayaram (managing director of engineering, Intel True VR), Dr Laila Mintas (deputy president, Sportradar US) and Anne Doepner (director of football administration, Minnesota Vikings).
The discussion ranged from detailing their career paths, trends occurring within their respective industries and advice regarding gender diversity topics backed by their own experiences. Dr Mintas encouraged women in sports to be confident in taking the lead at their respective workplaces and to have the courage to speak up and contribute when they have valuable input, even if they find themselves outnumbered.
When answering a question of what it can feel like to be the only woman in a room during a business encounter, Terri Carmichael Jackson said: “I take pride in that for the moment, only for the moment, because that is not the goal. I think it’s my responsibility if I’m the only one in the room to ensure that I am not the only one in the room the next time. And to hold the door open and to truly extend my hand. We need to take responsibility for our sisters who might be behind us, or on either side of us, to pull them through that door too because being the only one at the table is not the goal.”
