Everyone is going to walk away from their few days in Tuscon feeling inspired, motivated and a part of a killer group of amazing women (even if you are a man)… I remember a year ago feeling the same way. So much so that I wrote a blog about it on my own website. So, the question is, what do we do with that inspiration a week later? We need to define roles of change.
My role, I have decided, is to do everything I can to introduce my producers to amazing female athletes who deserve a voice on TV and the web. I will do everything I can to interview female athletes, tell their stories and make them shine as they do and should.
I will try to be a better mentor to young athletes and open my door even more to answer their questions at any hour -- as four-time X Games gold medal snowboarder Gretchen Bleiler does for 17-year-old Maddy Shaffrick.
When I am in a city with a female sports league, I will make a point to take my kids and husband to a game. WNBA President Laurel Richie and her stories made me think: I don't want my kids to know any difference between a pro women's league and a pro men's league, I want my kids to refer to them as pro sports and pro athletes.
I will celebrate my 40th birthday next year along with Title IX, and I will channel my inner Nancy Hogshead-Makar to voice my knowledge on a bill so very important to me and the person I have become. I will make sure my daughter and her friends learn about Title IX just as she learns about freedom of speech and freedom of religion. As Billie Jean King said, "You need to know history to know yourself."
What's your role?
