NEW YORK -- After two years abroad (first in Malaga, Spain and then London), Billie Jean King Enterprise's the Power of Women's Sports Summit arrived in the U.S. on Monday.
With presenting sponsor e.l.f. Beauty and held at New York Historical, attendees enjoyed a full morning of programming, including a taping of the "Welcome to the Party" podcast with Julie Foudy, Abby Wambachand Billie Jean King, followed by lunch. Other sponsors included Barclays, Deloitte, Franklin Templeton, Gainbridge, Mastercard and Microsoft.
Continuing the momentum of women's sports emerged as the overarching theme of the day. Ilana Kloss, CEO of Billie Jean King Enterprises, set the stage early on in the morning:
"This is not a short-term investment. It's a long-term investment, and it's a true partnership. Media, I think we've gone from five to maybe 15%, so there's still a long way to go. I also think men's leagues, sometimes people compare women's sports and women's teams and leagues. Well, why aren't you successful after two or three or [even] one year? And men's leagues took 30, 40, 50 years to be successful. So it is a long journey ... All I can say is that I'm thrilled Billie Jean is still alive to see the beginning of what she thought was coming all along. But as I'm sure she'll tell you, we're just at the very beginning."
King appeared on stage several times, including as part of her podcast. Liberty owner Clara Wu Tsaispoke on topics ranging from moving the team to Brooklyn and the unique identity and opportunity that brings to performance initiatives undertaken by her Wu Tsai Human Performance Alliance. Race car driver Katherine Legge, Mexican flag football captain Diana Floresand four-time wheelchair grand slam champion Kgothatso Montjaneall discussed how they are influencing the next generation.
Parity also unveiled new research in collaboration with e.l.f. about the connection between lessons learned by female athletes that they carry from sports into their future careers. Of the more than 9,000 women surveyed, 69% of those who are Everyday Athletes and have worked at least five years said that sports learnings are more important than ever, and nearly 90% of Everyday Athletes who earned a promotion said a skill developed in sports helped them move up.
The day concluded with an exclusive screening of King's upcoming documentary, to be released this fall.
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