What opportunities can women's professional sports create? In this episode of CMA Connect, Alison Simpson, the CEO of the CMA, welcomes Allison Sandmeyer-Graves, the CEO of Canadian Women & Sport. They discuss how the momentum of women's professional sports can dismantle barriers women and girls face in society, including issues related to politics, representation on corporate boards, gender-based violence, and pay equality. They highlight the rise of professional women's sports in Canada and their impact on physical and mental health. They also cover the growing investment in women's sports leagues and teams, and the role marketers and brands play in supporting them. Allison also encourages anyone with CEO ambitions to invest in the relationships they build.

00:00:00 :05 - 00:00:12 :19
Presenter
Welcome to CMA Connect, Canada's marketing podcast with your host CMA CEO, Alison Simpson.

00:00:12 :21 - 00:00:36 :10
Alison
Women in professional sport are finally getting their moment, which is outstanding news for girls and women at all levels of sport. Now, while this is certainly an important and exciting progress, it's also a starting point. We have a long way to go to get to the finish line and to truly achieve equity. In today's episode, we will explore what led to the long overdue rise of professional women's sport and why it's so important.

00:00:36 :12 - 00:00:57 :18
Alison
We'll discuss why it's about so much more than sport, and talk about the broader societal impact that it represents. We're also speaking to the rebalancing that's underway, the opportunity the opportunity that represents for savvy brands, and how marketers can help accelerate the great momentum we currently have. Joining me today is Allison Sandmeyer-Graves, who is the CEO of Canadian Women in Sport.

00:00:57 :20 - 00:01:22 :12
Alison
Allison's an experienced social impact professional, who's motivated by the potential for systemic change. She also believes that we achieve the greatest outcomes when we can harness the resources of diverse sectors. Allison loves the challenge of building collaborative platforms that will drive innovative solutions, create shared value and help empower communities. That's why she's such a terrific fit for and has thrived in her current role for nine years.

00:01:22 :14 - 00:01:48 :05
Alison
Canadian Women in Sport, the organization that Allison leads, is dedicated to creating an equitable and inclusive Canadian sport and physical activity system that empowers girls and women as active participants and as leaders. And that's within and through sport, with a focus on systemic change, Canadian Women in Sport partners with organizations, governments and leaders to challenge the status quo and build better sport through gender equity.

00:01:48 :07 - 00:01:54 :08
Alison
It's a mission very close to my heart, and it's a true pleasure to welcome my namesake, Allison, to the podcast today.

00:01:54 :10 - 00:01:58 :09
Allison
Hello. I'm so happy to be here. Thank you for the invitation.

00:01:58 :09 - 00:02:03 :21
Alison
I would love to start by having you share a bit about your organization and the very important impact that you're having.

00:02:03 :23 - 00:02:24 :11
Allison
I love talking about Canadian women in sport. I think for many people who are tuning in, who have experienced the power of sport in their lives, I mean, that is what our organization is truly about. Taking a sport system that for decades has done things in a certain way and frankly, served some people better than others.

00:02:24 :13 - 00:02:52 :11
Allison
And making it more inclusive and more equitable so that as many girls and women as possible, can access the tremendous benefits of sport. And we do this work because we believe that sport is a platform for broad social change. When you think about the individual benefits that sport brings to people's lives and how that makes them stronger in their abilities and in the opportunities afforded to them.

00:02:52 :13 - 00:03:34 :05
Allison
When you think about sport as a platform for leadership and the need for more women in all forms of leadership in our society, that is what really motivates us. That's what gets us excited. The idea of using sport as a vehicle for for bigger change for women and girls, and we do that by working within the system itself. Making the sport system more inclusive, more equitable, not fixing the girls, not fixing the women, but really looking at how can we take the way that sport is delivered, the way it's governed, the policies, the practices, the culture, and create more fairness so that girls and women are welcomed in, are supported and engaged to be part

00:03:34 :05 - 00:03:42 :06
Allison
of this and are able to thrive, as we say, in sport, but also well beyond through sport.

00:03:42 :07 - 00:04:10 :02
Alison
It's such an important mandate and I know from our earlier conversations, we both have personally benefited from being involved in sport early in our lives and it led to so many great professional and personal experiences that really made us the leaders we are today. So I am so passionate about the mission of your organization and the important role that you're playing for future generations, as well as helping to nurture truly professional athletes.

00:04:10 :02 - 00:04:13 :10
Allison
Not a role that I ever aspired to, but without sport

00:04:13 :10 - 00:04:22 :12
Alison
I truly wouldn't be the person or the leader that I am today. So I want more of Canadians and Canadian women and girls in particular, to be able to benefit from that.

00:04:22 :14 - 00:04:53 :03
Allison
Absolutely. You know, I have the great privilege of encountering so many Olympians and Paralympians. And so I always feel, like I need to say, I'm a very average athlete. But, but I think what's great about sport is that you can you can take it as far as your interests and your abilities can take you. And in Canada, that increasingly means to a livelihood, to a professional livelihood, as an athlete.

00:04:53 :05 - 00:05:13 :07
Allison
But you you don't need to aspire to that. And you don't need to achieve at those levels to get all of these benefits, to get the physical health benefits, the mental health benefits, the resiliency, the, the ability to set goals and strive towards them, to work as a team. There's, you know, so much that can come from sport.

00:05:13 :09 - 00:05:36 :20
Allison
There's so much at stake, I would say, for women and girls, in our society to access these sorts of things and, I, I want the whole, the whole pyramid, if you will, all the way from professional right down to the grassroots. But it's really about getting as many Canadian women and girls playing and experiencing this as possible.

00:05:36 :20 - 00:05:40 :06
Allison
And the whole ecosystem has to work together to create that.

00:05:40 :08 - 00:05:49 :05
Alison
Absolutely. Now, building on that, what led you to join the organization nine years ago, I think it was 35 years old at the time, and how has it evolved under your leadership?

00:05:49 :07 - 00:06:18 :10
Allison
I was, so intrigued by by the mission, by the mandate. You know, we've already spoken about, you know, my personal experiences of the power of sport. I'm a social impact person. So my career has been in the nonprofit space. I really like being part of contributing to big movements that help to, this is going to sound so corny, but, like, make a better world, right?

00:06:18 :10 - 00:06:52 :15
Allison
I want to contribute to communities and societies and the sort of change that, I want to see and the sort of the society that I want to live in. So that's what really motivates me. I think at the time it was known as CAWS, some people who are tuning in may know it as that, now Canadian Women in Sport, you know, had been around for three and a half decades and it had such, such a wonderful reputation for really credible work, for strong advocacy,

00:06:52 :17 - 00:07:24 :23
Allison
great, just was, was a wonderful resource within the sport system for those who wanted to be part of making a better sports system and unlocking the potential therein. At the same time, big mandate, you know, all sport, physical activity, all of Canada, all levels, very little capacity. And so, it was a wonderful challenge to step into as a leader to say, okay, there's something really great here.

00:07:24 :23 - 00:07:50 :19
Allison
There's this wonderful set of assets. But how can we, how can we expand the impact? How can we take it further? Obviously a lot of pressure. A lot of people had done a lot of work to get it to that point, and I felt a big responsibility in stepping into that role, to to really take their vision for this organization and the sport system and the impact that they wanted to have and steward it forward.

00:07:50 :21 - 00:08:20 :07
Allison
And the beautiful thing is, is that, as I think I would say, luck would have it, you know, there was government interest and investment in the women's movement and in women's sport that was just around the corner. And some really wonderful things happening around. And so we've been part of building this big movement for women's sport in the country, but also joined by so many others who've been so essential to this organization's growth and development and the movement as a whole.

00:08:20 :09 - 00:08:39 :21
Alison
That's amazing. And if making the world a better place is