WWC Spotlight: A Toast to Women Athletes
Updated: Nov 2, 2021
Through our Wise Women Collective, we celebrate women whom we admire and who inspire. In celebration of the start of the world games, we are raising our glasses to all women who have reached the top of their sport and highlight some extraordinary women who are empowering others to pursue their dreams, and use their voices.
Allyson Felix, Track and Field
Allyson Felix has long been a champion of athlete mothers and has become an advocate for moms across America, especially women of color. After experiencing a scare in the third trimester of her first pregnancy and needing an emergency c-section, it opened her eyes to the risks that women without great medical care can be faced with while pregnant.
Felix partners with the organization Better Starts For All, a maternal health program that offers on-the-ground clinical care and virtual interventions to bring maternal health care to underserved communities. The CDC reports that every year, about 700 women die from childbirth and pregnancy in the United States — the highest rate of any country in the developed world. The numbers are even more staggering for women of color: Black women are about three times as likely to die from a pregnancy-related cause as white women.
Felix also recently announced a partnership with the athleisure brand Athleta and the Women’s Sports Foundation to create The Power of She Fund: Child Care Grants. The program has committed $200,000 to professional athlete mothers with the goal of covering childcare costs as they pursue goals in their respective sports while balancing motherhood.
USWNT + Crystal Dunn, Soccer
Crystal Dunn is a co-founder of the Black Women's Players Collective, an organization with the mission to elevate the image, value, and representation of Black women as athletes and leaders in business, industry, and public and private institutions.
Crystal is challenging fans and sponsors to think about why the face of the U.S. Women’s National Team has always been a white player, even as the game grows more diverse. She is also working to help create space for other Black women in the game to take on larger roles, be they as coaches, general managers, even owners. Read on to learn more about Crystal and her efforts here.
Alex Morgan, Soccer; Sue Bird, Basketball; Simone Manuel, Swimming; & Chloe Kim, Snowboarding
These Olympians have teamed up to create TOGTHERX, a digital platform to uplift the next generation of women in sports. This commerce and media company has a mission to elevate women’s voices. It is the brainchild of Morgan, who about six years ago began to seriously consider how little coverage women’s sports received in mainstream media.
Per the company’s press release, this platform is meant to provide a voice for women athletes, “celebrate competitiveness and triumph broadly, incorporating activism, culture, wellness, fashion, design, beauty and more”.
The founders also express the importance of young women being shown athletes who are successful in their entirety. This aspect was significant to Bird, who had very few examples of people like her, growing up as a queer girl. Other stories might focus on mental health, or being a minority in a given sport.
Ultimately, the intent of TOGETHERX is to break barriers and create an extraordinary, inclusive community and platform of female athletes, for the next generation of female athletes.
At Owl's Brew, we're raising our glasses in recognition of women athletes everywhere, and we are honoring those who are using their voice for change.
We have made donations to Better Starts For All, Right to Play and the Women’s Sports Foundation to do our small part in helping empower and support women in athletics reaching towards their dreams. Join us in cheering on all the women participating in the games over the next few weeks! We toast to you!
Cheers!
Is there a Wise Woman in your life that should be recognized?? We want to know all about her and raise our glass!! Reach out to us at hoot@theowlsbrew with the subject Wise Women Collective.