Jessica Gelman has been an outstanding role model for women looking to rise in the sports industry, but she knows there is still is plenty of work to be done.
Gelman is the CEO of Kraft Analytics Group, a technology and services company focused on data management, advanced analytics and strategic consulting in the sports and entertainment space. She also co-founded the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference. Prior to these roles, Gelman played for the Harvard women's basketball team and graduated from Harvard Business School.
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Despite her success in the sports industry, Gelman has endured plenty of unconscious bias along the way as a woman. In a recent episode of Tom E. Curran's Patriots Talk Podcast, Gelman opened up about her experience and how she hopes to help blaze a trail for women looking to work in sports.
"I was part of the Title IX generation, meaning that passed a few years before I was born," Gelman told Curran. "And I remember when I was in college in the mid-90s thinking that it was equal. Thinking that the experience I was having as a Harvard women's basketball player was the same as the Harvard men's team. It wasn't, and I was lucky that my college basketball coach Kathy Delaney-Smith -- still the coach -- such a champion for equal rights that she supported and made me aware."
Listen to Gelman's full interview with Curran below (12:00 mark):
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"That is my forward responsibility," Gelman added. "Not only to make sure that women know that it isn't fair yet, and that they need to find things that differentiate them, that allow them to have that equal voice. That's important. It's also important that their colleagues and peers recognize and that I share and call them out when they have unconscious bias."
With strong, successful women like Gelman leading the way, the future is bright for women who hope to leave their mark on the sports industry whether it be on the field or behind the scenes.
You can watch the full interview on YouTube below: