Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Jen Brooks. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Hi Jen, thanks for joining us today. We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.

I have spent the last 27 years as a high school athletic director. I am also a woman and because high school sports is a male dominated industry I often found myself as the only woman in the room. I would attend local and national athletic director meetings and consistently found myself being talked over, ignored or simply not let into spaces because I am a woman. I have been told by vendors that girls sports “suck”. I was tired of being ignored, talked over, etc. and so I reached out the national organization that houses high school sports administration and asked if they would create a space specifically for women. Once I received that “no” I decided if space was going to be made for women working in high school sports, I would have to be the one to create it. Thus was born the Global Community of Women in High School Sports.

Jen, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I am a full time athletic director with no formal business training. When I created the Global Community of Women in High School Sports, not only was I the founder and CEO, I was the membership coordinator, social media producer, content producer, accountant, etc. I had to teach myself all of this skills in a very short time. I still have a lot to learn but this year I was selected as one of the top twenty five most influential women in business in the St. Louis area awarded by the St. Louis Business Journal.

The Global Community of Women in High School Sports exists for women and their allies to interrelate, develop, and amplify their experiences and professional skills in service to each other and to the educational sports profession. EVERYONE is invited to join! I wanted to create an inclusive environment. My journey to be a women in high school sports has been challenging. I want the journey for other women to be easier as well I want to create more space for more women to sit at the table. If she can see it, she can be it!

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

December of 2019 found me leaving the National Athletic Directors’ Conference in Maryland with a long list of female athletic directors who wanted to know more about the GCWHSS. January 2020 a few of my female colleagues from across the country and I were discussing how to take this large amount of interest that we gathered from the NADC and turn it into a thriving GCWHSS. The next thing we new Covid hit and as educators we were introduced to a concept we have never before considered; zoom. It was during Covid that the GCWHSS rose and became leaders in the world of high school sports. Each week I would lead a zoom call where we featured various guests, services, ideas on how to cope with Covid and how to best serve our student athletes. We went from thinking we would only be able to connect once a year (at the NADC) to connecting once a week. It was amazing! We had people from across the country, men included who looked to us to lead through the challenging times. Covid helped us to get a grant to really firm up the business aspect of our organization. It also helped us to create the space we needed to be seen and heard. My motto in life is “this is good”. Covid helped us to find the good. ”

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

By simply working as a female in a male dominated industry and still sitting at the table after 27 years shows remarkable resilience. People never think I am the athletic director because I am a woman. When I was a head coach and had male assistants, everyone assumed the men where the head coaches. I have had officials ask me where the athletic director is. Many of my male peers over the years never invited me to the after meeting socials, the early morning golf games or simply included me in their plans. I have had many times in my working life that I felt like I did not belong, and in some cases like I was not even wanted in the room. I could have given in and let those feelings of inadequacy or defeat win, instead I choose to begin to roar, quietly at first and now Ispeak proudly and loudly for myself and for the other women who can be in the room or at the table.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://globalcommunityofwomeninsports.com/ and jenbrooks.com
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JenBrooksLLC and https://facebook.com/GCWHSS
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jen-brooks-cmaa-812621152/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/JenBrooks_1 and https://twitter.com/GCWHSS