I love this so much. Growing up, my dream was to own/manage an NFL team. When I was 7 I wanted to play football, but they smiled and told me to sign up for cheer instead. I actually loved cheer: I was the only 7yo who knew when to yell “defense” and when to yell “offense”. /1 https://twitter.com/samrap10/status/1310176982345420800">https://twitter.com/samrap10/...

But as with many things in life in the late 80’s, there were no women for me to look up to in football then. I relished the possibility of being the 1st. Through HS, adults tried to kindly beat the hope out of me. But I persisted and started into sports marketing at UK. /2

It was there that I was made aware of how ridiculous many of the sports industry folks thought it was for a young woman like me to want what I wanted. They tried to shuttle me into athletic apparel marketing and sales—where women were more common. That experience changed me. /3

I decided I would study gender and the stereotypes that hold women back from their dreams, and the structures that are replicated by companies unwilling to do the hard work of dismantling them. As a child, a game like this could have changed my future— /4

Not because it would have changed *my* heart, per se, but because it would have showed my naysayers that there was a different option—that there’s always an opportunity to grow and that women and girls are equally capable and desirous of the opportunity. Thank you, NFL. /5