Atlanta women in sports industry

Foot-in-the-door moment: I knew I wanted to be a college coach from the time I was a freshman in college so throughout my college career, I always saved every scouting report and I really tried to pay attention to what the coaches were doing in recruiting. I had an opportunity at Purdue to play for Lin Dunn a women's Hall of Fame coach…(After a year as a graduate assistant at Illinois) Coach Dunn brought me back to Purdue which was a tremendous opportunity for me because to be 22 years old and be a full-time assistant coach at a Top 25 program at that time was huge.

Challenges faced: Coach Dunn was fired at Purdue (when I was 24). I didn't have a job, so I decided to return to playing overseas. I trained really hard and then I went back to playing in Hungary….Honestly I think going through that experience at 24 years old changed my life. We'd just gone to the Final Four, the Elite Eight at Purdue and the Sweet Sixteen in three years as a coach and then to see somebody very successful lose their job and then you lose your job. And you have to pick yourself up and start all over again. Some people might just give up on the profession, but I just decided to start over and Joe (Ciampi) called me up and offered me an opportunity to come to Auburn.

Best career decision: After five years at Auburn, I chose to leave. We were really successful, being in the NCAA tournament ever year, but I had an opportunity at Ga Tech to be an assistant coach for Agnus Berenato. I wanted to go somewhere where I could make a difference. I felt like I had done everything I could do at Auburn. So I took another chance and left an established program to go help a program that I felt like hadn't done some of the things that I could help them do. Two years later, Agnus left for Pittsburgh and I got the head coaching job at Georgia Tech.

What's helped working in industry dominated by men: One of the biggest things I've had to learn over time is to embrace the guys around me. Football and men's basketball pay the bills, so you can't be resentful of that. Throughout my career I've tried to embrace the opportunities that those sports have created. You always tell players if life was fair nobody would be in wheeler chairs. Life's not fair. So you can't necessarily look for a fair situation all the time. You've got to look for an opportunity and then make the most of it.

Advice for young women: They definitely have to outwork people. Work like you have the job you want, not necessarily the job you're in at the time. In a business like athletics, there so much opportunity but sometimes, people get resentful because they have to start out in the bottom. If you work like you want to be the recruiting coordinator and you're the grad assistant, then work like you already have the job that you want. If you're the assistant coach and you want to be a head coach then work like a head coach and before you know it you will be a head coach. Don't be defined by your title.

Dixie Keller

Bio: After 14th years in the Braves front office, Keller was promoted to manager of scouting operations in November. Her responsibilities include coordinating administrative aspects of domestic and international scouting, the June amateur draft, department budgets and videos, player eligibility and first-year player contracts. She also administers and trains new personnel on ScoutAdvisor, the Braves' scouting software. Before joining the Braves in 2000, Keller worked for the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) coordinating amateur sporting events held at Disney's Wide World of Sports, the same site where the Braves hold spring training.

Foot-in-the-door moment: My life has been a series of divine connections, one of which occurred while I was working for the AAU in Orlando. I met a man named John Hodges, who was the director of marketing for the AAU. He and I worked together on several projects including the AAU James E Sullivan Award and many sports videos. One day he came into my office and out of the blue he asked me this question: "What do you want to do?" And I said, "I want to work for the Atlanta Braves." Within five minutes of making that statement, I was on the phone with the incoming director of scouting, Mr. Roy Clark. It turned out that Roy and John had been neighbors when John lived in Martinsville, Va. The connection was made and within a year, the Braves had me on their payroll.

Proudest achievement: Working in a male-dominated department and being the only female on the scouting side, being included in their group is one of my proudest achievements. It took some time, but I've developed a lot of great relationships with our staff. They now include me in group dinners, invite me to scout games and participate in their meetings. The Braves are a great organization and I'm very honored to be a member of its scouting staff.

What's helped working in an industry dominated by men: A well-developed sense of humor.

Advice for young women: The sports entertainment business is a fantastic industry, but it is highly competitive. If you work in one of the male sports, don't try to be one of the guys. Be a professional woman. Don't try to compete with the guys. Be who you are. As a result, you'll gain their respect and they will accept you. The other thing is "DO YOUR JOB." Do what you are hired to do and perform it well.

Angela Taylor

Bio: Taylor, president and general manager of the Atlanta Dream, is one of five female general managers in the WNBA. Taylor played on two national championships teams at Stanford (1990, 1992) and served as an assistant coach at Stanford, Texas A&M and Arizona. She spent 10 seasons in the WNBA league office, before going to the Minnesota Lynx as VP of Business Operations and then to the Washington Mystics as general manager. She started her own sports consulting firm, before returning to the WNBA with the Dream.

Foot-in-the-door moment: My mentor, Renee Brown, who is currently the chief of basketball operations and player relations with the WNBA league office, was an assistant coach at Stanford my freshman and sophomore years, and I kept in touch with her. As I took a look into entering the sports industry, I applied to business school in 1996-97. I called Renee to say I'd been accepted to business school. She asked what I wanted to do to and I said I wanted to run the Bulls. That was my dream to run the Chicago Bulls. She said, "I can't help you with that, but what I can do is let you know I just had a conversation with David Stern and Val Ackerman and they're going to start this women's league, the WNBA, and why don't you consider coming to work for us."

Challenges faced: I sent a letter to every NBA team except for the Knicks and the Nets, applying for internships. There's something about New York and New Jersey that was intimidating for a girl from a small town in Idaho. I was out in the Bay area, so I did some informational interviews, with the Warriors, with the (Oakland) A's, at that time the Rams were still in LA. My (Stanford) coach Tara VanDerveer was very plugged into the sports industry so she tried to connect me to a lot of different people to find out what that would look like. I received several thin letters saying thanks but no thanks. I had several informational interviews with people saying it's very difficult for women in sports to carve out their opportunity. But that had been my vision and I was blessed to be around when the WNBA was founded and Val Ackerman's baby came to fruition.

Advice for young women: Speak up and let people know what your intentions are and maybe (it'll) open up a door that wouldn't have been opened otherwise. So many women, we think it's a meritocracy and if you work with head down, you do everything perfectly, and you work hard, someone is going to recognize your talent and give you that opportunity, but you have to find your voice and speak up. A few years into my career at the WNBA, I felt I was getting pigeon-holed because I had such an extensive basketball background as an athlete, as a coach and then having worked in player personnel. My dream was to a run a team from the business and basketball side. Roger Griffith, who was the CFO for the Timberwolves and the Lynx, and still is the general manager with the Lynx had called me, asking if I wanted to be an assistant coach for the Lynx. Renee, who was my boss at the time, spoke to Roger and said when you're ready to hire Angela as a general manager let her know but she's overqualified to be an assistant coach. Two years later when they were creating a vice president of business operations position, I called him and I said "Remember two years ago you had asked me if I wanted to be an assistant coach and I told you to call me back when you were ready to hire me to run your team? Now I'm ready." That's something that I probably wouldn't have done two years before.

Molly Fletcher

Bio: She is a former sports agent who represented the likes of John Smoltz, Tom Izzo, Ernie Johnson Jr. and Jeff Francoeur. In 2010 she started her own consulting company and travels the country as a keynote speaker. She has written three books, including "The 5 Best Tools to Find Your Dream Career," and provides services teaching corporations and sports teams about business development.

Foot-in-the-door moment: Lots of little moments added up for me. After I graduated from Michigan State, I drove to Atlanta with $2,000 in savings, determined to find a job in sports marketing. I taught tennis at an apartment complex in exchange for rent while I searched for a job. That taught me that creativity and persistence could go a long way. My first "foot in the door" moment was when I took a job answering phones at Super Bowl XXVIII. Through that entry-level position, I met a number of people in the sports industry in Atlanta who in turn introduced me to others. Those relationships led me to an interview with Career Sports & Entertainment where I spent the first 15 years of my career.

Challenges faced: The sports agent industry is really competitive. There are actually more agents than there are athletes to represent, and not many of them are women. I've always tried to re-frame challenges as opportunities. For me, being a female agent in a typically male-dominated industry was a differentiator. I think it allowed me to connect with clients and prospective clients in a different way because I brought a different perspective to the table.

Advice for young women: Build and value relationships because those are going to open doors for you and allow you to sustain success. Always find ways to add value and believe in what you bring to the table. Re-frame negatives (or what the world might view as negatives) and challenge yourself to always remain open and curious. Surround yourself with people who will help you grow and when you get the chance, give someone else the same opportunities that you got.

Best career decision you ever made? The best decision I've made is to stay open to opportunities and not be afraid to evolve. I began my career as a marketing coordinator, securing endorsement and marketing deals for athletes. Through that process, I saw an opportunity to get more athletes and coaches under management so our firm could also negotiate their contracts. I was lucky to work for an organization that allowed me to pursue that side of the business and build those relationships.