Jumping industries, from tech to sports
Leveling The Playing Field
Happy Thursday!
The sports industry is famously difficult to break into — sometimes it seems to be all about who you know, and without those connections, you can feel stuck. But this week’s guest on How I Got the Call Up proves that being an outsider to the industry doesn’t have to be an obstacle.
Leela Srinivasan’s role as CEO of Parity, a women’s pro sports consultancy, is her first job in sports. She started in tech and found her way in at the highest level. Her insights are useful for anyone seeking a new role in sports, whether you’re just a rookie or a vet looking for a new corner of the industry.
BTW, if you’ve scored a recent career win in sports — think a new job, acceptance to a sports management program, promotion, finished project, published article, etc. — let us know so we can share with our GISTer community.
- Love, Ellen & Jacie
📣 Be your own cheerleader
👋 Leela Srinivasan was on the outside: After a long career in tech sales and marketing, Srinivasan wanted a new gig with real impact — and sports found her. She leveraged her expansive network and reputation to land the top job at Parity, which connects brands with pro women athletes for sponsorships, ad spots, speaking gigs, and more.
- As the CEO of a small company, Srinivasan is “the backstop for everything.” Her duties span from promoting Parity to partners and clients (which she loves) to systems and admin work (not so much). But how did she break into this famously exclusive job market without prior professional experience?
💡 The takeaways: Srinivasan says some skills are important in any industry or role. She found her way into sports by developing and perfecting those skills…and by making sure people knew she had them.
- When seeking new opportunities, lean on the connections you do have — and not everyone has to be your bestie. From her time working at LinkedIn, Srinivasan learned the importance of a broad professional network, and she used second-degree connections to learn more about the sports industry.
- Just a 20-minute coffee chat with the right person can teach you a lot. In her early days at Parity, Srinivasan set up tons to learn about the industry’s ins and outs. Ask specific questions about how someone’s role works and what makes them a good fit.
- Most importantly, don’t be afraid to share your strengths and how you add value. “As a woman in business, sometimes you feel a little sheepish or reluctant to put yourself out there, but…it comes back to how are you adding value?… Are you connecting the dots for people?”
🎤 Mic-drop moment: “I was just very lucky that I was approached by the folks that were looking to bring in the CEO to Parity. They saw in my background the things that were needed for this role…but they only knew I had them in my career because I was out there telling my story as part of my journey. So [it was] good fortune to be approached, but I guess I laid the breadcrumbs to lead people to me.”
▶️ Let us help you find your next play
Building a career in sports is about more than fitting a job description. How do you get your foot in the door, navigate a career pivot, or turn your experience into your next opportunity?
The Call Up asks those questions of women working at the industry’s highest levels and the answers extend far past your inbox. You didn’t think we’d stop at a newsletter, did you?
- 🎙️ The How I Got the Call Up podcast is your new secret weapon for building your dream career in sports. Hosted by The GIST co-founders Ellen Hyslop and Jacie DeHoop, each episode gives you tangible insights, practical career tools, and inside information from the industry’s brightest.
- 📱 Follow The Call Up on Instagram and TikTok for daily career insights, opportunities, news, and more.
No gatekeeping, no one-size-fits-all career path, just a look inside the playbook to help you make your next move.
🎧 GOALS — Caroline Fitzgerald’s podcast about the business case for women’s sports — is a must-listen if you want to know who’s who and what’s next in the industry.
📰 Follow Sports Business Journal reporter Rachel Axon on LinkedIn. Srinivasan notes that she’s always going deeper on the most pressing issues in women’s sports.
🤝 Attend an industry conference — there are tons happening all the time, many of them mentioned in the Tuesday editions of this newsletter. The Female Quotient is a great place to start.
🏈 You’ve got opinions, why not put’em to work? In partnership with the NFL, our free-to-play Weekly Pick’ems game is your chance to call the winners, compete with fellow GISTers, and vie for season-long prizes.
- Just ask our Week 3 winner, John, who quipped, "I guess not thinking too hard as a strategy worked!" Enough said.
💌 Consider this your official invite. Nothing to lose, lots to learn, and a whole NFL community to gain. May the Hail Marys be ever in your favor — make your picks now.
🤔 Welcome to the Coach’s Corner, where we answer reader-submitted questions about working in sports. This week’s question comes to us from Katie — she asked:
- Tech and sports are both rapidly evolving industries. What lessons from your time in tech have been most valuable as you've navigated the sports industry?
Srinivasan was quick to call out the value of being comfortable with ambiguity and adapting when necessary. “In fast moving industries like tech, and I would say sports and especially women's sports, you're always learning. You always have to be ready to pivot and make changes because the environment is rapidly evolving. So what worked yesterday might be completely different the next day.”
The second part of her response highlighted that as the tech industry becomes dominated by AI, building community and fostering genuine relationships are more important than ever. She called sports the “antidote to AI.”
- “I know even there are investors that are using sports as a hedge against AI because in some ways it feels like it's AI–proof. I think the same is true of our ability to build relationships as humans.” Srinivasan emphasized that having people around you that care about your achievements is a key part of Parity’s culture.
“Our athletes are another example of the importance of community and people feeling like there are different reasons to be affiliated with or really lean into an organization. So I would say, in an increasingly tech-driven world, community and humans have never been more important.”
⏭️ Next week, we’re interviewing a very special guest about being ready when your moment comes. Have any questions about recognizing that moment and what it takes to make the right next move? Submit it here, and we’ll ask her for you.
🏆 Louise Cattanach was accepted as a mentee for the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference Mentorship Program, and you could join her.
Today’s email was brought to you by Katie Foster and Rachel Fuenzalida. Ops by Elisha Gunaratnam. Managing edits by Molly Potter. Head of content Ellen Hyslop.