I do feel like a newsroom is like, it's like
a team, it's sports, it feels sort of the same.
You're on deadline, oh my gosh, you have to be,
you have to meet the moment, you have to get
it done, you have to, so maybe it's the adrenaline
that I enjoy the most. 100%, it's kind of like
you're struggling together a little bit, right?
And there's that finish line at the end, like
that victory, for sure. Yeah, you have definitely.
bonding moments under pressure and then you have
celebrations. It has it all. Welcome back to
another episode of Life's Next Lesson Plan. I'm
your host, Rachel, and today I'm thrilled to
introduce you to Liz Sweet. Liz's story is one
of passion, perseverance, and a commitment to
making a difference. As a journalist, she's contributed
to publications like the Wall Street Journal
and House Beautiful magazine, covering everything
from sports to architecture. But beyond her impressive
writing career, Liz is also the founder of Fill
the Stands, a nonprofit that's empowering schools
to champion women's sports. We'll be diving into
Liz's journey today, exploring how she followed
her intuition, combined her diverse passions
and navigated the challenges of bringing such
a powerful vision to reality. Thank you for joining
me for another episode of Life's Next Lesson
Plan. I'm Rachel and I started this podcast during
my 29th and last year as a high school teacher.
The goal of my work with Life's Next Lesson Plan,
as well as my Live and Learn Patreon, is to create
a connection where we are all teachers. We all
have lessons and stories to share that can help
others. I'm so fortunate to be able to extend
the four walls of my previous classroom to an
unlimited audience. where we can all learn from
each other. And my guests are some of the most
inspirational people with the best stories and
lessons I know, which is why I want to share
them with you. Their words are something everyone
should hear. It is my hope that you are able
to take away something from each episode to apply
to your own life, whether that be a career search,
path to a more fulfilling life, or new ideas
on current topics. This episode of Life's Next
Lesson Plan is sponsored by Litteratus. Litteratus
is more than just a bookstore. It's a hub for
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the charm of your local bookstore visit? Stop
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online. Let's support the places that make our
town special. I'm so excited to introduce you
today to Liz Sweet who Unfortunately, I never
had the chance to have her in my journalism classroom,
but she was a journalism student at Homestead
with the journalism teacher prior to me. Shout
out to you, Mrs. Locker. And she's going to talk
a lot about her early days in the high school
journalism classroom. But then I did reconnect
with Liz. We had some mutual friends through
the years. And then she, as she'll talk about
today, through her recent initiative was looking
for high school journalists to help her in that
capacity and she went back to her roots of journalism
class and I was able to help her and connect
a few of my students who were so excited to work
with her and we'll talk a little bit more about
that today. So it's just funny how in life, you
know, your paths continue to cross sometimes.
So I'm so excited to have Liz here. I know you're
gonna find her journey really interesting. And
so I'll let her introduce herself to you and
we'll get started. Hi, Rachel. Thank you so much
for having me. I'm so excited. Yeah, my name
is Liz Speed. I'm a journalist. I work in a freelance
capacity. I write about architecture and sports
and started off in the shelter magazine world
writing about interior design. and then sort
of have evolved to the type of stories that I
pitched and get to write about. And it's been
a wonderful journey. I also am a nonprofit founder
for Field of Stands, which is an organization
that supercharges attendance for girls sporting
events, something that's very close to my heart.
And what I find really special in speaking with
you is that Homestead was really just the start
of all of these loves for me. I played sports
at Homestead. and was a passionate journalism
student, very enthusiastic. I was journalism
and advanced journalism in those two classes.
I loved them. But those were really where those
two places and those avenues was really where
my love of both of those things started. So thank
you for having me. It's so nice. Absolutely.
I was reading through some of your bylines today
like from the Wall Street Journal and you know
so I went down I think a rabbit hole on one of
them about empty nesters designing their own
house because that's coming into my life soon
and I was like these stories look so fun but
how fun to have like not only sports but then
also the other side of the architecture too.
Yeah, I mean I love every story I've ever done
I go I tend to go deep on them, you know You
kind of submerge yourself under water and get
to learn everything about a particular architecture
designer or just like every story is different
So I really enjoy that Yeah, it's been a great
a great journey so far. I started wanting to
do interior like be a home editor for shelter,
shelter magazine. Um, and I think the time that
I graduated from college, the, it was around,
it was 2010. So around 2009, which was a tricky
time for media, um, print journalism, uh, magazine
world. So there's been some evolution there,
which has been really fun to see. And my journalism
professors at Wisconsin did always say that we
were training you for a job that wasn't created
yet. And we're preparing us for that fluidity.
So. I find that so interesting that all of those
jobs, you know, a lot of the jobs that my former
journalism students have now, I couldn't have
told them about those jobs, especially, I mean,
I started teaching 29 years ago. There's no way
we could have predicted some of the things we
have now. Yeah, absolutely. And I was enjoying
talking to some of your students about the digital
newspaper that you do now. It's just amazing,
you know, and I felt Like I was like, in my day,
we're cutting out layouts and doing the whole
thing by hand for the print newspaper. So I really
had fun following Alstead's publications because
you get to see all the fun things you guys are
doing. Yeah, I was trying to tell both the students
and the person taking over my role yesterday
when I was working with her about paste up, about
literally, you know, and they're like glue and
like paper. And I was like. Yes, I'm a dinosaur.
Yes, that's what we did. Like that's how newspapers
used to be. But that is how when I took over
the program from Mrs. Locker that first year
before we started doing the paper on InDesign,
I remember sitting there with a glue stick and
cutting out the articles. Yeah. We're getting
to that point. She was an art director for Better
Homes and Gardens in the 80s, and so she has
this art directing experience, but being for
BHG, that whole experience of creating a magazine
in a completely different generation too. she
and I would always talk about the differences
when I was going through it. And now it's changed
so much for me. So it's so fun to see it evolve.
Yeah. Let's talk about some of those early days
of your high school journalism career. I mean,
obviously you must have signed up because you
liked writing. And then when you were in the
class, what were some of the things maybe that
you learned or that you tried and really liked
that spurred you to kind of continue that after
high school? Well, I just, I think since I was
a kid, I said, my mom was in magazine publishing
and my dad is a, um, was in, he was a journalism
major, but both of my parents had a strong interest,
personal interest in publications. Um, so from
that standpoint, I was always interested in,
we had magazines and newspapers all over the
place in our house. So I was always curious and
I think I caught their curiosity too. And I loved,
you know, in the journalism program at Homestead.
that you would apply to be a writer and then
you could follow the instinct of what you were
interested in. So I do remember writing a story
about Christmas trees and like how I was like
how does that work because every year you have
you know every year you have new ones and who
grows them and what's the cycle and so I did
I wrote a piece about that but then you have
like a spark of of an idea or some curiosity
that you get to. chase down and I think Miss
Locker was really just open to all sorts of ideas
and encouraging just to go do that and you would
be able to kind of explore in the school too
and go find sources and have interviews and be
a part of that whole process. I just loved it.
So there was journalism and then advanced journalism
and I just really enjoyed both classes. Do you
ever remember, I know one of the things that
is really hard when you teach, I teach English
and teach journalism is that students in an English
class, they're writing an essay for their teacher,
right? And then the feedback and the criticism
that they're getting is just from one person.
And a big thing that I think is hard for some
students who don't quite understand that. journalistic
articles don't just appear without going out
and talking to possibly strangers, right? And
like you said, pitching your own ideas that other
people you think might want to read. Do you remember
as a high school student dealing with that kind
of feedback or criticism or? Yeah, certainly.
Yeah. And, and considering the end reader too,
which is something I do in my work where you're
like, well, this is, you know, this is our high
school newspaper. So what are the students really
want to read? What's really important and what
matters versus what, you know, what is your personal
interest and like, Oh, well, I guess they probably
wouldn't want to read this or that. And, um,
I think that was a helpful lesson at that age
and that's carried through, you know, at all
levels. And I, you know, when I'm freelance for
the Wall Street Journal too, you know, my editor
will be like, okay, so why? And we'll kind of
dig into certain, you know, certain sections
of my story and be like, let's expand on this.
Like what do we need? How can we serve the end
reader better? And so that's always in the back
of my mind, but that started too at the high
school level. Yeah, interesting. I've never heard
that term end reader. I need to use that now.
The person holding the magazine at the end of
the day or the person holding the, you know,
the whatever it is, a newspaper. It's finding
them where they are and how you can help them
in their journey or just serve them. What are
they looking for when they pick it up? What do
they hope to learn? Yeah, definitely. As a freelance
journalist, when you are getting sources, some
live sources, I'm guessing, and then some are
just like research online and things like that,
Did that, does that look similar in your career
to what it did in high school? And I know that
there's a lot of nerves, which is typical for
a high school student who's never done this before,
and they may need to interview a student or a
teacher they don't know. How does that translate
into the professional world? Well, it's the same.
You're just refining your craft as you get older
and more experienced and every story you get
better. And I'm, you know, So far, I'm far from
my high school experience, but I still learn
those things too. Like I'm always sort of sharpening
the axe. Um, even if, you know, it doesn't matter
what, what you're doing, but yeah. Uh, in high
school, I remember having her certainly. And,
uh, yes, I do. Let me think back on it. Um, but
you learn that people are humans. And they're
really, I find that if I'm really enthusiastic
about a topic that my interest is sort of relaxes
the other person and then they get charged. I
don't know. I just, there's something about it
where it's not as scary as you think it is coming
from a place of genuine enthusiasm, which fortunately
I never think it's very enthusiastic about things.
Well, I think the more you do it too, right?
Like you get used to it. Do you still get nerves
now or no? I think I've gotten a little bit of
nerves every time I sort of shift gears. When
I was working in shelter media and those types
of stories, when I was first doing it, I was
a little bit nervous. And then when I had an
inkling, I was like, oh, I love sports. I would
love to cover sports topics. I was a little bit
like, well, people go to school specifically
for sports journalism. And so you have a little
bit of like, oh, I wonder how this will translate.
But then you, you just have to sort of push through
that and trust your preparation. Just sort of
like an athlete would say, you know, you rely
on your preparation and you're just knowing that
you can, you can do it. And again, once you get
there with a human and you have a power station,
everything feels better. Um, it's the apprehension,
I think that keeps people from pushing through
that. And I try to try my best to. Move through
that. It's a natural part of it for sure So you
knew in high school that you loved journalism
and you decided you want to continue to pursue
it and you did so at Madison Correct. And so
how did that? Look, did you go? I think you have
to wait a year to get into the Journalism school
at Madison. Is that right? yeah, I have to think
back to my time with the application process,
but Yes, I mean and it's a great program and
some of my professors are still there that it
was very encouraging of Enthusiastic they think
they like to take a temperature if you're you
know, are you a right a journalism person you
have enthusiasm You're hungry, you know I think
it's a specific type of person that is really
passionate about journalism and they do I think
they take the time and consideration to figure
out if you're one of those people You know once
if it's in there it's in there. Yeah I feel like
you can't do anything else. That's for you. You
know journalism is your go -to. Right. Do you
remember any classes or specific professors or
mentors that kind of reminded you like I'm on
the right path. This is what I want to do or
inspired you onto your career path? Yeah, Kathleen
Culver is still there. She was a wonderful professor
of mine. There was a class There still is, there's
something called Curb Magazine at Wisconsin in
their journalism program where you can be, you
apply to be in this magazine specific class.
And it's always called Curb, this magazine you
create, but each class gets to reimagine it.
So some, I think my semester we chose to make
it a men's magazine. Um, and then some people
are like, well, it'll be, you know, um, it'll
choose a different focus of some sort, completely
reimagine it, do the branding, the different
types of stories. So every year you get to choose,
which I think is really fun. Oh, that is cool.
And it's so it's still called Curve and they
do, you know, a release party and. all the writers,
the students get to pick specific stories and
research them. And that was a highlight for me
in the journalism program in Wisconsin. Yeah,
that sounds really interesting that they continue
to change it and then they print it each time.
OK. I still have mine. It's in my bookcase. Of
course you do. I was like, I was so proud of
it. I did a story on Iron Man, this amazing family,
like a bunch of family members ran Iron Man.
I was just like, this is the coolest job, the
coolest thing ever. I really enjoyed that. That
was neat. Yeah, that combines sports and journalism
for you right there, right? Yeah, I really, it
was great. You get to know the other students
and you get the sense of what it's like to be
on staff at a magazine and how to work together.
I do feel like a newsroom is like a team. It's
sports. It feels sort of the same. You're on
deadline. Oh my gosh. You have to meet the moment.
You have to get it done. So maybe it's the adrenaline
that I enjoy about all of these things. A hundred
percent. It's kind of like you're struggling
together a little bit, right? And there's that
finish line at the end, like that victory for
sure. Yeah, you have definitely... bonding moments
under pressure and then you have celebrations.
So it has it all. So how did you plan your steps
after college? How did that look? Like how did
the application process look? You know, how did
you go right into freelance? Can you explain
that journey for us a little bit? And I feel
like I need to mention also that I During my
years, I went to Iowa, my freshman year of college,
and then Wisconsin. And at Wisconsin, when I
was newly there, I had an internship with Milwaukee
Home and Fine Living Magazine. It was my first
one. And then I had to do, I got to do, I was
thrilled, but I got to do a number of internships
before having sort of a full -time position,
which I think, I wonder if that seems like a
pretty normal experience in journalism. I think
I did four before I finally... was brought on
I was an editorial assistant right out of college
thankfully I'm so grateful for this job at Chicago
Humming Garden magazine which was a it was a
smaller design focus magazine that was like an
offshoot of Chicago magazine and I had an amazing
editor there shout out to her name is Jan Parr
she was lovely I got copy with her recently I
just loved it with being her I was an intern
editorial assistant hybrid and that was the first
time being on staff as a graduate and they just
soaked it up. It was great. What did we do? We
did everything because we were a small staff
of four and we would review projects to feature
and we did blogs and social and it was just a
small group so we had to do all sorts of things
but that was my first really positive experience
was college. And then the world was a little
shaky for a magazine journalism, as I mentioned,
and that magazine is no longer. And at the time
Jan was so kind to me and he was like, yeah,
it's a little experience. It was just helping
me being like this, you know, I think she could
see that the magazine wasn't probably a long
-term viable option for them. And so he suggested
I get digital. And then from that point, just
an important thing to stay flexible. In the journalism
world, I had an assistant with an ad agency in
social media, which is what I did next. So that
was really interesting and stimulating that I
loved journalism. And from that point there,
I had experience in social media. So then I applied
for a job at Better Home for Saint Gardens as
an associate social media editor. So I was able
to pick that position and then worked with the
HG. um, running social media and building community
there, which is amazing. But it was a, it was,
you have to sort of stay fluid. So it wasn't
linear. And I went from sort of a magazine to
an ad agency to a magazine focused on social
media. Um, that was sort of my trajectory. And
then life took me in a different direction. I
was an interior design focus for about seven
years. And then after that went freelance when
I had my son. And freelance gave me the opportunity
to be flexible, to be home for him, and then
to be able to write during that time and late
into the night. So just to be able to keep up
with it and build my portfolio. But I went freelance
later. But I wonder, I mean, I'm sure students
now right out of college are taking that leap.
right away, I would guess. Yeah, I do have one
who does that. And she travels all over crazy
places and sounds pretty glamorous, but I know
she works really hard. Yeah, yeah. And I'm grateful
for the time to be in an office too and to learn
with editors in person because I feel like that's
a little harder to do now. And so I think that
was a good starting point for me to have a good
understanding of what serving a publication feels
like and what stories are, you know, really meant
to do, which is to serve the end reader as I
earlier. So now in my freelance work, when I
get some projects, I sort of use my internal
arrow to decide, oh, this story feels right for
this publication because that reader is looking
to learn this or this reader is looking to likes
to see these things and this would be helpful
for them. So I was lucky. I loved my editors.
They really helped me understand that it's not
about me. It's about the person that picks up
whatever it is that you've written for. Yeah,
that is hard, especially when you have, I'm trying
to say that to high school students, even just
explaining editorializing and bias because they're
so passionate, like they're pitching something
that they're passionate about. And I'm like,
okay, but you can't show your opinion unless
you're writing an editorial, which we're not
there yet. So it's a really hard thing, I think,
to teach is like how not to choose words that
show your bias in your reporting. Really important
lessons early on that's yeah, that's great. Yeah,
I mean it is hard Yeah, and yeah, and sometimes
you do feel I think there's a line for me where
I'm like, okay I feel the passion for this but
I can be unbiased. So it's like I feel passionate
about this topic So that's what I follow. Mm
-hmm, but you but you have to be like an impartial
I'm like, just say the facts, only the facts,
no emotion in it. But your point about that time
that your mentor was telling you like you need
to expand your skill set was right around the
time I think that I started teaching journalism.
And I remember some students saying, well, my
parents don't want me to take this because journalism
is dead. And, you know, they only want me to
take classes that I'm going to find a career
in. And I was like, it's not journalism is dead,
it's print. is changing right and print is being
phased out for you know our newspapers are turning
to magazines and then you know we did we changed
the newspaper to a glossy magazine and that was
the it thing at the time and then we started
doing the yearbook and so eventually we turned
the magazine into a website and that's kind of
where industry trends were going but it was like
Let's change the word dying to evolving or changing
which is exactly what you're talking about Just
like there's a ton of journalism if not more
journalism than there ever was because of digital
Yeah, 100 % I agree, but that was a really hard
argument to get across Yeah, yeah, and the fluidity
is so important and like the resilient like and
to not be so focused on this is what I expected
and so this is how it has to be. I've had jobs
where I just love the people that I was around
and it was journalism but it wasn't exactly what
I thought that I would be doing but I learned
something that served me so much later on and
I'm so glad I learned my lesson there. Like I've
never had a negative work experience because
you feel like you learn something from every...
Yeah and it goes back to what you're saying that
there are jobs or roles that again today may
not exist that 10 years from now and that doesn't
mean that it's dying it means it's changing or
evolving but I remember just like ah stop saying
that it's just changing you know yeah it's just
it's just you know it's just being fluid it's
just making some changes yeah yeah really and
changes too because When I was at Better Homes
and Gardens, social media was opening the door
to get to know the editors better, to get to
see our offices, to get to see, you know, it's
a brand that's so loved by so many, myself included,
and really passionate readers. And I thought
how wonderful they get to see, they get to peek
into what photoshoot is like. They get to, you
know, see the face behind who wrote it. That
was in like 2013. And so it was right when social
media people were still sort of fearful. It was
so new. But it was sort of wonderful. I just,
I remember all of my editors were really inspiring
people. And so you get the chance for people
to just get to see their faces and get to know
more about them. Well, I'm excited to talk about
your latest passion project related to journalism
that allowed us to meet again, which is your
nonprofit. Fill the stands, but I'm going to
let you take a little breather here. We're going
to have a little break to hear some ads, and
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Coach Megan is a busy mom like me who works full
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with some tough love to keep me going. It is
time for Ask the Teacher Anything. So question
one, what kind of guests or topics are you most
excited to explore? Well, I've had a ton of fun
already with the guests and the topics that we've
been exploring, but I will say I have two guests,
like my next two guests, who again are people
I have not met in person in life, did not know
them prior to my podcasting journey. One, I'll
just give you a little hint, has, oh my gosh,
such an amazing book and just life philosophy
and like, I'm used to being surrounded by like
brilliant people with large vocabularies who
are super articulate and she blew my mind. And
then a guest that I'm recording with this week
that will come shortly after that guest is, oh
my gosh, like super boss babe, professional in
like money mindset. Energy with money and I know
that's something that I've been talking a lot
about so I am so excited for you to hear their
episodes and Second question any must -have items
you're going to be bringing along for your camping
journey Yeah, we're just a couple weeks out here
from picking up our baby camper And we actually
this weekend bought a couple things for it, but
me personally, I will be bringing my weighted
blanket. I actually have two and one is in the
storage unit because when I sleep, especially
if I'm like a little uneasy, I need my weighted
blanket. I've been wearing a sleep mask now for
like six months or so to block out any light.
As you can tell sleep is like really important
to me and I never travel travel without a trusty
water bottle so probably a Yeti or something
Need to find a way usually when we travel even
when we stay in hotels and stuff we go by Fresh
water to have with us. I don't know or nerds
like that So those will probably be some items
that will be must -haves on the road We are back
from break and I'm so happy that Liz is going
to have a chance to talk about her passion project
as she has said already in this episode She gets
really excited about her ideas and her passions
and this definitely blends all of her strengths
and her interests and all of the work that she
has been doing and It's centered on female empowerment,
which I just love and two of my wonderful journalists
who work so hard hard and both have an interest
in this. They, when I ask them about it, their
faces just light up and they get so excited.
Um, so I'm really happy that they have this opportunity
to work with Liz as well. So how did your nonprofit
fill the stands come about? When, how, you know,
tell us the scoop. Oh, it's, I mean, that's how
I feel about it. I just love talking about it.
It lights me up. I, um, so it starts back in.
In high school at Homestead, I played basketball
and soccer and track and press country, but basketball
is my favorite. And it was something that meant
a lot to me. And I loved every minute of that
experience. But I did notice during my time playing
that there was attendance discrepancy between
girls basketball and boys basketball and football
and, you know, subtle. I wasn't subtle in terms
of attendance, but it is sort of a subtle message
that I think female athletes get when they have
difference in attendance numbers. And I remember
being like 15 and thinking, what is happening?
Like, and bringing it up and trying to talk to
people about it. And I think the energy at that
time, it was, you know, early 2000s was sort
of like, Oh, well, you know, it is what it is
essentially. Um, which I, I think a lot of female
athletes probably heard and have felt that messaging
over the years. And then I just noticed currently
that that is still an issue. And I felt when
I was going through it, I had a lot of questions
about that. And I just wonder, you know, where
people were and how, and it feels sort of, um,
I think silently deflating for girls and attendance
numbers aren't rich and enthusiastic. essentially
being from, especially being from Wisconsin,
where it's been such a rich, passionate sports
culture. You know, being a big Packer fan growing
up, and you see the enthusiasm in community sport
in a lot of different areas in Wisconsin. And
I just wasn't seeing that for girls my age, my
high school experience. So fast forward many
years later, I'm a mom, a journalist, and, you
know, I'd have these journalists skills and start
writing about sports and started to sort of get
interested in attendance and why it matters and
why we're still seeing some of these issues for
girls sports. And so that's where Phil the Sands
really was born was trying to make change in
that space and to drive community support to
support female athletes so they feel like my
efforts matter because my community is showing
up for me. So that was really the start of it.
At Homestead I reached out to the head coach
of the girls basketball program at the time we
had coffee and I was thinking I would start an
alumni group at Homestead to reconnect with my
former players and just sort of keep people informed
with how the team was doing in hopes that maybe
we could supercharge a game at some point. And
so that was sort of the start of me sort of testing
and seeing how that would go. And so we did an
alumni game at Homestead just before we officially
launched Build It Stands to sort of see if we
could get people there and how it would go and
what would draw people in. And so then we It
was great. I felt like it was a great success
and it was wonderful to see old friends and we
did see more attendance. Our corner, the alumni
group, it was full and it was fun to see that
sort of support for our girls' teams. And I feel
really hopeful that we can do that for a lot
of different sports and basketball and just sort
of supercharged the enthusiasm around girls'
sports so the girls don't feel that way who are
playing now and in the future. But that was really
an interesting sport. And so I mentioned, obviously,
that I do have a couple students who are working
with you and have earned board positions with
you. And so how do you see their roles helping
you and your goals that you have? Yeah. OK, so
for the alumni game, I reached out to you racially
or so kind. I said, well, I have this journalism
background at Homestead. I played sports at Homestead.
I wonder if we could have some of the journalism.
students that they might be interested in supporting
girl sports or future sports writers or future
female sports professionals. Maybe they'd be
interested in covering the game just to draw
up additional attendance for the game and to
draw more attention to the girls, the players,
and the competition. So they did a wonderful
job and they came. They were so enthusiastic
and so talented and they had amazing ideas. They
covered the game for the publication at homestead
and they did a live stream on facebook and so
that was a real it was a combination of my two
it was just sort of full circle and wild but
it felt really wonderful way to just help people
remember that you know the games are happening
and that we can go and what it means for girls
to have full stands but so we have a junior advisory
board it's our first time doing it we have six
amazing high school students two of which are
were participated with me on that alumni game
and are so lovely. And they're working to create
something called, we're calling a toolkit, which
will be on fillthesands .org on our website at
the start of the 2025 school year. But it's essentially
a overview of how to supercharge attendance in
your school. So any school could download it
from anywhere and implement some of these changes
to help drive attendance. Uh, they're going to
help us design it in campus. So they're going
to use some of their leader, their, um, yearbook
skills and their journals and reporting skills
and add color to it. And, um, I would love, you
know, for them to do additional interviews with
athletes. Um, I've had through this work, I've
had a chance to talk to other female, um, high
school athletes and ask them if this is an issue
that they noticed too. And I hear it time and
time again, yes. And I noticed this too, and
we have low attendance for this sport and this
sport. And so really amplifying the voices of
female athletes and having that included also
as a, some. Yeah, that's really exciting that
once the toolkit is created, that it's available
for anyone who's looking to get, you know, this
initiative started in their school. And I know
you mentioned that you started with the basketball
program because that's where your roots are.
But I think my students were telling me that
maybe they're going to try softball, something
similar to what you did with basketball with
the softball program. Yes. All sports, we really
have ideas of doing. So on our junior advisory
board, we have girls that are doing flag football
and swim. And, you know, we have all sorts of
athletes in different fields, which is so great
so that we can learn how to improve attendance
in all of these areas. I was at a conference
recently and met a bunch of girls that were on
a new girls wrestling team that was a new initiative.
And they, you know, they of course noticed a
huge discrepancy in attendance for their meets.
And so just to talk to them and be like, how
can we support you? What kind of attendance would,
like how many stands, how many people come? Like,
or how many people can we get there? Um, and
every sport is different, certainly in how you
support attendance for them. And it's fun to
figure out what the, you know, skeleton key is
essentially. How do we get as many people to
support as possible? Um, But yeah, the toolkit
that our amazing Junior Advisory Board is helping
us to create will be, I hope, just a really helpful
resource for high schools everywhere, anywhere.
That's exciting. That is really awesome. So when
you knew, you know, you're talking a lot about
just like following your passions and, you know,
following your interests. And then also, how
can you be of service and help something that
was so important to you? How did you come up
with the idea like, Oh, I'm going to start a
nonprofit. And what is, you know, what does that
look like? I have zero idea or experience with
that. Well, I just felt like I wanted to do something
to be helpful that was purpose driven and to
be able to just be like purely in support of
female athletes. Like, so a nonprofit to me,
I thought, well, let's raise money and be able
to support these programs. And, you know, sometimes
schools just don't realize that there's maybe
an imbalance in resources or funds or attendance.
And it's just. traditional allocation of those
things and they're not really thinking through
these things or sometimes schools don't have
the resources to support. So I think I was thinking
I'd love to come in and offer grants to schools
and to be able to make their girls' sporting
competitions really dynamic events to drive attendance.
I think just the non -profit angle that I really
just wanted it to be just like pure good, you
know, just like let's just put the good into
the world and without thinking about anything
other than the girls on the court. Did you have
to do research into how I wouldn't know the first
thing about setting that up or did you have background
in that? Well certainly my journalism background
of being a very you know enthusiastic researcher
really came in handy. Yeah I think those skills
of having an idea and you know you I'm willing
to ask questions I love asking people that have
you know really interesting backgrounds. How
did you do it? What did you You know, why did
you feel passionately about it? What's worked
for you? Yeah, just a lot of research and questions
and time, you know, online and trying to, you
know, learn as much as I can. But I do think
I don't really fear trying something that I've
never done before, because when you're a freelance
journalist, you have to do a lot of things that
feel sort of uncomfortable. You have to occasionally
send a cold email. you have to risk not hearing
back from somebody. You have to sort of put yourself
out there on a repeated basis. And I think over
time, that's really, that's sort of lowered my
fear in terms of just asking if you can do something,
which I think is really interesting. And I think
it's been a really good confidence builder for
me. And so now I'm just my pump. So if I send
a cold email and they don't find that's fine,
you know, oh, well, you know, at least maybe
I learned something or. At least I followed that
idea through the end and I don't know. I don't
really fear jumping in two feet. Usually, if
you have good intentions, somebody will help
and it'll work out. Yeah, that's such a great
point about I'm always talking about the soft
skills that journalism teaches, right? Oh my
goodness, as you mentioned earlier, deadlines
with time management and collaboration and communication
and leadership and just that idea of getting
out of your comfort zone where we talked about
earlier, that first interview, I mean, or setting
up the interview, reaching out to someone that
you don't know. I mean, those all build into
what you're talking about now is jumping head
first into the unknown, right? So yeah, that's
a great point. So I think you know, as we kind
of wrap up here and talk about some of the lessons
that you have shared, I mean, a big theme. today
definitely is following your heart and following
your passions and you've done such a beautiful
job of melding all of your interests. You know
they always say if you enjoy what you're doing
for work it doesn't feel like work right and
so that's why I called it a passion project for
you although I know you've put in hours and hours
of work. Is there anything else that you want
to leave the listeners with today just about
overall lessons or takeaways from your journey?
I think also too I'd love for some of the listeners
I know are people who are kind of at a career
crossroads whether that means that they're starting
out in their career or they have spent a lot
of time in their career and I think your message
today has a lot to do with like following your
heart and your passion so kind of summing up
you know your overall thoughts today and any
advice or lessons that you have for the listeners.
Yeah, I think for me, I think as I've gotten
older, I've started to just trust my experience
and just trust that when you jump for something
that you feel really purpose -driven and passionate
about, that it will sort itself out. And I think
at the root of everything, from high school to
now, I really wanted to be helpful for people
in the types of content and stories that I write
and I create. And so stepping into fill the stands
and just focusing on how to serve and try to
take yourself out of it. I think I think the
times that I've gotten nervous is when I'm a
little bit too in my own head about, you know,
it's not about us. It's not about me. Ultimately,
it's about, you know, the girls on the court
and about, you know, I also coach six grade girls
basketball. It's really important. No passion
mine. And I think a lot about what they learn
by observing my choices. I'm brave. and trying
something that I feel is important and something
I want to create and put into the world, I hope
that they will find courage when they have a
calling to do something too. So, you know, whether
that's, you know, sending a pitch email, a call
email to somebody that might be a little intimidating,
but, you know, that's, that's kind of a brave
thing. You can do that. There's not really a
big, you know, there's not, there's not a big
downside to that. I think in just following your
cue, if I believe in this idea, I have an idea
I'd like to send it to you. I mean, I'm confident
to do that. And then if you want to pivot careers,
trusting your experience and that people are,
you know, if you're serving the greater good,
it'll usually look out. That's such great advice.
Yes, I love that. So I will put, like I said,
all Liz's links and contact information in the
show notes. They have a beautiful website for
fill the stands. It's so interactive and so cool.
I remember showing it to the students when you
first reached out and they were like, so you
have to definitely just go check that out and
look at all their upcoming initiatives. Thank
you again, Liz, for taking all. this time and
being here today. I am so grateful. Thank you
so much. I hope you found value in Liz's journey
today. It's a powerful reminder that when we
allow our passions to guide us and we commit
to persevering through challenges, incredible
things can happen. Her work in both the world
of journalism and the impactful mission of fill
the stands is a perfect example. To stay connected
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