Enjoying like a lady doesn’t make you comfortable; it makes you a winner.

After combining her consciousness of sports activities and its optimistic correlation with training, Play Like A Woman founder and behavioral scientist Dr. Kimberly Clay’s efforts have led to a partnership with the Nationwide Soccer League, pushing her mission to assist the subsequent era of Black ladies in STEM.

Dr. Clay shared her journey towards closing the gender hole in training in an interview with BLACK ENTERPRISE.

Inform me a bit bit about your background in STEM.

[I] started [my] profession in public service as a program analyst in persistent illness prevention and well being promotion on the Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention. I later earned a Ph.D. in public well being, which established me as a revered behavioral scientist and revealed writer, funded by the Nationwide Most cancers Institute for my pioneering work in most cancers survivorship analysis. Previous to taking over the CEO position at Play Like a Woman full-time in 2010, I served as a tenure-track professor on the College of Georgia and Morehouse Faculty of Drugs.

As a Black lady in STEM, how have you ever labored towards closing the gender hole in training?

Regardless of being essentially the most educated demographic in America, Black ladies stay woefully underrepresented in science, expertise, engineering, and arithmetic (STEM) fields. Over the course of my 20-plus-year profession, I’ve labored to create a extra equal taking part in area for ladies and individuals of shade. This has included intentional efforts to be a visual position mannequin in environments the place Black ladies are underrepresented, comparable to larger training.

As a tenure-track assistant professor, I educated and educated the subsequent era of Black ladies in STEM at a predominantly white establishment. As we speak, by Play Like a Woman, I fund scholarships for younger Black ladies pursuing a STEM diploma at traditionally Black schools or universities the place they will simply discover a group of supportive school and friends they should guarantee they attain their full potential.

Why is it necessary to spark ladies’ pursuits in sports activities from a younger age, and what methods do you implement to get ladies to take part in sports activities?

A 2018 research performed by Ernst & Younger discovered that 94% of ladies who maintain C-suite positions are former athletes. Success within the enterprise world calls for a stage of depth and competitors that’s uniquely discovered by sport. But, ladies at present drop out of sports activities at six occasions the speed of boys by age 14, forfeiting the pure advantages of sport participation.

Ladies merely don’t obtain the identical optimistic reinforcement about sports activities participation as boys. The easiest way to maintain ladies taking part in is to encourage them and allow them to know that they belong and have causes to play that stretch far past the taking part in area. Play Like a Woman has created a optimistic social atmosphere that deliberately fosters a way of belonging, which is integral to preserving ladies within the recreation.

What’s the correlation between sports activities and STEM that may develop their bodily and psychological skills?

‘Sport’ performs a big position at each stage of ladies’s lives, from ladies to C-suite executives. With their problem-solving abilities and team-building experiences, ladies who’ve performed sports activities are uniquely positioned to guide within the company world—particularly in aggressive, male-dominated fields like STEM.

Girls athletes characterize an usually untapped management pipeline within the office. They’re, by nature, excessive achievers, influential leaders, and staff gamers who’ve great worth for enterprise.

What forms of character-building traits from sports activities could be transferred to govt management?

Girls athletes have the arrogance, management abilities, and team-building skills that may’t be taught within the classroom. And after they enter the board room, they’ve a novel benefit rooted in a powerful work ethic and their deep ranges of competitiveness and dedication coupled with an unmatched capacity to bounce again from failures and losses.

Please elaborate in your partnership with the NFL, the way it helps your nonprofit’s mission, objectives, and values, and what’s subsequent for Play Like a Woman.

Play Like a Woman has partnered with the NFL Gamers Affiliation (NFLPA) to stage the taking part in area for women and girls since 2019. Along with funding to assist sports activities and STEM packages for center faculty ladies, this partnership has afforded Play Like a Woman the distinctive alternative to align with present and former gamers who assist us make good on our mission. Play Like a Woman is thrilled to accomplice with the NFLPA and NFL FLAG to deliver STEM training to the Professional Bowl, Tremendous Bowl, and FLAG Championship video games in February 2023.