On Oct. 8, Visionary Women commemorated a decade of impact and philanthropy at its Summit, where roughly 400 people gathered at the Beverly Hills Hotel’s Crystal Ballroom to celebrate trailblazing female leaders and invest in the next generation of changemakers. Since its founding in 2014 by Lili Bosse and Angela Nazarian, Visionary Women has become a force in amplifying female voices and funding initiatives that foster education, mentorship, and opportunity. The 10th anniversary summit honored this legacy with an inspiring program that brought together pioneers from sports, business, and culture.
Powerhouses including Willow Bay, award-winning journalist and owner of the Angel City Football Club; Jeanie Buss, Governor and co-owner of the Los Angeles Lakers; Charlotte Jones, Chief Brand Officer and co-owner of the Dallas Cowboys; and Lauren Leichtman, owner of the San Diego Wave Football Club, discussed the experiences and challenges of women in sports ownership on a panel moderated by two-time Olympic gold medalist and WNBA championship winner Candace Parker.
Charlotte Jones shared her father’s unexpected purchase of the Dallas Cowboys football team and the challenges faced, emphasizing the need for resilience. “We have to have a high tolerance for ambiguity, and we have no idea what tomorrow is going to bring, but we have to be prepared,” Jones said. “We’ve taken the first risk. We put everything on the line … you’ve got to be comfortable in that space and then figure out how to make the best decisions to turn the club around when we get there. You know, they don’t issue you a manual when you buy a team.”
Having purchased the Angel City Football Club a little over a year ago, Bay reflected on handling crises, from the wildfires to ICE raids, and how they have impacted her team.
At the height of the immigration raids in the city, her soccer team’s supporters wanted to hang a banner that read “Abolish ICE” at the stadium in response to the fear and uncertainty that people were feeling, but it was a violation of venue policy.
Understanding the need for the community to respond to the moment, Bay agreed to a different show of support. “Fans created T-shirts with our assistance, with ‘Immigrant City Football Club’ on the front, and in English and Spanish, ‘everyone belongs here’ on the back, and they offered them to people on their way into the games,” Bay said. “The response was overwhelmingly positive, and I think we were surprised … there was so much concern about speaking out, and our fan community loved it.”
When asked about the growth of women’s sports, Leichtman, who owns a team that competes in the National Women’s Soccer League, believes we are on the cusp of an explosion, but significant challenges remain.
“We don’t own our own stadium,” Leichtman said. “The men get priority, then concerts, then women. To me, that’s completely untenable. So, I think we’ve got a lot of work to do. The only way out of it is to push your way in. You just know it’s not an acceptable answer.”
For women running men’s sports teams, Jeanie Buss noted that many obstacles and barriers are, in fact, extremely surmountable. As the first female Governor in the NBA and a championship winner, Buss spoke about the need to deviate from the exact path that came before her. “I think my biggest challenge was I couldn’t develop relationships with the players like my father could, because I couldn’t go in the locker room after a game, and I had to figure out ways to make connections with the players that were meaningful outside of that,” Jeanie Buss said.
At the Summit, Olympic gold medalist and World Cup champion Alex Morgan, also known for her efforts fighting for pay equality in the workforce, was honored with the Changemaker Award. Reshma Saujani, founder of Girls Who Code and Moms First, was awarded the $100,000 Visionary Prize for Women’s Economic Empowerment. Saujani has advocated for closing the gender gap in tech and improving policies around motherhood, paid leave, and childcare. The Inaugural Trailblazer Award was given to Carolyn Clark Powers for her work making going to an L.A. museum free, and Bridget Gless Keller, who championed the building of the Children’s Institute campus in Watts.
Additionally, more than $220,000 was raised at the event for the Visionary Women’s NextGen Scholars initiative, which supports first-generation college students with a $5,000 discretionary scholarship, giving dozens of young ladies the comfort and benefit of a monetary cushion during the college years.
