Leela Srinivasan on being an outsider with transferable skills

👋 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.”