It’s “bring yourself to work” day
Leveling The Playing Field
Did you listen to yesterday’s episode of How I Got the Call Up yet? If not, you’re in for a real treat: Susie Piotrkowski, ESPN’s head of women’s sports programming and espnW, explains why it’s crucial to bring your full, authentic self to work — and how to do it professionally, especially when your workplace isn’t the most welcoming.
We created The Call Up to be a source of real, practical advice that anyone can use in their careers: You’ll get both inspiration and application. Scroll on to read more about how Piotrkowski leads the women’s sports charge at ESPN, her wisdom about knowing yourself, and so much more.
P.S. The Call Up was featured in Sports Business Journal — read and share with your fellow sports biz nerds.
- Love, Ellen & Jacie
♥️ You’re the only one of you
1️⃣ Susie Piotrkowski is one of one: At ESPN, she drives the growth of women’s sports across the network’s massive portfolio. It’s a pretty big job, so she’s all about incremental progress — what can we do today to make women’s sports easier to find, watch, and be a fan of?
💡 The takeaways: Piotrkowski stressed the importance of bringing your full self to work. A litmus test she uses to determine if a job is right for her? As a sneakerhead, if the workplace culture allows kicks instead of requiring business-formal footwear, it’s “reflective of a culture that would be more fit for me personally.” She explained that expressing herself makes her more confident at work, and therefore better at her job. Her advice:
- In creating your own litmus test, know your strengths and weaknesses. Piotrkowski’s example: She’s excellent at connecting with people, but not so much at the hyper-detailed minutiae, so she knew she’d be better in sales as opposed to something more detail-focused like operations.
- It’s all about balance: “You’ve got to read the room. Sometimes you’re going to have to button up a little bit more…but I think that [your authentic self] can come through no matter your environment.” Think about how you want to be perceived and act accordingly.
- When you’re just starting out, sometimes you have to take the opportunities available to you, even if the culture fit isn’t perfect. These are places to do good work, build your reputation, and expand your skill set, so you can move on to a place that does fit your personality.
🎤 The mic drop moment: “There are a couple things I live by: How you treat anybody is how you treat anybody…and get out in front and never look back. There’s a lot going on all the time, and those are the things that bring me back to why I do this and who I am.” Amen.
Together With Rugby Canada
🇨🇦 There’s a different kind of heated rivalry coming to a pitch near you. Relive the Women’s Rugby World Cup 2025 as Canada’s Women’s Rugby Team takes on England for two rematches on Canadian soil.
- 🏉 Presented by Canadian Tire, the Rugby Rematch Tour is making stops in Toronto and Ottawa — and they’re already making Canadian sports history.
- 🎟️ That’s right, advance ticket sales have already broken the North American women’s rugby attendance record. Now’s your chance to be part of that history.
When asked what she’s reading or listening to, Susie instead laid out the guiding principles that inform her decision making and inspire authenticity. Here’s a recommendation based on each of those nuggets:
📰 To learn more on why incremental progress matters, read this article by Atomic Habits author James Clear discussing how success isn’t a single event, but the sum of your decisions over time and how improving just 1% can be the key to greatness.
📖 Susie believes that how you treat anybody is how you treat everybody so if you want to learn more about courageous leadership and empathy, Dare to Lead by Brene Brown is a perennial favorite.
🎧 On leading from the front and never looking back, there’s no one better to turn to than Billie Jean King. The icon recently appeared on Coach Jackie’s new podcast, Is She Game? And yes we can confirm, BJK is game.
🧢 Welcome to the Coach’s Corner, where we answer reader-submitted questions about working in sports. This week’s question comes to us from Rachel after seeing Susie’s post taking her daughter to ESPN HQ — she asked:
- How does that personal mission of showing your daughter what's possible fuel your professional strategy and thinking about that next generation of girls in sports?
After discussing how thankful she is to have that memory forever, the rest of Susie’s answer blew Ellen (and all of us) away:
“I don't do it for her. I don't do it exclusively for the little girls, right? Because I think that's actually a little pejorative. I do it for all women.” Susie elaborated that helping women get paid and creating a platform where their skills can be celebrated and visible is equally important.
- She also agreed there is an undeniable positive outcome when young girls see women succeeding in sports, both on and off the court. And she’s certainly not done yet.
“My 10-year-old neighbor who's a little boy, he wears Sabrinas. I care about that. I care about the little boys who are going to get to see A’ja Wilson, Napheesa Collier, and Caitlin Clark and I can keep going down the list. I care deeply about this whole next generation, as well as our generation, getting an opportunity to consume sport, to consume women's sport, and to not have to justify it, be apologetic for it, or explain why it is good business and a good product.”
Incredible.
⏭️ Next week, we’re interviewing Sarah Spain, host of the women’s sports podcast Good Game with Sarah Spain and longtime ESPN reporter and analyst. Have any questions about careers in sports journalism? Submit them here, and we’ll ask her for you.
🏈 Want to dive deeper into the NFL convo? At The GIST, everyone’s invited. That’s why we launched our free-to-play NFL Weekly Pick’ems game: quick, fun, and easy picks with weekly and season-long prizes on the line.
- Just ask Gretchen, who won last week’s challenge and scored a $100 NFL Shop gift card for their efforts. All you have to do is choose who’ll win each matchup this week, and you could be next.
💌 Consider this your official invite. Nothing to lose, lots to learn, and a whole NFL community to gain. FOMO waits for no fan — make your picks now.
🏆 Judy Joseph-Black completed her debut sports novel, Finding Freddie. Adding to our TBR list now.
🏅 Kirsten Counterman landed an admin gig with a Major Arena Soccer League Women team. LFG.
Today's email was brought to you by Rachel Fuenzalida and Katie Kehoe Foster. Editing by Molly Potter. Ops by Elisha Gunaratnam. Ads by Ali Haberstroh. Managing edits by Molly Potter and Katie Kehoe Foster. Head of content Ellen Hyslop.