Today, we are spending time with Jess Smith.

Jess Smith is the president of the newly formed WNBA Golden State Valkyries. They will take the court in 2025. And *we* will be front row to watch. Some of us literally, many of us by way of the fact that networks have finally caught up to the fact that putting women’s sports on TV gets you ALL the damn ratings. Like…all of them.

So, I ask you this: Have you watched women’s basketball this year?

Of course you have.

Because EVERYONE WATCHES WOMEN’S SPORTS. #Togethxr

Jess arguably has the most critical task in the Warriors’ stated plan: to be a paradigm shifter regarding the economic possibilities of the WNBA. I mean, damn. That’s a big job.

But it doesn’t scare Jess. She runs to these opportunities as much as these opportunities seek HER out.

Have you heard of the NWSL Angel City FC team? Jess helped to build it into the powerhouse icon brand it is today…from day one, from nothing.

She’s legendary and KNOWN as a builder, growth engine and revenue driver – specifically in sports.

In our conversation, Jess and I talked about Enneagram: a model of the human psyche which is principally understood and taught as a typology of nine interconnected personality types.

It’s like a modern day “what Sex and the City character are you” quiz in SEVENTEEN magazine.

We discovered that we’re BOTH Enneagram 8s.

Challengers.

Tell us we can’t do it and we’re going to get it done.

And while the best part of Enneagram 8s is that we are Powerful, Dominating, Self-Confident, Decisive and Willful – we also carry the world on our shoulders and bear the weight of bringing to life the hopes, dreams and aspirations of so many.

Because we see what’s possible and we aren’t afraid to try to make it happen.

And it got me thinking: when our strongest personality trait – our ethos, our way of being, our reason for living – is non-negotiable and what the world knows us as …

Do we create those spaces in every room we’re in?

Or do those rooms know who we are and find us?

Let’s find out.

*******

We love to hype:

Jess Smith: LinkedIn, Instagram
Golden State Valkyries: Website, Instagram

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The Hype Women Podcast is produced by Erin Gallagher and Melanie Scroggins.

Original score by Alex Yewon.

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