March 10th was Mappy Hour’s 6th birthday and we celebrated at The North Face in Soho with a panel of incredible leaders in the sport and outdoor industry. In honor of International Women’s Day, the topic of the night was women and the science of sports. Thanks to The North Face for helping us create this event and to Sufferfest for providing the brews!
The panelists for the night included:
Moderator:
- Samantha Lopez, Co-Founder, Brooklyn Basecamp
Speakers:
- Caiti Donovan – Co-Founder and CMO, SHEIS
- Anna Pfaff – The North Face athlete, Rock Climber
- Lauren Picasso – CEO and Founder, CURE Hydration
The conversation ranged from why we need to talk about women specifically to being on a sponsored athlete roster to action items for the entire community. A few quotes from the night:
On the importance of women doing sports:
- “94% of women in leadership positions now did sports as a kid” – Caiti
- “Even if you are going for a run in Central Park – the benefits of sports work.” – Lauren
- “It’s about community. I always benefited by having women around me, supporting me.” – Lauren
On why we do need to differentiate between men and women in sports right now:
- “We have to differentiate women and men until it can be an equal playing field of just athletes” -Caiti
- “Less than 5% of sponsorship in sports goes to women right now.” -Caiti
- “The North Face does a great job of representing women – they bring light to everyone as an equal. I’ve never felt like I’ve been treated differently. They’re also doing it internally. I’m proud to work for a brand that does this work.” – Anna
- “One of the things that we’ve seen as a differentiator between brands – are the ones who do it internally. It isn’t just lip service.” – Caiti
On the changing faces of mentorship: - “For me I didn’t have social media growing up and while there’s a lot of negativity about overusing social media, the positive is that you can find meetup groups, and other people to climb with and that’s awesome.” – Anna
- “We have to inspire young children. What we do today is what is going to make a change. It takes generations. ” – Anna
Thanks to all who attended and to Shawn Austere for these beautiful photos! As a reminder, our next events are open to all via Zoom, Facebook & Instagram: https://mappyhour.org/events.