Elizabeth Lindsey grew up playing soccer, but when her family moved to a new town, there was no girls’ soccer team. The boys were “horrible to her,” said Lindsey, and refused to let her play on their team. So at the age of nine, Lindsey made a presentation to the city council to explain why she should be allowed to play on the boys’ team.
“And I won,” said Lindsey. “They let me play.”
The next year, Lindsey recruited three more girls to play soccer with her on the boys’ team and eventually, they splintered off and the girls got their own team. And because she dealt with those boys and grew up being told no more than she was told yes, Lindsey grew a thick skin that comes in handy as president of brand and properties at global sports marketing and talent management agency Wasserman. One past CEO got so angry with her that he threw a book at her head, recalled Lindsey, but she dealt with worse—a bunch of nine-year-old boys who spent an entire summer trying to make her life miserable.
“I’m 54 years old and I still think about these boys,” said Lindsey on Monday. She spoke at Fortune ’s 2024 Most Powerful Women summit in Laguna Niguel, Calif. during a Deloitte-sponsored panel, How Investing in Women’s Sports Fosters Women Leaders.