Burch, who has played and always been a fan of tennis, said she was honored to team up with King who has been a role model in sports and women’s equality: “I grew up admiring Billie Jean King, and I’m still in awe of her. She has spent her entire life championing Title IX and fighting for equal rights. It is an honor to partner with her as she keeps breaking barriers.”
This isn't the first time King and Burch have teamed up. They had previously struck up a friendship over their love of tennis and their passion for empowering women and championing equality. In 2020, when the Federation Cup was renamed the Billie Jean King Cup—the first time that a major global sports event has been named for a woman—King wanted to begin a new tradition of bestowing the victors of the Cup with a custom-made winner’s jacket, so she enlisted Burch to design it.
“Billie Jean and I are committed to helping women change the game in sports,” Burch says. “Our foundation’s signature Fellows program has been a transformative experience for hundreds of women entrepreneurs, and we are thrilled to expand its impact through our partnership with Advantage All.”One of Billie Jean King’s most famous phrases is, ‘You have to see it to be it.
Nearly half of sports fans in the U.S. are women, girls’ participation in sports is increasing and women’s sports teams are breaking records—yet representation of women leaders and voices in sports is notably lacking. Women account for less than 30% of executives on 31 major international sports federations and just three are led by women. Only 17% of sports editors are women and less than a quarter of all head coaches at the college level are women.
The Sports Fellowship aims to help close this representation gap, especially since participation in sports helps young female leaders rise, teaching skills that are critical for a woman’s success in the workforce. In fact,