Two leaders in the sporting world have opened up about their journeys to success and the challenges they've faced as women in the industry.
Speaking at the OnBeingBold Dreaming Big event, Rugby World Cup tournament director Michelle Hooper told attendees she was first drawn to the sports industry when as a teenager Team New Zealand won the America's Cup.
"There was a welcome home parade and I was standing on the street wearing my red socks and waving the team up the street and I had this moment, it was a sliding doors moment, and I said to myself I want to be part of that."
Dreaming Big is designed to inspire and encourage female Year 13 students with potential to be brave and bold in finding and taking opportunities, as well as dealing with challenges.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, senior business leaders and entrepreneurs also spoke at the event.
Hooper told the students after high school she had initially planned to go to university in Dunedin but decided to stay in Auckland and volunteered for Team New Zealand.
Six months into volunteering she was offered a job.
Now a top sporting boss, Hooper's event recently made history as the first women's event to sell out Eden Park, something she describes as orchestrated and "no coincidence".
One thing that grates her, and she would like to see change, is how people describe her as "enthusiastic, funny, energetic".
"They don't describe me as inspirational leader."
When the going gets tough she said she goes back to doing sport, in her case running, to help clear her mind.
"I have a great husband, and three incredible children, I always wanted to be a mum, I didn't want to do that at the mercy of my career. I love achieving goals and being a part of society in a really proactive way."
Andrea Nelson, who was the chief executive of the ICC Women's Cricket World Cup, said she had no idea what she was going to do when she was in Year 13.
"I didn't play sport, I didn't like sport and I didn't watch sport.
"My life hasn't been a series of steps toward an outcome. I've followed the things that have given me joy along the way."
Her "big break" in sport came when she turned up in London for her OE and wound up getting a job for a year working on the country's Olympic bid.
"I had my flight booked to come home. And we won the bid so therefore I went into the organising committee and spent seven years working on that."
Andrea Nelson was the Cricket World Cup chief executive. Photo / Photosport
Nelson told the event she was the first person on the team to have a baby, so she established maternity leave as a concept there.
While she "fell into" sport, she now loves it and believes it is her calling.
Like Hooper, she said having a family and a life outside of work was a massive advantage when you have a stressful leadership job.
During her time leading the World Cup, while battling Covid uncertainties, Nelson said there were many points they thought the event may not happen.
"If our event hadn't happened, then Michelle's event wouldn't have happened. Fifa wouldn't have happened, because New Zealand would have lost the faith of the international sports community."
Nelson said she spent a lot of time trying to be similar to the male leaders and role models she had, and as she's grown older she's realised the best leadership is being authentic.
Inside the event. Photo / Supplied
OnBeingBold chair Cathy Quinn said they started the event five years ago and principally target schools that are less privileged, but some others do attend.
"For all of the women involved at some point in our life, someone said something to us or did something for us that encouraged us at a point in our life to make a choice, to be bold enough to take another step. So this is a bit like us giving back to those people who helped us in our career."
This year's event was held at Fonterra's Auckland HQ where food was also provided by the organisation.
Year 13 students Eve Naicker and Jessica Cook were at the event and both found it informative and inspiring.
Cook, who is still deciding what to do after school ends, said it was reassuring learning how the speakers went into their fields with an open mind.
"It was quite crazy how they were all quite humble and down to earth about how they came into their professions, because you generally expect within a field so dominated by males you would expect females to be competitive against each other but they were all so friendly and they all knew each other and had each others backs."
Naicker told the Herald her biggest takeaway from the day was they could achieve anything they want with hard work and dedication.
