FEATURE
A W2W Conference Keynote Speaker PREVIEW
The unstoppable
Molly Arbogast I
ntroducing Molly (Mullady) Arbogast, sports marketing expert and Keynote Speaker for the 2022 Women2Women Conference + Expo on April 20. Founder and CEO of POV Sports Marketing since 2016, and with over 25 years of experience developing and selling professional sports, Ms. Arbogast has worked in corporate sponsorship development for the Philadelphia Eagles, the Detroit Pistons, the WNBA and Learfield Sports, among others. Ms. Arbogast has won several awards, including the 2019 Sports Business Journal Game Changer award. POV Sports Marketing is “one of the only certified women-owned, full-service sports marketing agencies in the United States – and may in fact be the only one.” In a recent interview, Ms. Arbogast gave her perspective on a variety of topics, including growing up in a household of boys, the value of hard work, finding your strength, your motivation and your voice and sage advice on “Getting Out of Your Own Way,” the topic of her keynote speech at the Women2Women Conference + Expo.
How did your formative years shape your thoughts about women and working? About being the confident woman you are today? M.A.: As a woman growing up in the sports business, which is very male-dominated, I had to constantly advocate for myself. If I could pull my younger self aside, I’d love to have her sit in on this keynote and have her listen to me and understand it’s all going to be OK, but you need to use your voice and you need to silence the inner voice of doubt that all of us have. Be brave. And it’s such a crazy thing when you look at a 12-year-old girl and
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she’s running around on the soccer field or the lacrosse field or playing basketball with her brothers in the driveway…no one has told her there will be hurdles and barriers because you are a girl. She thinks she can do anything, which is the way it should be. I was one of five kids, four boys and Molly, and so for me, having a voice was more about survival…what’s so interesting is when you grow up with brothers, you have this voice because if you don't speak up, you won’t be heard. My father didn’t look at all of my brothers and say, “Here are the rules for you four and here are the rules for you, young lady,” he said, “Here are the rules.” And my mother was the same way. When I was interviewed for an interesting podcast called, “Executive Leadership Radio,” prior to the podcast they said, “We want to know who you were as a young girl, your middle school years.” When I was 14, I organized a school-wide bike-a-thon at Lake Forest Country Day School that raised $16,000 for the American Cancer Society in Chicago. No one told me I couldn't do it. They just said to get it done. I received an award, but I didn't understand why it was such a big deal. I just went and used my voice and organized it. That’s how I was raised, to do great work, raise your voice when you need to, raise your hand and offer to do work on those projects and say “Yes.”
Getting out of your own way means different things to different people. Can you share some thoughts of what getting out of your way means to you? M.A.: It’s understanding you have value, you have a voice, and you’re put on this earth to use that voice and use it wisely and to take calculated risks and to know when to be silent…knowing
