Intro & Meet Dr. Tayler Onion

SPEAKER_03 0:00

Women's sports revenues in 2026 will hit $3 billion, which is insane. That's a like a 340% increase from I want to say 2022, which again is unheard of.

SPEAKER_02 0:10

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SPEAKER_00 0:51

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SPEAKER_02 1:29

Louis, welcome back to another episode of the STL Bucket List Show recorded right here at Bucket List Studios in Maplewood. Bailey Julia production team putting out new episodes, highlighting the people and places that make St. Louis special every single day. We've done over 220, I think, episodes now. Um we started this podcast in March of 2022. So we've been at this for over four years now, and I've got to have amazing conversations with local entrepreneurs. Today we have a very special episode. We have Dr. Taylor Onion, host of the Hangtime Podcast, recorded right here at Sunny Maplewood, um, in Sunny Maplewood at Bucketless Studios. Um, fellow podcaster, it's very rare that I get to talk to other podcasters. So you have experience being on a microphone. Um, but before you started being on a microphone, what were you before that? And tell me a little bit about your upbringing and childhood and stuff like that.

SPEAKER_03 2:19

Yeah,

Growing Up on a Farm & Path Through College Athletics

SPEAKER_03 2:20

for sure. Well, I have to start by saying it's I'm on the other side of the table than I normally am, which is kind of bizarre for me. But um, yeah, I I'm a farm kid. So I grew up about two and a half hours uh just straight north of St. Louis and moved down here a year ago to work at Umsel, but in between now and then I've spent time kind of all over the country. So I worked uh at the University of Memphis for a little bit. I was at SIU in Carbondale for a little bit, spent four years at the University of South Florida in Tampa and got my doctorate down there. And I know we're gonna touch on uh the bloom and onion piece a little bit. So I'm happy to share that story a little later, but that took place in in Tampa.

SPEAKER_04 2:54

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 2:55

Um and so yeah, I've I've kind of built a career working in college athletics, uh a former student athlete. And so yeah, I've I've uh again spent a lot of time working in sports and and have carried on that through hang time and then my work at UMSL as a professor as well.

SPEAKER_02 3:10

So your whole professional career, just to kind of sum it up, has been revolved around sports and teaching, it seems like. So, how do those it always I always remember even backdating back to like elementary school, like the gym teacher was always the basketball coach and all that. So, was that like your dream job was to be involved with schools and teaching, or did you have bigger goals with sports?

SPEAKER_03 3:27

Yeah, no, not at all. Uh my interest was uh I I thought I was gonna get into sports marketing. Um, so coming out of my undergrad, I played volleyball at the University of Illinois. I was there for for four years. I had a bachelor's degree in advertising, and so I thought, all right, I'm gonna move into sports marketing, either in the pro space, maybe in college athletics, and had opportunities to continue on my education, get a master's degree. Didn't want to get a real job yet, of course, as so many student athletes in that final phase don't.

SPEAKER_04 3:52

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 3:53

And so decided, hey, I'll I'll do a master's degree, I'll work in college athletics and in event management and uh get my master's in in sports management as well. Um and from there it just kind of prompted a career working in college athletics. So I've worked in academic advising for student athletes, leadership development for student athletes, major gifts fundraising most recently, and and external relations. And then that's what led me to the the career here at UMSL.

SPEAKER_02 4:17

Yeah. Yeah. So what is it like being in St. Louis now? Because like you grew up in this small town. A lot of these college towns um are bigger, but they're big college towns. But like now you're in, you know, a bigger market for people that grow up in St. Louis. We don't think of it that way. But somebody that might have grown up, you know, on a farm now to get to have an impact and have a podcast and all this stuff. Like, what is being in St. Louis changed like the way that you guys think about like your brand and growing your business and stuff?

Moving to St. Louis & Reconnecting with a Sports Town

SPEAKER_03 4:41

I think it's been great. I I grew up in a town, so 500 friendly people, that's what it says on the sign outside of our town, industry, Illinois. Um, and it was a culture shock for me to go from that to Champaign, which is significantly larger, still a college town, but but much larger than 500 people, obviously. Um, but I kind of prefer the the city lifestyle. I loved being in Champagne, I loved being in Memphis, I loved being in Tampa as well. Uh and St. Louis, I kind of feel like I I slept on it for a little bit. I don't know if I was feeling like this is too close to home. Um, but it was it's the largest major metropolitan area close to to where I grew up. And so we grew up Cardinals fans, we grew up coming down and and going to the you know, Bush Stadium, the old and and now the new as well. And um have spent a lot of time here. I have a bunch of friends who have been here for 10, 15 years after college. And so it's been great to be back in a city, it's been great to be back in a sports market. Uh, spent the last couple of years uh in another college town, and and so just being back in a larger area and a more sports-focused area has been awesome.

SPEAKER_02 5:41

Yeah, St. Louis is like such a sports town, and although we're not the biggest sports market, it's just like the love for even recreational sports. Like I had a couple of people on the podcast that, you know, have a volleyball league and they like these people get together to play pickleball, and then like obviously the soccer team and all what what's going on now with the World Cup and like everybody's like getting together over soccer, and unfortunately we lost last night. But um, so I want to talk about this blooming onion thing because you know, your last name is Onion, um, which is very unique. And the Bloom and Onion, um, I guess it's from the Outback Bowl, or you know, walk me through there because that's when I think of Bloom and Onion, I do think of Outback.

The Bloom and Onion Mascot Story

SPEAKER_03 6:16

So yeah, that's that's it. The Bloom and Onion. Yeah. So in 2019, I won a contest to be the Bloom and Onion mascot during the third quarter of the Outback Bowl, which is in Tampa. So it's 10 minutes from where I was living at the time. I had seen in the 2018 Outback Bowl, this guy posted Ryan Nanny. Um, and I I don't know where he works, if he was like a sports journalist or whatever, but he had tweeted at the Outback Bowl so many times that went kind of naturally viral. And then they brought him in. They're like, sure, whatever. You can you can be the guy and you can wear the Bloom and Onion, you know, outfit and whatever. And so in 2018, I saw that and I'm like, I live so close to the stadium, I'm in Tampa. The Outback Bowl is in Tampa. My last name is Onion Bowl game, the Outback Bowl is a Big Ten SEC matchup. Yeah. I went to a Big Ten school. So I'm like, what are all the reasons like I should be the Bloom and Onion? This is the thing.

SPEAKER_04 7:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 7:08

And so I started tweeting at them as well. And then they kept, you know, this is great, but like please keep your eyes peeled, whatever. They ended up launching a contest that was called the hashtag be the Bloom contest. And so you had to submit a video, photo, whatever. So I did. I submitted a video and explained top 10 reasons, you know, here's all the reasons why it should be me, and ended up winning that contest. And so during the third quarter, I got to put on the the bloom and onion giant foam thing and be out on the field, which was awesome.

SPEAKER_02 7:39

Yeah, that's funny. So that did that lead into the naming your original podcast, the Bloom Pod. So, like walk me through that name and like what you did with that podcast too.

Launching the Bloom Pod

SPEAKER_03 7:48

Yeah. So again, early in in 2019 is when I got to do that. I think it was the first or second of January of that year. And from then on, I was working at at the University of South Florida at the time. Everybody that was in the athletic department just every time they'd see me, what's up, Bloomin? How's it going, Bloomin'? You were famous. So yeah, right. Yeah. Which they, I mean, they had already, it was onion before, and then it just switched slightly. Um, and so I think that kind of got me thinking. I had been kind of toying with the idea of a podcast for for some time. So the rest of that year happened. We roll into 2020, the pandemic hits, and I'm like, okay, I don't have a commute anymore. We're all working from home and kind of decided, all right, you know, now we're never for a for a podcast. And so um decided on the bloom pod just because of the play on my name and the contest and all of the things. And so the bloom pod was really focused on this idea of talking to people, everyday people with big ideas. So we would talk to entrepreneurs, we would talk to folks in sports, we would talk to folks in higher education, sometimes people who are at the intersection of all three of those things, uh, and just kind of talk to them about what they were doing in life. We had um one of my former teammates on who was an Olympian. Um, we had again folks who somebody who worked for the Society of Professional Journalists, which was really interesting, just talking about how do you ask good questions.

SPEAKER_04 9:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 9:03

Um, and just a lot of different people, some authors, um, some former and not teammates, but other student athletes who went to Illinois who own uh the Cookie Society, which was on one of Oprah's favorite things um years ago. And so again, just cool conversations and kind of a fun way to spend time. And so the Bloom Pod went from if I launched in maybe it was 21, 2020, or no, it was 2020, and then went through 2023. And I took a job uh back on a campus at Western Illinois University, and just because of the craziness of the schedule, I didn't have time to focus on any more episodes. And so uh took a little bit of a hiatus, a couple year hiatus, but had a friend who was kind of in my ear the whole time of all right, when when's the next episode? Uh, what's your plan? What are we doing? Um and in between that time, I had also finished my dissertation, which focused on the self-perception of power of women who were in leadership roles in sports. And so we kind of toyed with this idea of, you know, should we do a short series that talks about these things, about my my dissertation research? Yeah, like do we do a series focused on that? Do we talk about women's sports and kind of the boom that's happening right now? Um, what would that look like? And so we thought maybe a short series between the two of us. And the more I thought about it, the more I was like, I don't know that I want to go back to talking about anything else besides women's sports and women in sports afterwards. And so that's what kind of led to the the rebrand and the relaunch as hang time, almost exactly two years after the the final bloom pod episode. And so that's been a year and a half ago now, and and it's been a fun switch.

SPEAKER_02 10:38

So when you originally started podcasting, was like, were you inspired? Because at that time, like 2020, like a lot of the podcasts came out of that 20. You were like, you know, obviously there was big pods back then and they're still today, but now it's like there's so many competiting podcasts. But it's like, was there a certain one that inspired you to like start, or were you just curious? Or like what what kind of like what was the first time that you like opened up your was it all virtual then?

SPEAKER_03 11:01

I guess it yeah, all my guests. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 11:03

So you just when was the first time you like opened up your computer and like had a conversation? Was that awkward? Was that hard? Or like tell me, walk me through that?

SPEAKER_03 11:10

A little bit of everything. Yeah. I mean, the the first few episodes I uh intentionally chose, you know, they were friends, of course. Um, and so I had a friend, again, the my teammate who was the Olympian, I had a friend who was running a coffee shop with um Ben from Ben Higgins from The Bachelor. And so that was an interesting conversation as well. Um, but I would talk, I would interview the guest for 20 minutes or so, and then another friend of mine, she was the first episode, but she would come on, she had she would listen to it on her own time, and then we would kind of do a recap of hey, this was interesting, and let's kind of talk through what does that look like. I like it. Yeah. And so it was a fun, I mean, it was just really a fun way for us to connect weekly because we were all at home during that time too. But it was a fun way to have conversations. So yeah, it was all over Zoom at the time. There's no AI to help kind of record or cut anything out. So if you go back, the social media that I used at that time is now hang time. So if you go back far enough, you'll see the posts, which it was just posts. There were no video clips, none of that stuff was happening at the time.

SPEAKER_02 12:10

And so in ours, like even when we started in 2022, like we were using a studio, but like there was no clipping. It was more just like an audio wave file on top of a graphic. Yes. And it was fine. And people liked it and it was cool, but now it's like we have to put out so much video and like it's it's so different. For over 150 years, SSM Health has been providing hope, healing, and opportunities to the St. Louis community with over 40,000 employees across four states. They're not only delivering exceptional care, they're one of the region's largest employers, shaping the future of healthcare. We're proud to present SSM Health as the official healthcare partner of the STL bucket list show. If you've dreamed of a career where you're truly making a difference every day, SSM Health can help you take that to the next step. Learn more at their website in the link in the show notes. So going back to the Bloom Pod, did you, was there something about the episodes when you talked about women's sports that like made you excited? Is that what led to hang time? Or like you said you had these conversations with your friends, but you said like there's just nothing more I want to talk about other than these. So between like you having those episodes with those people on the pod, but then also um going through your doctorate program and like studying all that, you were like, Well, why would I do anything else? Like I'm getting so like you're doing it for school and you're like, oh my gosh, this is like probably fun for you to like learn all these stories. And now you're like, I want to tell these. Like, was there something about women's sports? Obviously, you're an athlete yourself, but like what was that moment where you're like, I want to go all in and niche down to just that? Because then that it does close who you can talk to because there's a lot of people you probably still want to talk to, but you're like, hey, this is my niche now.

SPEAKER_03 13:36

Yeah, I

Title IX, Her Doctorate & the Path to Hangtime

SPEAKER_03 13:37

I think it's a combination of things, right? So um when I was finishing my doctorate in 2022, that was the 50th year, the 50th anniversary of Title IX being passed, Title IX legislation. That I think was um uh just a cool time to be working on that research and having it be focused on self-perception of power of women who are working in sports, knowing that there's 50 years of history that got us to this point. Um, I think the bloom pod was kind of the foundation for oh, this is fun to be able to have conversations. That also was great practice for my dissertation interviews, just being able to talk to people and and you know, if there's a tangent, how do you get somebody back? And if there's not enough, how do you prompt them for more? And so just good interview practice. Um, but I think it it kind of, you know, hangtime has been um the marriage of of all the things that I've done to date. So it's a little bit of my student athlete experience. It's a little bit of my experience even growing up playing sports um and and the passion there. It's the last really 50 years of growth for women's sports, and it's the last five, six years of finally attention, the the so well-deserved attention finally being put and investment being put on women's sports. Um, and I yeah, it's just it's a weird but like perfect timing thing. But again, all those experiences kind of building up to this to this point.

SPEAKER_02 14:56

And it's like when you did the rebrand, like obviously, like you, it gives you an opportunity to like fix all the things you didn't love about the first one. You're like, I want to go hard with the branding, I want to go hard with all this, like my structure, like we've gotten so much different with our podcast over the years. If you go listen to my first episode with Brock Seals, who's an amazing local artist in St. Louis, that was four years ago. Like looking back our at our episodes now, it's just like so different because we were so nervous and like they were asking us questions. Like it was just like we didn't know. We were like sitting here and then they turn the lights on, and we're like, my gosh. But like getting that rebrand allows you to like, you know, come out of it of like these are the things that I really liked, these are the things that I want. Like your brand, I've always said like your branding's really strong. Your, you know, your focus is strong. So like if somebody's like listening to your pod, they know exactly what they're getting. They're getting a conversation with uh a woman, either athlete or somebody that's in sports. One of my favorite, the one I actually recorded with you guys when I was in here when Julia was out of town was the was it the sports bra?

SPEAKER_03 15:49

Yeah, uh, the dub. So in Kansas City. Yeah. But we had talked about it. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 15:54

Yeah. And they were super cool. Like it was two of them, and and you know, that was really cool. And then you've had um, you know, so many guests on. I mean, was there a certain, was there a certain guest over your years was like an aha moment of like, wow, this person's actually like coming on my podcast. Like, I'm sure you have a few a lot of them now. Um but was there like the first one, like we had Nikki Glazer on, and I was like, oh my gosh, like we just had Nikki in studio, and like that was pre pre-Tom Brady Rose. So like she blew up after. She was already blown up, but after like we probably couldn't get her now because she's too big now. But having that was like a moment where it's like people started like, oh, this is like this is a really big deal. Was there a certain guest in your journey that was like, oh my gosh, like this is like living out a dream for

Coolest Guest Yet: ESPNW Founder Laura Gentile

SPEAKER_02 16:33

me?

SPEAKER_03 16:33

I think the coolest one for me so far, uh, and and Julia knows after we recorded this, I was like, I think I just blacked out for that entire conversation. Like I was so nervous about it. Um, but was Laura Gentilli. So she had worked at ESPN for 20 plus years. She is the person who founded ESPNW. Without her, we don't have probably most of the media landscape that we have today. I think ESPNW has been kind of something that people have pointed to. And she fought kind of tooth and nail to be able to get that, to get people to buy into it and say, like, oh, we have enough, you know, content here, we have enough media here, we have enough coverage here to do a whole kind of thing. One of my favorite Instagram pages is all they do such a good job. So that was a that was a big one. And just to talk to her about, you know, what was it like to go through that fight? And this isn't this isn't a long time ago. This is like 2010, 20, you know, and I think maybe it it launched finally in 1213, something like that. But this is the last 10, 15 years that people were still having to fight and still having to convince folks that yes, we do have enough content to be able to do this whole kind of stand-up thing on its own to just focus on women's sports specifically. So that was that was a fun, fun conversation.

SPEAKER_02 17:44

Yeah, that's really cool. And it like takes people like that. Like, you know, they're on the content side of it, but like that is at the end of the day the most important is like, is are people watching this? Because it takes people watching this. And then you talk about the bars that are specifically now doing women content, like which are amazing. And I just was walking uh to lunch the other day and I I was seeing I'm I can't wait for the sports bra to open. Yeah, I'm excited. That's gonna be very, very cool to have that in St. Louis. Um, but yeah, those those episodes like that, and and me, I have two daughters, so it's like really special for them now to grow up in a world where like they're seeing people on TV. And that's like different than even, you know, I'm 30. So like 10 years ago, I was in, you know, finishing high school when like that was even starting to go. And like my moment with women's sports was like the Caitlin Clarks of the world, like those now seeing them, team USA women's and like all these different things. You probably have so many more memories dating back further than that. But like, what is a the last like three to five years been for women's sports? Like, what does that momentum look like right now?

SPEAKER_03 18:40

I mean, it's

The $3 Billion Boom in Women's Sports

SPEAKER_03 18:41

crazy, right? The the projections that have come out, Deloitte um just put out a projection that women's sports revenues in 2026 will hit $3 billion, which is insane. That's a like a 340 uh percent increase from I want to say 2022, which again is unheard of. So women's sports is growing right now at a rate that we've not seen in men's sports maybe ever, maybe since they just first started. I think they've had kind of um steady, yeah, steady growth more over time, whereas this kind of a boom because of all the things, right? Like we have social media, we have these media contracts, we have the ability for these individual athletes to kind of create their own stand-up brands because of YouTube and Reels and TikTok and all this other stuff. And so it's the perfect storm of things for for women's sports to just blow up. But again, the amount of people who are watching in the US alone in 2025, it's something like 46 billion minutes of women's sports were consumed. We're seeing not just women watching women's sports, we're seeing men watching women's sports as well. And so the audience is is really um doing what we've seen in men's sports all these years. I think the other thing that we're seeing that's really cool right now for women's sports is some of these things that like traditional brands and the traditional marketing model doesn't know how to grasp just yet. And so there are a lot of people actually, um Ashima Chopra, who I had on Hangtime, um, she's the the founder and and CEO of a company called Fanverse, and they are studying what it looks like to be uh like what is fandom in women's sports and how is it different and how do we capture these audiences in a different way than we know we are uh with with men's sports traditionally. And you even look at that in terms of women's sports fans of men's sports. So the Knicks just won the the NBA championship, obviously, and you have Taylor Swift and the Haim sisters showing up in the Stevie Knicks and the Nicole Kidman shirts. And they're all over TV. Yeah, like that kind of stuff even is different from what we see traditionally of sports fans. And so much of that is just like we haven't paid attention really. It's just been this idea of kind of pink it and shrink it for f for women who are fans of sports in general. Like let's throw some rhinestones on a jersey and let's make it pink and sparkly and shrink it down to a different size. And there's so much more and so many other kind of interests and and ways to get women who are fans of women's sports and women who are fans of sports in general to engage with sports. And so it's just been so much fun to see in the last five, six years kind of the the media and fandom and offerings in those spaces catching up with what people actually want when they're watching women's sports and when they're watching sports in general.

SPEAKER_02 21:19

Exactly. And it's like, and those are not just helping that helping sports in general. It's like because that even for the NFL, like you talk about the Taylor Swift, is like that whole connection and thing has opened up so many more fans to watch football that would have never turned on a football game. And they're like, I want to watch this game because of this. And and like vice versa. Like I found myself, you know, since having girls too, it's like you start paying attention in more detail as well. But it's like I'm watching more uh women athletes and like seeing them in state farm commercials, like that stuff that like you wouldn't even imagine 20 years ago of like seeing somebody in a state farm commercial. Like you always think of Aaron Rodgers and Pat Mahomes and all the and Chris Paul and all these people. Um, but yeah, the Knicks is a good example because like they just kept flashing and then the girl from law. Order, like all these women. Yeah, she I was like, man, I know her because I used to watch Law in Order all the time. I didn't know. I mean, just people that love and that was such a big moment. There's been so many big sports moments, like between like the run that the World Cup was going on, like to see the city get behind that. Obviously, the USA hockey women men men's and women's teams, like pulling together and like people like getting together over sport has been super special. Like I'm always been a huge fan of every I used to collect every card and in every sport from football, baseball. And to see a space for women now to not be thought of as like weird or a tomboy just because you like to watch football or baseball or basketball. Now, like you mentioned, it's like you don't have to wear the little shirt that says cowboys on, and it's like there's whole so there's there's so many more markets that now the big business is getting getting behind. They're like, oh, there's something here. So now there's gonna be more money invested and and uh and stuff like that. The STL bucket list show is proudly sponsored by Suede Dispensary with 11 Missouri area locations. Suede does so much for the St. Louis community. We've been working with this team for a couple of years back since Medical was here, and we're excited to support their new product launches, events, and community initiatives. We couldn't be happier to work with this premier cannabis brand, and we're excited for them to sponsor the show. Enjoy the rest of the podcast. For you growing up like loving sports, being from a small town, it was like you know, you probably didn't have people that were like you always, you know, maybe I don't know if you have any stories about that. As like small town, play sports, loves that. It's like now you get to like have these conversations with people that grew up that same way, and now you guys are talking about all these things.

SPEAKER_03 23:30

Yeah,

Growing Up Without Girls' Sports & Finding Sam Quiggle

SPEAKER_03 23:31

I think my um my kind of north star as a kid, I loved sports. So I and we didn't have girls' sports at the school that I played because it was so small. So I played basketball with the boys growing up, and then finally in I think sixth grade, maybe, we had a consolidation with another school that was 45 minutes away. So I was playing girls' basketball, and then I was able to start playing volleyball, um, which basketball was really my first love as a kid. Um, but there was a um uh a girl who was in my cousin's class. He was he's six years older than me. And so Sam Quiggle um was like the best basketball player I'd ever seen at the time, which is funny, right? Looking back, and she was good. She played in college too, but it's funny to think like back as a kid, we're like, wow, this is the best athlete I've ever seen, right? Yeah. And it's just it's a high schooler, right? And so it's so funny to think about that. But Sam Quiggle for me was that person, like, oh, she can do it. And like she played with the boys, so I'll play with the boys too. And then, you know, kind of moving on from that and the school seeing, like, oh, we have a couple, you know, girls who are in the fifth grade or sixth grade or whatever who are now interested in playing basketball, maybe we should look at a consolidation or a co-op option. And so just having that opportunity to provide more sports. I think as a kid too, right, like you don't know anything other than what you know. So for me, the way that I grew up wasn't I wasn't thinking like, oh, I don't have any opportunities because I was playing with the boys. And then when I had the chance to go and be on a girls' team, that's just it is what it is. Yeah, and that's just the way it was.

The 99ers, Brandi Chastain & Representation

SPEAKER_02 24:58

It's like if you want to play, you gotta play hard, but you know, yeah, yeah. Which was probably good for you. It's like you know, yeah at the time. But then but having people to look up to on TV would have been a different story, like to see somebody like, oh wow, that that's possible.

SPEAKER_03 25:10

Yeah. Well, and I think the the 99ers, right? So the WNBA started, I would have been five or six years old, uh, in '97. And then the 99ers, which the 27-year anniversary of the women 1999 winning that World Cup, the US woman in the United States, which is also cool. That happened, and I would have been eight when that was going on. And so to see the iconic photo, Brandi Chestain ribbing off her shirt, she's in her sports bra, she's sliding on her knees. And I can remember my mom being like, Look at this, isn't this really cool? Like knowing that I liked sports. And I've had similar conversations. Actually, somebody on the podcast we were talking about that, and their mom was like, Don't look at this. This is like she took her shirt off on TV, she never should have done that. But for me, my mom was like, Check this out, isn't that super cool? Like, she's so fired up, you know, about her, about the goal and winning, and of course, it's the World Cup. Yeah. And all the guys do it, and they slide across the grass. Yeah, it's just like standard for for sports. And so I think those kind of like small moments for me growing up instilled for whatever reason some form of confidence that is tied directly to sports. And I think that's why I've pursued a career in that space too.

SPEAKER_02 26:15

Yeah, that's such a special moment. Shout out to your mom for saying that. Because yeah, at the time in 1999, like it was just different. Like, you don't want to show yourself like that. And that's actually a really, really cool story. And and uh, but yeah, I feel so much hope for like, you know, my daughters and like that next generation of like being able to like when I was in high school, I was on the wrestling team and we had like one girl on the team, and now that high school that I went to has a full girls' wrestling team, which is just mind-boggling to think about because it was such so foreign in 2012 and 13 to even have a girl wrestle. And now it's like they have a whole team and they have Olympic athletes and stuff like that.

SPEAKER_03 26:47

So like CAA just made it an official sponsored sport, women's wrestling.

SPEAKER_02 26:51

It's crazy. And they're it's good. I mean, it's a good sport, and it's like, you know, there's so many different, you know, sports that um it doesn't always have to like women don't have to be cheerleaders and they don't have to be like I and I love dance because my girl's in dance now and it's so fun to watch. But it's like if she doesn't love dance, then it's like, what are those other options out there for them? Um so what does the momentum look like? I mean, what can you what do you think that your what role do you think your podcast is playing? I mean, obviously there's so many media outlets now talking about women's sports, but like do you feel like you have an obligation to continue to tell these stories and like what are some of those future goals of the Hangtime brand in itself?

Hangtime's First Event & Building Community for Women in Sports

SPEAKER_03 27:25

Yeah, I mean, I do, and and part of it's just selfish, right? Like I'm enjoying having the conversations. Um, I think the other thing too, since I moved to St. Louis, I've had this kind of quiet hunch that we need more spaces for women who are working in sports, for women who are fans of sports, whether it's men's sports or women's sports or whatever. Um, and we hosted, you know, we hosted our first in-person event uh back on June 16th at Urban Chestnut. And I, when I pitched it to Urban Chestnut, I thought we'll have 20, maybe 25 women can we'll come out and we'll network and talk about, you know, you work for City and I work at Umsel and you're at SLU and whatever and that kind of a thing. And I woke up that morning and had 90 uh RSVPs, and then we had over 65 women who came out for that event. And so as I'm thinking about momentum, and obviously with the podcast, it's great. Those conversations are are fun to have. I think we need more voices in sports media that are focused exclusively on women and amplifying the stories of women in sports, which is what Hangtime does. But I think for St. Louis specifically, and this kind of goes hand in hand, but I think we need more spaces for women who are working in sports and women who are interested in sports. And so that's kind of the next phase of Hangtime is to continue. We're gonna roll out officially our our membership on August 1st. And so we'll have some annual dues there and and start to do monthly events, networking, professional development. Um, sometimes it'll just be a happy hour like what we did in in June. Um, but that's kind of the the next phase is to be able to make sure that we can create this community and get things connected, right? So the folks who are at City know the folks who are at the Cardinals, know the folks who are of the blues, and also the universities who are in town, because there are women working in sports at all of those places as well.

SPEAKER_02 29:05

And having that connectivity will allow them to like whether they're sponsoring events together or whether it's youth activations that they're doing, is like being able to pull on that because you've been that woman in was it a lot of young what tell me about the demo that showed up to the event? Like what did it look like? Was it transplants? Was it younger?

SPEAKER_03 29:20

A little bit of everything. Yeah. So we had, I would say predominantly uh women who were in the first five years of their career, but we also had folks who have been at it for 10, 20, 30 years. Uh I was telling somebody the other day, one of my favorite things, actually, um, somebody who was on the podcast as well, Jen Brooks, she's the athletic director at Ursulin Academy here in St. Louis. And when she got there, she's like, All right, I need to hire a coach for I can't remember what the sports were, but let's say softball and track and field. And as she was leaving that night, she's like, I think I got both of them. I'm like, that is fantastic. Like we and all we did is you know how hard that is. Yeah, like there, and there was no formal programming. Like, truly, it was show up, grab a complimentary drink. We had um free appetizers thanks to cardinal surveying. So it was come in, like grab a bite, grab a drink, and then just connect with with other women who are working in sports. There were a lot who a couple who were transplants who had moved here, either significant others or or partners or whoever had taken jobs in St. Louis. And so they then were looking for their next opportunity as well. Um, but I think again, just being able to create that intentional space where you know what you're walking into. You know you're walking into a room full of women who are working in sports or who want to be. And either way, if you're the hirer looking for somebody who's wanting to do that, you know there's gonna be people in there who are potentially qualified for the job you're hiring for, or vice versa. There's gonna be somebody who could even, if they're not hiring, they can connect you to somebody who is. And I think that's one of the most important things right now for women who are in sports. It's been, you know, uh predominantly a male field. It's such a boys' club for such a long time. And so if hangtime can play any role in making sure that that space also creates space for women who want to be in the field as well, I think that's that's we've had a good day.

SPEAKER_02 31:01

Yeah, I was gonna ask about that is like what the you know, the misconceptions are about like women in sports because it it is a minority when it comes to like looking at, especially in the front offices and and in leadership positions. So you know more than anyone. I mean, like what is it, what is it, what does it mean to have like women in leadership positions? I mean, like our soccer team is a women-owned team with along with other groups, but like having people like that for the people that are studying sports management to like maybe you're not an athlete, but like here's like you can be this, and there's so many women owners in other sports and stuff like that too.

SPEAKER_03 31:31

Yeah, I that's been I think a through line for my career and for my dissertation research as well, is how much representation matters for those things, right? For me, I I mentioned that Sam Quiggle was my North Star from like an athlete standpoint. I hope it was me. Yeah, I hope she is too. If if not for her, I don't know that I would have thought, oh, I can do that. Um, and and I think the same goes for jobs. I've had so many student athletes over the years who said, Well, I didn't even know this was a real job until you know I saw you working in student athlete development or until I saw the athletic director who happened to be a woman or whatever it is. And so I think that that representation is huge. And the same goes for for women in sports. The more we can see the Carolyn Kendalls of the of the world who are owning teams, and the more we can see female presidents and front offices and all the things, yeah, the more we kind of start to see that uh replicating.

Illinois Volleyball's National Championship Run

SPEAKER_02 32:25

Exactly. So you mentioned the 99 Olympics, you mentioned Sam quiggle. Is there any other sports moments throughout your career, uh, whether it be per like watching or you personally that like changed the way you think about sport? Like you mentioned those two moments specifically when you were under 10 years old. Yeah. Was there any like heading into your adult life that were like a moment that stood out to you of like, okay, this is I know I'm on the right path or I know I love what I'm doing?

SPEAKER_03 32:52

This is such a good question. There's many. Uh the first one that's coming to mind for me is my junior year at Illinois. We advanced the national championship match, um, which was in San Antonio at the Alamo Dome, which was pretty cool. It was like that's 14,000, 16,000 fans in there for us. And we played in a couple of big arenas up to that point as well. Um but when I think about that, obviously as a student athlete, like your your goal is national championship. And for us, we're lucky that every year we had a team that was able to compete in that way. So every year in the fall, it's all right, we're doing like final four is the goal, my freshman year, and then in junior sophomore junior, senior year, it's national championship. Like that's the bar we're setting for ourselves. Yeah. And so being able to make it there junior year is fantastic. And if you ask any one of my teammates, everyone's still salty about obviously the way that turned out. We lost UCLA in four sets. Um, and I I won't get into the semantics, but there's a couple of plays where if we had had some of the technology we have now, replay and that kind of thing, I don't I don't know if the match turns out differently. Maybe it does, maybe it doesn't. But I think about the the journey that it took us to get there, right? We started off that season 20 and oh, we were number one in the country for four straight weeks. Um, we had the opportunity to travel to all these neat places. But when I look back on that now, yes, we're obviously very proud of how that season went. It's still the best finish for University of Illinois volleyball in the history of the program, um, which on the one hand is great, but also like we want the program to get back to doing that as well and to go win a national championship. Um, but the thing that stands out for me from that experience and probably what has kind of fueled some of the other experiences that I've had in sports is the the friendships and the relationships that came out of it. I just I've been at weddings all summer long for my teammates who were a part of that team in Illinois or who came in afterwards. And so I think those again, the experiences that we had, that like a collective experience we shared through that year is great. But what we came away from it with even having lost what we were obviously trying to win the national championship, even having lost, there's still so many good things that came out of that experience. And I think having that mindset has helped with resilience and helped with a lot of other things uh throughout the the course of my life and and professional career, even just things that stick with me today.

SPEAKER_02 35:19

Yeah, I mean, you went to like war with these people, and then also it's like that shared experience of you guys sacrificing your personal lives for because it was all day, every day. Like it was class, workout, eat, nutrition, workout, like all that on buses, you know, like they don't probably have the amenities that they do now at some of these universities, especially with volleyball programs. So it's like riding buses across the country and like spending the night with these people, and then like eventually it's like win or lose, you guys get to go to these weddings and you guys all take a picture together and talk about it still and and stuff like that. And they're they're all doing, you know, all these different like everybody's doing all these different things, and it's like, you know, what was that 10 years ago now?

SPEAKER_03 35:56

Or was that it was 2011? Thank you for putting me on the spot though. Oh, yeah, it was 20. So 15 years ago. Yeah, yeah. 15 years this fall. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 36:06

Um, but it doesn't feel like that. Like I was, you know, in high school then, and it's like it still feels like that. I'm like, dang, I'm aging myself now because I'm 30. But it's like those moments and those friends that I made playing on travel baseball teams and wrestling and like all these different things. Like, you know, we would go to Columbia for the state championships and like just getting to like stay in a hotel with these guys and like these it's the same stories. And and I never played college sports or anything, but it's like being able to have those experiences with around sport because everybody's at the end of the day, the parents are there donating their time and paying for these things, and then you're there when all you know other friends could be working jobs and like doing their careers. Like you're you know, you did you even have like a real job because you were an athlete all the time during so like your first real job was like when like right out of college?

SPEAKER_03 36:49

As soon as I I had a couple of like job shadow opportunities, but really first job was my graduate assistantship working in in uh athletic event management during my master's.

SPEAKER_02 36:59

Yeah, you were still in the school and in the sports. It didn't probably feel as much like work until you got to like a real job. You're like, oh my gosh, like this is so much different. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 37:06

Um where are my teammates?

SPEAKER_02 37:08

Yeah, exactly. Um, so that's like the the difficult thing with like a lot. Like my partner Kyle, he was a college baseball player athlete and he didn't have like a real job until but like those are jobs at the end of the day. Yeah, you're just unpaid. But yeah, um, it's the work ethic that like everybody like we always like to hire athletes and and different things like that because there's a certain type of work ethic that you get in a in a teamwork and collaboration and all those things, and um, which in wrestling is always a solo sport, but you're you're still competing with the team. Like if you get pinned and you lose for the team, like it's all a team sport at the end of the day. Yeah, um, that's really cool. That that moment I wish um I I bet you think about it a lot still about that.

SPEAKER_03 37:43

Yeah, we do. We don't talk about how it ended, we talk about again the journey that it that it took us to get there.

SPEAKER_02 37:47

Um that's cool. And the Alamo Dome, too, like in San Antonio, like that whole energy, it's probably just so loud. And I think that they say the Alamo Dome is one of the cooler stadiums to play in and like walking in, getting off the bus and walking in there and stuff. The STL bucket list show is fueled by Upshot Coffee. My friends at Upshot Coffee have some of the best beans in town. I got some of their new packaging here. Look at this bag. Look how big this is. Um, they have four St. Louis locations, their flagship in Coddleville, the break shop over by Lindenwood in St. Charles, their Clayton location called Hi-Fi, um, and then Flyby over in Tower Grove, their newest location. Um, and they also sell their coffee online everywhere. If you guys haven't added Up Shot Coffee to your STL bucket list, it's time to try it. Some of the my favorite people in the industry and some of the best coffee in the game. So I want to touch on um uh, you know, the teaching side of your career before, you know, we wrap and get into some rapid fire. But um, what does it mean to you to be able to like teach? I know you just joined UMSOL Sports Management program. Um, so what made that the next right step for you? And like how do you kind of pour into your students like you know, people poured into you

Teaching Sports Management at UMSL

SPEAKER_02 38:54

before?

SPEAKER_03 38:54

Yeah, it's it's been a lot of fun. So I moved down last uh summer, started last year's my first academic year. And I don't think like being a professor was never on my radar, which maybe is odd. My mom was a business professor at Western Illinois University for 20 plus years. Um, but it never really was on my radar because I enjoyed working in sports so much, and so being kind of on the the business side of things. But it's been fun to kind of take those experiences, 12, 13 years of working kind of in industry and and um in college athletics and being able to apply that and share with the next generation of sports leaders like, hey, I'm teaching you this, but also here's an experience that I had directly from when I was in that role or when I was in that position on a campus or or at this event or whatever it may be. Um we've had the the great opportunity to take our students to a lot of really cool events. We went to the Super Bowl earlier this year out in San Francisco. Um we took a group to the final four, men's final four in Indy, which was awesome as an alumni that we got to be there for the for those semifinal games as well. And the alumni lost. But still, yeah, another tough L for sure. They went farther than they did, yeah. So being able to be there for those events and then also give students access and experience to work these major, major sporting events is fantastic. The my my colleague, the director of our program, took a group of students out to the NFL draft earlier this year as well, um, to a sales competition in Atlanta where they get to compete um with other students who are in undergrad programs and kind of sports sales and what that looks like. And so we've had a lot of our students right now actively have internships with the city. Over the summer, we've had a couple of kids who have worked with the blues in in tickets and customer service and things like that as well. Um, even the Cardinals. I know we've got we've got one student who's done all three, actually, has had various internships with all three of the major sports programs here. And so again, just kind of um having the ability to pour into that next generation and also sharing lessons in leadership has been a lot of fun. I teach an ethics and sports class, a sports leadership, and then a couple of intros of our intro to sport management. And then in the fall I have a sports media and technology class as well. And so it's been fun to again use the experiences that I've had in my career up to this date and translate those into lessons essentially for for the students we have in our program now.

SPEAKER_02 41:17

That's really cool. Yeah, teaching is such a special, like your mom obviously is a teacher, my wife's a teacher, and it's like just a different type of because it's not it's it's it's great when it works, but it's sometimes challenging and and there's a lot of time. But at the college level, I'm sure you have a lot more people that are bought in. We're we're working on the high school level to get them bought in. So that's uh a little bit of a different challenge. But um, I just want to wrap by like a couple rapid fire questions. So is there a specific pregame meal or game spot that you love watching games or like a pregame meal? Uh do you still play recreational sports a lot too?

SPEAKER_03 41:49

I am

Rapid Fire: Rec Sports & Retirement Era

SPEAKER_03 41:50

fully into my retirement era. So golf, I'll play golf, I'll play pickleball, but as far as anything else, playing basketball anymore. I'm just really not trying to tear an ACL for a rec league game. I'm I'm not here for it.

SPEAKER_02 42:01

Yeah, I feel you on that. You got too much to go in for you now that to tear an ACL, especially over like a YMCA game.

SPEAKER_03 42:07

Yeah, it's I'm not here for that.

SPEAKER_02 42:09

So we'll talk about you know where to watch a game. Is there specific bars or spots that you love?

SPEAKER_03 42:13

I know there's some some opening that you're excited for and stuff to obviously super excited for the sports bra to open here in St. Louis. Um, hopefully later this year. The I went to the World Cup's been going on, so there's been, of course, a lot of uh places who are having that. I went to Amsterdam Tavern a couple weeks ago for one of the England matches, and that was amazing. Just great environments. How'd you get in?

SPEAKER_01 42:31

Do you have to wait in line? It was so lit there. It was they shut down the street and everything.

SPEAKER_03 42:35

Yeah, they had been shutting down the street, not for the one that we went to. Um I know they did for the first or one of the first two US games. Um, but for the England one, it was still packed out there, but we were on the patio and kind of snuck in through the back entrance. And so it was a again, great environment, super cool.

SPEAKER_02 42:49

Yeah, no, that's awesome. And then is there a bucket list sports event that you have not been to that you would love to be at?

Bucket List Event: Unrivaled 3-on-3

SPEAKER_03 42:56

Ooh. I think on my list, probably at the top of my list right now is Unrivaled. So the three on three women's league that happens kind of early. I think it's like February through uh maybe April of every year. They just finished up um, I think it was their second season this year. And so they've grown significantly. The revenue they've had from year one to year two, the sponsors they've had has been super cool and it's just different than anything else.

SPEAKER_01 43:22

Do they move around?

SPEAKER_03 43:23

They do move around a little bit. They're mostly out of Miami, um, but they played a game in Philly. I think they played a game at the Barclay Center this year. Um Nafisa Collier is one of the co-owners or like co um, she started that league with Breonna Stewart, who plays for the New York Liberty right now. And Nafisa Collier, obviously, from St. Louis. And so once they finished the season this year, they had thrown out St. Louis as a potential location for one of their like travel uh for their Shafitz or at the Enterprise or something. They, you know, again, going up to Philly, going up to Barclays, maybe they would go to St. Louis in in year three. So my fingers are crossed for that. That would be bringing it back. That would be fantastic.

Bringing the WNBA, NWSL & PWHL to St. Louis

SPEAKER_02 44:01

Yeah, I know that I've talked to a lot of people that um they're trying to bring the WNBA to St. Louis. Yeah. So that would be huge if they can pull that off.

SPEAKER_03 44:08

I've seen, I mean, people talking about the WNBA to St. Louis, people talking about NWSL to St. Louis, people talking about PWHL to St. Louis. So there's a lot of, again, this kind of quiet hunch that I've had since I moved here that there's an appetite for women's sports and for communities for women in sports, yeah, has been proven over and over and over again. So it's it's been fun to see. I would love it.

Outro

SPEAKER_02 44:32

Yeah. Um, but no, I appreciate you for coming on. I mean, obviously, you know, you've been using our studio for a while now and and wanted to highlight your story and support what you you were building and and also just you know talk about women's sports in general. And I think this is an important episode that we had today. Um, but no, this is STL Bucketless Show. I appreciate you, Taylor, for coming on the podcast. And we'll see you guys next week. St. Louis, thanks for listening. Everything we do here is about telling the story of this city, and that doesn't stop with this show. On the Bucketless Podcast Network, we're diving even deeper into the people, places, and moments that make this city what it is. Meet Me in Music with Neil Salzick captures the sound of the city, past and present, ending each episode with a live performance. For my Foodie Lovers, the sauce with Lauren Healy brings you inside the restaurants that define our culture every Tuesday. Gateway to Growth with Jamal Cornelius highlights the stories behind the people that make St. Louis work. And every Thursday, Bryce breaks down your weekend with This Week in St. Louis. More stories, more voices. Explore the full bucketless podcast network wherever you listen.