Laura Correnti didn't plan on working in sports. But when it happened, it made perfect sense.
Correnti is the founder of Deep Blue Sports + Entertainment, "the first firm in the world dedicated to bringing commercial investment to the world of women's sports exclusively," she explains on the latest episode of "Nice Talk".
After getting her start in advertising, Correnti noticed a a major gap in the market when she watched the 2019 Women's World Cup and saw the crowd chant "equal pay!" for that year's winners, the U.S. Women's National Team. They were some of the most successful and exciting American athletes, yet the money and marketing just wasn't there. Correnti sought to change that in women's soccer and beyond by launching Deep Blue in 2023.
With a sports background herself, Correnti says her time playing division 1 soccer in college helped shape how she operates as a businessperson today.
"It shows up in the most subtle of ways, and now that there's an awareness of it, it shows up in the most obvious of ways," Correnti tells Marie Claire editor-in-chief Nikki Ogunnaike. "The transferable skills are totally on display. When you think of things like communication styles, how to navigate a locker room is no different than how to navigate a boardroom. Thinking about interpersonal dynamics, resilience, adversity, what it means to fail."
Correnti says that she often advises job seekers to use their athletic background as an advantage. When talking to recent graduates, she says, "One of the first comments that will come out is like, 'Well, you know, my resume is a little light. I was just an athlete,' and I'm like, 'Whoa, whoa. You weren't just an athlete.' And I spend time talking through ... the list of credentials and criteria and skills that people have developed that, whether it's in the corporate office or on the field, these are real, practical, tangible, lived experiences that can be applied."
And the data backs her up. "Girls who play sports become women who lead. This is an inherent, proven connection. Ninety percent of women in the C suite have played some sport at any level in their lives, and over 50 percent of them collegiately," she says.
On the flip side, "Forty-five percent of girls are dropping out of sport by the age of 14, largely due to body confidence issues," the entrepreneur goes on. "And you start thinking, well, what influences body confidence issues? The media, marketing, and advertising industry, of which I'm a part of. And so it's a great responsibility to say, we got to rewrite the script here."
Correnti has seen the transferrable skills of sports-to-business in action with Deep Blue partner and chief strategy officer Sue Bird, the four-time WNBA champion and five-time Olympic gold medalist.
"I get so excited to see [her] in action in the same way, I'm sure, countless practices, games, international competitions, she commanded the floor," Correnti says. "She anticipated where her teammates were going to be. She put things in motion. She ran plays. No different watching her in the boardroom. The subject matter is obviously different, but that innate sense of understanding and anticipating what needs to happen two or three plays ahead to get to a result—one of the best I've ever seen."
For more from Correnti—including how all of us can help keep up the excitement and momentum for women's pro sports—check out this week’s installment of Nice Talk. The episode is available everywhere you listen to podcasts.