July 12, 2023 • 12 mins
Aired July 9, 2023: EJ talks to Stef Z from Section Z. Section Z exposes young female athletes to a live women’s sports game by having a dedicated section of seats at every professional sports stadium. As a former athlete and advocate for women’s sports, Stef Z now wants to use her business experience to build an organization that will create opportunities for young women athletes to be inspired and understand their own potential. Her mission is to see more women on and off the field: women coaching teams, investing in sports, and leading towards a more equitable future for women.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Welcome to I heard so caw.My name is EJ. And on the
phone with me, I have StephZ, who is from a Section Z.
Steph, thank you so much forjoining us. You're welcome. Thanks
for having me J. All right, so tell us about Section Z.
What is that all about? So? Session Z is a program I started
not too long ago, and themission is to expose young females to the
(00:23):
opportunities sports provide for women. Ifeel like there's a landscape changing of what's
possible, and I want to makesure that girls are inspired, and we
do that by taking them to professionalsports games and trying to build a community
to give them access to more thingsthat they might not have otherwise. That
is amazing. What inspired well,you know, if a man honest,
(00:46):
I feel like growing up, Iwas an athlete, you know, my
whole life, and I feel likeit was a thing that made me feel
the most sense of life where Ibelong and something that I could feel like
I was good at and there wasjust this commodie, this teamwork, you
learn all these life skills. SoI've always been an athlete and I'm just
one of my favorite things to dois to go to professional sports games,
and I have season tickets to oneof the football teams here, and then
(01:08):
you know, I'm an advocate forwomen's sports. So once I heard that
we were going to get a professionalwomen's soccer team here, I was like,
I gotta put my money where mymouth is and buy season tickets.
So the first game I was at, you know, I had front row
seats. And the first game thatI was at, I was sitting there,
I had all these emotions like Iwas super pumped, in a dreadaline,
(01:30):
just so happy to be there.And then a few minutes into the
game, I had this like shockingwave of sadness come over me, and
I was like, man, like, what would my life have been like
if I was exposed to this whenI was in high school? If I
saw the representation, if I sawthe opportunities, if I saw women out
(01:51):
there, you know, doing moreand more. And then my second thought
was like, especially here in LosAngeles, it's expensive to go to games
like Family four of course a fewhundred bucks to go to a game,
and you know, it's like,so how do I fix this problem?
Like how do I make this moreavailable so that other people can see this?
And be inspired and maybe you know, know that they have a possible
(02:14):
way to have a career in sports. And listen, I'm not trying to
say that I would have been aprofessional athlete if you know, these sports
existed when I was in high school. But there's so much opportunity across the
board, whether it's an athlete,a coach, a trainer. You know,
you've got stuff like Jalen Hurts hiswhole he's one of the big NFL
players, and his whole team isfull of women. Like, there's just
(02:34):
more and more women coming into thisspace. So I want to help nurture
that and catapult that for the futurefor women. You know what's interesting you
mentioned something, you were saying,a family of four, and I feel
like nowadays families are so much biggerthan just four, Like there's families of
six and sevens, which make ticketseven more expensive if you want the whole
entire family to go. You know. Yeah, and it's hard. You
(02:57):
know that people are working, andit's just an even when people do have
you know, the money, Likeit's all just hard. The transportation,
the parking, like it all addsup and it's you know, I just
like I said, I want Idon't want girls to not be able to
do something that they loved because theydidn't know it existed, or they couldn't
see themselves doing it, or theydidn't feel passion or like it was attainable
(03:19):
for them. I gotta tell you. I know people say this all the
time, and it may fall ondeaf ears, but representation does matter.
It does? It does? Itdoes? When these girls, when I
take these girls to the games,their faces, like the moment they get
into the stadium, the moment theyget on the bus, you know,
like it's just it's life changing forthem. And it's like to be able
(03:42):
to help facilitate that makes me feelso good and so proud. And it's
like, I don't know, likeI see these girls, you know,
the moment they're like, man,that could be me on the field,
or look at that trainer or lookat that rep, and it's it just
makes it all worth it. Whattools do you think being an athlete give
young women? Oh? Man,so many. I feel like number one
(04:03):
teamwork, you know, And Ifeel like teamwork is a it's a circle,
right, Like it's not just everyoneworking together, it's when someone's low
picking them up. It's not beingtoo high so that you feel like you're
better than everyone. You know,it's really a crematerie. I mean,
there's discipline, there's learning how toyou know, fail and get backed up.
(04:25):
I feel like a lot of times, especially nowadays, we're used to
this instant gratification. We've got allthis social media, like so many things
at our fingertips where we get tofeel good. But it's like teaching them
the struggle, teaching them the discipline, teaching them the hard work, teaching
them that, you know, it'sa team that wins, not just you,
like look out for your brother orsister, you know, all of
(04:46):
that. I think athletics give sucha foundation for a good human. And
I'm not saying if you didn't playsports, you're bed human, but I'm
just saying, like it gives youa lot of skills to be able to
succeed in life. I mean it. I think it also prepares you to
work together with people in the realworld, like you know, taking care
(05:08):
of your team, Like how yousaid your brother and sister. You've realized
that it's not all about you,and it's about the team. If in
team situations, if that makes sense. It also teaches you how to pivot.
I mean, like playing sports,there's no direct like you never know
what's going to happen. You haveto think on your feet and make the
best choice for not only you,but for everyone around you to succeed as
(05:30):
a unit. And I feel likethat's a really important skill in life to
have. You know, what's interestingtalking to you about this, it just
seems so exciting for you. Ilove it. I'm so excited. I
mean, to be honest, it'syou know, I've had other businesses,
I've done other things, and thisone it really just makes sense for me.
(05:50):
Like I love like I feel likeI'm a kid when I go,
like I have just as much funas they do, you know, And
it's it's, I don't know,I am. I'm super excited. I
feel like everything has kind of justbeen you know, working out. I
feel very blessed and grateful that I'vehad a lot of really good people surrounding
me through this process of building SectionZ, and I feel really excited about
(06:12):
what the future holds. And Ido like it makes me feel alive when
I see these girls come alive andwhen I see that the moment and you
see it, like you literally seethe moment where it's like a switch that
switches on. They're like, ohwow, I can be doing that,
or like this is where I wantto be in sports makes me feel comfortable.
(06:33):
And I can relate to that because, like I said, it was
you know, it's the place whereI feel the most comfortable is playing some
sort of sport. You know What'sinteresting I was just about to ask,
like, when you are taking thesegirls these games and to watch them light
up and to watch you click intheir heads, that has to make you
feel a certain type of ways.Like I can't even put it into words.
(06:55):
It's like an adrenaline rush, likeI just want a game, you
know, especially like you know,one of the teams that I'm I've been
taking the girls to is the AngelCity team and one of the players on
the team is an eighteen year oldgirl, right, So like it's so
relatable to them and they can sosee themselves in those shoes and they can
be like that like so many timesI've heard that could be me, That
(07:17):
could be me. And to givethat to a young girl who you know,
maybe doesn't know where they want tobe, to give them some sort
of sense of that. I don'tknow, it makes me. It's super
fun and a lot of these girlsare just they're awesome, and they come
from all different backgrounds, They've hadall different things happen in their world.
But you know, and again it'ssomething that sports does. All your hardships,
(07:42):
all your everything, it's kind ofleft behind for a few hours.
Whether you're playing the sport or you'reat the sport, everyone's just present and
everyone's the same in a sense,you know, like we live in a
world today where there's such you know, like people are so ununited and I'm
sure there's a way better word thanthat divided. The people are so divided,
and you know, it's when you'reat a sports game, like I
(08:05):
don't care who you're sitting next to. If your team does something good,
you're high five and the person nextto you, it's like you're all one.
It's a place and I don't knowof many other spaces. I mean,
music probably similar, but it's aspace where everyone just checks whatever they
have that's different at the door andyou're all there to cheer on the team.
So it's like the atmosphere and thenthe accessibility, and then what's possible
(08:28):
for these girls in the future.It's just I don't know. It's the
environment that I feel amazing in andto be able to share that with so
many people, it's just it makesme really happy. So this all sounds
so exciting. Do be a favorand tell me how can people participate in?
How can people help out? Peoplecan participate and help out by number
one, going to our social mediawhich is at the section Z. I
(08:52):
mean, so many things are poweredby how many eyeballs you can get on
our program, so we would appreciatethe follows, the tags, all that
stuff. And then you can alsoget some more information on the website,
which is the section z dot comwhere we can you can send me an
email and we can talk about sponsorships, donations like stuff like that to continue
(09:13):
to build this program, because thebigger we build the program, the more
girls that get to go. Doyou know things like this that is amazing.
It sounds like a good time,I'm telling you, And the way
how you speak so passionate about it, everybody should want to go and donate
and help out because, like howyou said, representation matter, and just
like when people are experiencing new things. I feel like it really does open
(09:37):
up their mind and the possibilities dobecome endless. It really is endless,
it really is. And that's that'swhat I want to do. Like I
want to ignite the dreamer in everygirl so that they can see what's possible
for them through sports. Like that'skind of what that's the goal. And
if there is a school or organizationthat wants to contact you, how can
they get in contact with you?They can that they can send me a
(10:00):
direct email my email Steph with anf so ste f z at the section
z dot com. You can contactme through our social media the section z
that goes at the section z goesto me. I've actually had a few
schools that I've had to talk tothat reached out to me on Instagram and
we're bringing them to games now aswell. So it's pretty fun and I'd
(10:22):
love to get as many schools onboard. I mean, one day I'd
like this to just be like partof the regular school program that all the
athletes get to do this, allthe female athletes and the email one more
time ste f Z at the sectionz dot com before we go, tell
(10:43):
us some of the organizations that you'vepartnered up with. Well, right now,
we're doing something with Angel City,the women's professional soccer team. It's
pretty amazing. They give me thirtytickets and transportation and shirt to every game,
which is super cool, and somuch from the community and the experience
the fan fested games. The energyof those games is amazing. I think
(11:07):
everyone should go to an Angel Citygame. And I've recently partnered with the
X Games. This summer, theX Games is going to be Inventura,
and I'm bringing two hundred girls fromthe Los Angeles area to the X Games
to watch the women's skateboarding. They'regoing to participate in some athletes meet and
greeds learn to skate session and kindof see some of the executives and how
(11:30):
the X Games is run. There'sa lot of really powerful and wonderful women
working in the X Games, soI'm super excited about that. That is
amazing. All right, So howcan people find more information? One more
time? For more information, giveus a follow on our socials which is
at thus section Z and you cango to the website which is the section
(11:50):
z dot com and always feel freeto email me step Z at the Section
Z and that's ste f Z atthe section Ze dot com. I'd love
to hear from each and every oneof you. Steph, thank you so
much for joining us, Thank youso much for having me ej. I
really appreciate you guys,
Welcome to I heard so caw.My name is EJ. And on the
phone with me, I have StephZ, who is from a Section Z.
Steph, thank you so much forjoining us. You're welcome. Thanks
for having me J. All right, so tell us about Section Z.
What is that all about? So? Session Z is a program I started
not too long ago, and themission is to expose young females to the
(00:23):
opportunities sports provide for women. Ifeel like there's a landscape changing of what's
possible, and I want to makesure that girls are inspired, and we
do that by taking them to professionalsports games and trying to build a community
to give them access to more thingsthat they might not have otherwise. That
is amazing. What inspired well,you know, if a man honest,
(00:46):
I feel like growing up, Iwas an athlete, you know, my
whole life, and I feel likeit was a thing that made me feel
the most sense of life where Ibelong and something that I could feel like
I was good at and there wasjust this commodie, this teamwork, you
learn all these life skills. SoI've always been an athlete and I'm just
one of my favorite things to dois to go to professional sports games,
and I have season tickets to oneof the football teams here, and then
(01:08):
you know, I'm an advocate forwomen's sports. So once I heard that
we were going to get a professionalwomen's soccer team here, I was like,
I gotta put my money where mymouth is and buy season tickets.
So the first game I was at, you know, I had front row
seats. And the first game thatI was at, I was sitting there,
I had all these emotions like Iwas super pumped, in a dreadaline,
(01:30):
just so happy to be there.And then a few minutes into the
game, I had this like shockingwave of sadness come over me, and
I was like, man, like, what would my life have been like
if I was exposed to this whenI was in high school? If I
saw the representation, if I sawthe opportunities, if I saw women out
(01:51):
there, you know, doing moreand more. And then my second thought
was like, especially here in LosAngeles, it's expensive to go to games
like Family four of course a fewhundred bucks to go to a game,
and you know, it's like,so how do I fix this problem?
Like how do I make this moreavailable so that other people can see this?
And be inspired and maybe you know, know that they have a possible
(02:14):
way to have a career in sports. And listen, I'm not trying to
say that I would have been aprofessional athlete if you know, these sports
existed when I was in high school. But there's so much opportunity across the
board, whether it's an athlete,a coach, a trainer. You know,
you've got stuff like Jalen Hurts hiswhole he's one of the big NFL
players, and his whole team isfull of women. Like, there's just
(02:34):
more and more women coming into thisspace. So I want to help nurture
that and catapult that for the futurefor women. You know what's interesting you
mentioned something, you were saying,a family of four, and I feel
like nowadays families are so much biggerthan just four, Like there's families of
six and sevens, which make ticketseven more expensive if you want the whole
entire family to go. You know. Yeah, and it's hard. You
(02:57):
know that people are working, andit's just an even when people do have
you know, the money, Likeit's all just hard. The transportation,
the parking, like it all addsup and it's you know, I just
like I said, I want Idon't want girls to not be able to
do something that they loved because theydidn't know it existed, or they couldn't
see themselves doing it, or theydidn't feel passion or like it was attainable
(03:19):
for them. I gotta tell you. I know people say this all the
time, and it may fall ondeaf ears, but representation does matter.
It does? It does? Itdoes? When these girls, when I
take these girls to the games,their faces, like the moment they get
into the stadium, the moment theyget on the bus, you know,
like it's just it's life changing forthem. And it's like to be able
(03:42):
to help facilitate that makes me feelso good and so proud. And it's
like, I don't know, likeI see these girls, you know,
the moment they're like, man,that could be me on the field,
or look at that trainer or lookat that rep, and it's it just
makes it all worth it. Whattools do you think being an athlete give
young women? Oh? Man,so many. I feel like number one
(04:03):
teamwork, you know, And Ifeel like teamwork is a it's a circle,
right, Like it's not just everyoneworking together, it's when someone's low
picking them up. It's not beingtoo high so that you feel like you're
better than everyone. You know,it's really a crematerie. I mean,
there's discipline, there's learning how toyou know, fail and get backed up.
(04:25):
I feel like a lot of times, especially nowadays, we're used to
this instant gratification. We've got allthis social media, like so many things
at our fingertips where we get tofeel good. But it's like teaching them
the struggle, teaching them the discipline, teaching them the hard work, teaching
them that, you know, it'sa team that wins, not just you,
like look out for your brother orsister, you know, all of
(04:46):
that. I think athletics give sucha foundation for a good human. And
I'm not saying if you didn't playsports, you're bed human, but I'm
just saying, like it gives youa lot of skills to be able to
succeed in life. I mean it. I think it also prepares you to
work together with people in the realworld, like you know, taking care
(05:08):
of your team, Like how yousaid your brother and sister. You've realized
that it's not all about you,and it's about the team. If in
team situations, if that makes sense. It also teaches you how to pivot.
I mean, like playing sports,there's no direct like you never know
what's going to happen. You haveto think on your feet and make the
best choice for not only you,but for everyone around you to succeed as
(05:30):
a unit. And I feel likethat's a really important skill in life to
have. You know, what's interestingtalking to you about this, it just
seems so exciting for you. Ilove it. I'm so excited. I
mean, to be honest, it'syou know, I've had other businesses,
I've done other things, and thisone it really just makes sense for me.
(05:50):
Like I love like I feel likeI'm a kid when I go,
like I have just as much funas they do, you know, And
it's it's, I don't know,I am. I'm super excited. I
feel like everything has kind of justbeen you know, working out. I
feel very blessed and grateful that I'vehad a lot of really good people surrounding
me through this process of building SectionZ, and I feel really excited about
(06:12):
what the future holds. And Ido like it makes me feel alive when
I see these girls come alive andwhen I see that the moment and you
see it, like you literally seethe moment where it's like a switch that
switches on. They're like, ohwow, I can be doing that,
or like this is where I wantto be in sports makes me feel comfortable.
(06:33):
And I can relate to that because, like I said, it was
you know, it's the place whereI feel the most comfortable is playing some
sort of sport. You know What'sinteresting I was just about to ask,
like, when you are taking thesegirls these games and to watch them light
up and to watch you click intheir heads, that has to make you
feel a certain type of ways.Like I can't even put it into words.
(06:55):
It's like an adrenaline rush, likeI just want a game, you
know, especially like you know,one of the teams that I'm I've been
taking the girls to is the AngelCity team and one of the players on
the team is an eighteen year oldgirl, right, So like it's so
relatable to them and they can sosee themselves in those shoes and they can
be like that like so many timesI've heard that could be me, That
(07:17):
could be me. And to givethat to a young girl who you know,
maybe doesn't know where they want tobe, to give them some sort
of sense of that. I don'tknow, it makes me. It's super
fun and a lot of these girlsare just they're awesome, and they come
from all different backgrounds, They've hadall different things happen in their world.
But you know, and again it'ssomething that sports does. All your hardships,
(07:42):
all your everything, it's kind ofleft behind for a few hours.
Whether you're playing the sport or you'reat the sport, everyone's just present and
everyone's the same in a sense,you know, like we live in a
world today where there's such you know, like people are so ununited and I'm
sure there's a way better word thanthat divided. The people are so divided,
and you know, it's when you'reat a sports game, like I
(08:05):
don't care who you're sitting next to. If your team does something good,
you're high five and the person nextto you, it's like you're all one.
It's a place and I don't knowof many other spaces. I mean,
music probably similar, but it's aspace where everyone just checks whatever they
have that's different at the door andyou're all there to cheer on the team.
So it's like the atmosphere and thenthe accessibility, and then what's possible
(08:28):
for these girls in the future.It's just I don't know. It's the
environment that I feel amazing in andto be able to share that with so
many people, it's just it makesme really happy. So this all sounds
so exciting. Do be a favorand tell me how can people participate in?
How can people help out? Peoplecan participate and help out by number
one, going to our social mediawhich is at the section Z. I
(08:52):
mean, so many things are poweredby how many eyeballs you can get on
our program, so we would appreciatethe follows, the tags, all that
stuff. And then you can alsoget some more information on the website,
which is the section z dot comwhere we can you can send me an
email and we can talk about sponsorships, donations like stuff like that to continue
(09:13):
to build this program, because thebigger we build the program, the more
girls that get to go. Doyou know things like this that is amazing.
It sounds like a good time,I'm telling you, And the way
how you speak so passionate about it, everybody should want to go and donate
and help out because, like howyou said, representation matter, and just
like when people are experiencing new things. I feel like it really does open
(09:37):
up their mind and the possibilities dobecome endless. It really is endless,
it really is. And that's that'swhat I want to do. Like I
want to ignite the dreamer in everygirl so that they can see what's possible
for them through sports. Like that'skind of what that's the goal. And
if there is a school or organizationthat wants to contact you, how can
they get in contact with you?They can that they can send me a
(10:00):
direct email my email Steph with anf so ste f z at the section
z dot com. You can contactme through our social media the section z
that goes at the section z goesto me. I've actually had a few
schools that I've had to talk tothat reached out to me on Instagram and
we're bringing them to games now aswell. So it's pretty fun and I'd
(10:22):
love to get as many schools onboard. I mean, one day I'd
like this to just be like partof the regular school program that all the
athletes get to do this, allthe female athletes and the email one more
time ste f Z at the sectionz dot com before we go, tell
(10:43):
us some of the organizations that you'vepartnered up with. Well, right now,
we're doing something with Angel City,the women's professional soccer team. It's
pretty amazing. They give me thirtytickets and transportation and shirt to every game,
which is super cool, and somuch from the community and the experience
the fan fested games. The energyof those games is amazing. I think
(11:07):
everyone should go to an Angel Citygame. And I've recently partnered with the
X Games. This summer, theX Games is going to be Inventura,
and I'm bringing two hundred girls fromthe Los Angeles area to the X Games
to watch the women's skateboarding. They'regoing to participate in some athletes meet and
greeds learn to skate session and kindof see some of the executives and how
(11:30):
the X Games is run. There'sa lot of really powerful and wonderful women
working in the X Games, soI'm super excited about that. That is
amazing. All right, So howcan people find more information? One more
time? For more information, giveus a follow on our socials which is
at thus section Z and you cango to the website which is the section
(11:50):
z dot com and always feel freeto email me step Z at the Section
Z and that's ste f Z atthe section Ze dot com. I'd love
to hear from each and every oneof you. Steph, thank you so
much for joining us, Thank youso much for having me ej. I
really appreciate you guys,
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