“There’s no single path to success, and I hope people see that I did things my way—and so can you!”

Meet Renata Roth, who has over 20 years services and events experience in the sports and corporate sectors. She has been lucky enough to have worked 6 FIFA major events, 6 Olympic Games as well as UEFA events. She is passionate about the sport industry and delivered all these events with great success and enthusiasm!

A PIVOTAL SPORTING MEMORY

“Volunteering in Athens in 2004 was a major eye-opener for me. At the time, I received a letter at home (not an email), took a flight, and arrived without knowing what to do or who to meet. To this day, I still have friends from that amazing summer. I remember thinking, 'This is what I want to do for the rest of my life’.”

ADVICE FOR WORKING IN SPORT

“I don’t think the path is always easy, particularly, unfortunately - still -, for women. I hope people can see that determination will always pay off, and that loving what you do is not enough to guarantee success but it does help the hard moments. There is not one way up and I hope people can see I made things my way and so can you!

Be prepared and find what works for you. The industry is not huge and we can easily fallen into the trap of fighting for the same jobs. Find out what you are good at, and try to specialise. Today I would not recommend someone to just 'go into sports' but rather do a double - take such as law + sports, journalism + sports, tech + sports... these more niche positions are the golden ones.”

SUPPORTING WOMEN IN SPORTS

“Brands need to understand that men and women have different needs. Allyson Felix was right to speak up about her Nike case during her pregnancy, for example. It took Nike a while to understand, but they ultimately saw the power of marketing to 'pregnant women' as a new audience, which was later proven in their campaign “The Toughest Athletes” by Wieden+Kennedy London, featuring women in various stages of pregnancy and motherhood. Similarly, during this past summer’s Olympic Games in Paris, P&G created a nursing space at the Olympic Village to support parent-athletes while promoting their Pampers brand.”