San Francisco Chronicle reporter Marisa Ingemi has been elected the new Association for Women in Sports Media board president.
Ingemi, an award-winning journalist who covers women's sports for the Chronicle, is a longtime AWSM board member and volunteer.
"I decided to run for AWSM president because the organization has meant so much for me," Ingemi said. "I want to give back and help the organization thrive."
As president, Ingemi will lead a new slate of vice presidents who earned their positions during the same election cycle.
Emily Leiker was elected vice president for social, Meredith Perri was elected vice president for website development, Christina Long was elected vice president for digital content, Kristin Huckshorn and Michele Himmelberg were elected co-vice presidents for scholarship and awards and Kati Braswell was elected vice president for professional development. Maggie Vanoni was re-elected as vice president for student programming and will continue supporting AWSM's student chapters.
They will join recurring board members to form AWSM's revamped leadership team.
AWSM is an all-volunteer organization founded in 1987 to provide support network for women working at all levels of sports media. The organization, which has a long history of providing student scholarships, mentoring professionals and advocating for equal access for women in sports media, faced funding and membership setbacks during the COVID-19 pandemic. The board voted to restructure job duties ahead of its election to help AWSM adapt to new challenges while better meeting member needs.
"I want AWSM members to get support more than anything else," Ingemi said. "That could look like career advice, networking, collaboration or education opportunities. I want AWSM to be optimized as a vehicle for women in sports media to find opportunities they may not have had the chance to attain in the past."
Ingemi, like many of our members, has experienced media job losses before thriving in her current role leading the Chronicle's innovative coverage of women's sports. Her experiences have strengthened her commitment to making AWSM as supportive of all members as possible.
"It’s important to me that AWSM is an inclusive organization with the objective of uplifting women and queer people in sports media," she said. "This is a difficult time to be a journalist, and it’s instrumental to have a support system with tangible resources in place so no one feels alone. My hope is for every member of AWSM to feel like they have the tools to have as much agency as possible over their careers."
Join or renew your membership by visiting awsmonline.org/membership.
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Volunteer. Fill out this form to indicate which areas of AWSM interest you and we will be in touch about future opportunities to assist us.
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