In June 2018, we gathered at The Riveter, a women-led coworking space on the West Side of Los Angeles, to talk about women in Sports. We enjoyed delicious dishes by Chef Jasmine Shimoda of Jewel on the East Side of LA.
We enjoyed dishes by Chef Jasmine Shimoda is a New York-trained chef that has returned home to Southern California to reconnect with her roots. Originally from Santa Barbara, Shimoda has always identified with the spirit of California - organic, sustainable food, active lifestyles, and endless sunshine. While in New York, she had the pleasure of working under legendary chefs such as Masaharu Morimoto, David Waltuck, April Bloomfield, and George Mendes. She quickly rose to running the highly acclaimed tasting menu restaurant Degustation, in NYC. In 2016, Shimoda decided to pursue a style of cooking more aligned with her own beliefs and eating habits, landing her the executive chef role at The Springs in the DTLA Art's District. She also worked with Juice Served Here to create its grab-and-go food program and collaborated with Beaming on its 2017 Summer menu. She now has her eye of all things plant-based and is focused on using her training and creativity to give healthful cooking a restaurant-quality edge. Shimoda believes that people have a right to know where the ingredients come from and how they are cared for. She seeks out farms that go beyond "organic," seeking those that also abstain from pesticides, practice sustainability, and have pride and integrity in their product. Jewel is her dream project, marrying her love of cooking and design with her passion for wellness and the community.
She prepared a delicious vegan and gluten free breakfast for us, including breakfast loaf with plum and cardamom, chocolate-lavender scones, mini chia pudding with magrut lime leaf, kumquat, berries, and buckwheat crispies, mini overnight oats with rhubarb compote and almond butter, jalapeno cashew spread topped with Japanese cucumber, cherry tomatoes and ninja radish served over gluten free seed bread, avocado, garlic-herb ricotta, pickled red onion, opal basil served over gluten free seed bread, kale salad with avocado, coconut bacon and cilantro-lime goddess dressing, and crispy potatoes with spicy beet ketchup..
Women from across the city and from a range of industries - from fashion to journalism to design to public policy to culinary arts - joined us for delicious food and conversation. We welcomed four incredible speakers to share how they are using their experience in the world of sports to have conversations about women empowerment, health and wellness, and the environment.
Our speakers included:
Alyssa Roenigk, an author, broadcast journalist, and ESPN senior writer. She has covered the past seven Olympics, multiple Super Bowls, Wimbledon, the U.S. Open and more than 20 X Games. Her feature work for the company has appeared in cover stories for ESPN The Magazine, on espn.com and espnW, as well as SportsCenter, Good Morning America, X Games broadcasts and Outside The Lines—and her reporting has taken her to mountain tops in Nepal, surf breaks in Peru and the desert trails of Morocco. For five years, she worked as a TV reporter for X Games broadcasts and hosted several action sports shows, as well as live events and conferences as a representative of ESPN. She frequently serves as a guest on panels speaking on topics ranging from women in sports journalism to emerging audiences in sports. Despite a career she loves, she still laments her failed stint as a circus clown, at age 5, for the Flying Wilendas.
Elena Hight, one of professional snowboarding’s shining stars. Born on Kauai and raised in Lake Tahoe, California, Elena became the first female to land a 900 in competition at 13-years-old; and in 2013, she became the first snowboarder, male or female, to land a double backside alley-oop rodeo at the Winter X Games Superpipe finals in Aspen, Colorado. Now at 28-years-old, she’s already a two-time Olympian and quickly asserted herself as one of the most recognized females in the sport. In addition to snowboarding, Elena’s passion for running, yoga, surfing and cooking balance her love for living an active, healthy life. Elena’s personality is often described as the “All-American” girl next door with an incredible athletic talent.
Nicole Haynes, a retired female track and field athlete from the United States, who competed in the heptathlon, and now a TV sports reporter. She set a personal best at the 2000 Olympic Trials, where she placed 5th. After 2000, she switched her athletic eligibility to her native Canada. She subsequently won a silver medal in the 2003 Pan Am Games. Haynes is now a television sports reporter, having worked at ABC affiliates, Fox Sports Network, and NFL Network.
Jenné Blackburn, a former Baylor University volleyball player and the founding partner at ATHLETE MGNT, where she represents a (predominantly female) roster of Olympic Athletes and handles all aspects of the athletes' brand marketing strategy, securing sponsorships/endorsements, licensing partnerships, and advising on the athlete’s brand and online content. Her experience in the marketing space comes from 10+ years working with SONY, Location Based Technologies, American Idol/ABC, USA Volleyball, and local, national and global NGO's. Blackburn launched and currently sits on the Board of Directors for the Give It Back Foundation founded by members of the USA Women’s Volleyball Team. Blackburn also serves the community through projects at with United State of Women, The Women’s Sports Film Festival, espnW, Play Like A Girl, and Positive Coaching Alliance. An avid explorer and learner, Blackburn has enjoyed working and volunteering in 13 countries and loves using the language of sports to communicate with anyone in the world. Her research interests include women’s empowerment, leveling the playing field for female entrepreneurs, and the intersection of sport and community development. She graduated from Baylor University earning her B.A. as a Communications Specialist (Film and Digital Media and Journalism), with a minor in Public Relations.
Future of Women founder, Hallie Applebaum, moderated the conversation.
FUTURE OF WOMEN is a unifying platform that creates original multimedia content and programming by, for, and about women around the world to openly look at the pursuit of being a modern woman. In 2018, we began collaborating with award-winning female chefs worldwide, from Los Angeles to Mexico City to Tel Aviv to Tokyo, to host a monthly women's breakfast series featuring game-changing women such as Olympic athletes, Emmy-winning producers, top Billboard musicians, and New York Times journalists on topics including architecture, sports, art, music, journalism, and human rights.
Special thanks to Jasmine Shimoda of Jewel Silver Lake for a delicious breakfast, to Casey Goch for treating us to Shreebs Coffee, to Health-Ade for the refreshing kombucha, to our talented speakers Elena Hight, Alyssa Roenigk, Jenné Blackburn, and Nicole Haynes, to The Riveter for welcoming us to their new West LA location, to Miriam Chan of The Lev for lending a helping hand with day-of logistics, and to Olivia Katz of Olivia Katz Photography for these beautiful photographs.
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