Inspire inclusion: MLB celebrates Women's History Month

NEW YORK -- The large, purple words contrasted against the white poster board. The hashtag adorned the hallways, inviting anyone to share what the message meant to them. The 2024 International Women’s Day theme was hard to miss throughout MLB’s New York office.

The words?

Inspire inclusion.

The MLB Women Employee Resource Group board wanted to outdo last year, and the #InspireInclusion signs were just one part to help celebrate Women’s History Month and all the women who work in MLB offices -- in New York and around the globe.

Kicking off the Women’s Month events was a virtual, multi-league panel on March 5 composed of female executives from five major North American professional sports leagues: MLB, NBA, MLS, NHL and NFL. April Brown, senior vice president of social responsibility & community affairs, represented MLB on the panel. Brown and the other panelists shared their experiences as women working in sports and shared how they also try to create an inclusive environment within their leagues.

Marketing coordinator Pamela Rivers was inspired by the theme to bring everyone together: women, allies and to also add the voices of the women from other MLB offices around the world. Rivers, senior product manager of enterprise products and ERG co-chair Ariana Smith and the rest of the committee worked meticulously to send out a toolbox so that everyone within the organization could participate in the programming for the annual International Women’s Day photo and lunch -- regardless of where they were in the world. The toolbox included tools that could be printed out and Zoom backgrounds in different languages to celebrate Women’s Day and Women’s History Month.

In New York, allies were also invited to wear purple and to be in the first Women’s Day photo taken outside of the MLB NYC store. MLB Network, the global offices, Major League and Minor League clubs were encouraged to take and share their photos on March 8 as well.

During the entire month, Samantha Conner worked on raffles, offers and a custom Women’s Month inspired drink at Field of Beans, the New York headquarters' coffee bar. She also coordinated with a female artist from Field of Beans to design the chalkboard with empowering messages and tributes to different important women in baseball.

Along with traditional events, MLB Women also hosted their inaugural Casino night. Classic casino games, board games, snacks and drinks were provided for a “low-key, welcoming and engaging vibe.” The event also spotlighted different women-owned businesses, such as Absence of Proof, Krewe de Fromage and B&W Sweets. If participants ran out of chips but wanted to continue participating, they could fill out a card and add it on the inclusivity boards.

“It’s everything we wanted to do and it’s about creating a more inclusive experience not only for our members, but also for our community,” said co-chair and manager of MiLB club services Melissa Harkavy.

Inspiring inclusion is not just about including others but to also help “create opportunities for women to succeed and shine,” according to Smith.

This month's 7th Inning Stretch did just that. MLB mental health and safety programs manager Isabel Caro wanted the Women’s Day inspired 7th Inning Stretch to be wellness focused and include as many different types of wellness as possible. The event took over the entire eighth floor and featured a yoga class, virtual reality meditation -- a collaboration with MLB’s VR department -- and massage gun therapy.

“We are creating safe spaces where people feel like they can be themselves, and experiment with things, and create that type of healthy environment and the workplace that sort of feeds into our inspirational inclusion mission for the month and also just for our diversity initiatives in general,” Caro said.

While the month of March is winding down, MLB women will host plenty of events to help with their goal of the year: Promote and support women’s sports and women in sports.

“[We] have an outing planned this summer to a NJ/NY Gotham FC [NWSL] game. We will continue to emphasize women’s physical and mental wellness through panel discussions and education programs,” Smith shared. “Next up are events that will help foster relationships with the interns and build out our community through our successful Let’s Do Lunch program, and plenty more to come, including Winter Wishes!”