How the Bears celebrated women and girls in sports at training camp
Story by Gabby Hajduk
The Bears hosted their inaugural Celebrating Women and Girls in Sports Day — brought to you by the Chicago Bears Women's Advisory Board — at 2025 Chicago Bears Training Camp by LRS Wednesday. Designed to empower the team's female fans, female athletes and female professionals, the day was highlighted by the first-ever Women in Sports Media Career Expo for 50 local college students, who engaged in panel discussions, networking opportunities and hands-on workshops with women both inside and outside the organization.
Writer Gabby Hajduk details her morning at the career expo and afternoon at practice, where she experienced all of the moments and activations tailored to women and girls in sports.
Galvanizing. Inspirational. Eye-opening. A stepping stone. Authentic. Empowering. Emotional. Energizing. Full-circle moment. A confidence boost. Electric. Overwhelming pride. Unforgettable.
That is just a small sample of the powerful words I heard used by the career expo attendees, Bears staff and media members to describe Wednesday's celebration.
For the young women that attended from several colleges, including the University of Illinois, DePaul, Loyola, Northwestern, Columbia College and Chicago State, spending more than three hours hearing from, learning from and meeting with professionals in sports media provided validity to their dreams of working in the industry.
"I came into this thinking that my dream job was unfathomable," University of Illinois senior Anna Eckburg said. "The women in that room and George McCaskey stood up there and told me that it is not unfathomable and my dream is reachable, and you can do really anything you want in this field.
"Having all those amazing women in that room telling you that you can do amazing things if you just put your mind to it, that is the best advice that they could have given any of us."
Being in that room with those 50 young women, I can confidently assume each of them would echo that sentiment. Each stage of the career expo brought upon different emotions that all culminated into one lasting feeling of inspiration, not only for the students, but also for the professionals in the room.
The first step of the career expo brought upon confidence. As each girl filed into the event space, they stepped in line to take a professional headshot courtesy of a Bears photographer, providing them with a new LinkedIn profile picture or headshot for their upcoming internship that they can feel confident about.
During that time, members of the Bears business operations staff and members of the Women's Advisory Board entered the room and kicked off the first networking session. That group included executive vice president of stadium development & chief operating officer Karen Murphy, executive vice president of diversity, equity and inclusion & chief impact officer Tanesha Wade, executive vice president of revenue & chief business officer Meka White Morris, senior vice president of administration & chief financial officer Laura Anderson, Women's Advisory Board member Julianna Zavala and others.
While it could have easily been lost upon the aspiring professionals how much power, strength and wisdom was in that room with them, the group took advantage of the conversation with each of those executives.
"The women in that room were so impressive," Murphy said. "I'm always so impressed with college students. They were leaders. The questions were really thoughtful, and you can tell they're passionate about sports.
"I could really see myself in them. Thinking back to college and knowing I thought 'wow, if I could ever work in sports, how incredible it would be.' But I never had the opportunity to network like this or was never invited to anything like this. So, I love that we can provide that platform for these young women."
As the networking session concluded, the program transitioned to a panel hosted by advisory board member and longtime FOX32 Chicago general manager Sheila Oliver. I was part of the panel alongside award-winning ESPN journalist Courtney Cronin and Bears director of corporate communications Micaeh Johnson, and I felt humbled to share my experiences with women whose shoes I was in not too long ago.
"Today really opened my eyes to the amount of possibilities there are within the industry to be able to work and the different areas you can work in," University of Illinois sophomore Evy York said. "There's just so many ways you can contribute that I didn't know was possible."
After gaining valuable knowledge and industry advice, the group experienced a more hands-on activity as they rotated through three workshops, each moderated by Bears staff members. "Storytelling Through Social Media" was hosted by Bears director of social media Nicole Zimmer and social media coordinator Chidera Udeh. "Storytelling Through Branding and Marketing" was led by Bears vice president of fan development and brand marketing Sarah Smith and ESPN play by play sales Manager Lindsay Adams. Bears content presenter Jasmine Baker and FOX32 reporter Cassie Carlson hosted "Storytelling Through Broadcasting."
Baker then led a fireside chat with NFL Network senior national reporter Stacey Dales, who most recently made history as the first woman to join the Bears' preseason TV booth during last Sunday's game against the Miami Dolphins.
Dales captivated the room.
I found myself taking more notes of advice than notes for this story. Luckily, those two agendas intersected.
Dales discussed what it was like to be in the Bears' broadcast booth, expressed her gratitude for the Bears noticing her talents while also detailing the years of putting her head down and grinding that it took to get there. The former Division I and WNBA player gave powerful words of advice.
"Failure is impact. Embrace it."
"Know the time, but don't watch the clock."
"What are you waiting for?"
With all 50 students, myself and even Bears chairman George H. McCaskey attentively absorbing each word, Dales felt her own sense of empowerment.
"I think that when you channel the energy of a group of women to succeed and be inspired and be championed, it's very palpable and powerful," Dales said. "I give a tremendous amount of credit to the Bears for making this initiative so important. And that's from the people who put it together to the support from the very top. I give kudos to the Bears for making it a priority because it should be.
"To see all these young aspiring journalists or young ladies who want to be in the media profession, come together — what you're doing is you're creating a huge team of women who are channeling their vision of what success looks like."
The good karma Dales was putting out immediately came back around her in surprise fashion.
As McCaskey and Bears President and CEO Kevin Warren took the stage next, they first gave their own words of wisdom, which centered around pushing the young women in attendance to never let go of their dreams, no matter how unfathomable they may seem or how many people doubt them.
Before leaving the stage, Warren and McCaskey facilitated the day's most emotional moment — gifting Dales a beautiful frame of photos featuring her first time in the broadcast booth.
"I went to the event to give, to share and extend my wisdom accrued over the 25 years I've been in this industry," Dales said. "This curveball of being recognized by the chairman of the Bears and the president of the Bears was literally jaw-dropping, extremely powerful, unexpected and incredibly humbling.
"I was emotional because when I look back over my career, I've been in the NFL for 17 years and to have an organization that I respect so much recognize me for being a part of their team and their broadcast booth was very moving, to say the least."
I looked around the room in that moment and noticed at least a dozen women, including Dales and yours truly, with tears welling in their eyes or streaming down their cheeks.
It was that type of moment that the Bears designed this event for — where young women who are striving to be in positions like Dales or Cronin or Carlson can literally witness that their dreams are plausible. That by taking your own individual path, while mirroring the work ethic those women possess, success as a woman in sports is right in front of you.
"I automatically tried not to cry because they're going to be like, 'girl, you don't know her, you do not know this lady,'" Northwestern graduate student Tyler Williamson said. "But I can just read passion and I can see people that really put in the work. That just struck a chord with me and I could tell she's been doing it for some time.
"It's always good when you see people get recognition. I think that's the thing that I love so much about women. We're all like, 'you deserve it' and it's pats on the back. It's not really competitive. It's more like, 'I see you.'
"And to see that she got seen by male figures that are so high up, I really appreciated that because they care and they care who they employ. To see that they've been watching her from when she first got her job to now, they all knew that she was ready for that moment. So for her to finally get it, I felt that."
It's not easy to pivot from a moving moment like that, but it also seemed to provide an extra spark for the rest of the day as the group began their second networking session. The students had the opportunity to talk to previous speakers from the day, external partners like Riddell's CEO Allison Boersma and senior vice president of marketing & communications Erin Griffin as well as members of the advisory board, including Murphy, Zavala, Oliver, uDe Agency founder and president Dinai Yelverton and Kinzie Capital founder and managing partner Suzanne Yoon.
"We all inspire each other on this board and challenge each other," Oliver shared. "It's really such an honor, and it's really necessary in the NFL. Kudos to [Warren] for making sure that he set a place at the table for people who are working outside of his organization to come in and help and give advice and look to the future, because that is where our future is. If you think about the absence of [the board], it makes it even more stark. If the board didn't exist, if this day didn't exist, if you start taking it all out, then you see how important it is."
The advisory board worked for several months to ideate around and create a special day where women and girls could feel valued and seen in the sports industry. For the seasoned professionals who helped create and participate in the event, seeing a future generation of female leaders become inspired and motivated was the ultimate payoff.
"Today was special and a proud moment for our organization to celebrate women and girls in sports," Wade said. "I am grateful to be surrounded by incredibly talented professionals who understand the importance of representation and inspiring the next generation of leaders in this industry - on and off the field - and it is an honor to be in a position to help curate these experiences. One young woman at the career expo expressed her gratitude and said, 'I'll remember this day forever.' This is what it's all about. The students left motivated, confident and energized and I look forward to seeing them take up space as leaders in this industry.
Outside the walls of Halas Hall, the Bears curated a female-focused day at training camp, which started as attendees walked through the parking lot, where activations included a custom hat and patch pressing pop-up, a permanent jewelry booth and exclusive Bears merchandise, with Fanatics offering a discount on all full-priced women's apparel. DJ Francesca Eva powered the music choices and fans can hear her mixes again on game days at Soldier Field this season.
The Bears are one of the only NFL teams to tailor a training camp day specifically to their female fans this year, and their work isn't stopping there. This season, the Bears will also have a "Celebrating Women and Girls in Sports" game, which will take place at their Sunday, Nov. 23 contest against the Steelers.
The Bears also invited several women-owned food vendors like Savory Crust, Sporty's, My Funnel Truck and Lovely Lemon.
"I hope us being at training camp is empowering for women to follow their dreams," Lovely Lemon co-owner Jessalin Volmer said. "Because this started as just a dream, and now we're serving for the fourth time at the Chicago Bears' facility. I hope that sends a message for women to just never give up and keep pushing forward."
A variety of female-focused groups were also invited out to watch the Bears practice, including the Chicago Stars, WISE Chicago, CMSA Women's Flag teams, TOGETHXR, Athletes Unlimited Softball League, Riddell, Beyond the Ball, Girls in the Game, Girls Opportunity Alliance, League of their Own and high school girls flag football teams.
Members of Chicago Storm, a women's flag football team in the Chicago Metropolitan Sports Association, also came to Halas Hall to celebrate the day together as teammates and supporters of girls and women having a space within football.
"When I was a kid growing up, I didn't know that football was an option for girls," Chicago Storm's Megan Lindeman said. "I thought it was strictly boys only, so having something like this associated with the Bears — almost everyone in the area is a Bears fan — so I think the accessibility for young girls to come out and be like, 'Oh, wait, I can't actually come out and play.'"
The last two years, the Bears have helped support CMSA's annual Pride Bowl, where around 50 teams nationwide travel to Chicago to compete in their flag football tournament.
"I feel like it's only up from here," Lindeman said. "It feels great right now that we're getting the recognition from the professional aspect with the Bears coming in and helping us out. I think there's more to be done, so it's just a stepping stone to the greatness that's to come."
The Bears football operations staff, including coaches and players, helped celebrate the day as well, donning custom t-shirts and shouting out their GOAT female athletes.
Experiencing Women and Girls in Sports Day, not only as a Bears female employee, but also a woman who has always had a love for football, striving to make my younger self proud evoked more emotion than I expected. To experience it with other women I work alongside added even more meaning.
Seeing people from all walks of life and levels of experience come together, support one another and inspire each other opened everyone's eyes to how much positive impact can come from the day.
"I just feel that the community is coming together, and not only that, but it's authentic, there's a voice and we're putting females in the forefront," Zavala said. "I believe that the community is surrounding and cheering this on and truly seeing the capabilities that we have. The sky is the limit. After hearing Kevin Warren speak yesterday, it's a reminder that dreams start here. Dreams not only start with the Chicago Bears, but they start in the community, and it just takes someone to get it going."
