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--:-- John Bickley: Good morning, I'm John Bickley, and this is a weekend edition of Morning Wire. Joining me today is Georgia Howe.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Good morning, John.
--:-- John Bickley: Today, we're discussing the latest development in the fight for women's sports. The Trump administration has signed an executive order banning men from competing in women's sports. We're joined by Jennifer Say, the founder of XXXY Athletics. Jennifer, thanks for being with us.
--:-- Jennifer Say: Thanks for having me, John.
--:-- John Bickley: So, you were at the signing of the executive order. What was your reaction to this monumental moment?
--:-- Jennifer Say: The reaction has been quite thrilling. I was lucky to be in the room yesterday, got a prime spot right behind him. In fact, he handed me his papers after he was done reciting the list of people to thank. Everyone in the room, we're so thrilled. We've been pushing for this for many, many years for basic common sense, logic, fairness for women and girls.
--:-- Georgia Howe: That's great to hear, Jennifer. You've been a vocal advocate for this cause, and it's clear that your efforts have paid off. But I understand that this executive order may not be a silver bullet. Can you explain why?
--:-- Jennifer Say: Well, the executive order only impacts federally funded institutions and sports that take place within federally funded institutions. So, K through 12 schools, universities, but twice as many kids participate in what is called the Olympic movement, which is governed by the U.S. Olympic Committee. That doesn't mean you're an Olympic level. I was an elite gymnast. As a young person, I started competing at six. I was not competing at the highest level, but the competitions I was in were governed by the U.S. Olympic Committee and USA Gymnastics. That is not impacted, and they've not made a move yet.
--:-- Georgia Howe: That's an important distinction. And I understand that the International Olympic Committee is also outside of the scope of this executive order.
--:-- Jennifer Say: That's correct. And then you have all these private races, like the Boston Marathon, which has its own board. It's privately run. It's all private company funded. They just qualified a man in the women's division. They can continue to do whatever they want. And so this landscape is incredibly fractured.
--:-- John Bickley: That's a great point. And I think it's also worth noting that your team has been doing some incredible work in this space. You've released a short film, and you've had some commercials that have really gone viral, including one specifically calling out Nike. Can you tell us a bit more about that?
--:-- Jennifer Say: Well, we launched a new ad on Sunday, called Real Girls Rock. It's a celebration of the discipline, dedication, and hard work of female athletes. And it highlights the fact that if you are a female athlete who dares to stand up for the integrity of women's sports, on top of all that crazy training and work, you will be faced with threats and bullying and all kinds of horrible harassment. And that ad has just taken off. We launched it before the Super Bowl purposely, because people are almost paying more attention to the ads at this time. We also launched it just a couple of days ahead of National Girls and Women in Sports Day, which was yesterday, the day the EO got signed.
--:-- Georgia Howe: That's amazing. And I understand that JK Rowling shared the ad on Monday with her 14 million followers. Can you tell us more about that?
--:-- Jennifer Say: Yes, JK Rowling shared the ad on Monday, and it's just gone totally viral. I can't really count the number of views we're up to. It was 10 million in under two days. So it's got to be double that now. The response has been incredible. As a marketer, I was the chief marketing officer for Levi for eight years, and I worked there in marketing for 20 plus years. This is the dream. We've paid zero in media and gotten all of this basically free advertising, just the cost of the ad.
--:-- John Bickley: That's incredible. And I think it's also worth noting that your message is resonating with people. You're not just talking about this issue, you're also talking about the hypocrisy of companies like Nike. Can you tell us more about that?
--:-- Jennifer Say: Well, Nike has a long history of profiting off of pretending to support women and doing no such thing. They have a long history of treating women with astonishing disregard. And that's what we've been pointing out, up until this point, and we've definitely come at them hard. They've shown no indication of noticing. But yesterday, or maybe it was two days ago, Bill Ackman, the investor with 1.6 million followers on X, he shared our Dear Nike ad, which launched last October, and he said he was going to talk to the CEO of Nike about it. So I don't think they can hide anymore.
--:-- Georgia Howe: That's a great point. And I think it's also worth noting that your message is not just about this issue, it's also about the importance of standing up for what you believe in. Can you tell us more about that?
--:-- Jennifer Say: Well, I think when the people do that, all of these other governing bodies and races that are going to have to change their tune because the people will demand it. And I just feel like what the EO did was it knocked the door down for us to do that. And Trump has passed us the baton and we need to take it and run through the next door and the next door and the next door because this is not over yet.
--:-- John Bickley: Well, Jennifer, thank you so much for talking with us today. It's been enlightening to hear your perspective on this issue.
--:-- Jennifer Say: Thanks for having me, John.
