Demosphere Account Manager, Brittany Gropp – Businesswomen of the Year!

Demosphere Account Manager, Brittany Gropp, was recently honored in Southern Spain as one of Andalusia’s 2020 Businesswomen of the Year by the Andalusian Federation of Business Women (FAME) for the category of Entrepreneurial Project. Brittany was recognized for her creation of FutboLISTAS, the first soccer program for girls in her region. Using the marketing, sales, and fundraising experience she gathered early in her career, Brittany founded FutboLISTAS in August 2019. The program quickly grew to impact 37 girls and to feature 11 professional mentors for the players. Brittany is also currently developing a Social Entrepreneurship in Sports course for the Leadership Women Football (LWF) Academy in Spain, which promises to provide guidance and inspiration to individuals interested in using sport for development.

About FutboLISTAS

FutboLISTAS is focused on creating future leaders. Its mission is to teach English and life skills to girls in Southern Spain through soccer and mentorship. The program offers girls the opportunity to practice English in a non-classroom setting with coaches who are native speakers. Their soccer practices focus on teamwork, leadership, communication, and perseverance, versus competition and winning. The program also incorporates female role models, successful career women from the region who speak with the girls about their career paths, showing them that their professional opportunities are unlimited and that the skills they are learning playing soccer will help them in the future, too. In an area where there is a shortage of opportunities for girls to become involved in the world’s most popular sport due to social stigma, FutboLISTAS provides a safe, supportive space for young girls to participate in soccer and gather life skills to transform them into leaders on the pitch, and off.

What does the future hold?

This past Spring, Futbolistas was forced to cut short their second season due to Covid. Due to protocol put in place to combat the ongoing pandemic in Spain, they have not been able to resume the program yet. That being said, Brittany remains steadfast in her resolve to keep her program going. She continues to find new ways to keep in touch with the girls and ensure a successful future for the organization and for the girls who participate.  When asked about her plans for the future of the program Brittany said, “This year has been extremely tough for me and FutboLISTAS. But perseverance is something I’m very familiar with. It’s one of the life skills I learned playing soccer my whole life, and it’s one of the skills we focus on at practice with our girls at FutboLISTAS. Since we had to shut down in March, we’ve found ways to pivot and provide online activities to keep our girls engaged, and we’ve continued conversations with potential partners so that FutboLISTAS can return stronger than ever and impact more girls than ever when it’s possible.”

One of our company’s core values is giving back to the communities we live in. Cheers to the Andalucian Businesswomen of the Year, Brittany, and to her FutboLISTAS, our future leaders! We wish you all continued success!