Radford Athletics and The Highlander Club will host the second annual “Champion Her Future” Leadership Dinner presented by Professional Rehab Associates on Friday, Feb. 17 inside Kyle Hall on the campus of Radford University.
Started in 2020, the “Champion Her Future” initiative aims to engage and activate a network of Highlanders who will assist in providing professional and personal development and mentorship opportunities for the university’s female student-athletes while also delivering resources for RU’s 10 women’s sport programs to ensure future success on and off the fields and courts of play.
This year’s dinner will begin at 5:30 p.m. and will feature a one-hour cocktail hour with a cash bar followed by a catered meal, and then a panel of guest speakers that includes keynote speaker Sara Toussaint.
Toussaint is currently a partner at underdog venture team, a new social impact enterprise that offers strategic marketing services and invests in underrepresented founders in sports, entertainment, and wellness. She is also a board member of The Marketing Jersey, a boutique agency representing global soccer talent.
Toussaint most recently led Wells Fargo’s Major League Soccer and Mexican National Team sponsorship efforts. Her sports business background also includes business development for the Boston Blazers, partnership marketing for MLS/Soccer United Marketing, and labor relations for Major League Baseball. Sports Business Journal named Toussaint to the 2018 class of Game Changers, and in 2021, she was named a co-owner of the North Carolina Courage of the National Women’s Soccer League.
Before joining Wells Fargo, Toussaint worked at the investment firm Allied Minds, directing the company’s marketing efforts and scouting investment opportunities. She also served as an Associate Director of Alumni Relations for the University of Chicago, covering the East Coast. She started her career at the law firm of Covington & Burling in Washington, D.C., first as a legal assistant and later in public relations and marketing.
Raised on the South Side of Chicago, Toussaint earned her BA in public policy from the University of Chicago and an MBA from NYU. She currently serves as president of the University of Chicago’s alumni board, as well as president of the Democratic Hispanic Caucus of Florida. She is an advisor to the Harn Museum of Art and volunteers for the ChadTough Defeat DIPG foundation and Play Like a Girl!