Insights from the RAISE Global Women’s Sport Conference – September 2025

If women’s sport is in its cultural breakthrough era, this panel made one thing clear: it won’t be sport alone that takes it global, it will be culture.

At RAISE Global Women’s Sport Conference 2025, the panel session “Culture as Catalyst: The Influence of Fashion, Beauty, Media and Storytelling in Building Global Fandom and Visibility,” brought together leaders from fashion, media and global sport. The discussion illuminated how storytelling, cultural partnerships and authenticity are driving visibility and fandom for women’s sport, if we are willing to think bigger, collaborate deeper and tell the stories that truly matter.

Moderated by Aimee Fuller, the panel featured:

• Claire Singer, Vice President of Partnerships, Condé Nast
• Andrea Thompson, Editor in Chief, Marie Claire UK
• Amy Mansell, Global Partnerships Director, ELEMIS
• Teodora Ivanova-Limon, Chief Business Officer, WTA

Here are the key insights from their conversation and what sports professionals need to know to engage with the cultural moment shaping women’s sport.

1- The Cultural Power of Sport Starts With Storytelling

The conversation opened with Teodora’s deeply personal reflection on growing up in a small Bulgarian town also home to tennis star Grigor Dimitrov. At 13, she began playing tennis on free public courts, no memberships, no barriers, just passion.

“I was born in a really small town in Bulgaria where Grigor Dimitrov is from. And Grigor Dimitrov is a massive star. Some of you may know him. When you grow up in a place like that, everybody plays tennis, and you use the free courts, you don’t pay membership fees, you just sort of learn how to play tennis however you can. So for somebody like me, who tried to learn tennis when I was 13, it kind of became addictive.”

Reflecting on the experience, she spoke about how watching tennis can be as addictive as playing it:

“There’s something really quite addictive about playing tennis, but what I recently discovered is that it’s equally addictive when you watch tennis. You never know what’s going to happen to the ball at any second of the moment, and it is actually quite meditative. That feeling is really, really quite meditative.”

For Teodora, this unpredictability and drama make tennis inherently storyable. She emphasized that tennis has always been a sport where cultural narratives emerge naturally alongside athletic performance.

“Tennis has this enormous legacy in the history of sports. What makes tennis exceptional is the storyability, the drama, and the battle of the sexes, if you will. Billie Jean King was the first woman to stand up and say, ‘Why are women players being treated differently than men’s players? I’m going to prove to the world we have the same scale, and there’s no reason for this to happen.’”

She traced the lineage of storytelling in women’s sport from Billie Jean King to the Williams sisters, highlighting the unique combination of vulnerability, resilience, and authenticity that female athletes bring to the narrative:

“Women’s tennis players have always shown a level of vulnerability and authenticity. It’s more than just an athlete’s story. There’s the story of the Williams sisters, their resilience and strength, and athletes like Maria Sharapova, who was just inducted into the Hall of Fame. One of the stories I saw predominantly about Maria Sharapova was that she wore the black dress at one of the finals when she won, and then she brought the black dress to her induction in the Hall of Fame. Women’s tennis has always been this cultural conversation. It’s not just about the sport; it’s everything else that these women, these remarkable humans, fashionistas, creators, and entrepreneurs bring.”

Through these reflections, Teodora illustrated that tennis has long been a sport where athletic excellence meets cultural relevance. The intertwining of performance, fashion and symbolism provides a blueprint for women’s sport to connect deeply with audiences, a theme that resonated throughout the panel.

“It’s not just about the sport; it’s everything else these women bring.”

2- Case Studies That Cut Through Culture

Aimee next turned to Andrea Thompson, asking for examples of campaigns that captured audiences in ways that felt fresh and necessary. Without hesitation, Andrea highlighted Marie Claire’s groundbreaking joint cover with Rugby World, featuring rugby icon Ilona.

“It was truly remarkable,” Andrea said. “The engagement we saw on TikTok made it the most successful cover we’ve ever done.”

Why did it resonate? Because the story was honest. Ilona’s vulnerability – speaking openly about body stereotypes, burnout and insisting on “made-to-measure beautiful costumes” while competing on Dancing with the Stars – created a powerful emotional bridge to Gen Z audiences.

“The minute there is a little vulnerability, people can connect,” Andrea said. “Athletes are seen as superhuman. But when they show honesty, it inspires the next generation.”

For Condé Nast, authenticity takes the form of partnerships rooted in shared values. Claire Singer showcased a Vogue collaboration with Google Pixel during the Euros. What made it work?

“Google had secured the rights, but they wanted the profile that Vogue could give,” she explained.

The result was a short film blending storytelling, heritage and intimate athlete perspectives, content that captured the global attention fixed on the Lionesses at that moment.

“It performed extremely well for us and for Google,” Claire said. “It captured a moment when the eyes of the world were on these women.”

This alignment – right moment, right platform, right story – became a recurring theme.

The WTA’s Cultural Rebrand: A New Era of Women’s Sport

When Aimee asked Teodora which fashion and beauty partnerships were winning for the WTA, her answer opened a window into a new strategic direction for women’s sport. At the start of the year, the WTA relaunched its brand with the tagline “Rally the World”, introducing a series of culture-forward activations:

• An Oscars-weekend “trailblazers” cocktail takeover in LA
• A Miami dinner blending tennis, fashion, creators, culinary art and location-based storytelling
• A London collaboration with Duke & Dexter celebrating women’s tennis returning to Queen’s after 50 years
• The WJ Clubhouse in NYC, created with The Cuts, Spotify and wellness partners, merging tennis with music, fashion and creator culture

Each event served as an experiment in identifying the “right connection point between tennis and culture.”

“To succeed and bring tennis into the future, it isn’t just about the sport,” Teodora said. “We must become a cultural brand.”

What drives fandom today? Not only performance but fashion, music, creators, wellness and identity.

“Fans don’t have one passion point. If you want genuine fandom, you must tap into all the passions fans carry.”

This is the emerging blueprint for the next era of sports marketing.

Beauty Meets Sport: The Elemis F1 Case Study

Amy Mansell brought the perspective of a global beauty brand entering the sport ecosystem with intention, not tokenism. At the heart of ELEMIS’ F1 partnership with Aston Martin is the “Pit Stop Spa”, a pop-up providing 10-minute treatments within the Paddock Club.

The assumption was that guests wouldn’t want facials at a race weekend. The reality?

“All the men were getting facials and for many, it was their first one,” Amy said. “We had queues out the door.”

The activation shattered stereotypes and created an emotional memory that aligned perfectly with the brand’s identity. Beyond the track, the ELEMIS Airstream brings this experience to fans at races and in retail environments.

“It’s about showing up where our customers already are,” Amy said. “And keeping it natural, relatable, never overproduced.”

Authenticity again proved to be the currency audiences respond to.

3- Avoiding Tokenism: How Brands Get It Wrong and Right

Tokenism in women’s sport is becoming easier for audiences to detect and the panel was unanimous: fans now expect depth, contribution and genuine alignment, not surface-level branding. The days of “showing up” without substance are over.

Amy Mansell was clear about how much expectations have shifted:

“Gone are the days where you can slap your logo on a court, car, post, backdrop and call it a day. Consumers are so much more savvy, they see through that straight away. That’s not going to, you can’t do it, it’s gonna not gonna land, it’s not gonna perform, it’s not gonna resonate, it’s not authentic in any way.”

The alternative and the way to avoid tokenism is co-creation. Amy described how the strongest partnerships come from shared purpose and honest collaboration:

“The best performing partner partnerships are co created. And when they’re authentic. So it’s the shared values, the shared purpose, brainstorming working together as to what it is that you want to do on that journey. That’s really key. And that’s where partnerships will perform.”

It’s not just philosophy, it’s measurable impact:

“There’s a stat from Nielsen that I always love: if you’ve got a partnership that works, that is co created, then a partnership can be 25% more powerful than traditional advertising. So when you hit the sweet spot, it’s amazing to be there, but it has to be authentic, it has to be co created.”

4- What’s Next: The Opportunity for Women’s Sport

As the panel looked ahead, the conversation shifted from celebrating current achievements to exploring the opportunities for women’s sport to grow globally, culturally and commercially. Across tennis, rugby, F1 and broader women’s sports, the recurring theme was clear: authentic storytelling, co-creation with brands and cultural integration are the keys to expanding visibility and fandom.

Andrea highlighted the growing role of purpose-driven content, particularly in areas that resonate with younger audiences:

“I think it’s going behind that purpose driven content, particularly issues around mental health and women’s health. I’m really utilising video, particularly for TikTok and YouTube, YouTube shorts as well. That’s where we’ve definitely seen some growth, in those of partnership.”

Her point underscores the need for platform-specific strategies. Short-form video formats are increasingly where fans, especially Gen Z, consume content, meaning brands and rights holders must meet audiences where they are while staying authentic. Andrea’s insight also reinforces the broader cultural impact of women’s sport: it’s not just about scores and stats, it’s about connecting with real human experiences and societal conversations.

Claire Singer echoed this vision from a global media perspective, emphasizing cross-industry collaboration as a major growth opportunity:

“We all know we’re just at the start of this journey. We’ve seen this exponential increase between 23 and 24, and we’re still seeing that increase in interest. But there’s a lot of cross section between our worlds that we’re still just exploring. Amy and I were laughing about the fact that Lewis Hamilton was in the Miami Grand Prix and then leapt on a plane to co-chair the Met Gala because no one is late for Anna Wintour. And when you look at the Super Bowl versus the Met Gala, the celebrities, the talent attending both, the scale, the reach, I just think there’s so much more that we can do together to amplify reach across both our industries, particularly like luxury, like top luxury fashion brands as well.”

Claire’s observation highlights the intersection of sports, culture and lifestyle, and the opportunities that exist when women’s sport engages with luxury, fashion and mainstream media platforms. By leveraging this cross-pollination, women’s sport can reach audiences who may not traditionally follow sport but are engaged culturally, creating new fans and broader visibility.

From the sport-rights-holder perspective, Teodora articulated a strategic vision for tennis:

“It’s creating commercial models that are built around co-creation, that lean heavily into the player storytelling, but commercial models that don’t just support the sports rights holder, they also support the athletes. For us, that’s incredibly important. WTA Ventures was created in 2022 and then we have a commercial goal to triple revenues by 2029 with the pure purpose we want equal prize money for every woman and girl playing tennis across the whole level of tennis, not just at the Grand Slams.”

Her words illustrate that commercial growth and purpose-driven initiatives can go hand-in-hand. By creating models that serve both players and the league, tennis is positioning itself as a leading example of sustainable, culturally integrated women’s sport. 

The approach also signals a new paradigm for sports rights holders: success is no longer measured solely by sponsorship revenue or viewership numbers, but by the long-term cultural footprint and athlete empowerment.

Culture Needs Sport. Sport Needs Culture. And Women’s Sport Is Leading.

Aimee closed the panel with a statement that echoed what everyone in the room felt:

“Fashion needs sport and sport needs fashion. And if they can grow instinctively, women’s sport is in very good hands.”

This panel session demonstrated that women’s sport is no longer operating on the periphery of culture, it is shaping culture. And with leaders like those on stage, the momentum we’re seeing today is just the beginning.

Register your interest for RAISE Global Women’s Sport Conference 2026.