Co-Founder Shannon Rowbury on Imagining More’s first Empowerment Camp

In 2012, ten years ago, Pablo and I cofounded the nonprofit @imaginingmore

We wanted to expand the narrative about what it means to be an athlete. We wanted to include more points of view (gender, nationality, race, ethnicity). We wanted more athletes (especially girls) to tell their own stories in their own words.

This past weekend, with the support of the Department of State’s Citizens Diplomacy Action Fund Grant, Olympic Coach Rose Monday & I co-hosted our first Women’s Empowerment Through Sport clinic. We were privileged to have Olympian Sharrieffa Barksdale & my own high school coach Andy Chan as fellow presenters.

I’ll share more details about the day, but first I wanted to share the meaning.

The event took place at my high school, Sacred Heart Cathedral, the very place where I started running 24 years ago. In the midst of the day, my daughter and I found a quiet moment together.

I showed Sienna the gym where I ran my first mile and where my State Champion banners still hang. We talked about how she could be anything she wanted to be.

I never wanted to be an athlete as a little girl. In the 80s, watching sports on TV only included men’s football, baseball & basketball. I never saw anyone that looked like me. I guess back then I never imagined having a career as a pro athlete was possible, but luckily people like Andy & my grandma & my parents imagined more for me. Standing with my daughter, a 4 year old girl with her life ahead if her, I was struck by how much is possible simply by #imaginingmore

📷 @elevation0m @travisthompson_run23