United We Row Summit USRowing presents the inaugural United We Row Summit. This free and interactive two-day virtual conference is designed to bring rowing leadership and coaches together to network, share ideas, and learn tangible skills on making their boathouses more inclusive. Topics include fostering a positive culture, fundraising, understanding bias, and coaching athletes who are neurodiverse. There is a seat in the boat for everyone – and we hope you take a seat with us at the Summit. Please use the following links to register:
Taunita V. Stephenson is an inclusion veteran, having served in this space for most of her career. Stephenson is the Head of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging at the University of Pennsylvania -- straddling Athletics and Wellness at the Ivy League Institution.
Stephenson will join the inaugural United We Row Summit to share her experience building positive cultures and navigating difficult situations.
Stay tuned for more details as we get closer to the event.
Head of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging, University of Pennsylvania
As a former Athlete Development Specialist and strategic HR and DEIB leader with 15 years of experience, I’m passionate about creating inclusive environments where everyone feels they belong. I work with senior leadership to embed DEIB strategies aligning with organizational goals... Read More →
In this session, participants will explore what it takes to make sport a safe space for all athletes - including those who do not always feel safe or represented in sport, for those whom sport wasn’t created or intentionally designed for, or those who might have some difference that requires that we make adjustments for. Coaches will walk away with tangible strategies they can use to create a safe space for all athletes.
Check out the CHJS website here: https://chjs.org/
With Paris behind us and 2028 in scope, our Paralympic coaches, athletes, and community members are doubling down on their commitment to success in LA. But that doesn’t just mean on the podium – it means in boathouses across the country. Join this panel to learn what it takes to launch and grow an adaptive rowing program, compete as a competitive Para athlete, and lead it all.
Skylar is a member of the USRowing Para National Team and competed at the 2024 Paris Games in the PR3 4+. She is a current fourth year student at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, studying Media Studies and Psychology.
Para-rowing Coordinator, Atlanta Rowing Club & Head of the Hooch Regatta
Para-rowing Coordinator, Atlanta Rowing Club, Head of the Hooch Regatta. Jason is a para-rower and rowing coach. He learned to row at the DC Strokes rowing club in 2007. From 2008-2010, he served as club president. During his tenure, DC Stokes added para-rowing to the 2009 Stonewall... Read More →
In the past five years, Minzner and her team of Outreach coaches have pioneered a model for serving people with disabilities, military veterans, and underserved youth that has become the national standard. She has a master's degree in Urban Planning from Tufts University, studying... Read More →
Your program may have the passion and commitment, the leaders, and the athletes – but do you have the cash? Fundraising, just like the sport itself, takes strategy, focus, and, in most cases, time to succeed. This session with Dallas United's Austin Brooks will provide best practices on diversifying income streams, best practices for approaching individuals and institutions, and the resources required to generate the revenue you need. Walk away with a new idea to try and get that much closer to buying that new boat, hiring a new coach, or building up a funding base.
Hello, I'm Austin Brooks and I am currently serving as the Executive Director for Dallas United Crew (DUC). As the first person to hold this position within the organization, my main role is to lead and guide DUC towards achieving our key initiatives and executing our strategic vision.Before... Read More →
The Positive Coaching Alliance joins the Summit for this 90 minute session. Creating a positive, character-building youth or high school sports experience requires organizational leaders committed to creating and maintaining a Development Zone™ for developing “Better Athletes, Better People.” This workshop helps your leadership team do exactly that. One key outcome of the workshop is a written action plan for your leadership team, created with the guidance of the PCA Trainer (workshop facilitator), specific to your organization and the population it serves. Throughout the workshop, and reflected in this action plan, is an emphasis on PCA’s “Single-Goal” Leader model, in which shaping the culture of your organization is the primary task of your leadership team.
Keoki Fraser is the Principal for Aikahi Elementary School in a town called Kailua, in the island of O’ahu in Hawaii. He grew up in a small town called Waimanalo and went to public school named Kailua High School where he competed in football, baseball and track. He then earned... Read More →
Pam Herath, a leadership and educational consultant has spent the past 30 years in a variety of roles that have led her to this current work. She spent 22 years as a high school Athletic Director, Coach and Dean of Students in Washington, DC.In 2012, she joined Strive: How You Lead... Read More →
Join an intimate conversation with rowing icons Arshay Cooper and Justin Best while Amanda Kraus moderates. These two accomplished athletes understand what success in rowing truly means. One is a Benjamin Franklin Award-winning author, the protagonist of the critically acclaimed film A Most Beautiful Thing, a Golden Oar recipient for his contributions to the sport, a motivational speaker, and an activist. The other is a rower and Gold Medalist in the Paris 2024 Olympic Men's 4-. Both deeply passionate about rowing, they come together today to discuss what the sport needs to do to attract more participants, sustain its growth, and evolve into a thriving 21st-century discipline.
ARSHAY COOPER is a Rower, Benjamin Franklin award-winning author, A Golden Oar recipient for his contributions to the sport of rowing, motivational speaker, and activist, particularly around issues of accessibility for low-income families.Arshay grew up on the West Side of Chicago... Read More →
Our shared love of rowing is what unites us. The beauty, the effort, the rhythm, the team. The reliance on your teammates in the boat – no matter who they are. Rowing can bring people together in ways few other things – even few other sports – can. In this session, hear the stories and experiences of panelists who are some of the strongest leaders in our sport and come from communities that are underrepresented in American rowing. Learn what “inclusion” meant to them, why they kept coming back to their seat in the boat, and learn tangible practices to keep members from all backgrounds in your boathouse.
Luciana Ruiz is the Head Coach and founder of Evanston Township High School Rowing - a scholastic program out of Evanston, IL created to enhance diversity, equity, and access to competitive high school rowing. Growing up in Arkansas, Ruiz was not exposed to rowing until her time at... Read More →
I'm a coxswain for TeamUSA who has been in the sport for over ten years now. I started at Cincinnati Junior Rowing club in 2014 where I coxed for 4 years before attending the University of Washington for 5 years. My favorite part of this sport by far is the community it creates and... Read More →
Marqus Brown is the head coach of WacoRowing Center. He moved to Waco last summerfor the sole purpose of getting more peoplerowing on the Brazos.He started his rowing journey during thesummer of 2008 at a free two-week camp inPhiladelphia. His high school did not have arowing team... Read More →
Former UK Olympic Rower, Founder and CEO Neurodiverse Sport CIC, Neurodiverse Sport
Caragh's journey in rowing brought both the happiest and darkest moments of her life. She discovered the sport through an outreach project, and her neurodivergent traits became the key to her early success at the junior and under-23 levels. However, when she joined the national team... Read More →
This session continues the conversation around Inclusive Coaching with the Center for Healing and Justice Through Sport by offering participants an opportunity to talk through questions and applications of the strategies discussed in the 11/14 session. Participants can bring specific scenarios or examples that they would like to work through with the CHJS team.
