LEAH HOLT
COUNSEL
U.S. Soccer Federation
FIELD
LEGAL
JOINED
2019
Could you share a little bit of background about yourself?
I grew up in Huntsville, Alabama and left the state to attend Wheaton College in Illinois. I went to law school at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, and have been living in Chicago for the last nine years as a practicing attorney. I was a college swimmer, and despite my love of sports, this is my first job in the sports industry.
All pathways are different; how did you get to where you are?
I was not sure during college what I wanted to do, though I had contemplated law school. As a Spanish major, I thought about working in immigration. I took a couple of years off between college and law school and worked at a law firm in Chicago and at legal aid in Alabama. Despite being unsure about law school, I went ahead and started in the fall of 2007 at William and Mary. During law school, I discovered my interest in the corporate side of the law and ended up taking a job at a large law firm after graduation. I stayed for a few years before making the move to the in-house world. I worked at a few different food companies and had begun to search for a different path when a mentor from the law firm mentioned that U.S. Soccer was looking to hire an attorney. At the food companies, I became very much a generalist, so I thought the U.S. Soccer position seemed interesting as it would encompass a broad range of subjects. I had only worked at publicly traded companies, so I was interested in the new challenges of working at a non-profit in an entirely new field.
What do you love about your current job?
That every day is different. I have new challenges and learning opportunities daily, so this job is never boring.
What advice would you give to women seeking a position in the sports industry?
People ask how I got this job, and I found out about it from a mentor that knew I was looking for a position. The best advice for finding a job is to network. I’ve found the connections that I’ve maintained over the years have been invaluable. People want to help, and you should cultivate those relationships. I appreciate my various mentors, and they have been a resource for advice, friendship, and job searching.
What is one piece of advice you wished someone had told you before starting this career path?
That change is a constant and to learn how to adapt and be flexible. And that everything tends to work out in the end, even when it seems scary.