Qerim’s colleagues at Tuesday’s discussion, “Breaking Boundaries: Women in Sports and Media,” share those same skills — and the often unfair and unforgiving climb to showcase them.

“When I was starting out, I felt like my ideas didn't matter. That was extremely challenging to me,” Qerim told about 150 people in the new School of Business auditorium, including members of the Quinnipiac community and students from Hamden and North Haven high schools.

“So I was more like, OK then, I’m just going to keep showing up. I'm going to keep proving what I can control,” said Qerim, an Emmy award-winning journalist. “Well, I can control my work ethic. And I can control that I'm going to be over-prepared. And I can control the kind of team player I'm going to be."

For many women, Qerim explained, this is what it means to be professional, to be the best at your job — even when the headwinds of discrimination dare to derail your dream.

Qerim was joined on the panel by Jeané Coakley ’01, SNY sports anchor and reporter; Patricia Mays, a former ESPN executive and visiting instructor of sports communications; and Tricia Fabbri, head coach of the women’s basketball program at Quinnipiac.

The panel discussion was moderated by Brittani Webb, an assistant professor of media studies who helped developed the new sports communications program at Quinnipiac.

“We can talk about these things in the classroom, but ultimately, it's those experiences that we have in the workplace that really make those experiences real,” said Webb, a former track and field athlete at SUNY-Cortland in upstate New York.

For Fabbri, the winningest coach in Quinnipiac women’s basketball history and the first full-time female coach hired in 1995, it was important to have a seat at the table, literally and figuratively.

“I know that 30 years was a long time ago, but when I close my eyes, it’s almost hard to believe,” Fabbri said. “For me, what was really challenging was being the lone female at the table. You're trying to learn and establish yourself and what's important to you in your program. But you're also looking around a room full of men.

“That was very intimidating, being young and growing a program, but I had to learn how to overcome that and I did,” Fabbri said. “But I also came to understand that we had some really great men at the table who were there to support me and listen to me.”

For Coakley, an Emmy award-winning journalist who covers the NFL’s New York Jets, real change, enduring change in the sports industry continues to be frustrating.

“I've been on television for 22 years — and it’s my 15th season covering the Jets — and I’m still the only female lead reporter covering the team,” Coakley said. “Yes, I had a seat at the table, too, but I felt like I was kind of over there. You’re allowed to be at the table, but don’t speak too loud.

“I think being able to stand up for yourself and having people stand up for you saying, ‘Hey, wait a second, she deserves this.’ And then, me thinking, ‘OK, wait a minute, I do deserve this. I do belong here.’ That’s so important.”

For Mays, the sports editor of The Press-Enterprise in Riverside, California, from 2006-08, it was impossible to overlook the lack of leadership opportunities for women.

“At the time, I was at the time the only black female running a sports department in the country, and I was one of only five women in the entire country running a newspaper sports department,” Mays said.

“Similarly, when I got to ESPN, a lot of times I was the only female in the room. And so it became this learning process,” Mays said. “The lesson here is having the confidence and learning to use your voice because when you speak up, you empower others to speak up.”

The panel event was part of Quinnipiac’s “Inauguration Week” schedule to celebrate President Marie Hardin’s inauguration on Thursday. Hardin, a venerable scholar who has spent years researching equity and access in sports, highlighted their formative impact.

“The reason I think it's so important to think about women in sports and women in sports media is when we think about the power and the role of sports in society and the values that sport teaches all of us,” Hardin said.

“Our engagement in sports, and you all know this, it teaches us leadership, and it teaches us integrity, and it teaches us trustworthiness, and it teaches us teamwork,” she added. “It’s important that everybody who wants those opportunities has those opportunities to rise to the highest levels.”

For Nadine Barnett Cosby, dean of the School of Communications, the panel discussion marked a chance to highlight the important and transformative work of women in sports and media.

“It's wonderful to see our community come together to recognize the impact of women whose work is transforming the sports media landscape,” she said. “I'm especially proud that today's panel features two of our accomplished alumni and two of our outstanding faculty members, each contributing to the future of sports storytelling and representation in powerful ways.”

The committee that planned the event was comprised of Barnett Cosby; Anne Dichele, dean of the School of Education; Jim Ryan, associate vice president of marketing and communications; and Jamie DeLoma, senior director of live channels and editor of Quinnipiac Today in the Office of Marketing and Communications.

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