"One of the things that's so important about this day is people around the globe galvanize to tell stories and shine a light on how women are impacting business, culture, politics and society," Browning said Monday. "But it's also a sobering reminder that there are 364 other days in the year in which we can do this."
Browning joined the NHL on Oct. 10, 2016, and spearheads marketing campaigns including strategy, creative development, production and distribution. She also identifies new strategies to broaden the League's reach across traditional and digital channels.
She was joined by other female professionals on a virtual panel hosted by the NHL on Monday to reflect on the contributions and roads paved by women in sports. Moderated by ESPN hockey reporter Linda Cohn, Browning sat with NFL senior vice president and chief information officer Michelle McKenna, MLB executive vice president and chief marketing officer Karin Timpone, MLS executive vice president of partnership marketing Jennifer Cramer and NBA G League chief operating officer Portia Archer.
As the top marketing executive at the NHL, Browning's long-term perspective on markets skews toward women.
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"If there's a macro trend around the world, it is that the future is female," she said. "This is where growth is happening, whether it's in fandom, employment or inspiration. The entire ecosystem is growing."
One experience each woman shared is the lack of other female co-workers.
"Working across multiple industries, I've been in music, technology, data, digital and sports and pretty much my entire career, no matter what level or industry, quite often I'm the only woman at the table or in the room. Maybe I'm one of two," Browning said. "That's been consistent throughout my career."
Browning said when she talks about creative or administrative decisions, she asks herself if it's the right choice and something she'd wish to have seen when she was younger. She said there are at least 200 women at the NHL who hold senior leadership positions and at least 100 in hockey operations, including assistant general manager, scouting and officiating roles.
"This is the beginning," Browning said. "Momentum begets momentum, so the more we can build on this, I think we'll start to see the world change."
The theme of the panel was #BreakTheBias. Browning is focused on negating the notion that women aren't knowledgeable about sports and works to assure they're heard.
"There are unconscious but learned behaviors we have to raise awareness and consciousness about so that people can shift their behaviors, like the talking over, restating exactly what a woman just said as if it was one's idea or people looking at their phone when the woman's talking," she said. "These are all unconscious, subconscious indicators that are not cool, and I think one of the best things that we've done is inclusion training."
The goal of the training is to teach everybody, no matter their gender or title, to recognize and change behaviors to contribute to the success of the NHL. One initiative is the NHL Power Players, which focuses on selecting young fans to help advise the NHL on hockey-related topics important to their generation. Girls living in the United States, Washington, D.C., or Canada between the ages of 13 and 17 make up 60 percent of the youth advisory board.
"They are so filled with ideas and commitment and ways to make sure our sport is open, accessible and inclusive of all," Browning said. "I think the combination of that, plus the growth in youth sports and the fact the whole world is waking up and realizing we need to shine a light on women's sports, whether it's from a broadcast media coverage standpoint or advertising and sponsorship standpoint or fan standpoint, this is the moment for all of us and that's what gets me excited."
