Game Changers: Elevating Women in L.A.’s Sports & Entertainment Arena
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In 2026, Los Angeles will stand at the crossroads of global sports and entertainment. Over the next three years, the city will be hosting the World Cup, Super Bowl and Olympic Games. In the “Game Changers” panel, women professionals say they claiming more space than before, from team executives to production powerhouses. They’re shaping a more inclusive and equitable future for women in these industries, building networks and creating professional pathways. Here are some insights from these Southern California leaders’ vibrant conversation.
Angela Agrusa: “Boldness is a word that I use a lot, and I’ve made some very bold choices. I’m five feet tall, and I’m a Latina. I made a bold decision recently, because reinvention is a key part of success as a woman. I was asked to take over as managing partner of the DLA Piper Los Angeles office just before the pandemic. DLA Piper is a 4,000-lawyer firm, one of the largest in the world. I jumped into a role that had only been held by men, and I turned a 35-lawyer office into a 150-lawyer office. We are now one of the most profitable in the DLA Piper organization, with revenue of over $200 million. I looked for the white space in the legal market in Los Angeles, understanding, for example, how important sports and entertainment are to our market. The firm recognizes the skills of an athlete who has the same focus, drive, ambition, confidence and discipline – the same skills that make a difference for a really talented lawyer. We have a scholarship fund where we provide necessary expenses and opportunities to college students who are also college athletes.”
Jennifer Breslow: “Very early on in my career, I had made a lot of shows that I’m really proud of, and I still love to sit down and watch, such as ‘Gossip Girl’ and ‘Vampire Diaries.’ I wanted to create a show that was about something that had some meat on the bones, telling women’s stories. I had a feminist manifesto as my vision, and I went around talking to agents and managers about hiring a writer to look at how women work in our industry. I had a hard time pitching it, because people said nobody wants to watch a show about Hollywood. There was a short film that felt very similar to the idea that I was pitching by a young director named Sarah Shapiro. We hired Sarah Shapiro, a young filmmaker who had no experience, and partnered her with a showrunner who had experience running shows. Ultimately, that led to a show called ‘Unreal’ that did really well and made its mark and became my feminist manifesto.”
Julie Uhrman: “I’m an entrepreneur, so that means that I’m always sort of chasing something new and different, something that I believe should be in the world that doesn’t exist today. Before I started Angel City Football Club, I launched an Android-based video game console called Ouya. And it was a time when Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony were launching their next iteration of big game consoles. Apple and Google were starting to grow into billions of apps inside the app store, and I decided that there was so much creativity on the mobile phone. How can we bring that creativity into the living room and not do it through the gatekeepers of the three large behemoths? I had this idea of democratizing game development, making the game console much cheaper and allowing the creativity of incredible independent game developers to flourish in the living room, which is where people spend the most time and the most money playing video games. I tried to raise $1.5 million for the proof of concept. I heard ‘no’ every step of the way. The biggest chance I took was putting my idea out on Kickstarter. At the end of our one-month campaign, we raised $8.6 million from 63,000 backers.”
ON CHANGES TO SPORTS AND ENTERTAINMENT THAT MAKE IT MORE INCLUSIVE AND EQUITABLE FOR WOMEN
Uhrman: “Los Angeles cares about women’s sports, period. I don’t think we would’ve said that a couple of years ago. The L.A. Sparks have been here for over 25 years and really haven’t broken through until a generational talent like Caitlin Clark woke everybody up. I did it on a different pitch that’s green in the football space, but back in 2019, less than 3% of all media coverage was on women’s sports. Nobody believed that women’s sports would drive media attention, fans, investment and attendance. The U.S. Women’s National team won the World Cup for the second time in a row, and all of the players were in a league called the NWSL that didn’t have media coverage. My two co-founders, Natalie Portman, the actress and activist, and Kara Nortman, who’s a venture capitalist, came to me as the entrepreneur and said that they want to build a women’s professional sports team in L.A. I had no experience in sports, but I had experience building community, building brands, trying to create emotional connections with consumers, and I was born and raised in L.A. Why I believe we are so valuable is that we recognize the value of a platform. We realized that we could use our platform to drive equity.”
Agrusa: “When I graduated from law school, there were very few women partners. I knew that I didn’t want to have a life defined by somebody else’s choices and that I was going to have to make decisions that were authentic to me. I took up golf because I thought that’s where people went to make connections. I didn’t really like spending five hours on the golf course. My special skill was that, as an introvert, I liked one-on-one communications. I liked sitting down and really understanding the person that I was talking to. Other women experienced the same challenges that I had growing in my practice, and sharing stories and resources is important. It’s no longer the days that I grew up in, where women were perceived to have been competitive with each other. I genuinely believe that stereotype is behind us. Women have the ability to multitask, to take challenges, be resilient, to not personalize disappointment.”
Breslow: “TV is a team sport. It starts with a collective hive mind of people in a writer’s room, and they come up with a story together, and then the directors get added to it. The producers are shepherding it all along the way. And then you have all the department heads that come into it once the scripts are written, casting, wardrobe, production design, everything that amounts to the execution of a show. I want to hire women in every role. Some are traditionally more male-skewing, particularly on set. I hire women at the top as writers and directors. You get a different perspective. Neither is better or worse, but you tell different stories.”
ON PARTNERSHIPS AND EXPANDED OPPORTUNITIES
Uhrman: “As teams recognize the power of the players and start to partner with them and tell their stories, [it] actually only benefits you. Angel City has 26 players. We don’t just talk about our stars. We talk about every player because each one of them has a story that connects differently to an audience. We give them media training and brand training. We introduce them to sponsors because it only benefits us.”
ON WHAT STILL NEEDS TO CHANGE
Agrusa: “Certainly, there are far more women in positions of power and authority than there were when I first started in the business world, but it is still far too few. Men want us at the table, but they don’t want us in their seats. I don’t think anybody who is successful and competitive is going to give up power easily, so we have to take it.”
Breslow: “It’s not a straight line towards inclusion and equity. There’s going to be steps forward and steps back. I see a lot more women in leadership roles than ever before. That said, if you rest, then progress may halt. It’s incumbent upon all of us to continue to hire women and tell women’s stories. That’s a big part of why I wanted to come to Mattel. We have huge brands like Barbie and American Girl that stand for women’s values.”
Uhrman: “When we launched Angel City, no one believed in women’s sports. There was no investment in women’s sports. It was a charity. It was inexpensive. What’s changed is that I don’t have to convince people that women’s sports is a thing. There’s a lot of investment going into women’s sports to buy teams, or there’s some investment from brands going into sports teams. That’s the first step, but you have to put the money to work to build an incredible experience. You have to invest the same way that you invest in a men’s game. We’re not there yet. It’s still a fraction of what’s going into men’s sports. The total revenue of women’s sports this year is going to be $3.5 billion, a pretty good number until I tell you that men’s sports is about half a trillion dollars, right? We have to start creating the new metrics now and start telling those stories.”
Moderator: Angel Jennings
Assistant Managing Editor | LOS ANGELES TIMES
Angel Jennings is the assistant managing editor for culture and talent at the Los Angeles Times, where she oversees the paper’s early-career journalism programs and De Los, a space for Latino storytelling.
Angela Agrusa
Chair, U.S. Class Action & Product Liability Litigation Managing Partner, Los Angeles | DLA PIPER LLP
Angela Agrusa is a trusted legal strategist for corporations and high-profile individuals navigating brand crises. Known for her deft handling of provocative, headline-grabbing cases, she has helped clients shape public perception and protect reputations – saving them over $100 billion in the past five years alone. Her distinctive approach has fostered enduring relationships with some of America’s most iconic brands. Beyond the courtroom, she is deeply committed to community service, serving on the board of Public Counsel.
Jennifer Breslow
Head of Television, Mattel Studios | MATTEL
Jennifer Breslow is head of television at Mattel Studios. She brings extensive experience in television and digital media, most recently as EVP of television and digital media at Legendary Entertainment, leading scripted development. Previously, at Netflix, Breslow oversaw international originals including “Fate: The Winx Saga” and “Firefly Lane.” She also held senior roles at A+E/Lifetime, ABC, The CW and Outerbanks Entertainment and began her career as a production assistant on “Boy Meets World.”
Julie Uhrman
CEO & Co-Founder | ANGEL CITY FOOTBALL CLUB
Julie Uhrman is the CEO and co-founder of Angel City Football Club (ACFC), Los Angeles’ professional women’s soccer team in the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL). ACFC is one of the world’s only majority female-founded and run pro teams. Uhrman has received numerous accolades for her contributions to the sports industry and is a highly sought-after public speaker, having spoken at events around the globe. She is also active in the Los Angeles sports and technology communities.
