 Hi, everyone. So glad you could join us for another episode of Most Powerful Woman in Sports, where the world's greatest marketers, media pros, athletes, and coaches share their remarkable career journeys to achieving peak performance. We'd also like to hear from you to join the conversation in the chat and questions in the Q&A box. Today I'm stoked, and I use that word on purpose, to introduce Jesse Miley-Dyer, who is the world surf league's SVP of tours and head of competition. We'll talk to Jesse about her career, how she rode the wave from pro surfer to league leader, and discuss what snacks were women in sports. But first, some background on Jesse. Jesse grew up in New South Wales, Australia, and began surfing when she was eight. She spent 15 years as a pro surfer, winning many prestigious competitions before joining WSL in 2011. And in 2018, Jesse played a key role in bringing pay equity to the pro surfing league and became the first US-based sports group to offer equal pay globally for every competitor. Jesse, welcome to the show. It's great to have you here. Hi. Hey, there you are. Yes, sorry. Welcome. Thanks for being here. No worries. Thanks for having me. So I have so many questions to ask. But first, I want to start with, tell me a little bit about your role as head of tours and competition. What does that mean? How much are you traveling? What do you get to do? Yeah, so at the moment, I've been going to all of our events. But as head of competition, I'm in charge of all men's and women's competitions and all of our tours. So we have the championship tour, which is our very top tier, but we also have the Challenger series, our longboard champions, and also a big wave tour. So I look after all of those tours for us. Okay. Now, how did you get into surfing? Obviously, you're from Australia. Everybody there probably has a board who's on the coast. Who influenced you? How did you get into it? Yeah. I mean, surfing is such a part of the beach culture in particular in Australia. It's such a part of our culture. But my family spent a lot of time down the beach and surfed. My dad surfed and I grew up surfing with him. My auntie also surfed as well. She owns a surf school in Sydney. And then my family spends a lot of time swimming. So my mom had taught me to swim proper strokes at three years old. So I feel like we just grew up around the water and it became like a bit of a natural progression for me to start surfing. And what made you decide to get into competition? And what was that like being a woman in a very male dominated sport back then? Well, my first contest, I was 11. And I was the only girl in the contest. And there weren't, there wasn't actually a girls division. So I surfed against a bunch of the boys at home in Bondi. And I remember growing up that there just weren't, there weren't many women in the water. And it was before blue crash and before surfing was cool. And before the women industry really took off. So I grew up surfing in boys' wetsuits and boys' board shorts. And when Roxy came on the scene and started making apparel for women, it was such a big deal to kids like me. So when I started competing, I found like a really great community of young girls who are like me and interested in surfing. And I had so many great friends from literally some of the first contests I ever did. But the very first major contest I did, it was an all women's contest for under 12s all the way up to opens. And it was something my dad had scoured and found for me. And he drove me there to meet other people. Wow. So what has changed in terms of the attitude of women in the water? Is it much more equal now? Is it feel different? Especially in the pro tournaments? And since you've been, you've been working there at World Surf League. Yeah. So when I first grew up competing, one of the biggest things that's changed for us and one of the kind of, I guess, one of the most visible is around equal prize money and the value that we've put on the women's tour and the amount of effort as well in recreating that platform. I only ever won a single championship tour event, which is our version of what would be, I don't know, like a grand slam. And it's kind of like a really tangible difference because I won $10,000 and I thought I was killing it. I was so stoked to use your word, but I was so happy to win that event and I'd never really looked at the men's prize money levels because I knew that they weren't necessarily something that were for me. So one of the things that we have now, which is really obvious, that notion that the women's performances are equal and we have an equal value attributed to that. So our first ever championship tour event that was an equal prize money event in 2019, we had Caroline Marks win $100,000. So there's a lot of like, yeah, just that focus on the women's tour and feeling like it's as equal to the men. That's something that was different for me back in the olden days when I was competing. We talked a little bit about pay equity and you definitely have it now. You're the first and maybe the only league where men and women are paid equally, which is amazing. What was that like trying to push it through? Was it a big effort or was it something or just like, yes, of course, this makes sense. What was the culture like? It was a journey through a couple of things that happened in surfing. One of the standout for us has been new ownership and the league being based in America with a new ownership group who really have believed in the women's platform and making decisions like that, I think, become really easy when everyone in the organization believes the same value set. Everyone at WSL really does believe in the women's tour and when we're making these decisions, whether it be equal prize money for women or whether it be some of the spots that we're going to on the women's championship tour now and the men's championship tour, they become really easy to make. So I think that that has definitely been something great for us. And talk about equity in the waves. What's happening with the Olympics, the Paris Olympics in 2024, I think the surfing is going to be in Tahiti. And there was some controversy over Chupo, which is where the surfing competition was going to happen. Women weren't allowed to surf there or they didn't want women to surf there. What happened? So Chopo, it's a spot in Tahiti and it's one of the most dangerous waves in the world. It's definitely a wave of consequence and it's pretty cool actually that the Olympics is going to be in Tahiti. The WSL is also running women's events in Tahiti at Chopo. We were meant to be going there this year and obviously there's been so many issues with COVID that we didn't get to go, but it's great for us as a sport to be in these spots and especially in the Olympics. It's such a point of pride for us as a sport to be represented on that stage. In Tokyo, we had our reigning world champions both take gold and that was awesome for us to see. Italo Ferreira and Carissa Moore do so well and represent the sport and such a massive platform like the Olympics. Wow. Okay. One other area that in terms of equity that you're looking into is you have a program. It's a little bit on hold you mentioned because of COVID, but the Rising Tides program. Can you tell me a little bit about that? Rising Tides was our girls youth engagement program that we started as a part of our equal prize money announcement. We also looked to do a grassroots engagement for young girls everywhere that we went on the tour to kind of show them not only what the tour is and who the surfers are, but also just to give them a little chance to surf in lineups that are uncrowded. We were shutting down the lineup, which is where we were holding contests for just the groups of young women and girls. It's a really cool thing because we're going to some of the most famous waves in the world and the chance to get to surf there with just the pros and a group of your friends is actually makes it gives you a chance to access the spots in ways that maybe you'd never done before. So many of the women on tour as well, everyone has these photos of them meeting professional surfers when they're kids. So we were going through and kind of meeting the next generation of who might be on our tours going forward. Wow. So what was it like making the transition from athlete, from pro surfer to front office? Was it, you know, talk about that experience, what were some of the first jobs you were doing? How did it feel being out of the water, out of the desk? And how did you make that transition? Yeah. So I was actually, I was really fortunate in that I transitioned straight into a role with the league at the time. And my family was kind of joking at me about it because I had taken the position as the women's tour manager because we didn't have one at the time. And from the last event of the previous season, I was in that event at the championship tour level. And then the first event the next year, which is really only a matter of months, I popped up as, you know, as you say, behind a desk. And I actually have, I really enjoyed it. I think that I definitely recommend for, for, you know, retiring athletes to have something that you're passionate about and be able to still work in the field. You know, for me, the women's tour and obviously just surfing in general, you know, being an ex-pro was something that was a really big part of my life. And the ability for me to, you know, be able to go to university and be working in the league and, you know, still working around the tour and being a part of something that was a really huge part of my life was really valuable. Yeah. Now, does the WSL work alongside or speak to any other women's leagues or other leagues in general? Like, do you share information or ideas? I'm just curious about that. We definitely have actually, to be honest, really good relationships around with athletes. Our athletes who were like, obviously, they're a very big stakeholder of ours. And we have really good partnership with the surfers on our tours. But all of our athletes are very connected with other sports, in particular, some of the, you know, so-called action sports between like skateboarding and snowboarding. We'll definitely have quite a few women come both. Yeah. Yeah. And so WSL has done such a phenomenal job with pay equity. When you look at other sports today, and you and I were having that conversation earlier about the National Women's Soccer League and how they seem to be struggling on many different fronts, both with pay equity, with the culture, with even harassment coaches. How do you keep this, what has been a very male dominated sport on the level? And then what kind of advice do you have for other leagues that are going through a bit of a tough time? One that you were able to kind of get through really seamlessly, it seems. Yeah. I think that for sure, like surfing has a really great culture around the sport and the organization. And one thing I think that strikes me when I'm, you know, looking at some of the struggles that soccer has, you know, I think is getting everyone on the same page and believing in a certain value set, but also believing in the ideal of what soccer could be. You know, watching Megan Rapinoe and women like that fight for equal pay within the sport has been, it's a, it's kind of, you know, it's interesting for us to watch because I know that it's not a position that surfing would have ever been in where we would be have been fighting like that. Well, I really do, my, I really do recommend that, you know, taking people with you on the value set and, and hopefully, you know, they can all be aligned on the fact that, you know, doing the, doing the right thing, even when it's hard is, you know, it's not only good for the sport and the players, but it is also, you know, it's, it's important for the brand for soccer. Yeah. And speaking of brands, do you feel there's enough attention paid to women in surfing? I mean, again, a lot of men do the sport. There's a lot of products that are targeting them, but do you feel that's balanced out? Where are things on that spectrum? Yeah. So one of the things, particularly at WSL, like we pay a lot of attention to that because for us as the league, we have a real leadership position in the space, you know, in, in terms of, you know, showing men and we men and women equally on all like our social platforms and within the broadcasts and things like that. I think it's definitely when I, it felt like, you know, for, again, to date myself, but it did feel different when, when I was competing and representation is really important. Absolutely. So yeah. And so brands are going after women now for endorsement deals and, and there's a, there's enough out there for them. Yeah, I hope so. I mean, I do think that when you look at the surf industry and, you know, I won't necessarily, I won't, I probably can't speak for some of the brands and the deals that they're finding for women, but I think there is definitely improvement to be made within the industry for sure, but there are a lot of people who are working really hard to make that happen. And I do believe it will get there. Okay. So what would you like to see next for women and surfing or, or sports overall? Look, for surfing, what I'm really excited about in terms of watching our next generation and their performance levels, you know, there's a, there's a group of probably, you know, 12 to 16 year old young girls coming up who are really just breaking down barriers in a lot of things such as, you know, aerial maneuvers and that progression of the sport. So the performance level has risen so much over the years. And this next generation of young kids are just blowing everyone out of the water. I'm really excited for that. And like, we're really excited to see some of those kids on the pro tour. Yeah. Are you able to keep up? I'm not able to get up. Absolutely not. I will. I absolutely wish, but no, those kids that there's those young group of girls that are just unbelievable. And if I ever did, if I ever did an air, even a 10th as good as anything that they would do, I probably would retire on the spot. Oh, no. Well, listen, this has been wonderful. What I'd love to do now is just go to some of your takeaways and talk through some of them and then we'll let you get back to work. Yeah. Thanks, guys. So look, surfing is for everyone's important. I think that, you know, when we look at the ocean and and everything it represents, the idea that it's not going to judge or, you know, has nothing to, everyone is equal in the water. That's really important. So I really do encourage everyone to try surfing as well. When we're talking about know your worth, it's important for me to that all of the young girls coming up who are athletes and looking at sports in general, realize that an athlete's value is so much more than, you know, viewership or sponsorship dollars. And I really want, you know, all those young kids, especially in surfing, but for everyone to know that, you know, their their performances are contributing an equal value to sport and they're definitely both worth investing in. And then for me personally, this one for paving the way like that one's really important for me as an ex pro, you know, it's the next generation that I find really inspiring like all those young girls who are doing those crazy aerial maneuvers. And we work really hard to and you know, me in particular, I know that I won't benefit from any of the opportunities these kids are going to get. But as someone who's retired, I do definitely think it's, you know, my duty to make sure that they have great opportunities for, you know, when they're coming on tour. And it's definitely a privilege for me as an ex pro to be able to do that for them. Excellent. Well, thank you so much for joining us today. This is invaluable. And it's really, it's been interesting getting a glimpse into the world of surfing. And we wish you all the best. So our next woman up is going to be wwe chief brand officer Stephanie McMahon. And I'm looking forward to speaking to stuff about her family legacy and the role of women in professional wrestling world. I'll see you all back here, October 13. Thank you.