Sonja Stills, Commissioner of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference, joins ChedHER to discuss her experience being the first female leader in this role, and how she plans on carrying on the legacy of the MEAC.

chedHER

MEAC's First Female Commissioner Talks Evolution of the Conference

joining us now, Sonia Stills Commissioner of the MEAC Sanya, welcome to the show. What are your top goals and priorities in this new role And congratulations by the way, thank you so much and, and thank you for having me here. You know, it's very important um that um I am focused on the um, the storytelling and the legacy of the MEAC and its memory institutions. So doing that visually and graphically. Um, just to get that information out there to, to show the great competition um that we have in the MEAC and then the great academic institutions that we have. So that's most important. And one things that one of the things that I'm looking for, um, and then looking for more revenue streams for our member institutions is is paramount. And one thing that I should always be working on in regards to um my, my leadership role in the conference and then membership expansion. You know, we, we are at the elite, I called the Elite Eight institutions. Um, and um, so looking at expansion in the future, so I have a job ahead of me. I'm ready to go. And then most important, I can't forget we have our big basketball tournament coming up in March. So I am really rolling. What's going on right now, busy few months. I had the mid eastern athletic conference is celebrating the 50th anniversary. Why is this piece of legislation so important? And how are you celebrating, Sonya? So yeah, so we actually are in our 51st year, we celebrated our 50th anniversary last year and so we are embarking in the title nine celebrating the title 9 50th anniversary. And so you know we are ready to go, we made our announcement and so we are going to start off with the women in athletics um Professional development workshop and we're gonna move into 50 stories of women in the athletics um in meac athletic history. Um And our first one that we celebrated Sandra Muriel thomas, who was the former director of athletics at Howard University and she was the first woman to be inducted into our Hall of Fame. And so that's going to be some of the stories that you'll see throughout the year. Um our partnership with the Y. M. C. A. And um women's Sports Foundation. Um So we are really geared up and ready to go in regards to the Title Nine um initiative that's going on for this year. You've been with the meac for 20 years now. What have been some of the biggest changes you've seen across your career, wow. So you know, just recently, let's talk about the N. C. A. So when I first got in, you know it went through its revolution and and and I think it's always going to go through a revolution. And so um back then um when I was saying when I was 12, you know they talked about the um the Academic um and that's when academics was was the the key thing that their focusing on. And of course that's when the the coin a phrase of student athletes um came into b and then the the academic performance rate, um the program came into fruition and then the graduation success rate. So it was all that focused on academics for um for students. And then now with the recent um um approval of the constitution for all three divisions, um it's going into its second revolution or almost second and another revolution in which um it's more focused on the student experience and being able to get their name image and likeness out there and just give them more um access to opportunities. So those are the things that I've seen in regards to um throughout my career, that's changed um within the conference? Um just being a part of dr Dennis thomas is the former commissioners era of seeing the conference grow, being on more national platforms. And then the, the fruition of the celebration bowl, you know, which has been an absolutely great way to celebrate um the competitiveness between the meAC and SWAC. Um And so um and just recently with the history that we made um with the celebration this past year with south Carolina state, Yay winning against Jackson State. So, so um so those are the things that that I've seen change within my career, have you felt any unique challenges being in such a male dominated industry and for women out there that are probably that no doubt are inspired by you, How did you overcome them? Yeah, I have, you know, I tell a story of being like, my first couple of years um in the conference and I was at an event or in a hotel, I was talking to something because talking to I guess the manager or somebody um in regards to the issue that we had and I was with my male intern and the gentleman was speaking to the intern and not me. And so it's kind of like, that really hit me about how we were are marginalized um and not accepted as a person that would be in in charge, um you know, being in, you know, you're you're in rooms where you're the only female um and you have to be able to to have a voice and and be able to to speak and for them to not put you in a a place where you don't know what you're talking about, you know, or or your ideal that you had all of a sudden is their ideal, and it's a great idea, you know, so being able to, you know, be able to to make your way and I think the good thing about me and my career, I stay focused um focused on the job that that was um at hand and so, you know, when you're focused, people see you the relationships that we are, we are running out of time, such fantastic advice, don't apologize, that is fantastic, incredible advice. And if that person that confused, you know, the intern for the boss could see you now. I have no doubt. He's regretting that decision. Sonya Stills, commissioner of the Mid Eastern Athletic Conference. Thank you so much for your time, Sonja.