2017 Keynote Speakers
Béatrice Frey – UN Women
Sports Partnerships Manager/Communications Specialist
Béatrice Frey joined the Communications Team of UN Women (previously UNIFEM) in 2008. She has initiated, spearheaded and built UN Women’s presence on social media platforms from the very beginning, and now oversees the organization’s global social media strategy and outreach in 14 languages on more than 80 accounts.
As a second portfolio, she is the main focal point for sport at UN Women and coordinates the organization’s work on sport for women’s empowerment. She manages UN Women’s partnerships with sports organizations, for example with the International Olympic Committee (IOC). She has mobilized resources from various stakeholders and initiated a grassroots project empowering girls through sport in Brazil, in partnership with the IOC.
She has worked in the past on various other communication-related projects for UN Women, such as production and translations, and coordinated the branding process for UN Women. She previously worked for the European Parliament, UNESCO, the German Government, and German TV.
Béatrice is fluent in German, French, English and Spanish, and works on her Italian and Arabic. She studied at the University of Cologne, the Elliott School of International Affairs in Washington DC, and holds a Master’s Degree in International Affairs/ International Public Management from Sciences Po Paris.
More on Béatrice Frey & UN WOMEN:
Find Beatrice on twitter; @BeaFrey
UN Women – Scoring for gender equality through sport
Nada Ben Jemaa – Roller Derby Beirut
Team Manager – Roller Derby Beirut
Nada Ben Jemaa, 21, was born and raised in Tunis, Tunisia with absolutely no athletic talents whatsoever, she had always thought sports were not for her until she discovered roller derby.
Upon receiving the MEPI Tomorrow’s Leaders Scholarship award in September 2015, she moved to Lebanon to attend the American University of Beirut. She is currently in her senior year majoring in Business Administration and Finance and minoring in Political Studies.
In March 2015, she got in touch with Roller Derby Beirut’s founder, Elisabeth Wolffhechel, and attended the first practice. Even though she could barely skate that day, she loved it and stuck to it. She even managed to convince her friends to join the team. Upon Elisabeth’s departure, she took up the team manager position.
More on Roller Derby Beirut:
Huck Magazine – The badass pioneers of Lebanon’s first female roller derby team
Jane McManus – ESPN/espnW
Writer
Jane McManus has covered New York sports since 1998 and began covering NFL football just before Brett Favre’s stint with the Jets. Her work has appeared in Newsday, USA Today, The Journal News and The New York Times.
Currently, McManus covers the NFL for ESPN.com, and writes columns and features for espnW, a part of the website which covers women’s sports and represents female sports fans. She also hosts a weekly radio show on ESPN Radio.
She has broken national news stories, and has appeared on ESPN’s shows and numerous radio affiliates to talk sports.
McManus is an adjunct professor at Columbia Graduate School of Journalism, the same program from which she received her Master’s degree, where she teaches the sports journalism class.
McManus lives in the New York suburbs with her husband and their two daughters. Beginning in 2008, she embarked on a seven-year roller derby career and once scored 99 points for her Suburban Brawl against Jersey Shore.
More from Jane:
The Trifecta – Live from the 2016 espnW Summit (Click to watch)
Jane speaks with past members of the Global Sports Mentoring Program (Click to watch)