Upcoming Event: Men's Golf versus Rod Myers Invitational on September 5, 2025
Men's Golf
vs Rod Myers Invitational
.png&width=24&height=24&type=webp)
Duke Hosts 1st espnW Campus Conversations
4/13/2016 2:22:00 PM | Cross Country, Fencing, Field Hockey, Rowing, Softball, Women's Basketball, Women's Golf, Women's Lacrosse, Women's Soccer, Women's Tennis, Swimming & Diving, Track & Field, Volleyball, Athletics
DURHAM, N.C.—The Duke University athletic department welcomed a star-studded group of women to campus Monday night for the debut of the espnW Campus Conversations series. In what ESPNW hopes to become a series on college campuses nationwide, a collection of seven former collegiate student-athletes came to speak to Blue Devil female student-athletes about preparing for postgraduate life while in college.
Duke was the first campus to host this event much in large part because of Laura Gentile being a former Blue Devil field hockey player and founder of espnW. Among the panelists the student-athletes heard from, including Gentile, were a hall of fame softball coach, a retired professional from the CIA, an athletics development officer and an ESPN on-air personality.
The evening started with a panel discussion featuring former Duke student-athletes Prim Siripipat '03 (tennis), Gentile '94 (field hockey), Sue Gordon '80 (basketball), and Carey Goodman '11 (soccer) along with Sue Enquist (UCLA '80 – softball). Moderated by ESPN anchor Siripipat, each of the women talked about how their time at Duke or in college athletics prepared them for life in the “real world”.
Some of the advice the young Blue Devils received was to dabble during their time at Duke to truly find what they enjoy, to not worry about doing everything in a certain timeframe and embrace the twists and turns their lives and careers will take in the professional sphere.
“It was wonderful to [host this event at Duke],” said Gentile. “I'm such a proud Duke alum and to help create a business in espnW that focuses on women's sports and female athletes and then bring that kind of impactful conversation to campus was wonderful.”
Gentile, the founder of espnW and senior vice president at ESPN, and the others also spoke to the challenges they each faced when their athletic careers finished and discussed how to best handle that unique aspect of graduation from college.
Following the hour-long panel discussion, the approximate 100 student-athletes took part in breakout sessions with the five panelists and recent graduates Christiana Hill '13 (volleyball) and Ali Tomlinson (Cornell '11 – softball). The breakout session topics were:
- BE-gin (again!): Navigating Post-College Transitions (Carey Goodman, Christiana Hill)
- BE BRAVE: Accepting and Embracing Vulnerability and Courage (Sue Enquist, Ali Tomlinson)
- BE BOLD: Women in Leadership: Sports Media, Marketing and Beyond (Laura Gentile, Prim Siripipat)
- BE INFLUENTIAL: Recognizing and Leading with Your Value (Sue Gordon)
“It was inspiring to hear from women who have managed to make “the pivot” from being a student-athlete to a successful career woman so gracefully and to get tips for myself as I make that transition in about a month,” said senior swimmer Kathryn Eckhart. “I think for me my biggest fear about heading into the workforce, specifically going into sports marketing as I am, was how dominant men are in that industry. But hearing from the panel of women at the espnW event did a lot to comfort me and settle my nerves as they all emphasized how persistence and hard work are the most important things in any workplace I'm in and if I'm prepared to work as hard in the office as I do in the pool, I will be successful.”
Here is a look at the lineup of incredible women the student-athletes heard from over the course of the two-hours.
Sue Enquist
Sue Enquist (UCLA '80) currently serves on the boards of espnW, National Pro Fastpitch, the Women's Coaches Alliance, Women in Sport & Events and the Natasha Watley Foundation and is a leadership and performance consultant for colleges/businesses across the country. She owns two businesses, Sue Enquist Coaching, L.L.C. and Championsfestival.com, which provide leadership curriculum for corporations and educational institutions. Enquist is also an expert witness for various Title IX cases and is the recruit education director for the National Collegiate Scouting Association. In 2006, she retired from UCLA as the winningest coach among all NCAA DI Softball programs, holds the career win percentage record in NCAA DI Softball, and has the most NCAA DI Softball national championship titles (11) in history. Enquist has also coached the most UCLA collegiate softball players who would go on to be Olympians (15). As a student-athlete, Enquist held UCLA's career batting title for over two decades (.401 avg). She was UCLA's first All-American in softball and was a member of the first UCLA softball national championship team. Enquist played on the USA national softball team earning a World Championship gold medal in 1978 and was a member of the inaugural 1993-96 USA softball national team staff. Enquist has been honored in the UCLA Athletics Hall of Fame, the Women's International Sports Foundation Hall of Fame, the National Fastpitch Association Hall of Fame and the San Juan Unified School District Hall of Fame.
Laura Gentile
Laura Gentile is the founder of espnW and currently serves as senior vice president, espnW and Women's Initiatives. Prior to espnW, Gentile served as the senior director of brand management at ESPN and later the vice president, chief of staff where she worked directly with George Bodenheimer and ABC Sports. Gentile was named to Street and Smith's Sports Business Journal Forty Under 40 and an SBJ Game-Changer. She was appointed to the U.S. Department of State's Council to Empower Women and Girls Through Sports and was named to the Women's Sports Foundation Advisory Panel. A graduate of Duke University ('94) with a double major in English and political science, Gentile garnered All-America and All-ACC honors in field hockey and was a two-time team captain. She led Duke to their first-ever appearance in the NCAA Tournament and was named to the ACC's 50th Anniversary field hockey team.
Carey Goodman
Carey Goodman is currently the Assistant Director of Athletics Department at William & Mary where she focuses on raising money for the department's women's programs. Prior to William & Mary, Goodman completed her MBA and Master of Sports Administration at Ohio University while she served as Race Director for O'Bleness Health System's Race for Reason, and Recruiting Coordinator for Ohio University's Center for Sports. Goodman earned her undergraduate degree in sociology and political science from Duke University ('11), where she was a student-athlete on the women's soccer team.
Sue Gordon
As a Duke Alumni ('80), Sue Gordon is the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency's (NGA) sixth Deputy Director where she assists the director in leading the agency and managing the National System for Geospatial Intelligence. Gordon spent more than 25 years of service with the Central Intelligence Agency after beginning her career with the CIA in 1980 as an analyst in the Office of Scientific and Weapons Research. Gordon earned her B.S. in zoology (biomechanics) from Duke while also a student-athlete on the women's basketball team and served as the only three-time captain in school history.
Christiana Hill
Christiana Hill is currently the Lead Regional Franchise Licensing Specialist at InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) where she manages all aspects of the IHG Franchise licensing and compliance processes. Hill graduated from Duke University ('13) with a degree in Psychology, Sociology, Markets and Management while a student-athlete on the women's volleyball team and serving as team captain.
Prim Siripipat
Prim Siripipat, former Duke tennis student-athlete, is currently an ESPN TV anchor and co-hosts Spain and Prim on ESPN Radio. A native of Mexico, Missouri, it was evident by 10 years old that she was a skilled tennis player. Siripipat played for the US National Team and finished in the nation's top 10 U18 players. At Duke, Prim studied sociology with a minor in biological anthropology. After undergoing surgery on her shoulder and both knees, she decided to pursue a career as a sports industry professional. She began interning at WRAL-TV, transitioned to CBS-4 in 2007, and in March of 2011 joined ESPN.
Alexandra (Ali) Tomlinson
Alexandra (Ali) Tomlinson is the founder of IN-Power Health and Performance Coaching and currently serves as a performance coach, yoga and meditation instructor, and board member of the Kyle Ambrogi Foundation. Tomlinson graduated from Cornell University ('11), where she played softball (pitcher) while studying communications and nutrition. She received her master's in social policy and public health education from the University of Pennsylvania.
Players Mentioned
Sprint Free/Back
/ Swimming & DivingCelebrating 10 Years of ACE!
Thursday, July 10
Celebrating 10 Years of ACE
Wednesday, July 09
Blue Devil 360: NCAA Champion
Wednesday, March 26
Duke Athletics - Top 5 Plays of February!
Thursday, March 13
