Mary McVeigh Corner – Episode 11
Mary Connor is a Co-Founder and Executive Director of Soccer Without Borders, an award-winning non-profit that is building a more inclusive world through football.
An Ivy League graduate and former professional football player, Mary has used her experience of playing and coaching to work in overseeing program development across Soccer Without Borders, as well as training more than 200 coaches in Central America, East and Northern Africa, the United States, and Europe. As Soccer Without Borders' first Executive Director, Mary established original infrastructure in every department, growing the organisation from an all-volunteer effort to a multi-country non-profit with daily operations on three continents.
Soccer Without Borders uses soccer as a vehicle for positive change, combining football play and instruction with education and community-building activities in a year-round program model that authentically shifts outcomes. Best known for its work advancing gender equality and social inclusion for refugee and immigrant youth, Soccer Without Borders' impact has been recognised by the FIFA Diversity Award, the Lipman Family Prize, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Sports Award, and the US Soccer Foundation's Impact Award. Mary was also selected for the prestigious Women Athletes Business Network Mentoring Program by Ernst & Young and serves on the global streetfootballworld Network Board.
In this eleventh episode of In Her Corner we talk to Mary about football’s powerful ability to transcend borders, sport’s integral role in addressing gender inequity and the importance of building an inclusive people-first workplace culture.
You can listen to the trailer for Mary’s episode using the player below:
Mary’s full episode will be released at 1pm BST on Wednesday 9 September and will be available to listen to on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and other major streaming platforms.
Podcast theme track by Wayne Urquhart and Mix Engineering by Nick Murphy.
