On the latest episode of La Previa, Asli Pelit speaks with Karina Martinez, the co-founder of Drafted, a sports consultancy firm focused on the Latina sports fan market, about how she and her friend and co-founder Jennifer Yepez-Blundell envision the future of sports.
The founders of Drafted met in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic while working on other projects. “Since then, we have always dreamed of starting something together,” Martinez said. “We looked around to see if there was a community for Latina sports fans and Latina athletes. But there was nothing.”
The duo launched their platform three years later, embarking on a mission to redefine the sports landscape for the next generation of Latinas, who are bilingual and powerful. “Our generation is growing and will have a significant impact on the economy,” she said.
By 2060, her research suggests that one in every four women in the U.S. will be Latina. Drafted aims to create empowering experiences for this demographic, focusing on the cultural richness of different populations. “A lot of brands are still trying to figure out how they will connect with a culture that has so many layers,” she said.
Next, Pelit and Martinez delve into the diverse interests of Latinas in the sports landscape. Soccer, or fútbol, tops the list, with Liga MX’s women’s league being the most popular among the women’s soccer leagues.
However, Latina fandom is not limited to one sport. They are interested in a wide variety of sports including boxing, baseball and basketball, especially since the WNBA has seen a surge in Latinas with its new rookie class. After Mexican flag football star Diana Flores appeared in a Super Bowl commercial, flag football also grew in popularity.
“The fact that a Latina is the most famous flag football player in the U.S. today defies the stereotypical norms imposed on us, such as, ‘Latinas have to be pretty and feminine,’” Martinez said. “That’s what we hope to achieve in scale.”
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