Women Behind the Scenes in Sacramento: Erika Bjork
It’s not only the FIFA Women’s World Cup that is putting women on the international football stage this summer, at the Homeless World Cup there are many women in Sacramento making the 18th edition of the Homeless World Cup possible. In this series we meet some of these inspiring women.
Erika Bjork is on the board of Street Soccer Sacramento and is bringing more than 30 years of sporting experience to the Homeless World Cup.
“I joke that yes, I might have a strong and loud voice in that meeting, but that’s because I Have to speak for many others who aren’t there”
|Erika’s daily reminder to be a champion for her city
‘Every day is your chance to make this city a little better’ is the image that greets you in Erika Bjork’s waiting room while you’re waiting for the Zoom meeting to start. “Oh, it’s a mural in downtown Sacramento,” Erika explains when the meeting commences. “I think the picture is actually taken from the cover of a local magazine. I’m a big believer in the ‘love your city’ mentality. So it’s a little bit of my little personal reminder to myself.”
A champion of sport and a champion of her city, Erika is one of the primarily women-led team working to make the 2023 Homeless World Cup a reality. Having spent some 30 years working in marketing and communications in sport, including professional basketball, the self-described “architect of moments and leader of movements” and “fearless woman” is well qualified to stage a major international football tournament. And not just because she led an Emmy-winning crew for best live sporting event broadcast while at Sacramento Republic FC in 2014. (‘It makes for a great paperweight,’ she explains.)
Erika began her career as an intern for the NBA team Sacramento Kings at age 18. “It was one of these [situations where] I knew I always wanted to work in sports, but especially 30 years ago, you didn’t see a lot of examples of women working in sports, let alone women’s professional sports. So as a little girl playing basketball, the goal, or the epitome of the highest ladder you can maybe get to as an athlete was as one of 12 athletes on the women’s basketball team for the Olympics. So, needless to say, I was never that kind of player, right?”
After having been initially declined for an internship because she was a way off graduating from university, she made a serendipitous discovery on a phone call while ordering game tickets – one incumbent intern was about to finish up. The person to whom Erika reiterated her interest told her, ‘Well, my intern graduates on Monday. Can you start Tuesday?’ Erika’s built out a 30-plus-year career from that chance call. Now, she and her peers are working to create some life-changing moments through the 2023 Homeless World Cup.
“I’ll try and give you the cliff note version,” Erika says when asked how she came to join the Street Soccer Sacramento board. She was introduced to Street Soccer Sacramento Managing Director Lisa Wrightsman through her previous role as the VP of Marketing and Communications at Sacramento Republic FC. “Typical format: met at a local pizzeria and heard their stories, and it was very much a natural fit in partnership with Sacramento Republic FC,” Erika explains. “From there we jokingly say I was added to the board. I literally was sent a calendar invite and it was like: Congratulations, Erika, you’re now on the board. I don’t think I had much choice in the matter. We like to say when Lisa and Tiffany are involved, it’s very hard to say no.”
No complaints, though. “I feel there’s no greater aspect of society that can provide positive influence and change like sports,” Erika says. “Sports have been a place of hope and healing, whether it’s [through] breaking the colour barrier, especially here in the United States. You’re talking about the glass ceiling and gender equity, and the impact we have from things like Title IX.” (The latter is the US public policy, enacted in 1972, that prevents gender discrimination in education or federally funded activity, including sport.) She also notes that women were competing in sports internationally before they could even vote.
“I think one of the things I love about sports, especially for women, is how it teaches resilience. Unfortunately, that is a skill that women need. I think there’s a variety of reasons for it. Whether it’s sitting here in the boardroom, or you’re on the sporting field, it will always be more challenging. Women will always have to prove themselves harder, in any realm.” She notes that many of the players who come to the Street Soccer USA program demonstrate that resilience in overcoming backgrounds that have involved, for example, abuse or forced prostitution. She’s also conscious that she is representing such women, and women and others more generally who don’t always get to be in the decision-making room: “I like to say sometimes or joke that yes, I might have a very good strong and loud voice in that meeting in that room, but that’s also because I tend to have to speak for many others who aren’t there.”
For her part, Erika credits some incredible women role models who have shown her what might be possible in business and in life. Her grandmother graduated from Stanford University at age 20 and as one of the only women in her class, and she obtained her pilot’s license years before that. The license, which Erika has framed on her wall, was signed by her grandmother’s father because her grandmother was a minor when she obtained it—she was literally flying planes at 15 years old. “I have her handwriting tattooed on my forearm, which is the word ‘fearless’,” Erika explains. That’s where her own ‘fearless woman’ ethos comes from.
One of the experiences Erika is aware is not often represented is homelessness. She notes that homelessness is the biggest challenge facing Sacramento and California, which makes hosting the tournament even more important for, and important for improving, her the place she calls home. “We are the wealthiest nation, and we are one of the wealthiest states, and people are living on the sidewalks. And you’re asking yourself, again, ‘How is this happening?’ We understand it’s a very complex issue with complex answers. But this is where I feel very inspired by the work from Street Soccer USA and the Homeless World Cup Foundation. You can get caught up, and you can get frustrated. And I think a lot of people just are sometimes at a point like, ‘Well, we can’t do anything, because we don’t have enough housing, we don’t have enough placement in our mental health facilities.’” But, she says, not all solutions require expensive infrastructure.
Street Soccer USA is an example of such an effective and affordable approach. “The beauty of what Street Soccer does in that space, by finding a means and tools, by building community and trust, in order to provide the hope and healing for those who have experienced homelessness, I think is both inspiring and direct and real,” Erika says. “Being part of an organisation that both celebrates the game and then is providing resources—I couldn’t think of a better organisation to serve on the board.”
With that in mind, the organisation has been busy preparing for the 2023 Homeless World Cup—the experience of doing so in a short timeframe in the middle a pandemic is something Erika terms “a little bit of a sprint”: “Normally, you would have a two-year run-up,” she says. But she’s launched professional sports teams with less lead time, so she knows it’s definitely doable even if it’s slightly hectic.
With Sacramento State University partnering with Street Soccer USA, the local organising committee, is aiming to provide the players with an Olympics village meets US college experience. Erika notes, too, that Sacramento’s diverse population and cuisine offerings to provide players with foods that will remind them of some of the comforts of home. Such a local and global approach will, too, embody that ethos contained in her Zoom profile: of making the most of every opportunity to make Sacramento and beyond that little bit better.
Find out more about Street Soccer USA and their work in Sacramento and across the United States.
Words: Fred Crawford