Sara Essa on Beyond the Boundary

Sara Essa has interviewed people at the very top of their sport, often minutes after the best or worst moment of their career. She’s worked across F1, SailGP and the World Sports Summit.

On 15th October she’s hosting Beyond the Boundary at Headingley: two panels bringing elite athletes and business leaders together to talk about pressure, performance and what it takes to build something that lasts.

We spoke to her earlier this week about what she’s seen up close.

Most people think about pressure as one thing. What do they get wrong?

“Pressure can come from so many different angles. It could be trying to please the team because the team has all contributed. It all comes down to you. That can be a driver in motorsport, or the person who shoots a goal in netball. Or it could be trying to make your parents proud, or someone else who’s helped you get to that place.”

In your experience, how do professional sportspeople treat pressure differently?

“A lot of athletes at the top of their sport have truly learned to embody pressure as a privilege. They’ve changed their psychology around it to make it a positive thing: being able to compete on that stage. I think that sometimes isn’t something people naturally think about.”

Under Pressure: The panel

The first panel at Beyond the Boundary puts that to four people who’ve lived it from different angles.

Jo Salter MBE was Britain’s first female fast-jet pilot, flying Tornados with the RAF before moving into senior leadership in business, including at PwC. Her career was built on decisions where the consequences were immediate.

Hannah Rainey, Scotland and Yorkshire cricketer, brings the current athlete’s view: selection, injury, setbacks and what it takes to keep performing while you’re still in it.

Karen Birch, Non-Executive Director at Yorkshire County Cricket Club and Pro-Vice-Chancellor: Academic Alignment at the University of Leeds, brings the science and wellbeing perspective, particularly the pressures female athletes face and how organisations build environments where women can actually thrive.

And Fi Morris, recently retired Lancashire cricketer and Co-Founder of sports skincare brand KoSkn, is the bridge. She knows pressure from inside professional sport, and she’s now finding out what an entirely different kind feels like as a founder.

Four people, four versions of the same pressure. Sara’s job is to find what carries across, which she can do partly because she’s performing under her own.

Live broadcasting is not without pressure either. What’s your version of it?

“We really do have one take. And my pressure is often on myself, because I want to do the best job I possibly can, and I want to tell that person’s story as well as possible. The interviewee only gets one shot too, so I think: how can I best get their emotions portrayed so that they also remember it in the best way?”

The Business End: The panel

That instinct of wanting to get it right for someone else is familiar to anyone who employs people. That’s where the second panel picks it up. The Business End takes the same question somewhere with a payroll attached.

Corinna Nicol built Connect Women in Biz into a community of more than 2,400 women business owners across Yorkshire, after recognising how isolating running a business can be.

Gosha Szablowska, Deputy General Director at Opera North, leads in an environment where performance is literal and the pressure is nightly.

Honor Black, Co-founder of Maiden Cricket, brings a unique perspective as a young female entrepreneur who has turned her own experience of the barriers facing girls in cricket into a growing sports business.

And Maisie Goss, VP Marketing at Employment Hero, leads a team through what most of the room is dealing with: growth and what breaks when it happens.

Behind every business is a story you don’t see in the highlights: the decisions, the setbacks and the moments that shaped it.

Both panels see women talking about building something. You’ve worked in environments that haven’t always made that easy. What’s changed, and what hasn’t?

“Things are starting to change. There are a lot of initiatives bringing women into sports media and broadcast, and we’re looking a lot better on balance. But what’s missing is diversity of ethnicity in many sports. Women from different backgrounds are still missing, and that’s not really there yet, especially in something like motorsport.”

And in business?

“The number of women in senior leadership roles. Whether that’s CEO roles, or women founding companies and getting funded, that still needs to change. There are some great role models out there, and we’re starting to see more and more, and things are beginning to shift. But not enough. In my opinion, it’s also important that the women who have made it advocate for others too. Some great examples of this are Grace Beverley, Emma Grede and Grace Andrews.”

The event asks what it takes to build something that lasts. In sport, careers are short and form is temporary. What does “lasting” look like from where you sit?

“It’s really important to not only build for ourselves as women, but to build for those behind us. Sometimes we may be the pioneers, the first, having to break down doors in our industries or sports. But you can make the life of the person behind you a little bit easier. Whether that’s giving a small amount of time for advice, or making an introduction if you’re able to.”

For Sara, that’s the bit people forget when they’re busy chasing their own thing. Helping someone behind you is usually easier than it sounds.

“You’re not going to be in that career forever. At some point we retire. So how do you open the doors behind you, so it’s not a cycle of women trying to constantly break the glass ceiling.”

That’s the conversation on 15th October at Headingley.

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