“In this work around gender equity, I know I may never see the full fruits of my labor in my lifetime. But I want to be the one who plants the seed,” says Sam Rapoport. “If others can water it and sustain it, then I’ve done what I came to do, and I’m okay with that.”
Sam Rapoport knows that there is value in playing the long game. When it comes to change, she knows that you have to put in an intentional effort. As an out LGBTQ professional, Rapoport also knows that being yourself means betting on yourself.
As a high school and college quarterback growing up in Canada playing tackle, touch, and flag football from a young age, Rapaport honed the ability of making rapid decisions under pressure.
“You have three seconds to get rid of the ball, and you are making a hundred decisions in those three seconds,” she says. “You have five people in your face trying to attack you. I taught myself at a young age to become calm in those moments.”
The instinct to remain focused, fast, and forward-thinking shaped not only Rapoport’s playbook on the field but also guided her career at the NFL (National Football League). Over two decades, she rose from intern to changemaker, pioneering trailblazing work in gender equity. More recently, she made the fearless decision to step away from her full-time role, choosing to share her hard-won lessons more widely as a consultant and keynote speaker.
“I want to help organizations around the world achieve progress more quickly,” she explains. “Because this work is so much bigger than the sport of football.”
Learning to Shoot Your Shot
Rapoport’s emergence as a changemaker in professional football began with an unconventional pitch. “In 2003, I submitted a resume to the NFL with an actual football. On the football I wrote, ‘What other quarterback could accurately deliver a pass 3,806 miles?’ which was the distance between my university and the league office. That stood out to someone in HR.” It earned her a coveted internship and foot in the door of a historically male-dominated league.
However, Rapoport’s proudest achievement was not just breaking in, but helping other women do the same.
“For the last 10 years at the NFL, I created a program that served to introduce women into coaching. I took on the Boys’ Club. I took on an establishment that had done things the same way for a hundred years, which was putting men in coaching roles, and I questioned it and then I created a platform that changed the game for women in coaching.”
She continues, “now as of this past season we have 15 women working in full time coaching roles, which is more than double any male professional sports league in the world.”
Rapoport emphasizes that the program’s success didn’t happen by chance. It was the result of years of focused effort and a deliberate strategy, or “a blueprint for accelerating change”. A key element of that blueprint is a framework she learned along the way: the 20/70/10 Rule.
“I have found that 20% of any organization understands what needs to be done to make the change – they’re bought in. 70% want to do the change but have no idea how. And 10% wants nothing to do with it,” she explains. “Focus your energy on moving the 70% into the 20%. Ignore the 10%. The ground moves from under the 10% statistically anyway.” For Rapoport, it’s about shifting the focus from fighting resistance to fueling momentum.
Today, Rapoport continues consulting to the NFL Women’s Forum and is helping build the league’s first professional flag football league, one of her childhood dreams. She is also advising organizations like the USTA (US Tennis Association) on engaging more women in coaching. And one of her latest accomplishments includes working with USA Flag Football on creating a path to the sport being featured in the next Olympics. Finally, she makes sure to leave time for keynote speaking, which she describes as, “probably my favorite part of my job because I can deliver a lot in a short period of time on how to create change.”
On Being Yourself – Truly
As she worked to open doors for others, Rapoport also navigated what it meant to “be herself” in the workplace.
“I wasn’t out in the first decade of my career at the NFL…Everyone always says, ‘Be yourself,’ but that’s easy when you look and act like the default person at an organization,” she reflects. “It’s a lot more challenging when you are a member of the gay community, or the Black community, or the Latinx community.”
She continues, “when I felt confident enough to make the change to come out and be myself unapologetically…I started to thrive.”
Beyond being out at work, Rapoport defines being herself as, “finding the middle ground between professional you and weekend you. It’s about dropping the act, ditching the corporate lingo, the need to sound like a textbook, or mimic your boss, and just being real.”
However, Rapoport is quick to acknowledge the privilege required to let one’s guard down. “There’s a privilege in seniority to be able to do that. Younger people have a harder time.” She emphasizes that safety is paramount, both in professional and personal spaces. “It’s up to the environment. The environment owes it to you to make it safe to come out. I came out when it was safe, and before, it didn’t feel that way.”
Betting on Yourself
When it comes to navigating moments of self-doubt, Rapoport is clear: it’s not about faking it until you make it. “In my opinion, that’s the worst advice you could give anyone. If you fake it, then imposter syndrome kicks in.” Instead, her mantra is “publish and iterate.” Try something, learn from it, refine it, and keep going.
“I have a lot of things, but I don’t have imposter syndrome,” she says. “I’m okay with putting something out there and maybe running away after I do, but I’ll fix it from there.”
She and her wife even have a motto: “We’re betting on ourselves.” Whether it’s stepping into a new gig or turning down one, the calculus is simple: “We’re literally putting all our chips on us. And if it works, great. If it doesn’t, we learn.”
A Pragmatic Path to Meritocracy
With years of experience in gender equity, Rapoport offers an informed perspective of what’s falling short in DEI and what has the potential to move it forward. “We need to stop with these massive pendulum swings,” she says. “It has to be apolitical.” She believes real progress is possible and meritocracy is about removing barriers so that everyone has the same access to opportunities. Rapoport is also adamant that true equity work must be intersectional stating it to be critical to ensure access to all women.
At the heart of her work is a long-term vision that stretches beyond any single organization or lifetime. “I think ahead 100 years, and I think of what the NFL can look like with all genders being ubiquitous,” she says. “With half of the head coaches being women. Half of the general managers. Half of the owners.”
Rapoport is not pushing for dominance, but for balance. “I don’t believe the future is female, I believe in balance, and I believe the future is everyone – equal representation of great people. That’s how you start to take down very destructive structures that hurt marginalized people.”
Outside work, Rapaport is “massively into plants,” plays three instruments, cooks, paints, and has a list of future hobbies she is excited to learn. But her greatest joy, she says, is her family. “I am so proud of how functional and healthy and happy my family is,” she laughs. “And I’m very passionate about putting my energy there over anything.
By Jessica Robaire