If you watched the Paris Olympics in 2024, it was hard to miss the coverage on sports and mental health. Specifically, the amazing comeback story of Simone Biles, who became the most decorated Olympic gymnast of all time after withdrawing from the Tokyo Games due to mental health issues in 2020.

The narrative around sports and mental health requires nuance, and the specific situations smatter greatly. For example, in the world of elite athletes, a study conducted by the International Olympic Committee in 2019 found that up to 35 percent have mental health concerns. The intense pressure to perform and achieve perfection can often be a contributing factor to depression or anxiety. But on the opposite end of the spectrum, a widely cited 2019 study by the NIH noted that sports often has a net positive outcome on mental health in adults.

And for kids, sports are generally accepted as something with positive outcomes on metal health, grades, physical health, and social emotional growth. However, as kids’ sports become more specialized and intense, sometimes mental health issues emerge even in these arenas.

In this episode, we’ll speak with three entrepreneurial leaders each at the intersection of sports and mental health, who are creating access to mental health resources and provoking conversations surrounding it.

First, an entrepreneurial leader in philanthropy who is helping organizations secure grants to do lifesaving work. A Babson alum and CEO of a nonprofit that has reached over 1 million kids with group mental health services through sports and a Babson alum and former basketball player whose nonprofit supports mental health services for college and elite athletes.

• Beth Brown, Managing Director of Mental Health and Well-Being at the Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation
• David S. Cohen ‘95, CEO of Doc Wayne
• Teddy Sourlis ‘22, CEO and Founder of Men’s x Mental, Inc.

Sources:

Intro and Outro Segments:

1. Reardon CL, Hainline B, Aron CM, Baron D, Baum AL, Bindra A,

Budgett R, Campriani N, Castaldelli-Maia JM, Currie A,

Derevensky JL, Glick ID, Gorczynski P, Gouttebarge V, Grandner

MA, Han DH, McDuff D, Mountjoy M, Polat A, Purcell R, Putukian

M, Rice S, Sills A, Stull T, Swartz L, Zhu LJ, Engebretsen L.

Mental health in elite athletes: International Olympic Committee

consensus statement (2019). Br J Sports Med. 2019

Jun;53(11):667-699. doi: 10.1136/bjsports-2019-100715. PMID:

31097450.

2. Eather N, Wade L, Pankowiak A, Eime R. The impact of

sports participation on mental health and social outcomes

in adults: a systematic review and the 'Mental Health through

Sport' conceptual model. Syst Rev. 2023 Jun 21;12(1):102. doi:

10.1186/s13643-023-02264-8. PMID: 37344901; PMCID:

PMC10286465.

3. (2024, August 13). Athlete Mental Health: What You Need

to Know. Mcleanhospital.org. Retrieved February 12, 2025,

from https://www.mcleanhospital.org/essential/athlete-mh

4. Brenner JS, LaBotz M, Sugimoto D, Stracciolini A.

The Psychosocial Implications of Sport Specialization in

Pediatric Athletes. J Athl Train. 2019 Oct;54(10):1021-1029.

doi: 10.4085/1062-6050-394-18. Epub 2019 Sep 18. PMID:

31532693; PMCID: PMC6805069.

5. https://988lifeline.org/

Beth’s Segment:

1. https://blankfoundation.org/

2. https://www.adcouncil.org/

3. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhfUBNsnpMw

4. https://loveyourmindtoday.org/

David’s Segment:

https://docwayne.org/

Teddy’s Segment:

https://mensxmental.org/

Credits:

Paul DeWolf, Executive Producer

Madeline Poirier, Writer, Producer, and Host

Billy Wirasnik, Audio Recording, Design, and Mix

Epidemic Sound, Music and SFX

If you live in the U.S., chances are you have a lot of stuff. Or at least you want to have a lot of stuff. As the MIT Press Reader notes in their brief history of consumer culture 'consumption is now frequently seen as our principal role in the world.'

We've been trained in a way to want more stuff, and that stuff takes a lot of resources to make, to ship, and then at the end of its life, to dispose of. And as sustainability becomes an increasingly important conversation for our collective future, how are brands looking at these problems? How do we account for all this waste and energy that we're consuming?

Can a company make consumer goods like clothes and electronics more sustainable without sacrificing their bottom line?

Today, we're tackling just about the biggest entrepreneurial problem there is in consumer goods - Sustainability.

We'll hear from two Babson College alumni and entrepreneurial leaders who are at the forefront of reimagining processes and their businesses and pointing us to a more sustainable future. And perhaps also a more thoughtful approach to consumerism.

And we'll speak with a renowned Babson accounting scholar who will help us understand how integrating sustainability practices into your balance sheet can not only create tangible value, but intangible value for your brand as well.

• Uddhav Bagrodia ‘21, Co-Founder and President of Wastewear
• Brigitte Wudernitz Muehlmann, PhD., MST, Professor in the Division of Accounting and Law at Babson College
• Samuel D. Herec MBA ‘25, VP of Product and Sustainability at TIvoli Audio

Sources:

Intro Segment:

Higgs, K. (2021, January 11). A Brief History of Consumer Culture. The MIT

Press Reader. Retrieved April 2, 2025, from

https://thereader.mitpress.mit.edu/a-brief-history-of-consumer-culture/

Uddhav’s Segment:

https://www.wastewear.com/

1. Ruiz, A. (2024, March 18). 47 Official Sustainable Fashion Statistics.

TheRoundup.org. Retrieved April 2, 2025, from

https://theroundup.org/sustainable-fashion-statistics/

2. Yorke, S. (2024, November 12). What is Sustainable Fashion? Oxfam.org.

Retrieved April 2, 2025, from

https://www.oxfam.org.uk/oxfam-in-action/oxfam-blog/7-facts-about-sustai

nable-fashion/

1. (2025, March 30). Environmental Sustainability in the Fashion Industry.

GenevaEnvironmentNetwork.org. Retrieved April 9, 2025, from

https://www.genevaenvironmentnetwork.org/resources/updates/sustainabl

e-fashion/

1. Circle Economy (n.d.). The Circularity Gap Report - Textiles.

Circularity-Gap.World. https://www.circularity-gap.world/textiles

5. California State Legislature (2024, September 30). SB-707 Responsible

Textile Recovery Act of 2024. California Legislative Information. Retrieved

April 24, 2025, from

https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=2023202

40SB707#:~:text=This%20bill%20would%20enact%20a,producer%20resp

onsibility%20organization%20or%20PRO.

Professor Muelhmann’s Segment:

The five entrepreneurial practices are from the book “Teaching Entrepreneurship: A

Practice-Based Approach” by Heidi Neck, Candy Brush and Patty Greene.

https://www.amazon.com/Teaching-Entrepreneurship-Practice-Based-Heidi-Neck/dp/178

2540695

Sam’s Segment:

https://tivoliaudio.com/

Evers, J. (2025, April 23). The Great Pacific Garbage Patch.

NationalGeographic.org. Retrieved April 25, 2025, from

https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/great-pacific-garbage-patch/

Credits:

Paul DeWolf, Executive Producer

Madeline Poirier, Writer, Producer, and Host

Billy Wirasnik, Audio Recording, Design, and Mix

Epidemic Sound, Music and SFX

Even though the advertising and entertainment industries have made strides in trying to be more inclusive and speak more directly to different consumer groups, work remains to be done.

Research done by the Geena Davis Institute shows that representation for women, LGBTQIA+ race, disability, age and body size was actually shrinking for some audiences in recent years.

So why does representation in media matter?

How does it affect the business landscape in terms of sales and brand equity?

And beyond even that, how does representation in the content we view every day affect consumers and how they view themselves?

And how can entrepreneurial leaders lay the groundwork in the content creation ecosystem for creating authentic stories?

In this episode, three entrepreneurial leaders talk about how authentic storytelling and representation in media can make an impact not only on a company's bottom line, but on the customers they serve.

We'll speak with a Babson alum who's an advertising Hall of Fame inductee and visionary creative agency leader. Babson's own resident marketing expert, who will help us break down the connections between representation brands and consumers. And an entrepreneur who's bringing inclusive casting practices for photo and video to a whole new level.

• Aaron Walton ’83, CEO and Founder Walton / Isaacson, Advertisers Hall of Fame Inductee
• Anjali S. Bal, PhD., Associate Professor of Marketing and Presidential Scholar at Babson College
• Kristie Raymond, Founder & Chief Casting Strategist, HumanKind Casting

Sources:

Intro Segment

1. (2024, September 1). See Jane 2024. The Geena Davis Institute. Retrieved

February 21, 2025, from (Geena Davis Institute (2024, September 1). See Jane

2024: How Has On-Screen Representation in Children’s Television Changed

from 2018 to 2023? Https://Geenadavisinstitute.org/. Retrieved February 24,

12025, from

https://geenadavisinstitute.org/research/see-jane-2024-how-has-on-screen-repre

sentation-in-childrens-television-changed-from-2018-to-2023/).

Aaron’s Segment

1. Mckinsey & Company (2020, May 19). Diversity wins: How inclusion matters.

Mckinsey.com. Retrieved April 17, 2025, from

https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/diversity-and-inclusion/diversity-wins

-how-inclusion-matters

2. Gartner (2019, September 20). Diversity and Inclusion Build High-Performance

Teams. Gartner.com. Retrieved April 17, 2025, from

https://www.gartner.com/smarterwithgartner/diversity-and-inclusion-build-high-per

formance-teams

3. World Economic Forum (2019, April 29). The Business Case for Diversity is now

Overwhelming. Weforum.org. Retrieved April 17, 2025, from

https://www.weforum.org/stories/2019/04/business-case-for-diversity-in-the-work

place/

Professor Bal’s Segment

1. 2. NeuroLaunch Editorial Team. (2024, September 15). The psychological power of

using someone's name. NeuroLaunch. Retrieved from

https://neurolaunch.com/psychology-of-calling-someone-by-their-name/

Bond, J. (2021, August 30). The impact of respecting another person's gender.

Psychology Today. Retrieved from

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/more-diagnosis/202108/the-impact-res

pecting-another-persons-gender

Credits:

Paul DeWolf, Executive Producer

Madeline Poirier, Writer, Producer, and Host

Billy Wirasnik, Audio Recording, Design, and Mix

Epidemic Sound, Music and SFX