Katie Sowers was the second woman to hold a full-time NFL coaching position, first woman to coach in the Super Bowl and the first openly gay coach in the NFL. Katie spent four years as an offensive assistant coach with the 49ers, working primarily with the wide receivers and started her NFL career with the Atlanta Falcons after spending five years as the athletic director of the City of Kansas City.

After leaving the 49ers, Sowers volunteered her time as the defensive coordinator for the Ottawa University Flag Football team, becoming the first National Champions in women’s flag football history. Katie entered into her first summer with the Kansas City Chiefs under the Bill Walsh Diversity Fellowship following the championship year with Ottawa. After her time coaching the Kansas City Chiefs at training camp, Katie entered on full time with Ottawa University as the Director of Athletic Strategic Initiatives, a job designed to assist Kansas in becoming a notable home for women in sport, while also continuing her coaching duties, winning 5 straight national championships and also serving as a head coach for the Italian National Flag football team during 2024. Katie has competed at the highest level of women’s tackle football, playing in the WFA (women’s football alliance) for eight years and being selected as a member of the United States Women’s National Football Team in 2013. Katie has a master’s degree in kinesiology with an emphasis in pedagogy from the University of Central Missouri.

Katie is listed as one of the 100 Most Influential Women in Sport by Sport360 and won the 2019 Rising Star Award from The Sports Power Brunch: Celebrating the Most Powerful Women in Sports. She was Outsports’ 2017 Female Hero of the Year and named the to the Bleacher Report Power 50. In addition, Katie has been featured in several publications and magazines, such as ESPN, USA Today, NFL.com, Forbes, and Outsports and was named Kansas Leader of the Year in 2021.

Sample Keynote Speech:

Beyond the Field: A Journey of Identity, Purpose, and Possibility

In this deeply personal and empowering talk, Katie Sowers shares her journey from backyard football dreams to global representation, confronting bias, rejection, and self-doubt along the way. Through stories of resilience, family, and finding purpose, she challenges audiences to reframe hardship, lead with empathy, and believe in their own power — not just to break barriers, but to leave the door open for those who follow.

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