CORRECTION WNBA Star Nneka Ogwumike Joins the Board of

Charlotte, Oct. 06, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — CORRECTION: Ogwumike’s final quote was corrected for clarity.

Today, Girls on the Run International, a nonprofit that empowers young girls, announced that Stanford University graduate and WNBA star Nneka Ogwumike will join its leadership team. Ogwumike (pronounced Ah-gwoo-ma-kay) plays for the Los Angeles Sparks and serves as the president of the Women’s National Basketball Players Association. Now she will combine her star power from on and off the court to serve Girls on the Run International as a member of the board of directors starting October 1, 2022.

“At 6 feet 2 inches, girls literally and figuratively look up to Nneka. She is a tremendous role model and embodies so many of the things we reinforce in our curriculum: leadership, teamwork, resilience and confidence,” said Elizabeth Kunz, CEO of Girls on the Run International. “She has done so much for our organization over the years, and she brings both her head and heart to our mission. Now our board, our entire organization and the hundreds of thousands of girls we serve every year will benefit from her perspective and leadership.”

Ogwumike has already been generously supporting Girls on the Run (GOTR) for three years. In 2019, she cheered on participants at end-of-season 5K events for the Girls on the Run councils in Charlotte, N.C., and Los Angeles. When the world was sidelined early in the pandemic, she created a GOTR at Home video during the spring 2020 season. In 2021, she helped garner a $50,000 donation from Pepsi for GOTR Los Angeles and also participated as a panelist at GOTR’s 25th Birthday event which raised more than $250,000.

“I’m incredibly honored to join the Girls on the Run board of directors. I do what I do today thanks to role models before me – role models who looked like me, and opened my mind and heart to the many possibilities to be phenomenal. I hope in my own way as an athlete and an advocate, I’m able to serve…