Her Business of Sport - Bonita Mersiades

The Her Business of Sport podcast shines a spotlight on female sport business administrators who are changing the rules of the industry by carving new pathways for women in the field. Each episode interviews a woman in the sports industry about their career journey, experiences working in the field, and advice they give to future generations.

Episode 8 features Bonita Mersiades - Author and Publisher at Fair Play Publishing and Founder of Football Writers Festival.

Bonita has been active in football for a lifetime as a volunteer, and professionally with a national league club, state federation, as team operations manager for the men's national team, the Socceroos, and as head of corporate and public affairs for Football Australia.

She was one of the first people in the world to speak out about the environment and culture within which world football and FIFA operated in the context of the 2018/2022 World Cup bidding contest. Bonita is known as a 'FIFA whistleblower', and advocated globally for independent governance reform of world football administration long before the famous 2015 FIFA arrests in Zurich.

In this episode, Bonita talks about her career journey into the sports industry. Bonita shares her highs and lows throughout her career, the importance of using your connections, Australia co-hosting the Women's World Cup, and much more.

This episode covers:

• Bonita's journey from government to sports industry
• The World cup bidding process for Australia
• The systemic issue within world football administration
• The Footballer's Writer Festival
• Bonita's qualities of a good leader
• The importance in having a mentor when breaking into the sports industry
• Bonita's advice about getting started in the industry and building a career