The Buccaneers are the only NFL team with two full-time female coaches in assistant defensive line coach Lori Locust and assistant strength and conditioning coach Maral Javadifar. But they also employ women in prominent roles across the organization, walking the walk of diversity in the NFL.
On Her Turf (@OnHerTurf) and NBC are highlighting stories of women making waves in the NFL and their latest digital feature is all about the women of the Buccaneers organization. Not only is Locust featured, but so is scouting assistant Carly Helfrand, vice president of digital and media Christi Bedan and vice president of group sales Amy Taylor.
"There's so many women here that contribute to the success on and off the turf," Locust said in the video. "Tampa is a great example of that."
Fifty percent of vice presidents in the organization are female and their roles vary from content like Bedan to sales like Taylor to coaching and scouting like Locust and Helfrand. The aim is to create an awareness on the opportunities that are available to women in the NFL.
"It's great to have this diversity in the work place because we come up with the best ideas that way," said Buccaneers Co-Owner and President of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers Foundation and Glazer Family Foundation Darcie Glazer Kassewitz.
Not only is there an increased effort on showing young girls how they can end up in the NFL from an organizational standpoint, the Buccaneers also provide programming for girls to play the game, hosting the largest sanctioned high school flag football tournament in the nation with almost 1,000 athletes.
"Over 40% of our fan base is female so everything we're doing is with that in mind," said Bedan.
