The Power of Sports to Drive Social Change

Experience the Episode

Presented by Notre Dame Law School

Tuesday, February 4, 2025 12:00 pm

How can sports influence individual behavior, unite diverse communities, and challenge social inequities?

Find out in this episode of the DEI Podcast, when Max Gaston sits down with Diahann Billings, attorney, and CEO of the Ross Initiative in Sports for Equality (RISE), to explore the transformative power of sports in driving social change. Diahann shares insights on key RISE programs, including their work with athletes to bridge racial and economic divides and their initiatives to promote diversity in sports leadership.

The conversation also touches on the current political climate, the push for fair pay in women’s sports, and the obstacles to addressing racism within fanbases. Listen in to learn how RISE is leveraging the unifying nature of sports to create more inclusive environments and how you can support their mission to advance equality and justice both on and off the field.

The DEI Podcast with Max Gaston is sponsored by Notre Dame Law School and co-sponsored on ThinkND by the Black Alumni of Notre Dame, the Alumni Rainbow Community of Notre Dame (ARC ND), YoungND, Native American Alumni, Notre Dame Women Connect, Hispanic Alumni of Notre Dame, Notre Dame Senior Alumni, and Asian Pacific Alumni of Notre Dame. Register to receive emails about upcoming episodes of The DEI Podcast.

More

Meet the Speaker: Diahann Billings

Diahann Billings-Burford, who has spent her career working in and lifting up diverse communities, is CEO of RISE. During the past decade, Billings-Burford has held senior positions in New York City government and subsequently at Time Warner, serving some five years in each post and handling a challenging mix of responsibilities.

At Time Warner, she served as executive director, cultural investments and vice president of the Time Warner Foundation. She led the company-wide college internship, employee community engagement and community investments programs in New York City. She also managed the grant making and operations of the foundation.

As the city’s chief service officer, she headed NYC Service, a division of the mayor’s office, engaging more than 1.3 million New Yorkers in a range of volunteer activities. NYC Service worked to help New Yorkers connect to service opportunities more easily, target volunteers to address the city’s greatest needs and promote service as a core part of being a New Yorker.

At various stages of her career, Billings-Burford’s experiences have been in deeply diverse communities and in executive offices; with government agencies and education initiatives; with youth, elderly and the disadvantaged; in innovative startups; and in both publicly funded nonprofits and privately sponsored for-profits.

Billings-Burford’s experience also includes serving as deputy executive director of external affairs for City Year New York, a nonprofit service organization; director of external relations for Achievement First, a charter school management organization; director of leadership development for Prep for Prep, a leadership development organization; and an associate with the law firm Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP.

She serves on the National Board of Directors for buildOn, an international organization working to break the cycle of poverty, illiteracy and low expectations through service learning programs in America’s under-served high schools and by building classrooms in some of the world’s economically poorest countries. She also serves as Vice Chair of the board of Philanthropy New York and serves on the boards for the Robert Sterling Clark Foundation, Strava and Success Academy. In 2021, she was recognized on Crain’s Notable Nonprofits and Philanthropy list and in 2019 was named one of Crain’s Notable Women in Sports.

Billings-Burford earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Yale University and a law degree from Columbia University School of Law and is a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc.