Poet Walt Whitman said, “I see great things in baseball. It’s our game, the American game.” And he was right. Baseball is as woven into the fabric of American culture as the red wax thread on a baseball itself. The game is probably older than you think. The first ever baseball game took place on June 19, 1846, almost 15 years before the Civil War. And in August 2026, 180 years after that first game was played, it’s made history again. 

The San Diego Padres have sold control of the franchise to an investor group led by entrepreneur, artist, and philanthropist Kwanza Jones and her husband José E. Feliciano. Jones has become the first Black woman to hold a majority ownership stake in an MLB team since the league was founded in 1903. Feliciano, co-founder of private equity firm Clearlake Capital and co-owner of Chelsea Football Club, becomes the second Latino majority owner in MLB history and the first of Puerto Rican descent.

Jones’ journey to this moment has never fit into one lane. She was crowned Miss Baltimore, won Amateur Night at the Apollo Theater (where she is now a board member), graduated from Princeton University, earned a law and master’s degree, was an adjunct professor at New York University, and has released music on her own independent label. She has built businesses and led more than $200 million in philanthropic giving focused on education and equity. 

This is meaningful as it’s the story of who gets to shape one of America's oldest institutions. To understand why this moment is so significant, you have to understand the history Jones is stepping into and baseball’s history of racism. In the decade following the Civil War, Congress passed 3 amendments to ensure rights and freedom to Black men. While baseball players like Bud Fowler, Frank Grant, and Moses Fleetwood Walker integrated white teams, it soon ended in 1887. Major and minor league team owners had a secret “gentlemen’s agreement” to no longer extend contracts to Black players. So Black athletes built something of their own. In 1920, the “father of Black baseball,” Rube Foster founded the Negro National League. 

It was only when Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis, who supported segregation, died in 1944 that change came. Jackie Robinson famously broke the “color barrier” when he stepped onto the field as a Brooklyn Dodger. Authors of Idols of the Game, Robert Lipsyte and Pete Levine, wrote, “It was the most eagerly anticipated debut…it represented both the dream and the fear of equal opportunity, and it would change forever the complexion of the game and the attitudes of Americans.” Robinson went on to win Rookie of the Year. And while integration in the major and minor leagues was a triumph, it effectively ended the Negro Leagues and Black ownership of teams. Sportswriter Wendell Smith said, "The big league doors suddenly opened one day, and when Negro players walked in, Negro baseball walked out.”

Integration transformed baseball on the field, but it didn't transform who held power off of it. It wasn’t until over 50 years after the dissolution of the Negro Leagues that a Black man had ownership of a team, with Earvin "Magic" Johnson's 2012 purchase of a minority ownership stake in the LA Dodgers. Still, no Black man has held majority ownership of an MLB team. 

And for decades, women have largely been absent from ownership across professional sports, but that’s beginning to change. In addition to Jones, other women are changing their respective games, like Sheila Ford Hamp of the NFL's Detroit Lions; Marian Ilitch of the NHL's Detroit Red Wings; Ann Walton Kroenke of the NBA's Denver Nuggets and NHL's Colorado Avalanche; Michele Kang of NWSL's Washington Spirit and international clubs like Olympique Lyonnais Féminin and the London City Lionesses; and sisters Kalen Jackson, Carlie Irsay-Gordon and Casey Foyt, of the Indianapolis Colts. 

If baseball truly is America's game, then its leadership should reflect America, too. José Feliciano shared, “Diversity breeds innovations, breeds excellence, breeds possibilities that you would never even think of.” Through her majority ownership stake, Kwanza Jones is showing other women what can be achieved. And you never know who may be watching. As Martin Luther King, Jr. once said, “Jackie Robinson made my success possible. Without him, I would never have been able to do what I did.”

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Christina Mack doesn’t fit neatly into a single category. Her career has spanned engineering, epidemiology, and applied AI, all driven by a willingness to tackle complex problems. She is the Chief Scientific Officer for Real World Evidence and SVP of Applied AI Science at IQVIA, a global company that focuses on clinical research to improve patient experience and outcomes. She is an adjunct professor at the University of Notre Dame and UNC-Chapel Hill, serves as an epidemiologist for the NBA and NFL, and has advised organizations including the Duke-Margolis Center for Health Policy, the World Economic Forum, and global healthcare leaders on the responsible application of AI and real-world evidence. A PharmaVoice 100 honoree, she is passionate about mentoring the next generation of scientists and advancing women in data science and healthcare. In other words, she focuses on making our world a safer and healthier place.

What’s the worst career advice you’ve gotten?

If you have bigger, out-of-the-box goals, not everyone will understand them. And while some advice is well-meaning, it can become death by a thousand cuts, slowly pulling you away from what you’re actually trying to build. I’ve seen this happen a lot, especially for women in leadership. There’s often an unspoken expectation of how you should show up, manage, or lead. But the advice that sticks with me now is the opposite. You don’t need to change to fit the role, you need to shape the role to fit you. If the advice you’re getting is pushing you away from your instincts, your voice, or your values, it’s not the right advice.

What’s the best piece of non-obvious career advice you’ve gotten?

My grad school advisor told me to pick my three top priorities and ensure everything I do hits at least two, ideally all three. It pushed me to have a North Star and say “yes” to opportunities that align. This mindset keeps me energized and protects my time.

What was a heartbeat moment for you in your career?

My first job was as an engineer at an amazing company with a promising path ahead. I loved the work and people, but it felt too linear. I promised myself (I even wrote it on my closet wall in permanent marker, sorry, New York landlord!) that my career would be an adventure, marked by out-of-the-box opportunities.

That sense of adventure took me to Zambia, through the OECS, to a small tech start up, to a PhD, then pharma, sports, and beyond. I saw healthcare across resource-constrained and resource-rich settings, learned what patients face when navigating care, and fully embraced uncertainty. Those experiences transformed how I think about health and cemented my commitment to career-as-adventure, second only to the biggest adventure of all: three kids with my best friend and husband.

Who is one person you’d love to give flowers to from your career that influenced your journey? What advice or lesson did you learn from them?

Angie Flynn-McIver, theatre director and communication guru, who pioneered intentional communication. Her approach starts with a powerful question: what do you want your audience, whether it’s one person or one thousand, to think, feel, or do after you speak? If you don’t know, your audience won’t either. Her insight has fundamentally influenced how I think and communicate, and how my team describes and puts our complex work into action.

Where have you caused some good trouble in your career?

I am energized by big challenges, from helping organizations operate safely during a global pandemic to advancing the use of technology and AI across the industry. During the pandemic, I co-designed protocols that allowed professional sports to resume, including the NBA bubble, helping the NBA safely finish their playoff season, NFL athlete protocols and contact tracing, and the safe execution of the Tokyo Olympics.

Over that time, our knowledge, along with the safety concerns and global societal restrictions, were constantly evolving. The work required multidisciplinary teams, diverse perspectives, rapid scientific advancement, and continuous adaptation. What made it “good trouble” was creating a new playbook. We made consequential decisions amid uncertainty, challenged conventional approaches, and built trust across disciplines. I learned that meaningful progress happens when people with different perspectives come together around the same problem and use evidence, curiosity, and data to chart a path forward.

Want to nominate a leader you admire? You can do so here.

Bailey Kircher of The Female Quotient weighs in:

1:1s can be anxiety-producing on both sides of the desk, and with good reason. Employees often feel their manager doesn't adequately understand their contributions. So if you're concerned about getting it right, that's a sign you're a thoughtful leader.

The best 1:1s feel more like coaching than status updates. While it's important to review priority projects, goals, and what someone is working on, the conversation shouldn't stop there. Try asking:

• What's a challenge you've had and handled well lately?
• Where do you feel stuck, and how can I help?
• If you could spend more time on one thing and less on another, what would it be?

A 1:1 should also be the place for constructive feedback, where employees feel safe discussing challenges, celebrating progress, and having honest conversations. Giving candid, actionable feedback will help them grow. By balancing priorities, performance, and development, your direct report will leave feeling heard, supported, and with a clear understanding of both what's expected of them and how they can continue to grow.

P.S. Got a burning career question? Serve it up here to Dear FQ to score advice from a powerhouse leader in our network.

Why do people stay? For most employees, it comes down to more than a paycheck. It’s about flexibility and leadership.

Flexibility has become the foundation of today’s workplace. Before the pandemic, only 10% of Americans worked remotely. Today, 58% have the option to work from home at least part of the time. Flexibility is no longer a perk, it's an expectation. It's about having the autonomy to work in ways that help people do their best.

Next up: leadership. People don't just join companies, they join leaders. A great manager can make challenging work energizing, while poor leadership can drain enthusiasm from even the most exciting role. Effective leaders actively cultivate a workplace culture that employees want to stay in. 

So organizations, take note: retention is about experience. It's how employees feel when they show up each day, whether they have the flexibility to navigate different stages of life, and whether they can see a future for themselves within the company. In today's talent market, the question isn't only, "How do we attract great people?" It's "How do we create a workplace they don't want to leave?"

Here’s to your own field of dreams ⚾️

Xo,

The FQ

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