Scores and highlights? You’ve got plenty of places to check those. For everything else, meet FQ Sports. 

We’ll feature the powerhouse women running the game from the field and the boardroom. That includes the big-name athletes and the stories of how the owners, presidents, CEOs, referees, and coaches of the teams you love are getting it done. We’ll talk about how athlete moms navigate breastfeeding, caregiving, and competing at the highest level. We’ll follow the money pouring into women’s sports and the men showing up for equality in the game. And yes, we’ve never met a tunnel ’fit we didn’t want to discuss.

Enter FQ Sports: The FQ you know and love with more jerseys, billion-dollar deals, and very good sneakers. We’ll see you there!

If you flip through a medical textbook, most of the illustrations you’ll see are white. Until 2021, most people had never even seen a medical illustration of a Black pregnant woman and fetus. That changed when Nigerian medical student and illustrator Chidiebere Ibe posted one online. It went viral, not because the image should have been remarkable, but because its existence was.

Medical illustrations aren’t just pictures. They train future clinicians, shape how conditions are recognized, and ultimately influence how patients are treated. Yet a 2018 study of four widely used medical textbooks found that only 5% of nearly 4,000 images showed darker skin. The people creating those images aren’t particularly diverse either: there are fewer than 2,000 trained medical illustrators worldwide, and only 8% identify as people of color.

And when Black people do appear in medical imagery, the context can reinforce stereotypes. More than 50% of images depicting sexually transmitted infections, for example, feature darker skin, while Black people appear in less than 25% of cancer imagery despite experiencing higher mortality rates for breast, cervix, colon, lung, prostate, and skin cancer.

Dermatology shows just how consequential that gap can be. A 2020 study found that just 18% of images featured darker skin, while the 2018 textbook study found no images of melanoma on darker skin. Black patients, meanwhile, are more than 3x as likely to receive a late-stage melanoma diagnosis. If clinicians aren’t trained to recognize disease on every kind of skin, patients pay the price.

Medicine has a long history of using racist pseudoscience. In the 19th century, physician Samuel Cartwright invented “drapetomania,” a made-up mental illness that he claimed caused enslaved people to flee captivity. How did they become afflicted with this disease? By being treated as equals by their enslavers. The preventative treatment he suggested? “Whipping the devil out of them." All of this occurred because Black people were considered not just different, but inferior. And doctors were determined to prove it. Dr. Thomas Hamilton conducted brutal experiments on an enslaved man named John Brown, while J. Marion Sims, the “father of modern gynecology,” experimented on enslaved Black women without anesthesia. These practices perpetuated false beliefs that Black people had thicker skin, different lung capacity, and a greater tolerance for pain.

Those myths didn’t disappear with slavery. Black patients were denied care during the 1918 flu pandemic, and in 1932 the Tuskegee syphilis study began, where the U.S. Public Health Service studied Black men in Alabama who had syphilis. The men were misled about their condition and denied proper treatment even after penicillin was available and became the standard cure. The study continued for 40 years, becoming one of the most notorious examples of medical exploitation, and contributed to generations of distrust in the healthcare system. As medical illustrator Ni-ka Ford has said, that trust between the Black community and the healthcare system has been broken for centuries.

Some of these underlying biases remain startlingly current. A 2016 study of 222 medical students and residents found that about 50% endorsed at least one false belief about biological differences between Black and white people, and those beliefs were associated with inaccurate perceptions of Black patients’ pain tolerance and treatment recommendations. The past, in other words, still shows up in the exam room. 

Which brings us back to that viral illustration. Who we see in medicine matters. Studies show that when a Black patient visits a Black doctor, they are more likely to have received preventative care in the past year. Unsurprisingly in counties that have more Black physicians, Black people live longer. And yet, only 5.7% of doctors in the U.S. are Black. The issue of representation in medicine is essential to saving lives. They say a picture’s worth a thousand words, but in medicine, the right picture could be worth much more.

We’re excited to announce Wispr Flow as the Official Voice Partner of The Female Quotient.

Our team was using Wispr Flow long before this partnership existed. It’s so simple: speak naturally and it turns what you say into clear, polished writing, in your own voice, ready to send. No “umms,” no “ahhs,” and no cleanup.

Your best ideas rarely arrive at your desk. They show up on a walk, in the car, or halfway through making dinner, when your brain finally has room to wander. Scientists call it the default mode network, a state where you’re not actively problem-solving, but your brain is still connecting the dots in the background. We call it the moment you have a great idea and think, “I’ll remember that later.” (You won’t.)

Now you just say it, because wherever inspiration strikes, Wispr Flow captures it before it disappears. For leaders moving from one thing to the next all day, that’s hours back every week. We’re excited to offer the FQ community 3 free months of Wispr Flow! Check it out here.

The best leaders never stop growing. That's the philosophy that has guided Cecilia Carter throughout her career. As CEO & Founder of The Strategy Chick, she helps executives lead with confidence, clarity, and purpose through personalized coaching. Before launching her firm, Cecilia held leadership roles at PepsiCo and Starbucks, where she led communications, HR, and global diversity initiatives. Today, she advises Fortune 500 companies, including AstraZeneca, Pfizer, J.P. Morgan Chase, and ABB Inc., helping leaders navigate complex challenges and unlock their potential. She serves on industry boards dedicated to advancing business leadership and creating more inclusive workplaces, including the Business-to-Business Committee for the Association of National Advertisers and the National Black MBA Association.

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

“Tough it out, be grateful you have this job, stay in the position, and continue to prove yourself.” As a woman of color, I’ve always had to disproportionately prove myself. I grew up at a time where stability and longevity at one company was prized, but I built my career on following my heart. I placed myself in situations where there was an intersection of passion, energy, and recognition because I want to be excited when I come to work. You should enjoy what you do!

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

Learn the art of persuasion. Remember, you're always selling yourself, but it's not always about what you say. Instead of doing all the talking, ask the right questions. Put people at ease so they feel comfortable sharing their perspective. Pay attention to what they need in order to say "yes," and listen just as closely to their nonverbal cues. The better you understand someone, the more effectively you can collaborate, influence, and tailor your message. Persuasion isn't about being phony or saying whatever it takes to win. It's about helping someone shift their mindset and see a possibility they hadn't seen before.

What was a heartbeat moment for you in your career?

It’s happening right now. After a 35-year corporate career working for iconic brands like PepsiCo, GE, and Starbucks, I decided to become a coach. When I was figuring out what to call my practice, I asked people to give me 3 adjectives they would use to describe me. The word “strategy” really stuck out, which eventually led to The Strategy Chick. It fit my personality, but people second-guessed it because they thought it would deter business or prevent people from taking me seriously. I said, “If someone doesn't want to do business with me because that's my brand, then I don't need to do business with them.” I stuck to my guns and launched it. These past 10 years, I’ve grown and it’s evolved. My success is driven by sharing and helping others find happiness, and it’s had a ripple effect.

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?

I would give flowers to Ann Marie Fudge, who was the first Black woman to run a major global advertising and communications company. She advocated for me and I learned so much from her. She told me that I needed to start my own company. I would have never thought that for myself, but because of her, it was always in the back of my mind.

Where have you caused some good trouble in your career?

I've been a troublemaker all my life. I grew up in the 60s through civil rights. We were the first Black family to integrate a suburb of Cleveland, and I was the first Black girl in my entire elementary school. I had strong parents who would tell me, “Everybody’s not your friend, and not everyone is gonna like you. Keep your focus on your education.” I was taunted, and I had to face some physical fights, but you could never stop me from being successful in school. When I got to high school, I was the first Black female student at one of Cleveland's most prestigious private schools. This continued into my career. I would go into a corporate boardroom and often be the “only.”

Women need to know they belong at the table. And as Shirley Chisholm so powerfully taught us, if there isn't a seat, bring your own chair. I've spent much of my career being "the only" and "the first," and that's exactly why I consider myself a troublemaker. Every day, I'm helping others claim their seat, own their voice, and make sure they never give it up.

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

Emmy York of The Female Quotient weighs in:

The average person makes over 35,000 decisions (!!) each day, so it’s no surprise that you’re suffering from decision fatigue. It’s an important issue to address because it can lead to irritation, procrastination, analysis paralysis, impaired judgment, snap decisions, avoidance, burnout…need I go on? After all, our brains can only handle so much!

A few things that help:

It’s about simplifying where you can, giving your brain a break, and saving your energy for what truly matters.

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

For years, workplaces have motivated people with bonuses, promotions, and competition. While that works to a point, employees want something more fundamental: to understand why their work matters. Employees with a strong sense of purpose are 5.6x more likely to be engaged, which improves productivity and reduces burnout. 

So businesses, take note. As Deepak Chopra put it, “The purpose of any organization or business is to improve the quality of life, period. Focus on the quality of life for your employees, because if your employees are happy, then your customers are going to be happy. If your customers are happy, then your investors are going to be happy. So start with your employees first, and then everything else will fall into place.” Be motivated to help your employees find purpose and, in turn, motivation. Happy bosses and happy, purpose-driven employees? Now that’s a win-win.

Here’s to seeing the full picture.

Xo,

The FQ

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