SheMate
A welcoming experience for women in athletics
SheMate is a community platform that connects women in college sports with the young athletes who look up to them.
Promoting equal representation
Girls aged 14 and older in the U.S. drop out of sports at 1.5 times the rate that boys do – and most say it's because they can't see a future for themselves in athletics. Pair this figure with widespread inequality in sports, and the gap continues to widen for female athletes. SheMate, a recent NMotion accelerator graduate, is tackling this issue by creating a community that connects women in college sports with high school athletes and their parents, guardians, coaches, and school districts. Neon partnered with SheMate to launch an online platform where college athletes can share their stories and give back to the community.
Supporting a vibrant community
SheMate curates content from female college athletes who share their stories with subscribers. The paid subscriptions enable SheMate to monetize its unique content and compensate participating athletes for their time and expertise. Building on the success of SheMate's virtual events and social presence, we wanted to create a digital experience that highlights each athlete, while ensuring users can easily find relevant content and connect with athletes they look up to.
A winning approach
In just three weeks, we elevated the brand and improved the user experience of the current platform – enabling SheMate to host custom video content and introduce college athletes to young people in sport. The first iteration was designed to test community engagement, while providing financial opportunities for SheMate athlete ambassadors. Our team also collected insights on subscription and monetization strategies to help SheMate scale.
Ready to compete
The new platform enables administrators to easily maintain and upload new content. Each SheMate athlete also has a discount code to share with new subscribers, which is helping to build brand momentum. Most importantly, the SheMate team has an online home that provides proof-of-concept for fundraising efforts and reinforces their dedicated community-building work.
"We're so grateful for our work in conjunction with Neon. They have helped us bring our idea to reality, and allow us to grow and scale quickly. They were efficient, communicative, and have provided us great support in our product development."
Teresa (Bolas) Friesan & Kristin Stone
SheMate Co-Founders
