Courtney Ksiazek, '14, is Calling All Angels to Build Women's Sports
By Lia Kizilbash Gillet
Courtney Ksiazek, '14, holds the Angel City Football Club's ESPY Award. (Photo: Courtney Ksiazek)
Former NIU women’s soccer player Courtney Ksiazek, ’14, has an impressive off-field game.
As senior director of partnership marketing for the Angel City Football Club (ACFC), Ksiazek elevates women’s soccer, inspires youth, and serves the Los Angeles community—and ESPN noticed.
At the 2024 Annual ESPN Excellence in Sports Performance Yearly (ESPY) Awards, Jennifer Garner, one of a lineup of celebrity ACFC investors, took the stage to accept the award for “Sports Humanitarian Team of the Year” on behalf of the club. The Indianapolis Colts, Miami Heat, and Philadelphia Eagles were also nominated, but the ACFC took home the title for the birth and success of its unique sponsorship model.
Founded in 2020, ACFC was built around being bigger than a women’s soccer club, including a first-of-its-kind sponsorship model, relocating 10% of each of its corporate sponsorship dollars back to community programs in Los Angeles. At the helm since its foundation, Ksiazek leverages the ACFC platform to build, strategize, maintain, and grow relationships with corporate sponsors. Brands like Doordash, Sprouts Farmers Market, Klarna, Birdies, Chevrolet, Heineken, HubSpot, Gatorade, PNC Bank, and 24 Hour Fitness are all committed ACFC partners.
“There was no blueprint manual for how to put such a powerful program together,” said Ksiazek. “We’ve successfully brought this program to life by focusing on the big picture and maintaining strong relationships. It is validating to show the impact we set out to make just four years ago, and I am extremely proud of our ESPY award. With the power of incredible teammates, we have built something that is so unique to sports and equally as powerful to the community we represent.”
Through this model, Ksiazek says the ACFC has committed at least $7 million to the Los Angeles community over the next 3-5 years. In addition to funding, the club hits the streets with more than 1,700 volunteers contributing over 5,400 collective hours of service at year-round events for local community programs. Most recently, ACFC announced its Angel City Impact Fund in partnership with the City of Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks to provide low-cost, or no-cost, soccer opportunities for Los Angeles youth.
“The club stands for equity and treating women's sports like the prized product that it is,” Ksiazek said. “We believe that it takes resources to actually move the needle to create change in all aspects, which is why we chose to build this model.”
Ksiazek’s desire to work in the sports industry came from a realization she had during the week of her last soccer game as a senior at NIU.
“When the rhythm of playing competitive soccer in my life was ready to come to a close, I thought about how to keep sports in my life,” she said. “Later, through some connections, I started learning about the behind-the-scenes of professional and collegiate athletics.”
Ksiazek earned a bachelor’s degree in OM&IS from NIU and a master’s degree in sports administration from Ohio University. At NIU she found family amongst her teammates and other Huskies, especially being part of the College of Business. She was involved in the Business Honors Society and Student Athlete Advisory Committee. Ksiazek said she enjoyed that her parents, also alumni, Mark Ksiazek, '83, and Carol Ksiazek, '83, lived in a nearby suburb close to DeKalb so they could watch her soccer games.
“I also can’t forget about Fatty’s! I loved going there!” she remarked.
Ksiazek landed a dream job at the U.S. Soccer Federation, first in events and then in corporate partnerships, leading her on a path to professional soccer. After working for over two years in major league soccer with the San Jose Earthquakes, she saw the ACFC was going to be an expansion team as the first professional women’s soccer team in Los Angeles in about 10 years and wanted to be a part of it.
“It has been a dream to build Angel City Football Club with an insanely talented group of people,” said Ksiazek.
Growing up in Naperville, Illinois, Ksiazek was constantly playing soccer. It afforded her the opportunity to travel from a young age and opened her eyes to the world by allowing her to visit different cities. She still plays a little soccer when she can. Ksiazek credits her parents’ supportive nature and no-pressure parenting, along with driving her long distance to games and practice, for her success.
“I always had an inner drive that came from the space my parents and family created for me to grow in the ways I wanted to,” she said. “And when I saw the U.S. Women’s National Team win the 1999 World Cup, I wanted to be like Mia Hamm and Brandi Chastain. It drove my love for the game and showed me a different level to aspire to.”
Today, Ksiazek aspires to help change the global narrative around women’s sports and break down the barriers that have held women’s sports back the way the ACFC did it. She says there were many firsts and pioneering moments the ACFC had to overcome. It challenged her mentally, and she is proud of how she persevered.
“I learned to ride the wave of unknowns and build something from scratch,” she said. “It surely wasn’t easy. It took a ton of problem-solving and pivoting, but it built skills and muscles I didn’t know I could have that I will use forever through this experience.”
What’s been most significant, however, is how Ksiazek has grown as an advocate for equity.
“The barriers in women’s sports are the same in other industries, other spaces, and just everyday life,” she said. “I’ve grown as an advocate in these other spaces the best I can, and I look forward to doing more of it. The most fulfilling part of my job is knowing there are young girls and boys out there who don’t know a world where there aren’t sold-out stadiums for a women’s sports team. That is our legacy. Let’s change the narrative that women’s sports are ‘less than’ forever.”