Nicole Matuska
Nicole Matuska is the GRLS Director at Women Win. She has been working with Women Win in various capacities since 2011 on a range of projects and programmes both in the U.S. and globally. Currently, Nicole has taken on the strategic lead of girls’ rights through a sports initiative at Women Win, working with implementing partners and other stakeholders across the development, sport, and women’s rights sectors to advance the playing field that empowers adolescent girls and young women to exercise their rights through sports and play. Together with our implementing partners, we have impacted the lives of over 4 million adolescent girls and young women in over 100 countries.
After graduating with a journalism degree from Northwestern University in Chicago IL, Nicole received a Fulbright scholarship in 2006 to study women’s football and ended up staying 10 years in the country working with local and international organisations using sport as a tool for girls and young women’s empowerment.
Nicole’s love for sports and its power to transform lives was solidified during her time in Morocco, however, really, it was born at age 6, the first time her dad pushed her onto a wave at Cocoa Beach on top of an old surfboard we called Big Red.