Published: February 12, 2016
Today’s Entrepreneurial Women Featuring Michele Smith a Great Success
On Thursday, Feb. 4, The University of Tampa hosted two-time Olympic gold medalist and ESPN analyst Michele Smith as part of its Today's Entrepreneurial Women speaker series.
Smith, president of Michele Smith Fastpitch Inc., shared her story of recovery from a car accident in 1986 that severely injured her pitching arm when she was a student at Oklahoma State University.
“So at 19, I realized that softball is what I do, not who I am,” she told the audience of more than 130 UT students, faculty and staff, members of the Tampa Bay community and University supporters who attended the event. “I’m going to be me a lot longer than I’m going to be a softball player, so I better work on being a better me.”
Smith would go on to help the U.S. softball team win gold at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics and 2000 Sydney Olympics and become the first woman to serve as commentator for a nationally televised Major League Baseball game.
“It was an honor to speak to the students and faculty of UT's entrepreneurship program. Sharing best practices and life events is always so exciting to me,” said Smith. “Making a difference and giving back are the foundation of a life that has meaning and value. Hopefully I've been able to inspire the students to go out and make a difference of their own.”
In addition to Smith’s talk, the event included a networking reception and tours of the John P. Lowth Entrepreneurship Center on the eighth floor of the Innovation and Collaboration Building
“We want to thank our generous sponsor, Chase Bank, for an exciting evening,” said Rebecca White, director of the Lowth Entrepreneurship Center.
Today’s Entrepreneurial Women is sponsored by the UT Lowth Entrepreneurship Center in the Sykes College of Business and is a forum that brings female entrepreneurs to campus to tell their story and interact with business leaders and students.
For more information, contact Lori Castellano at lcastellano@ut.edu or (813) 257-3227.
