Laura Youngson: The pioneer driving equality through football boots

Series 18 Ep 6

Our guest today is Laura Youngson, the co-founder of Ida Sports, the world’s leading female sports footwear brand that recently received $2M in investment funding.

Laura is a huge advocate for gender equality and in 2017, led a group of women to the top of Kilimanjaro to play a record-breaking football match with Equal Playing Field. 

The trip highlighted a common problem facing female players all over the world: their boots were made for men, or children, and left their feet in pain long after the final whistle blew.

Laura went on to co-found Ida Sports which launched its first boot for female players in 2020 and since that time the brand’s continued to innovate and drive change in the sector. 

This brilliant episode explores Laura’s diverse career path – before founding Ida Sports Laura worked as a senior policy advisor for the UK Department of Business, Innovation and Skills and in event management for major sports events including the London Olympics and the European Games. 

Our conversation highlights the ongoing struggle for gender equality in sport and the innovative steps that are being taken to create a more inclusive environment for women and girls. 

Laura openly shares the challenges and opportunities in designing sportswear specifically for women, the response from retailers, and the importance of fundraising for growth. 

We discuss the wonderful collaboration taking place amongst female entrepreneurs in this space and the impact of motherhood on Laura’s own entrepreneurial journey.

Thank you to Sport England who support The Game Changers Podcast with a National Lottery award.

Find out more about The Game Changers podcast here: https://www.fearlesswomen.co.uk/thegamechangers

Hosted by Sue Anstiss
Produced by Sam Walker, What Goes On Media

A Fearless Women production