Naomi Girma: The 'Secretary Of Defense' Heads To Chelsea Breaking Records On The Way

Forbes

Not much gets by Naomi Girma. Her American fans call her “Secretary of Defense.” She played every minute of the 2024 Paris Olympic Games, taking home the gold with the US. Now she’s a star defender for England's Chelsea F.C. Women’s team. She joined the squad earlier this year in a record-breaking $1.1 million transfer fee, the first time a female soccer player’s fee passed seven figures. Off the pitch, Girma has scored partnerships with Nike, Kaiser Permanente, and Siete Foods, and is a mental health advocate working with Common Goal’s “Create The Space” mental health initiative for athletes. “From when I was a kid watching to now being four years in, I've seen so much growth happening,” Girma said of the surge of women’s sports. “It's really exciting to see where it's going. And now it's on us and our generation to make sure we keep pushing it.”  Subscribe to FORBES: https://www.youtube.com/user/Forbes?sub_confirmation=1  0:00 Introduction 1:59 Naomi On Her Early Love For Soccer And Growing In The Sport 4:56 Naomi Girma On Her Goals An Athlete 8:44 Naomi Girma On The Future Of Women Sports And What She's Excited To See Happen 15:02 How Naomi Girma Is A Leader On/Off The Field   Subscribe to FORBES: https://www.youtube.com/user/Forbes?sub_confirmation=1  Fuel your success with Forbes. Gain unlimited access to premium journalism, including breaking news, groundbreaking in-depth reported stories, daily digests and more. Plus, members get a front-row seat at members-only events with leading thinkers and doers, access to premium video that can help you get ahead, an ad-light experience, early access to select products including NFT drops and more:  https://account.forbes.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=growth_non-sub_paid_subscribe_ytdescript  Stay Connected Forbes newsletters: https://newsletters.editorial.forbes.com Forbes on Facebook: http://fb.com/forbes Forbes Video on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/forbes Forbes Video on Instagram: http://instagram.com/forbes More From Forbes:  http://forbes.com  Forbes covers the intersection of entrepreneurship, wealth, technology, business and lifestyle with a focus on people and success.

Transcript

00:00I think what's really cool about sports and the women's game and women's soccer is that like it

00:05really doesn't matter your age. Like if you're good you'll play. If you have something to say

00:09people will listen. Hi everyone we are here with Naomi Gurma a defender on Chelsea FC and a member

00:19of the U.S. Women's National Team. Thank you so much for joining me today. Of course thanks for

00:23having me. So you have had a big move in the past you know a couple of weeks. In January you were

00:28signed to Chelsea. You moved to London. How has it been so far? It's been great so far. Like you said

00:35it's a big move for me coming from California but it's been great. I feel like I've been welcomed with

00:41open arms and it's been so exciting to be here. Was playing in the European League something that

00:47you thought about for a long time? Was this an unexpected move for you? What was the mindset

00:51behind it? I think I always knew I would want to come at some point. It was just waiting for the

00:56right opportunity and waiting for the right club and I feel like Chelsea is that for me. That's

01:01super exciting. We'll talk about all you are you know kind of doing with Chelsea. The the movement

01:07behind women's sports and how that's kind of pulled you here with your transfer fee that kind

01:12of made a lot of news. But before we get into those sorts of things I want to know a little bit

01:16more about you as like a human. Can you tell me a little bit more about yourself growing up kind of

01:22finding a love for soccer? Yeah I grew up in San Jose California and I started playing soccer pretty

01:28young like probably like three or four years old and my older brother and my dad both loved it so

01:34I was immediately thrown in and I fell in love with it too. It was always just something I enjoyed doing

01:41something I was good at and I just loved being around my teammates and competing together. And a lot

01:47of young kids especially across America are thrown into sports when they are younger. But when did you

01:52realize that this is something that wasn't just a hobby like it is for so many people but something

01:56that you could really build a career out of? I realized that pretty late to be honest. I played a

02:02lot of different sports growing up. I knew soccer was my favorite pretty early and I knew that if I had to

02:08pick one it would be soccer. So I think probably around middle school is when I started focusing only on

02:14that and kind of let all the sports fall away. But I think going into college and playing against

02:20different schools and like comparing myself to a lot of players across the countries when I realized

02:25like oh like I could go far on this. And I think just having the right people around me supporting me

02:30made a big difference and helped me realize that this is something I want to do. Yeah how do you balance

02:35your love for which I'm sure you still have but also knowing that it's something that now is your

02:40livelihood. I think that that's for creatives for athletes like it's kind of a hard

02:44transition sometimes to realize that this isn't just something for fun anymore. How has that been

02:48in your experience? I kind of just tell myself it's still for fun. Yeah. And that normally helps me

02:54when I'm like I feel like I'm under a lot of pressure or anything like that. I think a lot of times you

03:00just have to remember why you first started playing and you remember why you fell in love with the game

03:04and that's what keeps you going. So yeah I think it can be a hard balance but I just try to keep having

03:10fun while I'm doing it. Yeah definitely. Looking back at the Naomi that was starting to play soccer

03:15at you know like age four realizing in middle school you were good. Would she have ever expected

03:19you to be where you are today? No. Absolutely not. What were your thoughts when you were younger in

03:25terms of like future goals? Did you have other career goals besides soccer or what was your kind

03:30of vision for who you might turn into? I don't know. I think I just always had college on my mind.

03:37Education has been a really big part of my childhood and something my parents always

03:41put a huge focus on. So I was really passionate in school as well. So I knew I wanted to go to

03:47college. I knew or I hoped in college I would figure out what I wanted to do with my life.

03:51I wasn't someone who had like that dream job like from a really young age. But yeah so I think like

03:58college was like the goal and then go on from there and I feel really lucky to have found soccer and

04:04have found something that I love and I'm also good at. Yeah definitely. I think about that all

04:07the time and I feel like growing up too like my high school graduation was always like the future

04:11date and then now that I'm like I don't know. I'll figure it out then. Exactly. So why did you

04:16decide on Stanford? What made that soccer program and the school something that you were interested in?

04:20I think Stanford is just amazing and I honestly just remember the first time I went on campus and I was

04:27like oh it's beautiful I want to go here. But beyond that just the coaches they recruited me in high

04:33school and just knowing like that culture of excellence that it has it was just something I

04:37wanted to be a part of and I think looking back I didn't know that much when I made that decision

04:43but I'm so grateful that it worked out that way and I think the people I met there like lessons I

04:49learned so many things that I took away from Stanford are things that like are just they've just had such a

04:56huge impact on me. Yeah totally. What are some of those examples of things that you kind of carry

04:59with you today? I mean lots of classes. I don't know if I'm using that every day but I did. But it's

05:06back there somewhere. It's in there. Just like relationships, friendships with professors, mentors, teammates,

05:13friends, classmates like so many people that have touched my life in different ways and a lot of

05:17people that I'm still connected to now and I think it's nice like pretty much anywhere I go to travel

05:23like there's someone that I went to school with living there. Yeah. So I just love that we have

05:27that community still and it's something I can always rely on. Yeah. You were then drafted number

05:32one in the NWSL draft. What was that experience like? I was very excited. I was remote because of

05:41COVID. Okay. So I was actually in London with my friends. Okay. Full circle. Yeah. And it was a really cool

05:48moment I think like for me and for my family. I just remember my parents being like I can't believe

05:53you come this far and I think it's like one of those moments where you stop and realize like this

05:58is really cool and I'm proud of all the work I've put in to get here and my family too. I think they

06:03just felt like wow like I can't believe like this turned into this now. So it was a really exciting

06:09moment for me and I think to go to San Diego and start my pro career was like a great spot for me.

06:15Yeah. I would love to talk about that a little bit. Being a California girl through and through

06:19growing up there, going to school there and then ultimately being drafted there. What was the

06:23experience like? How would you describe like the culture of San Diego Wave and just kind of the

06:27player that you became over the years that you were playing there? I mean I'm so grateful to have

06:31ended up there. Like you said I'm a California girl so I was very happy to be staying in the state

06:35and San Diego was great. It was an expansion team the year I joined so there was a lot of transition

06:42not just for me but for the whole organization. So I think we kind of just took it all in stride and

06:47even though we were a team in transition we had a lot of veteran players who I could look up to

06:52and who really guided me throughout that first year and honestly second and third year too. So

06:57I think having them there helped me like see what it's like to be a true professional and like

07:03what kind of player I wanted to be both on and off the field. So I learned a lot there and

07:09yeah I think similar to Stanford I take away so many great relationships leaving too.

07:13You mentioned that you kind of realized how to be a professional as opposed to you know

07:17like you said before like you were in a lot of ways recreational even though it was kind of

07:21becoming your career. Yeah. How have you changed as a professional athlete versus a collegiate athlete

07:26as a you know amateur athlete before that? I think the attention to detail at the pro level is so

07:31different and I think that it's in film and recovery and everything that you're doing there's just a lot

07:36more attention to detail and I think the earlier you can figure out what works best for you and how

07:42you want to take on all of those things the better and I think realizing that I needed to like hone in

07:47on that early on really helped me. Yeah definitely. You recently like we have been talking about moved to

07:54London to come play for Chelsea. This like the expansion team I think is a really huge indication of

08:01the growth of women's sports. You had a 1.1 million dollar transfer fee to come over here

08:06which was record-breaking and I know that you're not in it for the money but I think it does speak

08:10a lot to the value that people are putting behind female athletes today. How do you see the growing

08:15space of you know women's sports? I feel like so much has changed over the past couple years. What's it

08:20looked like from your perspective? I think it's grown so much I think even from when I was a kid

08:25watching to now being a part of it and then now being four years in I think I've seen so much

08:30growth happening and I think it's really exciting to see where it's going and yeah I think now it's

08:35like on us and our generation to make sure we keep pushing it but yeah it's an exciting time and I think

08:41like a very I'm grateful to be a part of the game at this point. Yeah definitely. Do you have any

08:45expectations for what you think the field will look like in the future? Things that you kind of see

08:50coming up right now that you're excited to continue building within the the women's sports space?

08:56That's a good question. I think like I would hope that we see it growing but I think it is

09:03growing a lot in like specific areas specific countries and hopefully that becomes more widespread

09:08and there's more of like a standard that can be held across all leagues and all countries and all

09:15international teams and everything so that everyone's getting that same treatment and is being treated like

09:19a true professional like they should be. Yeah 100 percent. So since you have become part of the

09:25Chelsea squad I want to know a little bit about how the transition has been for you like you're

09:30talking about the sports world is very different depending on like the the region you're in the

09:34demographic that you're talking to what have been some of the biggest differences since moving here

09:37that you've noticed? I'll just go like culturally. Yeah I mean there are so many yeah there are so many

09:43changes I think when you move countries it's obviously the same language but I think there are like some words

09:48in there where I'm like what what does that mean like I've never heard that we have a lot of different

09:52terminology but it's been great I think the staff and players at Chelsea have made the transition feel

09:59really smooth for me and I think stepping into a culture where you can feel that people care about

10:04each other and just genuinely want the best for each other and want to win is something that always

10:09feels good. Yeah you are known as a secretary of defense at least in the U.S. I don't know if they call

10:14you that here but I want to know about building this like name for yourself obviously a lot of hard

10:23work on the soccer field comes into play but also a lot of just like brand awareness being in front of

10:28people you know either partnering with other other brands or just being known with your fans

10:33how have you gone about creating a personal brand for yourself as you've built your career in soccer?

10:37It's been pretty natural honestly I think coming into it that wasn't something I really thought

10:43about but I think as you start playing and you play with the U.S. like it becomes more of a thing that

10:49you need to be aware of and I think one thing that I've tried to do is when partnering with brands if

10:55there's ever an opportunity for community outreach or a way to give back like I try to be intentional

10:59about that and I think brands do a good job of coming to us and being like what are you passionate

11:04about what do you want to focus on and I think trying to do as many things that can also

11:09like serve the community and like help me use my platform for things I want to talk about is a

11:15way I try to go about it. Yeah and it's probably more authentic to you too then. Yeah 100%. It's a

11:19partnership that makes sense and aligns on both ways. Yeah. You recently partnered with Nike or you've

11:23been a partner of Nike's for you know multiple different kind of versions campaigns things like that

11:29what has that partnership looked like? Well they have great cleats so I appreciate that but yeah I

11:38think Nike has always been a leader in all of sports but women's sports too and the way they

11:44support their athletes is something that I wanted to be a part of and I think most recently being a

11:50part of their United Pack which features six women's soccer players globally is something that is really

11:57cool and I think just shows how much they're investing in the women's game and want the women's

12:02game to continue to grow and move forward so I think being a part of a brand that aligns in that way

12:08is really meaningful to me. And another big thing that you focus on is mental health in the athletic space

12:14especially with your work with Common Goal. Can you tell me a little bit more about what you are doing

12:18with them and kind of how you're pushing this forward? So I've been working with Common Goal for a few

12:22years and we launched a project called Create the Space pretty much circling around mental health and

12:27soccer and I think I had seen a lot of things where people were talking about mental health but I

12:32wanted to start something that was like action driven and could really have an impact and what

12:38we do is pretty much try to bring different mental health like skills and tools to youth coaches so that

12:44they can then teach the kids that they're coaching and I think the thought behind that is like as a kid

12:50you spend so much of your time with your coach growing up and if they can have a positive impact and be

12:56another support for a kid it can really change someone's life. And there's some toxic coaches

13:00out there as a former athlete myself I know so I totally understand how important that is from

13:06the youth level up. In terms of connecting with these young audiences so much about the rise in

13:12women's sports right now is about getting young girls to see that there is a place for them in

13:16athletics. Can you walk me through kind of what your relationship has been been like with your fans

13:20how you're kind of pushing this forward as well that this is like we have we've been talking about like a

13:24career you can build not just a hobby that a girl should have. Yeah I think a lot of that has

13:29happened naturally just with viewership and platforms that women's sports are now being shown

13:33on and I think we all try to engage with our fans after games like taking photos sending autographs

13:40and different things it's always so exciting to see them but yeah I think like for me I just try to

13:45share my story as much as I can just to show like it doesn't matter your background or if you've always

13:50wanted to do this or wherever you started like you can always make it there if you work hard and are

13:55determined and yeah just stick with it so yeah I think that's my way of trying to show like little girls

14:02like even if you know your parents can't put you on the best club team like you can still make it far

14:08and you can still make the best of what you have. Right and as you are now a mentor in a lot of ways to a lot of

14:14young girls coming up and a lot of young players coming up you have also played with some soccer

14:18like legends and coached by soccer legends is there anyone in your career that you feel like

14:23you would not be here today without them? Oh yes well minus my family I had a club coach

14:33Bob Joyce who like was the first coach who was like you're really good and encouraged me to try out

14:41for like ODP which is Olympic Development Program in Northern California and that kind of like started

14:47my whole path of going to youth national team camps and getting recruited to Stanford and then

14:52national team and everything from there so I think just having that push at the start and being like

14:57no you're actually good like you should do this was something that changed my life. How do you describe

15:03yourself as a leader in this space today both on the field and off? I think in the space I try to lead

15:09by example with what I'm doing what I'm talking about um yeah like I think and the way I play too

15:18um I try to lead by example and use my voice and my platform when I can too. For other young people out

15:25there who are looking to you know build businesses since this is Forbes a lot of our audience is aspiring

15:30to build businesses be leaders in their own industries or their own careers or just be innovative in some

15:35way like you know you've taken on these different projects you've started using like you've been

15:39talking about your voice to speak to what you care about what's your best piece of advice for

15:44other people out there looking to make a difference and turn you know a career into something that can

15:48be you know for good? I would say put people first I learned that I mean that was a theme throughout

15:54most of my business classes in school and it was funny to see how much it rang true to me when I was

16:01trying to do things with soccer with mental halls or whatever it was and I think just when you have

16:06that group of people around you who you feel like you're aligned with and you share values with it can

16:12be really fun and more impactful when you're trying to build something together. My last question for you

16:17since we are talking about the third under 30 list here being youthful is obviously a huge part of

16:23sports but in life there's a lot of different thoughts about what it means to be young and leading

16:28industries how do you see youth playing into your career today? Yeah I think being young in this

16:36space I guess it's helped me because I've been able to see a lot and learn a lot from other people

16:41and I think when you have that youthful outlook it can help you just soak things in because you don't

16:45feel like you know what's right or the way things should go so I think it's helped me in that way but

16:50I think what's really cool about sports and the women's game and women's soccer is that like it really

16:56doesn't matter your age and that's true both on the field and off the field like if you're good

17:02you'll play if you have something to say people will listen so yeah I think it's helped me and

17:07then also in the same way I feel like it's just been about like who I am and what I want to do with

17:15it. Yeah I love that well thank you so much for joining us today it was awesome to hear all about

17:19your very exciting career and I cannot wait to see what's next for you. Thank you.

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