When the idea to create the Black Girl Hockey Club hit Renee Hess almost two years ago, she couldn’t have foreseen the degree to which it has insinuated itself into hockey culture in the United States and Canada.
From the first handful of respondents to her social media query in October 2018 asking if other women of color loved hockey but felt uncomfortable attending NHL games because of gender- and race-based comments directed at them, the Black Girl Hockey Club now has more than 16,000 Twitter followers. And perhaps more significantly, it has the ear of the NHL executive suites and its member clubs.
Hess, an associate director of community engagement and an adjunct professor at La Sierra University in Riverside, California, last year participated in a call with league executives on how the NHL can improve its diversity efforts and engage more fans of color. Kim Davis, an NHL executive vice president who works on social impact and growth, and is Black, credited Hess, 40, with "bringing a new perspective to all dimensions of our inclusion efforts.”