Erin Foster Praises Los Angeles Rams for 'Highlighting Cool Women' at Team's Draft House (Exclusive)
"I really think football has deserved for a team to be really progressive and forward-thinking and inclusive of women," Foster tells PEOPLE
The Los Angeles Rams are all about supporting women in sports and finance.
The NFL team, whose front office is roughly fifty percent women, hosted a dinner with SoFi CMO Lauren Stafford Webb and entrepreneur Erin Foster to encourage financial literacy for women in sports and beyond at the team's Los Angeles Draft House.
According to USA Today, the number of women working in the NFL has steadily risen, hitting an all-time peak as of December 2022.
Foster, 40, tells PEOPLE there were two main reasons she wanted to participate in the all-women event at the Rams' Draft House: to expand the reach of women in sports and to support a longtime friend.
Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
"I really think football has deserved for a team to be really progressive and forward-thinking and inclusive of women," says Foster. "There are so many women working at the Rams and it's really cool to have a football team bringing people together to celebrate women."
Foster says that football "is an old boys' club" for the most part, but she's excited about the direction "the culture" of the sport is headed in as women become more prominent around the league.
Among those women is Lexi Vonderlieth, the Rams' Vice President of Marketing, who has been a close friend of Foster's since the two were teens. "My high school best friend works for the Rams, which is why I'm here. They do such a great job of hiring and highlighting cool women, which is what the NFL should be," says Foster.
As the VP for Rams marketing, Vonderlieth drives overall strategy and executes the development of exclusive partnerships for the NFL team, which provides support for partners at SoFi Stadium.
Related:All the Best Photos from the Los Angeles Rams' Super Bowl Victory Parade
Webb, SoFi CMO, says her team is "on a mission to help people achieve financial independence to realize their ambitions" and partnering with the Rams has given SoFi "a chance to celebrate the success of women entrepreneurs and creators."
Webb adds, "There is work that needs to be done to fill both the confidence and education gap on finances. That is why it's so critically important for us at SoFi and for powerhouse women to use our voices to educate and empower women everywhere to know that they, too, can reach their ambitions."
For more People news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter!
Read the original article on People.