Susannah Schofield: "I never want to see quotas for women in business"

It’s not every day you come across a true philanthropist.

Suzannah Schofield OBE redefines the word as she takes her company Pitch Sports into the ring: the Pitch Boxing app is the latest evolution of the company you don’t want to miss. 

As eloquent as she is dynamic, Susannah's work is making room to move and shake the boxing world—especially female boxing—to make it safer, smarter, and more engaging across the globe.

A business leader turned sports innovator: there is no limit to what Susannah Schofield will do. When she’s in charge, you can trust the game will be changed—or at the very least, challenged.

Tune into the podcast to hear about her journey, why she doesn’t believe in filling female quotas, and how she’s innovating the boxing world.

On getting an OBE 

I never felt that being a woman was detrimental there or less advantageous. When you get to that level, I feel it’s your responsibility as a woman to help other women get to that level too. You’ve come up in that elevator and it’s sending that elevator down and welcoming other women on. Not necessarily women, but people in business and helping them drive up. I’ve always been massive about collaboration. I think it’s the only way forward 

On boxing Not Getting The Credit it Deserves

The government gave loads of funding for sports, but boxing didn’t get any—why? When you think of the kids it takes off the streets, when you think of what it does. The time Dom Ingle in Sheffield, the owner of Ingle gym, puts into taking kids off the street—for free—and works tirelessly with them to get the aggression out, and they’re all about no racism, no hatred, no slander, no aggression on the streets—controlled physicality. Own who you are. And none of that is recognized.

 On Why Boxing’s Different

When it comes to sport, I like that one-on-one. That real physical challenge. Boxing ticks that for me. It’s that moment of: as a human being, I can only be as good as I can be. And I can try and go against the best to be the best. I love that almost tenacious thought of: I will train, and I will do, and I will be. 

On the Future of Unified and Boxing

We’re less than a decade into this sport, of it being recognized as a sport, and now women are allowed to wear shorts. When it was first given the go ahead it was all skirts! That was nine years ago. So for me, 2022 will be a massive year for Unifed. We will take that ten years on, and very politely— we don’t want to cause trouble—but I just want to say: we’ll fund it, we’ll understand it, but we want to absolutely be able to back some of the regulation that's in place.

 On Filling Quotas for Women in Business

I’ve spoken about this publicly on stage, and it's not to everyone's liking. I never want to see quotas for women in business ever, ever. And I would fight against it. Get there because you’re the right person for the right job. And if you’re not then don’t get it. Color, creed, religion - right person, right job. I never want to walk into a room and have people say she’s here cause she’s a woman. I’m there because I can do the job and I will try to do the job to the best of my ability.