Chicks Taking Charge: How Brittany Gilman’s Changing the Game

Picture this: a gorgeous, fit, put together brunette who could be on the cover of a magazine…with a roster of NFL stars on her speed dial. The cynic in you would probably instantly assume she’s some sort of pre-packaged Barbie doll tapped to stand on a sideline in a low-cut t-shirt for some men’s sports website. Or maybe you’d conjur up images of a groupie, waiting in the back of a stadium to catch just a glimpse of her flavor of the month. Well, you can think what you want but if you ever come face-to-face with Brittany Gilman, you’d be wise to show her a little r-e-s-p-e-c-t, because not only does she defy the stereotypes, she’s got a serious “gun show” hiding under that business suit.

Gilman is a former strength and conditioning coach who has helped to whip some of the league’s top athletes into shape. She’s also the founder of her own sports marketing and p.r. firm. BG Sports Marketing represents names like the Patriots 1st round pick Devin McCourty and Saints players Garrett Harltey and Roman Harper. She also does p.r. for Saints’ running back Pierre Thomas and Green Bay Packers tight end Jermichael Finley. The impressive roster of clients is not only the result of years of hard work but a healthy perspective of what these guys go through. You see, Gilman not only works with athletes, she’s a successful athletic talent in her own right.

Brittany grew up water skiing, training horses and taking helicopter rides to Canadian huts. (Meanwhile, I was probably somewhere on a couch crying about Zack and Kelly’s latest break-up on “Saved by the Bell”…but I digress.) Growing up in a “no fear” family ignited her competitive spirit. Brittany ended up becoming a competitive snowboarder, even making it to the Junior Olympic team. But before long, her ambitions shifted. Brittany realized she wanted to be the first female strength coach in the NFL.

The pursuit of her dream got off to a promising start when she landed a gig as a strength coach intern for USC’s prestigious football program during the storied era of players like Reggie Bush, Lendale White and Clay Matthews.

“That time was an initiation into the male dominated sports world. I’m 5 foot 3 so you had my “little self” trying to order these massive men around and fight the stereotype that I was trying to meet athletes or get ‘wifey’d up.’ The whole time I was there I walked on egg shells to do everything right, to be the best strength coach I could be…The clothes they gave me hid the fact that I was a woman, the shoes were three sizes too big. The players all thought I had really big feet!”

After another stint as a strength coach at Auburn (during which time she also earned her Masters in Biomechanics), Gilman realized that all of her work with future NFL stars had been preparing her not for her dream, but her destiny.

“I missed working in football so I realized I wanted to run a business. So I came back to LA and did an internship at a marketing agency. Then, I started my own.”

And just like that, Brittany had the tools and drive she needed to launch BG Sports Marketing.

“We take care of all off-the-field services, excluding finance and negotiating team contracts. We figure out, ‘has he thought about post career, does he have an idea of if he wants to be in entertainment, the restaurant business or own a car dealership?’ We help them to plant seeds now to prepare for when they’re done playing football. We also do all the P.R. for them surrounding football, social media, personal websites, doing events, establishing foundations…We’re helping them take advantage of every opportunity available to them.”

As you might imagine, it’s a career that presents all sorts of challenges for so many different reasons. Among them, overcoming some of the negative perceptions associated with women in the sports world. In part 2 of my interview with Brittany Gilman, hear how some “bad apples” have made it particularly difficult for Brittany and some of her female colleagues to be taken seriously. Plus, some of the big plans in the works for BG Sports Marketing. And, she’s got the scoop on some of your favorite NFL stars!