Katie Tolles is the Head Women's Coach for Case Western Reserve University's rowing team and the Director of Communications for the Cleveland Rowing Foundation's Board of Directors. Katie speaks to host Elizabeth Emery about the beauty of teamwork, being on the water, coaching high school and college athletes, travel, fear, and jumping right into things.

Katie's rowing career began as a freshman walk-on at Marietta College. She knew nothing about the sport when she started, but quickly rose through the team, becoming a leader early on in the Women's 1V8+ & 1V4+ for her four years of undergrad. Katie pursued elite rowing at Vesper Boat Club on Boathouse Row in Philadelphia in 2016. That summer she and her teammates went on to win Club Nationals and Canadian Henley.

Katie served as a founding coach for Magnificat High School and designed the branding for the rowing programs at Magnificat High School, Cleveland Foundry Juniors and Case Western Reserve University. Today, Katie is a competitive athlete who sculls on the Cuyahoga River. She recently placing 5th at The Head of the Charles.

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Justine Siegal is the Co-Founder and Commissioner of the Women’s Pro Baseball League (WPBL), which will launch its inaugural season on August 1 featuring some of the top players in the world. She made history as the first woman to coach for a Major League Baseball organization (2015) and is the founder of Baseball For All. Her A’s jersey is in the National Baseball Hall of Fame and USA Today named her, "100 Most Powerful People in MLB.” Justine received her PhD from Springfield College (MA).

In the episode, Justine talks with host Elizabeth Emery about her own experience fighting to play baseball, her career in coaching, why it’s so important for her that girls have the opportunity to play baseball if they want to, what it was like being the first woman to coach men’s baseball, women’s sports now, and looking forward into the future through her daughter.

Sign up for Hear Her Sports newsletter at https://bit.ly/HHSnewsletter Get involved and support the show directly at https://bit.ly/givetoHHSpodcast Find all episodes at http://www.hearhersports.com/ Learn more about Women’s Pro Baseball League at https://www.womensprobaseballleague.com/

Follow WPBL on Instagram at @wpbl_official

Follow Justine on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/justine-siegal/

Jean Fruth is an internationally recognized photographer, filmmaker and visual storyteller whose work harnesses the power of images to inspire change. She is the co-founder of two nonprofit organizations, Grassroots Baseball and SEE HER BE HER, which uses sports to empower youth, underserved communities, and women globally.

Jean made her film debut in 2024 as Director and Producer of SEE HER BE HER and is the Author/Photographer of three books in the Grassroots Baseball Series: Where Legends Begin (2019), Route 66 (2022) and See Her Be Her (2024). Jean is honored to be designated by Sony as one of its select Sony Artisans of Imagery. In recognition of her impact as a visual storyteller and changemaker, she was honored with the 2025 United Nations International Photographic Council Achievement Award.

Sign up for Hear Her Sports newsletter at https://bit.ly/HHSnewsletter

Get involved and support the show directly at https://bit.ly/givetoHHSpodcast

Find all episodes at http://www.hearhersports.com/

Learn more about SEE HER BE HER at www.SeeHerBeHer.org

Find SEE HER BE HER on Instagram at @SeeHerBeHer_

Find SEE HER BE HER on LinkedIn at @SeeHerBeHer