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Black History Month Speaker: Blake Bolden

Blake Bolden was the first Black player in the NWHL. Before that, she was the first Black player taken in the first round of the CWHL draft. In 2020 the LA Kings hired her as a pro scout and Growth and Inclusion Specialist, and she became the second woman to scout in the NHL. Today she is a lead analyst on Amazon Prime's Wednesday Night Hockey and for the PWHL.

For a Black History Month event, that means a speaker who lived the history she talks about. Students and staff hear it from the person who was first in the room.

Check availabilityDownload speaker one-sheet (PDF)(opens in a new tab)

History told by the person who made it

Hockey's history includes Black players who had to be first. Blake has been called the "Jackie Robinson of women's hockey," and she has stood rinkside with Willie O'Ree, the first Black player in the NHL. She can speak to that line of players and to what it is like to join it.

She tells it plainly. In her talks she describes a young Black girl, wearing her hair the way Blake used to wear hers, who told her she started playing hockey because of Blake. That girl gave her a reason to keep going through 5 a.m. alarms and overnight bus trips. Her message for every room is the one she lives by: "If you can see it, you can be it."

That makes her a good fit for a Black female keynote speaker slot at a school, a Black leadership speaker for an employee event, or a Black women in sports speaker for an athletic department. The story is the same. The questions she asks the room change.

Blake Bolden smiling at a rink in a Celebrating Black History Month hoodie

Topics

Her topics, framed for Black History Month

Blake builds each talk from six themes in her own career. Here is how they read in February.

  1. 01

    Facing Adversity

    What it costs to be the only one who looks like you on the ice, in the scouting room or on the broadcast set, and how she carried it.

  2. 02

    Using Failure as a Tool

    She was cut and told she was uncoachable. She tells students how she grieved that, then used it.

  3. 03

    Getting Used to Being Uncomfortable

    Walking into rooms where nobody expected her, from Cleveland youth rinks to an NHL front office.

  4. 04

    Trusting the Process

    The years of work behind a first. Firsts look sudden from the outside and take a decade from the inside.

  5. 05

    Following Intuition

    Saying yes to the Kings, then to broadcasting, when nobody like her had held those jobs to show the way.

  6. 06

    Taking Advantage of Your Current Situation

    How a student can start opening doors from the school, team or town they are in today.

Speaker reel

Watch Blake speak

Two and a half minutes from one of her talks: learning to skate pushing a chair, being cut and called uncoachable, the call that brought her to the Boston Blades, and the young girl who told Blake she started playing because of her.

From an organizer

Blake's visit was a total hit with our community, and the kids especially got so much out of her talks. She's amazing in the way that she can command a full room and then also connect so deeply with a small group of kids around a lunch table. I really appreciate the time and effort she put into tailoring the message for different audiences; they'll take her advice into all the spaces they go, both in sports and in life.

Carly Rodriguez

Director of Communications, The Thacher School

Speaking fees start at $7,500

Travel outside Southern California is quoted separately. Multi-session visits are packaged on request.

Check availability

Questions organizers ask

Is Blake available in February?

February books first, so send your inquiry as early as you can, ideally in the fall. Include your date or a range of dates and the team will tell you what is open.

Can she speak to both students and staff on the same day?

Yes. A common shape is an assembly for students, then a smaller session or Q&A with staff, a Black student union or an affinity group. Multi-session visits are packaged on request.

Does the talk have to be about race?

Her story is about being first, and being first as a Black woman is part of it. You choose the weight. Tell us what you want the room to leave with and the talk is shaped around that.

What does it cost?

Speaking fees start at $7,500. Travel outside Southern California is quoted separately.

More ways Blake speaks

All speaking topics and formats

Bring Blake to your event

Tell us the date, the place and who will be in the room. Blake and her team read every inquiry.

Start an inquiry