Speaking & media
Darcy Young is the founder of Contested and speaks about sport, startups, technology, community and the changing athlete economy.
She is available for panels, keynotes, fireside conversations, podcasts, workshops and media commentary.
What changes when we stop thinking of athlete marketing as something reserved for Nike, Premier League players and seven-figure sponsorship deals?
A look at the economic opportunity further down the sporting pyramid, the rise of athlete entrepreneurship and how businesses can work with athletes at a community level.
The growth of women’s sport creates an unusual opportunity: not simply to replicate the structures built around men’s sport, but to design new commercial, cultural and community models from scratch.
Digital acquisition is crowded, expensive and increasingly easy to ignore.
This talk explores why real communities, trusted individuals and local networks are becoming increasingly valuable distribution infrastructure for businesses.
Most new products don't begin with a neat specification.
A practical conversation about ambiguity, customer discovery, experimentation and turning half-formed ideas into things people actually want.
Darcy Young is the founder and CEO of Contested, an athlete-led marketing company connecting businesses with athletes who matter in their communities. Her work spans sport, startups, product strategy and community-led growth, with a particular interest in creating new commercial opportunities across the athlete economy.
Darcy Young is the founder and CEO of Contested, an athlete-led marketing company building a more accessible model for businesses and athletes to work together. Contested focuses particularly on the power of athletes as creators, advocates and connectors within their local communities.
Darcy’s wider experience spans startups, venture building, product strategy and go-to-market, including work with The49 and previously HSBC. She studied Mathematics at Durham University and speaks about the athlete economy, women’s sport, community-led growth, technology and the realities of building new products and businesses.
Panel speaker
Panel discussion on the future of sport and the opportunity for women’s football to build its own commercial playbook.
Speaking enquiries
For panels, podcasts, events, workshops and media enquiries:
darcy@youngdarcy.com