{"id":8149,"date":"2025-05-01T15:32:10","date_gmt":"2025-05-01T15:32:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/8149\/"},"modified":"2025-05-01T15:32:10","modified_gmt":"2025-05-01T15:32:10","slug":"kzoo-wings-gm-toni-will-talks-breaking-barriers-in-pro-hockey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/8149\/","title":{"rendered":"Kzoo Wings GM Toni Will Talks Breaking Barriers in Pro Hockey"},"content":{"rendered":"

In a world where sports leadership is still largely dominated by men, Kalamazoo Wings<\/a> GM Toni Will <\/a>is proving that the game is changing, and her viral TEDx talk is inspiring thousands along the way.<\/p>\n

The video<\/a>, which recently passed 100,000 views on YouTube, features Toni speaking candidly about her experience as a woman rising through the ranks in professional hockey.<\/p>\n

\"Mix<\/p>\n

Her message is so important for women who want to chase their dreams to hear: Being underestimated isn\u2019t a weakness, it\u2019s an opportunity.<\/p>\n

TEDx Talks on Youtube<\/p>\n

TEDx Talks on Youtube<\/p>\n

With humor, grit, and a refreshing honesty, Toni describes <\/a>how she went from being the only woman in the room to the one making the decisions, and how each challenge along the way helped shape her leadership style.<\/p>\n

In one especially powerful moment, she recalls a meeting early in her career where she was mistaken for someone\u2019s assistant. Instead of being discouraged in this moment (which would have been understandable), she used moments like that to fuel her determination to win.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you\u2019re not expected to have a voice in the room,\u201d she says, \u201cyou have the power to surprise people, and that\u2019s a gift.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her reminder that you don\u2019t have to prove yourself to be considered a power player is a powerful message to anyone of any gender, but especially in a world where women who speak up are labeled as \u2018aggressive\u2019 or \u2018bossy\u2019, that cool, collected quiet and calm, can make the difference.<\/p>\n

Toni has proven herself to be worthy to be in the room, and she shares how she got there.<\/p>\n

Take the time and watch the entire thing for yourself:<\/p>\n

Whether you\u2019re a hockey fan or not, Will\u2019s speech is a must-watch for anyone trying to break through barriers, especially women forging careers in spaces where they still feel like the exception. She\u2019s not just managing a hockey team, she\u2019s changing the entire game of hockey.<\/p>\n

Here Are The 10 Most Influential Women In Michigan’s History<\/p>\n

Naturally, the women who made this list may not line up with everybody\u2019s political or social beliefs, but regardless, the fact that they were able to make a nice career for themselves, and encourage other women to be strong, speak out, and become leaders in their own right makes them worthy of being on this list.<\/p>\n

Here Are At Least 8 Women Owned Businesses in the West Michigan Area <\/p>\n

These businesses vary in what they offer but, they do have one thing in common. They’re all owned and run by women.<\/p>\n

Gallery Credit: Via\/ Instagram, Via\/ Tiktok, Via\/ Facebook<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In a world where sports leadership is still largely dominated by men, Kalamazoo Wings GM Toni Will is…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":8150,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[377],"tags":[3517,5,3518,40,999,3519,3520],"class_list":{"0":"post-8149","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-hockey","8":"tag-grand-rapids-news","9":"tag-hockey","10":"tag-michigan-news","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-us-news","13":"tag-videos","14":"tag-west-michigan-news"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/114433303756694414","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8149","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8149"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8149\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8150"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8149"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8149"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8149"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}