from the corner office to the basketball court.

The WNBA is going to stand to be a leader in that women's empowerment movement, not just for basketball or sport, but I think much more broadly.

And that's what it means to me.

Welcome to Boss Files. I'm your host, Poppy Harlow.

And today's guest is WNBA Commissioner Kathy Engelbert. She is the first woman to hold the title, Commissioner, a move to empower women in professional sports. Her predecessors all held the title, President. In just the past few weeks, it's hard to think about the future of women's basketball without, of course,

thinking about Kobe Bryant and his 13-year-old daughter, Gianna. Kathy told me that Kobe was a huge

WNBA supporter. In fact, when she first took the job, she was shocked when he actually

reached out to her and asked if they could meet. I'm from Philly. He went to high school in Philly,

so I say we have that in common. And he came in, walked in the room as if we had known each other

our whole lives the first time I ever met him. And he said, you know, Kathy, I spend four hours a day

on girls basketball and I love it. And just went on, I want to know the strategy, I want to know

how you're thinking about the WMBA. And what I didn't know at the time when I met with Kobe

is how he was mentoring so many of the WMBA players and the college players. Kathy also credits

Kobe with changing her thinking about the work that she could do with the league. I didn't have a vision to

until I came into this job and then met with him and I said, oh, this is real. I mean, this is real

advocacy. Basketball is in Kathy's DNA. She played college ball and her father was actually

drafted to the NBA. Wait for that story. It's a great one. The last time Kathy was on

Boss Files, she was CEO of

Deloitte. But she tells me since then, she has, quote, stepped away from the spreadsheet.

She also came in to the league and led the negotiations on the collective bargaining agreement.

And players ended up with higher salaries and paid family leave.

She told me that WNBA players are activists and they take a stand on social issues.

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