Changing The Game
By: Erin Fish
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| Keri Potts presenting at the Newhouse Sports Media Center at Syracuse University. Photo by Kristin O'Grady. |
He grabbed her face, shoved his
hands down her pants and man-handled her.
A scar of his thumbnail on her stomach remains. It is the constant reminder of the worst night of her life.
That scar is visible, but there is another one that is more complicated, one that has emotionally scarred her. A scar that scar lingers, ever painful, and she is constantly reminded of it every day of her life.
She lives an incredible, humble life of service and compassion. That life is what defines Keri Potts now. Not a thumbnail left on her stomach by a drunken wretch of a man.
You see, when that predatory monster decided one night that his sexual wants were more important than the safety and dignity of Keri Potts, well, he picked on the wrong woman. She has since made it her mission to help others. She has, and she will continue to do so. This incredibly smart, tenacious and passionate woman is completely changing the game.
Landing the Job
Keri Potts, a former academic All-American standout volleyball
player at Syracuse University, was on her way home from an interview with the NCAA for a
writing and publications editing job. The woman sitting next to her on the
flight asked why she was wearing a suit, so Keri explained that she had just come from a very important
job interview and the woman smiled, intrigued by Keri’s sincerity. For the
remainder of the flight, they discussed Title IV, the need for more women in
sports, how the world belonged to them and the importance of strong women
taking action and making decisions within traditional structures. The woman’s
name was Barb Strader, who Keri later found out was the President of the
Division II Management Council for the NCAA. When Strader got off the plane she
made a phone call: “You have to hire her. She’s the kind of woman we need.”
Keri worked for the NCAA for three years and seven months.
The longer she worked there and the more championship events she experienced,
she realized how much she loved the intersection of sports, communications, and
media relations. After three years of valuable experience, Keri began to
explore other opportunities and she reached out to her Syracuse connections.
When Keri attended Syracuse, she worked for the athletics
department. Being a student athlete and working there, the faculty was a second
family to her. She had worked for Coach Jim Boeheim one summer, so when she
called him and asked him if he knew of anyone in the industry that she could
bounce some ideas off of, Coach was happy to help. He told her about a Syracuse
alumni, John Wildhack, who was working at ESPN. Coach Boeheim said Wildhack would be
great for her to talk to and that he would give him a call.
Boeheim called Wildhack and told him ESPN should hire Keri.
Although Wildhack was in production, he told Boeheim that he was more than
willing to connect with Keri and help her in any way he could. The two built a
strong mentor-mentee relationship through their networking connection. Wildhack
grew to believe that Keri was smart, personable and passionate. When a job
opened up in the communications department at ESPN, all he could do was crack
open a door; after that it was up to her.
Sue Edson who, at the time, was the Director of Athletic
Communications at Syracuse, called ESPN as soon as she found out Keri had
applied for the job. She only made calls when she felt comfortable and after
working with Keri, there weren’t many, if any, positions that she wouldn’t
recommend Keri for. She believed that her skillset, personality and passion was
exactly what every company should be looking for. Sue called her friend, Josh
Krulewitz, who worked in public relations for ESPN to recommend Keri.
Whatever it was that ultimately convinced the hiring
committee that Keri Potts was the right person for the job, ESPN and the rest
of the world would soon be better off because of it.
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| Keri Potts, senior director of public relations for ESPN. Photo by Kristin O'Grady. |
Dream Date Turned
Nightmare
Keri Potts was on vacation in Italy with her friend, Lynn.
On her last night, she decided to go out for drinks with a charming Italian
artist named Marco, who she had met earlier that day. It had been a couple of
years since her last relationship and Keri had been talking with Lynn about how
hard it was to meet nice guys. She figured she would give Marco a chance.
When they met for drinks, Marco drank rum. The two looked
through a book of his paintings and they talked about art and Italy. Marco
talked about how a lot of artists are into sex and drugs but all he needed was
art. Keri laughed and said that was good because he wasn’t getting any sex from
her. He laughed and said that he would rather talk with her and then he kissed
her. He suggested they go back to his apartment to see the view from his patio.
They were on the same page; she was comfortable.
Six floors up; it was a beautiful view. They talked and walked
to a bar down the street. He drank more rum as she sipped her wine. He talked
louder and louder; he bought a bottle to go. “Lighten up and enjoy your last
night,” Keri thought as she and Marco walked back to his apartment.
She heard glass break in the other room. When Marco came
around the corner and thrust the bottle of rum toward her, Keri knew it was
time to leave. He handed her a glass of rum and Keri walked inside from the
patio, set the glass down and told Marco she was going to head back to her hotel.
He then tried to hand her marijuana and she refused.
He grabbed her face.
Marco grasped the back of her neck with a strong grip,
kissed her and drew blood biting her lip as she tried to push him away.
He shoved his hands down her pants.
Marco forced his right hand into Keri’s jeans, trying to
undo the button.
He man handled her.
Marco put both of his hands on Keri, pulling her body into
him while shoving his hands into her underwear; she felt his fingernails scrape
her.
When Marco said in nearly perfect English, “You’re not going
anywhere”, Keri knew that she was in danger. The hair stood up on her neck and
her stomach dropped. She tried to collect herself before she turned to face
him. The charming man who she had met earlier in the day had become absolutely
predatory.
Keri was smart. She had been out on the patio earlier and
knew that was her way out. After a physical fight for her life with Marco, she
finally pushed him hard enough that he fell backward and she was able to escape
his grasp. She jumped over the wall to clear the patio and her sweater got
stuck on the railing, which gave Marco enough time to catch up to her. He
reached over, grabbed her neck and tried to pull her back up while she kicked
and pulled in the opposite direction. Her sweater finally ripped and she fell
to the balcony below.
Keri put her 5’10” athletic build and intelligent mind to
use and hurdled herself rooftop-to-rooftop down five stories to escape this
monster. She eventually wound up on a balcony with nowhere else to go, so she
knocked on the back door. The resident let her cross through his apartment and
told her how to get back to her hotel.
She pressed her ear against the door to hear if he was on
the other side but she could only hear her heart beating out of her chest. What
if he had been watching her climb down the whole time?
She took a deep breath, burst through the door and ran for
her life. She sprinted all the way back to her hotel.
What Now?
Keri was scheduled for a 9:00am flight but after
deliberating over the personal, professional, legal and financial
ramifications, she decided to go to the police station. She was afraid, but she
knew in order to fight her fear she had to get as much information as possible.
Keri’s knowledge of the Italian legal system came to rival
that of lawyers. Utilizing her PR background, she strategically broadcast her
story, hoping it would bring people forward to help her. She wanted women to be
aware that when an assault occurs overseas, prosecution and justice is
possible. This was extremely important to her.
She focused on places that women and travelers would look
to. She got together with an old teammate, Erin Zammett Ruddy, who worked for Marie Claire and the two wrote a
four-page article about her story. The Travel Channel also did a piece on her
and Discovery ID did an entire episode in their series, Dates From Hell. Keri also created her own blog to include any more information that she felt had been left out.
Her first time ever publicly speaking out about her assault
was at the Clinton School in February of 2011. Afterward, eight women and one
man lined up to speak with Keri. With tears in their eyes, they greeted her
with hugs and shared their stories of their experience with assault and rape.
In that moment, Keri had never felt more inadequate in her life. She knew then,
that she needed to do more to help others.
Keri went on to receive training and her certification in
rape and crisis counseling. More and more places reached out, asking her to
speak and each time, she would refine her message. Over the course of those
years she would take the questions that people had and shape them to fit her
presentations. Keri, being the selfless human being that she is, never wanted
her speech to be about her; she wanted it to help every other person in the
room.
Through the Discovery ID episode, Keri was connected with a
man named Roger Canaff who is a former special victim’s prosecutor out of the
Bronx and a JAG attorney in the military dealing with sexual assault. Canaff
had been used in the episode as an expert on prosecution of sexual assault. He
was part of an organization called, Ending
Violence Against Women International. When introduced to him, Keri was
overwhelmed with gratitude that this man was able to speak to her. She
explained to him that she wanted to talk to people who have been assaulted
overseas and he connected her with people that he knew, which is how Keri ended
up on a list serve called Counter Quo.
Watch Your Language
She didn’t it know yet, but what she was about to hear would
shape the forthcoming of her career. Keri was in Boston attending a conference
at Northeastern University with Counter Quo. There was a woman at the
conference by the name of Claudia Bayliff. At the time, Bayliff was working for
Legal Momentum on the prosecutorial team of Kobe Bryant’s trial. Keri listened
to Bayliff talk that day about the use of language. She explained how the word “accuser”
shapes everyone’s thoughts about that particular victim with a negative
connotation and how engrained in the vernacular it was, especially through its
heavy coverage by the media. Working for ESPN, Keri left knowing the heavy
coverage was partially her fault.
She went back to the news room and asked everyone to take a
look at the word accuser and how negative it could make the victim seem. Keri
was instantly shot down. She was told that the word existed beforehand and
there was nothing they could do to change it. Another moment of feeling
inadequate for Keri Potts where she realized, in order to affect real change,
she needed knowledge too, not just passion. The next time someone tried to
shoot her down, she would have done the work and she would come back swinging
harder.
For years, Keri became particularly keen to language. Every
time she would read a story she would pay attention and write letters and
emails to the editors asking them to change their wording and explaining why
the use of the language was important to the story. People would write Keri
emails from all over the world asking for help or telling their stories and she
became used to helping people through their pain. She was doing more and more
work as a victim’s advocate so she started to have a more thorough
understanding of the crime. For five years Keri learned the scope and scale.
She did the research and went to the conferences and seminars. She was finally
in a place where she knew how to articulate this, she knew how to make
arguments for anyone coming at her, and she knew how to be persuasive.
“Well, she shouldn’t have put herself in that situation.”
This is a classic phrase that is used in discussions of sexual
violence that blames the victim and forgives the perpetrator. When Keri Potts heard that phrase used by an
on-air personality at ESPN after Ray Rice physically assaulted his fiancée, she
knew that something needed to be done about their use of language.
Continuously Keri would reach out, but she never could get
the right person in the extremely large company. Finally, Keri approached
Stephanie Druley, SVP of Production. She explained the inappropriate and
hurtful phrasing used by ESPN and convinced Druley to let her speak to the
company about their responsibility in choosing their words wisely.
August 2nd, 2017
It was the first time she ever did the presentation with a
media organization. She had 30 minutes to present to 300 of her coworkers who
were a part of the college networks.
Her nerves and vulnerability led to an authentic
presentation that left many people in tears. Keri used every moment of the 30
minutes to grasp the attention of her colleagues and help them to fully
understand the importance of the language of violence. She received a standing
ovation, the response overwhelmingly positive. The emails flooded her inbox,
her coworkers who hadn’t realized they were part of the problem, wanting to
open their minds and educate themselves. Keri was extremely grateful for the
powerful woman who trusted her, lifted her up, and ultimately gave her the opportunity
she had only ever dreamed of.
After the presentation to the college team, Keri found out
that in September, her presentation would become required training to all
on-air talent and production at ESPN.
For two days Keri couldn’t eat. Trying to take in food, but
her stomach would instantly reject it. Nerves had completely taken over. These
were people that Keri respected. They may or may not have even known who she
was, but she was going to stand up in front of them and in a way, show them all
they had been doing wrong. She was afraid she would be rejected and mocked like
she had been years ago but then she remembered, this time she had the work to
back it up.
The first presentation she gave was at 10am. Keri left
feeling like she could’ve done better. The next presentation wasn’t until 4pm,
so Keri sat for four hours listening to calming music and practicing her
speech. Everything she had was left out on that stage during that 4 o’clock
presentation. She doesn’t know that she will ever do that presentation better.
From Then, To Now
ESPN has now created a guide that will no longer use the
word, “accuser.” The news division has decided to abandon the word because it
has a negative meaning that dehumanizes the victim. Instead, they will use
“woman” or “man” as a replacement. The company will be the first company to
completely remove the word from its vernacular.
Keri believes there will always be sexual predators in the
news, but if we can change the way we talk about the victim and the
perpetrator, we can become more aware of how deliberate these predators are.
Nine years since the nightmare in Italy and Keri reflects on
the positives in her life today. She is now on the board for an organization
called Pathways to Safety International, a resource for overseas victims of
sexual assault, a dream opportunity. Dealing with the criticism of victims is
infuriating and taxing but she truly feels invigorated by her work and feels
it’s something she’ll continue to do for the rest of her life.
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| Keri and I at the Newhouse Sports Media Center Presentation. Photo by Kristin O'Grady. |
I am a student at the S.I. Newhouse School at Syracuse
University. On October 23rd, Keri Potts gave a presentation to the
Newhouse Sports Media Center and what I learned that day completely changed my
outlook on life. This woman traveled back to her alma mater, not to talk about
herself or all of the amazing things she is doing at ESPN, but instead she came to share her
personal victim story with about 25 students whom she didn’t know. She
presented to us on the use of language and I will forever be aware how
important the use of language can be. I showed up thinking I would learn about what it meant to be the senior director of public relations for ESPN.
Instead I learned courage. Keri Potts is extremely brave to stand up and share her story in order to teach a group of students about the importance of sexual assault and violence. It can't be easy to share a personal victim story, but Keri understands the importance of education on the topic.
Instead I learned honesty. Keri Potts does not hide from her true self. Sexual violence is an uncomfortable topic that Keri is extremely passionate about. She makes everyone around her feel more comfortable when discussing the subject.
Instead I learned strength. Keri Potts has endured great tragedy and has overcome hardship. She stood tall clenching her fists, tears in her eyes, telling a room of engaged students how she faced her fears head on.
I walked away from that presentation having learned what it means to be a powerful human being. Keri Potts is an incredible person that has done so much good for this world already.
Instead I learned courage. Keri Potts is extremely brave to stand up and share her story in order to teach a group of students about the importance of sexual assault and violence. It can't be easy to share a personal victim story, but Keri understands the importance of education on the topic.
Instead I learned honesty. Keri Potts does not hide from her true self. Sexual violence is an uncomfortable topic that Keri is extremely passionate about. She makes everyone around her feel more comfortable when discussing the subject.
Instead I learned strength. Keri Potts has endured great tragedy and has overcome hardship. She stood tall clenching her fists, tears in her eyes, telling a room of engaged students how she faced her fears head on.
I walked away from that presentation having learned what it means to be a powerful human being. Keri Potts is an incredible person that has done so much good for this world already.
Keri Potts has completely changed the game.
