Leadership and Risk Taking with Michelle “Spinderella” Marciniak Artwork

IX at 50: The Lady Vols Experience

IX at 50: The Lady Vols Experience is an oral history that celebrates the work of legendary UT Coach Pat Summitt and the UT Women’s Athletics family in working towards greater equality for all women and girls, no matter where they were born.Each episode, co-hosted by Dr. Sarah J. Hillyer, founder of the Center for Sport, Peace, and Society, and Olympian LaVonna Martin Floreal (Class of 1989), will unpack how this UT story is also a global one, thanks to the careers and experiences of Lady Vol athletes, coaches, and administrators, and what the present-day implications are of UT’s unique role in Title IX’s global effect.

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IX at 50: The Lady Vols Experience

Leadership and Risk Taking with Michelle “Spinderella” Marciniak

March 28, 2023 • Season 1 • Episode 12

0:00 | 40:19

To close out Season One, Dr. Sarah and LaVonna speak with 1996 NCAA champion Michelle Marciniak. Known as “Spinderella,” this former All-American translated a legendary career playing basketball for UT into one on the WNBA hardcourt and coaching sidelines before becoming an entrepreneur as co-CEO of SHEEX. From the boardroom to the basketball courts of Albania, where Marciniak met the female Afghan athletes who are soon-to-be the newest additions to the Lady Vols basketball family, this tour de force emphasizes the impact that visible role models and opportunities have, whether it’s for girls and women in the United States, Afghanistan, or elsewhere.