Ari Chambers

ABOUT THIS ENTRY

As a multimedia journalist, host, and founder of HighlightHER—Bleacher Report’s emerging women sport’s vertical, Ari Chambers utilizes storytelling to amplify the voices of women and magnify their excellence.

Chambers has dedicated her efforts to grassroots coverage and the utilization of social media to close the media coverage gap between genders. Chambers coined the phrase THE WNBA IS SO IMPORTANT, which ultimately became Twitter Sports' WNBA 25th Anniversary campaign.

A superpower of Ari’s is her ability to disarm those she interviews, turning the sometimes stilted media interaction into a conversation between friends, exemplified in HighlightHER’s content franchises like ChattHER, All on the Table (partnership with Athletes Unlimited) and HERHomecourt. HighlightHER is the fastest growing women's sports platform on social with over 250K followers and counting cross-platform, adding 50K+ followers in the past year.

How does this represent “Excellence in Engagement”?

With a mission advocating for women's equity and empowerment, Chambers utilizes her sports background paired with principles of teamwork to empower women, dive into what it means to be empowered, and discuss the value of execution, based on knowing one's self-worth.

Chambers utilizes storytelling to amplify the voices of women and magnify their excellence. Intentionally staying on the women's side of things, Chambers seeks to show girls and women, world-wide, that their potential is limitless.

Chambers received higher education from both the University of Oxford (UK) and North Carolina State University (NC), studying New Communication Media and English. Post-university, she took her talents to major sports leagues like the NBA, NHL and WNBA, in in-game entertainment. It was there that Chambers saw the discrepancy in visibility of women's sports coverage. She realized the immediate impact she could have on the league if she were to just conduct her own interviews and post them online.

Chambers has since dedicated her efforts to grassroots coverage and the utilization of social media to close the coverage gap. Most notable in the implementation of social media, Chambers coined the phrase THE WNBA IS SO IMPORTANT, which ultimately became Twitter Sports' WNBA 25th Anniversary campaign.

Objective

In 2019, Ari set out to build a community that was inclusive, celebratory, and inspiring with a mission to highlight the underrepresented women and girls who excel in sports. From that, @HighlightHER was born.

Strategy & Execution

Led by an all-female team of content creators, producers, and programmers, @HighlightHER has blazed a trail on social reaching more than 217K followers on Instagram since launch. Social creator Arielle Chambers—known to friends and colleagues as “Ari”—is the powerhouse providing much of the creative vision and voice for the fastest growing female sports brand on Instagram. She is a prominent evangelist focused on sisterhood and the empowerment of women in sports with a deep network that reaches into the WNBA, NWSL, and beyond. Ari is building the blocks to prop up an entire generation of athletes who have lacked the support and coverage they deserve.

Noteworthy interviews with female superstars like Candace Parker, Paige Bueckers, and Crystal Dunn alongside user-generated content of everyday athletes have fueled immense engagement and set the emerging digital media brand apart from its competitive set.

Organizations

• HighlightHER
• Bleacher Report
• WBD Sports

Credits

Ari Chambers
Co-Founder & Creator
HighlightHER