Brianna Salvatore Dueck: From Pro Basketball to Sport-For-Development to EcoAthletes Champion
Brianna Salvatore Dueck (Photo credit: Brianna Salvatore Dueck)
Brianna Salvatore-Dueck certainly has the right stuff to help jump start the #ClimateComeback as EcoAthletes’ newest Champion:
Collegiate and professional basketball player.
Passionate sport for development professional at the UN who seeks solutions to a myriad of social problems, including the climate crisis.
Nielsen Sports strategy consultant who, among other things, spearheaded the creation of metrics within Nielsen Sports database (NFI) that showed doing good is good business.
Now, she’s bringing all those experiences to bear on behalf of her new job with 17 Sport, the world’s first sport impact company, and their clients.
EcoAthletes founder and President Lew Blaustein sees the potential in Salvatore-Dueck to do the same as an EcoAthletes Champion.
“Adding Brianna to the Champions roster is a win-win for us,” Blaustein exclaimed. “Her experience as a point guard and a captain showcases her leadership as well as her ‘team first’ approach. And her ability to quantify the benefits of sport-for-good initiatives on a whole host of issues, including climate change, and her ability to communicate these benefits, will accelerate our ability to spark a #ClimateComeback.”
For Salvatore-Dueck, her journey towards becoming an EcoAthletes Champion goes back to her time as a basketball player for the UC-Davis Aggies.
“My time at UC-Davis helped prepare me for a problem-solving, purpose-driven career,” the captain of the 2014-15 Aggies shared. “On the court, we were able to deal with some real challenges, most notably getting destroyed by the incredible UConn team that ended up breaking Coach John Wooden’s record 88-game winning streak at UCLA, becoming a better team in the process. Off the court, I tried to make a difference in the Davis community through volunteer work with Athletes in Action, a wonderful fellowship of Christian athletes.”
Brianna Salvatore Dueck, playing for UC Davis, looks drive past UConn’s Kia Nurse in 2014 (Photo credit: Aggie Sports)
After graduation, Salvatore-Dueck moved to Europe where she continued to lead on the hardwood, becoming the captain of Esperance Sportive Pully in Lausanne, Switzerland. And she earned a master’s degree in international development at Sciences Po in Paris, which propelled her into the world of purpose at UNESCO, including purpose and sport.
“I worked on a project about the role of Sport for Development and Sports Diplomacy in addressing 10 of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs),” said Salvatore-Dueck. “And I worked on a G7 initiative to increase gender equality in education in sub-Saharan Africa.”
She then helped infuse purpose into Nielsen — best known for its eponymous TV ratings — while she was a strategy consultant in its Sports & Entertainment division.
“I leveraged our data to see if there is a business case for purpose-driven partnerships,” Salvatore-Dueck noted. “We included questions on the subject in the Nielsen Fan Insights platform and the findings have proven promising.”
Her April 2021 move to 17 Sport, an agency that exists at the intersection of sport, business, and purpose, as a Senior Strategist was a logical next step for Salvatore-Dueck — as is joining the EcoAthletes Champions roster.
“Getting more involved in climate action personally as well as with 17 Sport is important to me,” asserted Salvatore-Dueck. “I am excited to be part of a community of like-minded athletes that will use the power of sports to make a real difference on one of the most important issues of our time.”