She did not grow up knowing this world was accessible to her.

Growing up in Section 8 housing, raised by an immigrant mother who was still learning English while Robbin was learning Spanish so they could talk to each other, career planning was not part of the conversation. Survival was. The opportunities that exist in professional sports, the networking, the mentorship, the resources, none of that was on her radar. She did not know this world had a place for someone like her.

When a serious car accident ended her plans to become a nurse, she did not stop. She pivoted. She realized that advocacy does not only happen in hospitals. It can happen in workplaces too. That realization led her into Human Resources and eventually to Orlando City Soccer and Orlando Pride, where she has spent the last four years as Payroll and Benefits Manager making sure every single employee feels supported enough to show up and do their best work.

What that job actually looks like is something most people never think about. She walks alongside team members through some of the most personal moments of their lives. Parental leave, workplace injuries, loss, grief. She helps international employees navigate the U.S. benefits system for the first time. She built a paid associate program from the ground up that now converts 80 percent of participants into full time roles.

The moment that made everything feel worth it had nothing to do with any of that.

Her brother still carries her very first business card in his wallet. Not her current title. The first one.

For someone who grew up the way she did, that card is everything.

When asked what she would tell a young woman who wants to work in professional sports but does not know if there is space for her, her answer came without hesitation.

She closes with the words her mother always gave her.

Ponte las pilas. There is work to do.

This is Robbin Juarez.

She applied to over 50 jobs before she landed this one. And she would do it all over again.

Chiara D'Amato shows up to the ballpark three hours before first pitch every single game day. Before the crowd arrives, before the players take the field, before anyone is watching, she is already working. Creating the lineup graphic, figuring out what story she is going to tell that night and how she is going to tell it. Some days she is down on the field filming every at bat. Other days she is up in the press box keeping score herself. And somewhere in between all of that she is mixing in photography just to scratch that itch.

She did not find this path. She built it herself by showing up to baseball practice at her university one day and just starting. Nobody asked her to. She picked up a camera, fell in love immediately and became the unofficial official team photographer. The coaching staff and players always made her feel welcome and that environment gave her something she had not expected. A direction.

The moment that made everything real happened just a few weeks ago. A player she had photographed sitting in the dugout the day before got called up to the big leagues and started the very next day. She went home, turned on the game and watched him play, knowing she had been there the day before it all changed for him.

That was her moment. The realization that she had captured his story before anyone else even knew it was worth telling.

Her advice to the young woman who wants to be where she is is honest and direct.

She got here by showing up before anyone asked her to. That is still exactly what she does.

This is Chiara D'Amato.