Sports Illustrated and Empower Onyx are putting the spotlight on the diverse journeys of Black women across sports—from the veteran athletes, to up-and-coming stars, coaches, executives and more—in the series, Elle-evate: 100 Influential Black Women in Sports.
Blake Bolden has achieved a lot of “firsts” in her career. But many of them almost didn’t happen.
Just 30 years old, Bolden has broken into the predominantly white sport of hockey in a way never done before: She was first Black player drafted in the first round of the CWHL, the first Black woman to compete in the NWHL and the first Black woman to scout in the NHL.