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Future-proof your leadership with High Octane Leadership, a place where business leaders—whether by title or aspiration—share cheat codes for unlocking workplace excellence, lessons learned along the way, and insider tips for future generations of next-level professionals. With a career rooted in building people and businesses, Donald Thompson is an award-winning CEO, speaker, and author who empowers leaders to scale with purpose. Over the last 25 years, he has helped startups and enterprises alike drive cultural change, unlock performance, and deliver exceptional results through strategic leadership.
Find him on LinkedIn, and listen here to learn how you can become future-proof too.
High Octane Leadership Ep. 169
From World Cup Pitch to Community Impact: Inside the
Pinto Futball Foundation Revolution with Brianna Pinto
[00:00:00] Donald: What would be yours?
[00:00:01] Brianna: I said the same thing.
[00:00:02] Donald: Yeah. Yeah. I'm gonna be in in invisible. I can get all the other stuff. Go hang out with the hedge fund guys. Just sit in the room. Oh, okay. Steal information. Yep. Put a little money there, you know, do the things.
[00:00:16] Donald: And, uh Find out all the secrets.
[00:00:17] Donald: Oh, I see. That. I
[00:00:18] Donald: get that. There you go. Alright. Is everybody in? She is not in, but she'll be fine. Okay. Alright. I'm gonna leave this open then.
[00:00:28] Donald: Yeah. A few dollars is starting to get.
[00:00:31] Donald: I'm gonna go ahead, Mark. And, Don, just wait till I get behind the camera to start. Mark.
[00:00:40] Brianna: Am I primarily, like, focusing
[00:00:42] Donald: If you wanna address any camera, this is kind of our main that will establish everything. If you ever feel like you wanna, like, address the camera specifically, you can look at this one. Okay.
[00:00:50] Donald: Alright. Cool. My name is Donald Thompson, and welcome to another episode of High Octane Leadership. I'm really excited today, uh, to be here with Brianna Pinto, professional, uh, soccer player with NC Courage. But today, we're gonna talk about the Pinto Football Foundation. And so welcome, Brianna.
[00:01:09] Brianna: Thank you for having me.
[00:01:10] Donald: One of the things that, um, I always try to do, and I know this is a foundation for you and your family as well, is we try to do the most we can for our community to uplift others. And the foundation is the latest thing that you have launched with you and your family as a part of your give back. And so I wanted to give you space, uh, to share with our audience a little bit about the foundation, why you started it, how it is working very closely with mom, dad, your two brothers, and just give our audience a little flavor for what you all are trying
[00:01:41] Donald: to do.
[00:01:41] Brianna: Well, absolutely. Well, first of all, just it's pleasure to be here with you. Um, and thank you for opening space for Pinto Football Foundation just to get our mission out there. But Pinto Football Foundation started in 2021. Um, our mission is to dismantle the structural and financial barriers to participation in the sport of soccer. Uh, soccer is a game that my whole entire family has loved. Um, and we've shared incredible memories traveling the entire world and, um, immersing ourselves in so many different cultures. And it's opened so many doors of opportunities specifically for my brothers and I, um, with regard to our education and then professional opportunities after college. And, um, with Pinto Football Foundation, we wanted to share our joy, uh, for the game with others. Um, both my parents were d one athletes and, um, my dad played soccer, my mom played softball. And, um, my brothers went to Duke and Princeton respectively, and I followed in my parents footsteps by going to UNC Chapel Hill. Um, but with Pinto Football Foundation, we feel that it's important to use sports as a vehicle to open doors of opportunity. Uh, it exposes you to people of different walks of life. It teaches you, um, life skills, like how to overcome adversity, um, and also how to set goals. And all of those skills are applicable to, you know, attaining higher education or, um, you know, eventually playing professional soccer. And, uh, we're just so grateful just for the opportunity to pour into our community because we strive to serve underserved communities that wouldn't otherwise have access to the sport of soccer.
[00:03:14] Donald: One of the things I found just one second. I'm sorry, Don?
[00:03:16] Donald: Yeah. Sure. Do we need to start again? No.
[00:03:20] Donald: No. Everyone's doing great so far. I just noticed a little annoying thing that I left here. Um, now we're all removed. Alright. Well, we're all good. Keep going. Yep.
[00:03:32] Donald: One of the things you mentioned that, uh, I really wanna key in is that ability to open doors for others. And I, uh, feel that way very sincerely in my business walk. Right? Um, a lot of times, people use terms like self made, or I did it my way, and all these things are good and true. But I've had mentors and people open doors for me, and then, yes, I did the work once behind the door. Can you talk a little bit more about the Football Foundation and some of the specific things you all are doing to bring out that excellence to provide those experiences to young aspiring athletes.
[00:04:06] Brianna: Absolutely. So with Pinto Football Foundation, we strive to just identify, like, underserved communities particularly, and we want to address diversity, equity, and inclusion. So our clinics are primarily for black and brown kids, and we started that way intentionally because we wanted to create a sense of community for them. And with soccer, um, it unites people from all walks of life all across the world in a way that little else can, um, because it levels the playing field no matter what you look like, where you're from, what your socioeconomic background's like. And at our clinics, we strive to provide a network of coaches that have had a life of experience, um, both at the club level, the collegiate level, the professional level. And we want it to be an encouraging environment where they can see themselves with the representation that's there, um, to one day aspire to be that themselves. [a]Um, so in those environments with the clinics, we start off with, like, a skills training session. Um, we do want to address, um, some of the food inequality that's available in the community. And, um, the way we do that is we, like, feed them lunch, um, just so that they have enough energy just to get through the day. And then lastly, we have a q and a, um, where we just open up the floor for them to ask any question that's on their mind. Like, you know, how did you get to where you are today? And one of the things that we really like to share are the people that poured into us. You know, our community poured into my brothers and I and helped us get to where we are today. And, um, you know, all the resources from the community that we've used to fund Pinto Football Football Foundation are, um, we're so grateful for. Because without them, we couldn't do our mission. And, uh, we operate as a nonprofit, and we aim to just impact as many kids as possible. So, um, with regard to just the people who have poured into us, um, with my education at least, they always talked about, um, climbing a ladder but pulling others up as you go.
[00:06:03] Donald: That's right.
[00:06:04[b]] Brianna: And when I was coming up in soccer and my brothers would say the same, um, there weren't, like, a ton of people that looked like it like us. And we want to make space for others to see that representation at the highest levels of education in both athletics.
[00:06:17] Donald: That is a powerful statement, and I really appreciate it. And one of the things I've seen firsthand in observing you and your family over the years, Uh, one of the companies that I work with is Workplace Options, and they're in the health and well-being space. And you were the keynote speaker about a year ago at our global sales conference. And then I look at what you're doing with the Pinto Football Foundation, when I look at you with professional sports telecast and different things, you are doing a lot of different things in addition to being a pro athlete. So I wanna ask you, how do you keep it all together?
[00:06:48] Brianna: Oh, I definitely think it's not easy, but, um, I like to think of myself as, like, a student of the world. Okay. Um, I really value my education. I've repeated it multiple times, but I wanna continue learning and growing. Um, and soccer is just a part of who I am. It's not my entire identity. I identify as a Christ follower. I identify as a sister, a daughter. Um, and I identify as a change maker in my community. And, um, with the platform that comes with being a a professional athlete, um, we've got a lot of opportunity that's, um, extended to us.
[00:07:22] Donald: Yeah.
[00:07:22] Brianna: So by virtue of having that privilege, I want to make sure that I use it for good and, um, really reinforce the principles that were instilled in my brothers and I.
[00:07:33] Donald: I love that. You said a couple of things I just wanna reiterate. And one of the things I strive to be is a change maker. Right? There's so many things going on in the world today that we can complain about, that we could be apathetic about. But at a certain point, we've gotta figure out what we can do to move the ball forward, so to speak, with our time, with our talent, and our treasure. And and I see you doing that. So, one, I wanna commend you. And and two, uh, I appreciate it. Right? Because I have, um, uh, three daughters, and it is not easy in this world, right, for all of the differences. And and what you've done is that, so what? Here's where I wanna go. I wanna be a professional athlete. I want to be a professional outside and off the the field, and you're doing those things. And that's really, really cool. Let me ask you this. As we think about the the foundation and how people could help? Because we're doing this interview. Right? Well, I always enjoy chatting with you, but we wanna create an activation moment for folks that have the ability to support what you all are doing. Uh, when I talked to your, um, to your father, Hass, about this and and we had a lot of conversation, I wanted to put some of our corporate dollars where our mouth was, so to speak. And we talked about Walkwest being a sponsor of the the Football Foundation, and we've done that. Right? How can others get involved, right, with what you all are doing and continue to help you maximize it? Oh, first of
[00:08:56] Brianna: all, thank you for that question. Just because amplifying the mission is everything that we need to be successful, and we appreciate your investment in us. Um, but with regard to supporting Pinto Football Foundation, it's, you know, following us on Instagram or Facebook and also, um, donating to our mission. Uh, one of our biggest projects that we really want to tap into is creating a safe and equitable space to play. Um, because one of the issues in club soccer is that a lot of the fields in a 100 mile radius of where we live are rented by big clubs. And, you know, we were a family that was fortunate to be able to play travel soccer and, you know, afford the uniforms and the gas to get to training and to games. But, um, that's really cost prohibitive for a lot of families. And, you know, across the world, soccer is a global game where people will go out in favelas or streets of New York and go play. And, um, we don't have that here. Gotcha. So, um, our mission is to leave a lasting impact on our community by creating a safe, um, available space for kids to just get out there and fall in love with the game.
[00:10:01] Donald: So That is awesome.
[00:10:02] Brianna: That's the mini pitch initiative, and, uh, we hope to get that up by the FIFA twenty twenty six World Cup.
[00:10:08] Donald: That is awesome.
[00:10:09] Donald: Uh, one
[00:10:10] Donald: of the things that I think is super important is accessibility, whether that's sports, whether that's education and opportunity. Uh, you can't dream beyond what you see. And so we've gotta create that environment where people can see themselves in the Brianna Pintos of the world. But then once they have that vision, that we give them the underpinning to actually chase it. Right? And I think that's super important. Question to pivot back just to you and and your journey. Uh, what does the future hold for you? What are some of the new things you're doing? Some of the aspirational things that that you're doing on and off the pitch?
[00:10:42] Brianna: Um, on the field, my goal is still to represent the US Women's National Team and play in a World Cup and Olympics. Um, I wanna go as far as I can with the game because, uh, we've seen astronomical growth, um, with with the women's game and women's sports in generally.
[00:10:56] Donald: That's right.
[00:10:56] Brianna: Um, I was actually involved with the collective bargaining agreement, um, last summer. I'm a part of the NWSL Players Association. I'm the rep for the North Kiana Courage. And, um, we helped to negotiate our our latest CBA. And, um, um, in that deal, we, uh, secured free agency for all, um, housing security for players, meaning they're not spending more than 30% of their income on housing, um, which is really important because a lot of our, um, markets in the league are in expensive cities. Um, we also, um, added some family planning, um, protections. So if you wanna have children, um, your career won't hold you back from that, which we think is incredibly valuable, um, among other things. But that was a huge success for us because we're thinking about the future. So, um, governance is something that's very important to me, especially in the sport of soccer. Um, one of the experiences that kind of brought that vision to life was being on the FIFA, um, United Big Committee, uh, when I went to Russia in 2018 to help secure this hosting rights to the twenty twenty six FIFA World Cup. Um, but, basically, while I was there, I was The US youth speaker, um, that delivered a speech on behalf of our federation. And when I looked around the room, the governing body of FIFA, which is the governing body of global soccer, did not reflect all the people that played soccer across the world. So I was like, what can I do in my own community, in my own league? So I've joined the US Soccer Athletes Council to help make recommendations to the board of directors for US Soccer. Um, I've been a part of the Black Women's Player Collective where we're trying to get more black girls sport and just champion them in different ways. And then I'm also a part of the NWSL Players Association. So, uh, those things have been incredibly valuable to me. I think long after my playing days are over, I would love to work for FIFA and, um, help make the game more accessible, which is what we're doing with Pinto Football Foundation. Because, um, in the end of ASL right now, we're seeing so many players, especially from, um, the Continent Of Africa coming into this league and taking it by storm. Um, but, you know, talent isn't just located in America or, you know, these well resourced countries. Talent is everywhere, but it's up to these governing, um, organizations to leave no stone stone unturned.
[00:13:15] Donald: That is really powerful. And the one thing I wanna say is we all have biases. And I'll sometimes hear myself talking about Gen z and the younger generation and different things. And let me just tell you, you smash that to shreds. Because, uh, you are putting the work in, but you're also giving back, and then you're also learning how to continue to be exceptional in different areas. And I think that is just tremendous. And I think that it's it's really important for our audience as we think about what our responsibilities are, uh, as a community, as a country, right, is no one should be left behind. There's so much turmoil and craziness in our political environment, and this show isn't about that. But this is about what we can do with what we have in the moment we are in. And that's the responsibility and the folks that I like to highlight and the folks that I like to take my time and treasure and try to support. And so I really appreciate you spending time with us. If there's anything that we can do to continue to be supportive of what you all are doing, uh, with the Pinto Foundation the Pinto Football Foundation, uh, please let me know.
[00:14:14] Brianna: Well, thank you so much. It's just a joy to be here.
[00:14:19] Donald: We're all good? Anything else we need? Um, do you want something fun? Would you want
[00:14:26] Brianna: something fun? Yeah. I'm open to anything. Okay.
[00:14:28] Donald: Just one kind of fun. Just like let's do
[00:14:31] Brianna: it. Like, five minutes. Yeah. You said like this or that or Yes. It's like a point. Let's do it.
[00:14:35] Donald: Alright. Teach me.
[00:14:36] Donald: Just a fact.
[00:14:38] Donald: I I I'm open. I just
[00:14:39] Donald: Oh, So just a just a background. So, like, Don's target audience, they love to see that human side
[00:14:46] Donald: of him.
[00:14:47] Donald: They love that. Um, so I just try to make a little bit comical sometimes.
[00:14:51] Donald: There is it's always there. Yes.
[00:14:53] Donald: Yes. Yes. Yes. So I have it's four questions. The same lightning round questions
[00:15:00] Donald: Okay.
[00:15:02] Donald: That I showed that we shared with you.
[00:15:04] Donald: Alright. Lighten round. Alright.
[00:15:05] Donald: Yeah. Just really quick.
[00:15:09] Donald: Oh, I'll answer some of these too. Okay. Because I have I I have a soccer pedigree. Alright. Uh, so we're gonna do a little lightning round. Alright. And, uh, and and Kia, our our our executive producer, uh, and and my boss in how to get this right, uh, has put these in front. We're gonna have some fun
[00:15:26] Donald: with this.
[00:15:26] Donald: This is gonna be awesome. So what is your go to hype song before a big game or event?
[00:15:33] Brianna: I definitely say Dreams and Nightmares by Meek Mill. Uh, that's one that we love to chant in the locker room.
[00:15:39] Donald: And favorite soccer player growing up?
[00:15:41] Brianna: My favorite soccer player growing up was Andres Iniesta. He played for FC Barcelona at the height of his career. I we're number eight because of him because he was the master of time and space on the ball.
[00:15:51] Donald: And what is your favorite soccer memory on or off the field?
[00:15:55] Brianna: I would definitely say it was being The US youth representative for the United Bid Committee in rush Russia in 2018 because playing a role in bringing the FIBA World Cup to The United States, Canada, and Mexico will transform the state of soccer in North America. So that was incredible.
[00:16:11] Donald: My favorite soccer memory and I don't I'm I'm not told this group does. But in college and I need some extra money, so they have these youth jobs open. So I applied to be a soccer coach at a local school. And I still don't know the rules of soccer, so I didn't know them then. Right? So I'm reading the rule books, and I'm driving in in Bethel, North Carolina. This is this is where this was. And one of the kids as I was going through and tell them how to set up, they said, mister Donna. They said I said, what? She's She's like, you don't know what you're doing, do you? And we all started laughing. I said, do you know what we can do? We can run these laps. We can have fun. And by the time you get back, I don't know what position to put y'all in. And so I got them running, and then I finally at least got people set up, but we had a good time.
[00:16:53] Brianna: See, the thing I'd say to that is planting a seed, though. Just giving them the opportunity to play because in rural areas, it's not accessible. So
[00:17:00] Donald: That's exactly right. But but we but we have fun. My favorite soccer player going up used to watch would be Pele. I remember all the highlights and different things, and that dates me a little bit from, uh, from an age perspective. My hype song, I don't know who wrote it, but all I all I do is win. That's my hype song. Like, that's just my motto on good days and bad days. And I need it the most on tough days because anytime in business, it goes just like this. Anybody tells you different is a liar. Right? Business goes like this. And on the dip days, uh, that's that's my GM song that gets me back kinda where I need to be. Here's the last question for you. If you are playing soccer or running a nonprofit, what would you be doing?
[00:17:40] Brianna: This answer changes all the time, but I think right now, I'd be a travel reviewer. Like, I'd be traveling the world and, like, reviewing hotels and restaurants because that's what I like to do in my free time.
[00:17:49] Donald: That is awesome. If I wasn't doing business, what would I be doing? I probably would be a coach like my dad. My dad is a retired college football coach, and I spent a lot of time doing that. And I thought about following in his footsteps. And ultimately, I have. I'm just a coaching business. Right? But I didn't really know that as I was developing as an individual.
[00:18:12] Donald: I was like, oh, I
[00:18:13] Donald: don't I don't wanna do that. I'm gonna chart my own thing. But if I had to really reflect, especially as much money as they make now, uh, I probably would have gone into coaching because he always taught me that sport was a way to impact the lives of others and give people their dream shot. And so one of the things that I always saw him do is it's easy to recruit the players that everyone knows about. One of the things that made him excellent was finding the diamonds in the rough. Yeah. And that's something I saw over the course of his career, uh, in doing that. So that's probably the way I would answer that final question. Last thing for you. Uh, last thought. What have I not asked that you'd like to share with our audience? What final parting thought about the Pinto Football Foundation, about success in life, anything that you'd like to share would be that final thought?
[00:19:01] Brianna: It's kind of a complex thought, but, you know, I find it interesting that, you know, people with status or privilege are off often given things for free, and they are afforded a lot of resources that they don't really need access to but could otherwise get on their own. Um, so one of the reasons that Pinto Football Foundation operates our clinics free of cost is because we want kids to come, like and it shouldn't be a barrier because you can't pay for it. So, um, something that I think needs to be asked of, you know, communities across, uh, you know, those states or the world is, like, what can we do to create more free third spaces so that people can create a deeper sense of sense of identity and community?
[00:19:45] Donald: I really appreciate that. And I wanna add to that. One of the things that people don't think about is the value of supporting those that don't have. Right? And when we think about building our community both economically and just culturally, right, creating the types of citizens we want, is the more that people have opportunity to dream forward, the less time they have, right, to do things that contribute negatively to society. And a lot of times, we always think about things just internally in our family, but we don't think how a growing, thriving community of people with hopes and dreams actually adds to the value of everyone. And so I really, really appreciate what you said, and I believe that, um, very, very strongly myself. And, uh, you know, there's one thing I mean, I have to be from home, all these different things, but I don't need three homes. I don't need six cars that I can't drive. And so I do like to take some time and treasure to be available to support things like you're describing. And so I really appreciate what you said right there for my personal actions. We can't control others, but we can at least try to be a good example the best we can. And, uh, and you have done that, and, uh, you're the one of the folks that I admire. Well, thank you.
[00:20:52] Brianna: You're a great source of inspiration.
[00:20:54] Donald: So I really appreciate having you, uh, on our on our show.
[00:20:59] Donald: We all good? Did we chat about while I was out
[00:21:02] Donald: the pop up pitch? Did we go through that?
[00:21:03] Donald: Yep. Okay. Good. Just wanted to make
[00:21:05] Brianna: sure. Alright.
[00:21:07] Donald: We did. Awesome. Good. Good?
[00:21:08] Donald: Yes. We are all good. Cutting.
[00:21:10] Donald: Short and sweet.
[a]Please combine the two lighter pinks for one segment.
[b]Can the green highlight be edited into one snippet?