After selling her health care company, the billionaire is out to prove her three teams can compete with the men’s game as a real business—and she’s willing to spend whatever it takes.
Read the full story on Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/justinbirnbaum/2025/06/02/michele-kang-washington-spirit-nwsl-future-of-womens-soccer/
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0:00 Introduction
3:34 Michele Kang's Business Background
8:08 How Michele Kang Has Capitalized In Her Business Pursuits
12:04 Michele Kang On Selling Cognosante To Accenture
19:00 Michele Kang On Owning The Washington Spirit
22:53 Challenges WMLS Faces
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Read the full story on Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/justinbirnbaum/2025/06/02/michele-kang-washington-spirit-nwsl-future-of-womens-soccer/
Subscribe to FORBES: https://www.youtube.com/user/Forbes?sub_confirmation=1
0:00 Introduction
3:34 Michele Kang's Business Background
8:08 How Michele Kang Has Capitalized In Her Business Pursuits
12:04 Michele Kang On Selling Cognosante To Accenture
19:00 Michele Kang On Owning The Washington Spirit
22:53 Challenges WMLS Faces
Fuel your success with Forbes. Gain unlimited access to premium journalism, including breaking news, groundbreaking in-depth reported stories, daily digests and more. Plus, members get a front-row seat at members-only events with leading thinkers and doers, access to premium video that can help you get ahead, an ad-light experience, early access to select products including NFT drops and more:
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More From Forbes: http://forbes.com
Forbes covers the intersection of entrepreneurship, wealth, technology, business and lifestyle with a focus on people and success.
Category
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00I think our goal should be that we're making our women's soccer to be the most exciting,
00:08most competitive, most athletic entertainment, form of entertainment,
00:13so that people can say, God, I have this weekend, I have to go watch this game,
00:19rather than, oh, this is a women's game, therefore I'm going to go support women.
00:30Michelle, thanks for being with us today.
00:33Thank you for having me.
00:35So did you ever imagine being such a public face of women's sports, being this evangelist of it?
00:41Never. Never have ever dreamed that I would be where I am today.
00:47What do you think the biggest reason to bet on women's sports is?
00:50I think it was just the gap between where it was and where it could be.
00:54I could very clearly see from the day I arrived, and I was just very surprised that no one has seen it,
01:02and I thought that that would be just an exciting part in terms of just the whole process,
01:08but in the process doing good things and giving all the young girls and, of course, the current players,
01:14but all the young girls and hope, and they can achieve their dreams.
01:19If their dreams happen to be playing soccer or football, you know, they can go for it.
01:26Between all your club investments, your organization, your $30 million gift to U.S. soccer,
01:31and also the $4 million to USA Rugby, you've been thrust into the spotlight,
01:36which is kind of something new for you, and I'm wondering kind of how you've been perceiving that.
01:40Yeah, it's all new, and I'm very grateful that I am in a position to do some of the things that I was able to do,
01:50and I want to do more.
01:52It's certainly new, surreal, but I love the fact that to some extent I'm also surprised
02:01that I feel like what I'm doing is not at the level of some of the other sports are doing,
02:06even one, probably fewer zeros than others, but just the response that I get is like,
02:13oh my God, I feel like this was not really a lot of money, but just the reaction that I get,
02:18that sort of tells you about where we are, so I'm hoping that I could do more
02:22and hopefully to move the needle, and it encourages other people to do the same and more.
02:29I want to go back to the beginning. You were born in South Korea.
02:32What was your childhood like? Tell me about that experience.
02:34I was, I guess one could say, a tomboy. I actually loved playing outside and, you know,
02:42especially with boys in terms of all kinds of sports, and I was a very active child.
02:48What were your parents like?
02:50I mean, I think I owe a lot to them about who I am today. I think that, especially in Korea at that time,
03:00which was a very traditional society where the girls and women have certain roles and expectations,
03:06but my father, who was educated in the United States, basically said, really, there's no difference
03:14whether you're a girl or a boy. If you have a dream and you work hard, go for it, and you'll get there.
03:20So it was a very, very encouraging, and of course, all the disciplines that I have and the aspirations,
03:27and that really came from my parents.
03:30You mentioned your dad studied in the U.S. What prompted your move to the United States?
03:34I wanted to, at that time, actually, I went to college as the only girl
03:39because I wanted to study economics and business administration,
03:44and I, even as a young girl, as a business person,
03:49I wanted to take a shot at becoming a CEO of a Fortune 500 company,
03:53and at that time, Korea was being industrialized, and a lot of activities,
03:57a lot of industrialization, you know, big companies, and a lot of activities,
04:02but I wanted to go to the source and the big, you know, center of gravity
04:08to really be at the center and learn and grow.
04:11There's a famous story out there about how you convinced your parents to lend you
04:16what they were saving for, you know, your eventual wedding to fund the first year of college.
04:20How'd you convince that, and how'd you pay the rest of your way through school?
04:22Yeah, so at that time, actually, Korea was going through sort of the initial stage
04:28of sort of a democracy, and students were out on the street demonstrating for democracy,
04:35and the colleges were shut down, and, you know, you get arrested and all that,
04:41so my parents were kind of afraid that if I somehow get involved in those movements,
04:46then my future will be over, so I kind of took advantage of that
04:50and used a little slight threat that if you don't let me go, then who knows what could happen,
04:57and I kind of convinced, though, that this is my dream, and let me have a shot at it.
05:03You know, in the early phases of your career, you worked at Ernst & Young and Northrop Grumman.
05:08I'm curious kind of how that shaped you, what those experiences did for you
05:11that kind of led to your success today.
05:13Yeah, so when I came out of my MBA program, I had a sort of a three-ten-year kind of plans.
05:19So the first decade, I was going to do actually consulting, strategy consulting,
05:25because I didn't want to go into a Fortune 500 company and just go through finance or, you know, sales or HR,
05:34but rather I wanted to understand all aspects of the business, how to run a business,
05:39and then different industries, because there are different things that you can learn from different industries.
05:43So I thought that was the best way for me to get really exposed and learn the depth
05:49and width of all the possible business practices and things that I need to learn.
05:53And then the second decade, being a great leader is not about how functionally,
05:58how capable you are to build the most sophisticated spreadsheets and models,
06:02but rather it's about how to lead people and how to get people, sort of your peers,
06:08people who work for you or people who you work for,
06:11how do you get them to do what you want them to do, how to lead.
06:15And that, to me, was you have to go back to a large organization like Fortune 500 companies
06:20and accomplish what you need to accomplish, not just by yourself, but leading the people.
06:26So I thought I needed to go back to Fortune 500 company, big company environment,
06:30to learn organizational skills and leadership skills.
06:34And then the third decade was going to be to take a shot at becoming a CEO and becoming actually a leader.
06:38And then actually the fourth decade was going to be philanthropy and so forth.
06:43So by and large, my actually life, the first three decades kind of worked according to my plan.
06:49And then here comes the women's sports.
06:51Well, like you said, you know, become a CEO, lead a big, powerful company.
06:56I want to flashback to when you started doing that in 2008.
07:00You created Cognizante, the healthcare tech company.
07:04What drew you to that industry and, you know, how hard was it to get started considering, you know,
07:08that was right on the heels of the recession?
07:10Yeah.
07:10So I think I'm actually drawn to things that have never been done before, right?
07:17Because I think as a newcomer in an established environment, the only way you can actually break into
07:24and do something that's really pretty meaningful and move the needle, if you will,
07:29is really to go into an industry that is about to be disrupted or that needs to be disrupted
07:35or transformation is very much needed.
07:38And healthcare was one of those things.
07:40And given my background in the IT industry, I thought that IT could be a very much a catalyst to,
07:47at that time, a lot of economists use the term bend the curve and how do you really reduce the 17,
07:5418 percent of GDP to be not only just efficient but also better care, to provide better care.
08:00And I thought that IT could be a significant contributor to that.
08:04So the market was about to be disrupted and transformation was happening.
08:07So as a newcomer, coming in with a lot of unconventional ideas and trying things that never been done before.
08:15So in those kind of environments, a lot of incremental improvements only go so far.
08:21And actually, that's unhelpful.
08:22Actually, that works counter to the kind of transformation objective.
08:27So you really need to come in with a totally different look and totally different way of doing things.
08:31And healthcare was one of those things.
08:34And it happens to be sort of my experience and expertise could be used to work towards that.
08:40So I literally basically started my company above my garage.
08:45Wow.
08:46What would you say your biggest win in healthcare during the time running the company was?
08:51I don't know whether it's the biggest win, but I think that because of just what I said in terms of trying to do something different.
09:00And in 2004, at that time, President Bush actually declared that every American who wants to have an electronic medical record will have one by 2014.
09:12And started investing in healthcare in terms of IT.
09:15It was a massive investment.
09:17So a lot of big companies like IBM and all the large IT typical companies came in.
09:24But yet, they really did not have the necessary tools or they're really kind of stuck with the vested interest in keeping the status quo and the legacy systems.
09:38As opposed to newcomers coming in and say, that's really not how you should do it.
09:43There are different ways of doing, totally different ways of doing, sort of like not unlike what Uber has come in and really totally revolutionized personal transportation.
09:52And they did not go and say, well, I'm going to make a faster car or paint the car, you know, different colors.
09:58But they brought different components from different industries and came up with a totally different solution.
10:05And I think that when I was trying to do that, so actually almost right off the bat, I actually competed against these big guys, IBM, Accenture.
10:14And, you know, at that time, SAIC, all those companies.
10:17And I won quite a few contracts and hundreds of millions of dollars.
10:20So that was sort of like, you know, my my approach was right.
10:26And even as a newcomer, we could beat big guys.
10:30The other side of that coin is obviously kind of failures, whips.
10:34Did you have any notable ones that kind of still stick with you?
10:36I have a lot of bruises to show you.
10:41Of course, I mean, I think failure is part of success, in my opinion.
10:44Actually, if you don't fail, I don't think you can be successful because you're stuck.
10:49If you're successful in one thing, you're stuck with that.
10:52What you think was the formula and even the world around you changes.
10:57You're sort of stuck with, well, this was my success formula.
11:01Why should I change?
11:02It's all the rest of the things that need to change.
11:04So I think failure is is a critical component of it.
11:08And I think there are a lot of failures, just like a typical startups in terms of hiring really good people.
11:16It's not necessarily because I don't know how to, you know, judge people, but rather, you know, the opportunities for those really good talent.
11:27They have more opportunities than what I could offer.
11:30So there is that.
11:31And then there is also at that time still, you know, I don't know, the younger generation may not understand this, but in old days, there was a sort of a saying that you can't go wrong by hiring IBM, right?
11:45Because in terms of responsibilities, it's such a big company and and so forth.
11:50So they kind of tend to go for bigger name, regardless of the content and solutions that you offer.
11:56It's a less risky option, which is totally understandable.
12:00So as a result of that, I lost some big contracts as well.
12:04What made it the right time to sell?
12:07You know, obviously sold the company last year, you know, moved on.
12:09Why?
12:10What was the thought behind that?
12:11Yes, throughout my business career and consulting days and then observations of my peers and colleagues, even when I started, I knew that 10 years was going to be the maximum for me to lead this organization.
12:24In part because as the company grows, different skill sets are required, different leadership, different perspectives are required.
12:32So, you know, typically the leaders who would take a company from zero to 100 million are not usually the same leaders who can take the company from 100 million to 10 billion.
12:43And it's a different perspective, different set of actually executives as well.
12:46So I thought that as somebody who started a company with a certain vision, I can take it to a certain level.
12:53But after that, beyond that, it's going to require different capabilities and different perspectives.
12:58So I've seen so many actually founders who just stayed way too long and the companies had incredible opportunities, but they couldn't quite realize.
13:07So I knew that 10 years plus minus, give and take, was going to be really my time.
13:14And then either I'm going to sell or I'm going to hand over to professional management teams.
13:19So, you know, it took a little longer than 10 years, but it was the right time.
13:22So you mentioned, you know, you weren't a soccer person, weren't a soccer fan, didn't have any designs on being in the sports world.
13:29But then you joined the Washington Spirit as a minority owner.
13:32How did you get involved there?
13:33What brought you into that?
13:34Yeah, so I think that the critical event was the U.S. women's national team winning the World Cup in 2019 in France.
13:42And they actually came to Washington and there was a sort of a reception in the Capitol Hill to celebrate the win and so forth.
13:52And I was invited and I have really no idea.
13:55Of course, the Olympic, that's great.
13:57I did not even know there was a professional league, nor did I know that there was actually a professional team based in D.C.
14:02So at that time, I was exposed to and, you know, owners of the spirit convinced me that, you know, more female leaders and, you know, people with resources should come in and be role models and help women.
14:18So I got to meet some players.
14:21I got to learn about it.
14:22And I said, of course, I will join.
14:24And that was really that even still then, I thought I was just joining as a to be a mentor and to lend my help where they're necessary, not really dreaming that I one day I was going to run the club, let alone multi-club.
14:36And you eventually, you know, become majority owner by the team at a astounding $35 million valuation.
14:43The team was going through some tough times with the scandal and stuff.
14:45I'm wondering if you could talk me through kind of that transition and what it was like taking over the club and negotiating that.
14:50Yes, I think it was probably the toughest on players, but also the staff who were there to support.
14:56And I think that, you know, that kind of motivated me a little more to make sure that things are going to be resolved.
15:04And it took some time and took a lot of toll on everyone.
15:08But I'm glad that we got there.
15:11We everyone.
15:12This was not just one individual.
15:14There are a lot of people who work towards that, including investors, including a lot of fans and supporters.
15:20So it took a village to make that make this happen.
15:23In doing so, you became the first woman of color to be a majority owner in the National Women's Soccer League.
15:28And, you know, as a league that prides itself on its inclusivity and diversity, I'm wondering what that means to you, what that means to your club, what that means to the league.
15:35Yeah, I mean, I think it was important, I guess, symbolically, I guess that was important.
15:39But to me, I think our goal should be that we're making our women's soccer to be the most exciting, most competitive.
15:50Most athletic entertainment, form of entertainment, so that people can say, God, I have this weekend.
15:57I have to go watch this game rather than, oh, this is a women's game.
16:02Therefore, I'm going to go support women.
16:04Very important, right?
16:05I think that's an important component, but our objective is to make this game and our sport to be the most exciting, comparable to almost like watching, you know, better than NFL Super Bowl or the Premier League game.
16:20So I want this game to be the most exciting thing, not, and I want them to come for that reason, not necessarily because it's a women's game.
16:30You've added two other clubs, assembled this multi-club system.
16:33What does that do for you?
16:34What does taking these three clubs and building this organization create as a whole?
16:39Yes, I think I can think about two words to describe why that was necessary, and that's scale, and that's acceleration.
16:47So, you know, all the men's sports leagues, if you look at NFL, NBA, they have very big media contracts, and their revenue is pretty significant.
17:00So they have enough money to invest in critical things like foundational blocks, like training center, training methodology, and all those type of things.
17:09But as an emerging and nascent, the league and the nascent stage, we don't have enough money, but we have to invest in, for example, you know, training females as training, I'm sorry, female, and then the training center, building the state-of-the-art training center.
17:23But to do that for one team, it is really a significant stretch, and you just can't do that.
17:31You sub-optimize.
17:32It's sort of a vicious cycle, right?
17:33So if you don't have enough revenue, you can't invest, therefore, you can never get out of sort of where we were before.
17:39So you have to kind of invest.
17:41And, you know, if you have multi-teams, you can pull the resources and invest at scale so that they are really at scale and at the level that they need to be sort of coming out of our efforts to build a training methodology, building global scouting capabilities, style of play, developing coaches, those type of things we're investing at scale.
18:02The other thing is an acceleration.
18:04So I don't want, because I think soccer is the biggest sport globally, and there are so many young girls all around the world who want to be, you know, the next Alex Morgan and, you know, Trini Rodman, those type of sort of aspirations and dreams.
18:22But I want all those young girls, wherever they are, feel like this is not something that you watch on TV that's available only in America or France or England, but rather it's in their backyards.
18:34Because when I buy a team in those countries and regions, they're going to get exactly the same thing that my teams in America and France and England are going to have.
18:43So they know that all the things or foundational blocks are there, infrastructure is there, and all they have to do is put 100% of what they have, and it's going to be up to them to achieve their dreams, not because of lack of opportunities or lack of infrastructure.
18:59So it's accelerating that movement.
19:01But it's not just clubs either.
19:02You know, there are other pieces to your organization as well.
19:04I'm curious, kind of, how does that work and what's the ultimate goal here and how you can execute that?
19:09Yeah, so if you go back to, like, you know, our original dream, which is really making women's soccer the most exciting, the best, the highest form of athleticism and excitement, you need a lot of different things, not only training methodologies, but a lot of things in the ecosystem need to advance.
19:27And that's not even the companies, but, you know, the referees, the coaches, and as little as the boots, the cleats.
19:34Right now, a lot of boots are still made for men and making it a little smaller to fit women's feet and so forth, but they're fundamentally different, right?
19:43The weight distribution, the arches, and all that.
19:46So we have to make boots and all the gears that are designed for women's body.
19:52So now there are some company startups that are doing exactly that.
19:56So I wanted to invest, and I wanted to get them to move along.
20:00Just Women's Sports is another media organization that only covers media, because one of the reasons why women's sport, women's soccer, has been sort of the best kept secret is because the awareness wasn't there, right?
20:13No one was covering it, and no one was talking about it.
20:16So having this sort of a coverage and storytelling and making this thing really everywhere is very important.
20:23So there are now some of the new media companies that are only covering women, so I invested in that.
20:29So it's very important that, and then, of course, IT and analytic tools for soccer and football and women's sports is going to be important, so I'm investing in that.
20:38So we really need to, you can't just have a team and say, now, you know, this is going to go explode.
20:44You need all those components in the ecosystem to move along and advance together, so I wanted to make sure that those are also getting the necessary attention and the resources.
20:55For sports teams to make money, it's quite complicated, and, you know, obviously many teams lose money.
21:00In the case of women's sports, you know, there are critics out there who say it's more of a social cause than a business, and I'm curious what you say to that.
21:06Yeah, so, I mean, I think a lot of people compare us to NFL, NBA, Premier League, but give me a break, right?
21:14How long have they been around?
21:16I mean, NFL started, what, 1930s or something, but let's say even modern NFL started in the 60s and 70s.
21:23NBA, you know, Magic Johnson is our investor.
21:26When Magic Johnson got drafted to the Lakers, the final NBA final was on tape delay.
21:33It was not live broadcast.
21:34It was like 79, 1980.
21:36So they had three, four decades to be where they are.
21:40So if you look at the growth stage of all these sports, I don't think we're that far behind.
21:45In fact, one could argue we are ahead of those sports relative to where they were in year two, year three, year four.
21:53So we're not going to take three decades, I can tell you that, to be where the current football leagues are, I'm sorry, other sports leagues are.
22:01But I think we have to be a little patient.
22:03And yes, it's aspirational when you talk about NFL, NBA, but let's be realistic.
22:09They've been around for three, four decades.
22:11The Premier League started in the early 90s.
22:13So by the time we get to the certain, that comparable growth stage, we're going to be pretty big.
22:19If you look at even a men's sports world, especially without the media contract, the size of the media contract,
22:26like I don't know how many teams actually, maybe other than NFL, how many teams actually are profitable from just game day operations.
22:33So I think we have a plan, we meaning even the spirit and so forth, without even relying on the big media dollars.
22:42We're going to be in pretty good shape in terms of break even and move in that direction.
22:47I mean, look at Angel City, right?
22:49Their revenue is within two, three years, which is incredible.
22:54Yeah, yeah.
22:54What's the biggest challenge the industry faces, do you think?
22:57I think it's awareness and then really getting our stories out.
23:05Because I tell my players and my team, we're not just competing against MLS or Premier League.
23:12You know, all of us have seven days, seven evenings.
23:15We're competing for that valuable discretionary time and dollars of every consumer.
23:22And they have so many options.
23:23It's not just sports, right?
23:25You can go see a movie.
23:26You can go see Taylor Swift concert.
23:28And you can go see, you can go out, have dinner with your family.
23:32You can go visit your parents.
23:33So how do you get that mindshare and time among so many alternatives?
23:40And especially in America, there are more forms of sports, professional sports, including even college and NCAA sports.
23:47So how do we make sure that our product is so compelling and our value proposition is so compelling that instead of going out to have dinner or go to Taylor Swift concert, they'll come and watch our game?
24:00So I think that's actually one of the most important things that we have to solve.
24:05But I think we're doing a pretty good job.
24:07We sell out now.
24:08We routinely sell out.
24:09And fans are getting really excited.
24:12In Europe, they get like 90,000.
24:13Even actually volleyball got 90,000 and so forth.
24:17So we're getting there.
24:18You know, one thing that people might not know about you is you're a cancer survivor.
24:22And I'm wondering how that's giving you perspective, especially as you kind of undertake this new endeavor.
24:27I think that made me become more driven.
24:31So you sort of face mortality and like you're not going to be here forever.
24:36So I think it makes you more driven and I think you have a lot more empathy and sort of it gives you a different life perspective.
24:46So I certainly don't wish that kind of experience on anyone, but it certainly gave me a sort of a wake up call.
24:53What do you want your legacy to be?
24:55Well, I mean, I don't know.
24:56That sounds like a pretty big word.
24:58I mean, I was sort of a little girl who came from Korea and I thought I was going to take a shot.
25:03And so, I mean, just the fact that I'm even talking about the word legacy is surreal.
25:09I mean, quite frankly, I don't know what that is.
25:12But I hope that in any way, if I was a catalyst for moving certain, you know, the women's sports forward and more people join.
25:21And I would love to see women's soccer, especially for now, India and all other women's sports as well.
25:28But to become like just shoulder to shoulder with all other male sports categories, that would be great.
25:36The last thing I want to ask you, are the Washington Spirit going to win the championship in 2025?
25:40Absolutely.
25:41Absolutely.
25:42Mark my word.
25:44Thank you so much for the time, Michelle.