The future visits Bristol HQ

Thursday, April 28 was national “Take Your Daughters and Sons to Work Day,” and ESPN celebrated, too.

More than 200 children joined moms and dads on their commutes to work and experienced a day in the life of ESPN — except we don’t all end our days with an ice cream social.

ESPN also offered two structured programs:

• A half-day program for ages 8-12 including a session on imagination, a tour of ESPN’s production areas, a photo opp on the set of SportsCenter, and a meet and greet with Anish Shroff and Robert Flores.

• A full-day program for ages 13-18 providing kids with a slice of every aspect of ESPN: administration, content, finance, sales and marketing, international and technology (yeah, we might have tried to cover a bit too much…).

ESPN’s Employee Wellness Center has offered a formal Bring Your Daughters & Sons to Work Day program for eight years. This year marked the first time the event was sponsored by ESPN Fathers & Mothers, one of ESPN’s eight Employee Resource Groups (ERGs).

The ERGs are run by employees, voluntarily, and formed around a shared interest or similar dimension of diversity. Our eight ERGs exist to support and enhance ESPN’s diversity mission statement and integrated diversity strategy, as well as serve as a resource for employees.

On a personal note, ERGs are a tremendous source of pride, accomplishment and connection for me.

I’m a member of E-FAM, ESPN Women, and P.R.I.M.E. (GLBTA). Our resource groups bring opportunity, knowledge, support and resources while delivering business value for ESPN.

I know I speak for many when I say the effort we put into our ERG efforts doesn’t ever feel like “work,” and we’re rewarded with immediate gratification that what we do has meaning and importance to many here.

At every opportunity, I thank those responsible here at ESPN for allowing ERGs to happen, and I know you’ll be hearing more from each of them here on ESPN Front Row.