Riding towards Change with Kathryn Bertine: How She Changed Women's Cycling Forever

Professional cyclist turned documentary filmmaker Kathryn Bertine shares how she successfully fought to bring women back to the Tour de France after a 30-year absence. In this candid conversation, Bertine reveals the strategic approaches that created lasting change in women's professional cycling, from building influential coalitions to crowdfunding an award-winning documentary on a $77,000 budget. We discuss: How to build effective teams for social change without wealth or fame The real cost of truth-telling and activism on mental health Overcoming situational depression during career highs Crowdfunding strategies for independent filmmakers Why innovation often comes from outside corporations The journey from 'almostian' to lasting impact Bertine discusses her memoir 'Stand,' her documentary 'Half the Road,' and the Homestretch Foundation providing housing for female athletes facing the gender pay gap. This episode offers practical insights for anyone working to create systemic change in male-dominated industries Kathryn Bertine is an author, athlete, activist and documentary filmmaker. During her pro career in cycling, she was a three-time Caribbean Champion, six-time national champion of St. Kitts and Nevis (SKN) and raced five years on pro circuit  with four UCI domestic and World Tour teams Colavita, Wiggle-Honda, BMW and Cylance Pro Cycling. She retired from racing in 2017 but remains active in advancing equity for women’s pro cycling. Off the bike, Bertine is a filmmaker, activist, journalist and author of four nonfiction books, All the Sundays Yet to Come, As Good As Gold, The Road Less Taken, and STAND: A memoir on activism. A manual for progress. From 2006 through 2012, Bertine was a columnist, author and senior editor for ESPN. When she pitched a documentary film on women’s pro cycling to ESPN in 2012, they rejected the proposal. So Bertine decided she would make it herself. After a two-year labor of love and crowdsourcing adventures, in 2014, HALF THE ROAD: The passion, pitfalls and power of women’s professional cycling was released. It won five film festivals, debuted in 16 nations, scored international distribution and successfully brought the hammer down on the corruption and sexism in sports. Half the Road is now available on iTunes, Vimeo, Amazon Prime and DVD. Five years later, she continues to receive royalties on a film ESPN said no one would watch.  STAND was named a finalist in two categories of IndieBookAwards; Best Memoir and Best Social Change.  As an advocate for equality in women’s sports, Bertine then started the social activism movement Le Tour Entier in an effort to bring parity to women’s professional road cycling, starting with the Tour de France. She and her team succeeded, and after a 30 year hiatus of women at Tour de France, the women’s field was finally included in 2014 with the addition of La Course by Tour de France, (later evolved into Tour de France Femmes 2022).  In 2016, she founded (and currently serves as CEO for) Homestretch Foundation, which provides free housing to female professional athletes struggling with the gender pay gap. Bertine was featured on the cover of Bicycling Magazine and profiled in Outside Magazine for her platforms of implementing change in the world. You can follow her @kathryn_bertine or at @homestretchfdn You can follow this podcast @toomuchwithdlh and Denise @deniselovehewett Email [email protected] for any suggestions or to submit questions for advice.