NutraWomen Wednesday: Mariko Hill, cricketer and Gencor product development executive

21-Apr-2021 - Last updated on 28-Sep-2021 at 14:30 GMT

From the cricket field to the board room, Mariko Hill is a force to be reckoned with. The professional cricketer and product development executive at Gencor said she’s witnessed a major gender balance transformation since she started playing at age 11.

Since being the only girl on the grassroots team, there are now two female teams in the Cricket Club. But it's come a long way.

“The common themes came about of, you know, ‘you throw like a girl’ or whatever that might be. That never bugged me...fortunately, I was a decent player at that time so they can't make such comments. I was able to perform, I was able to be confident, I was able to get wickets and score runs and throw—like a human.”

At Gencor, Hill said the company is doing a lot of research in the realm of sports nutrition for females.

In addition to her role in product development, Hill is also busy with what she calls a passion project.

“We recently launched an education platform for female athletes and it's really to educate female athletes in the realm of sports and performance nutrition and it really is just showcasing clinical studies, the evidence, and how it can apply.”

Hill is also an ambassador of FairBreak Global, which she described as a movement for gender equality that creates opportunities on a global scale independent of gender or geographical location. The movement uses Cricket as a means for progressive change.

While the US hasn’t caught ‘cricket fever’ just yet, the sport is one of the most popular in the world. Hill said the female finals for cricket had about 33 million viewers last year.

“You also look at football—sorry soccer in America—but you know, there's a huge amount [of viewers] for that and I think it might be the first female sport to really stand up for who they are and actually have a voice and they've done wonders for the whole industry."