Building a purpose-driven career in partnerships, sponsorship, and athlete welfare.

Before entering the football industry, Pooja Sindha spent four years advocating for survivors of domestic and sexual violence, work that taught her exactly how exploitation operates, and how to protect people from it. Today, she is applying that same instinct to the business of sport.

As a South Asian woman, advocacy and representation have been recurring themes throughout her personal and professional journey. But her ambitions in football are as much about revenue as they are about mission. As an The FBA Candidate completing her internship with the Homeless World Cup Foundation, she is helping build the partnership and fundraising infrastructure that lets a social-impact organization grow, and discovering how the skills that once protected vulnerable people translate directly into winning partnerships and sponsorship. 

The Power of Representation

For Pooja, sport has always represented much more than competition. Growing up as a South Asian woman in North America, she experienced first-hand how sport can build confidence, create community, and help people find their voice. Her love of sport developed through years of playing lacrosse, while the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup sparked a growing interest in football and the opportunities it could create. 

That experience also shaped her understanding of representation. Seeing women succeed in sport reinforced the importance of creating opportunities for those who have historically been underrepresented-a principle that would later become central to both her professional and personal ambitions. 

For Pooja, representation is not simply about visibility. It is about possibility, and about protection-making sure the people who finally get a seat at the table are equipped to hold it safely. 

Why Football?

After several years in the non-profit sector, Pooja began exploring how her existing skills could translate into the business side of the sports industry. Her track record already pointed that way: she had secured more than $200,000 in government grants, launched community programs, and developed partnerships with organizations across multiple sectors. 

What increasingly attracted her to football was its ability to create impact at scale and create opportunities for people whose voices are not always heard.

“I believe sport is one of the purest forms of human expression and freedom.”

Having witnessed the transformative impact of advocacy in her previous work, she became increasingly interested in how the engine of sport-partnerships, sponsorship, and the deals behind them could be used to create opportunity, confidence, and belonging on a global scale. Rather than leaving her purpose behind, she saw football as a new arena in which to pursue it.

Finding Familiar Purpose at the Homeless World Cup Foundation

That connection became clearer when Pooja began her internship. The Foundation uses football as a tool for social change, supporting programs that create opportunities for vulnerable and marginalized communities around the world, and it relies on partnerships and fundraising to do so. 

Today, Pooja works across partnerships and fundraising. Her primary task was to help build the Foundation’s new outbound partnerships engine-from prospect list-building, outreach sequencing, and pipeline development, while also contributing to an outward-facing impact report for a program delivered to survivors across four African countries. 

“I’ve been building the Foundation’s outbound partnerships engine, including list-building, sequencing, and reporting. “

For someone whose previous career focused on supporting survivors, the impact work felt immediate and familiar. 

“One of the most rewarding parts has been contributing to an impact report for a program supporting survivors, and realizing how much my previous experience in violence prevention aligns with the work I am doing now.” 

Discovering the Value of Transferable Skills

One of the biggest lessons of the experience has been recognizing that partnership-building is a skill set in its own right, and not simply a by-product of advocacy. Throughout her internship, Pooja has contributed to sponsorship decks, partnership research, lead-generation, and pipeline-building, alongside impact reporting. 

She has also gained direct exposure to how sponsorship decisions actually get made. 

“One of the biggest learning experiences has been attending sponsorship meetings, observing how those conversations unfold in real time, and turning them into sponsorship decks for future meetings.” 

The work has pushed her to pick up new tools quickly, including outbound platforms and evolving AI tools. 

“The biggest challenge has been learning platforms like Apollo and building a pipeline on them, but progress matters more than perfection.” 

Looking Ahead

As she continues her internship, Pooja hopes to drive greater long-term support for the Foundation’s programs while continuing to develop her expertise in partnerships and sponsorship. 

Longer term, she wants to combine that expertise with her advocacy background by building an agency that protects athletes from financial exploitation and abusive deals-helping them, particularly underrepresented women, make safer and better-informed decisions about their contracts and careers. It is a venture that sits at the intersection of commercial advisory and athlete welfare: understanding how deals, contracts, and money actually work in sport, and making sure the people signing them are protected.

“Much like the survivors I spent years supporting, many athletes simply need someone in their corner who understands both the business and the risks-someone who can read the deal and protect the person inside it.” 

It is an ambition that reflects the same commitment that has guided her career from the very beginning.

Advice to Future Candidates

When asked how she would describe The FBA internship experience to a future candidate, her answer is straightforward:

“Always be ready to learn, take initiative, and ask questions.”

It is advice that reflects her own journey, from survivor advocacy to the business of football, and a reminder that careers in sport are defined not by where you start, but by the purpose, and the skill, that drive you forward. 

A Pathway to Opportunity

Pooja joined the FBA as a recipient of the Women in Soccer Scholarship, an initiative designed to support and empower more women pursuing careers across the sports industry. As she builds her career through football, her journey demonstrates the impact that access, education, and industry opportunity can have on ambitious professionals entering the business side of the game-and on the next generation of female leaders across it.

For women considering a career in football, initiatives such as The FBA’s Women in Football Scholarship aim to help create more pathways into the industry and support the next generation of female leaders across the global game.