As part of the Rams' celebration of Women's History Month this month, the organization wants to inspire Angelenos through stories of female staff changing the game on and off the field.

We continue this year's series with Leesa Rockhold, Associate Manager in the football affairs department.

What motivates Leesa Rockhold, an Associate Manager in the Rams' football affairs department, are two simple but important intrinsic factors.

"In general, I love the never-ending journey of self-discovery and serving others," Rockhold said. "The opportunity to wake up every day and learn something new, go on new adventures, and positively find ways to contribute to this world and people around me is what lights up my soul."

It also aligns perfectly with her job as an associate manager in the Rams' football affairs department. When it comes to working with franchise legends, trust is paramount, and something she cares deeply about.

Rockhold also said it's one of the most rewarding part's of her job.

"The most rewarding part of my job is building credible and trusting relationships with legends and in return they allow me to be a part of their journey, in whatever phase of their post-playing career that they may be in," Rockhold said. "The Rams have a vast community of legends that have a desire to be engaged with the club still, and every single one of them is in a different phase of life. It's incredibly fulfilling to be able to support them and their families, while identifying ways to continue to celebrate their playing career. So many talented players have played for the Rams, but they are all even better people. I'm grateful to serve such a kind and genuine community of players, who probably have no idea how much they also inspire and teach me."

Rockhold, who started with the organization in Oct. 2023, serves as the main point of contact for the Rams' legends (former player) community. Her position encompasses a wide range of responsibilities, but she primarily focuses on developing engagement strategies to effectively build relationships provide support, and communicate across the team's multi-generational legends community.

"Prior to my arrival with the Rams in October 2023, there had not been a full-time role to support the legends community," Rockhold said. "I have a unique opportunity to help create best practices in this role and identify new ways to expand engagement and support for Rams legends."

The football affairs department "is truly so unique, fast-paced and constantly changing," which brings something different each day. The busiest time of year for her is during the season, which involves constantly coordinating appearances, travel arrangements, hosting legends on game days, planning and executing the Rams' legends weekend, while also supporting the Rams' active roster as needed.

"You really must wake up every day and be able to tackle whatever is thrown your way," Rockhold said.

A highlight for Rockhold so far has been traveling to Mexico and Australia with Rams legend Torry Holt and the organization's international team.

"Torry is such an amazing person who has poured so much into the league on and off the field, along with in his community," she said. "It's been so cool to see his personal story and career accomplishments be shared world-wide and witness the positive impact that he has on fans in other countries. He's an incredible ambassador for the Rams and NFL."

Rockhold said there have been numerous influential women in her career, so it's difficult to name just one.

"When I reflect on how each of them has helped me, I think about how strong, elegant, passionate and intelligent each of them is," Rockhold said. "They all have been so engaged with helping me grow personally and professionally, only being supportive and challenging me to be the best version of myself. I owe it to each of them for how much my confidence has grown and I'm so grateful to have had such amazing female mentors. I truly wouldn't be who or where I am today without them."

"I can't go without giving a shoutout to all the male mentors I have had as well," Rockhold added. "In order for females to continue to advance into roles that have traditionally been filled by men in the NFL, we need male allies. I'm grateful for all the men who have believed in me and provided me with seats at tables that I wouldn't have been able to sit at on my own and encouraged me that my voice provides value."

One of the things that drew Rockhold to working for the Rams was the number of and diversity of women within the organization.

"I think the organization has made great strides in general with diversity and inclusion and I know that we won't stop that," Rockhold said. "In the NFL, I hope that we continue to see more females fill roles that have traditionally been filled by males on the football side such as coaching and scouting."

In terms of her identity as a woman bringing forth a unique perspective in the football affairs and player engagement space, Rockhold said that women see the game of football and off-the-field life from a completely different lens. This allows for different kinds of conversations to be had, such as perspective on how the game is played, talent and character evaluation, or sensitive and vulnerable conversations on off-the-field topics.

"However, in general, I think it's important to have male and female voices in this space as one person can't be all things to all players/legends," Rockhold said. "Some guys will gravitate towards a female for some things, and males for others, so the inclusion of diverse voices leads to more thoughtful approaches in all aspects of football."

According to Rockhold, it's important for young women to see women like her in her position "to see that just because you aren't a male or didn't play football, doesn't mean you aren't welcome in this type of role.

"My pathway to this role was untraditional and I hope that when young women hear my story, they are inspired to believe in themselves and take risks to find a job that truly fulfills them," she said. "I also hope that when young women meet me, they feel encouraged to be their authentic self in this industry and not feel pressure to conform to traditional expectations."

When it comes to celebrating Women's History Month, Rockhold recommends doing so throughout the year and in a variety of ways.

"It's important for the world to see how women have positively changed the spaces they are in to inspire the next generation," she said. "I believe that celebrations should be year-round to consistently share women's stories, support women-owned businesses, amplify voices, etc."