Who I Work With
For Sports Ventures
Sports Ventures &
Place-Based Projects
Expansion teams, new leagues, mixed-used stadium developments, and ownership groups building from the ground up.
For Founders
Founders &
Mission-Driven Teams
Startups, nonprofits, and impact-driven organizations ready to build their brand and get in front of the right people.
Rachel Sebald
Founder, Impact Play Partners
About
Former Division 1 Goalkeeper.
Chicago-Based Strategist.
I've spent the last decade building brand and communications programs for organizations in the middle of something big — startups raising their first rounds, a proptech platform going public, a climate tech fund scaling a 50+ company portfolio across the Midwest.
I'm currently Director of Marketing & Communications at Evergreen Climate Innovations, a non-profit climate tech fund, where I manage communications strategy for the fund and its portfolio companies. Before that I was Brand & Communications Lead at Techstars, held a marketing and PR role at Compass Real Estate through their IPO, and spent several years embedded in early-stage startups.
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Through every role the challenge has always been the same, making sure the story is seen, understood, and trusted by the people who need to believe in it.
Why Sports
I've been a Venture Fellow with the Alumni Ventures Sports Fund and a Chicago:Blend Fellow. Playing a sport at a high level shaped how I think about teams, performance, and what it takes to pursue excellence. I've watched the sports infrastructure space closely and the way new leagues are forming, mixed-use stadium districts are reshaping cities, and the way women's sports is finally getting the investment it's always deserved.
I started Impact Play because I kept seeing and hearing about the same gap — great teams and developments with real community potential, undersupported on the marketing and storytelling side at exactly the moment it matters most. At the end of the day, sports brings people together in a way few things do, and I want to be a part of building that.
Contact
Let's Build
Something.
Whether you're launching a new team,
building a brand, or ready to go to
market -- I'd love to hear what you're
working on.