From WNC to DC: Danita Johnson shares journey as first Black female MLS team president

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    WASHINGTON, DC (WLOS) — With so much still ahead of her, Danita Johnson has traversed lifetimes already.

The Fayetteville native and Western Carolina University graduate of 2005 has thrived in betting on herself and climbing the ladder to create history as the first Black woman to serve as president of a Major League Soccer team.

To say Johnson’s had a lot going on lately would be putting it lightly: Celebrating her third anniversary in her role, National Girls and Women in Sports Day, Black History Month, kicking off the season opener for D.C. United and entering Women’s History Month.

“This is a big month,” she said. “I’ve been in probably one of the best spirits in this last month. These last few weeks as we get ready for the season have been some of the most challenging professional ones, in a good way, where I feel like I’m just growing, I’m getting better and stronger.”

Johnson has made stops in Phoenix, Oklahoma, Los Angeles and now back to Washington D.C., working with various professional teams along the way. With championships on her resume and in her memory, much of Johnson’s path began in Catamount country — Cullowhee, North Carolina. In her final semester, now more than a generation ago, the Sport Management program that she completed her degree in required an internship that would set her career off like a rocket.

“Every time I get to share this story, it makes me happier and happier and it makes me value Western even more,” Johnson said, recalling her roots. “But I think my time at Western truly was the first catalyst to changing my life. I think like many of us in high school, I didn’t really know what it looked like. I didn’t know exactly what I wanted to do. I’d never really heard of that type of program at a college level. It wasn’t something they talked about in our high school classrooms; that is a career path and something you can get your degree in. I picture the day I sat at my desk in my dorm room, I remember the sunlight coming in, my desk sat in the corner. I remember being on the phone for the interview for my internship, like I vividly remember that. There’s a lot of things I forget because it happens fast in life, but I vividly remember that moment. I knew it was my time to get to do something that not everyone will get to experience. So, when I went to the Fayetteville Patriots to work as an intern, a lot of friends went to NBA teams and bigger teams – just like I went to a smaller school at Western. I went to a small hometown team to do my first internship in sports. I didn’t need all the glams and the lights. I just want to learn. That’s the opportunity for me.”

Back in Cullowhee, last week was Advisory Day, with students hoping to chisel down their options and open their opportunities moving forward, like Johnson 19 years ago. She is three years into her present role, and so is her former professor of the Sport Management internship course, now dean of the College of Business, Dr. AJ Grube.

“The message we give students is, ‘prepare yourself now’ to be more competitive for when you get ready to look for a job,” Dr. Grube said. “Danita took that to heart. She found a great internship that boosted her career. It has been truly wonderful to see her, she’s the best example of our program.”

There’s work to be done, but history has already been made.

“Funny story is, I wasn’t [aware of making Black history upon taking the role]. I honestly was not,” Johnson said. “It wasn’t until I was having a conversation with one of my best friends, and this wasn’t until towards the end of the process. She said, ‘you know, if you do this, you’ll be like the first Black woman to ever do this. And I’m pretty sure the first Black person period to do this.’ I was like, ‘no way.’ I think it didn’t hit me until after the fact. Even more, I was like, ‘OK, I’m still doing what I do.’ But I think it impacted me more after.”

“When I think about girls and women in sport, when I think about Black History Month, it’s just a moment to be like, ‘I am one of those women.'”

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