Meet Our Team

The women behind making PHU a success since 2016

Our Founder

Emma Leyden, Founder of PHU

Emma fell in love with basketball at the age of 5 and played at the D3 college level. After college, she was frustrated with her experiences playing as the only woman in pick up games in a sea of men. She missed playing her game without judgement based on her gender and being on a team with other women. So in 2016, she founded PHU to create a safe space for women to place basketball in a much-needed all-female environment. While she lives in Los Angeles, she’s still behind the scene on all things PHU - from managing the leadership team to expansion plans to answering emails and media deals.

On court: three point shooter and lover of all things defense

Off court: works as a product manager at Polygence, an ed tech startup working to democratize education

“I envision PHU in every major city across the country. Every female basketball player should have the opportunity to continue playing the game they love and in an environment where they can be free to fully be themselves.”

Lead Operations Manager

Amanda Rabe

Amanda joined PHU way back in 2018 and has been a foundational part of building PHU to what it is today.

In September 2023, Amanda was promoted to Lead Operations Manager - and PHU's first paid staff! This means nearly every run Amanda is there as PHU's main leader making sure everything runs smoothly and the PHU way. She is assisted by one of our eight PHU leaders who rotate each week to support her (see below).

Amanda is an exceptionally inclusive leader who knows how to create a welcoming and warm environment for all, while still ensuring we have competitive high-level hoops.

And if you're ever guarding her on defense, watch out for her mean spin move ;)

“PHU has a strong culture of positive encouragement, support, and including others both on and off the court. I can’t put into words how much the friends I’ve made at PHU mean to me!”

-Amanda

Meet our Operations Leadership team

Each Sunday run, one person from our operations leadership team rotates to support Amanda to ensure a smooth run.

Our leaders are long-time PHU players themselves!