Game-changers Vol 9: Renée Hector

To celebrate Black History Month, GIRLACTICO, in partnership with Kick It Out, has spoken to some of the biggest game-changers making an impact across women's football, culture and beyond - both on and off the pitch.  

For Volume 9, we sat down with Renée Hector.

Renée Hector is a UEFA licensed coach and the manager of Watford FC Women, having led the club to the Women's National League title and promotion to the WSL2. Beautifully cyclical, her journey began at Watford's Centre of Excellence at 10 before playing at Charlton Athletic and Spurs, where she played a crucial role, winning 4 trophies, and helping secure the club entry into the WSL2 in 2016/17, and later earning promotion to the WSL for the 2019/20 season. After an ACL injury cut her playing career short, Renée moved into coaching, including working with England Women’s U17s as part of the England Elite Coach Programme.

Beyond the pitch, Renée is a powerful voice for change, and has been recognised in the 2025 Football Black List and named Spurs' PFA Community Champion for her impactful work. She often shares insight on leadership, diversity, and overcoming adversity, inspiring other young girls through her journey within the sport.

GIRLACTICO: Firstly, what does Black History Month mean to you personally?

Black History Month for me is an opportunity to celebrate the achievements of those before us, to celebrate the achievements of those that are still around, that are doing good things for the world. I think there's a real strength in knowing and understanding the adversity that Black people have to face and that they are able to come out the other side and still do good things.

I think it's still a good opportunity to shed light on some of the issues that we face today, as you know, the world is not perfect just yet, but I think that the fact that it has a joyful celebratory feel about it I think can help bring people together and keep people engaged.

It's important to have that representation and to have people to look up to and aspire to. In sport back in the day, especially in women's football, a lot of the representation was of white people, so it was difficult for young girls like myself to have role models to look up to, and I think that Black History Month just epitomises that for people.

GIRLACTICO: You've spoken about wanting to be a trailblazer and being inspired by people such as Hope Powell. How important was it for you to see Black women in senior positions in football when you were growing up?

Growing up, and in terms of working in football as a coach, there was only Hope Powell for people like me to look up to for representation. At the time, she was the manager of England, and I think naturally as a young person that loves football I was very inspired by her because of that.

I think I'm a long way off that kind of status, but what I am proud of is having my achievements at a young age, and you know, I am visible, and I think the more visibility, the better. People have to see things to believe them, and I think that the more black people that come through the system and assert their right to be where they are, will only do good for young people.

Women's football becoming visible on TV, YouTube, whatever it is -representation matters, 100%.

I'd encourage more Black and brown women to keep striving, keep believing, keep working on their dreams if they want a place in football because the opportunities are there, we just need to take them.

GIRLACTICO: What did your playing career teach you about leadership that you now take into your role as a manager?

I spent a long time at Watford and I feel like getting chucked into the first team at 16 years old, made me grow up super quick. I feel like I've always had that sort of leadership. I feel like I had to. 

I had friends at school when I was younger, but I was a little bit on the outside - competing in high level sport at such a young age meant I didn’t really fit in during my time at school. Sometimes that was difficult but it helped me build up my resilience and strength. I learnt that it’s okay to not necessarily fit in society’s mould, and that helped me be independent and confident within myself as a person, which helped in terms of my leadership skills when it came to playing football.

What I've taken into my managerial career is that I don't think you can really kid anyone, and I think that it’s just as important to be your authentic self as a manager as it is when you're a player. If you expect honesty and respect from those around you and your players and staff, then you need to give that back.

I feel like a lot of people become managers and they feel like all of a sudden they have to be really serious or be a slightly different version of themselves, but I think there's a place for being completely yourself, a bit of silliness, a bit of fun. As long as you show that authority and gain respect I think that authenticity goes a long way.

GIRLACTICO: You experienced racism during your playing career. How did those experiences affect you, both as a footballer and as a person? When you went through those difficult experiences, what helped you keep going?

I've experienced racism in my career. I think the aftermath of it probably affected me more than the actual moment. In the moment, I was in shock. But, the online abuse that came after, whether it be racist or something else, was very difficult for a young person and I had never had that kind of attention before.

I've had incidents where people have been racist to me as a kid in school and whatever, but, nothing to that scale, and I'll be honest, I feel like it was the start of the end of my football career. I never viewed playing football the same after that. I lost a little bit of motivation, and wasn't willing to make the sacrifices that I'd been making for such a long time.

But there's also no doubt that it's helped shape who I am today. Every bit of trauma that I've gone through in my life helps me build up my resilience and helps me be more understanding of people.

From that moment, I thought I can't let this situation ruin my life, so I felt even more determined that I wanted to make a difference. I ended up getting a bad injury which ended my football career early, but I didn't want that to necessarily be the end of me in football. I still had ambitions and goals and wanted to achieve things.

The situation gave me the strength to keep on pushing and to be a trailblazer for young people that want to be a coach or a manager. I have to understand and accept that I'm one of the very few Black or brown managers, especially in English women's football, so I have a responsibility to keep pushing and to keep striving for greatness.

GIRLACTICO: You're now managing at the club where you came through as a young player. Did you ever imagine you'd return to Watford in this role? Who are the people who have helped you get to where you are today?

Yeah, obviously managing the club that I played in for many, many years as a child, I've said this before, but I feel like I knew.  

I always knew I wanted to be a manager after I stopped playing football.

And I always dreamed of managing Watford FC women, and thankfully that dream came true a lot earlier than I thought it would.

I wouldn't be where I am today without the support of my mum and my nan. They always believed in me, they always supported me. My mum drove me around the country every single weekend over and over again, just to try and help me be the best version of myself. She has always been super committed to supporting me and pushing me to try and be the best at whatever it was that I was doing – and she did that with a lot of love. I'll be eternally grateful to her for that. 

I’m very thankful to the Watford women’s team for supporting me through my journey of coming out of injury, coming out of playing football, and then moving forward with my coaching career. They gave me my first opportunity, and then I had to do the rest, but without them, I don't know really where I'd be, so I'm very grateful to them.

GIRLACTICO: What do you hope the next generation of Black girls learn from your journey?

I hope that the next generation of girls learn to just be themselves.

If you see me on the touchline, you will see me laughing, you will see me stressed, you will see me happy and I think there's a real beauty in just being you. I hope that they learn to just keep pushing because we live in a world where you can't please everybody, so as long as you don't let that consume you, no one can ever say that you haven't been honest, truthful, respectful and authentic.

I think that majority of the time those are the values that people find the most important. There is space for us, there is space for you. You just have to keep pushing to make sure there's room for you in there. There are lots and lots and lots of talented, young, Black and brown girls out there. I've seen it. I've worked in places where there's loads of diversity, and I know how special and how talented young people are. If you focus on applying yourself and focus on those dreams and take it one step at a time to get there, then 100% you'll have a seat at the table.

GIRLACTICO: And finally, what would you say to the nine-year-old Renée who first fell in love with football?

What would I say to the nine-year-old Renée, who started playing football? I would say, listen girl, you're going to have a lot of fun. You're going to make relationships that will last a lifetime. It's going to be a difficult road, and it may not necessarily go as you originally planned, but you're going to do big things, and you should be proud of yourself.