Cofertility CEO Lauren Makler is Leveling the Playing Field for Female Athletes—With Maria Sharapova, Alysia Montaño, and More
Cofertility is a human-first fertility ecosystem rewriting the egg freezing and egg donation experience.
For many female athletes, the peak of their careers coincides with the peak of their fertility. This harsh reality has forced countless women to choose between their professional ambitions and their family-building aspirations. But Lauren Makler, co-founder and CEO of Cofertility, believes they shouldn’t have to.
Alongside Olympian Alysia Montaño, Makler helped launch Level the Playing Field, a campaign dedicated to empowering female athletes with fertility education and resources. With support from icons like Maria Sharapova and organizations like Strava, Babylist, and Hello Sunshine, the initiative is driving awareness, advocating for systemic change, and giving women in sports more control over their reproductive futures.
But for Makler, this movement isn’t just about athletes—it’s about reshaping how all women approach fertility planning.
The Personal Story That Led to Cofertility
Makler’s journey to Cofertility began in 2017, when she was diagnosed with a rare abdominal disease that doctors warned might prevent her from having biological children. While she was ultimately able to conceive unassisted, the experience left her acutely aware of the challenges surrounding egg freezing and donation. “The egg donation system felt broken and antiquated, and egg freezing was often out of reach at the time in one’s life when they would most benefit from it,” she said.
Determined to create a more accessible and less transactional solution, Makler co-founded Cofertility in 2022 with Arielle Spiegel and Halle Tecco. Their flagship Split program enables women to freeze their eggs for free in exchange for donating half of their retrieved eggs to a family in need.
The impact was immediate—especially in the world of professional sports.
Why Female Athletes Need Fertility Freedom
Through Cofertility, Makler quickly noticed that many of the women utilizing the platform were athletes. “These are women who have spent years prioritizing their pursuit of sport, often without the insight, resources, or support to understand how it could impact their future fertility,” she said.
A recent Cofertility study of hundreds of professional female athletes revealed staggering statistics:
95% feel that motherhood negatively impacts their earning potential.
92% receive no financial or institutional support for fertility care.
90% believe motherhood affects their career longevity due to inadequate family leave and financial instability.
70% have delayed starting a family due to their careers.
90% still feel uneducated about fertility preservation options.
If elite athletes—whose bodies operate at the peak of human performance—struggle with fertility challenges, what does that mean for the rest of us?
Alysia Montaño and Maria Sharapova Join the Cause
Olympian Alysia Montaño knows firsthand what it’s like to navigate motherhood as an athlete. In 2014, she made headlines when she competed in the USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships while eight months pregnant.
She later founded &mother (soon to be For All Mothers+) to push for systemic change in sports, advocating for maternity protections, lactation support, on-site childcare, and better contract policies for athlete-mothers. Together, Montaño and Makler launched Level the Playing Field, uniting their expertise in sports and fertility to provide education, resources, and policy advocacy.
Tennis champion Maria Sharapova was one of the first to back the campaign.
“As a professional athlete, my body was my business,” Sharapova explained. “It’s important to me that female athletes have the knowledge and resources they need to make informed decisions about their bodies and their careers.”
Sharapova had already invested in Cofertility in 2023, believing in its mission to expand fertility access for women from all backgrounds.
Changing the System
Raising awareness is just the beginning—Level the Playing Field also aims to bring about structural change in the sports industry.
Currently, many female athletes face financial penalties, contract terminations, and lack of maternity protections. Montaño has worked with legal and medical experts to draft the Gold Standard for Contractual Language, a resource designed to help athletes negotiate stronger fertility and family-planning protections.
Makler, meanwhile, is urging leagues, teams, and governing bodies to implement comprehensive reproductive health benefits, including fertility preservation options and paid parental leave.
“Some professional sports leagues have made progress,” Sharapova noted. “But we’re far from these measures being the universal standard.”
A Movement That Extends Beyond Sports
While Level the Playing Field is centered on athletes, its message resonates with women everywhere.
As Sharapova put it: “The results of this campaign indicate that women overwhelmingly view their careers as an impediment to starting a family and view starting a family as an impediment to their careers. But it doesn’t have to be a zero-sum game.”
Egg freezing has already seen a 194% increase in demand over the past three years, and with initiatives like Cofertility leading the charge, more women are gaining the ability to make fertility decisions on their own terms.
Through Level the Playing Field, Makler and Montaño are proving that women—whether they’re Olympians, CEOs, or everyday professionals—should never have to choose between their dreams and their families.
They deserve and can do both.
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