Meet Our Team: Providing Innovative Media Solutions for Sport Associations
Monica Forlano
Founder
Sam Yee
Founding Partner
We've run this playbook before
Monica Forlano & Sam Yee, passionate about sport and experienced media and digtal strategists
Where it started
Fair Go Media is built on a model we know works, because we ran it. At AFL Media the job was to grow fandom by owning the intellectual property, then sharing it to deepen engagement and turn that engagement into advertising and sponsorship revenue. Own the content, put it to work, and the audience and the revenue grow together.
What became obvious was that the same opportunity sat untapped almost everywhere else in sport. Most associations hold exactly the same asset in their games, their players and their stories, but not the expertise or the infrastructure to harness it. Their IP sits idle while the revenue that could sustain them goes begging.
In April 2024 Monica and Sam set out to build the company they wished existed: one that could bring that growth model to the leagues locked out of it. Two signals made it urgent. A women's national league where the players were funding the production and the stream themselves, just to be seen.
And the work of Rise ANZ on keeping women in the broadcast industry, which laid bare how much talent the sector was losing.
Track Record in Sports Media and Diversity
Monica has worked in the media industry for over 20 years starting in Operations at Discovery Channel in London to national broadcaster Network Ten in programming and management roles.
As former Head of AFL Studios, she led content production with social impact at its core, creating documentary and series content amplifying underrepresented voices and untold stories including documentries on AFLW; Kick Like Tayla for Amazon Prime and The Final Four broadcast on The 7 Network.
At the AFL, Monica's work took First Nations sport and culture to an international audience. She produced four seasons of Yokayi Footy for AFL and NITV, and the documentary Warriors on the Field, which explored the role of matriarchy, sport and country in the lives of First Nations football players across Australia. She went on to spend twelve months as Head of Production (contractor) for NITV on Big Backyard Quiz, a comedy quiz format built around the parts of Australian history most people were never taught at school.
Monica also negotiated the Cricket Australia deal for the National Indigenous Cricket Championships, broadcast across NITV and SBS On Demand, a project that extended First Nations sporting coverage into a genuinely multicultural and international frame, featuring Afghan women's cricketer Firooza Amiri with commentary in Dari, Hindi and Punjabi.
Together, this body of work reflects not just a commitment to underserved community storytelling, but a track record of building the partnerships and production relationships needed to get that storytelling in front of national and international audiences.
Track Record in Sports and Digital Media
Sam Yee is a Sydney-based digital and sport industry leader, with a career built across executive leadership, commercial and product roles at some of Australia's most recognised media, entertainment, and sporting brands.
Her experience runs across Fox Sports, Kayo Sports, Channel 7 Sports, The Guardian, and the AFL, alongside global marketing agency roles at Proximity London (UK), Octagon Sports (AU), Karen Earl Sponsorship (UK). Early career roles at Netball NSW, Sydney Olympic FC and sports PR/research have given insight into how the landscape has changed with a mix of broadcast, digital product, and commercial partnership expertise.
As Chief Product Officer at AURA, she helped scale the startup from 11 to 50 people, building the next generation of sports apps and was the inaugural Product Lead for Strategy and Personalisation for the launch of Kayo Sport - "the netlifx of sports"
Today, Sam operates as a Principal Consultant and Advisor as part of a portfolio career driven by work aligned with her values and purpose. She is also the founder of True Peak, a career coaching practice helping professionals navigate pivots and setbacks with practical advice and grit. She's a recognised voice on leadership and mentoring - featured in Women in Leadership, a Startmate Women's Fellowship Autumn23 Fellow, and a panel speaker at Rise ANZ on the value of mentoring for career progression.
Sam brings sharp product instincts, from digital platform strategy to audience growth and commercial partnerships, paired with an authentic, high-energy style. Her advisory work extends to product-led ventures such as BeTuned and DearThrive, giving her firsthand insight into building and scaling early-stage digital products.
For a co-founder building across sport and media, Sam has built her career in an industry where people who look like her are rarely at the table - and a big part of why Fair Go Media's mission is personal to her.
First Nations Advisory Council
Fair Go Media's Advisory Council is seeking Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders with interest in community and women sport to keep our work accountable to the communities we serve. Their counsel shapes how we approach First Nations sport, ensuring our coverage is authentic, respectful and led by community, not assumptions about it.