“I’m so proud of this team. They came together, fought hard, made the playoffs and gave it their all. We are Angel City!”

Julia Uhrman

Julie Uhrman, Co-founder and president of Angel City Football, shared the story behind her title with us on March 13, 2024.

Julie is an American soccer executive and entrepreneur who is president of Angel City FC, a National Women’s Soccer League team based in Los Angeles, California, that Uhrman also co-founded. She was previously an executive at Playboy Enterprises, Lionsgate Entertainment, IGN, and Vivendi Entertainment, and founded the former video game console company Ouya.

In 2012 Uhrman founded video gaming console maker Ouya, Inc., and was its CEO until 2015. The platform was heralded to revolutionize the game industry with its microconsole. It had a successful Kickstarter campaign, having received $8,596,474 and garnered much hope and goodwill from the gaming community. Despite a loyal and hopeful fanbase, many critics became skeptical of Ouya’s ability to deliver on its goals, with each of Uhrman’s subsequent public appearances and interviews to promote the company. After launch, Ouya became a commercial failure. The console was critically panned and derided for its low quality, poor design, and lack of proper gaming content.] After the controversy, Ouya failed to re-negotiate its debt with investors, and its content library was sold to Razer Inc., where the console’s hardware was soon discontinued.

In 2020 Uhrman co-founded Angel City FC with venture capitalist Kara Nortman of Upfront Ventures, and actress Natalie Portman. The National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) club signed 21 sponsors and sold 14,300 season tickets before its first season of play, and attracted a $14 million investment round from numerous celebrities, including lead investor Alexis Ohanian. Nortman recruited Uhrman in 2019 from the pickup basketball league both women competed in and tasked her with building the team’s business plan, despite Uhrman not previously knowing that the NWSL existed. The NWSL granted Uhrman’s group an expansion team on July 21, 2020, for play in the 2022 NWSL season.