Her Story
About Jennifer
I founded Handful Sports Bras in November 2006, and we've been in business for almost 20 years now. Our mission is to support women, and our vision is to lift women up, literally and figuratively. As founder and CEO, I manage both D2C and B2B sales. We're based out of Portland, Oregon, which I consider the Silicon Valley of Activewear - we're surrounded by big dogs like Nike and Adidas. This gives us the opportunity to work with world-class, talented women and fabric design experts. We've basically had the same team for almost the last 20 years, just a group of women supporting women literally and figuratively. I also have the opportunity to give back and mentor some of the sports product management programs locally. Our philanthropy is the fight against breast cancer, which is deeply personal to us. One of my business partners had a double mastectomy with no reconstruction, and our bras have pockets and pads. She puts 3 pads on each side, and when she looked in the mirror, she said, 'I remember you,' because it gave back what cancer took from her. That's why our give back is to support breast cancer survivor thrivers.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Jennifer
01What do you attribute your success to?
I attribute my success to the awesome group of women we get to work with. We've basically had the same team for almost 20 years - a group of women supporting women literally and figuratively. Working with world-class, talented women and fabric design experts in Portland, which I consider the Silicon Valley of Activewear, has been instrumental to what we've been able to accomplish.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
If anyone can do it, you can!
03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
Definitely devote your time to something you're passionate about. Our mission and vision is what has us get up and do what we're doing every day, regardless of what often is going on around the world. When you're passionate about what you do, it keeps you going even when things get challenging.
04What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
Tariffs are a huge challenge right now - everything's 20% more, pretty much, across the board, so that's challenging. Technology has also come a long way. In the last 20 years, when we first started, people weren't walking around with phones, and now they are. It's all very digital, and then now we have AI, so we're all just working to navigate as the ground seems to kind of be shifting under us to stay relevant. And we're currently at war.
05What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
TEAM: Together, Everyone, Achieves, More
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