What do you do after you reach the highest step of the triathlon ladder?
That’s a question that Nicole DeBoom successfully answered a few years ago when she went from professional triathlete to successful entrepreneur. Here’s how she describes her motivation for starting her active apparel business on her company’s web site skirtsports.com:
"Guess what? Even pro athletes have body issues.
On a training run in 2003, Ironman Champion Nicole DeBoom spotted her reflection in a store window. "Damn, I look like a boy again," she groaned, followed by one of her almost daily laments. "Why can't I look sexy when I work out? Why can't I feel like an athlete and a woman?"
Even as a buff triathlete, DeBoom still finds herself cruelly at odds with her behind (too big, she frets) and her upper thighs (way too big, she worries).
That reflection was the springboard for a fashion inspiration. DeBoom, winner of the 2004 Ironman Wisconsin and a former Yale University swimmer, envisioned a skirt for running, workouts, and playing afterward.
The revelation spawned the founding of her company, SkirtSports, Inc., and its first clothing line, TRIKS, launched in 2005. The pink-based skirts are feminine and sassy, slimming and flattering, a combination that is missing from the fitness apparel market.”
I recently had a chance to sit down with Nicole and ask her about her company, her professional career and life after triathlon.
This is the 24th Everyman Triathlon Endurance Podcast. There are several ways to subscribe to the show. You can click on the link below and use Yahoo.com.
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MP3 File