Issue #8: Brands Built on The Heights 🦅
3 Topics, 3 Brands, in 3-Minutes
This week, I’m spending a night at ✨The Plaza✨ with The Wall Street Business Leadership Council, in partnership with the Council for Women of Boston College — aka I’m attending my first alumni event of my post-grad era. To get into the school spirit, I decided to highlight three female founders and fellow BC Eagles. Keep reading to see the brands built on The Heights 🦅
🌱 Senior Year Project Turned Forbes 30 Under 30
During her first semester of senior year, Katie Diasti took an entrepreneurial marketing elective, where a class project would become her career for the next 5 years (and beyond) — even earning her a spot on Forbes’ 30 Under 30 list.
After learning that a single pad is equivalent to approximately four plastic bags, not to mention how BPA-free plastic applicators can disrupt natural hormones, Diasti became determined to make a period care product that is both sustainable and safe. Her brand, Viv for your V, has successfully made its products not only BPA-free but completely plastic free, using plant-based applicators made from bamboo fibers — making their current products the most sustainable option in period care.
Viv for your V — Earth-friendly period care delivered to your door.
Founded: 2019
Founder: Katie Diasti
Latest Funding: $1M, Seed
🔗 Katie’s feature in Forbes 30 under 30 (2024)
👟 The Much-Needed Basketball Shoe Revamp
Natalie White, a former club basketball player at BC, founded Moolah Kicks after seeing an ad featuring top WNBA players endorsing shoes clearly designed for men…After being forced to leave campus due to COVID, Natalie took her housing refund (~$6,000) and invested it directly into Moolah. Moolah Kicks sells basketball shoes designed to support the female foot form biomechanically. By implementing a narrow heel, lifted arch, slimmer width, and shallow lateral side, Moolah is reducing the risk of injury in women’s basketball, one shoe at a time.
Fast forward five years, and Moolah is now in 500+ stores and worn across WNBA stars and hundreds of AAU teams. The brand is proud to be the only for-profit business in women’s basketball, reinvesting every dollar back into the game.
Moolah Kicks — Shoes by and for female ballers.
Founded: 2020
Founder: Natalie White
Latest Funding: $5M, Seed
📺 How this athlete is changing the game for women's sneakers
P.S. — Natalie was also featured in Forbes’ 30 Under 30 list (2024)
🧀 BYOC - Build Your Own Charcuterie
Gilli Rozynek founded Kured after her junior year semester abroad in Madrid, Spain. After sharing dozens of plates of Spanish cheese, ham, and snacks over long conversation, Gilli was inspired to make the charcuterie experience more accessible. She entered BC’s summer accelerator program, led by SSC Venture Partners, and began to build out Kured, a brick-and-mortar charcuterie business that merges cheese, art, and conversation.
Kured offers highly curated meats & artisanal, locally sourced cheeses in the form of charcuterie boards, boxes, grab-and-go cups, or even hand-crafted sandwiches for lunch! Kured opened its first location in Beacon Hill, MA, in June 2021 and shortly after expanded into New York City, opening its second storefront on Thompson Street in Greenwich Village in January 2022.
Kured — A one stop shop for all of your charcuterie needs.
Founded: 2020
Founder: Gilli Rozynek
Latest Funding: $130k, Angel check
👀 Readers in NYC or Boston, stop by before your next picnic or party!
That’s all for this week, see you next Sunday!
P.S. I am new to this writing thing, so if you have any tips or come across brands/topics I should cover - let’s chat!
Oh I loveeee this issue. So cool