June 10, 2021 • 24 mins
“It’s about more than style,” says rugby champion Phaidra Knight. She started PSK Collective to provide street wear and athletic apparel that fits a range of body types, promotes women’s empowerment and champions social justice.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:05):
Welcome to Made by Women by the Seneca Women Podcast
Network and I Heart Radio. At a moment when businesses
face some of the biggest challenges in recent history, we
bring you inspiring stories, practical insights, and shared learnings to
help you successfully navigate in today's environment. I'm Kim Azzarelli
(00:26):
and thanks so much for joining us today. Pedro Knight
isn't the first sports star to turn athletic success into
business success, but the path she took is far from familiar.
Let's start with her sport. She's a rugby champion. In fact, Pedro,
who played for the U S national team among others,
was named Rugby's Player of the Decade in and was
(00:47):
the first African American inducted into the Rugby Hall of Fame.
Pedro is also a lawyer and a philanthropist and an activist,
and she travels around the country speaking and advocating for
l g B t Q rights as well as on
behalf of anti bullying. Padre's talent for entrepreneurship has resulted
in PSK Collective. It's a collective of former athletes that
(01:09):
sells athletic wear and streetwear for girls and women of
all body types. We spoke with Padre about her experience
running a company built around purpose and how her experience
in sports has shaped her journey as an entrepreneur. Please
enjoy my conversation with founder of PSK Collective, Padre Knight.
(01:31):
Thanks so much for joining us. Thank you, it's a
pleasure to be here today. Tell us a little bit
about PSK Collective, what it sells, and why it's different
from other companies that sell athletic wear and streetwear. So yeah,
that's um this is one of my favorite questions to ask. Um.
PSK is is different? Right, the the start of this
(01:55):
company is quite different, I think from from most um
and and just give you a little bit of background backstory.
You know, as a lifelong athlete, you know, I feel
like I've always had a difficult time fitting conventional clothing
with a very muscular build. I often resorted to custom
(02:16):
or send my custom clothing to to really showcase my unique,
street inspired and androgynous look. And so you know, after
going through many years of just you know, feeling out
of place and again in conventional clothing, um and and
go in the traditional route, And after talking to other
(02:36):
athletes honestly male and female, who um encountered the same challenges.
I was inspired to create this fully inclusive streetwear and
activewear line that would cater to, in this particular case,
athletic body girls, women and individuals alike. UM. Now, what
(02:58):
what makes us different? This this brand is more than
just about style. It's more than just about clothing. UM.
It was a combination of my love for clothing and
my passion for women's rights and equality that really inspired
this PSK collective. And so you know what we have
(03:21):
done from the start. You know, we create comfortable clothes
that are include that our size inclusive, UM, that are
gender inclusive. Even though we are focusing right now on
a women's line. Um, you know a lot of many
of our things are unisex, right, and so it's it's
not just limited, and we will be launching our men's line.
(03:46):
I wanted to capture, like I said, this essence of
women's rights and women's equality, and I wanted to be
able to benefit that community, and not just that community,
but eventually to dedicate a uh significant funding and resources
to the several social justice efforts out there, right, And
(04:10):
so we have committed it's a part of our it's
inherently built into our business model to give back fift
of our profits, and we partnered with the Women's Sports
Foundation initially. UM uh yeah. So if we are if
we become a you know, a hundred million dollar profiting company,
(04:32):
we want to be able to give back. Was that
fifteen million dollars to the Women's Sports Foundation or to
you know and as we Yeah, so it's it's about
putting our money where our mouth is and um really um,
pushing the boundaries, UM, redefining you know, fashion and expression,
(04:54):
shifting attitudes around both of these things, UM and and
and really bringing in the voice of the gen Z
population to sort of lead that effort. I think there's
no better example of a generation of people who have
just really kind of stood up and said, you know
what we are about, you know, being good people. We're
(05:17):
about human rights. We are about um, everyone having a
fair shot. Um you know, away with this nonsense that
we've sort of been I feel like I'm struck um
as a as a human race. And so that's you know,
I think that's what kind of sets us apart from
all others. Nothing. There's some incredible brands out there, but again,
(05:38):
this is this is like at the sort of at
the core of who we are. This is our at
our very you know, this is a very essence. So
we at Seneca agree so much with everything you've just
said in sort of your mission and how you build
your business, which just so interesting with that social pro
social goal in mind. I want to back up a
little bit. You are obviously extremely well known for your
(05:59):
impressed of rugby career. You've been selected as a top
player in the world in two different positions. You were
named USA Rugby Player of the Decade. You were inducted
into the World Rugby Hall of Fame in How was
it to make the transition from being an athlete to
being an entrepreneur? Well, in my case, it was it
was actually quite easy, and I'll tell you why. I
(06:21):
don't know if you're aware, but I I have always
sort of been an entrepreneur, right, I've always even throughout
the UM through throughout the course of my rugby career,
I was working, right, I was. I had a I
created a cleaning business at one point in an effort
(06:41):
to sort of rescue myself from having to work for
someone UM so that I could train UM at my
own on my own schedule for rugby UM, and so
it wasn't a difficult transition to make. I have been
a multitasker, and I know that's not necessary. Uh, studies
(07:02):
have shown that it's not necessarily the greatest thing to
be able to multitask. But it's a handy thing, um
in the world that we live in, right, and it's
it's innavitable. You're going to get things done right, and
so I have you know, over the course of my
entire life, have always had multiple things going on, you know,
in high school, in middle school, you know, high school,
(07:23):
I was an athlete. I was also in a number
of different clubs and UM, you know, I was very
active in for h so you could call that really
my job. And I worked, right, I worked on my
family farm, and so I was all it's in my
d NA to be able to sort of handle many things,
to be an athlete, to be sort of a renaissance
(07:45):
personality or have a renaissance personality, and so UM, you know,
when this opportunity came about, UM to really put this this, this, this,
this idea and concept UM into action. Has actually retired
from rugby in UM and I am twenty nineteen started
(08:09):
training for mixed martial arts, and so I took the
one one had as an athlete off and then picked
up another one couple of years later, and then during
the in the midst of the pandemic, we decided we
were going to launch PSK Collective. And so it's it's
really been a it's it's been an interesting thing, right. UM.
(08:30):
The one thing that I can't say now is I'm
so used to it, right the stress and the pressure
that it's become a more a lot less likely more
and more background. That's a lot less um restrictive, UM.
And I know that I can juggle it and and
perform and do well as long as when I'm training
(08:53):
m m A that is where I'm focused in that
hour and a half two hour session, that is where
my focus is. And when I am on a call
with a retailer, that is absolutely where my focus is.
And I've done the prep work leading into those those
things to be ready and prepared, and so it's all
about being present. And so you know, the transition has
(09:14):
been actually pretty seamless, um to answer your question, because
it's just something that I think, I just I do
I do you know, Yeah, it comes natural to you
so it sounds because a lot of people find these
types of transitions really tough. Yeah. Now you also, as
you just mentioned, launched the company during the pandemic, not
an easy thing to do. What made you decide to
(09:35):
do that? Well, you know, Dara, my business partner and I,
we had planned to to to launch this thing obviously
in UM and then the pandemic hit and we were
just like, oh wow, this is this is definitely not
something like most people, like everyone, something that was completely unanticipated.
(09:58):
But we felt like, especially you know, UM, because we
are you know, from the get go, a social justice
like the call us really a social justice movement UM
and collective because that was one of our cornerstone for
you know focus, that's our cornerstone focus. UM. We we
(10:20):
felt like it. You know, it was there was no
better time really than that than that time. And with
the type of apparel we were launching, it was very appropriate.
No one was wearing suits, no one was you know,
getting dressed to go to work because no one's really
going into the office. Everyone was at home, you know,
doing their zoom calls UM and you know, making every
(10:42):
effort to become as comfortable as possible, and so um.
And we felt also because around the time that we
decided we were going to launch, and it just happened
to work out this way, you know, June was we
had a we had our first sort of media event
in June of any twenty and that was also around
the time that you know, or well a little bit
(11:05):
after George the George Floyd incident, but it was a
during a very turbulent time in our country, right we
were going through, um, the beginnings of not really the beginnings,
but we were you know, but as we as we knew,
we were upon a social like a racial reckoning. And
so we felt like what we wanted to bring the
(11:25):
kind of attention we wanted to bring in a rouse
um an energy that we wanted to spawn up was
you know, the kind of energy that the country needed,
the world needs, right um. And and so we just
we didn't we didn't we didn't really, let I say,
we didn't care um about the risk, the big risk
(11:49):
that you know, you know, one's going to buy a
product or people you know are so money crunch that
they're not gonna you know, they're not going to spend extra.
That wasn't our thought. It was just about getting our
messaging out there, um, you know, getting our athletes are
athlete ambassadors out you know, in and on a platform
where they had a little bit of raised visibility, um,
(12:09):
to share their messages um and really again to just
keep doing the work so that we could ultimately help
fund at this time, like I said, the Women's Sports Foundation,
we could contribute in some way um to what they're
doing right and and push the good work that they're
doing on the advocacy side, um, you know, on the
(12:31):
community side. And so um that that really that wasn't
something that we felt, you know, it was a whole
back the pandemic. We felt like that it was actually
a perfect opportunity, um, you know, to to really go
out there. So we did it amazing and such success.
So how did you pick your ambassadors and what role
(12:52):
do they play in the company? Well, we um, you know,
I knew or no a a new to the ambassadors
very well, very well coming into this. A number of
them were ambassadors for the Women's Sports Foundation, and they
were you know folks I had met through my work
with the foundation. UM, A number of them you know,
(13:13):
we had like Nya Tapper was was actually a really
good friend and UM, I played rugby with her. We
were in we both we're vying for a position on
the Olympic team. UM and so I spent I spent
quite a bit of time with her and we had
got grown close. UM and UM you know others, I
(13:36):
just I looked at different sports that I felt like
they didn't get the kind of publicity right that they deserved. UM,
you know like water polo, UM, Kaylee, Gail Christ and
u uh, Hannah Roberts, you know with BMX and so
I you know, I wanted a big part of this
(13:58):
was to not just you know, bring these top tier athletes,
but it was to bring athletes from sports that didn't
necessarily get the media coverage as your mainstream sports. UM.
And as we know, like women's women's sports don't get
a ton of coverage anyway. What I think they we
(14:19):
get about three of television time of all the sports
that you see on television. So you know, with the
exception of something like tennis and soccer, and you know
maybe now the w n B A basketball, you could
really he had your you know, I had to you
have the pick of the litter really for for sports
(14:40):
that you can bring a bit more visibility too, So
that was some of the my rationale. And I wanted
to also, you know, identify um you know ambassadors who
you know had social justice and and and women's equity
and equality um AT at that you know that they're
(15:01):
at the heart of their their agenda as well. You know,
some folks who were out there doing the good work
and um AT a platform and wanted to really propel
themselves and create a bigger voice and in a collective voice.
And so that was that was really the chemistry that
(15:22):
sort of fueled how we went about selecting our ambassadors.
We'll be back with senecas made by women after this
short break. So you have had a lot of success already,
(15:43):
your collective active wears already being sold by retailers like
Walmart and Cole's. What did it take to make this
all happen and what's your vision for the future. Well,
you know, credit, tons of credit given to uh my
partner business partners, Aura Her. She has made an incredible
(16:04):
amount of just wonderful contacts in the fashion and retail
industry over the course of her career. UM so she
has choosed an instrumental in helping bring about a number
of those things UM and but we we we had
a we had essentially guess it was a media soft
(16:25):
media launch like I said back in June, and invited
a number of different retailers, brought our handful of our
ambassadors on board for that. It was a big zoom
call and we just you know, we share with them
what we were doing. We share with them this idea,
We we share with them some of the apparel that
(16:45):
we wanted to start with UM you know. And I
think the concept and and then the Biggie was obviously
the big give back and you know, this is something
that no one's done for, you know, and in this way,
and I think that was that was a huge part
of it. And I think the authenticity of everyone involved,
(17:08):
right like, it's not we're not doing this, I'm not
doing this. You know. This is not about making a
ton of money for me. This is about being able
to again, you know, take the ambassadors that we have
UM and and linked them UM, you know, to put
(17:31):
them in a position where they can have very positive
impact on young girls you know out there. Right It's
about UM being able to generate funding again for Women's
Sports Foundation, for our partners, UM and putting positive messaging
out there, um, and creating a really good and comfortable clothes. Right. So,
(17:53):
but that is that is the core of it. And
you know, I think that you know, we were able
to just really talk about what we loved and what
we did and you look at our accomplishments as athletes. Um,
it was it was all too compelling to say no
to you know, it was you know, and the proof
(18:13):
is in the pudding. So I think to the the
other thing, you know, we we understand, right, and this
is a conversation. What's are just the other day? Um?
You know, we we are constantly striving to make our
clothes better. Right. We we don't want to just stop
it where we are. It's not good enough to just
be where we are today. Right. Every garment that we
(18:33):
have we want to make better. And we want to
hear from our our consumers if you know they're not happy,
because it's about that, you know, it's that you're employing
that that athlete mentality is just okay. You know, you're
always shooting for perfection. You're always trying to make it
better for the person that you're serving. And so um,
because that that feeds into the bottom line again, which
(18:57):
is being able to fuel these social justice movement and
the people in the front line that are after doing
that work. UM, the more we can sell, the more
we can give back, and so UM that's you know,
I think that was probably an overwhelming message. And again,
you know, I think retailers needed something very positive to
(19:20):
to to connect to UM much like everyone else in
the world. And so I'm grateful and humble that they, UM,
you know, have given us the opportunity to to to
sell our apparel on their on their platform, and they've
taken you know, they've taken on this brand UM because
(19:41):
I think it's you know, it's it serves a very
positive purpose, and so I can imagine that's probably some
of the reasons why they've decided to bring on PSK.
You know, I'll go on further to say, you know,
you take a corporation like coals UM. You know, they've
always supported a respect round of brands and designers and
(20:02):
team members, and so I think that that's what really
made us a great fit for them. Fantastic. Well, we
are so excited that you did what you did during
the pandemic and you went forward and launched this it's
very inspiring to see how you've kind of built the
company through the lens, as you say, of social justice
and with the goal of giving back for our women
(20:22):
listeners who may be thinking of starting in business. Is
there any advice you might share with them? Yeah? The
best the best device I could share is and this
may not be coming from you know my my experiences
from PSK as much as it is just from being
an athlete. Is embraced the failure, embraced the things that
(20:45):
come out of left left build because as as long
as you you're still alive and have an opportunity to
continue to push forward your vision UM, and you that
those are all just ways of collecting data. Those are
just all that's just all a data, data collection process.
And the more data you have, the more you know, UM,
(21:08):
and the better you can take those little what what
people call failures and transition into successes and so you know,
again things don't go your way or the way you
thought or plan. Embrace that because that is some really
good information. UM. And certainly don't take don't take Noah's
(21:31):
final right, because no here is yes somewhere else. So
there's always an opening. Every time someone you know says
no or combats or shut you down. It's only presenting
an opportunity somewhere else. And so um, we have come
this far, um and it's because we were relentless and resilient.
(21:54):
And so just keep that in mind and those dark
moments when you know, because those are the times, in
the dark moments when you need the encouragement. I mean,
when things are great, then you know there's no problem.
But it's when you know you're in the in the
storm of failure and um, disappointment, that you know it
(22:14):
becomes very difficult to continue. And so it's just you know,
manage those things, is like they're like for what they
are information and don't be blinded by the myth that
you know, whatever is happening in that moment is final.
Love it. That is incredibly important advice. You know, I
totally agree with you, because you actually never really know
(22:35):
what's good or bad in that moment. What feels like
bad could actually be a great opportunity. So I love
that advice and I think we should all be thinking
about that a lot. Thank you so much again for
everything you're doing. Thanks for joining us on the show,
and we look forward to continuing to work with you
so that the world knows about PSK Collective and shops
PSK Collective. And appreciate everything you're doing. Thank you, Thank you.
(22:57):
I'd love to chat again sometime in the future, but
again appreciate the opportunity to talk to you to the
always a pleasure to talk about the brand so inspiring.
There is so much we can learn from Phaedra Cure.
Are three things I took from the conversation. First, use
what you know when creating your company. With her athletic build,
(23:20):
Padre had a hard time finding conventional clothing that fit.
After talking to other athletes who were having the same struggle,
a business idea took shape. Second, lean into the skills
you already have and apply them to your business. As
an athlete, Pedra was particularly skilled at staying focused and
goal oriented, as she tells us whether she was training
(23:41):
for an m M A about we're getting ready to
call a potential sales partner. The ability to focus is
a key advantage. Finally, don't be afraid of no, as
Pedro says, don't take Noah's final because no here is
a yes somewhere else, so there's always an opening Paj's
experience showed her that there's always opportunity if you just
(24:03):
keep going. Made by Women is brought to you by
the Seneca Women Podcast Network and I Heart Radio, with
support from founding partner PNG
Welcome to Made by Women by the Seneca Women Podcast
Network and I Heart Radio. At a moment when businesses
face some of the biggest challenges in recent history, we
bring you inspiring stories, practical insights, and shared learnings to
help you successfully navigate in today's environment. I'm Kim Azzarelli
(00:26):
and thanks so much for joining us today. Pedro Knight
isn't the first sports star to turn athletic success into
business success, but the path she took is far from familiar.
Let's start with her sport. She's a rugby champion. In fact, Pedro,
who played for the U S national team among others,
was named Rugby's Player of the Decade in and was
(00:47):
the first African American inducted into the Rugby Hall of Fame.
Pedro is also a lawyer and a philanthropist and an activist,
and she travels around the country speaking and advocating for
l g B t Q rights as well as on
behalf of anti bullying. Padre's talent for entrepreneurship has resulted
in PSK Collective. It's a collective of former athletes that
(01:09):
sells athletic wear and streetwear for girls and women of
all body types. We spoke with Padre about her experience
running a company built around purpose and how her experience
in sports has shaped her journey as an entrepreneur. Please
enjoy my conversation with founder of PSK Collective, Padre Knight.
(01:31):
Thanks so much for joining us. Thank you, it's a
pleasure to be here today. Tell us a little bit
about PSK Collective, what it sells, and why it's different
from other companies that sell athletic wear and streetwear. So yeah,
that's um this is one of my favorite questions to ask. Um.
PSK is is different? Right, the the start of this
(01:55):
company is quite different, I think from from most um
and and just give you a little bit of background backstory.
You know, as a lifelong athlete, you know, I feel
like I've always had a difficult time fitting conventional clothing
with a very muscular build. I often resorted to custom
(02:16):
or send my custom clothing to to really showcase my unique,
street inspired and androgynous look. And so you know, after
going through many years of just you know, feeling out
of place and again in conventional clothing, um and and
go in the traditional route, And after talking to other
(02:36):
athletes honestly male and female, who um encountered the same challenges.
I was inspired to create this fully inclusive streetwear and
activewear line that would cater to, in this particular case,
athletic body girls, women and individuals alike. UM. Now, what
(02:58):
what makes us different? This this brand is more than
just about style. It's more than just about clothing. UM.
It was a combination of my love for clothing and
my passion for women's rights and equality that really inspired
this PSK collective. And so you know what we have
(03:21):
done from the start. You know, we create comfortable clothes
that are include that our size inclusive, UM, that are
gender inclusive. Even though we are focusing right now on
a women's line. Um, you know a lot of many
of our things are unisex, right, and so it's it's
not just limited, and we will be launching our men's line.
(03:46):
I wanted to capture, like I said, this essence of
women's rights and women's equality, and I wanted to be
able to benefit that community, and not just that community,
but eventually to dedicate a uh significant funding and resources
to the several social justice efforts out there, right, And
(04:10):
so we have committed it's a part of our it's
inherently built into our business model to give back fift
of our profits, and we partnered with the Women's Sports
Foundation initially. UM uh yeah. So if we are if
we become a you know, a hundred million dollar profiting company,
(04:32):
we want to be able to give back. Was that
fifteen million dollars to the Women's Sports Foundation or to
you know and as we Yeah, so it's it's about
putting our money where our mouth is and um really um,
pushing the boundaries, UM, redefining you know, fashion and expression,
(04:54):
shifting attitudes around both of these things, UM and and
and really bringing in the voice of the gen Z
population to sort of lead that effort. I think there's
no better example of a generation of people who have
just really kind of stood up and said, you know
what we are about, you know, being good people. We're
(05:17):
about human rights. We are about um, everyone having a
fair shot. Um you know, away with this nonsense that
we've sort of been I feel like I'm struck um
as a as a human race. And so that's you know,
I think that's what kind of sets us apart from
all others. Nothing. There's some incredible brands out there, but again,
(05:38):
this is this is like at the sort of at
the core of who we are. This is our at
our very you know, this is a very essence. So
we at Seneca agree so much with everything you've just
said in sort of your mission and how you build
your business, which just so interesting with that social pro
social goal in mind. I want to back up a
little bit. You are obviously extremely well known for your
(05:59):
impressed of rugby career. You've been selected as a top
player in the world in two different positions. You were
named USA Rugby Player of the Decade. You were inducted
into the World Rugby Hall of Fame in How was
it to make the transition from being an athlete to
being an entrepreneur? Well, in my case, it was it
was actually quite easy, and I'll tell you why. I
(06:21):
don't know if you're aware, but I I have always
sort of been an entrepreneur, right, I've always even throughout
the UM through throughout the course of my rugby career,
I was working, right, I was. I had a I
created a cleaning business at one point in an effort
(06:41):
to sort of rescue myself from having to work for
someone UM so that I could train UM at my
own on my own schedule for rugby UM, and so
it wasn't a difficult transition to make. I have been
a multitasker, and I know that's not necessary. Uh, studies
(07:02):
have shown that it's not necessarily the greatest thing to
be able to multitask. But it's a handy thing, um
in the world that we live in, right, and it's
it's innavitable. You're going to get things done right, and
so I have you know, over the course of my
entire life, have always had multiple things going on, you know,
in high school, in middle school, you know, high school,
(07:23):
I was an athlete. I was also in a number
of different clubs and UM, you know, I was very
active in for h so you could call that really
my job. And I worked, right, I worked on my
family farm, and so I was all it's in my
d NA to be able to sort of handle many things,
to be an athlete, to be sort of a renaissance
(07:45):
personality or have a renaissance personality, and so UM, you know,
when this opportunity came about, UM to really put this this, this, this,
this idea and concept UM into action. Has actually retired
from rugby in UM and I am twenty nineteen started
(08:09):
training for mixed martial arts, and so I took the
one one had as an athlete off and then picked
up another one couple of years later, and then during
the in the midst of the pandemic, we decided we
were going to launch PSK Collective. And so it's it's
really been a it's it's been an interesting thing, right. UM.
(08:30):
The one thing that I can't say now is I'm
so used to it, right the stress and the pressure
that it's become a more a lot less likely more
and more background. That's a lot less um restrictive, UM.
And I know that I can juggle it and and
perform and do well as long as when I'm training
(08:53):
m m A that is where I'm focused in that
hour and a half two hour session, that is where
my focus is. And when I am on a call
with a retailer, that is absolutely where my focus is.
And I've done the prep work leading into those those
things to be ready and prepared, and so it's all
about being present. And so you know, the transition has
(09:14):
been actually pretty seamless, um to answer your question, because
it's just something that I think, I just I do
I do you know, Yeah, it comes natural to you
so it sounds because a lot of people find these
types of transitions really tough. Yeah. Now you also, as
you just mentioned, launched the company during the pandemic, not
an easy thing to do. What made you decide to
(09:35):
do that? Well, you know, Dara, my business partner and I,
we had planned to to to launch this thing obviously
in UM and then the pandemic hit and we were
just like, oh wow, this is this is definitely not
something like most people, like everyone, something that was completely unanticipated.
(09:58):
But we felt like, especially you know, UM, because we
are you know, from the get go, a social justice
like the call us really a social justice movement UM
and collective because that was one of our cornerstone for
you know focus, that's our cornerstone focus. UM. We we
(10:20):
felt like it. You know, it was there was no
better time really than that than that time. And with
the type of apparel we were launching, it was very appropriate.
No one was wearing suits, no one was you know,
getting dressed to go to work because no one's really
going into the office. Everyone was at home, you know,
doing their zoom calls UM and you know, making every
(10:42):
effort to become as comfortable as possible, and so um.
And we felt also because around the time that we
decided we were going to launch, and it just happened
to work out this way, you know, June was we
had a we had our first sort of media event
in June of any twenty and that was also around
the time that you know, or well a little bit
(11:05):
after George the George Floyd incident, but it was a
during a very turbulent time in our country, right we
were going through, um, the beginnings of not really the beginnings,
but we were you know, but as we as we knew,
we were upon a social like a racial reckoning. And
so we felt like what we wanted to bring the
(11:25):
kind of attention we wanted to bring in a rouse
um an energy that we wanted to spawn up was
you know, the kind of energy that the country needed,
the world needs, right um. And and so we just
we didn't we didn't we didn't really, let I say,
we didn't care um about the risk, the big risk
(11:49):
that you know, you know, one's going to buy a
product or people you know are so money crunch that
they're not gonna you know, they're not going to spend extra.
That wasn't our thought. It was just about getting our
messaging out there, um, you know, getting our athletes are
athlete ambassadors out you know, in and on a platform
where they had a little bit of raised visibility, um,
(12:09):
to share their messages um and really again to just
keep doing the work so that we could ultimately help
fund at this time, like I said, the Women's Sports Foundation,
we could contribute in some way um to what they're
doing right and and push the good work that they're
doing on the advocacy side, um, you know, on the
(12:31):
community side. And so um that that really that wasn't
something that we felt, you know, it was a whole
back the pandemic. We felt like that it was actually
a perfect opportunity, um, you know, to to really go
out there. So we did it amazing and such success.
So how did you pick your ambassadors and what role
(12:52):
do they play in the company? Well, we um, you know,
I knew or no a a new to the ambassadors
very well, very well coming into this. A number of
them were ambassadors for the Women's Sports Foundation, and they
were you know folks I had met through my work
with the foundation. UM, A number of them you know,
(13:13):
we had like Nya Tapper was was actually a really
good friend and UM, I played rugby with her. We
were in we both we're vying for a position on
the Olympic team. UM and so I spent I spent
quite a bit of time with her and we had
got grown close. UM and UM you know others, I
(13:36):
just I looked at different sports that I felt like
they didn't get the kind of publicity right that they deserved. UM,
you know like water polo, UM, Kaylee, Gail Christ and
u uh, Hannah Roberts, you know with BMX and so
I you know, I wanted a big part of this
(13:58):
was to not just you know, bring these top tier athletes,
but it was to bring athletes from sports that didn't
necessarily get the media coverage as your mainstream sports. UM.
And as we know, like women's women's sports don't get
a ton of coverage anyway. What I think they we
(14:19):
get about three of television time of all the sports
that you see on television. So you know, with the
exception of something like tennis and soccer, and you know
maybe now the w n B A basketball, you could
really he had your you know, I had to you
have the pick of the litter really for for sports
(14:40):
that you can bring a bit more visibility too, So
that was some of the my rationale. And I wanted
to also, you know, identify um you know ambassadors who
you know had social justice and and and women's equity
and equality um AT at that you know that they're
(15:01):
at the heart of their their agenda as well. You know,
some folks who were out there doing the good work
and um AT a platform and wanted to really propel
themselves and create a bigger voice and in a collective voice.
And so that was that was really the chemistry that
(15:22):
sort of fueled how we went about selecting our ambassadors.
We'll be back with senecas made by women after this
short break. So you have had a lot of success already,
(15:43):
your collective active wears already being sold by retailers like
Walmart and Cole's. What did it take to make this
all happen and what's your vision for the future. Well,
you know, credit, tons of credit given to uh my
partner business partners, Aura Her. She has made an incredible
(16:04):
amount of just wonderful contacts in the fashion and retail
industry over the course of her career. UM so she
has choosed an instrumental in helping bring about a number
of those things UM and but we we we had
a we had essentially guess it was a media soft
(16:25):
media launch like I said back in June, and invited
a number of different retailers, brought our handful of our
ambassadors on board for that. It was a big zoom
call and we just you know, we share with them
what we were doing. We share with them this idea,
We we share with them some of the apparel that
(16:45):
we wanted to start with UM you know. And I
think the concept and and then the Biggie was obviously
the big give back and you know, this is something
that no one's done for, you know, and in this way,
and I think that was that was a huge part
of it. And I think the authenticity of everyone involved,
(17:08):
right like, it's not we're not doing this, I'm not
doing this. You know. This is not about making a
ton of money for me. This is about being able
to again, you know, take the ambassadors that we have
UM and and linked them UM, you know, to put
(17:31):
them in a position where they can have very positive
impact on young girls you know out there. Right It's
about UM being able to generate funding again for Women's
Sports Foundation, for our partners, UM and putting positive messaging
out there, um, and creating a really good and comfortable clothes. Right. So,
(17:53):
but that is that is the core of it. And
you know, I think that you know, we were able
to just really talk about what we loved and what
we did and you look at our accomplishments as athletes. Um,
it was it was all too compelling to say no
to you know, it was you know, and the proof
(18:13):
is in the pudding. So I think to the the
other thing, you know, we we understand, right, and this
is a conversation. What's are just the other day? Um?
You know, we we are constantly striving to make our
clothes better. Right. We we don't want to just stop
it where we are. It's not good enough to just
be where we are today. Right. Every garment that we
(18:33):
have we want to make better. And we want to
hear from our our consumers if you know they're not happy,
because it's about that, you know, it's that you're employing
that that athlete mentality is just okay. You know, you're
always shooting for perfection. You're always trying to make it
better for the person that you're serving. And so um,
because that that feeds into the bottom line again, which
(18:57):
is being able to fuel these social justice movement and
the people in the front line that are after doing
that work. UM, the more we can sell, the more
we can give back, and so UM that's you know,
I think that was probably an overwhelming message. And again,
you know, I think retailers needed something very positive to
(19:20):
to to connect to UM much like everyone else in
the world. And so I'm grateful and humble that they, UM,
you know, have given us the opportunity to to to
sell our apparel on their on their platform, and they've
taken you know, they've taken on this brand UM because
(19:41):
I think it's you know, it's it serves a very
positive purpose, and so I can imagine that's probably some
of the reasons why they've decided to bring on PSK.
You know, I'll go on further to say, you know,
you take a corporation like coals UM. You know, they've
always supported a respect round of brands and designers and
(20:02):
team members, and so I think that that's what really
made us a great fit for them. Fantastic. Well, we
are so excited that you did what you did during
the pandemic and you went forward and launched this it's
very inspiring to see how you've kind of built the
company through the lens, as you say, of social justice
and with the goal of giving back for our women
(20:22):
listeners who may be thinking of starting in business. Is
there any advice you might share with them? Yeah? The
best the best device I could share is and this
may not be coming from you know my my experiences
from PSK as much as it is just from being
an athlete. Is embraced the failure, embraced the things that
(20:45):
come out of left left build because as as long
as you you're still alive and have an opportunity to
continue to push forward your vision UM, and you that
those are all just ways of collecting data. Those are
just all that's just all a data, data collection process.
And the more data you have, the more you know, UM,
(21:08):
and the better you can take those little what what
people call failures and transition into successes and so you know,
again things don't go your way or the way you
thought or plan. Embrace that because that is some really
good information. UM. And certainly don't take don't take Noah's
(21:31):
final right, because no here is yes somewhere else. So
there's always an opening. Every time someone you know says
no or combats or shut you down. It's only presenting
an opportunity somewhere else. And so um, we have come
this far, um and it's because we were relentless and resilient.
(21:54):
And so just keep that in mind and those dark
moments when you know, because those are the times, in
the dark moments when you need the encouragement. I mean,
when things are great, then you know there's no problem.
But it's when you know you're in the in the
storm of failure and um, disappointment, that you know it
(22:14):
becomes very difficult to continue. And so it's just you know,
manage those things, is like they're like for what they
are information and don't be blinded by the myth that
you know, whatever is happening in that moment is final.
Love it. That is incredibly important advice. You know, I
totally agree with you, because you actually never really know
(22:35):
what's good or bad in that moment. What feels like
bad could actually be a great opportunity. So I love
that advice and I think we should all be thinking
about that a lot. Thank you so much again for
everything you're doing. Thanks for joining us on the show,
and we look forward to continuing to work with you
so that the world knows about PSK Collective and shops
PSK Collective. And appreciate everything you're doing. Thank you, Thank you.
(22:57):
I'd love to chat again sometime in the future, but
again appreciate the opportunity to talk to you to the
always a pleasure to talk about the brand so inspiring.
There is so much we can learn from Phaedra Cure.
Are three things I took from the conversation. First, use
what you know when creating your company. With her athletic build,
(23:20):
Padre had a hard time finding conventional clothing that fit.
After talking to other athletes who were having the same struggle,
a business idea took shape. Second, lean into the skills
you already have and apply them to your business. As
an athlete, Pedra was particularly skilled at staying focused and
goal oriented, as she tells us whether she was training
(23:41):
for an m M A about we're getting ready to
call a potential sales partner. The ability to focus is
a key advantage. Finally, don't be afraid of no, as
Pedro says, don't take Noah's final because no here is
a yes somewhere else, so there's always an opening Paj's
experience showed her that there's always opportunity if you just
(24:03):
keep going. Made by Women is brought to you by
the Seneca Women Podcast Network and I Heart Radio, with
support from founding partner PNG
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