Girl Power! On International Day of the Girl, Oiselle is so excited to continue doing our part to keep girls healthy and active! This fall, through our Bras for Girls program, we are giving away over 800 bras to girls in need, totaling more than 2,500 bras donated this year. One of our Haute Volée, Alisha Brown, recently led a giveaway with her local middle school XC program at Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School. We are loving the stories from these programs! If you have a program you would like to nominate to receive bras and education starting next spring, please submit here. If you would like to share our education materials with your squad, click here.

Now for Alisha Brown's bra giveaway recap!

Wednesday afternoon had to be one of the most heart-warming evenings for me for two reasons: giving back to the community that helped me to be successful and sports bras!  After Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School Coach, Sky Fierro, reached out to me in mid-September about his girls’ team needing sports bras, I immediately wrote up a page long proposal to HQ about helping these young ladies out. Less than an hour later I received an email from Dr. Lesko stating “Yes of course! Yes yes yes!!... We’ll make it happen!”  I was at work when I received this email and had to have a seat at my desk—I got a bit teary-eyed because I knew just how much this experience would mean to these girls.

We set the event up for October 4, 2017. I spoke to about 35 athletes altogether (girls and boys) about goal chasing, making a point with stating, “It isn’t about where you’ve been, it’s about where you’re going.” After the young gentlemen cleared the room, the ladies and I had a more personal conversation. We spoke on the different changes that our bodies go through. I felt that it was important that I let them know that it is okay to feel a little awkward when your body is changing—it’s natural, but always embrace all of who you are.

I shared with them how weird I felt as middle school girl, who was just about the only girl in the school who hadn’t started developing a chest yet. I felt as if something was wrong with me, there was nothing wrong with me of course, I was simply a late bloomer and running miles wasn’t exactly helping me to transition into a young woman either. I also shared in a joking manner, once the hips and booty and negative A size breast developed it was like, “WOAH what is going on here?! I’m heavier and running just got harder”. But all jokes aside, we discussed the importance of self-acceptance. We spoke about the undeniable strength that women possess. We discussed the empowerment in following dreams and using athletics, or running as a vehicle to achieve goals—and no one can take away the pride of achievement.

If you are in Seattle, please come to our Girls Gotta Run 5k fun run from Oiselle Store, 6:00pm!