Why Underwire?

I felt the dread about a year into running my brand agency. I was growing revenue and hiring employees—exactly what I set out to do with my company—but I was so lonely. The heaviness of running the business far outweighed the freedom of being the boss.

I joined a leadership group of other growth-focused female business owners. While that didn’t make the day-to-day anxiety disappear, I learned that we all experience the trough of despair.

The other thing I learned from sitting at that table is that mainstream and local business media are not covering women-led businesses adequately.

These are women who raised millions of dollars through venture capital, angel networks and private equity. Who are building companies and products that the world needs. Yet very few of us get media coverage other than when a round is raised or an exit strategy paved. Those are beginnings and endings. I want to share the long, lonely middle road. Here's a taste of the stories that need more coverage: 

• A healthcare technology company with an all female exec team that has a 25% compounded annual growth rate over the past 5 years with zero debt (they control their destiny!)

• A CEO who structures her team's schedules around when they need to pick up kids from school or daycare (what a humane benefit)

• A consumer hardware CEO who single-handedly raised over $7M from super angels AND cleared FDA approval on life-changing products for the women's sexual health category (hmm, wonder why the bro-y VCs won't return those calls???)

My intention is to channel the fear and anxiety into inspiration. We need more women owners, founders and CEOs. It's my personal belief that society will be more healthy when we have gender parity on business ownership and funding. 

I don’t know where Underwire will go. Goop, The Skimm, and Blavity all started as email newsletters. I gotta start somewhere. I can promise you that coverage will be different from what’s out there now, and that we're going to have a helluva lot of fun.

Lift and separate, ladies!   

Britt Stromberg

Founder