Activyst Company Profile

The idea for Activyst came on a Nicaraguan beach in 2007. Founder Katie Rock was traveling after the bar exam, spending time running, swimming, and surfing (poorly). One day, local girls asked “What are you doing? Girls don’t do that.” She found out they'd never played sports… EVER. They said there were no opportunities for girls. She began to notice boys playing sports on every street, field, and beach, but where were the girls? She became mildly obsessed with a thought: what if sports could be a tool to improve girls’ conditions? Leigh, her college tennis teammate, and Blair, a former co-worker, were also pumped about the idea. They found out that research proves what they already knew to be true: sports have enormous benefits for women – benefits that matter from an international development standpoint. A few years later, Katie returned to Nicaragua to research barriers to girls’ sports with the World Health Organization. She found that primary barriers are the simple lack of funding, opportunities, and safe spaces. While in Nicaragua, she also fell in love with the bright, durable “macen” material used by the locals. The idea clicked to start a company that makes athletic bags for active women and helps more girls be active too. Building a sustainable company that creates something of value for women and creates opportunities for girls around the world is, to them, the ultimate win-win. They spent 2012 researching, learning about bag production like crazy, teaching themselves design (Leigh rocks the house!), and figuring out how to make this happen. Words can’t sum up how excited they are to do this!