Red Hot Entrepreneurs 2014
Founder and Director, PinkFitz
Kate Fitzpatrick says she´d ″rather climb a mountain at 6am with amazing people than stumble out of a club with whoever was left.″ In 2013, this yearning for a circle of like-minded fitness freaks grew into PinkFitz, an online personal training community specifically for LGBTQ people. Why focus on our demographic? Fitzpatrick says we have high levels of obesity, depression, anxiety and low self-esteem, and PinkFitz is a tool to change that. With custom meal plans, workouts, personal training and motivation, ″you can be anywhere in the world and still be part of PinkFitz, and engage in a healthy homo lifestyle,″ Fitzpatrick says. In fact, she´s inspired by one of her clients, a lesbian teacher in Mississippi who was fired for being gay. Now the woman has supportive friends across the globe and support on her path to wellness through PinkFitz. All in a day´s work for Fitzpatick, who was the youngest person ever elected to Australian local government (at 19!) and still volunteers with numerous LGBT groups. ″I was told focusing on the LGBT community was silly and narrowing my audience,″ she admits. ″I just didn´t listen. I followed the tune my heart sang and I believed. Believe it; achieve it!″
Leaders of the pack!
RASHA & VANNA PECORARO
Co-Founders, Dapper D Fashions
For Vanna and Rasha Pecoraro, crowdsourcing presented a community-based (and fast!) way to jumpstart their business, Dapper D Fashions. The Pacific Northwest-based clothier was successfully funded on Kickstarter last June, and in its three months of existence has appeared in the Portland Mercury, Seattle Gay News and other media outlets. With the tagline ″be brave, be authentic, be you,″ the Pecoraros (who married in 2010 and have a baby daughter) design LGBT-focused shirts, hoodies and accessories ″for the dapper tomboy in each of us.″ Their relaxed-fit tops come in androgynous tones that would blend well with any customer´s existing wardrobe, while their trucker hat features the company´s ″d″ logo. ″We wanted to fill in the gaps for women who didn´t want to be held to society´s norms about fashion, and to cater to the women who shop in the men´s department but needed a clothing line to call their own,″ says Rasha. Before they achieved their funding goal with the help of online backers, they studied menswear design, asked questions, and researched the fashion business—steps that they suggest for their fellow entrepreneurs. Adds Vanna, ″Don´t forget to take a day off to regroup and refresh.″
