Unleash the Girls

But when 1980 rolled in, bringing with it the Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, New York, I had to rethink my situation. I had to have a TV to watch the Olympics, or so I told myself. It was related to my business, was my argument. And Lake Placid was right in our backyard, I rationalized. I needed a TV.

We saw the Olympics that year as an opportunity for Jogbra. Somehow their close geographical proximity made it seem less outrageous for us to approach the Olympic Committee with our bid for a sponsorship. Hinda and I took an airplane ride over Lake Champlain to get to Lake Placid. I don’t know why we thought to do this— it was only a couple of hours away by car. It was a small prop plane and an uncomfortable, bumpy ride. I am used  to flying, but this was not a fun trip...but we made it. And in that meeting we somehow finagled the right to put the Olympic sponsorship logo on our bra’s packaging! When I think of it now, I don’t know how we justified it—there is no running in the winter Olympics. And we had no money. But somehow, we earned the right to put an Olympic seal on our packaging and in our very first ad that year. Pesky women! Brilliant women!