More than a Hashtag: How 3 Austin Women Built a Community Around #SportsBraSquadATX
Started in the summer of 2016 as part of the #SportsBraSquad hashtag movement originally created by Kelly Roberts, three powerful women—Vanessa Mitchell, Teresa Krammer, & Jessie Barnes—now strive to find their own unique identity. Their organized runs, which had thirty-two attendees at the first meeting, have rapidly grown to attendance in excess of 200, thanks to their continued organization and unwavering dedication to creating a community of body positivity in Austin, Texas. While the movement began as an empowering way for women to embrace their bodies, men are coming to support their wives or girlfriends and, in the process, understanding the message, says Krammer.
But the message does not stop there. We sat down with the three women after the conclusion of their highly successful summer and discussed the group’s upcoming plans and how #SportsBraSquadATX has not only changed as a community, but has personally changed each of the founding women.
Q: This year has been full of so many changes for #SportsBraSquadATX. But, let’s start at the beginning: how did you three become the leaders of this movement in Austin?
Vanessa: When we first talked about it, it wasn’t just the three of us—Emily, Becca and Bethany were there. We all talked about starting and us three just naturally took charge.
Teresa: That’s what we were talking about the other day. I found this really great quote: “Great leaders don’t set out to be leaders. They set out to make a difference. It’s never about the role, always about the goal.” That’s kind of what happened to us.
Jessie: It was never, “I’m going to be a leader of a running group.” It was not like we are going to skyrocket to fame and fortune with this free running group. It was just trying to make ourselves feel better and our friends about the prospect of running in our sports bras because…that felt scary. So, we threw up a FB event. We had that girl’s night with the six of us, but the three of us somehow emerged to be the ones. I think we talked about it more after that night but [Vanessa] is a really good natural leader and I remember her being like, “Let’s do it.”
V: I do remember pushing it because I was their [bootcamp] coach at the time.
J: Because at that time I did not feel like a leader. I did not feel like anyone would come if I make this event. We just invited our closest friends.
V: I just remember wanting everybody to see what I saw—what was easy for me to see from my side of things. And I was like, “Yeah, let’s do it.”
#SportsBraSquadATX’s first run
How many people were at the very first run?
J: 32?
V: We were shocked.
J: I literally thought it was going to be 8 people. That would have been amazing.
T: I think what was amazing about that first run was we knew that the three women who were with us [at happy hour] and some of our other running friends would come to support us, but there were a couple people that we didn’t know at all.
How many people were at the last run of the 2019 season At Ready to Run?
T: 200?
V: Yeah, had to be 200. There was no way to count.
From the beginning to this last season, do you feel that there was one specific thing that changed the momentum of the group?
T: I think going into this year we had some suspicions. It had been growing pretty steadily. Going into May, we knew that this season was going to be bigger. We didn't know how to gauge what it was but that’s when Allie Kieffer shared our event on Facebook.
J: I think we talked about reaching out to some of the Austin running stores. It wasn't until the first event [at Auditorium Shores] that we realized how big it was going to be. We definitely could not meet on the trail anymore. In 2018, there were 50-60 people at most of our runs, which was quite a few people. So when we did meet in the winter to put everything on our calendars and start sketching out this season, that made us more organized.
V: I think we were more organized this year. After May, we knew that we had more to offer to running stores. We knew that they would want to work with us. I think we just knew this was going to happen. Ready to Run reached out not long after that. We reached out to Rogue Running.
T: (laughs) Then when we had to reach out to Fleet Feet at the last minute and they low-key saved the day.
V: The Fleet Feet one happened last minute because we got an email from Austin Parks and Recreation that said we couldn’t meet at the boat dock because we didn’t have a permit. Oops! We’re getting noticed!
How do you feel that the message of Sports Bra Squad has changed and evolved since you started?
V: I don’t know that it changed other than we have more confidence in knowing that people need to hear [our message], want to hear it, and will benefit from it. I think it is also that it evolved from: “Look, we all deserve to be comfortable and run” to a message of self love and respect. Men, too! I think it has skyrocketed from there.
T: I imagine the perception has changed a little bit because I know that there have been people in the running community that have known about our events, but I think that now they understand the bigger self-love movement. To your point [Vanessa], different people are coming that wouldn't come before. Men are coming to support their wives or girlfriends or running clubs and, in the process, understanding the message. I imagine that they are having conversations. Some of them are posting on Instagram, “This is what I learned today.”
J: I feel like the three of us come to it with a message that has not changed significantly since Day 1. We, just like everyone, deserve to be here; everyone can own this space. Literally, everyone is welcome—a very simple message at the core of it. If anything, I feel like the thing that has changed is our emphasis on building community. I feel like [Teresa] has driven that home more. It’s not just about a run, but how do we build this community? But, when we show up that morning, I think our hearts are in exactly the same place.
T: I think that the community is really big for me. It stems from me not realizing how important that community was until I had this tight knit group of women. We’re the ones that went to happy hour plus a couple that weren't there, and they’re the reason I felt empowered to even do it in the first place—to run in my sports bra. Wow, what could people do if they had this other community? We’ve tried to generate it and make it happen online.
Do you feel #SportsBraSquadATX has changed you as a person?
All: Yeah.
T: I will say personally it has changed me because I have become more confident. It has changed dramatically the way that i speak about, not just myself, but about others and how I take in the world and observe it and report it back. I've noticed that since I've started changing my language, the way that my friends speak to me has changed, but in a good way. I have a friend who is not super active or in the running community and her conversations to me have changed from “Oh, you're skinny and a fast runner” to “You’re so strong.” She didn't learn that language on her own. She learned it from the way that I'm speaking. If we use these words, than other people will use them to each other and towards themselves.
Professionally, I've moved into a leadership role and it’s really interesting to me as I reflect over the last 18 months in my career and what’s happened in SBS and the parallels of becoming a leader. I even had a coworker tell me “I’ve noticed that since you've started running and starting doing [SBS], the way that you handle yourself at work has changed.” I didn't realize that I was doing these things.
V: I think that it’s a hard question because a lot has changed for me in the last four years. I think I definitely have more confidence in myself as a leader especially because I've been doing fitness leading for five years now. It has definitely made me more confident in my voice and believing that I belong there. I still struggle with it a little bit with why should anyone listen to me but less so now. And the same [as Teresa], I talk about myself a lot differently. I used to get really hung up on numbers and I still do sometimes, but I'm much more aware of that. I think that I've realized that I'm much more significant than I thought—that I can have a much bigger impact. What I say, whether it’s about myself or about someone else, impacts other people good and bad. It makes me much more conscious of what I do say. It makes me very conscious of what I hear my runners say about themselves and I'm confident in helping them switch that language from “I'm running a slow pace.” No, you're running an easy pace.
T: [Vanessa] said a really important thing about awareness and I think that we all understand that being in SBS and being a leader doesn't make us immune to having bad days or thoughts but I think that we’re really aware of it and now we have the tools to deal with it.
V: And knowing that my story is not unique. That has been helpful because I think it’s really easy to feel like no one feels how you feel, which is kind of narcissistic to feel that way. But then, my story’s not unique. I don't need to suffer in silence. I can talk to people about it and someone will relate.
J: I think that is a part of why the three of us are such a good team because we have three different stories. We don't all look exactly the same and I think that is really powerful and more people feel represented. Obviously, the three of us can’t represent everyone but I think that we have different backgrounds, different things that brought us to running, different body types, different paces. I think that helps so that people to see themselves more than just a body type. I feel like I came from an overweight “Of course, I feel bad about my body” mentality and that was very eye-opening when you meet someone who is thinner and you just assume is confident. Shoot, we have more in common than I ever realized. That has been life changing for me and does make me feel less alone with my feelings.
I feel like for me, the last 4-5 years have felt so transformative, which I didn't expect in my early 30’s. You think that the transformation will settle down around 24-25, but no, not true. I mean SBS and my body image journey are so closely intertwined—part of it is my own body image and realizing I'm not alone and realizing that I don't have to tie up so much of my value in my perceived flaws and how I compare to everyone else.
When we started Sports Bra Squad, I didn't feel like a leader at all. I felt like I would always be a supportive role. I would never own a company; I would always be the assistant. I just saw myself like that. Through leading SBS and realizing our voices matter—our perspectives matter—and we can put together an event, whether it was 30 people or 200 at the most recent, that has definitely changed my self-perception of what I'm capable of. I never felt like my particular voice was that important or special. My voice doesn't have to matter to everyone or even a whole bunch of people. But it will matter to the people that it matters to. That made me realize the value of connecting to the right people instead of worrying about influencing the whole planet.
V: I think, separately, a lot of people come up to each of us individually and say [that] what you said really helped me. I think that we have a good mix.
T: You said something about putting events together, and this is kind of nerdy and Type A, but I am a perfectionist—I am Type A—I want to be the best at everything. But, I've realized I'm not the best at everything and that’s okay. I'm not as good as Jessie at crafting a really meaningful social media post and Vanessa gets really creative. But, I feel a lot of power in knowing how I want the event to feel and this is how it should run. It’s not sexy on Instagram, but that’s okay. I can take a lot of pride and ownership in that. It really does take all three of us to put this together—time-wise and talent-wise.
How do you handle the challenges that come with Sports Bra squad?
V: One thing that I said at our last run that I think is true for all three of us, especially this year, is we’ve gotten really good at saying, “I can’t right now.” I'm overworked. I'm overcapacity. Can someone else do that?
We lean on each other—we have to. Or disconnect. For me, it’s been after a SBS run, I just disconnect from social media and take a deep breath. I don't plan anything for the rest of that day. While it is a really safe space, it has also been a little bit draining. It’s hard to leave the runs. The Sunday after the Ready To Run event, I had a hard time getting out of there…I was talking to everyone in line and I think for me that one of the biggest challenges is being an empath and not being drained by other people…hearing people and taking it in and not being drained by it. I want to hear everyone’s stories and give them the opportunity, but at some point I have to self-protect. It’s been a challenge to learn the right balance.
T: It’s a passion project and it is so easy to do stuff for it, even when I'm super stressed out at my regular job because I love it. This was the first year that [I said], I don't want to do this or deal with this. It was the first time that this became stressful and that was really hard, too. Have we gone too far because now this isn't fun anymore? What do we do? And how do we keep it fun? Sometimes, the answer is: it takes three weeks to post on social media after our last run. I hope that people know that we have to take care of ourselves and self-manage and self-care before putting it out there.
J: It’s been such a roller coast of being so excited and just totally drained by it. I am proud of all of us so openly saying, “I do not have capacity.” That word gets thrown around a lot but that’s big, for anyone. It’s easy to be like, “especially for women,” but I think honestly just for anyone. I cannot right now.
T: …and to tell your closest friends, I cannot do this today. Can someone else take this? And they do take it up!
J: Usually one of us is like, “Cool! Got it!” Community! We’re building our own tight knit community.
V: We did reach out to some of the other more prominent members of SBS to [ask for help], mainly to greet people. We used to be able to say hello to everyone who walked up but that has become impossible with as many people as we have coming and with as much as we have to coordinate. We asked other people to help us and that has been great.
T: I was literally talking to my mom on the phone about this and she was like, “You know, you can ask people to help you” and that had never really occurred to any of us. Not only can we ask people to help us, but they were enthusiastic—everyone was enthusiastic to help.
J: That was part of the community building that we just didn't see at first. It doesn't have to be the three of us doing everything. We still need to coordinate but people are happy to help and be a bigger part of the community.
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So Runner’s World put you on a national stage this year, what do you have to say to the “haters”?
All: Ahhh.
V: If it’s not for you, it’s not for you. And that’s ok. It never occurred to me that people would have hate for it—that never crossed my mind in the beginning. Then reading it, some people just aren't going to get it.
T: I don’t think that anything was really terrible. I just think that there were a couple of trolls and a few genuinely that didn’t get it. Jessie said something really important at the last run and someone had commented that you don't have to take your shirt off to run and feel powerful. And I think that the way Jessie said it, not necessarily in response to this person, was: “If this is something that you have been thinking about doing, we want you to feel empowered to do it and know that you are in a safe space to do it.”
J: We want people to be able to make the choice. If you don't get it, that’s fine. That means that you don't need us at this time in your life. Some of the comments, I just wish that I could explain this to you. Could you please watch my Powerpoint?
J: On [The Runners World] Facebook comments, I responded to one and then it got posted somewhere else on another group and I responded to maybe two there. Someone said, “I just hope that my daughters would make the practical choice with their athletic wear.” And I said, yes, me, too! This might be the practical choice. But for the most part, our message is not for these people and that’s okay.
T: I’m just really glad that I was feeling super resilient that day because it never occurred to me to read the comments.
V: Someone said to me, “Yeah you shouldn’t do that [read the comments].” Well, too late!
T: For me that day, it was knowing how do I feel that day? And again, I think that was a self awareness that I didn't have before. I can take it and not say anything. And I’d like to think that if I was feeling super vulnerable, that I would have said, “No, that’s okay. It doesn't matter.”
Where do you see SBS going from here and what are your plans for the next year?
V: We still need to get together and dream a little bit.
T: I think it speaks to how tired we have been that no one has said, “Hey let’s have that meeting!”
V: We still want to send thank you cards. I know that one thing that I really want us to do is to get our own logo—other than just a hashtag. We’re not just a hashtag anymore.
J: To some extent, we’re at such a different place than we ever anticipated. Let’s just do the next best thing. I don't have a five year plan for Sports Bra Squad and I'm okay with that right now. I think if anything, just continuing to grow the community and being able to do some off-season events or non-running events. Part of that is just balancing out our own capacity since we all have jobs and have personal lives and our own training. I mean, just the more that we can reach people who need to hear the message—maybe it’s people who have been at our runs before, maybe it’s new people. As long as we can keep doing it. Maybe it will look different: maybe there will be more or bigger sponsors, our own logo. The business logistics side will continue to grow. This year told us it needs to. But, I just want the heart of the events to stay the same.
T: With all the interest that we have had with different sponsors, whether we do something different like a yoga class or demo a product, I keep coming back to the question: How is this going to benefit our community? We sent out a survey that asked what they liked and what they didn’t, what’s valuable. Ultimately, it’s about whatever helps build that community and gets people to show up and interact together. That’s what I'm interested in. Everything else being as cool as it could be doesn’t really matter if it doesn’t serve them.
At the beginning of the year, we thought it would be so cool if we could do “X” or work with “X” and we thought that those were pipe dreams. I think that we have learned (or at least I have learned) that now we can dream a little bigger and we have things that can back it up. Yes, we have this many attendees and we want to serve our community but I think that we have the permission to dream bigger and ask for different things. People see value in us.
V: Now, [we can say] Do you want to be a part of this?
J: I used to almost feel bad - how do we ask this company to give us stuff? Now, it’s like, do you want in? We are very protective and we know that we have a really amazing community. From a business perspective, we have a lot of faces showing up at runs. It gives us the opportunity to dream about working with companies that we really love to bring their value to our runners.
T: There’s a lot of running groups in Austin and what I learned this year is that we are spanning beyond that. We are catching the everyday runner that doesn't train with a group normally or doesn't run races. Those are the folks that are coming out and that is amazing. That is an entirely untapped market.
J: I feel like we have a pretty good cross section of the big running groups in austin too, which is cool to see.
V: I think one of the biggest things that has changed and has made me really happy is seeing how many people do run in sports bras. Just seeing them out on a Saturday. Just the amount of people in a sports bra, as compared to four years ago. We’d like to think that we had a hand in that. I know that we did because I see it in my group [Rush Hour]. I see almost all of them, will run in a sports bra. Even [one runner] said she never had a problem with my body before, she just liked running in a shirt. But when she showed up at a run and she did this, [she said] “This is awesome. I feel not only cooler and more comfortable, but also more confident and more powerful.”
T: On the flip side, I have a very good friend who comes and supports our runs and runs in her sports bras at the runs, but doesn't do it when she and i run together. That’s totally ok! Some people feel empowered to do it on their own. Some people don't want to do it on their own but feel strongly enough about it that they come and show up and do it with us.
J: And there are some people who are more than willing to come to one of our runs and run in their sports bra or sans shirt, but it might take a little bit to click with them that they can do this all the time in their own neighborhood.
T: This is not just this event. This is any time.
J: It’s cool to see it cascade over into their regular life. That feels pretty good.
If you’re in the Austin area and want to join in on a #SportsBraSquadATX run, make sure to follow the group on Facebook and sign up for the newsletter to receive the latest updates and events.
Every third Sunday in May through September, join the women for a virtual #sportsbrasquadatx event live on Instagram! In addition, they will be chatting every Sunday with different members of this vast community.
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