BELLA Boss: April 2025 The Women In Sports Issue
By Lynette Barbieri + Alexis Lombardo
Success in business demands ambition, resolve, determination, and a relentless pursuit of goals. Here, we highlight successful entrepreneurs whose remarkable accomplishments demonstrate the importance of self-belief and daring leaps of faith.
If you’re looking to reshape your career journey, let their achievements inspire you to carve your path to success.
Photography Courtesy of Crunch Fitness, Fit & Lit Retreat
Luchana Gatica
Sarasota, Florida
Fit & Lit Retreat: Co-Owner
@FitAndLitRetreat
Motivation For Career Path
I love feeling like I am helping someone be a better version of themselves. My partner and I started Fit & Lit Retreats to give women a space to better themselves and also feel safe to enjoy life. During Covid, gyms were closed for quite some time (I lived in NYC) so I started teaching my fitness classes via Zoom and I had an incredible community of women who continued to take my Zoom classes for years after.
Overcoming Career Challenges
It doesn’t matter what you do or how long, it matters that you showed up and you moved your body. I feel my greatest strength in what I do is that I can motivate people in a realistic way.
Key Strength As An Athlete
Helping others be a better version of themselves.
Photography Courtesy of TEREZ
Zara Terez Tisch
New York, New York
TEREZ: Founder
Motivation For Career Path
We have always created products that were central to our mission of celebrating life's good moments. When we were approached to focus on women's fan wear for Major League Baseball, something clicked. There's nothing more powerful than memories created, especially those moments with your loved ones cheering on your favorite sports team.
Overcoming Career Challenges
I have always found myself in challenging situations. I feel as though that is the life of an entrepreneur. We had to stay nimble and smart. We worked on cutting our inventory investments and moved back to original strategies that had worked, face-to-face with the customer.
Key Strength As An Athlete
I care deeply about the people who work for me, genuinely. I believe that transparency and kindness is the foundation to keeping a team strong.
Photography By James Douglas
Lauren Brill
Miami, Florida
The Unsealed: Founder
TheUnsealed.com
Motivation For Career Path
Sportscasting seemed like the perfect way to combine my love for sports and storytelling. Ultimately, I decided to expand beyond sports when I started my own company, theunsealed.com.
Overcoming Career Challenges
Getting cut from teams, not getting the playing time you want, or losing a big game are circumstances all athletes experience, including me. As an entrepreneur, you constantly need to adjust, and you can't give up when something goes wrong. I believe I developed perseverance and resilience during my young athletic career.
Key Strength As An Athlete
I was a fighter. I always played fearlessly and gave my all.
Photography By Amanda Swiger
Dr. Rachel Millner
Philadelphia, PA
Rachel Millner Therapy, Owner
RachelMillnerTherapy.com
Motivation For Career Path
As someone in a plus size body, I got frustrated with the lack of body size diversity in the industry. I know how important representation is and when the vast majority of people I saw featured or teaching classes were in smaller bodies, I decided to take action and start creating change by pursuing a career in the industry.
Overcoming Career Challenges
I struggled with an eating disorder for many years and was exercising compulsively as part of the disorder. When I started the healing process, I knew I had to heal my relationship with movement as well. To do so, I needed to take a break from movement and give my body the opportunity to rest. When I was ready to come back to it, I found new activities that I enjoy and developed a relationship with movement that is the opposite of what it was like during my eating disorder.
Key Strength As An Athlete
My greatest strength is my commitment to challenge stereotypes in the fitness industry and show that fitness has nothing to do with body size.
Photography Courtesy of Wonder Woman Initiative
Priscilla Loomis
Wildwood, New Jersey
Priscilla Loomis LLC, Founder and CEO
Motivation For Career Path
I have always been driven by the challenge of pushing myself to my greatest limits, and athletics provided the perfect environment for me to do so. The pursuit of excellence and continuous self-improvement is what fueled my passion for this field.
Overcoming Career Challenges
A challenging situation I faced in my athletic career was not being signed by a professional shoe company, such as Nike, Puma, or Adidas, which meant I had to fund my own training, coaching, physical therapy, gear, etc. Trying to cover all these expenses was incredibly daunting but rather than focusing on the difficulties, I chose to adopt an entrepreneurial mindset, took control of my situation, and started my own company, which helped me develop resilience, business management, and courage.
Key Strength As An Athlete
Resilience is my greatest strength as an athlete; it has enabled me to stay laser-focused, continually improving both on and off the track. It has empowered me to navigate challenges with a growth mindset, turning adversity into opportunity and pushing me to reach new levels of performance and personal growth.
