NARP = "Non Athletic Regular Person" Every athlete hits "NARP Life" eventually. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dmf6lUbkj1o What happens w
NARP = “Non Athletic Regular Person”
Every athlete hits “NARP Life” eventually.
What happens when an athlete reaches the end of their playing career?
For Leslie Osborne, when that day came, she realized she was just getting started.
Check out Leslie’s story in the previous Alumni Corner features:
Youth Soccer Years, Week 1
High School and Recruiting, Week 2
Peak Soccer, Week 3
I spoke with Leslie about the moment she realized she needed to make a plan for life after soccer. She was sitting on the bench with Abby Wambach. Leslie had torn her ACL, and Abby had her leg broken by Brazil in the run-up to the 2008 Olympics.
Sweat Cosmetics was born
She told me, “I started thinking seriously about life after soccer in 2008. While I was playing pro, some friends and I had an ‘A-HA!’ moment. Teammates of mine, and myself … we were all kinda moaning about how there were no good sunscreens for women athletes. Sure, there were normal sunscreens that run into your eyes. Ouch.”
“Look good, feel good and be protected from the sun”
“A lot of us had to do TV interviews after games. We wanted to look good. But if we put on makeup, it would get all over our jerseys, plus it just never looked right to be wearing tons of makeup on the field. There was nothing on the market for us. Nothing existed that would help us look good, feel good, and be protected from the sun. Plus, makeup would always make us break out. Who wants that?”
“We started putting together mood boards and ideas. That was back in 2012. We surveyed all of our current and previous teammates to find out if they’d like what we were planning. They were all super excited. In 2014, I also started working in broadcasting for Fox Soccer. In 2015, Sweat Cosmetics was founded!”
Lessons from the soccer field translating to business life.
“We raised $300k from friends and family. And we formed an LLC. None of us were entrepreneurs, but we were all passionate about our goals. Here I was, on a new team with new challenges, and every lesson I had learned in my soccer career had prepared me for this.”
“Working within a team to reach a goal. Being humble. Accepting help and criticism. Being coachable. Staying motivated. FIND A WAY. All of those lessons were what I had learned during my soccer career. And they all translated to my life as business owner. The athlete mentality prepares young people for life after sports perfectly — especially girls and women.”
Field Testing Sweat Cosmetics
Leslie told me, “We had our first products ready for testing in 2015. We went grass-roots. Samples went out to all of our friends on the Women’s National Team and on the pro women’s teams. They all LOVED it. We knew we had something good when everyone started coming back asking for more right away.”
“I’m loving this chapter even more.”
Leslie’s professional playing years are in the rearview mirror. She told me, however, “I’m loving this chapter even more. Playing soccer, making the friends I made, meeting the people I did, I could have never imagined it leading me here. But I’m loving every minute of it.”
Sweat Cosmetics is everywhere
I asked Leslie where readers could find Sweat Cosmetics. She answered, “We are in lots of places! Sweat was featured on GMA. Sephora. Anthropologie, lots of ‘big box’ stores. But the best place to get it is direct from our website.”
AMAZING DISCOUNT for SoccerNation readers! 25% off with code: SOCCERNATION
Could SoccerNation readers have a discount code for Sweat Cosmetics, I asked? Leslie told me, “ABSOLUTELY!” Then a few days later, she emailed me the special code:
Use code SOCCERNATION at checkout for 25% off at SweatCostmetics.com! That’s even better than the promo code they offer to fist-time purchasers on their website! I just ordered mine today, and the code worked like a charm.
