Gorilla - Energy data applications

Imagine a world where selling carbon-free energy is as easy as selling bananas at the farmers market.

Gorilla wants to empower the global shift to carbon-neutral energy. We do it through one of a kind energy data applications.

In order to enable our company vision and mission, the People Team mission is to enable Data Rangers (our employees) to grow individually and as a troop by creating easy to use and elegant people solutions.

VP of People

Jangala

Growth cycles in business are broken.

And leaders and teams are feeling the whiplash from everchanging internal and external headwinds.

The ultimate hack to grow resilient organizations has been under our noses all along. 

Jangala People Solutions is a playground to experiment with how leaders and teams harness 3.8 bn years of nature's blueprints, psychology, and neuroscience to:

► Explore how Regenerative Design principles can shape sustainable organizational practices and foster long-term resilience.

► Cultivate Nature-Inspired Leadership by integrating nature's wisdom into leadership strategies for innovation, resilience, and organizational health.

► Embracing the Adaptive Cycle to navigate scale, change, reorganization within fast moving environments.

Services: Leadership Coaching and Development. Teams Coaching and Development, Workshop Facilitation

People Advisory, Leadership & Teams Facilitator

Offbeat

Offbeat is one of the leading L&D communities where L&D professionals accelerate their career.

Mentor

Philips

HR plays a critical role in ESG and social impact. 

As the corporate landscape shifts towards prioritizing sustainability and social impact, my pivot into a sustainability role at Philips aligns with the evolving expectations of both consumers and employees.

I was committed to leveraging my people and culture expertise to enable Philips businesses and external organizations to set and meet their ESG goals, and foster culture of sustainability within the organization

The skills accrued here have deepened my understanding of ESG and how as HR professional I can further addressing social aspects, such as inclusion, diversity, and equity, and talent processes.

Sustainability Strategist - Philips Innovation Services

Miro

Imagine scaling from 350 to 1000 employees in < 12 months during the pandemic.

I built and scaled the L&D and Culture function at Miro from Series B - C during this crazy hypergrowth to answer these questions:

"How do we scale our company without losing our culture?"
"How do we build a culture as collaborative as our product?
"How do we stay nimble as we expand?"

Leading a team of learning designers and agile coaches, we built people solutions like products to  ensure our culture didn't "break".

...

Head of People Solutions Design  

PwC Australia

The aim is not to be an agile organization. The aim is to achieve your business objectives with agility. 

This was one of the core principles Christopher Webb and I co-founded the Agile Advisory around in 2017 when the applications of agile outside of software development were still in it's infancy. 

Our goal was to help organizations avoid cutting and pasting scrum across all their departments and saying 'ta da' "we're agile".

Instead we grew an inclusive and diverse multi-disciplinary team to work with clients to redesign their operating models and refresh their ways of working.

In doing so we aimed to bring organizations closer to their customers and employees, and to increase speed to value by developing viable and feasible solutions. 

I specifically focussed on leadership agility, and teams development + delivery using agile ways of working and human centred design methods to deliver better outcomes. 

Highlights: 

► Designing and implementing company-wide New Ways of Working simulation training to 30 000K employees using more LEGO than one person would buy in their lifetime.

► Establishing social labs innovation approach and delivering large group facilitation to enable the cross-sector teams to collaborate and prototype solutions to end homelessness in a generation.

Senior Manager - Agile Advisory, Technology Consulting

Deloitte Australia

Think strategically, solve complex problems, format slides fast.

In my interview I said I'm a corporate hippy, they said you're hired, and on Day 1 I was shipped out to a mining and metal company ....

Not quite the regenerative green warrior project I expected, yet to do this day it remains one of the best projects of my life.

Why? I got to work with amazing client leaders and it's where I cut my teeth on:

Buidling and faciltiating strong team dynamics globally, managing global strategic change, global learning and development strategy, the ups and downs of stakeholder engagement and M&A / demergers....

... and it's when I became an accidental technologist.

It's also where I learned consultants' obsession with slides and spreadsheets. 

If you can't beat them join them. So I pivot-tabled, hypothesis treed, and powerpointed my way on several projects for national banks, insurers, and retailers. 

Until I was selected among 20 people nationally to go on a 3 day immersion with the  Design and Visual Storytelling team.

It's here that I unearthed my natural tendency for human-centred design (HCD) and its powerful methods, which evolved into working on agile software development projects, and agile coaching, and  learning and development solutions.

I knew that my future work would always boil down to:

Understand the problem + Build the right things + Build the things right.

...

Human Capital Management Consultant

Croydon Council

Organisational Change & Development - Learning and Development - Product Development 

Croydon Council:
In a post Global Financial Crisis climate, Croydon Council received a mandate form the federal government to cut costs by £200 million by 2018. Subsequently the council commenced a large scale restructure and review of services. To assist the ensuing changes the Chief Executive initiated a 3 year values based culture transformation for the organisation (approx. 2000 employees). As one of four core members in the Change and OD team Vanessa delivered the following high quality services:

Culture Transformation
- Mobilisation of culture change champion network \
- Leadership and project management 
- Development of learning forums and materials to equip and empower staff with change conversation capabilities.  These initiatives increased employees’ change skillset, augmented employees’ sense of work efficacy and opened communication channels between different departments
- Change project evaluation  

Leadership
- Middle Management Leadership Skills Audit 
- Logistics Management for annual senior leadership summit for 300 senior leaders 
- Future leadership capabilities scenario mapping to enable leaders to lead and manage political,    economic, technology and social change reforms

Online Learning
-  Designed, developed and maintained  user centric change  and L&D intranet sites to support staff communications and e-learning

Leap Partnership:
- Working with FTSE 100 clients such as Lloyds TSB, Sage and Honeywell to develop a prolific teams inventory which helps teams in their learning and development functions and overall performance

Organisational Change and Development Consultant

Mendas Ltd.

Client Delivery: National Health Services (NHS), UK Government Organizations (NDA), Smith and Williamson Accountants

Business Psychologist

Munro & Forster

Client Delivery for Nestle Carnation, La Roche-Posay, Roche Diagnostics and Ronald McDonald House Charities

Commercial and Healthcare Graduate PR Analyst

VP of People at Gorilla | In the pursuit of employee significance | Leadership & Career Coach | Illustrator | Corporate Hippy - views expressed here are my own

What do you get when you cross a business psychologist + an accidental technologist + agile coach + a tree hugger?

A global People & Culture leader, who embraces her corporate hippy persona to revitalize organizations worldwide.

I currently lead the global People Function at Gorilla - energy data applications, a fast growing series B SaaS scale up. 

I've held leadership roles at Miro, PwC, Deloitte and Philips where I've built, shaped and scaled cultures.

I know what it takes for startups and scaleups to design their People strategy for future success.


My career highlights include:

► Scaling the L&D and Culture function at Miro from series B - C. 

► Developing social labs approach for cross-sector teams to protoype solutions to end homlessess in a generation in Australia for The Constellation Project.

► Designing and implementing the Global IT Learning strategy, and Change Management and Comms approach for the most complex demerger in australian history (mining and metals company). 


Find out more:

Illustrations - I simplify complex ideas through the power of picture
https://www.instagram.com/nessmonsequeira_illustrations

The Nature of Leadership + Career Newsletter - is filled with practical tips and focuses on how leaders and employees can redesign the work experience.

https://nessmonsequeira.beehiiv.com/

Vanessa Monsequeira

I moved to Amsterdam in 2020 after visiting it for exactly one day in 2006.

November marks 5 years in the Netherlands. It wasn't what I expected.

2020:
Ness: "Hey Nick, this digital whiteboard company reached out about a role in Amsterdam."
Nick: "Just see where it goes."

Two weeks later, I'd signed with Miro (back when they were the "lesser-known digital whiteboard platform") to scale their People Solutions function from 350 to 1,000 people in a year.

Then came one of the most bizarre plane journeys of our lives: the airline had to call the Australian government pre-flight to confirm we were on the approved leave list. We were told we couldn't return until the end of the pandemic.

No safety net. No return ticket. Just two suitcases and a gutsy decision.
Maybe it was reckless, but Nick and I are suckers for adventure.

___

What moving here was supposed to be:
👉🏾 A career opportunity in a cool European city

What it became:
🧡 A masterclass in scaling companies during chaos (hello, pandemic)
🧡 Where I built community instead of just a network
🧡 A new obsession with white asparagus season
🧡 Where "home" stopped meaning one country
🧡 A lesson in how day spas work (IYKYK)
🧡 Proof that betting on yourself pays off

Dank u wel to everyone who has been part of my personal and professional journey in the Netherlands, Belgium and the UK. 

Special shout out to the communities at the D2 collective, Diverse Leaders in Tech, Hatch - Immersive learning experiences and Omek. I was missing a sense of belonging in the middle years and you helped me find home. 

Of course thanks to Nick and our best doggo Tiger. You make A'dam home.

Here's to many more beautiful years and doing more dutchy things. 🚴🏽‍♀️

What's the gutsiest career move you've ever made?

Vanessa Monsequeira - चित्रलेखा

VP of People at Gorilla | Building Employee Experience as a Product | In pursuit of making work suck less | Leadership & Career Coach | Corporate Hippy - views expressed here are my own

Ness and her husband Nick taking a celebratory selfie with glasses of red wine. Ness has curly dark hair and is wearing a cream sweater with a gold necklace. Nick has a beard and is wearing a light green sweater. Both are smiling warmly at the camera in what appears to be a restaurant or café setting.

Every Head of HR knows the secret "job description."

We carry skills and emotions that never make it onto our job ad. The weight of decisions that affect people's livelihoods. The loneliness of being the only one in the room thinking five moves ahead from a people strategy and ops perspective.

Many talk about being a "Strategic" HR leader. Very few execute it well. Even fewer teach it effectively.

Recently, I completed the JooBee's Strategic HR Leader Step Up Bootcamp.
I desperately wish I'd had before my leadership roles at Miro and Gorilla!

🧰 Here's what made it transformational:
— All Real-world application, not theory:
— Deeply thinking and practice  through compensation structures and leveling frameworks for scaling startups (so many lessons!!!!!)
— Building scalable people operations during the critical build phase
— Consolidating thinking around scaling agility people as a product
—  ALL learning through interactive doing and teamwork

💪🏾 Strengthening our diagnostic muscles:
— Sharpened organizational diagnosis and problem-solving through the PIC framework
— Practical tools I'm already applying in my day-to-day

🎭 The role-play day (this alone was worth the price): 
A full day with professional actors playing:
— A Founder who kept changing goal-setting structures mid-quarter
— A COO who outright refused 360 feedback
— A CMO who wanted to pay out-of-band for an average performer

🔥 The fireside chat: One hour with a top VC Stephen Millard from Notion Capital. Finally, a safe space to ask all those fiery questions as HR we think but rarely voice to board members.

💜 And the unexpected value: 
— The cohort itself became both a learning experience and group therapy (IYKYK).
— Perhaps the most invaluable aspect was pairing with a group of people living the same reality. People who didn't just empathise, they solutionize the right way.

Thank you Ed Ross Missy S. Katie Downes (Beales) Elena Argyriou María Clara Wasileff Seun Iyaniwura . I'm genuinely grateful to each of you. You helped me learn, grow, and realise "it's not just me." 

I very rarely give an NPS of 10.
This is it, folks. run, don't walk.
Worth every minute. Worth every penny.

And thank you again JooBee Yeow, PhD for your masterful facilitation 🫶🏾

P.S. Sneak peak of the course in comments!

#PeopleLeadership #HRStrategy #StartupHR #PeopleOps

Screenshot of a video call with seven participants from the JooBee Strategic HR Leader Step Up Bootcamp cohort, including Missy Strong, Ness from Gorilla, Clari Wasileff from Ekumen, Seun, Elena from Snappymob, Ed from Aiven, Katie from YLD, and JooBee Yeow (course facilitator with Step Up Bootcamp branding visible).

What’s more important: leading or managing?

Hint: Most people choose wrong.

Leadership = vision.
Management = execution.
Both matter but neither is enough.

Inspiration alone doesn’t create outcomes.
Systems alone don’t inspire people.
Vision + systems alone ≠ success.

I empathise.
As a leader, you put these building blocks in place and think:
“We’re doing things right.
 Why isn’t it working?”

Because something critical is missing.

The space in between: the Adaptive Space**.

The interface between entrepreneurial thinking and operational discipline.
Where innovation meets implementation.
Where ideas become action.
Where strategy actually moves.

This is the missing middle.
When all three work together (leadership, management and the Adaptive Space) momentum, magic and money follow.

If you lead people, your job is not choosing between leadership and management.
Your job is learning to operate and helping others operate in the Adaptive Space.

What are you experiencing in the Adaptive Space?


**Coined by Mary Uhl-Bien and colleagues in Complexity Leadership Theory.

Infographic titled “Lead your team to achieve outcomes” with the subtitle “It’s not about leader vs manager. Be both and know how to adapt.”

On the left, three vertical sections appear along a downward arrow:

Leadership (Vision): Set vision and strategy; Shape culture; Guide through change; Enable learning.

The Adaptive Space (Integration): Translate strategy to action; Zoom out and think; Foster conflict and collaboration; Adapt dynamically.

Management (Execution): Plan and organize; Monitor performance; Maintain standards; Solve risks and problems.

On the right, four statements each paired with colour bars:
“Inspiration ≠ outcomes” (pink gradient).
“Vision and systems alone ≠ success” (purple gradient).
“Systems alone ≠ inspired people” (orange gradient).
“This will empower outcomes” (combined pink, purple, orange gradient).

Footer includes the name Vanessa Monsequeira and the tagline “Leadership that makes work suck less.”

All leaders want healthy culture and "happy" teams.

The truth most miss is that the feedback that stings the most is often the feedback you need the most to create thriving environments. 

Not because all feedback is necessarily "true." 

But because it uncovers signals of unmet needs. 

It's a diagnostic clue.

To truly unlock team performance and team health (after putting the basics in place), we have to go where it hurts the most.

That place = crunchy feedback and difficult conversations.

Most leaders avoid negative feedback like the plague.

It makes sense, emotional pain register in the brain like physical pain.

... and we've got enough 💩 to deal with everyday. 

Yet, here's what I always tell leaders:

→ You worth and value as a leader aren't defined by negative feedback.
→ Crunchy feedback means your organisation and team are still talking to you.
→ They haven't given up. They're still invested.
→  Of course, guide your team to use radical candor. Rudeness is never accepted.

At this time of year:
→ Many are analysing annual engagement results or performance reviews.
→ Don't waste the gift of honest feedback. 
→ Learn how to separate signal from noise and find the deeper unmet needs. 

The steps below have helped countless leaders turn feedback from something to fear into fuel for growth.

Use it. Watch what happens when you stop avoiding the hard stuff.

Infographic titled 'Negative feedback doesn't kill team engagement. It improves it.' Lists 8 steps for processing feedback: 1. Read positive comments first, 2. Find themes/patterns, 3. Ask yourself 'What need was met here?', 4. Read the difficult comments, 5. Find themes/patterns, 6. Ask yourself 'What was the unmet need here?', 7. Practice disassociation technique - Your value as a leader ≠ feedback, 8. Devise your game plan to address unmet needs.

Your team doesn't trust your decisions.

Not if you lead like you're faking it.

I know this because early on I desperately tried to learn it all and know it all. 

Then I stopped pretending I had all the answers AND started trusting when i did. 

Great leaders:
↳ Name the uncertainty in the room
↳ Ask questions they're "supposed" to know
↳ Give feedback within 24 hours, not 24 days
↳ Hire slower and fire faster than they think they should
↳ Admit when a direct report knows more
↳ Coach in public, not just behind closed doors
↳ Can be both soft and strong in the same meeting
↳ Make decisions without consensus (then explain why)
↳ Let team members see them learning new skills
↳ Create psychological safety before pushing for results
↳ Don't let what they don't know make them lose confidence in what they do know.

"I need to be the smartest person in the room" = fastest way to lose your best people.

One of my favourite leadership reframes:

Last week a leader I coach told me they were stuck on a strategic decision because 'they didn't have enough context yet.' 

Here's what I asked them.:

"If you had to make this decision in the next team meeting, what can you name what you DO know, and what would you say you DON'T know, out loud?"
↓

[Name what you know, + state your uncertainty publicly] + [invite the team to fill gaps] = [better decisions through transparency]

The strongest leaders aren't the ones with all the answers. 

They're the ones who can build confidence, name what they don't know, and still move forward.


#leadership #decisionmaking #leadingteams

-step leadership framework for making decisions when you don't have all the answers. Shows how to name uncertainty publicly, state what you know, invite team input, and reach better decisions through collective wisdom. Real example using AI adoption demonstrates the framework in action.

SPRHRA

Sportswear made to give female athletes the Freedom to Perform.
[Su-per-he-ra]—what you call a female athlete who uses her superpowers to elevate others.

Founder

Accenture

Manager

Consultant

Senior Analyst

Analyst

New Degree Press

I wrote this book out of necessity because I didn’t know how to find a female mentor who I saw myself in. I wanted to know what made women successful, beyond a transactional leadership assessment, and dive deep into who they were as humans. When I discovered the essence of these women, apart from their formal role title, the only name that was fit to describe them was “Superhero." My hope is that, in reading this book, you will discover how you can become a leader in your life and elevate the lives of others .

Book Author

Kitu Life Inc. 

Director of Marketing

Edelman

Business Development Intern

Georgetown University

Team Captain of Women's Soccer

Gametracker and Public Relations Assistant

bluemercury

Social Media Intern

Chipotle Mexican Grill

+ Market Chipotle and ShopHouse restaurants to the Georgetown campus

Student Brand Manager

Building SPRHRA——Wrote "Becoming a Superhero"

Marina Paul

Last week I sized 105 female volleyball athletes for their club volleyball season.

By "sizing", I mean, we grabbed all of their measurements and found their best-fitting size.

One mom said: "None of my kids have ever been sized. This is really cool."

That stuck with me.

Because here's the thing, we've solved sizing for men's sports. But for female athletes? We just made them squeeze into whatever fits.

When that mom said those words, I realized: this isn't about getting measurements right. It's about making athletes — female athletes specifically — feel seen.
 
Parents pay extraordinary fees for club sports (my parents still remind me, haha). For most parents this past week, it was their first "Club" experience. 

We want to make sure their daughter is getting everything she deserves, so she can just focus on performing and having fun.

Superhera isn't a sizing system. It's proof that the industry has been sleeping on what female athletes deserve.

Female athlete performance & apparel optimization. Athlete turned Superhera founder. Author of 'Becoming a Superhero.' Sports fit technology to help athletes find gear that fits. Georgetown & Vanderbilt licensed partner.

I never expected a bachelorette party conversation to lead to this.

One of the girls mentioned meeting Jaecee Hall on a cruise. Jaecee is a former University of Iowa Rower on a mission to  fix how the industry treats female athletes.

Jaecee and I launched a collaboration between our two companies, Superhera and Unbreakable Female Athlete.

Most people think female athletes who complain about uniforms are just being "difficult."

 Here's what's actually happening:

 • 62% of female athletes "deal with" bad fit instead of asking for help
 • Only 36% say their uniforms fit correctly
 • Equipment managers spend nights SEWING uniforms to make them work

The real problem? Athletes rank "fit" as their #1 need, yet it's the one thing the industry ignores.

I spent two years interviewing female athletes about how their clothing makes them feel. That feedback became the foundation for designing gear that actually works for women's bodies. 

Superhera x Unbreakable combines those insights with gear designed by female athletes who lived this nightmare. For the millions still living it.

This is what happens when two companies who actually understand female athletes join forces.

If you're tired of uniforms that don't fit, gear that holds you back, or watching your athletes struggle, this collection is for you.

Shop now:

Open article: Superhera x UFA | Unbreakable by unbreakablefemaleathlete.com

If you're a girl dad, women's coach, or male equipment manager, you've seen it.

Shorts riding up. Waistbands digging in. Athletes constantly adjusting during games.

I remember being so embarassed when I started playing volleyball in high school.

We had super short shorts one year, and I ordered an extremely oversized practice shirt to cover my body. 

Not just to hide from the crowd, but also from my dad. I did not want him seeing... all of that.

Even worse, I felt there was something wrong with me because my shorts didn't fit.
 
As a man, it's awkward to bring up wedgies, shorts that don't fit, and have a body image conversation with your daughter or athlete.

How do you ask about fit issues that feel too personal, too awkward to discuss with your daughter's team or the athletes you manage?
 
 Here's what happens instead:
 
 1. Men notice the problem but might feel uncomfortable saying something. Or, you say the wrong thing and it triggers more body image issues.

 2. Female athletes struggle in silence. They They don't speak up because talking about it feels embarrassing. So they adjust constantly instead of performing. Or, they adjust their body to fit the clothing better.
 

 3. The broken gear stays broken. Nobody orders better-fitting options because nobody wants to have that awkward conversation. Equipment budgets get wasted on gear that doesn't work.
 

 4. Performance suffers. An athlete thinking about wedgies is an athlete not thinking about the game. Distraction costs points, positions, confidence.
 

 5. Athletes start quitting. Seriously, 85% of athletes are quitting by 14 because of low body confidence. When gear makes you feel terrible, you start questioning if sports are worth it. Girls drop out of teams. You lose players to bad uniforms, not lack of talent.
 
The solution shouldn't require uncomfortable conversations. 

Equipment managers should get the data they need. Athletes should get gear that works. Coaches can stay focused on athletes performing at their best. Parents can take a breath knowing their daughters are in good hands.
 
Girl dads, coaches, and equipment managers: If you want female athletes to get the gear they deserve, follow me Marina Paul.

Hope everyone had an epic Thanksgiving week!

I'm back on the road again tomorrow, visiting with NEFC Soccer Club in Mass, Colby College in Maine, Groton School in Mass, Lexington Academy in Mass, Greenwich Academy in Connecticut, and more. 

I love what I do, but not going to lie, when I saw it was snowing in Maine this week, I cringed, clutched my coffee, and sank deeper into my couch, as I devoured the 68 degree Charleston weather, and watched my Rams lose.

Then I remembered I used to have to play soccer in the freezing snow/rain, so life is ok, haha. 

What the heck am I doing on these trips? I'm collecting as much data as possible from as many female athletes as possible. 

Most of these teams, we're building personalized uniforms for. Some, we are merely collecting data. 

Others? We're building a dashboard that will recommend their best fitting size based on how that gear fits. No more guessing what size you are!!

With all of these teams, we're building a community of female athletes who we hope to leave more confident in their incredible athletic bodies. 

This data helps us build the most accurate prediction model for how gear fits female athletes.

It's no different than your daily reps and inputs in sports. With AI...the type of data you use and how you use it is everything. 
 
Hope everyone has an epic week!

I’m going to be bold and talk about wedgies on LinkedIn.

Questionable on how appropriate it is, but I could use more humor on this platform.

TLDR: this post is not about wedgies, it is about understanding customer behavior and product design.

Getting back to wedgies.

How many times have you picked your wedgies in a sporting event?

I’ve been asking hundreds of female athletes every week. And I’m met with pretty funny, humiliating stories, depending on the sport.

It’s “funny” until you have 52 seconds to run a 400m race.... and you have to pick.

When we talk about actual performance, the funny turns into humiliation, distraction, and frustration.

I hear female athletes talking about how their focus on performance is distracted by picking.

Yes, gymnasts are still using hairspray to keep their leotards down.

But why do athletes get wedgies?

No one had the answer.

So I went to fit experts. I asked, “Why do we get so many wedgies, and how do we prevent it?”

Their answer? The length of the rise and shape of the saddle are wrong for most female athletes.

1. The distance from the top of their belt-line to the back of their belt-line is too short.

2. The shape of the saddle (what the short sits in) is way too narrow. It needs to be wider to accommodate for athletes’ muscles.

To truly get rid of the wedgie, we needed athletes’ measurements and shapes to get the rise & saddle right.

So, I built a way to do this at Superhera. A fit tech company to get rid of wedgies.

Why post this on LinkedIn?

Customers have pain points, but many don’t know why.

Those pain points have led Superhera to some really great discoveries, to help apparel brands develop much better products.

Product design is best when you can solve those pain points with customer feedback + hard data (like body measurements).

If you want to help female athletes get access to better-fitting gear, follow me Marina Paul.

I just launched Behind the Super Newsletter — a newsletter for female athletes who are done pretending everything's fine.

As a former Georgetown soccer captain, I spent years fighting uniforms designed for someone else's body. Thousands of you messaged me saying "me too."

So here's what you're getting:
→ Gear Deep Dives: What works for female athletes and what fails 
→ Real Athlete Stories: Honest conversations about performance and fit 
→ The Fit Lab: Testing gear with actual athletes (no BS) 
→ Community Spotlights: Women redefining what freedom in sport looks like

This isn't just about uniforms. It's about demanding better from the brands and systems shaping our sports.

First issue just dropped.

Read more and subscribe below: 
https://lnkd.in/ggnTPRfU

#WomenInSports #FemaleAthletes #Superhera

My teammates and I always joked that our shorts had no room for our soccer thunder thighs. That they were actually built for boys. 

Turns out, it's true.

Here’s how I found out.

Our apparel expert turned my soccer shorts inside out, and she said, “See, there’s no side seam.”

I said, “Ok, what does that mean?”

She told me when there’s no side seam, it literally cannot fit female hips because there's no seam to shape the curve.

Ahh…

This is in part why the shorts squeeze our thighs. 

Why our "thunder thigh" stereotype actually feels real every time we wear shorts. 

Why I literally tried to shrink my body so my legs would be thinner and I would actually fit in my shorts.

By understanding how women, especially female athletes’, are shaped, we can build products that are actually proportionate to their body.

If you want to be apart of building better products for female athletes, DM me.

I saw this legendary post from my friends over at SoccerGrlProbs LLC, the OG Instagram account I fell in love with in high school.

Feels pretty cool to have your friends start tagging in you in videos like these 😂 Jaecee Hall with Unbreakable Female Athlete and AnnRagan McGlone with Medalist Skin. 

If you don't follow them / if their products aren't on your Christmas list... they should be!!

Shoutout to all the women in sports founders out there. All of us are on the same mission to make the experience of playing your sport feel free instead of restrictive.

Your gear is still distracting you. Here's why. 

If you've ever rolled your waistband mid-warmup, double-layered tops for support, or constantly tugged at shorts during a workout, this one's for you.

True performance isn't just about speed or sweat-wicking. It's about confidence. It's about putting on your uniform and forgetting about it. So you can focus on what you actually came to do.

In this week's Behind the Super newsletter, I'm breaking down:
✔️ Why most "performance" gear still doesn't work for female athletes 
✔️ The Fit Fix you need to know (hint: it's about inseam angles, not your thighs) 
✔️ Games I'm watching this week: from the NWSL Championship to NCAA Field Hockey 
✔️ Products I'm actually using (and the ones that don't live up to the hype)

Plus, a look at what we learned from scanning 1500+ college athletes over the past 2.5 months. Spoiler: You're not the problem. The sizing is. Because "shrink it and pink it" isn't good enough anymore.

Read the full newsletter here: https://lnkd.in/gtJhBwbr

Thanksgiving week is here, and while most are diving into gratitude, family time, and pumpkin pie, athletes often face a different challenge. 

This Behind the Super is incredibly special to me.

The offseason anxiety is real, and it's something we don't talk about enough.

As athletes, we often worry about losing fitness during the holidays. The pressure to keep training, the guilt over enjoying a slice of pie, and the fear of falling behind can be overwhelming. 

I used to dread Thanksgiving break, thinking rest was a sign of weakness. 

Especially because it meant we didn't make it to the Elite 8... did I deserve to rest?

This guilt didn't stop when I stopped playing and has persisted since I started Superhera.

Here's the truth that's been tough for me to learn: Rest is a crucial part of getting stronger. 

Your body needs the break more than it needs another workout. Embrace the downtime, enjoy the festivities, and remember that rest isn't laziness, it's part of the journey to becoming a better athlete.

Dive deeper into this topic with our latest newsletter from Superhera, where I  document our journey to help female athletes get gear that fits by truly listening to them. 

Check it out here: https://lnkd.in/g-gkjFAV

Let's redefine what it means to be an athlete during the holidays. Have a great  one!

Open article: Behind The Super by superherasports.beehiiv.com

Most "women's" sportswear is just men's gear shrunk down with a pink logo.

That's exactly why I started Behind The Super — a weekly newsletter for female athletes who deserve gear that actually works.

This week's edition includes:

Games I'm watching: NWSL playoff semis, NCAA soccer championships kicking off tonight, volleyball (seriously underrated), field hockey (I'm hooked), and basketball season is BACK.

Products I'm actually using: 
- SaltStick FastChews for chronic dehydration, 
- Bandit compression shorts that don't ride up
- Our NEW Unbreakable Female Athlete x Superhera drop (60s cosmic vibes). Shoutout @Jaecee Hall

Fit Fix: Why your compression shorts keep riding up during sprints — and what to look for instead

Your gear should fit YOUR body and how YOU move. Not be an afterthought.

Read the full newsletter below:
https://lnkd.in/gtJhBwbr

#WomenInSports #AthleticWear #FemaleAthletes #NewsletterLaunch

Just order a large in everything. Honestly, I get it.

I've visited over a dozen schools, measured 1500+ athletes, and talked to dozens of equipment managers.

A good amount of teams order 1-2 sizes. Oversized in everything, and in Men's.

And you know what? It works.

A large fits most athletes. It might be too big or too small in places, but you'll get through the season.

When people ask what my answer is to that, I say it's a viable option. 

Even when teams use our Size Recommendation technology, they still might choose to order 1-2 sizes.

Here's what the "just order large" strategy misses:

- The jersey might fit in the bust and shoulders but the hem is too short. Athletes' shirts fly up mid-play. They tuck, pin, and alter just to compete.

- Then they get criticized for how their uniforms look.

The real problem isn't that equipment managers are lazy. They are literally the oppositve (trust me, they're my friends, and I spend as much time as I can with them.)

They're working with tools designed to fit male bodies and adapting as best they can.

What I'm building isn't about selling more sizes.

It's about giving athletes, coaches, and equipment managers the language to understand WHY fit breaks down, and the confidence to make better decisions.

Because right now, fit is a mystery. And mysteries lead to frustration, and they lead to body image dysmorphia.

What's one uniform issue you've seen athletes work around that nobody talks about?

I spent 3 days sizing a club volleyball team. Here's what broke, and why I'm stoked about it:

Last week I lived the operational reality of team uniform sizing that every sales rep experiences.

What I learned goes way beyond volleyball.

THE SETUP 
I sized 105 female athletes across 3 days at a 3 different volleyball gyms (1 Club program).

Our goal: prove that women-specific sizing for club sports is possible at scale.

What I actually discovered: getting an athlete her best-fitting size isn’t the hardest part, the operations are.

WHAT BROKE
Time is the killer
1. 8.5 hours traveling (just to get to the gym)
2. 11 hours of actual measurement
3. 6+ hours post-event data organization
4. 25+ hours total to serve one club team

For a sales rep, that's unsustainable. You can't profitably serve 100 teams when it takes 25 hours per team.

1. Manual coordination fails
    • 5+ separate email chains about sizing
    • Coaches manually tracking who was/wasn't measured
    • Spreadsheet errors because multiple people were editing
    • Athletes getting frustrated with the process
    • Logistics matter 

Coaches had to interrupt practice. Parents had to show up at a specific time. 
One family couldn't make it, so they asked if they could send in photos (yay, this is part of our master plan!).

THE REAL PROBLEM
The operational burden isn't the athlete's problem. It's the industry's problem.

Most uniform companies don't offer personalized sizing to clubs because:
 • It's time-intensive (founders/sales reps can't scale)
 • It's error-prone (manual data entry)
 • It's expensive (travel costs)
 • It's broken (email chains instead of systems)

So they default to: "Here are sizes 0-12. Figure it out."

THE INSIGHT
 • You can't scale service without scalable operations.
 • This is where our Superhera technology comes in. Not to replace the human moment (that's still valuable). But to remove the 95% that's broken logistics so humans can focus on the 5% that matters: making athletes feel valued.

WHAT SUPERHERA IS BUILDING
 • Real-time sizing status. No email chains.
 • Body Scan + Form: Athletes submit from home. No mandatory show-ups. Error validation catches mistakes.
 • Strategic In-Person: One curated event per season where the Superhera Squad meets athletes. It's a relationship moment, not a logistics burden.

Result: 3-4 hours per team, spent on in-person fun and community-building, instead of 25+. 91% time savings. Scalable.

THE LESSON
If you're building in sports, my suggestion is to go live out how it’s currently done. Ask parents and coaches questions. They're drowning in operational friction, when it could be so much easier.

If you want to help your female athletes get the gear they need, without the headache, DM me.

Why "Women's Fit" Still Misses the Mark

Most women's "performance" gear is still built like a compromise. A little bit stretchy... a little bit supportive... kind of functional... kind of not.

Here's the truth: designing for women requires more than shrinking men's patterns. It requires understanding how women actually move, like hip rotation, stride width, pelvic tilt, muscle distribution.

When brands ignore the biomechanics, you get:
- Waistbands that cave in
- Armholes that choke mobility
- Inseams that ride up like clockwork
- Fabrics that stretch... but not in the direction you actually need

This Week's Fit Fix: Ever lifted your arms and felt your entire jersey lift with you? I break down exactly why this happens (hint: it's the armhole drop) and what proper performance design should look like.

Plus: the games I'm watching, products I'm actually using, and why we're done "making it work."

Read the full newsletter here: https://lnkd.in/gtJhBwbr

The industry spent decades telling women to settle. We're building a new standard.

taplio

The Battle

Vanessa Monsequeira

Marina Paul

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance ScoreVanessa Monsequeira's LinkedIn Performance

Performance ScoreMarina Paul's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

taplio

The Battle

Vanessa Monsequeira

Marina Paul

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Vanessa Monsequeira's LinkedIn Performance

Performance ScoreMarina Paul's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

Performance ScoreVanessa Monsequeira's LinkedIn Performance