I grew up in Maine and moved to Alaska in the early eighties barely a week after graduating college. I landed at a trucking company, worked my way up, and spent the last five years of about three decades as the company president. One of my favorite activities was taking clients out fly-fishing—something I loved doing with my dad when I was growing up.
When I’d go out with clients, I always made sure we had women in the group. There’s a lot of female leaders in Alaska, and it felt important that they had the same chance to connect and build relationships out on the water. Standing around in our waders, the conversation would often turn to what we were wearing underneath—more often than not, hand-me-downs from our husbands or dads that were bulky and uncomfortable. It struck me that there was a real opportunity to create something better for women, and I thought, why couldn’t I be the one to do it? So, after the trucking company sold, I started Fishe as an entrepreneurial project in 2015.
I rented a small office space, covered the wall with sticky notes, and sketched out my vision of supporting women to feel more confident getting out and enjoying the outdoors. I bought a book on manufacturing to learn the basics, asked a lot of questions, and got help from friends. And before long, we created a collection of leggings and other apparel featuring fish-themed designs by women artists. The concept is clothing that can go from the river to the restaurant—that’s fun, colorful, and an opportunity to express your personality.
We started primarily online and occasionally in-person, even out of the back of my car a couple of times. Right from the start, we used Google Ads.