What is A Girl and Her Band? 

A Girl and Her Band is a lifestyle brand for girls of ALL ages. We believe that all girls are born to be bold, creative and confident individuals. Through our products, messaging and programs our goal is to build a sustainable company that will empower girls of all ages to follow their hearts and chase their dreams!

Who are the band members?

Alana Smith is a Fabric Fashionista and former tennis star. Alana is married with 3 kids and very active in the sports world. She can be found several nights a week out on the soccer field, both coaching and playing. Her love of fabric led her to a successful career as a children’s clothing designer which was a perfect transition into A Girl and Her Band. Her design and business expertise has been a large part of A Girl and Her Band’s early success.

Casey Whitney is a Child Advocate with a passion for business. Casey is married with 3 kids and a NICU nurse with an entrepreneurial spirit. In high school she started a successful business that she sold before graduating from college and entering the business world as a software sales representative. After giving birth to a child with special needs, she decided to trade in her business suits for scrubs and became a nurse. Fortunately, her flexible nursing schedule has allowed her to mix her passion for helping babies with her desire to empower girls through A Girl and Her Band.

Lisa Held is our Legal Proprietor with a passion for selling. Lisa is married with 2 kids, and is active in the PTO at her kids’ school.  After college she became a paralegal in Intellectual Property.  She has turned over a new leaf in becoming A Girl and Her Band’s CFO.

Tracey Theofiledes is our Marketing maniac with a passion for creating custom bands for our awesome customers.  She is married with 2 kids who all love skiing, camping, hiking and just being outdoors. Before becoming a mom, she enjoyed working in the creative side of Advertising/PR agencies in California and Denver. She traded in her work clothes when her first child was born and now spends her time volunteering at her children’s school, running the PTO and keeping up with all the family activities. A Girl and her Band has given her an outlet for her creative energy.

How did you come up with the name A Girl and Her Band?

When we first decided to move forward with creating our company, we always had to have music playing in the background, and realized that we all shared a passion for music. Our kids were always singing whether on the soccer field or in the car and the four of us could usually be found singing along. We actually decided to name our headbands after songs before we came up with our company name. Then, one night over beers we were brainstorming and the waitress made a comment about “A Girl and Her Beer”, and that was how A Girl and Her Band was born 🙂

How did you all meet?

We all have girls the same age and as luck would have it, they were all placed on the same soccer team. After a few years of getting to know each other, we decided our friendship could face the fun and challenges of starting a business.

 How long did it take from concept, research and design to final product?

The first bands were actually created before the business. We recognized that girls everywhere, including ourselves, were wearing headbands. However, we also noticed that the bands we were wearing weren’t super cute or fully functional. They would always pop off our heads as well as our daughters. We often mentioned the problem, but weren’t sure about a solution.

One day in October of 2012 we decided to brainstorm and by the end of the day, with Alana’s background in fashion and her manufacturing resources, we had our first prototype. It took a few months and several hundred samples before we came up with a band that we believed was the perfect product.

We ran in them, our girls played soccer, our daughters’ friends practiced their flips and back handsprings and our stylish friends wore them on date nights. Everyone loved them. That is when we decided to take A Girl and Her Band to market.

The prototype was finished in late December of 2012, and our website launched February 1, 2013. So from concept to launch was just under 4 months. Needless to say, we got to know each other very well during that time.

What were some of the challenges you experienced while starting this adventure and how did you over come them?

The biggest challenge was how to separate our friendship from the business. It was difficult initially. We found ourselves constantly talking about headbands! After lengthy discussions about our mission of empowering all girls, being honest about our time and financial commitments, establishing business hours and a very well written operating agreement, we have found ourselves in a very good place.

We find it is very important to keep our business lives and social lives separate. Soccer games are family and friend time and business matters are dealt with during business hours. Exceptions are dealt with on a case by case basis.

What is the difference between your head bands and the ones people buy in stores?

As mentioned above, over the years the four of us had acquired more headbands than we could count. The problem was, all the headbands we found, even those with the silicon strips and adjustable elastic, popped off.

The bands we found on the market, weren’t made for active girls and women, the bands weren’t washable and were not made of sporty materials, but they were being marketed as bands for an active lifestyle.

Our materials are moisture-wicking, antimicrobial, machine washable, non-slip and made in the USA. They are one size fits most, so we can share with our daughters…no joke, it has brought us all closer together 🙂

Additionally, we have the ability to customize our bands with nearly any design that can be dreamed up. Our bands are sturdier than similar bands on the market (sounds silly, but a side by side comparison by many customers has proven a superior band) and custom woven, no screen printing or sublimation, so the quality is unmatched.

What is the 12 months of giving program? And why did you start it?

Our 12 months of giving program is a way for us to give back, while showing our daughters and girls everywhere the struggles people all over the world are facing.

We started it because we believe that we all can make a difference in making the world a little bit better. Previously, we had sought out opportunities to get our daughters (and sons) involved in the community, but found there weren’t many opportunities because of their ages. After many discussions, and researching so many amazing organizations, we decided that instead of giving a lot to one organization, we would prefer to give a little to a lot of organizations. This way we would expose ourselves and our kids and customers to a variety of causes, empowering them to decide where they fit best.

Again, empowering girls to make the right choices for them! Not only do a portion of our proceeds from every website band sold go to the charity of the month, but when possible we volunteer and help promote our partners. This has been our favorite part of the business so far.

How do you stay motivated?

All four of us are very driven and love the message that our brand sends. Creating and selling headbands allows us to step out of our mom roles and do something different. Seeing how vested our families have become has helped a bunch. That being said, there are days when you don’t feel like running anymore financial reports or packaging up one more headband. That’s when we step away, put on our bands, and go for a run or a family hike.

What is the best advice you hope to pass on to your daughters?

That no dream is too big or too small. We all have limitations whether they are time, money, fear, uncertainty, etc. We want our daughters to see that anything is possible if they believe in themselves and believe in their dreams.

We talk with them often about failures and successes we have had with the business, and continue to remind them that life, like this business, is an adventure. Stay positive and keep moving forward and great things will happen.

A Girl and Her Band dances on…

We are currently rolling out a Mentorpreneurship program, where we will be mentoring girls interested in learning how to start and run a business. We will take them through a scaled down version of starting their own business, with the end result being creating, marketing and selling their own band. We are excited about what is in store for the future of A Girl and Her Band.