Class Note 2022. Nearly 50 percent of girls quit sports by age 14 due to low body confidence, and Sara Falkson is here to change that. Growing up with three older brothers, Sara has always experienced a different meaning of puberty and what that looks like for a female athlete. By the time she got to Dartmouth, Sara realized these challenges with body confidence weren’t unique to her. Many of her teammates had faced similar struggles growing up in sport, often beginning with the experience of buying their first sports bra.
Dartmouth also gave her the tools to do something about it: at the Digital Arts Leadership and Innovation (DALI) Lab, Sara learned to turn an idea into something real by working alongside designers, developers, and product managers. She graduated with a degree in human-centered design, anthropology, and digital arts determined to keep working at the intersection of female sports, body empowerment, and creative design. With a project already taking shape in her mind, she enrolled in Harvard’s master’s in design engineering program to build it.
Body confidence among female athletes has never been more talked about, between the rise of social media, the spread of weight-loss drugs, and a crowded field of athletic brands. However, despite the number of products available in the market, roughly 80 percent of women today are still wearing the wrong size sports bra, and 46 percent of athletes ages 11 to 18 say their sports bra is a barrier to athletic participation. Sara founded Robyn Athletic to empower body confidence one sports bra at a time.
At Harvard, Sara conducted biomechanics testing on sports bras already on the market, identifying what worked, what didn’t, and where female athletes were being underserved. The goal was for Robyn to meet teenage athletes exactly when they need it most and become the best first sports bra they own. Adjustability sits at the center of that mission and shapes the design itself, which includes a distinctive bottom band that sets Robyn apart from other brands and is now in the process of being patented. Robyn will launch two styles of sports bras in spring 2027: a high-support style built to fit under a uniform and a medium-support style for everyday wear.
In Sara’s mind, the apparel is only part of it. Above all, Robyn is about body confidence and building a community around the lifelong joy of movement. While still working full time as a design engineer at IBM, Sara has continued to grow Robyn Athletic’s impact, reaching athletes, coaches, teams, and schools through its body-confidence workshops.
During the past year, Robyn has also grown its ambassador program to 160 high school and college athletes who contribute across marketing, research, product feedback, and community building. This fall, Sara will begin wear testing with athletes to gather feedback ahead of launch. What started as a master’s thesis project has grown far beyond the sports bra itself, evolving into a broader movement around body confidence in sport. From female athletes, coaches, parents and friends, Robyn is getting people talking about sports bras and body confidence in ways Sara never imagined when she first started.
Between Robyn, IBM, and Yankees games cheering for her boyfriend, Ben Rice, Sara’s days are beyond full. She’s enjoying New York, the thrill and joy of building a company, and cannot wait to show the world the best sports bras in the spring.
—Louisa Gao, 154 E 29th St., New York, NY 10016; louisa.gao0922@gmail.com