We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Bridget Mucha a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Bridget, thanks for joining us today. Let’s kick things off with your mission – what is it and what’s the story behind why it’s your mission?

The story behind Slow Ladies Club’s mission has changed as we have evolved. Originally, Slow Ladies Club was created with a group of girlfriends who wanted to do fun outdoor things (back country skiing, mountain biking etc.), but didn’t want to feel pressured to be “the fastest” or “the best” while enjoying the outdoors. We wanted to have beers on the skin track, a snack on the trail, catch up with friends, and enjoy being outside! Just because you’re not the first to the top doesn’t mean you’re not good at x, y, z sport. While we appreciate a healthy competitive attitude, we felt that it was because of that that many people, specifically women, often do not get into outdoor sports (like back country skiing and mountain biking). It’s intimidating as heck! So, Slow Ladies Club’s mission has now evolved from drinking beers while doing fun outdoor sports, to breaking down the barriers to access the outdoors (while enjoying beers and doing outdoor sports). Some barriers include the cost of gear/lessons/training, not knowing where to go, not knowing who to go with if you don’t want to go by yourself, and the fact that learning something new, especially as an adult, can be really intimidating! It is our mission at Slow Ladies Club to address these barriers so that women are able to have access to outdoor sports and grow into more confident and independent people.

Bridget, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

Courtney and I just fell into Slow Ladies Club, we had an idea of what we wanted to do-host meetups, make merchandise-but we quickly realized that we wanted to do a lot more with our platform! Slow Ladies Club has grown from selling hats out of our cars in trail parking lots to: 1. Hosting Mini Skills Clinics. We have hosted five mini-mountain biking clinics this year, and have plans for over five more for the winter season focusing on skiing and snowboarding skills. Eventually, it is our goal to be able to provide cost-effective lessons and trainings (such as AIRE certifications) to help reduce the barriers to entry into the outdoor sports we love.
2. Hosting Meetups. We have had the privilege to connect over 50+ women with each other over their mutual love of bikes, skis, and the occasional parking lot beer.
3. Fund Raising for Non-Profits that Share Our Mission. We have raised over $3,000 for The Cycle Effect, a Non-Profit that focuses getting participants who identify as female, Latinx, Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIOPC) into mountain biking to build confidence, community, determination, and grit.
4. Making Merchandise that Supports Other Small, Women-Owned, Businesses. All of our ‘merch’, from design to shipment, has been carefully curated to support other women who are kickin’ butt in their fields!
5. Creating an Inclusive Community in the Outdoors. Many outdoor sports participants are predominantly white, middle/upper middle class, males. We want to see more people who identify as women, Latinx, and BIOPC on the trails, and make outdoor sports more inclusive and reflective of the communities that surround us.

How’d you meet your business partner?

I met Courtney through my now-fiancé. She and I immediately connected over making fun of the pretentiousness of the Outdoor industry; often quoting Katie Burrell videos on our bike rides while pausing to have a snack and soak in the views.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

Well, as my inner-Gemini would tell you, I am a master communicator (juuuuust kidding). But in all seriousness, I really love to network and bring people together, so social media is our platform to flex that ‘Master Communicator’ muscle. The biggest success we have had in gaining new followers on our Instagram and Newsletter has been our weekly ‘Women Crush Wednesday (#WCW)’ post. Each week, we highlight a different female-identifying person who enjoys the outdoors as much as we do! These participants range from women who have just gotten into mountain biking all the way to women who are Olympic Skiers. We ask each participant three questions: 1) What do you love about the outdoors? 2) What does being a woman in the outdoors mean to you? and 3) Is there anything you want to accomplish this year?. This has helped us expand our audience and our mission: to make the outdoors more accessible. Our advice to those just getting their social media presence started is this: make sure your brand and it’s mission is clear. Followers should be able to know exactly what you are about after the first few posts listed on your page. Also, have fun with it and don’t get discouraged if a post does not garner as many ‘likes’ and comments as you were hoping. Lastly, post regularly, at least 2-3x per week so that you do not loose your Follower’s interests! If you do not have the content yourself, ask a friend or family member if they can help contribute, and tag them in the post. Usually, this friend or family member will share the post on their Story, which will allow you to reach more people and grow your brand following.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://slowladiesclub.co/
• Instagram: @slowladiesclub
• Facebook: Slow Ladies Club

Image Credits
Photos by Nicole Egan (nicoleegan.darkroom.com), Ola Franczak (@ola_fit1), and Bridget Mucha (@lifeaccordingtobridget)