Around two years ago, I was on a hike in Santa Barbara with one of my dearest friends. As we were hiking in our black leggings and rugged hiking shoes, I had an “a-hah” moment — what if I built a brand at the intersection of athleisure and the outdoors? Alo meets REI. Functional and beautiful, using recycled materials. That idea took me on a long journey of research and exploration. I’ve always dreamt of building something from the ground up, but fear always stopped me. But this hiking idea kept tugging at me + I had a friend who believed in me + I decided I needed to do the things that scared me. From the design and material selection to the communications, photo shoot production, and the less sexy legal and ops pieces, I’ve put my heart into creating this brand, and I’m so excited to share it with you. Friends, meet Lato (“summertime” in Polish) — hiking essentials for the modern womxn. Lato celebrates exploration of our backyards (nature), inspires us to live with that summertime curiosity, and encourages us to continuously learn from nature. The brand will be launching later this summer, but feel free to follow along in the meantime @lato.life Photos by the amazing @hadleyrosenbaum on some of my favorite days. ps thank you to everyone who’s been along for the first part of this journey — i couldn’t have done this without you — my production consultants, advisers, brainstormers, prototypers, hiking shoe lenders, emotional pep-talkers, the list goes on. i’m so grateful for the best community🌸🙏🏼