A great reason to do it
Chef Jenny Nguyen knew in her guts that she had to do this project, and open this bar. She thought to herself : “I could live with failing and going back to living in my parents basement, but not with not having tried”.
(Source : CNBC)
And that’s how you know.
The design of a clever naming
Her insight was clear : women’s sports don’t get the attention they deserve.
What if there was a bar where people gathered to watch women’s sports ?
And what if… it was called “Sports Bra”.
A simple swap of the letters “r” and “a” and down goes the common conception of “what a sports bar should be”, and arises a new vision. It’s as if the word had been waiting for someone to come along and discover the secret it had been keeping.
Women weren’t comfortable with it
She asked around how people feel about this name to test it.
Many women said they wouldn’t feel comfortable saying “I’m going to the Sports Bra”. That piece of textile is the one we are the least proud of. It’s sweaty. It’s not originally meant to be pretty or desirable, things we were taught we should be.
But the over sexualization of the female body being another one of Jenny’s change-making goals, she thought : “This makes me want to call my bar Sports Bra even more. This way, people will have to keep saying it.”
And so she did.
Media outlets such as CNBC, Forbes and various business channels all had to keep saying “Sports Bra” to mention her beautiful project and its success.
Jenny, an Abundance Designer
We can read in Forbes magazine :
“As a major women’s sports fan, she recalls countless occasions when she and her friends would go to traditional sports bars in hopes of catching their favorite team game. Each visit would reveal one disappointment after another. In many cases, the women’s games would be nowhere in sight.”
(…) In just over one year, Nguyen and the Bra bar have created a vibrant community of women supporting women, and one that stretches well-beyond being a place to watch women’s sports.
(…) In addition to collaborating with numerous organizations in her community, people reach out from everywhere to connect, say Thanks, and acknowledge the literal and figurative space the Sports Bra has established.”
The Abundance Design formula works when it’s naturally embeded in the reason to be of your project :
- Determine what you NEED : Nguyen was passionate about women’s sports but had no place to watch it.
- Apply what you LOVE and are good at doing : As a chef, she was already a leader.
- Need + Love = Make → So she created the Sports Bra
A strong community is much more likely to form around such authentic projects. The insight is powerful and it speaks to other’s hearts and minds. They share a common passion, a common need, a common identity.
My 13 years old niece plays volleyball and I sure hope she will grow up in a world where she can go watch her favorite players in a bar, or even be the one on the screen, cheered after if that’s where her heart takes her.
I believe what this brand stands for is so strong that if Jenny Nguyen wishes to spread her wings across the world, she could become a much needed chain and I sure hope her next stops will be Luxembourg, Istanbul and Paris.
Worlds. 