International Women's Day

If it wasn’t for women, we at Exo wouldn’t have a Chief of Staff, a Head of Communications, two great office pups (great women in their own right) and many female athletes overflowing in determination + grit + spunk that we’re lucky to fuel with bugs. From olympic lifting to trail running, we’re saluting all the women out there pushing through the final mile, fighting for the next generation of movers and eaters, getting under the bar to beat their personal best, and setting the high standards that inspire everyone, everywhere. International Women's Day was yesterday, but it should be all year. Here are just some of the female founders and female founded companies in the fitness / health space that we’re fans of:

Lauren D'Asaro, Rose Wang and Merly Natow, Founders of Chirps Chips

These Harvard grads founded Chirps with a similar mission to ours: pioneering the consumption of bugs. From appearing on Shark Tank to speaking at TED, these ladies are pushing the current and next generation of gourmands to challenge what is considered edible (and tasty) with their line of cricket flour tortilla chips.

Ty Haney, Founder of Outdoor Voices

The name of Ty's popular athleisure brand stems from the common phrase heard in households and on playgrounds aground the globe: “Use your inside voice.” Outdoor Voices embodies everything that phrase isn’t - outdoor apparel for unabashedly living, moving and enjoying life. Ty has frequently championed exercise as the foundation for everyday life - not just an afterthought.

Nina Meijers and Danielle Gould, Founders and Editors of Food Tech Connect

A close friend of Exo, Nina and Daniella are the leading voices in the food tch space - from helping entrepreneurs spread their message to raising awareness about the hot button topics that dominate today’s food landscape, Nina is also a badass CrossFitter (she’s a beast), and they run frequent community events that bring together everyone in the space to share ideas.

Mary Shenouda, Founder of Phat Fudge

Another close friend of the company, Mary developed this real-ingredient performance fuel for athletes looking for a quick and nutritious breakfast / snack / post / pre workout meal. You may know her from Paleo Chef, her fantastic paleo blog and crazy Instagram following, and she’s long been one of the leading voices in the paleo space for a long time.

Radha Agrawal, Founder of Daybreaker

Radha is behind the infamous morning sober dance party that has been parodied on TV shows, referenced incessantly in the media, and expanded to countless locations around the world. Here's a secret: it's worth the hype. Daybreaker is a party that we always leave with giant smiles on our faces and way more inspired to face the day than if we were to succumb to our own proclamations of ‘not being a morning person’ and snoozing for hours. A celebration of dead-sober dancing and celebrating (sometimes for a reason, sometimes for no reason at all), it’s not for everyone, and that’s why we love it.