Why this Story?

Niki Vilas Boas was a competitive swimmer for nine years and noticed a magnitude of sexism within the sport and wanted to do something about it. She was only 16 but made her vision a reality when she took the idea of a swim parka designed specifically for females to feel empowered on deck. She saw that so much of swim culture was centered around men and she wanted to be a part of changing that narrative.

It is inspiring to me Niki was able to make her dreams a reality at such a young age and took her entrepreneurial goals to the next level and is still putting everything she. an back into the business today. I think young girls everywhere should hear Niki’s story to know that no matter where they are in their life, no matter how much money they have, no matter how big or small their idea may be, if they stick to their goal and work hard, they can bring their ideas to life and be a success story.

Meet Niki Vilas Boas

Niki Vilas Boas is a sophomore at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, majoring in Business. Niki stopped swimming her junior year of high school. She stopped because she wanted to change things up for her senior year. She decided to join her high school cheer team which she did back in her middle school years. She wanted a year where she was not worried or stressed about anything. Niki explained that because swimming is a very individualized sport, you’re constantly competing against yourself and she didn’t want to compete against herself anymore.

Why Wotter?

Niki said that the major premise behind Wotter is the fact that it’s a girl-based company. It’s about empowering women and it’s about keeping women in sports. She says that when you look at a sport like swimming, it’s often a male-dominated field, especially because it’s so individualized. You’re competing against yourself and therefore, you individually have to get the best score. Oftentimes those scores come from male swimmers. Niki says there are far more male coaches and more attention is given to male swimmers. Because of this lack of attention for female swimmers, by the time that students are graduating from high school, twice the amount of girls are dropping out of swimming. She was upset because “There’s no empowerment for female swimmers. There’s nothing motivating them or empowering them or keeping them excited and feeling included in the sport. And I noticed that as a swimmer, I was constantly being coached by male coaches. A lot of times they would pay me and all the other girls on the team, much less mind than the guys on the team, because the guys on the team were the ones giving them those really, really, really low scores. And these low times–those record-breaking times.” She said that women were breaking records, but not at the same rate as men were. She noticed this severe layer of sexism within the sport and then realized that other people noticed it as well.

This sexism mixed with the fact that a lot of gear is then designated and created for men in a sport like swimming led to her idea to re-design the swim parka. A swim parka is these big coats that swimmers wear in between events, competitions, and after practice to keep them keep their bodies at optimal temperature. She says normally these coats are designed in a “unisex fashion,” but ultimately it’s designed for men because it’s a big baggy coat: “It’s created for men and women just wear it.” Niki wanted to create a garment that was meant to “empower and excite women and make them feel seen and heard on deck.” She wanted to validate women in swim and let them know that they are valid athletes. She continued with Wotter after seeing the brand evangelism and seeing all these girls super excited and feeling that empowerment from the garment.

Wotter Swim is officially revenue positive. They are still working to figure out the best, most concise, most brand intelligent way of creating a social media platform that markets and benefits the community, as well as trying to navigate Google ads. She wants people to think of Wotter when they think of parkas for girls instead of Nike or Speedo. She wants to get big enough to make the parkas are customizable and do collaborations with other companies so right now she is working with her co-founder to up their revenue stream and improve their social media marketing. They have many ideas for the future and are very excited about the future of Wotter.

Full Video

Women’s Scores in Swimming Comapred to Men