Lisa Lindahl

Lindahl was born in Burlington, Vermont in 1948. She grew up in Montclair, New Jersey and attended Montclair Kimberly Academy, together with Polly Smith.Pries, Allison. [https://www.nj.com/news/2020/01/not-all-bras-are-the-same-why-you-and-your-girls-should-thank-this-nj-born-invention.html "Two N.J. women who invented the sports bra are being inducted into the Hall of Fame"], NJ Advance Media for NJ.com, January 19, 2020. Accessed January 4, 2023. "Two New Jersey women — Montclair-natives Lisa Lindahl and Polly Smith — and Canadian-born Hinda Miller in the summer of 1977 stumbled upon an idea that would help revolutionize women’s involvement in sports.... Lindahl’s childhood friend, Polly Smith, with whom she had attended Montclair Kimberley Academy, happened to be staying with Lindahl that summer while, Smith, who was a costume designer, worked at the Champlain Shakespeare Festival."

She received a bachelor's degree in education from the University of Vermont in 1977.{{Citation needed|date=February 2023}} Previously she graduated from Vernon Court Junior College in Newport, Rhode Island, and the Katharine Gibbs Secretarial School in Montclair, New Jersey.{{Citation needed|date=February 2023}}

Later in life Lindahl finished her master's degree in culture and spirituality from Holy Names University in Oakland, California in 2007.{{Citation needed|date=February 2023}}

Lindahl was in the middle of graduate school, which she put on hold, when she came up with the idea for the jockbra. Lisa called her sister Victoria Woodrow one day to complain about her painful experiences having to just wear a normal bra while running. During the course of Lindahl and theater costume designer Polly Smith's exploration for a better alternative, Victoria suggested that what they needed was a jockstrap for women's breasts.{{cite journal|last1=Roberts |first1=Jacob |title=Women's work |journal=Distillations |date=2017|volume=3|issue=1 |pages=6–11 |url=https://www.sciencehistory.org/distillations/magazine/womens-work|accessdate=22 March 2018}} In the costume shop of Royall Tyler Theatre at the University of Vermont, Lindahl and Smith actually sewed two jockstraps together and nicknamed it a "jockbra". Smith's assistant, Hinda Schreiber, also helped with creating the bra. It was later renamed a "jogbra".{{cite web|url=http://www.ladiesonlysports.com/somehistory.html|title=A History of the Sports Bra|date=March–April 2007|work=Women's Adventure Magazine|accessdate=1 March 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100217012334/http://www.ladiesonlysports.com/somehistory.html|archive-date=17 February 2010|url-status=dead}} One of their original Jogbras is bronzed and on display near the costume shop of the theater. Two others are housed by the Smithsonian Institution and another by the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art.{{cite web |url=http://www.uvm.edu/~uvmpr/?Page=article.php&id=1598 |title=History-Changing Garment Born in Theater Costume Shop |access-date=2018-05-10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140516195454/http://www.uvm.edu/~uvmpr/?Page=article.php&id=1598 |archive-date=2014-05-16 |url-status=dead }}

For years Lindahl held the role of president, Chief Executive Officer and chair of the board for selling the invention. Then in 1990 Playtex purchased the invention. After Playtex's purchasing of the company, Lindahl still served as Co-President of the Jogbra.

Lisa Lindahl suffers from epilepsy herself, and has made it one of her main goals to educate others on the topic.{{Cite web|url=http://www.wbur.org/onlyagame/2017/02/24/sports-bra-lisa-lindahl|title=From The 'Jockbra' To Brandi Chastain: The History Of The Sports Bra|website=www.wbur.org|language=en|access-date=2018-04-02}} Lindahl took upon the role of Senior Vice President of the Board of Directors of the Epilepsy Foundation for several years. While holding this position Lindahl created The Women and Epilepsy Health Initiative, which has given opportunities for researchers to study the gender differences in epilepsy. For all her work to help the cause, the Epilepsy Foundation gave Lindahl a National Personal Achievement Award. In 1999, Lindahl was awarded a Congressional Commendation for her work on epilepsy by Vermont Senator James Jeffords.

In later years, Lindahl joined with Dr. Lesli Bell to create a form of her previous bra invention that would serve as a compression bra to help breast cancer patients overcome the pain and discomfort associated with procedures.{{Cite web |title=Bellisse Compressure Comfort Lymphedema Bra and Packaging |url=https://sciencehistory.pastperfectonline.com/webobject/3BA35A8F-7460-4C1A-B35D-764951066741 |access-date=2023-02-04 |website=Science History Institute}} With Lindahl's prior knowledge of designing and entrepreneurship, in 2001 the two ladies invented the Compression Comfort Bra. Along with the creation of the Compression Comfort Bra, Lindahl also worked to educate people about truncal lymphedema, which many women with breast cancer suffer from, and Dr. Bell has continued teaching the public about this issue, and is now a world renowned public speaker on the topic.

Lindahl has also put her education and practice to good use by teaching a Women's Small Business Program at Trinity College in Burlington, Vermont.{{Citation needed|date=February 2023}} Lindahl also taught business at Champlain College and Trinity College.{{Citation needed|date=February 2023}}

She served as a Trustee of the Vermont Land Trust, which is an organization devoted to conserving Vermont's landscape. Lindahl as well participated in a support and backing network for entrepreneurs. She was nominated for the "Boss of the Year Award", and "Entrepreneur of the Year award", by the Sporting Goods Manufacturers’ Association, and by Inc. Magazine.

Lindahl was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2022 alongside co-inventors Hinda Miller (formerly Hinda Schreiber) and Polly Smith.{{Cite news |title=The 'jockstrap' that revolutionised women's sports |last=Honderich |first=Holly |website=BBC News |date=11 May 2022 |url= https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-61387881}}

Lindahl's 2019 publication is Unleash The Girls, The Untold Story of the Invention of the Sports Bra and How It Changed the World and Me, a business memoir about women in business dealing with success, power issues and personal growth. Her previous book, titled Beauty as Action, the Way of True Beauty and How its Practice can Change our World (2017) is a self-help book for individuals who want to contribute to changing the current societal paradigm.

• {{Cite book |last=Lindahl |first=Lisa |title=Minding Your Business: A Guide Book for Women Entrepreneurs}}
• {{Cite book |last=Lindahl |first=Lisa Z. |title=Beauty as Action: The Way of True Beauty and How Its Practice Can Change Our World |publisher=EZL Enterprises |year=2017 |isbn=9780998746708}}
• {{Cite book |last=Lindahl |first=Lisa Z. |title=Unleash the Girls: The Untold Story of the Invention of the Sports Bra and How It Changed the World (And Me) |publisher=Bublish, Inc. |year=2019 |isbn=9781950282432}}{{Cite web |date=February 4, 2022 |title=Unleash the Girls |url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/lisa-lindahl/unleash-the-girls/ |website=Kirkus Reviews |language=en}}{{Cite web |last=Tingling |first=Jessica |date=October 2021 |title=Unleash the Girls: The Untold Story of the Invention of the Sports Bra and How It Changed the World (And Me) |url=https://sanfranciscobookreview.com/product/unleash-the-girls-the-untold-story-of-the-invention-of-the-sports-bra-and-how-it-changed-the-world-and-me/ |website=San Francisco Book Review}}{{Cite web |date=December 30, 2019 |title=Unleash the Girls: The Untold Story of the Invention of the Sports Bra and How It Changed the World (And Me), Lisa Z. Lindahl, author |url=https://booklife.com/project/unleash-the-girls-the-untold-story-of-the-invention-of-the-sports-bra-and-how-it-changed-the-world-and-me-44224 |website=Book Life by Publishers Weekly}}

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Category:1948 births

Category:Living people

Category:American women writers

Category:Writers from Burlington, Vermont

Category:Inventors from New Jersey

Category:Montclair Kimberley Academy alumni

Category:Writers from Montclair, New Jersey

Category:University of Vermont alumni

Category:Holy Names University alumni

Category:20th-century American inventors

Category:American women inventors

Category:21st-century American women