“That severe moment of depression when your pre-wrap breaks during a game” #SoccerGrlProbs
With those 88 characters, the lives of three Fairfield Stags women's soccer players were changed forever.
Carly Beyar '14, Shannon Fay '14, and Alanna Locust '12 have seen their lives shaped based on that one single hashtag. The trio founded the social media sensation Soccer Girl Problems, an account (@SoccerGrlProbs) that has become a lifestyle brand dedicated to unite all soccer girls, and their problems.
“It is safe to say the past few years have been a blessing!” Beyar said. “It's fun, we never know what our work week is going to look like – where we are going to be the next day – but that's what makes SoccerGrlProbs so exciting.”
“The past five years of SGP has been a crazy journey,” Locust said. “This is something we take seriously and have put our all into continuing to build a lifestyle brand that will empower young female athletes.”
That wasn't always the goal for the three then current members of the Fairfield women's soccer team. Because at first there was no goal. They were just three soccer girls who would sit on the benches during the preseason and tweet out their problems in a way just to make their friends and teammates laugh.
But in our day and age of social media, one retweet led to another and pretty soon those lines literally took on a life of their own.
“At first I couldn't begin to understand how the following was growing so quickly, but now that I look back on it, it makes so much sense to me,” Locust said. “There is nothing else out there that unites soccer girls through their problems and things they can relate to. Because it was relatable and unfiltered content, it makes sense why it spread so fast in the soccer community.”
With over 200,000 followers and original videos reaching up to a million views, the Soccer Girl Problems franchise has continued to grow. After graduating Fairfield, Beyar and Fay (with communication degrees), and Locust (with a biology degree) the three aimed to further extend their business, and not just for themselves but for the soccer girl community.
“I want SoccerGrlProbs to change the game for female athletes everywhere,” Beyar said. “I'm not just saying for female athlete to become professional athletes. I'm talking about the everyday soccer girl that is lacking leadership confidence in the classroom or on the field, or needs the reassurance that she is unique and amazing in her own way.”
Needless to say, with such a large outreach the account started to become a business. They entered FAME which is Fairfield's business mentoring program and have now moved into a New York City office, a bit different than those benches where the business was first invented. Since then, they have created social media partnerships with Nike, Adidas, Puma, AT&T, the MLS, and more.
“I knew since college that I would find a career where I enjoyed going to work everyday but this exceeded my expectations,” Fay said. “I also never planned to be an entrepreneur or my own boss and I am thrilled to be doing so and working with two of my amazing teammates and friends.”
It's also been an eye-opening experience for the trio who have been able to travel the world spreading the word about their lifestyle brand. As entrepreneurs, the three attended the Forbes 30 Under 30 Summit and got to listen to Olympic athletes such as: Michael Phelps, Aly Raisman, and Maria Sharapova.
However, they are all still soccer girls at hear. All three still rave about their opportunity to follow the women's national team during the World Cup in Canada, and becoming friends with their role models Brandi Chastain and Mia Hamm. Beyar actually was able to show Chastain a picture of a book she had signed for Beyar that said “DREAM BIG.” It still gives her the chills.
“I believe that's when I thought SGP 'made' it,” Fay said. “We met fans of ours from all over the world who thanked us for what we were doing for the beautiful game. It made us want to continue to work hard and keep making SGP grow and expand.”
The unity among the soccer girl community has been clear over the past few years, with several soccer girls from around the country submitting their own “Soccer Girl Problems.” Whether they are pictures of soccer related bruises, sliding through water caused by a hurricane during practice, or the new 'water bottle flip' videos, this hashtag has really united the soccer community.
“I want SoccerGrlProbs to continue empowering every single female athlete that yearns to be comfortable in her own skin,” Beyar said. “It is so important to serve as a good role model because these young girls look up to your every move. They aspire to be us and I never in a million years would have thought that this would happen.”
And to think, it all started complaining about pre-wrap. #SoccerGrlProbs
