Empowering Women Is at the Heart of Carbon38's Business Model Katie Warner Johnson is disrupting the athleisure industry and redefining workwear fashion.

By Kristen Aldridge

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

Carbon38 co-founder and CEO Katie Warner Johnson has seen her target customer in the boardroom and sweating in a workout class.

As a ballerina-turned-banker-turned fitness instructor, Johnson had also seen an opportunity for smaller activewear brands to compete with big names like Lululemon and Nike. So, in 2013, she started Carbon38, a multi-brand online retailer for activewear featuring up and coming designers.

The road to success has been anything but easy, but to Johnson, the challenge and reward of empowering her female customers is what drives her to keep working each day.

"We are athletes. We are training for the Olympics," Johnson says. "The headwinds are strong and hard, but I think all that's doing is honing and sharpening our skills to go and take that winner's trophy."

After a $15 million investment from fitness giant Footlocker and sales that have skyrocketed year over year, Johnson sees incredible potential to redefine the rules of fashion and give women the confidence they need to lead fulfilling lives.

"When you feel good in your clothes, you can conquer the world," she says.

Johnson believes financial independence is the best way to close the gender equality gap, and she's putting her money where her mouth is. Today, the brand works with over 250 vendors from around world, 75 percent of which are female founded.

The road to empowerment isn't smooth, but to Johnson, it's her destiny. She says, "It's what I was put on this earth to do."

In this episode of How Brands Are Born, see how Johnson is disrupting the activewear industry and redefining women's fashion.

How Brands Are Born is presented by Cardone Ventures, in partnership with Original Stories Media. Learn how Grant Cardone and Brandon Dawson can help your business transform and scale to 10X levels HERE.

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Kristen Aldridge

Founder of Original Stories Media, Journalist, Producer and Storyteller

Emmy-winning journalist and brand storytelling expert Kristen Aldridge is founder and CEO of Original Stories Media, a production company that specializes in capturing the origin stories behind the world’s most impactful brands. With over two decades of experience in the media industry, she has created content garnering millions of views for hugely successful platforms including Entrepreneur, ESPN, ABC, CBS, Yahoo!, and SHAPE.

Passionate about all things entrepreneurship, Aldridge created the original digital series How Brands Are Born to shine a light on all the remarkable people changing the world one big, bold dream at a time. Her mission is to help leaders reveal their most authentic selves so they can more effectively unleash their vision, inspire their culture, and bring deep value to the marketplace.

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