Allyson Felix Is Blazing a New Path for Moms and Athletes
In 2019, a year after giving birth to her first daughter, Allyson Felix, now the most decorated track and field Olympian in history, went public when her sponsor Nike offered her a contract that would cut her pay by 70 percent—which felt to her like a punishment for having a child. “I was terrified to speak out,” Felix recalls, “but I was also overwhelmed with support from people who could relate. It was encouraging, but also heartbreaking, because so many women had been through something similar.”
Nike soon announced a new policy guaranteeing an athlete’s pay around pregnancy, but for Felix it was too late. “I walked away,” she says. After venting to her brother Wes, he suggested that they create their own shoe company. “It was an opportunity to create change ourselves instead of asking somebody else to do it,” she explains.
In 2020, the footwear company Saysh was born. “We want to try to push the industry and say women deserve better,” Felix says. One way she’s doing this is through Saysh’s maternity returns policy. For every customer who becomes pregnant, Saysh will send a free pair of sneakers in a new size of their choosing. “It is a small way to say to mothers, ‘We see you.’”
Allyson celebrating with her daughter Camryn after finishing second in the Women’s 400 Meters Final on day three of the 2020 U.S. Olympic Track & Field Team Trials on June 20, 2021.
On what she hopes her biggest impact will be
“I really hope that I can make things easier for women and, more specifically, for mom athletes. Women shouldn’t have to choose between their sport and their families. I would also love for one of my legacy pieces to be standard childcare at events. We were very successful this past season and were able to bring childcare to our national championships free of charge for all the athletes, officials, and anybody involved in the event. That was encouraging, but I also want that to be the standard.”
On being a Black female founder
“It’s really challenging when it comes to raising money. We already know that venture capital money for women only represents 2% of the total. When you talk about women of color, it’s a sliver of that. So, raising capital has been hard. We really want to be a company where young women come and grow their careers, but after looking at product developers, engineers, and designers, I realized that there isn’t as much opportunity as there should be for women of color. Coming into this industry, I wasn’t aware of that.”
On what success now looks like for her
“It looks so much different. When I was younger, it was very clear cut. It was all about being the best and winning—things that I could consider tangible. Now, I measure success and impact by how many people I can touch. What difference can I make that’s actually meaningful and significant in other people’s lives? It’s less about my personal goals and more so about trying to create change.”
Allyson after winning bronze in the 4x400m Mixed Relay Final on day one of the World Athletics Championships Oregon22 on July 15, 2022.
On retiring from track and field
“It’s a very strange feeling. I’m no longer able to do the thing that I’ve loved forever. But at the same time, I feel like I am learning more about myself and sports are still in my life. I’m still training even though I’m not going to compete anymore. Having that structure and showing up to those workouts every day makes me feel more like myself in this period of transition.”
On advocating for herself
“I’ve seen other Black women and female athletes do the same. Serena [Williams] has done it and even the younger athletes now who I’m so proud of—Simone Biles and Naomi [Osaka]. They’re having such an impact in bringing these conversations [forward] and getting people talking. It’s been really neat to see.”
A version of this story appears in the April 2023 issue of ELLE.
Juliana Ukiomogbe is the Assistant Editor at ELLE. Her work has previously appeared in Interview, i-D, Teen Vogue, Nylon, and more.
