Our Story
About Us
Phd Athletica™ articulates a lifestyle that purveys a multidisciplinary out/fitlosophy for women seeking strength and wisdom in themselves. Phd Athletica™ products and designs are firmly rooted in the values of respecting your self, your style, and your surroundings.
We appreciate our conscious customers and we are committed to boosting the local economy and celebrating the unsung heroes of the garment industry through each and every step of our ethical, sweat-free process. As a brand native to Miami, we are dedicated to supporting local vendors and manufacturers, so all of our products are designed, cut, printed, and produced in Miami.
About our Founder & Creative Director
As a Miami native, I have always considered myself a solar powered explorer that thrives on literature and travel. I have read my way into and out of adventures, following the words on each page as if they were directions on a map. For me, literature—especially historical fiction—has been a compass with which I can navigate, shape, and interpret my own reality. Travel, on the other hand, has allowed me to value my own body in motion. My travels are permanently stamped by the discipline that it takes to cover miles in a pair of sneakers or the wonder that is required to carry me over seas and across borders. Reading and travel have proven to be two distinct but cooperative forms of exercise that have regulated the fitness of my mind and body throughout my life. There’s no way around it: I am a sweaty scholar and globetrotting is my cardio!
After graduating high school, I took a gap year and lived in Granada, Spain. Upon returning to the United States, my academic path led me to Bates College, where I earned my undergraduate degree in African American Studies. Over the course of my Bates experience, I lived and studied abroad in Cuba, Brazil, and Ghana. While these experiences afforded me the opportunity to travel to surrounding countries and regions, they also proved to be multidisciplinary in nature, allowing me to integrate myself into the fabric of each community through cultural mediums such as literature, music, dance, and fashion.
Immediately following my graduation from Bates in 2007, I spent the summer traveling through Asia and the Middle East, where I continued to expand my awareness of global fashion and the diverse textile cultures of each country that I visited.
In 2008, I was accepted to the University of Miami as a Graduate Fellow in the department of Modern Languages and Literatures, where I earned my doctorate in Romance Studies (Spanish track) with a concentration in Afro-Latin and Caribbean Literature. During that time, I traveled frequently to Latin America—namely Cartagena, Colombia—where I continued to study the literary, musical, and aesthetic rhythms of the countries and island nations that dot the Caribbean Sea. The time spent in this region, coupled with my experience in West Africa and Asia, forever changed the way that I see colors and understand fashion today.
After completing my Ph.D. in 2014, I transitioned from texts to textiles and founded Phd Athletica™. While grappling with this transition, I discovered Pilates and the mind/body connection that it offers. Nostalgic for my days of teaching Spanish Language and Latin American Literature at the University of Miami, I earned my certification in Classical Pilates Education, which allows me to translate my passion for teaching into an active dialogue with other bodies in motion.
