Hot off of qualifying for her fifth Olympics, Allyson Felix announced the launch of her shoe company Saysh on Wednesday.
Felix has come into her own in recent years, going from a relatively quiet (while absurdly accomplished) athlete to an outspoken agent of change.
“Like so many of us, I was told to know my place,” Felix says in Saysh’s first video on YouTube. “But here I am, ready to run for a brand that I founded, designed for — and designed by — women. All of my experience of becoming a mom, of raising a daughter, helped show me my true competitor — inequality.”
“Here I am, using my voice to create change for us as women, and for us as mothers, and for all the women who want to be mothers. So here I am. I know my place.”
In an interview with Time about the launch, Felix detailed how the Saysh One was designed by women for women. The 35-year-old has been wearing a track spike version of the sneaker during the Olympic Trials.
One of the most decorated track athletes in history, Felix qualified for the 400 meters on Sunday to make the Olympic team.