Franz Center
Alumni
Business
November 17, 2017
Entrepreneur and sports marketer Lynn S. Le ’11 (photo by Isaac Lane Koval), has been named to Forbes Magazine’s “30 Under 30 Retail and E-Commerce Class of 2018.” A longtime devotee of boxing and mixed martial arts, Le was inspired to launch Society Nine, a high-performance boxing glove business exclusively for women, in 2015 after she discovered the only gear and apparel built for fighting sports was designed for men and didn’t fit her or other women combat fitness fighters.
In recognizing Le’s accomplishments, Forbes Magazine noted that “combat fitness changed Le’s life, but gloves only came in men’s or large youth sizes that weren’t protective enough. She interviewed 100 athletes, crafted a women’s glove prototype, and landed a $15,000 grant from the City of Portland.”
According to Le, there are 17.5 million women around the world who do combat fitness and she saw a viable market for investors. She worked nights and weekends for a year and a half to build Society Nine, before finally quitting her full-time day job designing sports retail environments for Nike. Her growing team’s efforts were further helped by a successful $50,000 Kickstarter campaign, an appearance on an Oxygen network television show, and a first round of angel funding.
An online retailer, Society Nine today offers a constantly expanding selection of combat sports apparel and equipment. Le’s goal is to reach $1.5 million in online sales by the end of 2017.
Le was also honored by the Portland Business Journal in their 2017 40 Under 40 class. In 2016, she was invited to the United State of Women Summit hosted by the Obama administration in Washington, D.C.
A University of Portland Entrepreneur Scholar, as well as a double major in Business and French, Le continues to give back to the University through mentoring business and entrepreneurial students. She also mentors students in the University of Oregon sports product management master’s program and has mentored for Gaza Sky Geeks, the first tech startup accelerator in Gaza, through Mercy Corps and Google.
Her commitment to serving others includes lending her support to Team Red White and Blue and Team Rubicon, both veteran-run organizations that help integrate veterans back into civilian life through community service. She also supports Haymakers for Hope, a nonprofit that, through USA Boxing-sanctioned amateur boxing events, has raised raised over $6 million for the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute for cancer research and survivorship. She also supports self-defense and boxing programs focused on empowering women, supporting victims of sexual assault and domestic violence and vulnerable youth.
Le continues to pursue her passion for mixed martial arts, holding a brown belt in Krav Maga, teaching kickboxing, and training in boxing and Muay Thai.
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