Startup Monday

Crystal City Startup Secures $6 Million to Expand Defense Contract Search Platform

By Vernon Miles

Sponsored by Monday Properties and written by ARLnow, Startup Monday is a weekly column that profiles Arlington-based startups and their founders, plus other local technology happenings. Monday Properties remains firmly committed to the health, safety and well-being of its employees, tenants and community. This week, Monday Properties is proudly featuring 1000 and 1100 Wilson (The Rosslyn Tower).

Crystal City-based Second Front Systems, a startup that helps connect government agencies to commercially-developed technologies, recently received $6 million in seed funding to boost its startup technology assessment program.

Atlas Fulcrum is Second Front Systems’ platform that helps to catalog and organize venture capital-backed technologies and track market trends. The goal is to make it easier for the national security organizations to identify the latest new technological advances from startups in the private sector rather than relying on sometimes outdated technology from larger companies.

“I came back from combat deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan where my men and I were hamstrung by outdated technology that negated what should have been an advantage against insurgent adversaries,” said Second Front CEO Peter Dixon in a statement. “Subsequently, at the Pentagon, I watched as billions of dollars were awarded to traditional defense companies, many of whom were unable to deliver usable technology to front-line troops.”

“This venture financing and initial partnerships gives Second Front the velocity to build a new type of ‘lean systems integrator’ that can harness the innovations of the American entrepreneurial ecosystem where the traditional defense firms have failed,” Dixon said of the new round of investment.

Second Front Systems is a veteran-owned business with a Board of Directors boasting former Joint Chiefs of Staff Peter Pace and former Gen. Stanley McChrystal.

The new funding was led by Artis Ventures, a San Francisco-based venture capital firm that invested in YouTube in 2006 and has partnered with controversial defense contractor Palantir since 2014.

“The venture funding will be used to expand the capabilities of Second Front’s software platform, Atlas Fulcrum, which has recently received a major contract award from the General Services Administration (GSA) and the Air Force’s AFWERX,” the company said in a press release. “The U.S. military recognizes that commercially driven tech, such as autonomy, cyber, biotech, and AI, has surpassed the defense base in relevance to national security in the 21st century.”

Image via Second Front Systems

Rosslyn Startup Shifts from Travel App Developer to Online Identity Verifier

By Vernon Miles

Sponsored by Monday Properties and written by ARLnow, Startup Monday is a weekly column that profiles Arlington-based startups and their founders, plus other local technology happenings. Monday Properties remains firmly committed to the health, safety and well-being of its employees, tenants and community. This week, Monday Properties is proudly featuring 1000 and 1100 Wilson (The Rosslyn Towers).

Rosslyn startup Airside Mobile is rebranding to just Airside as part of a pivot from being a travel app developer to a company focused on securing data and privacy in online interactions.

“Airside was founded shortly after the first generation iPhone was launched,” the company said in its blog. “We hopped at the opportunity to develop ultra-secure mobile technology, including the award-winning Mobile Passport App. However, the ‘Airside Mobile’ label no longer applies to our broader set of capabilities and offerings that extend beyond mobile apps to SDKs, APIs, and more. Our new name maintains the continuity of our brand while also allowing more breadth and depth for our products and services.”

In an interview with the podcast State of Identity, Chief Commercial Officer Jessica Patel said that international changes brought about by COVID-19 have emphasized the need for secure online interactions.

“The world has changed so much in these last couple of months,” Patel said. “There are some industries in the short term that have gone fully virtual that people might not have expected, like technology supporting fully virtual education. Obviously virtual healthcare and the overall health-tech space has evolved and become a bigger need in these more recent weeks… There are some of these industries that were not nearly as virtual as they are today [and there is] a need for digital identity to play a major role.”

Patel said she doubted that many of the industries that had to shift to virtual interactions will ever go back to the level of in-person interaction before the pandemic.

“When I think about changes all kinds of industries will have to make there’s going to be moves to offering digital interactions instead of physical,” Patel said. “There’s going to be a real push to implement more contactless solutions. I think that’s where leveraging digital ID and biometric technologies are going to play a huge role in a lot of these verticals.”

Over the last few months, the company has offered its digital suite of products to organizations on the front lines of fighting the pandemic, free of charge.

“If your organization is on the frontlines of the fight against COVID-19 and you believe that a digital identity solution would support your cause, please contact us,” the company said in a press release. “We’re here to help. Airside is uniquely positioned to respond to this need because we can protect the data with best-in-class encryption, ensure a high level of privacy for the individual and the organization, and utilize our FedRAMP-certified environment to handle increased transactions for your fundamentally important cause.”

Patel said the company’s experience in verifying identities while maintaining privacy is opening doors to expanding into a variety of financial, retail, and travel interactions. The company offers products like software development kits businesses can use for their own products or document scanning and chip reading products. Some of those, Patel said, are sold as monthly or annual licenses, while others are product sales.

“As we look to grow how we’re supporting consumers, we’ve grown beyond a customs application into a broader digital identity solution,” Patel said, “whether in banking, travel, insurance, education technology… we’re seeking to a be a ubiquitous form of digital identity that continues to put the control of sensitive information in the consumer’s hands.”

It’s a message that seems to have resonated with investors, with the Washington Business Journal reporting last week that Airside has raised $13.6 million in new funding.

Photo via Airside/Facebook

Local Startup Storyblocks Acquired by Boston Firm, But Will Remain in Courthouse

By Vernon Miles

Sponsored by Monday Properties and written by ARLnow, Startup Monday is a weekly column that profiles Arlington-based startups and their founders, plus other local technology happenings. Monday Properties remains firmly committed to the health, safety and well-being of its employees, tenants and community. This week, Monday Properties is proudly featuring 1000 and 1100 Wilson (The Rosslyn Towers).

Arlington stock footage startup Storyblocks, which saw continued success during the pandemic, has been acquired by Boston-based private equity firm Great Hill Partners.

The price was not publicly disclosed, but a representative said business will continue as usual in Arlington. A press release said the partnership will allow Storyblocks to “accelerate its mission of modernizing the creative process to better support affordable, efficient video creation and to extend its current capabilities and product offerings.”

Great Hills Partners is known for its investments in Gizmodo and, locally, Fairfax County-based Custom Ink.

“We have seen dramatic changes to workflows for customers ranging from freelancers to small businesses to major production studios in recent years as they adapt to an ever-increasing demand for high-quality video content,” said TJ Leonard, CEO of Storyblocks, in the press release. “We are excited to partner with the Great Hill team because we share the belief that creatives are hungry for a new model to meet these new needs.”

Storyblocks started in 2009 as Footage Firm, shipping stock footage via DVDs, and the company has changed locations and brand over several years.

The company will retain its existing staff of 115 people, the Washington Business Journal reported, but will expand its product, engineering, marketing and sales staff.

Photos courtesy Storyblocks

Local Real Estate Investor Turned Inventor Tinkering With New Prototype Bottlecap

By Vernon Miles

Sponsored by Monday Properties and written by ARLnow, Startup Monday is a weekly column that profiles Arlington-based startups and their founders, plus other local technology happenings. Monday Properties remains firmly committed to the health, safety and well-being of its employees, tenants and community. This week, Monday Properties is proudly featuring 1000 and 1100 Wilson (The Rosslyn Towers).

On hot summer days, Alex Ordonez’s kids and their soccer team, which he coached, had a hard time cooling down. The players were being sprayed with water, but Ordonez figured there had to be a better way.

Thus, the Spritz Cap — or an early concept for it, anyway — was born.

“While coaching for both teams in the summer, the heat became too much, and there were limited breaks,” Ordonez said. “When the kids became exhausted, they would run near our sidelines and we would spray them with water, and with time, I was able to modify a product to allow for any water bottle to turn into a portable multiuse bottle that allows for water conservation and several functions for user use.”

Ordonez, who also works as a real estate investor, is working on a prototype for a multi-use bottle cap he hopes to produce at affordable levels to adapt any water bottle into a spritzer.

“With our product, consumers will be able to save water and utilize water bottles for alternate needs, such as rinsing, cleaning, camping needs, etc,” Ordonez said on a Kickstarter campaign. “Spritz Cap is a two-part replacement that replaces an existing water bottle cap, made out of plastic and will be packaged in 1, 3, and 10 quantity packages.”

A video Ordonez put together for the product said the idea is to design a cap that could turn a water bottle into a tool to wash hands or cool down after a workout without wasting water.

Taking the Spritz Cap from an idea to a product is no easy feat, and one Ordonez is still working through. A Kickstarter for the project was launched but cancelled in January after getting only four backers and $28. Ordonez said he took down the Kickstarter because he wanted to work on the product some more. He’s now nearing the end of the prototype phase and hopes to re-launch soon.

“There were prospective investors but most wanted to see me with a product vs. a virtual design,” Ordonez said. “I decided to remove the Kickstarter, while I finalized the product and possibly come up with additional features that could increase additional interest. I hope to re-launch within a few weeks.”

Ordonez said the goal is to keep the product affordable, with several package options and individually packaged at 99 cents.

While development of the product has faced setbacks — including Ordonez’s limited access to funding, in part due to self-admitted “imperfect credit” as the result of an injury — he said one of the greatest sources of help in the development of the Spritz Cap has been Arlington Economic Development.

“They were able to assist with several factors as well, but the biggest struggles that any company has or will find is finding the available capital,” Ordonez said. “I spoke with several entities such as the [Small Business Administration] and other government institutes, and every single one was a dead stop… However, Arlington Economic Development was extremely helpful, not with funding, but the information and assistance that they provided was and is still outstanding. They took the time to listen to my ideas, provide feedback and were able to assist with making the right connections.”

Image via Kickstarter

Digital Footage Service Video Jaguar Thrives During Pandemic

By Vernon Miles

Sponsored by Monday Properties and written by ARLnow, Startup Monday is a weekly column that profiles Arlington-based startups and their founders, plus other local technology happenings. Monday Properties remains firmly committed to the health, safety and well-being of its employees, tenants and community. This week, Monday Properties is proudly featuring 1000 and 1100 Wilson (The Rosslyn Towers).

Video Jaguar may be based out of Arlington, but CEO Tim Sumer said having an almost entirely digital service has helped it thrive while many other businesses struggle during the pandemic.

The company bills itself as “the world’s easiest video ad maker for businesses and agencies.”

“Video Jaguar is a cloud-based video maker designed to help business owners easily create professional video ads, real estate videos, and more in five minutes and a few clicks,” Sumer explained. “Video Jaguar allows anyone, on any budget, to create professional marketing videos with no technical skills needed. Users can create unlimited videos that they can use to promote their business or sell to other businesses for any price they like and keep 100% of the profits.”

Like Storyblocks, another Arlington-based video footage company, Video Jaguar has seen an uptick in sales as companies unable to send people out to capture original video turn to online services.

“We have actually seen an increase in sales, of around 20-25%, during the pandemic,” Sumer said. “I believe this is because many businesses are cutting back on costs by switching to digital solutions, especially now since more people are online. With Video Jaguar, businesses can automate their marketing by being able to create videos and then scheduling them to post on all social media channels; eliminating the need to outsource these tasks or hiring someone.”

The video service also allows users to automatically post videos across seven video hosting platforms, including TikTok.

“Every month we add new video templates to the template bank, which already has over 550 premium video templates to choose from,” Sumer said. “Other software upgrades and new features are automatically applied every month as well.”

Sumer also said operating out of Arlington has been helpful for making contacts that have helped the company weather the pandemic.

“Being in Arlington has many benefits, such as the close proximity to the nation’s capital, and the number of tech companies popping up in Arlington is constantly growing,” Sumer said. “This area is filled with many businesses that we can easily connect and collaborate with.”

Photo via Video Jaguar/Facebook

How Arlington’s Only Commercial Urban Farm Shifted To ‘Community Supported Agriculture’

By Kalina Newman

Sponsored by Monday Properties and written by ARLnow, Startup Monday is a weekly column that profiles Arlington-based startups and their founders, plus other local technology happenings. Monday Properties remains firmly committed to the health, safety and well-being of its employees, tenants and community. This week, Monday Properties is proudly featuring 1000 and 1100 Wilson (The Rosslyn Towers).

Thanks to changes brought about by the pandemic, Arlingtonians can now get farm-to-table produce delivered right to their door.

Tucked into an unassuming strip mall on Lee Highway, Fresh Impact — which we profiled in October — is the county’s only commercial urban farm. With no signage or disclosed address, Fresh Impact has been growing specialty ingredients such as edible flowers and microgreens for chefs in the local restaurant industry for over three years.

This past February, according to founder Ryan Pierce, the farm had its most profitable month yet. But a few weeks later as COVID-19 began to spread in the D.C. area, ultimately shutting down all dine-in restaurant service, Pierce said Fresh Impact lost every single customer.

“We were faced with a choice: do we shut it down and try to ride it out, which would have meant laying off our staff, or do we try to pivot to the consumer market?” said Pierce.

Pierce and his team chose the latter. For the first time since its inception, anyone local can order CSA — or “Community Supported Agriculture” — boxes on the Fresh Impact website.

Customers chose a price point between $12-25 a week, and in turn receive a box full of the farm’s Arlington-grown salad greens, herbs, and more delivered to their door. There is also an opt-in for no contact delivery.

“You have to understand — we didn’t used to grow these kinds of produce, and pivoting to the consumer delivery meant overhauling nearly everything in a less than two month period,” Pierce said.

In April, Fresh Impact launched a pilot five-week CSA box in collaboration with members of the Mothers of North Arlington (MONA) group.

“That went really well and we’ve had plenty of MONA members ask to renew, plus added public interest.”

As a result, Fresh Impact will roll out its second round of CSA boxes, beginning July 1. Preorders are available now online, and Pierce says it’s based on a first-come, first-serve basis. Once the boxes sell out, it’ll be eight weeks until customers can sign up again.

“Even though restaurants are beginning to reopen now, this crazy experience has taught us that Arlingtonians are really looking for a local way to source their produce,” Pierce said.

“We see chefs as great impactors of change in the food system, so we’re hoping to marry those two markets together where the chefs can buy local but we can also sell locally, directly to consumers. There’s absolutely a market for this out there, and we will continue this for the foreseeable future.”

Ballston Startup Aims to Help Keep Hands Clean and Safe Through Pandemic

By Vernon Miles

Sponsored by Monday Properties and written by ARLnow, Startup Monday is a weekly column that profiles Arlington-based startups and their founders, plus other local technology happenings. Monday Properties remains firmly committed to the health, safety and well-being of its employees, tenants and community. This week, Monday Properties is proudly featuring 1000 and 1100 Wilson (The Rosslyn Towers).

It could be a while before coronavirus leaves the public consciousness, and Ballston startup HandArmor hopes to help reduce the spread of the disease.

The company has developed a reusable mitt, designed to help the user touch and handle objects without worry of contaminants. The product includes an integrated disinfectant to clean while it protects.

“HandArmor is a patent-pending product used to help prevent direct contact with unclean surfaces,” the company said on its website. “The microfiber mitt conveniently clips to belts, pockets, blouses, skirts and lanyards. The mitt rests at your hip while sitting, standing and walking.”

The idea is to be able to reach down and slip your hand into the mitt when approaching a door, spray the disinfectant on the glove, open the door with the glove and release the glove to slide back to your belt.

The website designs that glove as “PPE for the office.” Gloves, an advertisement said, only continues to spread the germs around. In combination with the spray, HandArmor claims the glove will clean surfaces it touches, keeping the user and other employees safe.

The microfiber gloves can also be used for touch-screens.

The HandArmor is $14.95, which includes the spray bottle and belt clips. For orders over 100 units, customers should contact [email protected].

Photo via Facebook/HandArmor

Rosslyn Startup Shifts to Helping Companies Coordinate Coronavirus Reopening

By Vernon Miles

Sponsored by Monday Properties and written by ARLnow, Startup Monday is a weekly column that profiles Arlington-based startups and their founders, plus other local technology happenings. Monday Properties remains firmly committed to the health, safety and well-being of its employees, tenants and community. This week, Monday Properties is proudly featuring 1000 and 1100 Wilson (The Rosslyn Towers).

A Rosslyn-based company that keeps those at on the job or at school in contact over security-related issues is pivoting the toward sharing COVID-19 information as localities start to reopen.

LiveSafe is a mobile and web-based platform that enables employees and students to communicate safety concerns with managers and administrators. The company has been around for six years, but with the economy starting to reopen CEO Carolyn Parent said they wanted to shift to using their platform to help companies and employees communicate about plans for reopening and employees’ health status.

“When COVID hit, all our customers wanted to update [their companies] with CDC links,” Parent said. “Now we’re seeing back to work safety as a major issue, from restaurants in Arlington to bigger businesses.”

Parent said companies are asking how they can bring employees back and assure them that they aren’t being put at risk. To that end, Parent said LiveSafe has created a new module called WorkSafe that’s specifically about COVID-19 and workplace safety.

“Businesses can license this and use it for that sole purpose,” Parent said. “WorkSafe gives you the ability for employees to conduct daily health checks back into their companies, with either an ‘I feel okay’ or ‘I don’t.'”

Parent said the new program is being offered free for restaurants with only one location. For chain locations, it’s $50 per month, per location.

“We’re making it free for smaller businesses with one location,” Parent said. “Main Street America does need to come back.”

Parent said WorkSafe can also utilize surveys to allow companies to get feedback on opening from employees, as well as offer links to health protocols.

“The approach to prevention that many companies are doing is that once these employees show up to work, they’re taking temperatures at the door,” Parent said. “But if you are sick, you shouldn’t do that. It should be done before you leave the house [as] part of a morning ritual. We really feel like that can be a helpful way to have an observable, verifiable way of encouraging the right kind of behavior.”

Parent said part of the idea came from LiveSafe’s work with Hungry, a separate Arlington startup whose founders also co-founded LiveSafe.

Parent said Hungry’s challenge was that their spread-out workforce meant they needed a reliable way to check in with a large network of people to see who is healthy and available to work.

For employees, WorkSafe allows them to report (anonymously, if they so choose) health concerns like a lack of personal protective equipment or other issues that could arise after the pandemic.

“There is a whole collective idea that we have a responsibility to each other to communicate these things,” Parent said.

Image via LiveSafe

Local Oil Change Startup Looking For Mechanics to Help Bounce Back from COVID-19

By Vernon Miles

Sponsored by Monday Properties and written by ARLnow, Startup Monday is a weekly column that profiles Arlington-based startups and their founders, plus other local technology happenings. Monday Properties remains firmly committed to the health, safety and well-being of its employees, tenants and community. This week, Monday Properties is proudly featuring 1000 and 1100 Wilson (The Rosslyn Towers).

With on-demand services businesses finding new customers during the pandemic, local startup Mechaniku is hunting for local car mechanics and willing to pay to get new mechanics trained, if necessary.

Mechaniku is a Columbia Pike-based startup built around the idea of bringing oil changes and other essential car services out of the shop and to people’s houses.

“I need to hire more mechanics,” co-founder Jesse Tyler said. “We’ve got two right now, I need more. We have a guy in Maryland and a guy in Virginia. We were in the process of hiring more mechanics, then all of this happened.”

Tyler said coronavirus has actually halted some of the progress that was being made on building the service, given the reduction in driving, but he’s able to carry on by running the company lean — and by having another source of income.

“We were able to step back a little and put things on hold,” Tyler said. “We don’t carry a lot of debt, we’ve built as we’ve grown.”

Tyler said he’s also been reevaluating the pricing model, which is currently $100 for an at-home oil change. With most oil changes averaging $50, it’s a little pricey, but Tyler said he has to balance the company revenue with paying the mechanics fairly.

“We need to figure out how to get more people interested,” Tyler said. “We might reexamine our pricing model. We may cut it from $100 to maybe $80.”

Tyler said he is hoping Mechaniku can be poised to take advantage of the end of the pandemic, when people start driving more but are still a bit wary to take their cars to a bricks-and-mortar garage for an oil change.

“Coronavirus has slowed everything to a halt, but we expect it will pick back up,” Tyler said, noting that he’s able to serve people needing an oil change immediately but said demand has been low.

Those interested in applying for a mechanic position should email Tyler at jesse@mechaniku or call him at (202) 880-2430.

“Obviously, more experience the better, but I’ll pay for people to get trained and certified,” Tyler said. “You just need to be able to pass a background check and have a vehicle to drive.”

Image via Mechaniku

As Coronavirus Shuts Down Physical Businesses, Local Stock Footage Company Soars

By Vernon Miles

Sponsored by Monday Properties and written by ARLnow,  Startup Monday is a weekly column that profiles Arlington-based startups and their founders, plus other local technology happenings. Monday Properties remains firmly committed to the health, safety and well-being of its employees, tenants and community. This week, Monday Properties is proudly featuring 1000 and 1100 Wilson (The Rosslyn Towers).

(Updated at 1:25 p.m.) While many Arlington businesses have been struggling, for local startup Storyblocks the pandemic been pushing more customers unable to get their own footage to their tech-enabled stock video service.

Storyblocks is a Courthouse-based startup that allows members to access a large library of royalty-free stock footage with photos, video and audio from contributors. It has proven to be especially popular with content creators stuck at home during the coronavirus crisis.

“The nice thing for us is, amidst the chaos, more people are depending on our service,” TJ Leonard, CEO of Storyblocks said. “People can’t go out and shoot their own content, but need to create content for their jobs.”

Leonard said the virus has forced people who would normally shoot their own video to find other sources, which is where Storyblocks comes in.

“The way we thought about coronavirus is that on a normal day, only so many people who wake up and say ‘I’m going to take a close look at content, expense and performance,’ but when something like this occurs, it forces that consideration,” Leonard said. “When we get a side by side comparison we come out ahead more often than not. Coronavirus has forced more people to think more actively about where they spend their money on.”

The company started in 2009 in Reston as Footage Firm, shipping stock footage through the mail on DVDs, but evolved and changed location as technology progressed. Over the last year, the company has seen continued growth.

“We’ve been very fortunate,” Leonard said. “We’ve been investing in content and investing in our product. We’ve seen steady growth over the first part of the year before the pandemic but in general, we’re up about 50%. We’re seeing business growing with website traffic increased by slightly higher percentages.”

Leonard said that Storyblocks is trying to focus around providing the “best first experience” for new customers in hopes that they’ll stick around after the pandemic is over.

On the content generation side, Leonard said Storyblocks hasn’t had any issues with uploading new content to the website, though he credits that mainly to the pandemic giving the company time to sort through its backlog.

“We have six months of a backlog to work through,” Leonard said. “If the stay at home order goes longer than six months that could be an issue.”

As the company continues to grow, Leonard said his sights are on expanding into the international market. On the homefront, Leonard said Arlington remains a solid place for a tech startup headquarters.

“Being in Arlington has been incredible for attracting top talent,” Leonard said. “We put a ton of value on our team and on our culture. It’s a team that’s analytical and understands direct marketing. Being in Arlington has helped. It’s a diverse community and we are able to pull from Washington, D.C. and Northern Virginia.”

Leonard added that he’s not worried about talent from his team, which is barely over 100 people, being poached by Amazon when the tech giant comes to town.

“Here, you’re not a cog in a machine,” Leonard said. “You have a chance to make a daily impact. We’re very rarely competing for the same type of individual.”

Photo courtesy Storyblocks

Local Cancer Survivor Pays It Forward With Hospital Gown Donations

By Vernon Miles

Sponsored by Monday Properties and written by ARLnow,  Startup Monday is a weekly column that profiles Arlington-based startups and their founders, plus other local technology happenings. Monday Properties remains firmly committed to the health, safety and well-being of its employees, tenants and community. This week, Monday Properties is proudly featuring 1000 and 1100 Wilson (The Rosslyn Towers).

Elise Yanker Hasenei used to jog to her radiation treatment at the Virginia Hospital Center and back home. It became something of a community event, with friends and supporters taking to the street with her to encourage her. Now, Hasenei is making the trip to the Virginia Hospital Center to encourage others.

With the Virginia Hospital Center (VHC) seeing an increasing uptick in coronavirus patients, Hasenei’s startup GoLisey recently donated over a hundred brightly colored hospital gowns with brightly colored masks to help out.

Hasenei runs GoLisey, a “glam gown” company she started in 2015 after surviving breast cancer. The hospital gowns are brightly colored and aim to boost spirits, but are no less medically functional than the usual drab coverings.

The gowns can be worn in either direction, with access to the front or the back depending on the specific medical needs.

“Elise wanted to do something to help during this trying time in the healthcare industry, so she reached out to VHC to donate all of the gowns she currently had in stock, for men and women alike,” Hansenei’s niece, Megan Wrobel, said in an email. “She dropped four boxes of Glam Gowns to the donation center on Tuesday afternoon, which serendipitously ended up being located in the Oncology wing; an area she was, of course, familiar with.”

Hasenei said when she was going through cancer treatment, she always hated the gowns.

“I never felt depressed about cancer until radiation and I just had to put those ugly things on,” Hasenei said. “I can sow a little bit, so I started playing with the pattern and people started saying ‘that’s fabulous.’

After making a few, Hasenei started to get serious about the idea of making them on a larger scale. Hasenei put together a design with a pattern maker and started working with a factory in Brooklyn to produce the designs while she handled the business from her Arlington home. Since then, Hasenei has moved production to a facility in Fairfax County.

The gown business is a second job — her main career is coaching and consulting businesses — and Hasenei said the gown line was never intended to make her rich.

“Didn’t start the business to be a big moneymaker,” Hasenei said.”It’s really been about — one gown at a time — making a difference.”

When COVID-19 hit, Hasenei said her brother-in-law sent her a message about people in New York seeking gowns and masks. When it became apparent that hospitals nationwide were starting to run low on supplies, Hasenei decided to donate to the hospital where she’d received treatments.

Other local organizations, like Marymount Nursing School, have also donated items like gowns and masks to VHC.

“I reached out to contacts who put me in touch with the hospital,” Hasenei said. “I gave them everything I had. I was able to deliver those, and we’re waiting to see how they’re distributed.”

Now, Hasenei said the factory is “full tilt” making masks, which will be included in the next round of donations to VHC.

Photo courtesy GoLisey

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