CC Leoni ‘24 has been a part of the GA swim team for four years. Beyond this, most people do not know that Leoni has her own business with her younger sister Joie Leoni ‘26, named Swim Culture. They started this business together in 2020, selling swimwear, towels, blankets and similar apparel.
“What inspired me to start my own business was my mom who runs a business, so I kind of leaned towards that after I felt like I could be an entrepreneur,” Leoni said. “I also was required to pay for a part of my tuition for GA, so I needed a side hustle.”
Leoni mentioned that she has been swimming since she was eight years old, emphasizing how the sport has grown to be a central part of her life over time. She plans to continue to pursue swimming in college.
Alongside her future in the pool, Leoni also has big plans moving forward for her company.
“We have towels right now, but I would like to do our own swimwear completely designed by Swim Culture. I would also like to sell our products nationwide,” Leoni said. “As of right now, Swim Culture is just in the northeast region, but has goals to expand.”
The design process plays a very important role in maintaining Swim Culture.
“I like being creative, and it’s so rewarding when I design something and see it on the towel and it’s like, wow, that’s pretty cool,” Leoni said.
However, running Swim Culture takes a lot of work, requiring Leoni to take on many roles within the business in order to run it.
“At home, it’s like design, be creative, work on the website, email, reach out to people, and respond,” Leoni said. “I think that our pop-up sales during big swim meets help sell and promote the product, and with that, it expands online, which is even more time-consuming with packaging as well.”
Along with owning Swim Culture, Leoni is also a Roberts prefect. The experience she has gained from taking on work both on and off campus has been very meaningful.
“I feel like the more responsibilities you have, the more you have to really manage your time,” Leoni said. “Doing my schoolwork at school and saving my time at home for Swim Culture [is important].”