Friday Five: Meredith Hudson
Big Founder Energy
Welcome to the Friday Five, where I ask one leader building the future of sports the same five questions. Every Friday (ish).
I met this week's guest during the inaugural UC Berkeley Leadership Academy for Women's Sports back in March — I could write an entire essay about how wonderful the experience was, but for now I'll just say that it was the type of program where you walk away with connections that actually stick. Meredith Hudson is one of them.
Meredith is a former Division I field hockey player (Yale, very casual) and the Founder of SLB — a brand born after watching her daughters dig through their backpacks before & after practices and games. Lost earrings, tangled necklaces, and hair ties shoved into a snack bag simply wasn’t cutting it — and Meredith realized that female athletes didn’t have a product actually designed for their needs.
Before founding SLB, Meredith built a successful career in tech sales & advertising at companies like Snap, Amazon, and Roku — but a long-held creative pull toward building a physical product eventually won out. SLB now partners with 50+ NCAA programs and reaches 30k+ female athletes nationwide, backed by a robust ambassador program and a community of nearly 30k on Instagram & TikTok. Meredith has fully embraced every part of the founder rollercoaster — not just making a great product, but building a brand people genuinely want to be part of.
Let’s get into it.
1. Tell us about a sports moment that stopped you in your tracks — as a fan, in the building, behind the scenes, or on the court.
My family had season tickets to the Boston Bruins growing up back when they still played in the old Boston Garden. I went with my dad to the last game they played in the old Garden and then the first game they played in the new Fleetcenter. I am so lucky that I got to experience that with my dad at a young age. We were a big hockey family growing up, so we traveled all over to give my sister and me opportunities to play on all-girls' teams. It was really awesome to be exposed to the NHL at such a young age, especially as women were starting to make their mark. Young female hockey fans like myself could look to legends like Manon Rheaume and Cammi Granato and see a path for ourselves.
2. What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received — and who gave it to you?
“We're not saving babies," from Courtney Tuckman, my first manager. I was at my first job at Google, where I was the lowest on the totem pole of the ads sales team. This was very early days of Ad Words, and I had left a client's account running longer than they wanted it to, racking up a bill for them that they didn't want to pay. I was so nervous to tell her about that mistake but when I did, she truly taught me a lesson that I have carried with me throughout my career. It was such a gift of perspective. Yes, things will go wrong. Yes, we'll need to admit and correct our mistakes, but at the end of the day, this is not a life or death situation and how you respond to mistakes is just as important as learning from them.
3. What’s something happening in women’s sports right now that you think is underrated or under-discussed?
Content creation by female athletes! Female athletes are so much more comfortable being themselves on camera. They’re funnier, more creative, more willing to show personality instead of just highlight reels. If you watch a college athlete guy’s IG or TikTok versus a college girl’s IG / TT, the girls are just built different. They are doing skits, trends, behind the scenes, and actual storytelling. The guys are still mostly posting workout clips and game highlights. Savannah Bananas being the biggest exception here!!
That gap is going to matter a lot over the next few years. NIL isn’t just about who’s the best athlete with the biggest following, it’s about who can actually connect with their audience and tell a story. And female athletes are already ahead on the one skill that determines that: making the best content. Period. I think in the next few years you’re going to see female athletes pulling in NIL dollars (from brands like SLB!) that rival or beat their male counterparts, not because their sport gets more viewership, but because they’re simply better at the content side of the business. I see it first-hand with so many girls that I work with and they are SO talented. Pop off, girls!!
4. Who’s someone in this space — athlete, builder, fan, or otherwise — who deserves more flowers than they’re getting?
It's tough to pick just one, but I am going to go with Reagan Digby, Duke women's lacrosse player. She is actually getting tons of flowers (40k followers on IG!) but she's going to blow up in a major way. Her content is just so good; she's got editing, scripting, and production dialed in and she isn't afraid to mix it up with some really raw unedited content too. She also stays very true to her personal values which is why her fans love her and wish they were roommates with her; she's just a real girl doing real things and sharing them. I didn't have social media in college, but I can imagine how hard it must be to deal with the social pressure of putting yourself out there. This is why I am such a huge fan of girls like Reagan who share despite the social pressures of college and give other girls (like my daughters) someone to look up to and learn from.
5. What are you most excited about right now — in work or life?
SLB is going into a major sports retailer very soon, so I am PSYCHED to start sharing more about that process and what this means for this little brand that started in my kitchen. Can't wait to share more ASAP!!
Know someone who should be featured in a future Friday Five? Drop a comment or slide into my DMs.
— K