From bright-eyed political lobbyist to Oprah-worthy entrepreneur, Rochelle Behren founded her company The Shirt by spotting a gap--and closing it. After studying political science and art history in college, Rochelle took a coveted job as a lobbyist at a political PR firm in Washington D.C., and as a young woman in a white-shirted, conservative D.C. crowd, she chose a versatile, polished button-up as her daily uniform. But in it she found sartorial scandal. “[My shirts] always gaped open between the buttons. I would try to ineffectively safety pin my gape closed, but being as I was in Washington and worked with some interesting male colleagues, they let me know all the time that my jerry-rigged button situation was not working.” 

Rochelle knew she had found a problem she could solve, and after not being able to think about anything else for days, she invested her own money to produce a non-gaping shirt prototype and filed for a patent. As her aptly named “The Shirt” shirt started selling, The Today Show came calling, and she knew it was time for a career change. “I was invited up to the Today Show, and there were only so many ways I could tell my bosses where I was at 8:30 in the morning. It was clear at that moment I would have to make a decision.” She started managing her company full-time in 2009, and her shirts experienced the full force of the Oprah Effect when they were featured as one of Oprah’s must-haves of 2011. 

Now, Rochelle is working on making The Shirt the go-to company for work wear essentials while introducing trendier styles into the mix. “At the end of the day, it’s about empowering our female customers to do better at their jobs via what they wear,” she says about her mission to close the gender gap, one gape at a time.