Today we’d like to introduce you to Desiree Fox.
Hi Desiree, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I was born and raised in NY, the Catskills. I am a proud Italian/Irish American. My great grandparents came through Ellis Island to America for a fresh start and whose sacrifice as immigrants led to many of my life’s opportunities and successes. I am forever grateful to them all.
My beginnings were very humble. My parents were young, unmarried, and still figuring out how to care for themselves. I grew up in a basement apartment of an income subsidised complex in the catskills of NY, a small town called Monticello. Most of my childhood included my mother, a single mother, cleaning the houses of my school peers and picking up shifts at a local restaurant to make ends meet while my grandmother cared for me after school. My father, a struggling addict, did his best but when he was using, I was definitely an afterthought and at times years would go by with little to no contact. Luckily amends was made in my adult life after I had my own children. Watching him be a present and involved grandfather healed a lot of wounds for me up through his early death from lung cancer. Poverty and hardship were constant themes of my childhood, but all in all I still had buckets of beautiful memories with beautiful people both friends and family, who helped me find a way out of those cycles. this was mostly made possible through the access to public education. The teachers there in the public schools of Monticello, NY were phenomenal and it didnt take long for them to see that my test scores and dedication to my education was something to pay attention to. I was quickly placed in more advanced classes and given access to programs and scholarships based on my academic merit that ultimately allowed me to become the first in my family to attend and graduate from college. I finished school with a double degree in Business and in Dance.
I started my adult life in a place that feels worlds away from where I stand today. My first career was as a humble HS dance teacher fresh out of college in Utah, a young woman who loved movement, creativity, music, and helping people feel at home in their bodies. I married young and at the pressure of my then high controlling and youth grooming church, was pushed to leave my budding career to support my then husbands continued academic endeavors in CA. Leaving my network and everything I had grown over 6 years in Utah was very difficult, but before long, my own passions grew into a thriving ballroom dance studio, Elite Ballroom Studio, in San Jose CA. I poured myself into building a community centered around creativity, discipline, and authentic joy. One of my most treasured accomplishments was leading my dancers to the represent the USA at the Wold Championships for Formation Team Dancing in 2012. We took 5th in the world and I pioneered and invented the first LED programmable lighting in ballroom dance costumes and debuted them at the World Championships. I was 38 weeks pregnant with my second child at the time. Some of my most treasured friendships were formed during this special time in CA. Additionally, I was preganant and gave birth to my first three children during the 9 years I spent in the San Francisco Bay Area.
But life shifted quickly when my husband at the time, insisted on pursuing his career dreams aggressively requiring us to relocate across the country, again. I stepped away from the business I built from scratch, my dream, to support his startup and the vision he had for our lives. A decision to this day, I still look back on and wish I had advocated more for myself. I sold my beloved dance studio only 6 weeks after giving birth to my daughter Aurora & moved to Austin Texas, bought a house, and started the next chapter, all with three small children in tow, who were still at home. In addition to being the primary caretaker, and turning our fixer upper into a home complete with after bedtime renovations, and hand painted wall murals for my children rooms, I helped bring our new company to life, building it from ground zero like I had my dance studio, but this time in our garage. I held the family together behind the scenes and public facing as the acting Head of Operations growing us from 2 employees to 100 in a few short years. And somehow still managed to have a home cooked meal on the table every night for dinner.
During those years, I also became the caretaker for two very important people in my life: my father and my grandmother. I walked both of them through the end of their lives, in my home, with young children underfoot including my infant. And in the midst of all that sacrifice and grief, I suffered the most unimaginable loss any human, especially a mother can bear, the sudden and tragic death of my 22-month-old daughter, Aurora. Her memory and light is the motivation I carry through everything I do now, the reminder of what ultimately matters, what lasts, and what love can survive is something I hold to on the most difficult days. Burying your child turns your soul to ash, you see the world in gray for….years. I had two young boys at the time of her death, an ailing grandmother, a household, and a company to care for. It was the darkest period of my life, one I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy, and one that changed me fundamentally as a human. As any bereaved parent, specifically a mother knows, when your child dies, that version of yourself dies with them. The women who emerged from these ashes was not better, or stronger, or improved, she was different, and it took me years to learn how to appreciate, care for, and love her too.
I went on to give birth to and adopt four more children. Seven in total. My family, my children are the heart of everything I do.
After 18 years of marriage, I left as a survivor of domestic violence, rebuilding from nothing while raising my children as a single mother now, relaying on my village and soul tribe to help us gain our footing. We were forced to sell our family home, leave our community, and leave my role at my then tech company. Any wealth I had built or acquired disappeared into the Texas family court system. I found myself starting over at ground zero, again, financially, emotionally, physically, but determined to rewrite the story for myself and for my children.
That’s the fire that sparked VWEAR.
VWEAR is more than a company. It is a revolution. A declaration that women deserve tools that support them through the realities of their lives, bleeding, birthing, leaking, running companies, raising children, surviving trauma, rebuilding their futures, all while still managing to get dinner on the table every night. The VXN leakproof legging was born from my own lived experience: juggling motherhood, travel, grief, work, and constant responsibility while needing products that actually meet a woman’s needs. And let’s be honest…a splash of good old fashioned rage too.
I created what I couldn’t find. What I was tired of not having, tired of not feeling.
And now I’m building the company I once needed myself.
Today, I am a single mother of seven, running a startup with zero external funding, doing school drop-offs, sports schedules, court hearings, content creation, product development, cookie making, meal planning, fundraising, and and everything in between. I work at night after the kids sleep and early mornings before they wake up. I work during carpools, standing in line at the grocery store, and everywhere and anywhere I can. The work of life never stops, so I created a product that recognizes that and supports us. All of this to fight for the few but treasured small pockets of peace anytime I can carve out in my own life. I am fueled by purpose, love, grief(which is a form of love), gratitude, and a deep belief that women deserve innovation that sees them, understands them, and honors them.
VWEAR isn’t just about leakproof leggings, it’s about creating freedom, dignity, protection, and possibility. It’s about proving that starting over doesn’t mean starting from less. And one day, I hope to pay this forward by investing in other women founders, especially the ones who are underestimated, overlooked, and building brilliance in the margins of their lives.
That is how I got here.
With grit, loss, resilience, seven extraordinary tiny human masterpieces, and a vision for a world where women are safe, seen, and supported, starting with what they wear.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
The honest answer is no, nothing about my road has been smooth. My journey has been shaped by the very things so many women face: invisible labor, impossible expectations, devastating loss, and the quiet strength it takes to keep going anyway.
As a woman, and especially as a mother, so much of what we carry is unseen. I made and raised babies from scratch, managed households, supported my husbands career with little to no recognition or gratitude, and worked behind the scenes to hold everything together, all while trying to build my own career and contribute as a hearty provider to my family. The world treated that labor as expected rather than extraordinary.
During the years I was helping build my now ex-husband’s dreams, While I was caring for my 3 small children, I also cared for my father and grandmother, in my home as they approached the end of their lives. And if that wasn’t enough grief for one lifetime, I lost my 22-month-old daughter, Aurora, suddenly and catastrophically. Losing my father, grandmother, and daughter within 14 months broke something open in me, a truth about how fragile, unfair, and precious life is.
I continued showing up for my kids, continued trying to hold the family together, build my tech company and show up for my 75 employees, continued believing that sacrifice was the price of love. But eventually, I had to leave an 18-year marriage marked by emotional abuse, control, and domestic violence. Leaving meant saving myself and my children, but it also meant starting over from nothing. Every financial safety net dissolved into the family court system. My church leadership and community abandoned me the minute I was unwilling to continue the charade that what I was suffering through was somehow a god’s will or god’s plan for me. I rebuilt: seven children, one income, and no roadmap.
And then came the entrepreneurial challenges, raising capital as a woman founder, not being taken seriously, having to prove credibility ten times over, being told “come back when you have traction” while trying to build traction without funding. Chasing goal posts that were constantly moving. Trying to pay all the bills, fighting the family court system for enforcement and justice, and fairness, be a present and loving mother with energy and creative solutions. I’ve built company after company from scratch while mothering seven kids, navigating trauma, and working every hat myself.
But every struggle sharpened my purpose. And every struggle brought people through the woodwork I would never had expected. Angels, friends, loving people from my soul tribe whose sacrifices helped me take one more breath on the really hard days.
The grief, the labor, the invisibility, the reinvention, all of it shaped VWEAR. I know what it means to bleed through a day, literally and metaphorically, and still keep going. I know what it means to need products designed for the realities of womanhood, not the fantasy of it.
So no, it has not been smooth.
It has been raw, brutal, beautiful, transformative, and profoundly human. And those struggles are exactly why I’m building VWEAR the way I am: with empathy, with fire, and with a commitment to creating something that truly supports women through every “period” of their lives.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
VWEAR LOVE began with one belief: women deserve products that respect the realities of their bodies, not the fantasies society writes about them. We design high performance, luxury leakproof leggings and apparel that support women through menstruation, postpartum healing, incontinence, sports, and everyday life. Our flagship product, the VXN Leakproof Legging, is built with a proprietary and trademarked VLUXE technology that is anti-microbial, anti-fungal, collagen-infused, cooling, machine-washable, and designed to feel like a second skin.
But what truly sets us apart isn’t just the technology, it’s the intention behind it.
VWEAR was born from my own lived experience as a mother of seven, a survivor of domestic violence, and a woman who spent years pushing through life’s heaviest moments while literally bleeding through them. I created VWEAR because I needed a product that let me show up, at work, in mothering, in healing, in rebuilding, without fear, shame, or leakage dictating the way I moved through the world. I knew if I needed this, millions of women did too.
We are known for merging science, luxury, and empathy. Our products are designed not just to function, but to empower: allowing women to feel protected, comfortable, and confident in their most demanding, vulnerable, and powerful moments.
I am most proud of the heart behind our brand. VWEAR LOVE is as much a movement as a company. Our customers aren’t just buying leggings, they’re investing in dignity, autonomy, and a world where women’s bodies aren’t treated as inconveniences. Every detail, from our fabrics to our gusset technology to our “V-Love Program” (our initiative to donate sanitized returns to domestic violence shelters), is rooted in compassion, innovation, and the belief that women deserve better.
Readers should know:
VWEAR is building a new standard for women’s apparel, one that honors real bodies, real cycles, and real life. Our offerings are expanding into plus-size, postpartum, and youth leakproof lines because empowerment should be inclusive. And as we grow, our mission remains the same: to create products that protect women, uplift them, and allow them to step into their days, and their power, without fear., for the best periods of their life.
We make pants for vaginas.
Period.
Can you tell us more about what you were like growing up?
I guess it depends who you ask, but most people would probably say I always had an entrepreneurial hunger and edge. I think my first business was selling dandelion crowns I made to neighborhood kids, lol. Even as a kid, I was fascinated with breaking the mold of traditional leadership. I respected authority (sometimes too much), but I also questioned it constantly. I hated boxes, labels, and especially when someone tried to place limitations on me.
I grew up in New York, and being surrounded by such rich, high-quality arts shaped me in ways I’m still discovering. I loved the arts, drawing, painting, theater, music, all of it. Creativity was my oxygen. I was also obsessed with reading, especially nonfiction. I devoured stories of survivors, history makers, rebels, and complicated, extraordinary people. It helped me understand the world, but more importantly, it helped me understand myself.
I never fit neatly into one group or clique at school. I was just the friendly, slightly weird girl who floated everywhere, just as comfortable in chess club as I was in speech and debate, editing the school newspaper, student council, lead in the school musical, eco club, or honors classes. I was a National Math Scholar and also the kid painting backdrops and murals for the school in my “spare time”. I maintained a 4.0 GPA not because anyone expected it of me, but because I genuinely loved learning. I think I was even voted “Most School Spirit” in my senior yearbook.
My life had a lot of hardship early on, so I naturally gravitated toward anything uplifting or hopeful. That impulse led me into some of the most meaningful friendships, opportunities, and paths that still guide me today.
At my core, I was a curious, driven, creative optimistic kid who believed deeply in the possibility of a bigger, brighter life and loved solving difficult untouchable problems, the kind of problems that scared other people and I’ve spent every chapter since chasing that feeling and building things that help others feel it too.
Pricing:
- VXN X VWEAR Legging = $125
Contact Info:
- Website: bestperiodofmylife.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/vwearloveofficial/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/vwearloveofficial
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/desiree-fox-a1a6a017b/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@VWEARLOVE-4u
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@vwearloveofficial
Image Credits
Dox&Co photography
