Audrey Mosley, Project Manager at One to One Personal Physician Network, stands Thursday, May 5, 2016 with germ-resistant scrubs for the medical profession.More Info
Name: Audrey MosleyAge: 27Family: Single, one dachshundJob title: Project ManagerEducation: B.A. English, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill; MBA University of Tennessee at Chattanooga
Audrey Mosley is on the ground floor - literally - of what she thinks might be the Chattanooga's next startup business success story: Aegle Gear.
It's a line of health-care performance apparel that updates the scrubs worn by doctors, nurses and other health care workers. Aegle Gear looks and functions like athletic gear, and it's made with antimicrobial fabric that kills 99.9 percent of pathogens, which should help reduce hospital-associated infections, a multi-billion-dollar problem.
Aegle recently raised $750,000 in 10 days from investors, which is more than enough, Mosley said, to order inventory and get its E-commerce website up and running. Aegle Gear just moved its offices to the ground floor of the Fleetwood Building on 11th Street in Chattanooga's downtown Innovation District.
"I think Aegle's going to be huge," said Mosley, 27, who grew up in Chattanooga. "The sky's the limit. I just want to see another startup kind of explode out of Chattanooga, I think everybody does. I'm excited to see where we can take it."
One reason she feels that way is because Aegle Gear's backers are people with experience in the athletic gear industry and the medical profession.
The clothing is designed by George Brown, a recent transplant to Chattanooga who worked for years as an executive for Adidas, the German athletic shoe and apparel maker, and as president of Meditract, a New Jersey-based health care contract management software business.
"Aegle Gear has already been rewarded by Audrey's talents," Brown said. "Audrey is capable today to take on a role in leadership."
Help with Aegle Gear's branding and logo came from Peter Moore, the former CEO of Adidas, who also worked at Nike where he was the artist behind that brand's iconic "Jumpman" logo of Michael Jordan slam-dunking a basketball. Aegle Gear's team also includes Boston resident Uli Becker, a native of Germany who's the former CEO of the athletic shoemaker Reebok.
Another partner is Chattanooga's Keith Helton, M.D., the CEO of the One to One Personal Physician Network.
Mosley wound up working for Dr. Helton about four years ago - she knows his daughter because they both went to The Baylor School in Chattanooga.
"It's really just networking, small-town Chattanooga, knowing people," Mosley said. "I ran into him, and he was talking to me about my interests, and I told him operations and health care and he was like, 'Well, great, I need somebody like that.'"
Mosley rowed at Baylor and at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, where she got a degree in English. After she graduated from UNC, Mosley worked for two years with a 1,700-employee company that focuses on hospitalist management, or with doctors who specialize in the care of hospitalized patients.
"After my experience of working for a larger company, I knew I wanted to work for a smaller company where you were closer to leadership, you had more chances to learn and your voice could be heard," she said. "The startup environment's really great for that."
While working for Helton, Mosley earned her master's degree in business administration by taking night classes from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.
Her advice for people starting out in their career?
"Be your own advocate, that's what I've learned," Mosley said. "You need to ask questions and be assertive and be aggressive and confident in your abilities. And don't let your age shy you away from working toward what you want."