Clare Hare, '88

A love of fabric led to a line of clothes. Clare Hare, '88, was on maternity leave from her investment banking job when she began to brainstorm with another new mom about a new venture. They came up with the idea of a line of maternity clothes that consisted of just five pieces. Clare put together a business plan, gathered funding and was ready to go. With a second child on the way and a family move to Connecticut, the geography wasn't right and the idea was shelved.

But a clothing line was never far from her mind and Clare went back to her business plan and the five piece idea in 2002. The classic women's resort wear line, Clare Hare Darien was born! Clare has grown the line from a five piece idea to include designing sun-protective clothing that addresses the increasing problem of skin cancer. Initially, Clare funded her venture with angel investors and she is currently crowd funding with Plum Alley to launch her new line.

Plum Alley Fund is a crowd funding platform for women entrepreneurs to raise money for their projects, ventures and companies, from a broad base of people. In return for their monetary support, Clare Hare Darien funders essentially "pre-purchase" clothing from this classic, yet stylish line. Clare is committed to using her education and corporate experiences to grow her business.

In addition to being President and CEO of Clare Hare Darien for nearly 10 years, Clare is also a Goldman Sachs Encore Fellow working in an advisory role with the Neighborhood Trust Financial Partners. Clare knows that her Booth education prepared her for both the logistical and financial side of her business. She believes that everyone should "feel free to reinvent yourself" and she is certainly doing that with her crowd funding initiative!