Meet Alli Alberts: Dentist by Day, Lingerie Football Player by Night

Alli Alberts isn’t your typical 28-year-old woman. A general dentist by day, the Illinois native also plays for the Legends Football League (formerly Lingerie Football League) as a wide receiver.

“I always played football with the boys, and after college I was on a lot of flag football teams,” she tells PEOPLE. But after seeing the LFL on TV one day, she knew: “This sport was made for me.”

In the new TV series Pretty Strong, cameras follow the former high school valedictorian and college athlete as she juggles her two drastically different worlds – as well as her dating life.

“Guys are always like, ‘That’s so cool,’ ” Alberts says. “It’s always the first thing when I had a Tinder profile – that was the first question I would get. ‘What do you play, what your position?’ It’s always a good thing, but I’m sure guys are intimidated.”

And since she plays in a barely there uniform, Alberts makes sure to keep her body in tip-top shape.

“It leaves very little to the imagination,” she says. “But I knew what the uniforms looked like before I got into this. That’s why I’m so clear about my diet and exercise. I don’t want to be thinking about that during the game. I only want to be thinking about football.”

Alli Alberts

Oxygen Media

Her regimen includes working out with the team and eating right.

“We practice every week and we’re doing a lot of sprinting during that time so it keeps me pretty fit during the season,” she says. Alberts adds she eats a lot of veggies but doesn’t worry about portions.

“I’m not one of those people who can eat just a half of a sandwich. No dude. I need to eat.”

Pretty Strong premieres Oct. 6 at 10 p.m on Oxygen.

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Actress Gina Rodriguez Partners With Lingerie Start-up Naja

Naja founder Catalina Girald has a new business partner.

Gina Rodriguez, who stars on the CW series “Jane the Virgin,” is now an equity holder in Girald’s lingerie start-up Naja —pronounced “na-ya.” Rodriguez is another big get for Girald whose investors include Mindy Grossman, chief executive officer of HSN; Susan Lyne, former ceo of Martha Stewart Living and Gilt Groupe, and angel investor Joanne Wilson.

This story first appeared in the October 6, 2015 issue of WWD.  Subscribe Today.

“She’s this up-and-coming celeb with such a big voice,” said Girald, who met Rodriguez through a Procter Gamble project that highlighted emerging Latinas. “We decided that we wanted to work together to empower women and empower Latinas because that’s something that’s on Gina’s radar.”

Girald, a former lawyer, launched Moxsie, an online apparel start-up that was purchased by Fab.com, before she started Naja in 2013. Single mothers or women who are heads of households produce Naja’s brightly printed lingerie in a factory in Colombia. Naja offers its employees child education benefits, which includes free supplies, books, shoes, undergarments and school meals. Naja also operates the Underwear for Hope program that trains and employs at-risk women.

“I grew up in Colombia and the States, so I was exposed to poverty,” Girald said. “It’s hard for single women with children to make ends meet and we wanted to help them.”

Over the past two years Girald has worked on revamping the intimate apparel supply chain and in 2014 she purchased a factory in Colombia where Naja’s lingerie is now produced. Girald works with only five different recycled fabrics that are purchased and digitally printed in Los Angeles.

“Because we are digitally printing we can make one piece, we can make 350 pieces or we can make 1,000 pieces, therefore our minimums are reduced substantially,” she said. “The ability to make one product at the same cost of making 10,000 products opens up the door for personalization and things that have never really been done before.”

Girald said lead times for lingerie are typically 12 to 18 months while it takes Naja’s three to four months to produce its collections. According to Girald, this process leaves her without excess inventory and with 80 percent gross margins.

To date, Girald has raised $1.7 million and is actively looking to raise another round of money.

The assortment, which is sold exclusively on Naja’s e-commerce site, consists of various themed collections, a line of basics and swimwear. Bras, which range from 32A to 36DD, retail around $50; panties retail around $25, and swimwear made from recycled plastic bottles retails at $95. The inside of each piece features a print, which according to Girald signifies beauty is on the inside, and uplifting quotes such as “Don’t be like the rest of them, darling.”

“The idea is when you wear lingerie it’s about you and about yourself and if you want to share yourself with someone else that’s wonderful,” she said. “But we want to move away from this idea that you wear lingerie to please someone else.”

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