Through an experience-rich life Lisa has consistently been in intentional action to change the way people live and express true beauty as they evolve, age, and overcome challenges.
Early in her career, Lisa invented the first sports bra because she started running, joining the fitness revolution of the late 1970s. More than 40 years later, nearly every woman owns at least one. Today, the invention of the sports bra is considered one of the primary factors in the remarkable rise of women athletes worldwide and led to a shift for what is possible for women in all sectors. Included in the Smithsonian National Museum of American History “The introduction of the sports bra did more than improve athletes' performances. It represented a revolution in ready-to-wear clothing, and for many women athletes, past, present, and future, it actually made sports possible.” - Smithsonian National Museum of American History
This iconic product is labeled as a “revolutionary piece of women’s undergarments” in the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Collection. In 2017, this remarkable invention has been featured in an ESPN documentary Revolution: A History of the Sports Bra.
Lisa and her partners in the Jogbra business are the 2020 inductees into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in Washington, D.C. where they join the likes of Nikola Tesla, Steve Jobs and Hedy Lamarr!
But the Jogbra, as Lindahl named her creation, was just her first transformative idea.
After selling her Jogbra company, Lisa taught, wrote, set up a painting studio and then partnered with enterprising physical therapist, Dr. Lesli Bell, to adapt the sports bra technology into a patented chest compression garment for breast cancer patients.
The Bellisse Compressure Comfort® Bra is a foundational piece in the long journey of women rediscovering their definition of health and comfort while finding relief from breast cancer procedures and side effects. In addition to creating business and marketing systems to support the new company, Lisa developed educational materials to raise awareness about an under-diagnosed problem affecting a significant percentage of breast cancer survivors, virtually coining the term “truncal lymphedema.” Today truncal lymphedema is a recognized worldwide and Dr. Bell is an internationally known speaker on the subject. Today the Bellisse lymphedema bra is currently distributed through JoViPak.
Lisa’s commitment to women’s health, success and well-being comes in part from her personal history of living with epilepsy. Diagnosed at age four, she attributes both her skill for creative problem solving and ability to quickly adapt to a lifetime of coping successfully with this incurable disease.
Throughout her career Lindahl has worked to raise awareness about epilepsy, both locally and nationally. She served as the Senior Vice President on the Board of the Epilepsy Foundation of America from 1992 to 2001. In this role, Lisa tirelessly advocated for the inclusion of women’s stories and experiences, specifically in medical research as related to gender differences in epilepsy. Her external work included outreach through conferences, advocacy groups, networking with other foundations, and media (radio, print, and TV). She has spoken extensively about epilepsy all across the country. Her internal work included chairing the Task Force on Women and Epilepsy. She was featured in a Discovery Channel program on “The Brain” in its segment on epilepsy.
Lindahl has served on numerous other boards and community organizations from educational organizations to land trusts, and received multiple awards for her work, including: Congressional Commendation from the 106th US Congress (Sen. James Jefford, Nov. 2000), Hall of Fame inductee to the Epilepsy Foundation of Vermont (1999), Boss of the Year nominee by Sporting Goods Manufacturers’ Association (1992), Entrepreneur of the Year nominee (Inc. Magazine 1990), Outstanding Support Award, Epilepsy Association of America (1989).
An accomplished visual artist and writer, Lisa is the author of: Minding Your Business, a guide book for women entrepreneurs in the Women’s Small Business Program in Vermont, with Carminati and Angolano; "On Being a Woman with Epilepsy" , the opening chapter in the collective work Women with Epilepsy: A Handbook of Health and Treatment Issues, edited by Martha Morrell, MD. Published by Cambridge Press, 2003.
