When Emory University sophomore sprinter Laura Jablonover attended the NCAA Legacy Lab in September, she was seeking to learn ways to further grow her nonprofit Project Happy Feet. She came away with both that and a desire to work for the NCAA in the future.
The NCAA Legacy Lab helps student-athletes from all divisions explore entrepreneurship while they are still competing. The multi-day program helps participants build sustainable ventures in three learning tracks: Brand in Motion (monetizing name, image, and likeness responsibly and effectively), Blueprint to Breakthrough (learning the essentials of starting, operating, and growing a business), and Built to Serve (designing ventures that prioritize social responsibility with profitability). “Even my non-profit isn’t a typical business, I was confident I would pick up skills that would help it grow,” she commented.
Founding Project Happy Feet and Bringing it to Emory
Jablonover founded Project Happy Feet in July 2023 when she was a rising junior at Winston Churchill High School in Potomac, Maryland. “It started as a community organization with the idea of putting up donation boxes that we handmade into schools to collect athletic equipment and shoes for low-income schools. I would reach out to moving companies and ask them if they had any extra old moving boxes that we use. I would go and pick them up and then we would paint them and write “Project Happy Feet” on them,” she recalled.
Since then, Project Happy Feet has expanded and evolved into a nationwide organization that has donated more than 3,500 pairs of athletic shoes and equipment in more than 20 locations in Maryland and across 14 states. “I remember speaking with the security guards at a Title I school camp (Title I schools receive federal funding to support students from low-income families) and they said that students can’t play sports because they can’t afford shoes and athletic equipment,” described Jablonover, who continues to oversee the national branches along with co-presidents Noor Aly, and Caroline Rilette. “I want kids to gain access to sports so they can realize the mental, physical, and emotional benefits.
Emory head track and field coach Linh Nguyen remembered when he first met Jablonover and how he learned about the project. “She walked into our office one day as a high school senior who was on the Emory tour. She told us she ran and as we started talking to her about competing at Emory, we discovered that she is a quite a good athlete. She was already good last year as a first year and we are confident she will develop into a national level runner,” stated Nguyen, who recalled Jablonover asking if she could place a donation box in the student-athlete lounge that is next to the track and field locker room. “I could choose from any sport, but as a track athlete, I know how many shoes we go through every season and that there are so many shoes laying around not being used,” Jablonover pointed out.
“I remember Laura expressing an interest in getting Project Happy Feet off the ground last fall and she was directed to me,” recollected Emory Associate Athletic Director for Student-Athlete Success and Compliance Chad Hixon. “We talked through it and it made sense. We have a lot of teams here that have equipment they may not be using and even things that end up in the lost and found. From that conversation, we launched the first campaign with her promotional flyers and the donation boxes. We got a great response from the athletic department with athletes, coaches, staff, and others around campus donating shoes and athletic equipment.”
NCAA Legacy Lab Hixon nominated Jablonover to attend the NCAA Legacy Lab, which was just the second workshop after the initial one this past spring. “I get emails from the NCAA and comb through them to see if I can put something in front of our athletes. Sometimes it is hard from a timing standpoint and can be particularly challenging for track athletes who compete in both semesters,” he explained. “I looked at the dates, told Laura I think she would be a great candidate to attend, and asked her to talk with her coaches and make sure it aligned with their plans. They were supportive and I was confident she would be selected.”
“I was excited to learn more about entrepreneurship, NIL deals, and the business side of athletics in general. I am on the pre-law track, and I was originally interested in corporate law, but after that experience, I have a specific interest in sports law and I saw how that could translate into working on the legal side of the NCAA,” Jablonover stated.
Through the Blueprint to Breakthrough track, groups of three student-athletes were tasked with coming up with a business/product idea in just two days and then presenting it. “It turned out that all three of us were track athletes, so we talked about how we spend a lot of time traveling on planes and other forms of transportation and the impact that has on us. We are all familiar with Normatec boots (compression boots that enhance blood circulation to accelerate recovery time) so we came up with the idea of compression socks that stimulate the calves while also having a sleek look,” she described.
She was thankful for the opportunity to attend the lab. “The weekend gave me new perspectives on business development, leadership, public speaking, mental health, and life beyond college athletics. One of my biggest takeaways was seeing how the discipline, teamwork, and resilience I’ve developed through bring a track athlete can carry into my future,” remarked Jablonover, who is majoring in PPL (philosophy, politics, and law) and minoring in political science. “I am still interested in the corporate aspect like working on “The Hill” particularly being from the D.C. area. I was able to hear NCAA lawyers say one could still work on the corporate side with sports contracts and other things related to sports. It was a great experience, and I learned a lot while also meeting many people. I am happy to be staying in touch with people from the Legacy Lab from the NCAA and with athletes from other schools.”
GROWING PROJECT HAPPY FEET Buoyed by its early success and the business lessons she learned at the NCAA Legacy Lab, Jablonover is seeking to expand Project Happy Feet even further. “The goal is to eventually have a warehouse where people can come, both athletes and coaches, and it will be organized in a way that they can find exactly the shoe and size they are looking for,” she stated. “I would love to tour schools where we can help and work more directly with low-income schools that maybe aren’t Title I schools and present the benefits of playing sports. We would like to get donation boxes in main offices at schools and in community centers.”
“She has been building it further since she got to Emory,” noted Hixon. “Now Project Happy Feet is applying to be a registered student organization and that will allow her to expand on campus and receive more resources that will extend her work to students, staff, and faculty. One of the best parts for me is that some high school students do a meaningful project to make themselves more attractive to colleges and when they get to college, they don’t continue working with it. Laura told me from the start that this was her passion and that she planned to grow it and do even better things.”
Nguyen has been impressed by Jablonover as a person and for her work serving the community. “She is a nice, genuine person, so down to earth. She is that person who is always smiling and positive. Those donation boxes are always full and not just in the student lounge. She is always coming in with industrial size bags and getting a teammate or two to help her bag everything up. It is impressive how many shoes there always are.”
Jablonover doesn’t stop with collecting the shoes and equipment, but she and others clean them before donating them. “We hand clean them to make sure they are wearable. They need insoles for us to donate to schools, but the ones without insoles, we are still able to donate to Goodwill,” she explained. “We are fortunate being at Emory where we get donations not only from our athletes, but also from those in the Atlanta community who play in recreational leagues.”