October Sponsor of the Month -- Action Wipes!

One of our new sponsors in 2009 is Action Wipes. How could we not fall in love with a product with the tag-line "your face is not a baby's butt -- don't wipe it like one?"

Lorri met Martha Van Inwegen, founder and creator of Action Wipes, on Twitter of all places, but it's indicative of the spirit behind the product. New to Twitter (and not exactly sure what to do with it), Lorri found that someone named MarthaVan was following her. With a little research, Lorri learned that Martha owned a local, California company called Life Elements. Like most cyclists, Lorri should own stock in baby wipes (handy for cleaning both bike and body after a ride). And with the Velo Girls goal of aligning ourselves with local, California sponsors, Lorri decided to learn more about the company.

Our relationship has been a match made in heaven! Martha has been a great supporter of Velo Girls this year and we've been signing the praises of Action Wipes ever since!

What's so great about Action Wipes (besides an awesome product)? Martha Van, is, that's what! She's a fun + fabulous woman with a very progressive, guerilla marketing strategy (just like Velo Girls). She's a social media maven and has run marketing campaigns via Twitter and Facebook aimed at introducing Lance Armstrong to her product (@LanceArmstrong, you should be using Action Wipes) -- a very cool photo campaign featuring cycling super-stars big and small with a newsprint poster harolding that tag-line. Although she claims she's not an athlete, she's immersed herself into the global cycling community in a way that the big, corporate brands could only dream of doing.

Martha was host to the team when we raced in San Luis Obispo this summer, and she told the girls the following story, illustrating her entreprenurial spirit, creativity, and desire to succeed:

Life Elements was the parent company to C+M Couples (C = her husband Curt and M = Martha). C+M Couples is a line of seductive and sassy personal care products targeted to the spa market. When the economy took a dive it affected the spa market (and her business). So, she met with a marketing guru who helped her re-define her product line, now targeted at the active lifestyle market. So she re-labeled all her products in her home office, creating the product we all know as Action Wipes.

When life gave her lemons, Martha made lemonade....and Action Wipes!

Thank you, Martha, for your friendship and support this season!