Remember the jacket Taylor Swift made headlines donning, customized with her now-fiancé’s name and jersey number 87? Well, the designer was none other than 49ers fullback Kyle Juszczyk’s wife, Kristin. Her career in fashion design only saw an upward trajectory after that. This year, in January, she launched her own brand, Off Season. While she’s still “figuring out” entrepreneurship, she knows starting your own business is a hard nut to crack. That’s why, when an opportunity presented itself to give back to the people, she grabbed it instantly. And guess who accompanied her? Former Saints legend Drew Brees.
From Super Bowl to Small Businesses, Brees’ story is certainly one for the books. On the other end, Kristin is redefining the term WAG in the NFL with her luxury fashion brand ‘Off Season.’ When two people as such come together for a project for the people, you know it’s going to be extraordinary. And that’s the image Verizon is building: “You do business your way. We love that. We want to jump in and help empower your business and your people.” Together, they are bringing a training camp, but for small businesses.
In a recent Instagram post, the Off Season cofounder announced her involvement in Small Business Training Camp alongside the legendary Brees. “I recently teamed up with Drew Brees and Verizon Business at #SMBTrainingCamp and got real about the entrepreneurial journey and legacy (something I’m still figuring out myself). To everyone grinding from home, packing orders yourself, working from makeshift setups: keep going. Your hustle today builds tomorrow’s success,” she added to the caption with pictures from the Panel at the Verizon Small Business Training Camp.
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The training camp was a three-day event that unfolded inside the Verizon Innovation Lab at the heart of San Francisco’s Financial District from September 8 to 10. It drew 20 entrepreneurs from all over the nation for hands-on workshops, in-depth coaching sessions, and exclusive talks with Kristin and Brees as industry leaders. Over the years, Verizon’s SMB program has supported close to half a million small businesses, and in the next five years, it only aims to double the number.
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Partnering with Verizon was also important for Kristin because it actively supported her throughout her small business journey. So when they approached her, it felt like the perfect way to give back to the SMB community. “It’s so important for me to give back to the SMB community and help in any way that I can,” she said. “They have given back to the community so much, and it’s an honor to partner with them.”
She got her big break by going viral for making custom looks for NFL wives and sports stars like Swift and Brittany Mahomes back in 2024. She has been on a rise since then. Earlier this year, she teamed up with Emma Grede to launch Off Season, a cool collaboration with the NFL and Fanatics. They just dropped their first NFL-ready-to-wear collection, too. Through all of it, she has realized that she should keep putting herself out there. That’s precisely what she aimed to convey to the rising SMB community.
Kristin Juszczyk and Drew Brees share real talk
Kristin’s interest in contributing to Verizon’s vision came from her own brand, as she shared in a conversation with Sports Illustrated Swimsuit. It’s something she wished she had known before starting on her own: “Growth is never linear.” When starting, people don’t realize that failures are part of it. “There are dips, and it can go up, and it can go down. You’re gonna have some failures—but you have to turn your failures into learning experiences.” That’s something she wants everyone to know about.
Her partner in it all, Brees, also has a similar mindset about Verizon’s vision for small business owners. With the right guidance and motivation, one can build a legacy. “A lot of entrepreneurs may start off by themselves, but at some point, you have to build a team. Everybody has their role and function, and all that needs to work collaboratively together,” he said. The message is simple: nobody builds a legacy alone. Unlike Kristin, the former Super Bowl champ didn’t learned it in his entrepreneurial journey. It’s something he learnt on the football field. “That’s basically what being a quarterback of a team is.”
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