As a founding partner at Ecospire, Angela has a unique decade of experience in apparel merchandising and design for large, small, domestic and international brands. Angela brings to the company a grounded approach to building strong relationships with all levels of management and creative teams. She began her career inside the competitive world of Nike and expanded her experience both in product lines and working globally. In addition to seasonal product line development, she has managed and designed the “niche” sport product for the U.S. Olympic Ski, Snowboard and the U.S. whitewater kayak teams.

Her years in global product management and design revealed her skill at being able to collaborate across the borders for different brands in the U.S., Canada, and Italy. Angela is an accomplished professional with cross-cultural/functional management and engagement with internal departments, creatives, global teams, vendors, agencies, organizations, and brands. Angela’s has a B.A. in Biology at the University of Kansas with an emphasis in Environmental Science. Her love and passion for the great outdoors fuels her deep understanding and connection to nature. Angela has a strong passion for transforming the throw away consumerism of today into the sustainable and ethical world of tomorrow. While living in a world of increasing populations and fading clean natural resources, Angela understands this is more than a job. It’s a mission and a movement, one she plans to connect around the planet through ecospire.

As a founding partner at ecospire, Jenny Ballou brings her diverse and creative design background as a sustainable and ethical fashion designer. Graduating from the Academy of Art University in San Francisco, Jenny obtained her M.F.A. in Fashion Design, focusing on sustainability.At Spyder in Boulder, Colorado she realized her place in the fashion industry. Her mission is to promote the use of certified organic and sustainable materials, while honing in on ethical practices to inspire and connect every person involved in the process and product.

For the past fifteen years, Jenny has worked as both an on-site and freelance graphic and apparel designer. Having moved from the big city of Chicago to a small and quaint community in Durango, CO, she obtained her B.A. in Fine Art at Fort Lewis College with an emphasis in Environmental Studies. Jenny’s design philosophy stems from her passion towards culture, traveling and love for nature. Her innovative and creative talent in digital textile design, graphic design, fashion design, bring a variety of skill and assets to ecospire. Her impassioned focus on sustainability clearly set her apart from others in the creative industry. Her “can-do” attitude, strong work ethic and collaboration with clients and colleagues has contributed to her success and talents as a designer.