Three Strands Recovery Wear Supports Cancer Patients 

Courtesy of Leah Wyrick

As a teen, Leah Wyrick saw firsthand the challenges that breast cancer survivors experience on the road to recovery when her mother was diagnosed and treated for the disease. 

“She had a mastectomy and three subsequent surgeries, and we quickly figured out that if she had had a better post-surgical bra, some of the complications she had could have been prevented,” Wyrick says. 

As a freshman at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, Wyrick presented the idea for a post-surgical bra she designed at a pitching event sponsored by the university’s Center for Entrepreneurship. She was the only freshman accepted into the program and soon found herself at the helm of a startup at just 19 years old, while juggling her pre-med classes. 

Wyrick shares her journey to build Three Strands Recovery Wear. 

What resources did you use to start your business? 

Through the entrepreneurship program, we received about $2,000 in seed money to get the product off the ground and create my first prototypes. I joined Winston Starts, an accelerator program for startups in the area. I had some mentors assigned to me who helped me connect to our manufacturing facility overseas. I continued to get support from Wake Forest , and having a really robust entrepreneurial community in Winston-Salem made all the difference. 

There are a lot of entrepreneurial resources in North Carolina, specifically NC IDEA, which offers micro grants and seed grants. I won a $10,000 micro grant, and two years later, I applied for the seed grant and was awarded $50,000. 

How has your company grown since you started? 

I graduated in 2022, went full time into my business in 2023, and launched our product into the market in 2024. 

We are a completely bootstrapped business with no investors, thanks to all the resources that were provided to me. We initially partnered with health care systems in the area, which was invaluable to us because customer discovery is the most important part of being an entrepreneur. 

Listening to the patients helped me develop a product that’s truly deserved in the marketplace. I also made connections at Wake Forest and at Winston Starts, which led to five prototypes and five iterations of our product to really perfect it. 

Why would you recommend Greater Winston-Salem to others who want to start a business? 

Winston-Salem in general is a wonderful community. It’s a great place for family, friends, business and networking. It is a great community to start a business because it has a lot of entrepreneurial spirit, especially given the Wake Forest Center for Entrepreneurship. 

On top of that, you have Winston Starts that wants to help you grow and scale your business. North Carolina in general has so many grants and mentorships and companies that want to help. There are so many resources available, including accounting firms and others that have been wonderful to the startup community and provide pro bono services to help people get their businesses up and running. 

Learn more about Wyrick’s business by visiting threestrandsrecoverywear.com.