About Melissa

Melissa Dusendang is head of e-commerce and operations at SheFit, a women's adjustable sports bra brand whose founder Marie invented the core product more than two decades ago. After seven-plus years touching nearly every part of the business—from a part-time hire brought in as a stopgap to an operations leader—Melissa connects internal teams, SaaS partners, and warehouse processes. SheFit broke out after Shark Tank in 2016 and accelerated again during COVID through social challenges, scaling from roughly $10 million toward $50 million before macro headwinds and rising ad costs pulled revenue back into the $20–30 million range.

What we talked about

Building an adjustable sports bra brand — How Marie's invention solved non-standard bra sizing with a fully adjustable, scientifically tested performance product—and how Shark Tank and COVID each sparked a new growth chapter.

Navigating a tougher retail climate — Why SheFit joined other DTC brands in a post-peak dip as ad spend climbed, athleisure shifted attention, and a core customer who puts family first grew more price-sensitive.

Cheap copycats and marketplace pressure — How influencer-driven knockoffs and platforms like TikTok Shop, Amazon, and Walmart pull shoppers away from brand sites—and demand terms that can undercut in-house fulfillment.

In-house fulfillment as a double-edged sword — Why running their own warehouse is a strength peers envy, yet marketplace shipping and inventory rules force painful tradeoffs on cost and customer experience.

Quality, community, and staying human — Lessons from a supplier quality miss two years ago, and why SheFit still invests in phone support, text replies, and community over one-and-done transactions.

Testing channels without clean attribution — From Meta as a necessary evil to Snapchat and TikTok experiments, and why cross-channel exposure makes ROI per channel harder to read than it was seven years ago.

Sharpest moments

On where SheFit's core customer draws the line:

she's not going to spend a lot on herself. She's going to make sure her family has everything they need first.

On following shoppers wherever they watch:

If people are watching ads on ETTB, then that's where we're gonna go. If people are watching it in TikTok, then that's where we're gonna go.

On why peers envy SheFit's warehouse:

when I tell them that we fulfill our own orders, they're like, my gosh, you're so lucky you have your own warehouse.

On building beyond a single purchase:

We don't just want to build a customer one time. She might only need to buy one or two of our bras in a year, but we want her to be in our community

On diversifying past Meta:

meta is a necessary evil

Key takeaways

• SheFit scaled from ~$10M to ~$50M and landed on Inc. 500 four years running—then hit the same post-boom reset many DTC brands face today.
• Athleisure growth and work-from-home wardrobes don't automatically favor a performance sports bra built for serious workouts.
• Cheaper lookalikes and marketplace discovery are real threats when your customer prioritizes family spending over premium self-purchases.
• Owning fulfillment gives control; marketplace participation can erode that advantage through shipping and inventory mandates.
• Quality slips from suppliers became a wake-up call—SheFit won't ship product that doesn't meet its tested specs.
• A ~20-person team stays agile by testing channels quickly, but attribution across TikTok, Meta, Google, and TV is messier than a single-source funnel.