A Notion Doc Called “Rucking Is the New Black”
Before The Carry, Esther spent a decade at Microsoft launching hardware like Xbox, Surface, and the Band, then led marketing at two Seattle startups. It was during her first-ever health sabbatical that she found herself in early perimenopause, and spent about $3,000 just figuring out what was happening to her body.
That sent her deep into the research on muscle, bone, and hormones. She started walking the hills in her neighborhood with a weighted vest. The workout worked. The vests didn’t. So she opened a Notion doc and titled it “Rucking is the new black.” That doc became The Carry.
Cortney came to it from a different direction. She’s always been a brand and community builder at heart. After starting her career in marketing, she launched The Grey Edit, a style blog that grew into her photography business, The Grey Edit Photo. Building both taught her storytelling, community, and what it really takes to make something from scratch. The Carry, she says, brought all of those worlds together.
The Pitch on the Tennis Court
Esther and Cortney met as new mom friends. Esther had been sharing everything she was learning about women’s health, including rucking and weighted vests. Cortney was intrigued, bought one, and fell for the workout. The vest was another story.
They tested six of the top vests on the market and kept a running list of everything they’d change. Meanwhile, Esther’s research kept pointing to the same gap: women lose muscle and bone fast in midlife, and most aren’t strength training enough to fight it. Then Esther’s mom was diagnosed with osteoporosis and wanted to try a non-pharmaceutical path first.
Three things, landing within a few months. “It felt like the universe was telling me to go build this now,” Esther says. So she walked up to Cortney on the tennis court and pitched it.
The fit was obvious. “Esther had the product and hardware experience, I had the brand and community background,” Cortney says. They realized they could actually build it. From there, they were all in.
Building in the Margins
Tuesday is their anchor day. It starts at 9 with a business and finance review covering traffic, conversion, ads, sales, and cash. Then a few hours working side by side, followed by a design sync with their product partners. That evening they’re back online with their team and factory in Vietnam, where it’s already morning.
Cortney joined the 5 a.m. club after becoming a mom, because it was the only uninterrupted time she had. Ideally, the day starts with a protein coffee and a workout (strength, tread, or an early ruck) before she switches into mom mode with her two boys, 3 and 7, and then work. Founder life doesn’t always cooperate. One or two nights a week, she’s up late making content.
They have distinct lanes. Cortney leads brand, creative, community, and partnerships. Esther, the company’s CEO, brings the operational and strategic brain. But the lines blur constantly. One minute it’s fundraising or inventory, the next it’s a campaign, a workout, or loading vests into their cars for a community event.
Sequence, Not Balance
Esther stopped pretending otherwise a while ago. Some days the company gets the best of her, and some days her kids do. What makes it work is structure and people: a husband who’s a true partner, and a co-founder who covers for her as much as she covers for Cortney. Her non-negotiables are short. Fit in the workout. Protect family time. Say yes to a little fun.
Cortney, a self-described Libra who has always craved balance, came to a similar place in her 40th year. Some weeks the business needs more of her. Some weeks her family does. She’s learned to look at life in seasons instead of expecting every day to feel perfectly proportioned, and to let go of some of the guilt that comes with never giving 100% to everything at once.
The one thing she protects is movement. Not because it takes time away from everything else, but because it makes her better at all of it.
What Counts
The premise of The Carry is that strength has to fit into the life you already have, not some ideal 90-minute window that never comes. Building the company forced both founders to live that way.
Esther stopped waiting for ideal conditions to train. These days, she might train from a park bench while her son is at soccer practice. She thinks of her week as a set of goals. Miss them one day, spread them across the others, and still feel good about the progress.
Cortney’s definition of a workout changed completely. A 45-minute weighted walk after school drop-off counts. A ten-minute strength snack in the middle of a neighborhood walk counts. Women, she says, have been sold the idea that getting stronger means adding one more thing to an impossible schedule. The Carry is built on the opposite question: how can strength become part of your life instead of competing with it? That question has grown bigger than the vest. It’s shaping the company.
Steady, Resilient, and Building Belonging
At Microsoft, Esther could lean on specialists. In the last two years, she’s had to learn to get things done a whole new way. The product is complicated to design and to manufacture, and she kept putting one foot in front of the other with their partners until it was right. She’s also learning to lead through stress. In an early-stage company, something is always going sideways, and as CEO, how she reacts becomes everyone’s weather. She’s getting better at staying steady.
Cortney learned she’s more resilient than she thought. Delays, fundraising, the moments that don’t go as planned. You wake up the next morning and keep building. And some of her favorite moments haven’t been business milestones at all. They’ve been watching a group of women, many of them strangers, show up to a walk, put on their vests, and move together. A product became an identity, and then a community.
Why Esther and Cortney Embody On Her Time
Esther and Cortney aren’t chasing balance. They’re building with intention: sequencing what matters, protecting a short list of non-negotiables, and making strength something that fits real life instead of fighting it. Their story is proof that the most meaningful things are built in the margins, one step at a time.
The Carry was born from a Notion doc, a tennis court, and two women who couldn’t find what they needed, so they made it. Built, on their time.
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On Her Time celebrates women building lives and businesses rooted in clarity, courage, and sustainability. Stay tuned for our next feature.
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