Authority Magazine, September 17, 2026

Stelle founder Cassie Ye was recently featured in Authority Magazine as part of their "5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Became a Founder" series. In a conversation with Tavares Beverly, Cassie looks back on 11 years of building Stelle, from a Bay Area garage to a brand dance families trust, and shares the lessons she learned along the way.

From stay-at-home mom to founder

Cassie started Stelle in 2015, shortly after her twins were born. Her oldest daughter had just begun ballet at age 4, and Cassie couldn't find dancewear that was well made and fairly priced. So she decided to make it herself. As she told Authority Magazine, "becoming a mother didn't slow my career; it inspired an entirely new one."

The garage years

There were no investors and no big team. Cassie and her husband packed dance tights in their garage, and she ran almost everything herself: "I handled sourcing, inventory, customer service, returns, and product development myself." With a background in scientific research, she treated the business like an experiment: test an idea, learn from what doesn't work, and try again.

Built from a parent's point of view

Today Stelle has sold over 15 million products worldwide and has donated more than 40,000 pieces of clothing to local dance clubs, schools, and nonprofits. One question still guides every design: "Would I be happy for my own children to wear this?"

Cassie's 5 lessons for new founders

1. Small steps can take you farther than you imagine. Cassie never set out to build a big company. She just wanted better ballet clothes for her daughter.

2. Customers are your best product designers. Feedback from moms and dance families has shaped Stelle's products year after year.

3. You don't have to have all the answers. "Some of our best ideas have come from teammates who saw things differently."

4. Success creates new problems. Every stage of growth brings new challenges, and that's a sign you're moving forward.

5. Every challenge teaches a different skill. Manufacturing, customer service, and building a team each prepared her for what came next.

On riding the highs and lows

Cassie's advice to other founders is to think of building a business as a marathon, not a sprint. Her happiest moments aren't business milestones. They come from watching her daughters enjoy what Stelle makes and from the photos families send of their kids smiling in Stelle.

Read the full interview to hear more about how Cassie grew Stelle one steady step at a time.

Click here to read the original article at Authority Magazine
Authority Magazine, September 17, 2026