Maria Marino, Alex Berstein, and Katherine Anne Koury are the Co-founders of Panic Panties, a premium, ready-to-wear underwear brand sold in airports, boutiques, hospitals, Walgreens, and over 5,000 CVS stores nationwide. With over 16 million brand hashtag views on TikTok, Panic Panties has won the Women Business Enterprise National Council’s (WBENC) national pitch competition for innovation and has been named Hot Undergarments by Star magazine. Maria, Alex, and Katherine Anne founded the company at Syracuse University after noticing a lack of attractive, on-the-go underwear options.

In this episode…

Purchasing underwear in a pinch is a common yet overlooked problem for women on the go. Whether after a workout, during travel, or in unexpected situations, traditional retail options fall short, offering unappealing, bulk-packaged choices. How did three best friends turn a shared frustration into an essential brand?

Dissatisfied by the lack of on-the-go underwear options on the market, Maria Marino, Alex Bernstein, and Katherine Anne Koury teamed up to create a premium, ready-to-wear underwear line designed for convenience and style. Their innovative approach and strategic retail partnerships with Walgreens and CVS have fueled Panic Panties' rapid growth. The trio promotes their products by producing viral social media content, facilitating community events, and hosting a life-sized panty costume that appeared in high-traffic areas like Times Square and the Vegas Strip. Through social media engagement and a commitment to sustainability, Maria, Alex, and Katherine Anne have penetrated a niche market with an innovative solution.

Tune in to the latest episode of the Lead Like a Woman Show as Andrea Heuston chats with Maria Marino, Alex Bernstein, and Katherine Anne Koury, Co-founders of Panic Panties, about how they scaled their brand. Together, they discuss the brand’s manufacturing and development process, their future endeavors for Panic Panties, and how they broke into major retail chains.