{"id":15873,"date":"2026-06-01T12:39:00","date_gmt":"2026-06-01T05:39:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/?p=15873"},"modified":"2026-06-01T12:39:00","modified_gmt":"2026-06-01T05:39:00","slug":"what-happened-after-i-helped-build-a-womens-cycling-brand","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/?p=15873","title":{"rendered":"What Happened After I Helped Build a Women&#8217;s Cycling Brand"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>This page may contain affiliate links \u2014 they are marked with a *. Making a purchase via my affiliate means I receive a small share of the sale.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"What Happened After I Helped Build a Women's Cycling Brand\" class=\"wp-image-28175 perfmatters-lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.keepitsimpelle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/IMG_6878.heic\"\/><\/figure>\n<p>For most of 2025 and the first part of 2026, I was the Community Manager for LA REINE.<\/p>\n<p>If you\u2019ve followed me for a while, you\u2019ll probably remember me sharing content from their events, talking about their retreats or posting about women\u2019s cycling in general. For a long time, I genuinely believed in what they were trying to build.<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s what makes writing this so difficult.<\/p>\n<p>Because this isn\u2019t a story about a brand I never cared about.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s a story about a brand I cared about enough to give far more of myself to than I probably should have.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How It Started<\/h2>\n<p>I first came across LA REINE in 2024 when <a href=\"https:\/\/www.keepitsimpelle.com\/cycling-in-switzerland-la-reine-sportive-guide-gstaad\/\" type=\"post\" id=\"25743\" data-lasso-id=\"11289\">I attended the Gstaad event<\/a> as a guest of the Swiss tourism board.<\/p>\n<p>I enjoyed the event. The roads were beautiful, the atmosphere was welcoming and it was refreshing to see an event aimed specifically at women.<\/p>\n<p>Like many of you know, I\u2019m not very good at keeping my opinions to myself, so afterwards I shared some feedback with the organisers.<\/p>\n<p>One of the things I mentioned was that the event was tougher than many riders were expecting. There was a significant amount of climbing and I thought riders would benefit from having some guidance on how to prepare.<\/p>\n<p>A few months later, I received a message asking whether I\u2019d be interested in helping create a training plan for future participants.<\/p>\n<p>I said yes.<\/p>\n<p>That training plan still exists on the website today.<\/p>\n<p>At the time, it felt like a great fit.<\/p>\n<p>I love cycling.<\/p>\n<p>I love helping women build confidence.<\/p>\n<p>And I genuinely thought I could contribute something useful.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The Role That Kept Growing<\/h2>\n<p>What started as a small project gradually became something much bigger.<\/p>\n<p>At first, I was helping with social media. Then I was helping with community management.<\/p>\n<p>Then newsletters, customer emails, event support, ambassador recruitment, retreat planning, sponsorship delivery, event hosting.<\/p>\n<p>Somewhere along the way, I became what the company publicly referred to as their Community Manager.<\/p>\n<p>What I\u2019ve realised since is that community management is one of those jobs that sounds simple until you actually do it.<\/p>\n<p>People see the Instagram posts.<\/p>\n<p>They don\u2019t see the inbox.<\/p>\n<p>They don\u2019t see the questions.<\/p>\n<p>They don\u2019t see the planning.<\/p>\n<p>They don\u2019t see the hours spent trying to create an experience where people feel welcome before they\u2019ve even arrived.<\/p>\n<p>Over the course of a year, I helped build and manage the ambassador programme, wrote newsletters, handled social media, answered rider questions, supported event planning, attended events in Freiburg and Gstaad, managed community communications and worked on the Moj\u00e1car retreat.<\/p>\n<p>None of this felt particularly unusual at the time because I fully believed in the mission.<\/p>\n<p>Like many freelancers working in purpose-driven industries, I convinced myself that caring deeply about the work made the extra effort worthwhile.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The Invisible Labour Nobody Talks About<\/h2>\n<p>One thing I\u2019ve learned though, is that community work is often treated as though it simply happens.<\/p>\n<p>As though communities magically appear because somebody posts often enough on Instagram.<\/p>\n<p>The reality is very different.<\/p>\n<p>Community management is a lot of emotional labour.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s remembering names.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s answering questions.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s calming nerves.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s introducing people.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s solving problems before they become problems.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s being available when nobody else is.<\/p>\n<p>And when it\u2019s done well, most people don\u2019t even notice it\u2019s happening.<\/p>\n<p>Because the outcome isn\u2019t a thing.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s a feeling.<\/p>\n<p>People feel welcomed.<\/p>\n<p>People feel included.<\/p>\n<p>People feel supported.<\/p>\n<p>That doesn\u2019t happen by accident.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Then My Mum Became Ill<\/h2>\n<p>At the end of March 2026, my world changed when y mum became seriously ill.<\/p>\n<p>Within a very short period of time, we learned that she was dying.<\/p>\n<p>The timing couldn\u2019t have been worse.<\/p>\n<p>My wedding was approaching.<\/p>\n<p>The Moj\u00e1car retreat was approaching.<\/p>\n<p>Work commitments were already in place.<\/p>\n<p>Like many self-employed people, taking time off wasn\u2019t as simple as informing HR.<\/p>\n<p>If I didn\u2019t work, I didn\u2019t get paid.<\/p>\n<p>I seriously considered pulling out of the retreat but my mum wouldn\u2019t hear of it. She was adamant that I should go.<\/p>\n<p>She knew I had already committed to the work and she knew the income mattered.<\/p>\n<p>So with her blessing, I went.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Moj\u00e1car<\/h2>\n<p>What most people saw that week were photos of sunshine, bikes and smiling faces.<\/p>\n<p>What they didn\u2019t see was everything happening behind the scenes.<\/p>\n<p>I was up by 7am every day, delivering workshops, supporting riders, helping coordinate logistics.<\/p>\n<p>Managing community dynamics, supporting the ride experience.<\/p>\n<p>basically working non-stop from breakfast until late in the evening with many days which didn\u2019t really finish until around 10pm.<\/p>\n<p>And despite everything happening in my personal life, I was proud of what we delivered.<\/p>\n<p>The riders certainly seemed to enjoy themselves.<\/p>\n<p>Many achieved things they never thought possible.<\/p>\n<p>Many left with new friendships and new confidence.<\/p>\n<p>For me, that\u2019s what mattered.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The Part I Still Struggle To Understand<\/h2>\n<p>After the retreat, I received feedback from the organiser that my leadership, presence and contribution had not met expectations.<\/p>\n<p>Feedback is part of life. Nobody gets everything right. Nobody should be above criticism. However, I knew that I have everything I had and direct feedback from the riders was positive. <\/p>\n<p>But what happened next shocked me.<\/p>\n<p>The company refused to pay my retreat hosting fee. <\/p>\n<p>Not my expenses. Those were paid in the end.<\/p>\n<p>The actual fee for the work itself.<\/p>\n<p>Since then, they\u2019ve shifted the reasoning saying its about work (allegedly) not delivered in March and April, yet they paid those invoices and never once raised an issue in all the time that had passed. <\/p>\n<p>At the time of writing, that invoice remains unpaid and I am pursuing recovery through formal channels.<\/p>\n<p>What makes this particularly difficult isn\u2019t simply the money.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s the contradiction.<\/p>\n<p>This was a company built around women\u2019s empowerment.<\/p>\n<p>Women\u2019s confidence.<\/p>\n<p>Women\u2019s community.<\/p>\n<p>Women\u2019s support.<\/p>\n<p>Yet when I needed understanding and compassion the most, that wasn\u2019t my experience.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What I\u2019ve Learned<\/h2>\n<p>Looking back, there are plenty of practical lessons I wish I\u2019d learned earlier.<\/p>\n<p>As freelancers, we need stronger protections. We need clearer contracts. We need clearer scopes of work.<\/p>\n<p>We need to stop assuming that shared values automatically create fair working relationships.<\/p>\n<p>If I could go back, I would almost certainly have requested payment upfront before travelling. At the very least, I would have required a significant deposit.<\/p>\n<p>I also think we need to talk more honestly about empowerment branding.<\/p>\n<p>Because branding is the easy part. Anybody can put words like community, empowerment and support on a website.<\/p>\n<p>Living those values when things become inconvenient is much harder.<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s where the real test happens.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">My Final Thoughts<\/h2>\n<p>I don\u2019t regret getting involved with LA REINE.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019ve met some incredible women who I\u2019m still in contact with today and I contributed to projects I\u2019m genuinely proud of.<\/p>\n<p>I learned a huge amount about events, community building and myself. But I also learned that believing in a mission doesn\u2019t replace protecting yourself.<\/p>\n<p>And perhaps that\u2019s the lesson I hope other freelancers take away from this story.<\/p>\n<p>Be passionate.<\/p>\n<p>Care about your work.<\/p>\n<p>Support causes you believe in.<\/p>\n<p>But don\u2019t forget that you\u2019re running a business too.<\/p>\n<p>Because sometimes the people talking most loudly about supporting women aren\u2019t necessarily the people who will support you when you need it most.<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>Have you ever found yourself in a situation where a company\u2019s values didn\u2019t match your experience of working with them?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><strong><em>Elle<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.keepitsimpelle.com\/what-happened-after-i-helped-build-a-womens-cycling-brand\/\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This page may contain affiliate links \u2014 they are marked with a *. Making a purchase via my affiliate means I receive a small share of the sale. For most of 2025 and the first part of 2026, I was the Community Manager for LA REINE. If you\u2019ve followed me for a while, you\u2019ll probably &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15873","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fitness"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15873","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15873"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15873\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15873"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15873"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15873"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}