I was bullied for having 32A boobs – now I've made millions from my small chest, but my mom doesn't always approve | The Sun

WHEN Jaclyn Fu had the idea for Pepper, a lingerie company that has sold over one million bras in just five years, the first person she told was her mother.

Fu, who wears a size 32A bra, asked her mom a simple question: "Does your bra fit you well?" When the response was "no," Fu decided it was time to take action on a problem that plagued countless women she knew.

Today, Fu, 32, is CEO of Pepper, a lingerie company that raised $10,000 in just ten hours on Kickstarter and has secured millions more in funding since.

Though she now sees herself as a "poster child for the IBTC," or Itty Bitty T*tty Committee, Fu exclusively told The Sun she remembers her small chest being a point of ridicule during adolescence.

"I got called the usual things," Fu remembered. "People calling me 'flat' as a derogatory term, or saying I had a boy body."

But it wasn't the teasing from classmates that bothered her most – it was treatment from people in the lingerie industry who insisted on "improving" her chest with push-up bras.

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"I remember shopping for a bra and a sales associate saying, 'Here’s a push-up bra to look two sizes bigger!'" Fu recalled.

"It was so embarrassing and humiliating that even a sales associate was trying to prompt me to look bigger," Fu said. "I think what she was insinuating was 'you should not look the way you look.'"

As an adult, Fu still didn't have any luck finding bras that fit her well. Most bras had the dreaded "cup gap" in between the material and her skin, or slid off her shoulders anytime she moved her arms.

She consulted with other small-chested women in her life, including her friends and her mother, before working with co-founder Lia Winograd to come up with a business plan.

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Researching the lingerie industry taught Fu and Winograd that most companies design using a 36C bra as the standard. The co-founders suspected that this model wasn't serving a large demographic of consumers, and they were right.

"The day we launched, we were 100 percent funded in the first ten hours," said Fu. The company ultimately raised $47,000 from its Kickstarter campaign.

"So many people were sharing it, and I feel like they didn’t have a brand or product for them," Fu explained. "That’s one of the reasons why we were funded so quickly."

The company, its fandom, and its offerings have only grown; Fu wasn't able to disclose details on Pepper's current revenues but the company projected "upwards of $7million in 2020 revenue" when featured on the Forbes 30 Under 30 list.

It's not uncommon for Fu to run into Pepper customers when she's out in the world, and she said that she's always thrilled by their enthusiasm and gratitude.

"It’s fun to see it in the wild. I was at a concert at Red Rocks and I happened to see a girl wearing a Pepper bra," Fu said. "I walked up to her and told her I was the co-founder and we squealed.

"Things like that happen so much more now," Fu added.

Even celebrities, like Heather Morris, who portrayed Brittany on Glee, have found Pepper through word-of-mouth and are dedicated fans.

"Heather Morris just found Pepper, and posted about it," Fu said. "It was a totally organic relationship."

Now that Pepper customers have found the perfect fit, they want it in every color and every style, so Fu and Winograd are working hard to make it happen. They're also exploring a plus-size line for customers who need larger band sizes, but smaller cups.

"We want to learn directly from our customers," Fu said, explaining that interviews and surveys are main components of the company's product development strategy.

"We talk directly to the customers, and do interviews and research," Fu explained. In doing so, Fu said, she's found a community and changed her own view of her body.

"This process and journey have helped me to love my body exactly as it is," she said. "I flaunt what I’ve got, I play it up now."

And Fu's mother, the first person to express support for her idea, is "a champion" for the brand.

"She exclusively wears Pepper," Fu said. Of course, Pepper's success presents its own challenges: Fu said her mother had some strong opinions about a recent photoshoot.

"I just did a photoshoot with my co-founder," Fu said, in which she paired a Pepper bra with a tailored suit. "It was very tasteful."

After seeing the photos, her mother sent a note: “She said, 'You're the founder of a company, you can’t be showing off the bra, you need to cover up more.'"

Fu just laughed it off. No matter how big Pepper grows, she said, "moms will be moms."

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