Powering Babson College Baseball
Josh Yellen
Annie Schlesinger, David Schlesinger and Linda Schlesinger-Wagner continued from page 45
Josh Yellen of Bloomfield Hills is leading the charge toward the playoffs. RICK LOWENSTEIN SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS
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s Babson College (Wellesley, Massachusetts) baseball barrels toward the NEWMAC Conference and NCAA Division III playoffs, senior first baseman Josh Yellen of Bloomfield Hills, a former standout at Cranbrook School, has started all 32 games and leads the team in batting average (.346), hits (44), runs batted in (27), multi-hit games (11) and multi-RBI games (8). He also is among the team leaders in on-base percentage (.445) and slugging (.433) and batted .500 (7-for-14) with a double and two RBI while extending his hitting streak to nine games as the Beavers won two of three games against league rival MIT to maintain their spot atop the NEWMAC at 11-2. A transfer student from the College of Charleston, Josh was attracted to Babson for its 25-year run as the No. 1 school for entrepreneurship as ranked by U.S. News and World Reports and the baseball program earning its first trip to the Division III College World Series in 2019. With one year of college eligibility remaining, he will graduate
this May with a major in finance and is still undecided on whether he will pursue an MBA at Babson and continue to play baseball. Josh is the son of Mike and Becky Yellen. Founded in 1919 by Roger Babson, Babson College boasts an undergraduate enrollment of 2,350 students and nearly 1,000 graduate students representing more than 80 countries. Ranked No. 1 for Entrepreneurship by U.S. News & World Report for nearly three decades, Babson has emerged as the global leader in entrepreneurship education.
didn’t know anyone. “I didn’t want anyone I know to buy them and do a mercy order,” she recalls. Luckily, the shop made the purchase and became one of Schlesinger-Wagner’s top customers to this day. “She really helped me build my business,” SchlesingerWagner says of that buyer. As Schlesinger-Wagner continued to brainstorm late at night, taking notes when most people would be sleeping, she solidified her vision for the brand that would go on to become a top-selling women’s clothing line, now found at Macy’s, QVC and more. In 2009, skinnytees officially launched. She bought the skinnytees website domain for a mere 99 cents, thanks to a bit of luck and encouragement from her son, David Schlesinger, who helps with marketing and brand development. Yet Schlesinger-Wagner didn’t stop with simply selling skinnytees products. She enrolled herself in film school to learn how to present her brand on TV, found contractors worldwide to partner with, and took various business programs to become a savvier and more well-rounded entrepreneur. A FAMILY BUSINESS Now, skinnytees is a family business. David Schlesinger
serves as head of digital brand development, while SchlesingerWagner’s daughter, Annie Schlesinger, is head of marketing, creative content and project management. “It’s a team effort,” SchlesingerWagner says. Together, the family continues to expand the brand and bring it to new frontiers. Their goal is to sell skinnytees products in Dubai. Yet despite her success, Schlesinger-Wagner would never forget the challenges she overcame as a single woman navigating a divorce. skinnytees regularly holds fundraising events that raise money for women with breast cancer, among other crucial needs. “I would always remember others and do lots of small things for big people,” SchlesingerWagner says. “That’s what we do, and we do it all the time.” Schlesinger-Wagner also happily remarried and now resides with her husband, Paul Wagner. Together, they have 10 grandchildren and five great-grandchildren. While the older grandchildren haven’t expressed interest in the family business just yet, Schlesinger-Wagner is confident in its future and looks forward to continuing the brand. “There’s a lot of business out there,” she says, “and a whole world out there.”
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