Wonder Women Wednesday, Sarah Casey

Sarah Casey is a pioneer in the MMA industry, as her and her husband Mika started the uber successful www.mmawarehouse.com

Congratulations on the recent merging with PAG Capital Partners! What exactly does this mean for MMAWarehouse? Thank you! We are very excited about partnering with PAG Capital. Their strategic and financial support will enable us to continue to invest in our platform, expand our marketing capabilities, capitalize on the many organic growth and acquisition opportunities available to us in the industry.

How did MMAWarehouse get started? MMAWarehouse.com was started in 2004 by husband, Mika and myself. Mika had always watched WWE growing up and really liked it. One day, he went to a friend’s house to watch one of the early UFC’s and he really liked the fighting and technicality of the sport. We went to our first live UFC fight (UFC 47 – Chuck Liddell vs Tito Ortiz) in Las Vegas and then we were hooked! When we came home, Mika started training at Jeff Curran’s gym and needed to buy some MMA and apparel. We hunted high and low for a store that sold a variety of mixed martial arts clothing and equipment, but there were none that were based in the U.S., or really any at all for that matter! That is where MMAWarehouse.com was born. We got an SBA loan to buy our first inventory – Fairtex equipment and TapouT apparel and away we went!

What’s an average workday like for yourself? None of my work days are ever alike! As Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, I have many responsibilities. I oversee our Customer Service and Shipping & Receiving Departments. I also handle HR, Accounting, Executive Assistant, Purchasing and many other duties. I like to have control over the way things run, so it’s hard for me not to be involved in almost every aspect of the company.

What are your views on women involved with MMA? Whether being a female fighter, wife in the industry, being behind the scenes, etc. I think it is great that women are involved in the male-dominated sport of MMA. It gives women a sense of equality and allows us to be respected just as much as men.

When you are not working at MMAWarehouse, what kind of activities could you tell us about that you enjoy doing? When I’m not a workaholic, I enjoy spending time with my family, friends and 5 cats. I also enjoy traveling and shopping.

What is the best part about running your own business, and what do you like least? I would say the best part about running my own business is that I get to be my own boss and set my own hours. I also enjoy the feeling of accomplishment when we reach new milestones as a company. The thing I like the least about running my own business is that we usually end up working many more hours than we used to at a 40/hour a week job.

Are there any future plans and/or changes in store for MMAWarehouse in 2011? We are always thinking of newer and better ways we can do things to remain the #1 Mixed Martial Arts retailer. We will continue to provide excellent customer service and the broadest selection of products to all MMA fans and practitioners.

At this time if you want to thank anyone please do so: I’d like to thank my husband, Mika for having the passion and drive to start MMAWarehouse.com. It has been a fun journey these past 6+ years. We make a great team and I’m so proud of what MMAWarehouse.com has become! I would also like to thank all of our employees. If it wasn’t for all their hard work, dedication and love for the sport, we could not have achieved the success we have today by being the #1 Mixed Martial Arts online retail store. And we can’t forget all of our loyal customers – thank you for your support of MMAWarehouse.com!

Posted on Wednesday, January 19th, 2011 at 3:38 pm. Filed under: Products Tags: fight chix, mika casey, mmawarehouse, mmawarehouse.com, sarah casey, TapouT, UFC, wonder woman wednesday RSS 2.0 feed.