“Most women in the fashion industry are pushed toward designing streetwear or high fashion,” Gayda said. “But I knew at a very young age, that I wanted to go a different route. I was breaking boundaries with my senior collection and thought I was innovative for featuring men’s snowboarding apparel. I’m from a very small town in southern Vermont, and I started taking sewing lessons from my neighbor when I was in fourth grade. So, I knew from then on what I wanted to do and already had a very clear vision for what I wanted to design when I was starting my freshmen year at UD.”

Now, as an apparel designer for Nike’s Promo Team & League division, Sydney is still breaking down barriers and leveling the playing field for women. Her latest project—two years in the making—recently launched: Nike’s first official women’s flag football uniform.

Gayda’s process included flying to Florida to meet with female flag football players, learning what they hoped for in a uniform, in the sport, in life.

“It’s insanely impressive to watch these girls play this sport—and not because they are girls—because the amount of athleticism they show and the amount of mental strength it takes is amazing,” Gayda said. “When I spoke with them about the uniforms, they talked about wanting elite flag football uniforms, not just a takeoff of a men’s uniform, but their own. They kept saying, ‘when you design this, remember we are flag football players—not women flag football players. And when they opened them, and saw them for the first time, they said, ‘we feel seen.’ To see something I basically doodled come to life and make such a significant impact is amazing.”

While having the uniforms alone will make a difference for elevating the sport and validating the women who play it, Gayda is part of a larger movement. Nike invested $5 million to create female flag football leagues across the country, giving women more opportunities in sports. The ultimate goal is to grow the sport for women throughout the course of their academics—middle school, high school and college—to open new opportunities for success, scholarships and more.