I’m Vanessa Vandy, a former Olympic pole vaulter, cinematographer, and the founder and inventor of Stro.

Pole vaulting taught me to appreciate the complex relationship between balance, force, and the human body. Yet, despite years of training, posture was something I struggled with throughout my athletic career.

Like many teenagers, I spent countless hours hunched over computers and developed forward head posture. Reminders, exercises, and simply trying harder never seemed to create lasting change.

Later, carrying 10-kilogram camera rigs as a cinematographer made me even more aware of how important efficient movement is - not only for performance, but for protecting the body from years of repetitive strain.

Many people know the feeling of being forced to choose between looking after their body and pursuing the work and passions that matter most to them. When your ambitions or livelihood depend on it, slowing down often doesn’t feel like a real option. I’ve found myself in that position more than once, and it made me realize how important posture and movement habits are - not just for performance and longevity, but for preserving the freedom to keep doing the things you love.

Developing Stro allowed me to stop feeling as though I had to make that choice. For the first time, it felt as though those two goals could coexist.

Although I built the first version of Stro in January 2023, the search had started much earlier. From the age of eighteen, I had experimented with different exercises, techniques, and ideas, always hoping to find something that would create lasting change. When Stro emerged, it felt fundamentally different from anything I had tried before.

For the first six months, I used and refined Stro primarily for my own needs, trying to understand what worked and what didn’t. It was only after living with the invention for half a year that I decided it was worth expanding beyond my personal use.

Having worn some version of Stro for more than 1,800 hours over three years, I’ve had the opportunity to learn not only how it works during use, but also how it fits into everyday life and how its effects unfold over time.

The philosophy behind Stro is the same philosophy I learned as an athlete: posture is a skill that must be trained and maintained. The goal isn’t to force the body into a position, but to gradually build the awareness, coordination, and endurance that allow good posture to become automatic.