Anne Marie Morán is the founder of Ola Bola, a line of lightweight, water-resistant, and stylish bean bags. She was one of our 2024 12 Gifts of Hooville partners, and chatted with us about all things UVA and her journey to create Ola Bola.
Tell us a little bit about how Ola Bola started.
The small strategy consulting firm I worked for was acquired 3 months after I joined, and I unexpectedly found myself unemployed. I was visiting family in Peru at the time, and I already had the idea of creating something comfortable and portable to take everywhere I traveled. So I decided to extend the trip, enjoy the time with family, and build a prototype with guidance – many of my Peruvian family members are very entrepreneurial themselves. I was actually having wine and cheese with cousins on the beach one day when the idea to turn this idea into a real business was born, as well as the name. ‘Ola’ means wave in Spanish, and ‘Bola’ means ball. It was going to be a comfortable, lightweight, eco-friendly water-resistant bean bag for the beach. And for outdoor festivals. And parks. And dorm rooms, etc.
When you’re back on Grounds, what’s the one place you must visit?
I always visit the Lawn and walk through the Gardens. I also visit my favorite tree, where I always enjoyed reading on a pretty day.
What is your favorite UVA memory?
There are too many to list! Football games, happy hours at Biltmore, parties with friends. Constitutional Law and anything Larry Sabato was teaching were my favorite classes. There were never enough hours to attend all the interesting classes, so I would often sit in the big lecture rooms for classes I wasn’t actually enrolled in—especially Psychology classes—and just listen to interesting lectures.
What’s one thing you learned at UVA that you carry with you today?
I had one professor who would always remind us that “correlation is not causation.” That always stuck with me and has served me well for any type of analytical thinking.
How do you stay connected to UVA?
I made lifelong friends at UVA who I keep in touch with regularly, even though many of us are all over the place these days—and I love going to Reunions! There’s a UVA Club of Austin, and I try to meet up with the Wahoos here when I am in town. I also still utilize McIntire Career Services regularly—possibly too much, but they have such a wonderful team!