Athletics Alumni Spotlight

Former MCCC women’s tennis player Naomi Kinnamon (Pennington, NJ/Hopewell Valley) and her twin sister Natalie launched a clothing line of fashion colors and bold fabrics in August, called KINNAMON, which they are selling directly to consumers.  Their clothing is primarily designed for people with type 1 diabetes.  The sisters wanted to create clothing that makes room for insulin pumps and other medical devices.  Their clothing includes hidden pockets for insulin pumps and blood sugar snacks and cut outs for injection sites.  Each garment has two pockets with button holes for easy pump access.

Naomi and Natalie plan to donate a portion of their profits to Breakthrough T1D, a diabetes research organization.  The sisters hope to inspire other people to design clothing for people other medical conditions for the mainstream market like feeding tubes, scars, mastectomies, arthritis and more.  The twins want to spread the message of fashion inclusivity. 

Naomi played on the 2019 MCCC women’s tennis team. Naomi was a Liberal Arts major at Mercer who went on to attend Savannah College of Art and Design.  Natalie studied Advertising and Graphic Design at MCCC which led the sisters to collaborate on launching their own clothing line.

While the fashion designing took place at SCAD, Kinnamon is very grateful for her time and MCCC and how it helped her figure out what career she wanted to pursue. “Mercer is where I was able to take the time and realize what I really wanted to do next. And it wasn’t because I was taking fashion design classes there. I was a Liberal Arts major and was taking all of the gen eds (general education requirements) I could. I was also continuing to take many fine arts classes, as I had since high school. I think having the opportunity to discover what I didn’t want to study, helped me realize that I could turn my real interests (art, design, sewing) into a future, and I do credit my time at Mercer for that.”

Kinnamon also had a great experience playing tennis at MCCC.  “My favorite thing about playing tennis at Mercer is not exactly a memory, but the overall friendly and accepting environment that lasted the entire season. As a new player, everyone was very welcoming and encouraging towards me. Coach Marc (Vecchiolla) was so encouraging and friendly and fostered such a positive atmosphere. I cannot say enough positive things about all of the players and coaches. Everyone was willing to help me out and give me pointers. It made my tennis career, while short lived, worthwhile and one I’ll never forget.”

To read other Alumni Athlete success stories, visit: https://www.mccc.edu/athletics_alumni.shtml