Hedley & Bennett founder Ellen Marie Bennett says swimming has helped her become a better leader.

BY ANNABEL BURBA, EDITORIAL ASSISTANT @ANNIEBURBA

Hedley & Bennett founder Ellen Marie Bennett. Photo illustration: Inc. art

Welcome to Out of Office, a series that explores the extracurricular activities of entrepreneurs—from passion projects to full-blown side gigs—and why what they do in their downtime helps them level up as business leaders.

When former chef Ellen Marie Bennett founded apron and cookware company Hedley & Bennett in 2012, she felt like she was working 24 hours a day. “I just didn’t stop,” she says. But as her $300 startup grew into a multimillion-dollar apron empire, she realized that in order to better take care of her company and her employees, she needed to start taking better care of herself. 

Bennett is now........

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