Burgers, buns, plates, napkins, and slawsa.  Slawsa?

College Lifestyles had the absolute pleasure of being introduced to this fabulous tailgating condiment, and not only are we drawn to this product because of its fantastic flavor (think coleslaw meets salsa), but the incredible start up of the company founded by a former classy co-ed Julie Busha.

First, let’s talk about Slawsa.  Slawsa a unique cross between a “slaw” and “salsa” that is a great tailgating condiment for hotdogs, brats, burgers, pulled pork and make of the grilling foods that we all love.  It’s fat free, cholesterol-free, gluten-free and contains far less sodium than traditional condiments.  Simply stated, it belongs on your tailgating table.

The Slawsa Team:  Julie Busha and Justin Odom

We are drawn to the humble attitude and classiness of founder Julie Busha.  Busha is a graduate of Winthrop University (Rock Hill, SC, graduated in May, 2000) and went to Winthrop as a scholarship athlete in cross-country/track where she was Academic All-American and held academic scholarships.  She is an Alpha Delta Pi (Zeta Tau chapter, Alpha Class spring 2007) and was the Intramural Chair for 3 years, a Rho Chi and a member of Order of Omega.

An athlete at heart, Julie stated to us, ‘I’m proud that our girls dominated most of the sports we entered throughout my tenure!‘  Classy on the field and in sorority life, she did not let her academics suffer.  ‘I won three departmental awards and I do go back to Winthrop to lecture to business students and have worked on a project with MBA students last winter.’

When discussing the thoughts and ideas behind Slawsa, Julie discussed, ‘I met my husband at Winthrop my sophomore year (he played baseball) and we got married in October 2002.  We’re about a week away from celebrating our 10th year of marriage!  He truly is my best friend and because of him, I was able to take the leap of faith and throw myself into this venture called Slawsa without any guarantees it would be successful.  It’s a big risk.  I left working over 10 years in the NASCAR industry, where most recently, I directed the marketing efforts for Bobby Labonte’s agency…a company I helped him build beginning in 2007.  We have sacrificed my paycheck and a nice chunk of saving to get Slawsa off the ground.  Every day that passes is a little less scary and a little more hopeful.  Slawsa launched just over 10 months ago, we’ve been fortunate enough to get into 3,500 grocery stores nationwide.’

Julie’s humble character is noted in her ‘giving back’ philosophy. ‘Giving back is extremely important to me and I hope that as Slawsa grows, I will be able to give back more to young greek women and my alma mater.  It’s a true blessing to have such strong support from my fellow sisters.  I am the first from my family to graduate from college.’

Julie and the Slawsa team will join College Lifestyles in our ‘Classy Co-Eds Give Back’ December campaign benefiting Feeding America.  Stay tuned to our site on how YOU can join in on this campaign!

Learn more about Slawsa by visiting www.slawsa.com

Disclaimer:  We’d like to thank Julie and the Slawsa team for sending us a product sample.