McKenna Braegelmann has been involved in a number of initiatives, including spearheading San Diego softball's mental health awareness game in February. Her most recent project has her rallying her number of friends across several sports at the University of San Diego behind a clothing line called the Words I Wish I Heard Project.
 
"I was reaching out to a company a while back for something completely different and they came back to me with this thing where they were like 'hey, we can create a clothing line for you, where you could donate most of the profits. We will do the whole process, we will do the shipping, deal with customer service' and I was like, ok, absolutely. I already had this vision of what I wanted, because I love all those clothing brand type of things, so they helped me draw it up. [The company is] called 'Shine the Light On' and they are wonderful people to deal with, but what's so cool is that 60% of our profits are going back to other non-profits, which is super exciting and it has had tremendous success."
 
Braegelmann has spread the clothing brand amongst some of her best friends in softball, women's soccer and women's basketball at San Diego and has already sold nearly 200 products in the early start of the project.
 
"We've had such a tremendous success with it, that they want to create more of the clothing line in different designs, different colors. I'm really excited with that and I'm going to bring this one to the team and want us as a team to kind of design something that can be special to us."
 
Despite the struggle she still faces, Braegelemann is grateful for all of the support she's received and wants to assist others who are facing similar issues. When asked about her advice for the countless other athletes who may be dealing with similar issues, Braegelmann left a message of support and hope.
 
"I think the feelings that I had associated with all of this was the sense of feeling alone and that no one was going through what I was going through. I'd honestly just tell them that this moment you're dealing with, the hard moment is going to pass and they always do. I used to hate hearing that, but it is true and don't be afraid to lean on your people, lean on people you trust and it doesn't have to start with telling them your life story or anything, just saying hey, I feel anxious, or hey, I feel kind of weird and just kind of starting that conversation and letting people know how you're feeling to be able to have support and to not be afraid to reach out to your coaches or to someone, because your life is so much bigger than your sport."