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Brett Murphy, '15, has launched a new career as an inventor and author, crediting her legal education at IU McKinney with helping her to make this "leap of faith." Tired of watching her daughter struggle in and out of her leotard when she needed to use the restroom, Murphy designed a children's leotard to address that problem. The new leotard is currently in production, and expected to be ready for distribution by summer 2019. She founded Bittyrina in December 2015.

Murphy worked in finance while attending law school as part of IU McKinney's evening program. After completing her legal education, she worked in a corporate environment before leaving to focus on Bittyrina full time.

Murphy's daughter was about 18 months old when she began taking dance classes. Murphy had danced with a school for over 10 years, another 10 years recreationally, and knew a thing or two about leotards. Calling the ones for children "shrunken adult leotards," she set about creating one to make it easier for parents and children when the child needed to use the restroom. Murphy launched a project on Kickstarter, a crowdfunding tool for creative projects, to raise funds for the development and production. Now, she is eagerly anticipating the launch of the novel garment. Amy Rollins, '13, a classmate of Murphy's, is handling the patent work on the new leotard.

"I have relied on my contacts and relationships from my time at IU McKinney," Murphy said. "There is nothing like a legal education for any goal you wish to pursue. My time at IU McKinney has definitely helped me."

Murphy’s books, coined The Very First Book Series, are aimed at helping children cope with the anxiety of doing something, even something they are looking forward to, for the very first time. Anxiety is something Murphy knows a few things about, too.

"During my 1L year, I learned that I had an anxiety disorder, and what I needed to do to cope with it," Murphy said. "The sooner that we address these issues with children, the sooner we can attack the issue." The books are dedicated to the main character doing something for the first time, exploring those feelings, and what the child can do to prepare so that the event is less unnerving. There are currently three books in the series, with plans for more to come.