The friendship Jillian Mele, ‘05, MBA ‘24, and Kristen Casey, ‘05, built at La Salle University has supported and guided them through their careers, including their newest joint venture, LemonRose Golf.
While LemonRose Golf products started shipping in April, Mele (left) and Casey experienced a milestone moment in January, when they attended the La Salle Baseball First Pitch Dinner. Wearing pieces from their first collection was an easy choice.
Kristen Casey, ‘05, and Jillian Mele, ‘05, MBA ‘24, have gone from being next door neighbors and sharing clothes at La Salle University to creating a new athletic apparel line, and a community, for women golfers.
Casey had looked at a handful of schools before she visited 20th and Olney. After one look at the campus and the Communication Department, she was sold, she said. She quickly realized she’d made the right choice.
“I rarely went home, I just really accepted being away from home and at school,” she said. Casey grew up in South Jersey around 90 minutes away from campus. “I loved the smallness of it; you got to know everybody and be a part of the community.”
In her junior year at La Salle, Casey’s community gained a new person, when Mele transferred to La Salle, wanting to be near to her family after losing someone close to her.
“It was the right place for me with the right people,” Mele said. “And when I say that, I mean from the professors down to the friends I made there.”
A longtime friend of Mele’s was already an Explorer, and listening to her experience was one of the reasons Mele looked to La Salle when deciding where she would complete her education. The size of the campus and the atmosphere also contributed.
“My best friend from high school was in her pledge class,” Mele said about how she and Casey became friends. “When I transferred, Kristen was given no choice.”
Their friendship grew from there, and Mele and Casey were even next-door neighbors in the St. Miguel Townhouses.
“We basically shared all of our clothes,” Casey said. “I don’t know if there was really a distinction between apartments sometimes.”
After they graduated, the pairs’ careers took very different paths, but they still stayed close.
Casey, a communication and art history double major, worked as a media buyer and then a personal stylist.
Communication major Mele went on to have an award-winning career in first local, then national broadcast journalism. In 2023, when she was a national news anchor, Mele decided she wanted to go back to school to earn a Master of Business Administration. Coming back to La Salle was almost inevitable.
“My two years there really made me love it so much that when I wanted to go back to grad school a few years ago, it was one of two schools I reached out to,” Mele said. “I loved my time there and it bought me back for more.”
Mele, who was the speaker at her graduate Commencement ceremony, describes earning her MBA as the most important thing she’s ever done.
“It was the first thing that I did for me, and it changed the trajectory of the rest of my life,” she said. “I know that sounds dramatic, but it gave me the tools that I needed to go forward and have the confidence to start the business that we’re doing right now.”
The two friends had always talked about starting something together, but none of their ideas had ever stuck until a 2024 phone call where Mele suggested golf apparel, a sport which both she and Casey play.
“We’ve always had this dream of doing something, collaborating our two skill sets and bringing something to life. When women’s golf apparel was said, that was the aha moment, that was like yes, this is it, there’s no turning back,” Casey said. “We started sketching that night and never looked back.”
From that conversation, LemonRose Golf was born.
“LemonRose Golf is a women’s golf apparel brand that is very fashion forward, that is way different from anything that is out there right now, and it has a new concept that has never been done in athletic apparel,” Casey said. “It’s very feminine but functional. It has personality and it goes far beyond just the golf course.”
The new concept that Casey and Mele have incorporated in their designs are interchangeable collars for one of the tops and two of the dresses in their first collection, a design that they have a patent pending for. A mock neck or collared shirt is required to play golf, they explained, and having different collars that snap on and off means that women have several options in one.
LemonRose Golf is more than just clothing, though. It’s also a way to create community for women in the predominantly male sport of golf, they explained, adding that they also host events where female players can network and build friendships.
“We want to create a community and we’re already laying the foundation, where women can feel like they have a place where they belong and they’ve got other women that they can either play with or talk to about their intimidations or frustrations, and overcome it together,” Mele said. “So that is kind of the other half of what we’re doing, that confidence and community portion.”
The pair debuted LemonRose Golf at the 2026 PGA Show, held in Orlando, Fla., in January. Although they were apprehensive about the reception, they would get at first, both were happy with how positive it was.
“We did not know how people would respond to this concept,” Mele said. “We believed in it and we loved it, and we were floored at the PGA show how much people loved it.”
There are nearly 2,000 vendors from across the world at the show, they explained, and by the end of the first day, attendees were seeking out the LemonRose Golf booth.
“A true pinch me moment,” Casey said. “Because we had sleepless nights leading up to it. Like, who do we think we are? We’re taking this new concept of women’s apparel into such an established place—the PGA Show—for a sport that is predominantly male-based, who do we think we are? And we were absolutely floored by the response.”
Throughout the whole process, Mele and Casey’s friendship and support of each other has played a big part in their success. Every decision made is mutual, they explained, and they lean on each other’s strengths.
“The way that we balance each other out with my business background now and her styling and fashion background, it’s like chef’s kiss to what we’re doing right now,” Mele said.
They also learn from each other, making sure that they’re both aware of what’s happening in every step of the process.
“We won’t do things single-handedly here because we are such a team, but we know when to pick up the slack, we know when to take the lead,” Mele said. “That’s been a very natural, easy aspect of this that I don’t think you can plan for.”
Casey credits their background at La Salle as one of the contributions to this synergy.
“I think a lot of that comes from—I guess to bring it full circle—the place where we met, the place that built us as friends, that’s why we can support each other and go through so much and have these conversations, and pick each other up when the other one needs it,” she said. “Because we have that friendship first.”
While LemonRose Golf products started shipping in April, Casey and Mele experienced a milestone moment in January, when they attended the La Salle Baseball First Pitch Dinner. Wearing pieces from their first collection was an easy choice.
“I’m back in my alma mater, wearing clothing that we created, that we made, and it was like this full circle moment,” Casey said about the evening. “When you think back to our first days, and living in St. Catherine dorms or being in the townhouses, fast forward 20 something years, if you told me in that moment I would be back at a banquet in clothing that we designed, that we created, it’s just a pinch me moment.”
Looking to the future, beyond just hoping to expand and continue releasing their apparel collections, Casey and Mele hope that LemonRose Golf continues to embrace what makes the brand special: being detail-oriented, building a community for women in golf, and hopefully being seen as a support network for their wearers.
“The apparel, yes, it is the foundation, the first thing we’re doing, but I hope in five years LemonRose Gold is a brand that really does mean confidence and community and friendship,” Mele said.
One of those details that make the brand so special is the personalization of their pieces. Every item of LemonRose apparel is named after an important woman in Mele or Casey’s life.
“Even down to the tiny details, we have something personal in everything we do., Eevery decision we make has a spot in our hearts. I feel like this brand is our hearts and the people that have built us and made us who we are are all a part of it,” Casey said. “I know that’s not going to go away.”
-Naomi Thomas
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