Influential Women Features Morgan Patterson: At 68, A Former ER Nurse Invented And Patented A Skort For Women Outdoors
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — After a 35-year career as an ER nurse, Life Flight paramedic, Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner, and hospice professional, Morgan Patterson took on a familiar outdoor challenge for women: finding a way to relieve themselves without unnecessary exposure. At 68, with no design or manufacturing background, she started cutting apart skorts at her dining room table. Today, she is the founder and CEO of Cover Yer Assets, a Made in USA women’s outdoor apparel company, and the inventor of the newly patented Stealth Skort.
The idea began at 60, during her 500-mile walk along Spain’s Camino de Santiago. On an open mountainside with no restroom and no cover, Patterson had just squatted down when a family of five came around the bend. She laughs about it now, but she came home with a question: Why should women accept exposure as the price of enjoying the outdoors?
Her answer is the Stealth Skort, a performance skort with a concealed opening in the shorts. Paired with her Vaya briefs, which unsnap for outdoor relief, the design lets women keep their clothing on. It also features four functional pockets, UPF 50 sun protection, and fabric made from recycled water bottles. Designed for hiking, kayaking, gardening, travel, and golf, it reflects Patterson’s mission to remove unnecessary vulnerability so women can move with greater freedom, safety, ease, and self-trust.
That mission carries forward the work she began in health care. Throughout her nursing career, Patterson cared for people facing injury, trauma, loss, and uncertainty. As a Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner, she brought compassion and advocacy to patients during some of their most vulnerable moments. As a hospice professional and health educator, she supported both families and future caregivers.
After walking the Camino, Patterson spent five years building high school certified nursing assistant programs before retiring at 65. Three years later, she began working on the invention that would become the foundation of Cover Yer Assets.
Starting a company meant becoming a beginner again. Patterson taught herself the fundamentals of product development, sourcing, manufacturing, marketing, and business operations. She developed her business through the Florida State University Jim Moran Institute’s LEAP program, drawing on her experience as a nurse and educator while learning an unfamiliar industry.
Manufacturing in the United States and using recycled materials have brought higher costs and difficult production decisions. Patterson remains committed to those choices as she works to build a sustainable business. Her company also pledges 10% of profits to support clean water and sanitation initiatives for women around the world.
For Patterson, one of the greatest challenges has been balancing growth with the values that led her to start the company. Each decision—from construction and materials to pricing and production—must serve both the women wearing her products and the business’s ability to keep making them.
Her advice to women considering a new direction is rooted in her own experience: stay willing to learn, serve others, and begin before you have every answer. Starting at 68 required patience, persistence, and the willingness to ask for help. Earning a patent marks a milestone in a process that began with a pair of scissors and an unanswered question.
Beyond her business, Patterson is a minister, spiritual coach, author, and speaker. Her newly published second book, 52 Weeks to Santiago — The Road Is In You, brings her Camino journey into print. Available on Amazon, it shares reflections from the walk that helped inspire both her invention and a new chapter in her life.
Through her writing and speaking, Patterson explores the connections among caregiving, self-trust, and the courage to begin again. Her years in emergency care, her spiritual practice, and her experience on the Camino continue to shape the work she brings to women today.
Outside work, she treasures time with her husband and family, long walks, camping, and travel. The outdoors remains a source of adventure and possibility—the same possibility she wants more women to experience with confidence and ease.
What began as an awkward moment on a mountainside became a patented invention, a company, and a story Patterson now shares on the page and from the stage. Her next chapter began at 68, with the belief that a familiar problem deserved a better answer.
Learn More about Morgan Patterson:
Through her Influential Women profile: https://influentialwomen.com/connect/morgan-patterson or through her website, https://www.coveryourassets.com/
Influential Women
Influential Women provides a platform where women from all backgrounds can connect, share their perspectives, and create content that empowers themselves and others. Through storytelling, thought leadership, and creative expression, Influential Women amplifies voices that inspire change.
Editorial Team
Influential Women
Legal Disclaimer:
EIN Presswire provides this news content "as is" without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the author above.
