By: Samantha Moore
This is the second in a series of stories to celebrate Women’s History Month. We will post a story every Tuesday and Thursday throughout March to celebrate history-making women at Bellarmine.
She was named the “Most Admired Woman- Home Category” by “Today’s Woman’s Magazine,” she is the president and CEO of her own business, is a certified personal trainer, is a behavioral family therapist and is also a psychology professor at Bellarmine.
Alumna Allie Truttmann came back to teach at Bellarmine after receiving a call from Dr. Pam Cartor, associate dean of Bellarmine College of Arts and Sciences. Truttmann graduated from Bellarmine in 2006 with a bachelor’s in psychology and then earned her master’s at the University of Louisville.
“The opportunity to come back and teach at Bellarmine was a no-brainer,” Truttmann said.
She said the teacher-to-student ratio allows her to have personal relationships with her students.
“You really do care about the person as a whole. I want to know what my students are involved in outside of the classroom, like their campus and athletic involvement and what their plans after graduation,” she said.
Truttmann’s students said she cares about them and their success.
“Professor Truttmann is a great professor because it is evident how enthusiastic about her work she is and how passionate she is for her students,” junior Bayley Wade said. “She doesn’t just try to teach her students; she tries to get to know them.”
When Truttmann is not teaching psychology courses, she is busy running her start-up company, Wicked Sheets. Wicked Sheets provides comfort sleep solutions for people suffering from night sweats and hot flashes.
The idea for the bed sheets began after she was diagnosed with hyperhidrosis, a condition of excessive sweating that affects nearly 120 million people worldwide. “I was joking around with my cousin at a family party about cutting up my husband’s golf shirts and sewing them together to make bedding,” Truttmann said.
Truttmann realized that the advanced moisture-wicking fabric that is used to make athletic apparel could be the solution for individuals experiencing night sweats. In 2008, Truttmann started Wicked Sheets, and now the company provides bed sheets, pillow cases and a line specifically for pregnant women and their infants.
Truttmann said she never imaged being an entrepreneur. Prior to starting her own company, she had been working as a behavioral family therapist. She worked at Turning Point for Autism, which was a non-profit organization dedicated to serving families with children diagnosed along the autism spectrum. When Turning Point was later absorbed by the Home of the Innocents, Truttmann continued her work as an Autism Intervention Specialist and helped start the first autism program there.
She then went on to become a certified personal trainer. “I decided to get my license in personal training and medical fitness so that I could work with kids on the spectrum,” Truttmann said.
Truttmann was independently contracted for individual personal training, group training, boot camps and children’s health and wellness programs.
She recognized the growing concern around the fact that many children with autism often struggled with weight issues. “I began to put together a class every weekend at a local gym where children with autism, ADHD and Asperger’s could come with their siblings and participate in specialized sports programs,” Truttmann said.
A lot of parents are afraid to let their kids with these conditions participate in sports because of the risk of getting hurt. “Having the sibling there as additional support would help minimize the risks and ensure that their individual needs were realized and taken care of,” Truttmann said.
Truttmann still incorporates her passion of working with autism patients into Wicked Sheets. “Every Thursday, we bring in young adults with autism to work in the company’s fulfillment center,” Truttmann said.
Truttmann never imagined that this was what she would be doing with her psychology degree. “I knew I always wanted to help people but I did not realize what I could do other than the traditional means of therapy when studying in the field of psychology,” Truttmann said. “I did not realize that there were different mediums other than being a psychologist. I realized that products and services could also help people. So I just got really passionate about that and helping others in those ways.”
Bellarmine has been very fortunate to have someone like Professor Truttmann come back and contribute to the university. “Allie is so willing to do what is needed for Bellarmine,” Dr. Cartor said. “She shows up whenever she is needed and she is willing to speak at any event on campus. We are so lucky that we are something she chooses to support.”
Truttmann consistently brings a delightful and inspiring presence to campus. “I’ve never met a person so excited to start their day at 8 a.m.,” Wade said. “But her energy is infectious and makes me exited to start my day too.”
Cartor was Truttmann’s professor and honors thesis supervisor when she was a student at Bellarmine. “To see her mature but still keep that essence of a spunky, energetic and light of a person has been so touching,” Cartor said. “She is just a beautiful human being.”
Not only did Truttmann participate in the Honor’s Program Bellarmine, but she was also a member of the women’s soccer team.
Bellarmine has always had a special place in Truttmann’s heart. “I knew that I wanted Bellarmine to be a part of my wedding,” Truttmann said. “I actually had a surprise wedding in Bellarmine’s chapel. I showed up to the reception afterward in my dress and announced to everyone that I was now a married woman.”
The relationships that Truttmann has with her students are truly meaningful. “You know that if you’re taught by her you have more than a teacher, you have a friend,” Wade said.