Nobody Goes Solo: John McNamara '13 Returns to Brewster with a Brand and a Message
By Kara McDuffee
On the first Morning Meeting back from spring break, Brewster welcomed home one of its own.
John McNamara '13 returned to campus on Tuesday, March 24 alongside his colleague and close friend John Toracinta for a Q&A panel discussion hosted by three student leaders from the Mental Health Matters Club. It was part homecoming, part entrepreneurship story, and entirely a conversation worth having.
The two met while working together at golf apparel company FootJoy. The friendship that followed eventually became something bigger. In 2019, Toracinta and his wife Sarah launched what began as a hat brand and has since grown into a full-scale apparel line built around a single belief: NOSOLO. Nobody Goes Solo.
The story behind the name is worth telling. On their honeymoon in Croatia, the Toracintas fell into a late-night conversation with a group of strangers. They talked about kindness, shared struggles, and how people from completely different backgrounds still find common ground. By the end of the evening, those strangers were friends. The experience crystallized something the couple had long felt: no matter what you are going through, you are not alone in it. With Sarah's background as a Board-Certified Behavior Analyst and John's experience in product and marketing, the brand came together naturally. NOSOLO donates 20% of all proceeds to the NOSOLO Give Back Foundation to support mental health initiatives around the world.
McNamara also brought something else to campus that morning: a genuine love for the place. He talked about the waffles in Estabrook, Lakes Region lacrosse championships, and rushing the ice after a remarkable goal against Proctor that those who were there have clearly not forgotten. Beyond any single memory, though, what he kept coming back to was the people.
"Best three years of my life," he said. His advice to current students: cherish it. It goes faster than you expect, and the friendships built here are the ones that last.
For Brewster's Mental Health Matters Club, the connection to McNamara’s experience and NOSOLO’s mission was immediate. The idea to bring the brand to campus was first raised in the fall, and the active club, which meets one to two times a week, ran with it. Members Luke Smolan '26 and Max Rusov '26 jumped on an initial Zoom call with McNamara and Toracinta to get things moving. Together, they decided a Morning Meeting Q&A was the right format. From that first conversation to the morning itself, the students drove the event from start to finish.
On the day of, Smolan, Rusov, and Gabi Reynolds ’27 took the stage in Anderson Hall to lead the panel in front of the entire school. They drew out conversation on entrepreneurship, networking, and what it looks like to build something with real purpose. Running through all of it was a more fundamental question: how do you notice when someone around you is struggling, and what do you actually do?
"Having the opportunity to lead the Q&A on stage meant so much to me," Smolan ’26 said. "I was incredibly grateful to help facilitate such an important conversation about mental health. Hearing the stories shared by our NOSOLO guests reminded me that small acts, like checking in with a friend, make a real difference."
After Morning Meeting, the conversation continued in the Grayson Student Center Flex Classroom, where McNamara and Toracinta held an optional discussion for anyone who wanted to come. More than twenty students attended.
Rusov reflected on what drives the club's work in the first place. "It is okay to not be okay. It is okay to ask for help, it is okay to feel the way you are feeling. Most of all, asking for help is not a sign of weakness, but a sign of strength."
For Heather Souther, the club's faculty mentor and Brewster's Counselor of Wellbeing, the morning was a proud one. "I am just so proud of how the club took this on. They did such an amazing job up there on that stage. The feedback from both students and faculty has been overwhelmingly positive."
Smolan noticed the ripple effect too. "The discussion on mental health continued to echo throughout our community following the all-school, showing how powerful our community can be when we are willing to listen and look out for one another."
The clothing is a conversation starter. What happened in Anderson Hall on March 24 was proof of that.
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To learn more about NOSOLO and their mission, visit nosolobrand.com.
