Sendero founder Hunter Harlow shares his love for Baylor and Waco

What happens when a Baylor geologist makes a career pivot to build an apparel and lifestyle brand? You end up with Sendero Provisions Co. — an outdoor lifestyle and apparel brand offering a modern take on Western wear that’s popular with millennial and Gen Z shoppers.

The geologist-turned-entrepreneur? That’s Hunter Harlow (BS ’10), who thought his love for the outdoors would lead him into the oil and gas industry (hence the geology). Instead, he found his calling with a western wear store in downtown Waco that has since exploded into popular culture, partnering with brands like Whataburger.

And as it turns out, a surprising amount of what Harlow learned in Baylor science classes has transferred over into running an apparel brand.

“What you gain through higher education is you become a self-taught learner, and especially in geosciences and in any kind of STEM, you learn things like pattern recognition and being able to seek experience outside of your own to learn how to do new things,” he said recently in a Baylor Connections interview. “So there are soft skills that geology taught me specifically, and sciences too, like formulating a hypothesis, testing it, your methodology, observations, repeat, conclusions. The scientific method for sure is in a large part of what I do day to day at Sendero, and how I even lead teams.

“I’ve always gravitated to leadership positions. A lot of that budded at Baylor. I can remember being in high school, and even early, early freshman, sophomore year at Baylor, not being able to think critically, not being able to write anything. I’d sit down and just have massive writer’s block. And over the course of my academic career, bookended by Baylor, that changed totally and entirely to where it was just like, now I just sit down and just write straight away… Those leadership skills were definitely fostered through my experience here at Baylor.”

At Baylor, Harlow also discovered a love for Waco — so much so that this is where he’s stayed and built Sendero.

“Waco is special,” he says. “Waco has everything young entrepreneurs dream of — a creative canvas to build something new in a way that hasn’t been done before. Waco offered that 10 years ago, and it offers it today.”

You can hear a little more of what Harlow had to say about Sendero, Baylor and Waco in the video below, and watch his complete Connections interview on Baylor’s YouTube channel.

Sic ’em, Hunter!