Day: September 14, 2021

Female Founders: Beth Bronfman of ‘View The Agency’ On The Five Things You Need To Thrive and…

Female Founders: Beth Bronfman of ‘View The Agency’ On The Five Things You Need To Thrive and Succeed as a Woman Founder

An Interview With Candice Georgiadis

The Power to Overcome Self Doubt: Know that if you are invited to have a seat at the table, someone important feels that your point of view is important too. I’ve had some of the best surprises of my career when I pushed myself through a moment of doubt. Early in my career, I was doing an ad campaign for a luxury jewelry company, and they asked us to put on a major fashion show. At the time, I had no experience doing anything like this, but I pushed through my doubt and enthusiastically agreed. The event turned out to be a great success (and confidence booster) and I’m so glad I didn’t let fear hold me back.

As a part of our series about “Why We Need More Women Founders”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Beth Bronfman.

As Founder and Managing Partner of View The Agency, Beth Bronfman is known for her hands-on approach to developing revenue-rich advertising, marketing and retail programs for luxury clients and top-tier businesses. Prior to forming View, she co-owned LBLD Advertising with Peter Lubalin and Kevin Downey. Previously, Beth was VP of Advertising at Macy’s during the retail giant’s greatest period of profit generation and expansive growth.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit more. Can you tell us a bit about your “backstory”? What led you to this particular career path?

I started on my path at Emerson College, where I majored in mass communications. After college, my first job was in radio, writing copy for weather and traffic in Metro NY, which I enjoyed, but soon realized radio wasn’t the right fit for me. I wanted something with more reasonable hours (waking up at 4:00am every day for radio was really having a negative impact on my social life!) that aligned with my skillset and experience. Since my skillset was copywriting, I decided to give retail a try, and got a job as a copywriter for Lane Bryant — and the rest was history! Eventually, I made it to the role of VP of Advertising at Macy’s, where I served in that capacity for five years until someone came along and made me an offer I couldn’t refuse — to fund me and a partner to set up my own agency. I said, “why not!”, accepted his offer and that’s how I came to run my first company.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began leading your company?

The most interesting thing that happened to me since I founded my agency is when WPP — one of the world’s largest advertising companies — tried to buy my company. Though I ultimately declined, this (unsolicited) offer from a major conglomerate was real affirmation that I had really built something valuable and unique. Though the letter of agreement outlining how much money I’d get for selling my company was enticing, the validation I felt from being courted by such a huge company made me realize that I couldn’t sell. I had proof that all my past efforts were worthwhile and that I was on the right path, and I didn’t want to give up the freedom, creativity and culture that comes with being an entrepreneur, now that I finally knew I was doing (mostly) everything right.

Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

Early on in my career, I was recommended to a German Cyberknife company who was looking to partner with an advertising agency for a campaign. If you’re not familiar, a Cyberknife is a tool used to surgically remove tumors, and in this particular case, brain tumors. I was in a meeting with their team, and one of the guys asked me if I’ve ever done advertising for a healthcare tool before. Without a moment’s hesitation and with full confidence I responded, “we can advertise anything, it’s not like it’s brain surgery!” I quickly realized what I had said (we were talking about brain surgery after all) and laughed it off, but the Cyberknife company representatives didn’t think it was funny at all. I think other people might have been embarrassed if they had been in my position, but in that moment, I had a realization — even though I was sure we could put together a great advertising campaign for their product, this would never be the right kind of client for us because we didn’t get each other. Great partnerships are built on mutual understanding, and at the end of the day, business is all about relationships, so even if though I could advertise their product, it doesn’t mean that I should. It was this experience that really cemented my philosophy that in business, you need to be honest with yourself and do what’s right for you and your company, even if that means not taking on a client.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?

I believe that it’s critical to have a really strong group of advisors who you can count on. For me, that group consists of my fellow members and board members of WPO, the Women Presidents’ Organization, and C200, a global organization for women business leaders. For me, WPO was my business education — though I had been a successful advertising executive, I didn’t have an MBA, and was looking to fill those gaps in my learning. Being among the women of WPO brought in the business acumen that I needed and really helped me get my business off the ground. By being part of WPO, I was able to build a team of businesspeople I could rely on, use as a sounding board, and grow with.

Joining and becoming a board member of C200 allowed me to not only expand my network, but to add another layer of depth to my learning because where WPO is primarily entrepreneurs, C200 is made up of corporate executives, so I began to understand business from this perspective as well. The women of C200 have impeccable business acumen, and many are among the very best in the world at what they do. In ways that are both minor and monumental, the members of both organizations have made me a better person than I ever could have been alone.

I got some invaluable insight from this cohort about 10 years ago when my business partner was retiring. Our company was going through some major changes and the big conglomerate (mentioned previously) wanted to buy us. It was an exciting prospect, but I wasn’t sure if it was the right move. My husband, accountant, and lawyer were immensely helpful, but the advice I needed extended beyond facts and figures — I needed to bring in people with a different perspective. I needed to talk it through with other business owners and leaders, brainstorm different scenarios for how it might play out, and think about how my happiness could be impacted. In the end, I chose not to sell. It was the right decision, and I’m honestly not sure if I would have made it on my own. Their support was life-changing, and I’m beyond grateful that I still own my firm today.

I’ve found my people. The best advice I could ever give you is to find yours — and to hold onto them!

Ok, thank you for that. Let’s now jump to the primary focus of our interview. According to this EY report, only about 20 percent of funded companies have women founders. This reflects great historical progress, but it also shows that more work still has to be done to empower women to create companies. In your opinion and experience what is currently holding back women from founding companies?

I think that our society and the way that many women are brought up (historically) is at least partially to blame for holding women back from becoming entrepreneurs and founding companies. For centuries, girls have been taught that their primary role and responsibility is to raise and care for their families, while the boys are taught to be the breadwinners, and often encouraged to be entrepreneurs from an early age. Women then carry this mindset into adulthood and unless they are lucky enough to come across an advocate (or Rabbi as I call them!) who encourages them to go against societal norms and take the risk to become an entrepreneur, in can be hard to break out of that mentality.

Thankfully, in recent years there has been more of an emphasis on women working, earning money and being self-supporting (most of which was advocated for by women), but the expectation that they also raise children and support their families emotionally and socially has not gone away. Starting and maintaining your own company can be akin to giving birth and raising a child, becoming its own full-time job, so until women no longer feel the pressure to take on the lion’s share of the work when it comes to taking care of kids, the home, the family’s social life, etc., it’s unlikely we’ll see a huge influx of women business owners.

Can you help articulate a few things that can be done as individuals, as a society, or by the government, to help overcome those obstacles?

I believe it has to start with education — both at home and in school — as early in a child’s life as possible. Teachers, parents, grandparents, and role models all have to start from day 1 with promoting equality. They must instill the belief in all children that they can be anything in this world that they want and that no difference — whether that be gender, race, ethnicity, religion, disability, etc.- should disqualify someone or hold them back from pursuing that dream.

This might be intuitive to you as a woman founder, but I think it will be helpful to spell this out. Can you share a few reasons why more women should become founders?

I strongly believe that if you’re capable of being the master of your own ship, why not? Women have so much to gain by becoming business owners and I think that many of the attributes and skillsets that women possess actually make them more suitable to leadership. Whenever I meet or mentor a woman who is considering entrepreneurship but is on the fence, I always ask them, “What’s the worst that can happen?” If you think about it, there’s no downside. You can always go back to working in your field, but this way, you never have to wake up one day and say, “what if I had taken that risk?” I feel certain that once they see the flexibility, creativity, and freedom that you can gain from owning your own business, no woman will want to go back to working for someone else.

What are the “myths” that you would like to dispel about being a founder? Can you explain what you mean?

There are so many! Some of the top myths I’d like to dispel are:

You can’t have it all: I do think you can have it all without having to work 24/7. You can understand and achieve balance, you just need to learn to allocate your time better.
It’s a lonely road to the top: If you connect with like-minded people and ask for help, it certainly does not have to be a lonely road and once you become successful, there will be people who not only cheer on your success but continue to advocate for your ongoing growth.
Only the smartest people become company founders and CEO’s: You don’t have to be the smartest in the room, just smart enough to know you need to hire people smarter than yourself!
You always have the answer: It’s not a weakness to say you don’t know — Even as a CEO you won’t have the answer to everything. It’s fine to say “I don’t know…BUT, I will find out.” I think the most valuable people are not those who claim they know everything, but those who can admit they don’t have the answer but are going to do the research and find it.
And finally…That women aren’t good leaders or aren’t as business savvy because we are too emotional. I believe we are better employers, leaders and entrepreneurs because of our emotional intelligence and ability to see the personhood of our employees and clients, not just their contributions or shortcomings as workers.

Is everyone cut out to be a founder? In your opinion which specific traits increase the likelihood that a person will be a successful founder and what type of person should perhaps seek a “regular job” as an employee? Can you explain what you mean?

I think that anyone can become a founder, but that certain personality traits will help set apart those that are meant to be founders/company leaders, and those that are better suited as followers or employees. One is not better than the other, but I believe that those with the below traits will thrive as founders:

Resilient
Even-tempered
A great collaborator
Exceptional listener
Honest
Kind
Authentic
Flexible
An ability to learn from mistakes and move on (it’s actually good to have hiccups along the way)
Willingness and desire to learn everyday

Ok super. Here is the main question of our interview. Based on your opinion and experience, what are the “Five Things You Need To Thrive and Succeed as a Woman Founder?” (Please share a story or example for each.)

The Power to Overcome Self Doubt: Know that if you are invited to have a seat at the table, someone important feels that your point of view is important too. I’ve had some of the best surprises of my career when I pushed myself through a moment of doubt. Early in my career, I was doing an ad campaign for a luxury jewelry company, and they asked us to put on a major fashion show. At the time, I had no experience doing anything like this, but I pushed through my doubt and enthusiastically agreed. The event turned out to be a great success (and confidence booster) and I’m so glad I didn’t let fear hold me back.
An Ego-free Approach: Focus on the task at hand and the greater good, never on your own ego. When you do this, you will be seen as a partner and an advisor — which is critical to long term success. This is a lesson I learned long before becoming an entrepreneur, back when I was a young girl. My father used to work in the Empire State Building, and one day I came to visit him at work and when I stepped into his office, I loudly announced who I was (my father’s daughter), wanting everyone to know that I was an important visitor. When my father heard this, he quickly pulled me inside and immediately reprimanded me for being so self-important, teaching me that the work he was doing wasn’t about him, but the clients and the efforts of everyone in that office.
An Altruistic Streak: As you grow in your own career always look for ways to help others, especially those women (and men) who may not have an advocate or a mentor.
A Willingness to Ask for (and Give!) Help: Leverage your network, create strategic alliances and never be afraid to reach out to your contacts for help when you need it or offer help to someone who needs it.
A “Long Game” Strategy: It isn’t about skimming along the surface, absorbing the superficial essentials, and collecting a check. It’s about a deep dive. Having a depth of knowledge of your client’s business and industry they never expected you to have. Finding pockets of opportunity they have overlooked. It’s about creating a trusting, cooperative, forward-thinking relationship that builds your client’s business and, as a result of that success, builds yours.

How have you used your success to make the world a better place?

First off, I believe that no matter what level of success you may have achieved, you should always put in work to help others. For me, this has taken the form of mentoring and lifting up other entrepreneurs, particularly female entrepreneurs. The birth of my niece decades ago inspired me to get involved with mentoring younger women, but over the years, I’ve also mentored people of all ages, including those who were older than me! People who lost their job, were considering a career change, etc. it’s important to recognize that people of all ages and career stages need support, and I like to help anyone who is looking for growth, whether that be in business or emotionally.

You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good for the greatest number of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger.

As I previously mentioned, I’d like to inspire a movement of educational improvements around equality — across schools, family structures, religious organizations and beyond. We’ve made some great progress in this regard in the last few years, but we still have a long way.

We are very blessed that some very prominent names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this if we tag them.

Mary Barra, the CEO of General Motors.

Thank you for these fantastic insights. We greatly appreciate the time you spent on this.

Female Founders: Beth Bronfman of ‘View The Agency’ On The Five Things You Need To Thrive and… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Female Founders: Kathy Vegh Hughes Of Cutest Coops On The Five Things You Need To Thrive and…

Female Founders: Kathy Vegh Hughes Of Cutest Coops On The Five Things You Need To Thrive and Succeed as a Woman Founder

An Interview With Candice Georgiadis

Everything happens for a reason! This is one is huge for me. Every step I’ve taken and every decision I’ve made has led me to where I am today, and if one thing had happened differently, maybe Cutest Coops wouldn’t exist! You have to trust that any setbacks you encounter are just stepping stones that are helping to guide you towards the right path. Keep things in perspective and use any challenges as opportunities to pivot and do things differently!

As a part of our series about “Why We Need More Women Founders”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Kathy Vegh Hughes.

Kathy Vegh Hughes is a mom, lifelong entrepreneur and Founder and Head Hen of Cutest Coops. Cutest Coops is Kathy’s third successful venture. Kathy is a graduate of Allegheny College and got her MBA from the University of Baltimore.

I always knew I was an entrepreneur. At a young age, I would sell anything… I sold candy, neon necklaces and even parking spots in our driveway on the 4th of July! I like to think that my professional path has been a culmination of both nature and nurture. My father, an immigrant from Budapest, Hungary, had a small business that I watched him build during my youth. As I was completing my MBA, my father asked if I would “temporarily” come help him with his company since he was getting older and didn’t have reliable help. As a loyal first-generation American, I very rarely said no to my parents. The family business was a gameroom retail company that I then led for 19 years and grew to nearly 10 times its original size. During this time, I learned about consumer goods, product procurement, hiring, accounting, marketing, merchandising, inventory management, etc. It was a grind.

Toward the end of our family business, my personal life was also evolving… including the addition of our first flock of 3 chickens for my daughter’s third birthday. We followed the typical new chicken keeper’s journey and purchased a small coop online, which looked fine in pictures but lacked quality in person. We found that our love for our flock was very real, so we set out to find a quality coop for our feathered family members and we couldn’t find what we were looking for! Thanks to my background in home goods I decided to design my own, and about a year later I noticed that the trend of chicken keeping was growing. The coops on the market were just not the caliber of home that I believed chickens deserved, which is ultimately what led me to launch Cutest Coops!

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began leading your company?

Let’s be honest, I design and build luxury chicken coops… everything I do is interesting and most of the time hilarious!! I will say that one of my most surprising conversations with a client was when they told me that one of the reasons for their Cutest Coop purchase was that the husband is a famous lead singer and missed being on stage (due to Covid) so he planned to sing to his chickens from the porch of his coop! I love that story and that client!

Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

The funniest mistake I made when I first started was the way in which I introduced the concept of luxury chicken coops to the various Amish builders I was contemplating working with. I would describe the type of lifestyle I was trying to achieve for my clients, and they simply looked back at me in total shock. It was then that I realized that they were also chicken keepers, but they ate them, and I named them. It was certainly a reminder about the importance of perspective!!

I have had very positive influences in my life, including my parents, my grandfather, my husband, and some key mentors, but no one has helped me like my miracle, my 8-year-old daughter. You see, ever since becoming a mother I have viewed my role in life very differently. I see myself as the most important role model my daughter will ever have, therefore failure is simply not an option for me. I told her the other day that someone emailed me asking if I wanted to sell the company, and I was so curious to hear her reaction. Well, she quickly responded, “Mommy, why would you sell now? You have so much more room to grow!” Point being, the example I’m setting is fostering a growth mindset in my child, and that is motivation enough for me to continue working and building Cutest Coops!

Let me start off by stating that I don’t believe being a founder is for everyone, man or woman. My viewpoint on this topic is slightly unique, in that I truly believe I had no option as I am a born entrepreneur. To me, building businesses is like oxygen, it is a non-negotiable for who I am and what makes me excited about life. From a more societal perspective, I do think we are failing our young girls by not talking about being a founder as an option and not giving them enough visible female leaders to emulate. As more women become founders, it is my hope that others will naturally follow. It really is no different than the path of a family with three generations of doctors… It will take time and more moms like me showing their girls that they can pave their own way!

Can you help articulate a few things that can be done as individuals, as a society, or by the government, to help overcome those obstacles?

I think the biggest obstacle to women becoming founders of companies is perspective. Women are truly the superheroes of our society. We raise our children, care for our peers and oftentimes the elderly, proving that we can balance it all. I wish more women believed in themselves when it comes to business, because what they don’t realize is that life has given them all the tools necessary to succeed in many aspects of entrepreneurship. They are nimble, agile, compassionate, and so much more. The rest can be learned.

This might be intuitive to you as a woman founder but I think it will be helpful to spell this out. Can you share a few reasons why more women should become founders?

Women should become founders for several reasons, in my humble opinion. Let’s start with the fact that women control nearly 80% of discretionary spending, yet most products and services are created and delivered to us by men. Additionally, women are exceptional multi-taskers and problem-solvers. Both are qualities that are imperative to be successful as an entrepreneur.

What are the “myths” that you would like to dispel about being a founder? Can you explain what you mean?

I believe that one of the most confusing topics about becoming a founder is education. I will admit, I am highly educated, I have my MBA and I also completed a year of law school, however I learned more by doing. I would argue it is vital to have a basic understanding of topics such as accounting and marketing, but the truth is, the best way to learn how to start a business is baptism by fire. I think way too many young people today are unwilling to do the work, get dirty and make the sacrifices necessary to succeed. A fancy education is a great starting point, but that is all it is. There is no shortcut to avoid the hard work, long hours and unwavering dedication it takes to be a successful entrepreneur.

Is everyone cut out to be a founder? In your opinion, which specific traits increase the likelihood that a person will be a successful founder and what type of person should perhaps seek a “regular job” as an employee? Can you explain what you mean?

I 100% do not believe that everyone is cut out to be a founder, and although I am not the expert on this topic, but during my own professional transition in life I wrote down a list of my needs so I could better judge what to do next. That basic, yet insightful list included the following: I need to be responsible. I need to be creative. I need to lead. I need to be a role model. I need forward movement. I need to be focused. I need to be respected. I need to be constantly challenged. As I reviewed my own list, I thought to myself, “I need to be an entrepreneur.”

Ok super. Here is the main question of our interview. Based on your opinion and experience, what are the “Five Things You Need To Thrive and Succeed as a Woman Founder?” (Please share a story or example for each.)

1. Believe in Yourself. A founder is a founder, no matter the gender. This question is honestly a reflection of why so many women do not elect to become founders, they simply don’t view it as an option. But women are no less qualified — and in many ways are more qualified — than their male counterparts, so don’t let outdated notions of gender roles stand in your way.

2. If you don’t make mistakes, you are not trying hard enough! All too often, people spend so much time trying to perfect something that they miss the opportunity to just going for it! I have made many mistakes in my life that have ultimately led to the biggest wins. Honestly, if you never get off the starting line, you have already lost, so it’s better to take the leap and learn from any mistakes than to be too afraid to even try.

3. Know your audience! Keep your target audience in your mind and heart with every decision you make for your business. For me, this is easy, because I build luxury chicken coops for chicken keepers and homesteaders like me! But no matter what product or service you’re offering your customers, make sure you have their needs in mind every step of the way.

4. Mind over matter! There’s no sugar coating this: being an entrepreneur is hard. It’s a constant grind and requires that you constantly give everything you’ve got and then some. At the end of the day, it can feel like you’ve taken two steps forward and five steps back, and your to-do list never ends. If you’re going to survive and thrive, you need to be willing to push past all of the challenges and remember why you’re doing this. Keeping that goal in mind will help you to push through the worst days and find success on the other side.

5. Everything happens for a reason! This is one is huge for me. Every step I’ve taken and every decision I’ve made has led me to where I am today, and if one thing had happened differently, maybe Cutest Coops wouldn’t exist! You have to trust that any setbacks you encounter are just stepping stones that are helping to guide you towards the right path. Keep things in perspective and use any challenges as opportunities to pivot and do things differently!

How have you used your success to make the world a better place?

When I set out to start Cutest Coops, my entire goal was to make the world a better place. From a micro level, I wanted to employ and empower as many women as possible. Currently, all of my contractors and staff are women. It is my personal mission to help fulfill their professional goals while allowing for flexibility in their personal lives. On a macro level, our products certainly make a huge difference to the pets they house, keeping animals both safe and healthy! The unexpected — and incredibly positive — benefit of Cutest Coops is the amount of happiness we get to spread to our clients, which has been especially rewarding during these challenging times throughout the pandemic. Our clients are typically working mothers dealing with a lot of stress and anxiety and our coops tend to serve as their place of reprieve. There are many known mental health benefits to having pets, but our products go a step further by giving our clients a peaceful place to call their own.

Changing the world with a movement is a huge dream, but my focus is bringing happiness for the community that I serve. That’s what Cutest Coops is all about, building happy places for people and their pets. Going a step further, I believe that the work I’m doing is bringing families together and allowing them to connect in a way that many don’t. Thanks to the technology that makes our lives so easy, quality time without a screen is incredibly precious, and I want to bring that connection to as many families as I can. Never underestimate the power of happy, connected people, especially kids. You never know, they might be the next ones to change the world.

I have been very fortunate in my life to be surrounded by many influential people. However, I do have a short list of people I would love to spend a bit of time with, and that list includes Barbara Corcoran, Sara Blakely and Reese Witherspoon. I have an immense amount of respect for what these ladies have accomplished while remaining humble, grateful and genuine.

Thank you for these fantastic insights. We greatly appreciate the time you spent on this.

Female Founders: Kathy Vegh Hughes Of Cutest Coops On The Five Things You Need To Thrive and… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Female Founders: Emily Castles of Boundless On The Five Things You Need To Thrive and Succeed as a…

Female Founders: Emily Castles of Boundless On The Five Things You Need To Thrive and Succeed as a Woman Founder

An Interview With Candice Georgiadis

Embrace imposter syndrome. When it’s not holding you back, the level of care and attention that imposter syndrome can bring will make you better at your job. People who worry about whether they are doing a good job or not are often the ones doing the best job. I’d prefer to worry and care a lot about, for example, our customer’s data security than to make a mistake and screw it up because I haven’t cared enough.

As a part of our series about “Why We Need More Women Founders”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Emily Castles.

CTO Emily Castles started her professional life as a Civil Engineer but moved to software 10 years ago in search of a more flexible working life. She has managed distributed teams her entire career, previously serving as Head of Engineering at Bizimply.

I studied Civil Engineering in college and worked as a water and wastewater engineer for most of my 20s, travelling the world in between jobs. I enjoyed the varied projects that I worked on but I hated where I worked — business parks, building sites, the less interesting parts of the world. I also have an aversion to being answerable to office hours. Commuting to work gives me a knot in my stomach and I’ve always struggled to work to the boundaries of a traditional workplace.

When the financial crisis hit in the late 00s and I was made redundant from my Civil job, I took the opportunity to start a new career that let me have more freedom. I gravitate towards learning technical skills so, while I thought about areas like business and management, ultimately, I went back to college to study computer science. I’ve been working in the world of startups ever since as it ticks so many boxes for me — freedom, job satisfaction, fast moving, constant learning. I cut my teeth as a software engineer with a consultancy in Dublin for 3.5 years before embarking on my remote working life with Bizimply — who were open-minded and kind about my needs at a time when remote working wasn’t that accepted in Ireland. I’ve split my time between Dublin and France ever since.

When I first spoke to Dee (CEO) about Boundless in early 2019, I really didn’t intend to be involved at founder level. In fact, even though she was hinting in that direction I wanted to be an individual contributor for a few years to focus on technical work. I figured I’d build some software for Boundless instead. However a few months and a couple of workshops later, I couldn’t resist. The concept of the company is so close to my heart and having the opportunity to build a remote company the way that I wanted it to be was irresistible.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began leading your company?

We started Boundless as a remote-first company not long before the pandemic began and we were committed to this way of working from the outset. However, working from home during the pandemic is not a good representation of what it’s like to be remote-first. None of us anticipated not meeting our colleagues or working from kitchen tables. It’s been a rough period for, well, everyone.

Despite these difficulties, the pandemic is bringing about a shift in global working trends that is so intriguing to watch. Large corporations are ditching the office and governments are introducing new remote working legislations: the face of work has changed irreversibly. There is an opportunity now for employees to drive change and put their personal lives before work in ways that wasn’t possible before. I can’t wait to see that movement develop and grow.

Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

Working remotely definitely comes with its challenges at times! Our company runs payroll monthly on behalf of all our customers. I was on vacation during our first ever payroll run and I really took ‘work from anywhere’ to a new level. My intention was to transfer funds for our very first paychecks from the beach. However, inevitably there are network problems whenever you have to do something very important away from your desk. I ended up retreating to the top of the sand dunes, phone held high to maximise coverage and made the transfers using my laptop whenever the network would allow. Thankfully everyone got paid. The lesson? Don’t mess around when it comes to paying people accurately and on time.

Rodhan Hickey — CTO during my time at Bizimply. Rodhan joined at a time when I had been running the engineering team with sketchy experience for a little too long. I was craving someone more experienced to work with. While working with him, I picked up so many technical and managerial skills from him that really set me up for moving onto this role. Rodhan also was the one in my ear when I moved on from Bizimply telling me ‘you should talk to Dee’. He’s always shown belief in me, even if I didn’t have that belief in myself at the time.

Let’s now jump to the primary focus of our interview. According to this EY report, only about 20 percent of funded companies have women founders. This reflects great historical progress, but it also shows that more work still has to be done to empower women to create companies. In your opinion and experience what is currently holding back women from founding companies?

Women are less likely to apply for jobs unless they match close to 100% of the listed requirements. No one writes a list of requirements for starting a company; you define the job spec for yourself along the way. The unknown nature of the job definitely plays a big part in lower participation rates in my opinion.

Can you help articulate a few things that can be done as individuals, as a society, or by the government, to help overcome those obstacles?

Having been in this position for 2 years now, I know that I would be way more likely to do it again. For me, I have learned on the job that I am exactly the right person for my job. With that in mind, government schemes and educational programs that incentivise young people to set up business early would go a long way towards helping.

This might be intuitive to you as a woman founder but I think it will be helpful to spell this out. Can you share a few reasons why more women should become founders?

I cannot describe the levelling up that this job has brought about in me. Regardless of what happens in the future, I have gained more ambition, skills and experience than I ever imagined possible. If you’re choosing between, e.g. an MBA and founding a company, found a company and fast track instead.

What are the “myths” that you would like to dispel about being a founder? Can you explain what you mean?

Founders are not special unicorns. There’s a lot of hype about founders and founding teams that paints, in my opinion, an inaccurate and frankly unachievable picture of what it is to be a founder. One might get the impression that you need to be a master of everything before you start: thought-leadership, marketing, technology, productivity, finance, the list goes on. Yes, you need to be able to turn your hand to many things and be willing to learn but the reality is, a founder is just a person who shows up to their job every day, works hard and consistently executes.
You don’t have to live on the breadline. Funded founders should take a reasonable salary and any investor who disagrees with this should be questioned. You cannot achieve at your job if you are spending energy worrying about your personal finances.

The most important traits that I have identified so far are:

Ability to execute. Ideas are plentiful but there is a lot of hard graft and plain “showing up” involved in getting a business off the ground.
Ability to learn quickly. In the early days of running a company (and I’m sure the later too — I hope to learn that part), every week brings up something new that I need to learn about.
Comfort with uncertainty. I laugh at this one as it has been on all of our job specs since day one but I’ll admit that it has only truly sunk in recently for me. Being part of a startup means that things are always broken and you simply have to live with that fact and spend your energy figuring out which broken thing is the next broken thing you should fix.

Based on your opinion and experience, What are the “Five Things You Need To Thrive and Succeed as a Woman Founder?” (Please share a story or example for each.)

Embrace imposter syndrome. When it’s not holding you back, the level of care and attention that imposter syndrome can bring will make you better at your job. People who worry about whether they are doing a good job or not are often the ones doing the best job. I’d prefer to worry and care a lot about, for example, our customer’s data security than to make a mistake and screw it up because I haven’t cared enough
…but shed imposter syndrome 🙂 There are times you need to stop giving a *#!& and get on without things being perfect. I used to prepare deeply for everything: every interview, board meeting, investor pitch. At some point, this just became impossible to sustain and I learned to trust that I have the ability to do these things without over-preparing each time.
Saying No. I seriously doubt that this is the experience of all women, but my Irish Catholic, convent-school upbringing has strongly instilled the ‘Be A Good Girl’ narrative in my brain. This has certainly caused me problems along the way and something I still work on daily as I find it very counterintuitive to disappoint people — and it’s impossible not to disappoint people in this role. I have to try extra hard to ensure that I control my own time by saying No.
Know your weaknesses. Knowing and being comfortable with your weaknesses empowers you to fix them, head on, in a way that works for you — see Saying No above.
Find other founders. Speaking to others who you like and respect, and who you can talk to openly about the challenges is a lifesaver during stressful times.

How have you used your success to make the world a better place?

Well I have to say this, but I do believe that Boundless makes the world a better place. It empowers companies to treat their employees equally. It allows employees the opportunity to access jobs all over the world and to shape their lives in the way that they want to.

Anything that challenges how we work is interesting to me as it can impact so many. The recent acceleration of the remote working trend on the back of the pandemic will, in the long run, empower so many to change their relationship with work and allow them more freedom to shape their lives in a way that works for them.

Thank you for these fantastic insights. We greatly appreciate the time you spent on this.

Female Founders: Emily Castles of Boundless On The Five Things You Need To Thrive and Succeed as a… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Female Founders: Shamananda On The Five Things You Need To Thrive and Succeed as a Woman Founder

An Interview With Candice Georgiadis

Accountability. Know what you’re creating and have the courage to look at it closely. That recognition is the only way you’ll have the opportunity to change it into something that works better. Continue to find better ways to do everything using accountability, and don’t be attached to doing anything a certain way. Be flexible.

As a part of our series about “Why We Need More Women Founders”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Shamananda.

Shamananda is a master shaman, mentor and counselor specializing in transformational enlightenment through spiritual leadership, energy healing, holistic therapy, and other lifestyle guidance. She is the founder of shamanic transmutative healing, a modality that effectively realigns the ethereal body back to its divine archetype. She offers a wide range of shamanistic services to fit each unique life journey. She also specializes in spiritual guidance, shamanistic/guru and enlightenment training and services, sound healing events, spiritual retreats and hosts healing or speaking engagements.

When I was young, I knew that I was different. I was highly intuitive, and I could perform energy healing with my hands. I could take people’s headaches away, and I could take people’s suffering away emotionally. I could change the energy in a room just by making minor shifts. It was only a matter of time before I became a Shaman, but it took a lot of interpersonal work to get there.

I was depressed, and I had OCD that was debilitating. I also carried the burden of past life trauma that occurred at a very young age. To survive and have a “normal” life, I decided it was time to fight for it. That is when I truly began pursuing my shamanic career.

I spent a lifetime of training with ascended spiritual masters and a decade of training personally with a living spiritual master and avatar, which has led me to become one of the world leaders in advanced shamanic healing and guidance.

A lot of the time with Shamanism, life trains you, as opposed to a school. My training came in learning how to utilize neuro plasticity to be able to grow past my trauma, and that came from within. My particular training of the dark night of the soul lasted 20 years before I was able to start pulling myself out and liberating myself from the pain that I put myself through. As a Shaman, it’s almost like you die hundreds of times before you’re able to become who you are.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began leading your company?

The most interesting and uplifting part of my job is watching people transform to obtain a more enlightened life through the work we do together. It is the greatest gift in the world to watch people have the courage to grow and make higher choices to discover their true happiness.

Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

When I first started my practice, I didn’t quite understand the ebb and flow of how people would come in and out of my life. At first, after putting in everything that I had into people’s growth and growing so close to my patients, I assumed we would always work together. But all good things come to an end and my patients would go their own way and it confused me.

It may not seem funny, but my reaction to it was comical at the time. It was a very naive way to see the world. Of course, it’s ok to love people and not be attached to how the relationship turns out, but it took me a minute to appreciate the gift of how people flow in and out of our lives. It’s actually quite beautiful.

There have been a lot of people who have helped me along the way, however, I became the person I am today through a journey that I took alone. My life choice was either to survive or to fall away. I chose to survive. I prayed a lot, and so if I were to give credit to anyone, it would be the Ascended Masters for giving me the grace to live through an impossible period of my life.

If we examine history closely, we can surmise that women are fighting against a long societal, psychological suppression, where we have been told we aren’t allowed to be powerful. While there is no truth to this, it takes time for society to step away from old social constructs and embrace new ideas or change. Old school money is primarily a boy’s club, so certain aspects of business for women are still untouchable.

Things are beginning to evolve. Several companies are now equal opportunity employers, and the powerful women that I counsel often suffer greatly from self-worth conversations when given opportunities to take higher-level jobs. Even when those conversations don’t permeate within the company, the stories that hold them back may date back to how they were raised. Occasionally, their parents’ idea of how girls should be treated while growing up or how they weren’t allowed to shine for whatever reason plays a role in their hesitation to become leaders in their field.

Another obstacle has always been how our economic system markets products to females and how many companies still sell products by exposing women’s psychological insecurities. It takes time to untangle it all. My job is to support women in understanding that the limiting beliefs that keep them from success no longer has to be a part of their story. Instead, we create a new foundation, permitting them to be powerful and successful. This change takes courageous risks, and it takes time.

Can you help articulate a few things that can be done as individuals, as a society, or by the government, to help overcome those obstacles?

We get to stop judging each other and ourselves. We get to be the champion for people who choose to be different and to be powerful. Our society is often about repression, how people aren’t allowed to be themselves. It isn’t a threat to anyone if a woman stands up and decides to be powerful, especially if she stands for positive things. We should encourage that, not throw her under a bus because we feel afraid of powerful women. When people try to suppress power it’s because they personally feel weak and afraid. No one who feels powerful would need to suppress anyone.

So, society gets to learn how to be accountable for what they are creating. We get to lift people up and love the planet and everything that lives here. We get to encourage people who want to shine. And, we get to hope that every time we do that, that the person we lift up will shine more brightly than we ever did.

This might be intuitive to you as a woman founder but I think it will be helpful to spell this out. Can you share a few reasons why more women should become founders?

It isn’t easy to encapsulate. By leaving women out of the equation for leadership, you are taking out possibilities for greatness away from half of the population. Great leadership should not be defined as masculine or feminine but instead characterized by skill, integrity, accountability, adaptability, and wisdom.

Women offer a different kind of energy. It’s on the odd side, but let’s discuss how women learn to process information from a young age. Because we have continuously fluctuating hormone schedules we have learned how to stand on solid ground even when reality seems to disappear beneath our feet. It’s that ever-fluctuating barometer that has given our minds the education and life experience to see how everything is interconnected naturally. That is the kind of wisdom we get to bring to the table as we run businesses. If that kind of wisdom is within the nucleus of everything we create, we will be able to co-create a well-rounded conscientious society, which in my opinion is what the world really needs right now.

I am constantly hearing that strong woman are scary. We aren’t. Strong women are powerful, so one might feel intimidated if they are afraid of themself or their own power. The truth is, authentically strong women understand the depths of vulnerability. We understand that’s where our true strength lies.

1. Passion. Passion is the driving force behind any successful company. If you don’t currently experience passion, find a way to. Have the tenacity to run with what you believe in.

2. Integrity. You get to take a stand for what is good in this world and never let go. Your foundation gets to be built on the strength of your convictions. If you build your entire business this way, people will feel your integrity right to the core of everything you do.

3. Vulnerability. This is where your strength is, and it’s what the world loves to see. Don’t be afraid of showing who you truly are. Take a stand and be yourself.

4. Resourcefulness. You are never without resources. Success giants understand they must master resourcefulness.

5. Accountability. Know what you’re creating and have the courage to look at it closely. That recognition is the only way you’ll have the opportunity to change it into something that works better. Continue to find better ways to do everything using accountability, and don’t be attached to doing anything a certain way. Be flexible.

How have you used your success to make the world a better place?

I give my time back to the people I counsel. I work with them and break them out of the stories that keep them stuck in limiting beliefs. I love the world unconditionally, and I offer that to everyone I meet. I’ve used my success to support those in need. In my opinion, that’s what success is for.

I would teach everyone how to embody unconditional love.

Sometimes, I read stories about celebrities that I want to meet who seem to make a difference, like Tony Robbins. I’d love to be a spiritual Tony Robbins in my lifetime and understand how he created his empire of transformation. Then, there are some actors who truly care about their fans and are down to earth people, like Keanu Reeves. I’ve always wanted to meet Keanu as a fellow Canadian. He sounds as though he’s a well-rounded guy and an overall good person. I’d love to thank him for keeping his humanitarianism intact.

Mostly, I’d like to speak to someone out there who would want to work with my nonprofit to create some truly amazing opportunities for a lot of people wanting to transform their lives in big ways. I have groundbreaking ideas and I’d love to share them with forward-thinking sponsors. My one true desire is to transform the world. So, if you’re out there, please connect with me. I have no doubt we can make the world a better place together.

Thank you for these fantastic insights. We greatly appreciate the time you spent on this.

Female Founders: Shamananda On The Five Things You Need To Thrive and Succeed as a Woman Founder was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Iro Orri of Epoque Collection: The Future of Travel in The Post Covid World

An Interview With Candice Georgiadis

Coming out of the Covid-19 era, people have come to look more towards their inner self, therefore wellness and nature will be key to what the future traveller will be seeking. Respect to the environment, and a company which is conscious of these issues will definitely stand out against others.

As part of my series about “developments in the travel industry over the next five years”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Iro Orri, Managing Director of Epoque Collection.

Iro has over 20 years hospitality and tourism management experience and spent more than 10 years as Grace Hotels Commercial Director; where she was actively involved in business planning, operations, training, CSR and special programmes. Iro also gained valuable experience in her 10 years working at Golden Yachts Ltd, where she served various positions, responsible for company management. As Managing Director of Epoque Collection she provides strategic advice and oversees all aspects of the Epoque Collection’s properties with a remit to build and establish the brand and company.

Thank you so much for joining us! Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?

Belonging to a family of a multicultural couple (Saudi Arabian father and Greek mother) we regularly travelled all over the world. I remember how captivated I was every time we stepped into a hotel, whether it was a cosy chalet in Switzerland or a grand lobby in Egypt. I would take in the welcoming smiles of the team, the scent of each place, the plushness of the pillows and the delicious tastes with admiration.

As a university student from the age of 16, I never seemed content with just having my studies, so when an opportunity came up, I began working as a part time receptionist in a commercial shipping company. A few months down the road and I was offered a full-time position and promotion. Since then, things just magically fell into place; a year later I was offered another promotion, and it was then when I realized that Commercial Shipping — though interesting — was not where I could see myself. Luckily enough, the Owner was setting up a luxury mega yacht company and I was honoured to become part of it from the very beginning, contributing to what it developed into in the years to come.

I spent 11 years with the company and loved every minute of it, to then move on to setting up an amazing luxury boutique hotel brand which today is part of a renowned international hospitality hotel group. With properties all around the world, we saw the brand come to life and flourish something which gave me endless memorable experiences and contributed greatly to who I am today. Another 11 years down the road and I was honoured to have been offered the opportunity to set up Epoque Collection, a luxury boutique hotel & villa management company based in Greece. This was an opportunity I would not have missed and after 3 years I can say that every single day is more fascinating than the previous one.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you started your career?

I remember about 10 years ago; we were expanding the hotel group I was working for with a new property in Asia. At the very last minute, I was called to go to Beijing to help in preparing for the opening which was taking place in less than a week. Being permanently based in Greece, 9 hours away from Beijing, I took the next flight immediately! The next three days were absolute madness as we had to set up the entire property from a commercial and operational aspect to ensure everything was ready for the launching event. At the end, it proved to be a great success and all the hard work was completely worth it!

Another story that I will always remember is a VVIP guest that we had staying at a Villa who did not seem to be happy with anything. Although the hotel team on site had done their absolute best, nothing seemed to work. I then decided to take a flight from Athens to visit this guest who was so angry he actually refused to open the door for…3 hours! I waited very patiently explaining that I had flown in from Athens to speak to him. Eventually he did open the door and we had a very nice conversation. Following this incident, this guest actually became a repeat guest who returned year after year!

I guess when you work in hospitality the stories are truly endless, filled with hard work, laughter and sometimes even tears…I can think of so many more!

Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

Well, during my very first years when I was 19 years old, I was asked to attend a yacht show. Not having any previous contact at the time, I decided to wear heels…huge mistake! Not only did I look slightly ridiculous, one of my heels broke! I guess the lesson was simple: apart from the obvious “don’t wear heels at a yachting event”, I also learned to do some good homework before attending an event I was not familiar with.

Which tips would you recommend to your colleagues in your industry to help them to thrive and not “burn out”? Can you share a story about that?

There are two times in my career when I felt completely burnt out. Both lead to a couple of weeks in bed with pneumonia (one of which in hospital). What I would recommend to everyone in the hospitality industry is that it is easy to get carried away and not listen to your strength because what we do is amazing and we don’t see it as a job. Nevertheless, we must always find time for ourselves, family and friends and to take a step back to recharge our mind, body and soul. Whether its time with beloved people, cooking up a delicious meal, reading a good book or going on long walk, you all must take one step back and breathe. If you don’t, you will inevitably stop enjoying what you do or being able to appreciate the pleasures of our industry.

None of us can achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story?

I am a person that is extremely appreciative of even the tiniest help that I may have received and quite frankly I have been tremendously lucky to have worked alongside amazing people along the way. To be honest, there are many people I have met and worked with who have contributed to who I am today and I have kept something from everyone. I do however feel very grateful for my first mentor, the Owner of the Commercial Shipping company who believed in me and gave me development opportunities, as well as my former boss in the hotel group I worked for. She never ceased to believe in me and support me, even when there were moments I did not even believe in myself. I could not but also give a very special thank you to the Owner of Epoque Collection, with whom we connected from the very first meeting, for trusting me with his vision until today.

Thank you for that. Let’s jump to the core of our discussion. Can you share with our readers about the innovations that you are bringing to the travel and hospitality industries?

Epoque Collection currently embodies a blend of breath-taking hotels in desired destinations, authentic gastronomy and the ultimate immersion in perfect surroundings of luxury. Our Caldera facing private haven OMMA Santorini is working its way slowly yet steadily to the top of the luxury traveller aficionado list, The Kefalari Suites, a refurbished neoclassical mansion in the heart of the Kifissia — one of Athens most exclusive suburbs — recently was restored to its former glory and, opening Winter 2021 xenodocheio Milos, a five-star boutique gastronomic hotel, the very first of the renowned restaurant brand Milos, housed in an impressive neoclassical mansion built in 1880 is set to leave a mark in the Athenian hospitality scene with its opening.

For us, it’s all about genuine care and individuality. It’s about opening our arms to welcome our guests, making each individual feel special without being intrusive. Technology plays a significant role and whilst we do ensure our hotels offer state of the art latest technology features such as Smart TVs and contactless check in — to name a few — we are always very careful that this does not eliminate the level of hospitality and personalization that we aim to offer.

Another aspect is showcasing each destination, the local culture, tastes and allowing guests to discover the place they are visiting almost as if they were locals. For this to be done, first and foremost our hotel teams are taken on ‘treasure hunts’ at each destination allowing them to get to know a different side of the destination, connect with it, and share with our guests.

Which “pain point” are you trying to address by introducing this innovation?

Personalisation and technology is an interesting topic, and certainly Covid-19 has accelerated technology being incorporated into hotels. We see this as an opportunity for guests to enjoy a truly relaxing stay and relax with a more personalised hotel experience. Following Covid-19 travellers are more cautious and by reducing touchpoints we are enabling guests to feel more comfortable in a public setting.

How do you envision that this might disrupt the status quo?

Within the hospitality industry, there is certainly a concern that introducing technology will take away from the personalised experience people might expect from a luxury hotel. However, a shift towards technology in hotels has certainly been developing as Covid-19 has enabled travellers to realise that true luxury is attentive service behind the scenes, which means for technology to takeover where human touchpoints previously existed.

As you know, COVID19 changed the world as we know it. Can you share 5 examples of how travel and hospitality companies will be adjusting over the next five years to the new ways that consumers will prefer to travel?

Apart from the obvious which is to ensure that strict health & safety guidelines are consistently followed, I think that the future of travel is offering unforgettable experiences, inner balance, genuine care and ultimately guests leaving a little happier than when they arrived. Elements such as perfect beds and exclusive materials and interiors are a given in luxury 5* hotels by now, so it’s all about making a difference to one’s self.

The key to achieving this is deriving guest data, as early on in their customer journey as possible, through artificial intelligence and convergent exponential technologies to facilitate getting to know our guests and their needs to the greatest extent hence better preparing for their arrival. This will allow us to engineer an experience, offer a truly personalized stay and memories that will last a lifetime. Again, you can see how technology is becoming even more important in the hospitality industry.

Coming out of the Covid-19 era, people have come to look more towards their inner self, therefore wellness and nature will be key to what the future traveller will be seeking. Respect to the environment, and a company which is conscious of these issues will definitely stand out against others.

You are a “travel insider”. How would you describe your “perfect vacation experience”?

The “perfect vacation” varies depending on which stage of our life we are in and how our everyday schedule runs.

For me, visiting one of the less known Greek islands with my family and spending a few days on a sandy beach is really perfection right now. Islands like Ios, Sifnos, Milos Kithnos and Kimolos are hidden gems with undiscovered corners which are completely off the touristic beaten track. A delicious meal of fish caught just a few hours earlier with aromatic vegetables cut fresh from the garden is heaven to me. While some years back these islands did not offer interesting hospitality choices, it is promising to see that there are some beautiful boutique hotels opening which allow visitors to enjoy these islands without compromising on the hospitality service standards they are looking for.

Can you share with our readers how have you used your success to bring goodness to the world?

It’s a bit far-fetched to say that I have brought goodness to the world, although giving back is something of vital importance for me. I do however have so much more to give and feel I am not even halfway there!

Nevertheless, I have been fortunate enough to be part of various Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives in my professional roles to date, including creating an incredible programme for the SOS Children’s Villages raising almost €85,000 in merely a year (!) as well as a recent partnership with Make-a-Wish Greece where we have designed some beautiful, customized bracelets for our guests staying at OMMA Santorini. On a hospitality level, I was honoured to be selected as a mentor for the Capsule T Accelerator, a program created by the Hellenic Chamber of Hotels, which offers the opportunity to young people with innovative entrepreneurial ideas to have access to information, education, visibility and networking opportunities hence assisting these new ventures to develop and work effectively in the travel industry.

You are a person of great influence. If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂

There are certain issues that I feel very strongly about and would very much like to contribute to changing in the future if possible.

Firstly, the fact that hotels discard so much food, amenities and resources is unbelievable. It is painful to know that there are so many people in need in today’s society and it would be great to create an initiative where a group of hoteliers would create a zero-waste programme on all levels.

Being a mother of two young girls and doing my best to run a family and business, I would like to become involved in some extent of change as to the challenges of everyday life for working mothers or even fathers. It is great to see that the couples are more than ever coming closer to their homes and families but it does not cease to be a great challenge to juggle both work and family. From my role, I find it very important to be able to understand and support my team and help with eliminating the stress that keeping this balance brings. My team’s happiness is key and this can only be achieved by a healthy work life balance and an extent of flexibility.

How can our readers follow you on social media?

You can follow Epoque Collection on LinkedIn & Facebook and hotels OMMA Santorini, xenodocheio Milos & The Kefalari Suites on Instagram.

This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for joining us!

Iro Orri of Epoque Collection: The Future of Travel in The Post Covid World was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Arshad “Adam” Lasi of The Nirvana Group: 5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Started Leading a…

Arshad “Adam” Lasi of The Nirvana Group: 5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Started Leading a Cannabis or CBD Business

An Interview With Candice Georgiadis

Working in the licensed cannabis industry is nothing like running a traditional business the way you learn in business school; those traditional processes may not translate well to this emerging, rapidly developing industry. The industry is made up of young people, some of whom first cut their teeth in the unlicensed market, and they may not have the same traditional business or corporate background. That said, they are still highly intelligent and capable, and they drive the industry forward.

As part of my series about “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Started Leading a Cannabis Business” I had the pleasure of interviewing Arshad “Adam” Lasi.

Arshad “Adam” Lasi is CEO of The Nirvana Group, a vertically integrated family-owned cannabis company in Oklahoma. Their operations include a cultivation and extraction facility, a processing facility, house brands and the only cannabis cash & carry concept in Oklahoma. The Nirvana Group also owns an expanding list of medical dispensaries throughout the state.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Can you share with us the story about what brought you to this specific career path?

It all started with a cold email. I was working with a private equity firm and my father–who was interested in the licensed cannabis industry after a visit to a state with legal adult-use and seeing their dispensaries–received a cold email from a brokerage in Michigan selling properties. We didn’t end up moving forward with this particular opportunity, but it definitely ignited a thirst to get into the industry. We looked at several licensed cannabis businesses to purchase or become a part of in other states, and then finally the Oklahoma medicinal market, which we’re now part of and active players in. We’re from Oklahoma, and what started as a humble smoke shop has now blossomed into a rapidly growing vertically integrated company, The Nirvana Group. We own and operate seven dispensaries with more to come; a 30-acre cultivation and extraction facility; a 3,000 square foot processing facility featuring extraction and distillation capabilities, as well as a commercial kitchen to produce beverages and edibles; Nirvana Distribution, a 10,000 sq ft warehouse that is one the largest Smoke Shop, Glass, Paper, Vaporizer, and Packaging distributors in Oklahoma, servicing more than 500 dispensaries for their ancillary products; and Argent Cannabis Distribution, the only cannabis cash-and-carry concept in Oklahoma and the wholesale distribution company for our portfolio of cannabis brands, which range from vapes to pre-rolls to edibles and beverages to concentrates and more.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began leading your company? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

What has been interesting is that throughout our expansion, I’ve learned the importance of still getting to know each and every employee really well. Having a personal connection with employees goes a very long way. We try to hire a diverse group of people and are inclusive of all of our associated team members. Of course, everyone makes mistakes and may have personal issues that they deal with from time to time. Often, when someone is in an executive position overseeing large teams and many employees, it’s tough to know what everyone is going through, but the smallest things can make a difference and simple questions can lead to your staff trusting you more and the development of strong personal connections over time. This leads to really understanding your employees’ strengths and utilizing them to make the business better, as well as helping to ensure they can feel more fulfilled and motivated at work. Happy employees equal productive employees. And happiness at work is just as important as happiness at home.

Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

Early into my leadership role with The Nirvana Group, I once sent the wrong text to the wrong person. It wasn’t really funny at the time but we all make mistakes and can move past them.

Are you working on any exciting projects now? How do you think that will help people?
Yes, we’re always working on new projects and never one to rest on our laurels. We’re planning to open additional dispensaries, plus launch a new gummy line, edibles line and beverage line, which we see as the future of the infused products industry. We’re planning further expansion across the supply chain, which will bring down manufacturing costs and lower prices to benefit Oklahoma medical patients, while still keeping with our superior quality standard.

None of us are able to achieve success without getting some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story?
My parents. I started the business with them, and they’ve worked alongside me doing this since the very beginning. Everything has been done with their oversight, and they were there to approve and shape everything we’ve done. It’s great because it helps build our relationship as a family, but it can be difficult when they disapprove of a decision or think things should be done differently, which can be awkward at the dinner table. However, we have a terrific working and personal relationship overall.

This industry is young, dynamic and creative. Do you use any clever and innovative marketing strategies that you think large legacy companies should consider adopting? Since we’re a young team, we’re able to pivot quickly and react to what we see in the industry and adjust. We’re likely more nimble than most large companies. We also take notice of various aspects and trends in pop culture that we can incorporate into our day-to-day marketing, in addition to what we see locally in Oklahoma. Of course, we also pay close attention to what our customers like and respond well to.

Can you share 3 things that most excite you about the Cannabis industry? Can you share 3 things that most concern you?
As far as exciting: how quickly the cannabis industry grows, how fast it changes and how there are always new developments with this emerging market and emerging science. It’s never just building on the old formulas, and cannabis can be used in many different ways. We’re just at the tip of the iceberg as far as how to use it in everyday life.

Concerns include how regulation from bodies of government who may not understand the industry or the plant itself can shape the direction of the industry as a whole. They can also hinder necessary growth for medical and economic benefits, which is also concerning. Also, regulations that are too overreaching can lead to people resorting to the unlicensed market, for which proper safety and quality standards aren’t always in place.

Can you share your “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Started Leading a Cannabis Business”? Please share a story or example for each.

First thing is that the illicit market is everywhere, and in a loose market like Oklahoma, even if someone is licensed, they may be operating a business that still has unlicensed and illicit qualities. That means both businesses and consumers need to be wary of these operators 2
Sometimes, it’s necessary to get something done quicker, especially on the marketing and promotion side, than to be nuanced. Just get it done (safely and while still upholding a high standard of quality) and get the word out; that way, you don’t miss out on any opportunities.
Working in the licensed cannabis industry is nothing like running a traditional business the way you learn in business school; those traditional processes may not translate well to this emerging, rapidly developing industry. The industry is made up of young people, some of whom first cut their teeth in the unlicensed market, and they may not have the same traditional business or corporate background. That said, they are still highly intelligent and capable, and they drive the industry forward.
Cannabis is a commodity, but it is also a brand, a vice, a medicine, a luxury and much more than weed. It’s unique, and you have to really be in tune with your consumers, your buyers, and those who represent you to be successful.
The industry is very difficult, and it takes lots of time to be successful. You’ll make lots of mistakes along the way, but will learn from them. The cannabis industry is not what it looks like in the media. It is scary and very risky, but it’s fun and you have to make it fun.

What advice would you give to other CEOs or founders to help their employees to thrive?

You’re not always going to be able to excel at every aspect of your job, but part of being a leader is choosing the right people to work with and delegating certain tasks. It also involves understanding your own strengths and weaknesses. If you have the right people working with you who are in line with your goals, you will be successful. Especially as a young CEO with limited experience, my biggest asset is choosing the right colleagues and mentors that can provide insight I may not be able to learn on my own.

You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger.

It’s important to advocate for the legalization of adult-use cannabis in my home state of Oklahoma. Legalizing the adult-use of cannabis in Oklahoma would open up the market to people who can’t afford to get a medical card, and it would also eradicate a lot of activity on the illicit market. Unfortunately, it can be expensive to buy cannabis through medical sources. I would like for all cannabis to be tested, regulated, and to give all adults access to top quality, safe products rather than questionable illicit products. Adult-use legalization is also important for the overall de-stigmatization of cannabis. And when we speak of legalization across both the state and federal levels, we must also take the steps to ensure social equity and market opportunities for people, particularly people of color, who were unjustly targeted and impacted by the criminalization of cannabis. Licenses should be designated, grants should be given, among other measures.

This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for joining us!

Arshad “Adam” Lasi of The Nirvana Group: 5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Started Leading a… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Female Disruptors: Celeste Roberts of The Skills Center On The Three Things You Need To Shake Up…

Female Disruptors: Celeste Roberts of The Skills Center On The Three Things You Need To Shake Up Your Industry

An Interview With Candice Georgiadis

Take Chances & Don’t Underestimate Your Worth — Be brave and do something different. Be bold and move outside of your comfort zone. After 14 years, I developed the courage to apply for Leadership Tampa. I was accepted and excited to start walking into my purpose as a leader. This professional development program will not only optimize my personal performance and develop a greater influence but also assist me in leading my team through change and sustainability.

As a part of our series about women who are shaking things up in their industry, I had the pleasure of interviewing Celeste Roberts.

Celeste Roberts is dedicated to helping others — especially young people. Her passion is helping children and teens mature into adults with strong life skills. In 2007, she co-founded The Skills Center (TSC), a sports-based youth development & education non-profit organization that intentionally utilizes the power of sports to create change through academic success, life skills and mentoring for youth ages 3 to 18. As President and CEO, Celeste provides the leadership, vision and strategic direction for the organization. Her goal is to improve the educational outcomes, economic prospects and life options for young people through the power of sports.

After years of creating a model of success that’s more than just a career, Celeste is taking her dream to the next level with The Skills Center Collaborative. The innovative joint venture will level the playing field in education, health and employment for underserved youth in Tampa, Florida. The $13 million project includes a new facility with 3 gyms, a health and nutrition demonstration kitchen, a job training and education room, co-working offices and event space. The building, scheduled to open next Spring, is expected to create 180 jobs, serve 3,500 young people, and produce an economic impact of more than $25 million to East Tampa over five years.

I never imagined I would do what I’m doing. I graduated college with a degree in business administration, and stumbled upon my passion when I created a college prep program for disadvantaged young people called ‘Do the Right Thing,’ and it changed my life. From that moment, I knew I wanted to help the next generation prepare for college, their careers and the future.

Can you tell our readers what it is about the work you’re doing that’s disruptive?

When we created the organization, I kept thinking about leaving a legacy. The Skills Center will exist beyond me and those working hard on the current programs and initiatives. Organizations, especially those with dominant competitors, often operate independently and in silos. What makes The Skills Center different, especially being a non-profit, is that we want to help as many youth as possible. With a collaborative approach, we are joining our resources with other minority organizations and individuals to maximize our impact.

Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you first started? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

I do not have a funny mistake, but I did have a naïve mindset when I started. I thought of the nonprofit industry as a loving environment with individuals who lead their organizations with their hearts. What I noticed early on is that the most successful leaders in this space operate their nonprofits not from the heart, but with business acumen. The lesson learned was the only difference between a for profit and a nonprofit is the IRS tax status. From that moment forward, I understood that in order to meet our mission, my mindset had to change. While my heart and passion is what drove me and continues to drive me to do what I do, as a founder and entrepreneur, I needed to also operate as a business.

We all need a little help along the journey. Who have been some of your mentors? Can you share a story about how they made an impact?

There are two mentors who have helped me throughout my journey. Chloe Coney, is the founder of the Corporation to Develop Communities of Tampa (CDC of Tampa), an organization that creates opportunities for people to build prosperous futures and vibrant communities. Watching Chloe start CDC 28 years ago, I developed the confidence to create an organization and grow within my space. Diana Baker is former president of United Way and my first boss when I moved to Tampa in 1996. She has been such a great role model as a powerful female executive. I love her courage, confidence, communication and critical thinking skills.

Can you share 3 of the best words of advice you’ve gotten along your journey? Please give a story or example for each.

Take Rejection as Redirection

Someone once told me, “you will receive more no’s in this industry than yes’s.”’ The way you frame your disappointment will either defeat you or promote you to something greater.

I applied for continual funding from a donor who provided direction to “think big and outside the box.” We presented big and bold ideas. Later, unexpectedly, we received a call from the executive director at the organization notifying me we would not receive funding because our idea was too big and outside of the box. I felt blindsided and we couldn’t appeal. It created a financial hardship on TSC as we needed the funding. Instead of staying upset, we accepted the feedback and revised our business model. It was not easy, but we persevered, and now we are working toward a social enterprise venture to create sustainability for the organization.

Take Chances & Don’t Underestimate Your Worth

Be brave and do something different. Be bold and move outside of your comfort zone. After 14 years, I developed the courage to apply for Leadership Tampa. I was accepted and excited to start walking into my purpose as a leader. This professional development program will not only optimize my personal performance and develop a greater influence but also assist me in leading my team through change and sustainability.

Recruit Long Term Advocates

It’s important to work with donors, partners, companies and staff who believe in your cause just as much as you do. We are fortunate to have partners who have been with us from the beginning. And many of our former students come back to support the organization. In August, WNBA hopeful, Trinity Baptiste, shared her time and skills and led TV’s first all girls basketball camp.

We are sure you aren’t done. How are you going to shake things up next?

The Skills Center Collaborative is a game changer! While many companies see similar organizations as competitors, we are working together to offer more programs to help more students and make a bigger impact on the youth in East Tampa.

In today’s parlance, being disruptive is usually a positive adjective. But is disrupting always good? When do we say the converse, that a system or structure has ‘withstood the test of time’? Can you articulate to our readers when disrupting an industry is positive, and when disrupting an industry is ‘not so positive’? Can you share some examples of what you mean?

We are disrupting a flawed system in order to inspire long term positive change.

According to four recent assessments in Hillsborough County and Tampa, expanded youth services are needed to help students prepare for college and enter the workforce. Now’s the time to take action and make a difference. We want to be part of transformational change that addresses racial barriers, inequalities and health disparities to level the playing field. Our programs in youth education and workforce readiness give the students the tools they need to succeed.

In your opinion, what are the biggest challenges faced by ‘women disruptors’ that aren’t typically faced by their male counterparts?

As a female nonprofit CEO, I believe that women are often not heard or are overlooked in the field for developing viable solutions to social problems in our communities. This is further illustrated in the limited funding and leadership opportunities that are available — for women especially — in sports based youth development.

Do you have a book/podcast/talk that’s had a deep impact on your thinking? Can you share a story with us?

Simon Sinek’s book and TED Talk, Start with Why. It’s based on the simple, yet often overlooked notion, that people cannot support a product, service, movement or idea until they understand the ‘why’.

You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂

I’d like to think we’ve already started one. The Skills Center may have started locally in Tampa, but the focus is international. Soon we’ll partner with a similar organization to expand the concept into Canada.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

“It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit.” Harry Truman

We started The Skills Center to address systemic challenges, racial barriers, inequalities and health disparities in the education system. As a non-profit we rely on our donors and partners. Through these relationships we are able to expand into more markets beyond the success we have built in Tampa.

How can our readers follow you online?

Stay up to date on the latest news and updates from The Skills Center on Instagram and Facebook!

This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for joining us!

Female Disruptors: Celeste Roberts of The Skills Center On The Three Things You Need To Shake Up… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Female Founders: Kaitlyn Knopp of Pequity On The Five Things You Need To Thrive and Succeed as a…

Female Founders: Kaitlyn Knopp of Pequity On The Five Things You Need To Thrive and Succeed as a Woman Founder

An Interview With Candice Georgiadis

Focus on a topic that continues to motivate you. Working in compensation I’ve always felt motivated to provide equal pay to anyone I paid. That drives me. Our software helps speed up time to offer, reduces errors for companies, and gives greater analytics — but to me, I see it as a way to ensure consistency in pay. Which is how I keep going.

As a part of our series about “Why We Need More Women Founders”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Kaitlyn Knopp.

Kaitlyn Knopp, is a former Googler and current co-founder of Pequity, a software company that automates compensation workflows and ensures better pay decisions.

I’ve always been ambitious, but honestly most of my career was a happy accident. To start, I didn’t want to go to college; I grew up in a family business that was built by my grandparents, and thought I would follow in their footsteps. When I told my plans to my grandfather though, he said “you should want more” and insisted I go to college. So I did, with no idea what I wanted to study — until I took a labor studies course and fell in love with the intersection of human and business. I then took all the courses I could and left at the end of my 4 years with a Masters of Science in Human Resources, a BS in Labor Studies and a BA in Visual Communication. Upon graduation I started at Google, on the Compensation & Benefits team, where I learned so much about data driven decisions, strong processes, and the complexities of how compensation can drive behavior. Taking that knowledge, I left after 4 years to build the Compensation & People Analytics team at Cruise Automation; I loved the building of new programs, but still wanted more from my careers. So I began to consult companies on their HR and pay programs. It was fascinating to me how difficult it was for companies to create equitable compensation programs, despite how important it was. Around this time I was recruited by Instacart to lead their compensation efforts, and I had already formed the idea for Pequity — combining my love for business and my expertise in compensation. I got to experiment with some of my theories through the programs I was running at Instacart, and was fortunate that the team there was also willing to partner with me when I started building my platform. When I began building this company and team it hit me; this was what I wanted to do.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began leading your company?

One of the most interesting things was when one of our competitors sent an engineer to interview us. It’s unclear if they were sent by the company, or if this person was just a vigilante seeking information — but they asked all sorts of questions, asked to see our code base, tried to get details on early customers. It was uncomfortable, so we cut off communication pretty quickly, then the next week they changed their LinkedIn to this competitor company.

Was a weird, rude awakening to how cut-throat others can be — but also was cool to see how our team rallied and decided that if another company has to send in their employees to see what we’re up to, we must be doing something right!

Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

This may not count as a mistake, but early on, our product mainly held company’s third-party compensation data surveys to easily look up data. Then an early customer asked us if we could do the same for ranges, with permissions.

Knowing it was on the roadmap, and that I wanted this customer, I said “absolutely.” I went back to my team (3 engineers, myself and Warren my cofounder) and found out it was nowhere near built. So I asked if we could do it in a week, but we all were worried it was too difficult with the permissioning; luckily I had just come off of binging the Great British Bake Off, and said “it can be ugly as long as it’s delicious,” (and now “Ugly But Delicious” has become a phrase our team uses to describe early builds).

Running with that value, we built and launched the product over a weekend, and it worked! This quickly became how we onboarded the majority of our early customers, all who have helped us expand our offerings to include offer workflows, promo & merit, analytics. This taught me that you need to launch early, and that the best builds come from pressured moments. But it also taught me that your early customers need to understand the bugs; selling a product as if it’s already built has expectations with it. Our first launch wasn’t perfect and that sometimes shakes up trust.

There are many people I would want to list, but the person I’ll call out is my husband, who is also my cofounder. We always joke Warren was my long-game recruit; he was hesitant at first to found a company with me because we were married. For me, growing up in a family business, I had no doubt we could navigate it. His background was the perfect complement to my own; he had built HR focused tech products at LinkedIn and Jumpstart, and had always been able to translate my ideas. I truly wouldn’t be here without him.

I once was at a meeting about debunking bias for a company. The moderator asked the room, has anyone here experienced bias at this company? Minutes of silence followed, until one shaky hand raised and the person stood up. This brave soul’s words have stuck with me; they said “I feel like everywhere I go I hear people say ‘we care so much about diversity’ and ‘we ensure discrimination doesn’t happen here,’ so when I experience something that feels wrong, I feel like I’m the only one. I think I’ve felt biased against; but I don’t know if it’s just me.”

This statement stuck with me, because this person thought, “I don’t want to be the sore thumb, and look, they say they care about bias — so it’s probably just me. I caused the bias.”

We frame so many issues in conversation as the women’s issue. We say “women should negotiate more,” or “women need more confidence,” — when we should say “companies should treat all negotiations equally” or “society should stop bullying women.”

To be blunt, even this question — “more work still has to be done to empower women to create companies.” and “what is currently holding back women from founding companies?” — this puts the responsibility on me as a woman to address the industry’s problems. Women are creating companies, and we are taking risks; I think the question should be “more work still has to be done to empower investors to back women-created companies” and “what is currently holding back society from supporting women-founded companies?”

I think as long as we twist issues back onto women in our framing, phrasing, and media perspectives, we won’t make progress. With current framing of issues, it encourages women to criticize each other and themselves, rather than band together against the people doing it; it allows outsiders to say things like ‘oh well if she REALLY wanted funding, she’d not have children.’ (which for the record: I have had investors ask me when I plan to have kids). We need responsibility to be given to those behaving poorly. We need to ask the investors why they worry about a woman having children, when they could just help fund childcare (which, has traditionally been funded via women’s careers); we need to ask why so many women’s issues are considered debates (access to birth control, etc), while men’s issues are considered mainstream (do we even need to talk about the funding the government has given to Viagra?).

This issue is so convoluted and enmeshed with our societal structure there is no hard fast way to solve it; but we can start by addressing the actual actors causing it and stop framing it as the female’s issues.

Can you help articulate a few things that can be done as individuals, as a society, or by the government, to help overcome those obstacles?

Certainly!

First, frame female related issues to address the bad-actors. For instance, instead of making a movement called “stop violence against women” let’s call it “stop violent men.” If that makes someone uncomfortable, I want to know why it makes them uncomfortable to put responsibility on the bad actors.

Second, the government, especially in the US, should offer better maternity benefits and parental leave. This should include investments or incentives for better childcare infrastructure. We need to support not just the women, but the men, because child raising is hard. I’m not even a parent and I know this. We know there are lasting benefits to the economy and society when children have two active parents. We also know that employers pay women less, so more women will opt out of the workforce to care for children, which then causes women to be paid less when they return to work due to lost time; it’s a vicious cycle. We need to stop assuming we’ll fund our childcare with women’s foregone wages.

Third, society has to stop assuming women are asking to be treated the same as men. I don’t want that. I, as a female, am different from men and those differences should be valued; the issue females have isn’t that we want to be “treated like a man” it’s we want to be treated as an equal despite our differences.

This might be intuitive to you as a woman founder but I think it will be helpful to spell this out. Can you share a few reasons why more women should become founders?

Because there’s no difference between men and women wanting or being able to be founders. We say men have been socialized since birth to be leaders, change makers, fighters which makes them great founders. However, from birth women are socialized to be politicians, caretakers, marketers, and creators — so we are founders too. We might just need to fight a bit harder to be paid for our skills.

What are the “myths” that you would like to dispel about being a founder? Can you explain what you mean?

One myth is that being a founder requires you to be exceptionally intelligent or “gifted” when that’s just not the case. Most founders I know just have extreme grit and ability to withstand pressure. Yet so often I’ll see articles or social media posts celebrating the “genius” of certain founders, giving their particular skills a god-like status. You don’t need to be extraordinary to do this. There is more than one path to get there. You can do this at any age, any way, and how you want — the formulas you hear of should be inspiration, not the blueprint for your own path.

Everyone can be a founder if they want to be. Those most suited for it, are those who already are questioning the way things are, and trying to change it. Regular employment is a great option for individuals trying to figure out the issue they want to solve; there’s also plenty of people very happy with a 9–5 and there is nothing wrong with that. If you want to be a founder though, you are able to do it too.

Preparation to go it alone until you find your people. There weren’t people directly telling me “no” or “stop”, but when I started my journey, some people no longer fit in my plans. Some stopped hanging out with me; some I stopped hanging out with. The ones who remained are the ones who are proud of my journey, who are cheering me on or finding ways to send support. No one tells you it can be lonely because you have to be lonely to change sometimes.
Focus on a topic that continues to motivate you. Working in compensation I’ve always felt motivated to provide equal pay to anyone I paid. That drives me. Our software helps speed up time to offer, reduces errors for companies, and gives greater analytics — but to me, I see it as a way to ensure consistency in pay. Which is how I keep going.
Ability to be inspired, not distracted by competition. I am confident in my skills; I know what my competitors do and what they do well. It sucks when a competitor takes a sale from you, but you have to ask in those moments “what would have had to be different to win that sale?” Sometimes you’ll be surprised to find that you shouldn’t be selling to the customer. Or you’ll realize your product just needs better onboarding. Every loss is a learning opportunity worth the value of the deal; you just have to be clear headed enough to see where that value is.
There are no rules. Form your own moral compass and stick to that. I have seen individuals who use fancy meals and smooth conversations to close deals; I’ve seen them use physical attractiveness; I’ve seen them use incredible products. We all have an ideal for how to behave, or for “how this should work,” and while I personally have no patience for some paths, it’s very successful for others. You can’t blame people for using the skills they have; you just need to focus on honing your own to be better than it was yesterday.
An algorithm for how each new effort will translate into a dollar. You are a business. You can do altruistic things, but it still needs to result in current or future cash flow. AirBnb has been a recent amazing example of this; they help refugees which maybe doesn’t make money now, but the brand loyalty it brings will bring revenue in the future. If you start making choices not around how it’ll result into money, you don’t have a business. This doesn’t mean you have to be crooked or misguided; it just means you need to defend your business so that you always have one.

How have you used your success to make the world a better place?

My hope is that my product makes the world a better place by creating more equitable pay. I hope that I help others see that you can grow up in a small town, go to a state school, and still move mountains. I hope to always continue making this world a better place.

Honestly there are so many individuals who I’d want to meet — Warren Buffet would be one of them — but truly when I think of figures who are fighting a similar battle I think of Taylor Swift.

Thank you for these fantastic insights. We greatly appreciate the time you spent on this.

Female Founders: Kaitlyn Knopp of Pequity On The Five Things You Need To Thrive and Succeed as a… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Female Founders: Kai Johnson of KALM Collective On The Five Things You Need To Thrive and Succeed…

Female Founders: Kai Johnson of KALM Collective On The Five Things You Need To Thrive and Succeed as a Woman Founder

An Interview With Candice Georgiadis

Decisiveness — The ability to make business critical decisions and move swiftly on those decisions. There is no room to procrastinate. In our industry of retail jewelry there are many other options for consumers to shop so being quick on marketing campaigns can be the difference between getting a sale or losing money on unsold inventory.

As a part of our series about “Why We Need More Women Founders”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Kai Johnson.

Kai Johnson, a marketing professional and community philanthropist that co-founded her fashion jewelry line, The KALM Collective, in 2020 with her college best friend. Their pieces are perfect for women who want fun and flexible jewelry that can be used for any occasion.

For over a decade I’ve worked as a marketing analyst for a leading tech company in the Midwest. I’ve always had that drive and eagerness to start my own business since my college days. Last year, I joined the social media platform, Tic Tok I stumbled across #small business Tic Tok and I became hooked! These were women, wives, mothers, and daughters like me who were not only starting their own business but they were creating their own brand, redefining business standards and finding their own success! That was my personal “A ha” moment, I discovered my inner entrepreneur was not only itching to come out… it bursted out! I started watching their videos, taking notes and actually listening to their advice. It was a Master Class right there on Tic Tok! . I called my best friend from college and asked her to partner with me and ‘Viola….The KALM Collective was born!

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began leading your company?

Early on as my business partner and I were doing our initial research on starting a business we were distracted by the possibilities of a drop shipping company. It felt quick, easier to manage and most of the logistics would be managed by a third party. Realizing that we both have full time jobs and that this was going to be a side business for us both we thought drop shipping would make the most sense. So we completely diverted to a different business idea. As I was developing the website I had this feeling in my gut that this was not the best idea, the products we were planning to sell wasn’t even an interest of ours. I had a heart to heart conversation with my partner and we promised each other then that we would stay true to our mission and what we love.

Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

We went through hundreds of different iterations of our business name, The KALM Collective. As you can imagine, finding and settling on a business name can be a tough stage in the business process. Making sure it stands out and represents who you are. We went through the motions of setting up our LLC and thought we had done our due diligence on research but found other jewelry lines with a similar name that we had originally sought out. We had the logo created, website designed, in the process of getting our permits and had to quickly resolve before we launched. So back to the drawing board we went and came up with KALM as it is our names merged together — Kai Alisha and London Monet — KALM. At the time, I don’t think we were laughing. But looking back on it now the experience makes us laugh. We call it our rookie mistake!

Lack of time. Lack of funding. Lack of available resources and support. These are all hurdles that women often face, especially for the working mother. It can be tough to take a risk on starting a business when you have a family to support. Having time to dedicate to research and development and finding the resources available can be an immediate hindrance. And when I think about the proportion of women owned businesses getting VC funding versus their male counterparts that continues to add to the problem. This is not a cheap road to go down and without adequate capital in the early phases, many businesses may never see it to their first day and often times ends up as an idea that never comes to fruition.

Can you help articulate a few things that can be done as individuals, as a society, or by the government, to help overcome those obstacles?

I would love to see us normalizing female entrepreneurship. Staring as young as elementary school by providing entrepreanuer development and mentorship programs for girls to inspire the next generation of female entrepreneurs. Growing up, I did not have anyone in my immediate family that was an entrepreneur and did not think that would be an option for me or how to go about starting a business. Developing programs and showcasing to young women on the skills needed to start a business is how we can start to make an impact on creating and developing more female entrepreneurs.

This might be intuitive to you as a woman founder but I think it will be helpful to spell this out. Can you share a few reasons why more women should become founders?

Women are resourceful and powerful beings. The satisfaction from being able to build something from the ground up and thrive and provide for your family are reasons why I love being an entrepreneur.

What are the “myths” that you would like to dispel about being a founder? Can you explain what you mean?

Myth: Starting a business is glamorous. Being a founder and growing and scaling your business is tough and takes dedication, hustle, and grit. In today’s day with social media, it’s easy to make having and building a business look fun and glamorous but what is oftentimes never depicted are the tears shed, the late nights and the amount of sweat equity put into the business.

Entrepreneurship is not for everyone. There are times that you are going to want to give up, you’ll need to pivot your business to help it scale and you’ll need to spend late nights making sure that you are providing the best customer service to your customers. If you know you are the type that likes to be able to log off and completely shut down when you leave your job than consider getting a “regular job” but if you are someone that wants to build and leave a legacy for your family and have the grit to build a business, then consider entrepreneurship.

Grit — I describe grit as having perseverance, confidence and passion to succeed. You are going to get knocked down several times, but having perseverance and hustle to continue to wake up and do it all over again is what is needed to be a successful entrepreneur.
Work Ethic — For me as someone who has a side business and a demanding 9–5 job, a work ethic is incredibly important. Being able to dedicate my personal time to building my business can be challenging especially with the demands of having a husband and children. I’m the type that will put the needs of my family first which means it is a lot of late nights on working on my business. WIthout that work ethic it would be easy to let the business fall by the wayside but I want to be able to see my business grow so having work ethic keeps it as a priority for me.
Self Motivation — Pep talks and daily manifestation are what keep me going. Every day when I check in with my business partner we always align on our business objectives and leave the conversation with a word of encouragement. The daily reminders of why we do what we do keep us motivated to continue. SOme days are slower than others and being self motivated is an important skill that can often go overlooked but is needed to be able to keep you on your feet.
Resilience — The pandemic has proven to many business owners that you need to be agile and resilient. So many businesses that were not able to pivot in a mostly digital world that we are living in now were not able to see the end of 2020. Being a resilient business owner and understanding the complexities of your industry and aligning to the needs and demands of your customer are critical to growing and scaling your business. We started our business in 2020 and immediately knew we needed to start as an e-commerce to meet the demands of online shopping trends that were on the rise.
Decisiveness — The ability to make business critical decisions and move swiftly on those decisions. There is no room to procrastinate. In our industry of retail jewelry there are many other options for consumers to shop so being quick on marketing campaigns can be the difference between getting a sale or losing money on unsold inventory.

How have you used your success to make the world a better place?

WIth everything that I do, I always try to find a way to give back to my community. I was recognized in 2020 as an Indianapolis Business Journal’s Forty Under 40 for my community impact. I helped to develop a training program to increase the number of under-represented minorities, women and low income individuals get into Technology.

When I had the idea to start this business I told my business partner that I wanted to build this business as a values based company and knew early on that we wanted to create a foundation to help support other women and people of color. That is why I am excited to announce that we are unveiling the creation of The KALM Collective Foundation which will aim to help women build their confidence by donating clothing and jewelry to perfect their look for their job search. WIth the establishment of the foundation we want to help women become economically independent and it starts with building their confidence so they can sell their best self at their job interview.

I would love to help develop a program to inspire the next generation of women entrepreneurs. Exposing children to the world of entrepreneurship as young as possible so children can see entrepreneurship as an opportunity for them when they graduate is key. SHowing them what is needed to start, sustain and grow a business so it won’t be intimidating to them if they get to a point where they want to explore entrepreneurship at a later stage in their life. For me personally, I did not have someone in my family that I could look to as I was growing up so I did not feel that starting a business was an attainable goal. Now that I am an entrepreneur I want to instill these values into my daughters and hope to influence their friends and other children of what is in reach in the world of entrepreneurship.

Michelle Obama, Mellody Hobson, Sarah Blakely, Bethany Frankel, Melissa Butler

Thank you for these fantastic insights. We greatly appreciate the time you spent on this.

Female Founders: Kai Johnson of KALM Collective On The Five Things You Need To Thrive and Succeed… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Female Founders: Jennifer Simchowitz of Keepster On The Five Things You Need To Thrive and Succeed…

Female Founders: Jennifer Simchowitz of Keepster On The Five Things You Need To Thrive and Succeed as a Woman Founder

An Interview With Candice Georgiadis

Nothing is more important than believing in your product. That’s what started me off and that’s what keeps me going. As you go forward your idea may well shift or change, but no matter what, it’s that fervent commitment to creating something new, or an idea for an improved version or way of execution, that will help you survive the 3 am demons — and the 24/7 marathon way of life. The words passion and authenticity get thrown around a lot these days, but the truth is that is what it takes.

As a part of our series about “Why We Need More Women Founders”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Jennifer Simchowitz.

Jennifer Simchowitz had an idea for a Valentine’s gift for her significant other: a year’s worth of their text messages as they were falling in love turned into a book. After Googling around endlessly for easy tools to create the book, Jennifer discovered that they simply did not exist. The Valentine’s Day present that she had in mind was going to have to be laboriously handmade. Six months later, a beloved childhood friend of Jen’s passed away tragically and suddenly. Part of Jen’s healing process was going through their texts — whether daily check-ins, or planning who would cook what for their shared Thanksgivings. These were the moments that ultimately launched Keepster: a desktop app to save, search and organize text messages, and print the special ones into books.

Mine is not one bit a traditional career story. Never in my life did I ever imagine becoming a Founder or CEO of a startup. Up until this chapter I’d been involved with the arts, with museums, had a one-of-a-kind jewelry design business and, most important of all was a mom. So there was nothing to predict that I’d be in the business of developing technology to preserve messaging conversations. But, looking back I can see that my education in art history (and being an archivist at heart) is the thread that led me here. In my case, events in my life also played a huge role. I fell in love, and for Valentine’s Day wanted to gift my guy a special gift — a book of our text messages — but discovered there was no easy way to do that. Shortly afterward my dearest lifelong friend passed away very suddenly. We’d texted almost daily through the years. Suddenly those conversations were silenced. A short time later I was at an exhibition of the letters of Hemingway. & F. Scott Fitzgerald. People were crammed in trying to read them. It struck me how in years to come there would be no such letters, given the ephemeral nature of our digital communications these days. So, these experiences of life, love, and loss made me search for a way to make these key messages of our lives permanent. And that’s how I landed up here.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began leading your company?

As someone with no background in technology at all, every moment of building this company has been wildly interesting to me. But the most memorable and arresting stories have resulted from the one-on-one conversations that I’ve had with our customers. Each story about what led a customer to Keepster is something that I try to remember and carry with me in making choices how to make Keepster better .

I’ve spoken with families who’ve lost loved ones. One woman told me when she read over her book of the texts she’d exchanged with her late brother, “it felt like he was sitting next to her again, sharing jokes and swapping stories”. Just the other day I spoke with someone who during their actual wedding ceremony, presented his new wife with SIX books of their texting messages from their first date onward. So, as much as I have loved learning about the technology and business of building Keepster, in the end, it is always the human stories such as these that have impacted me the most.

Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

I will never forget the final presentation I made when I was participating in a start-up incubator. At that time I was a total beginner, so there was nothing funny about having to present to an audience of many hundreds. I was so nervous I couldn’t stop shaking, my voice came out sounding super weird, sort of like I was being strangled. Simply put, I bombed. Looking back at it now it really cracks me up, but the biggest mistake that I made was that at the very last minute I decided to pivot my pitch to something that I thought the judges would want to hear, something that I thought would make the product seem to appeal to a bigger and broader audience. Wrong! The lesson learned? Speak your truth, talk about your vision, no matter how much you fear others may judge it.

A friend introduced me to a wonderful, smart young woman with an MBA and a tremendous amount of experience in startups. She’s swooped in to help me out on a few occasions — helping me crunch numbers, figure out monetization opportunities, etc. But the way in which she has helped me the most is the encouragement she has continuously given me. I cannot count how many times she’s said, “ Plenty people have great ideas — but they simply remain ideas. You had an idea, you built it, and you launched it. “ The best part is that each time I get together with her, she says the same thing — and adds to it. The last time we spoke it was, “Judging by the rave reviews you’re getting you’ve reached product-market fit.” I can’t wait to hear what she has to say next time around!

Personally, I don’t like to dwell on what holds anyone back. Rather I prefer to concentrate on what’s keeping the wind in one’s sails. Still, I must confess that as a woman, and a woman of a certain age, both of those factors at times, have seemed to count against me. Very often the feedback that I received was that my idea for Keepster was (cringe) sappy and sentimental — in other words too girlie. Ultimately, I think that what holds women back is what holds everyone back, and that is fear. But as a woman, you often need an extra dose of guts and belief in yourself to just keep going.

Can you help articulate a few things that can be done as individuals, as a society, or by the government, to help overcome those obstacles?

It seems that these days in the startup world there is an increasing number of communities and sisterhood-type organizations aiming to support women, by sharing their stories and providing networking opportunities. However, I have a vision for something larger. There should be many more organizations providing women with one-on-one mentorship, offering business, technical and yes, ‘psychological’ support. So often have I’ve wished for a good business ‘shrink’. Someone to talk me off the ledge, allow me to vent, or just be there for me to help confront my deepest darkest fears. Most of the time, particularly in the workplace, we women are obliged to act strong and fearless — and of course, we can do that well. But for me, the ideal would be to embrace women who’ve retired or exited the workforce. Sharing their collective expertise and life experience would be invaluable to rising generations. To me, it would be a very exciting prospect to bring together women who are in different phases of their lives, but who have in common the knowledge and will to take on the uphill struggle of building startups.

In past generations, we learned from our mothers and grandmothers. Clearly that’s no longer the norm. So, as a great believer in community building, this would be a wonderful way to share know-how, keep older generations feeling engaged and relevant, plus mitigate against the increase in fragmentation of communities and feelings of isolation in our societies. The organizations I’m imagining would be a contemporary re-iteration of women helping women, cross-generational knowledge sharing, and effective reciprocal support.

On a different note, there needs to be a lot more opportunities for retraining women, and as always more affordable childcare solutions.

This might be intuitive to you as a woman founder, but I think it will be helpful to spell this out. Can you share a few reasons why more women should become founders?

This seems like an odd question. There should be more women founders as much as there should be more women doing all sorts of jobs, presidents included! Still, I’m pretty certain that a product like Keepster would never have been dreamed of by the stereotypical tech guy. Keepster’s focus on memory-keeping, and on personal, intimate relationships, certainly feels anti male-tech culture. So there are lots of people out there, who are underserved by the current tech culture and who’d benefit from more women bringing their ideas to fruition.

There is also something about women that makes them really good at community building, plus they’re imbued with the “it takes a village” sensibility which means they tend to be great at working collaboratively. Also, women tend to be excellent multitaskers. I am not a fan of generalizations, but in this regard, I would say these skills are shared by most women that I know — and all of these qualities are key to building thriving startups.

What are the “myths” that you would like to dispel about being a founder? Can you explain what you mean?

The biggest myth is that a startup just takes off, like a snap of the fingers. Absolutely not true. In fact, the very opposite. It takes a lot of mistakes, false assumptions and time to do all the work in order for the data to tell all. There are no shortcuts to success.

I think everybody has the potential to be a founder provided that you‘re prepared to assume the risk of failure. At a 9–5 job if you do good work you will be rewarded. As a startup founder not only is the likelihood of failure very high, but if you have a chance at succeeding the odds are it will be quite some time till you are able to reap any of the rewards. If you want to be a founder you also need to be flexible, As a founder there is no such thing as a 9–5 day, and with so much work most likely to be happening remotely, across several time zones, you will need to be extremely flexible. To be a founder also means wearing many hats at once, particularly in the beginning when no job can be considered too small.

I’m a little thrown by this question where it seems the slant is on gender. Let me answer this more as a person than as a woman.

1. Nothing is more important than believing in your product. That’s what started me off and that’s what keeps me going. As you go forward your idea may well shift or change, but no matter what, it’s that fervent commitment to creating something new, or an idea for an improved version or way of execution, that will help you survive the 3 am demons — and the 24/7 marathon way of life. The words passion and authenticity get thrown around a lot these days, but the truth is that is what it takes.

2. Being a founder requires clarity. Being a founder means facing a constant barrage of challenges that keep coming at you from every direction. The goal is to remain laser-focused, at the same time that there’s a multitude of tasks constantly yapping at your heels. In order to navigate all of this it’s essential to discipline oneself to regularly step aside to quieten the noise, gain perspective, and only then can you prioritize. One of the most helpful lessons I learned was from reading Bob Iger’s book where he says you can’t have more than three priorities. Anything more than that and it’s not a priority.

3. Being a founder takes a lot of patience. As an extremely impatient person, this is probably the most difficult lesson I’ve had to learn. I had an idea that it would take a while to get my product built and the marketing dialed in, but in reality I had no idea how much time it really takes. When I came across a picture of Jeff Bezos, sitting at his desk in a dingy warehouse office at least 20 years ago, it made me realize that that’s what patience looks like Also, I am frequently reminded of the LAUNCH Incubator’s Jason Calacanis words, when I was there: a startup is built by adding bits of kindling, very gradually, one at a time. In fact he said that if a startup takes off immediately, chances are that it will burn, crash and die. Regardless of these reminders I’ve committed the mistake that any founder will most likely make — rushing to build too many features to be all things to more people, all at once. Not only is it foolish, it turns out to be dangerously costly.

So here’s the simple rule:

Time + Data + PATIENCE = Smart decisions + a better shot at longevity

4. As much as it’s crucial to constantly stay laser-focused, a key ingredient is to learn how to pace oneself. I make time to cast the net wide for fresh ideas and inspiration rather than remain myopically bogged down in the minutiae. I scour the news for stories, for ideas, or for any buzz in our collective conversations, ranging from politics to culture to psychology, and beyond. Though we’re a technology company our business is about memory keeping, commemorating important relationships and human connection — in short, it’s about humanity. So in order to gain fresh inspiration, enlarge and refine our vision, I have to make time to plug into the world. Reading stories about how Amy Schumer proposed to her husband via text, or how a ‘badass’ group of women in Congress bond and banter about policy via text, or about a daughter’s heartbreaking last texting conversations with her mom during Covid are the kind of stories that fuel my conviction to give Keepster my all.

5. Courage is what has enabled me to survive and thrive, particularly as a woman. For most of my life I’ve walked my own path, whether choosing to do so consciously or not. But when it came to stepping into this entirely new domain — of technology and startups -, that’s where consciously choosing to cultivate courage has made the difference. I remember when I first moved to LA and the 5 lane freeways terrified me. But when I actually looked at the people, just sitting there in their cars and driving, I said to myself that’s not rocket science — I can do this — and over time that’s what pushed me from the slow lane into the fast lane. Years later, I often find I am giving myself the same kind of talk. “Take it one step at a time Jennifer — you can do it. Little steps, little steps.” That’s what builds courage.

But finally, the truth is no matter how much courage you have, you cannot do it alone. I’ve been blessed being surrounded by my team, who also have been my best teachers and who miracles of miracles have cared as much as I do.

How have you used your success to make the world a better place?

Our books exist to celebrate, commemorate and honor some of our most important relationships. So I believe that when our customers leaf through their Keepster books and revisit their own stories, the joy, laughter, or comfort that they feel really helps makes life sweeter.

Also, these days there is a much bigger discussion around the vast digital legacy that each person creates, how to manage it and how to preserve what matters. What Keepster does is provide a very simple solution to this enormous challenge. Whether you use Keepster to create books or organize and savemessages digitally, Keepster allows people to preserve their stories and make them permanent.

Based on my constant preoccupation with human connection, I am deeply aware and concerned about the epidemic of loneliness that is so pervasive across all demographics. In spite of all the current research, and growing awareness around mental health, there doesn’t yet seem to be any clear systematic, community-based solutions to this problem. Still, I am continuing to learn whatever I can about this issue, and my goal is to come up with some more concrete ideas soon.

That question must have a one-word answer from so many people — and that word is Oprah!

Oprah is the queen of exploring our most human stories. Keepster books are also about giving people a way to tell and share their stories. I cannot think of any better person to talk with about this very unique and personal kind of storytelling!

Thank you for these fantastic insights. We greatly appreciate the time you spent on this.

Female Founders: Jennifer Simchowitz of Keepster On The Five Things You Need To Thrive and Succeed… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.