Self Care- This means the relationship we have with ourselves and prioritizing it to the best of our ability- doing something daily to tend to mind, body and soul.
Dr. Deena Manion is a doctor of psychology and a licensed clinical social worker. In her current role Manion serves as the Clinical Officer at Westwind Recovery in Los Angeles. Manion treat patients who suffer from drug and alcohol addiction and teaches them new ways of living a healthier and more purposeful life by improving their mental health and well-being with a self-care approach ranging from spiritual and physical health which can help optimize one’s lifestyle. In addition, patients in her care participate in sober activities like camping, yoga, and hiking put on by Westwind. This approach of substituting drugs/alcohol with group activities with others in the same boat can help improve mental health and gives a recovering addict a sense of purpose. Additionally, Manion explores how patients can improve their mental and emotional hygiene by encouraging patients at Westwind to reduce stress by using mediation and to be mindful of what you are thinking and feeling which can help identify the source of your stress.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you started your career?
I have been a therapist for almost 30 years since I was 21 years old. I have had a lot of interesting experiences. One that sticks out is early on in my career when I had no idea what I was doing yet…I took a job as a therapist in the Bronx for a mental health facility which treated homeless, indigent clients who suffered from all sorts of mental health conditions. I had a personal caseload of 35 clients and ran groups with 50 plus clients in them.
At first I tried to do “therapy” type groups…I basically went home and cried every day because it was brutal. The clients were miserable, they yelled at me, told me I sucked, on and on. I quickly realized that was not going to work and I needed to pivot…so instead I got creative- I cranked music on a boom box and started dancing…they loved it! I did story time where clients would tell funny stories, tell jokes, do standup comedy acts etc. We played charades, games…we banged on drums I found at a yard sale…we did art projects and sewed clothes in to new outfits…I did anything and everything to create a fun, therapeutic healing environment. Within weeks, all of the clients (there were 200 total) were asking to be in my group! I learned more from this experience and I still incorporate all kinds of alternative therapies in to my private practice and to the clinical program at Westwind.
Can you share a story with us about the most humorous mistake you made when you were first starting? What lesson or take-away did you learn from that?
When I was 23 years old I worked as a therapist/ social worker with a single mother who was very poor, just had a newborn baby. I basically tried to give her advice about not being so “stressed out” about being a new mother and feeling protective of her baby while on the streets. I had NO idea what I was talking about…either about being poor or being a mother… Later after working with the homeless on the streets and then much later becoming a mother, I realized how I was so naïve about life and the human condition.
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?
Dr. Phil has been a mentor and a huge support person in my career. Words cannot describe my gratitude for him. I met him approx. 20 years ago and have since worked at various treatment centers. When I was going thru career transition, he pulled me in to his office and told me that he follows people, not places, and that he will follow me wherever i land. He is super loyal, helpful and really cares about people. He has been an amazing support and fatherly figure to me. I lost my dad a number of years ago to pancreatic cancer and I know that he would be super proud to know that Dr. Phil is looking out for me!
What advice would you suggest to your colleagues in your industry to thrive and avoid burnout?
Self -care, Self-care, Self-care…did I say Self-care? This is not just bubble baths, yoga and massage…it is anything that nurtures the mind, body, spirit and soul.
What advice would you give to other leaders about how to create a fantastic work culture?
I think we forget how difficult it is to work in any helping profession. Working in addiction and mental health care in particular can attract co-dependent helpers who tend to put others in front of themselves and their own needs. Promoting self-care, team building, adequate time off, humor and fun in the workplace, etc. is critical.
Ok thank you for all that. Now let’s move to the main focus of our interview. Mental health is often looked at in binary terms; those who are healthy and those who have mental illness. The truth, however, is that mental wellness is a huge spectrum. Even those who are “mentally healthy” can still improve their mental wellness. From your experience or research, what are five steps that each of us can take to improve or optimize our mental wellness. Can you please share a story or example for each.
Self Care- This means the relationship we have with ourselves and prioritizing it to the best of our ability- doing something daily to tend to mind, body and soul.
Social Connection- This helps build a sense of belonging and self-worth. Emotional and social support is critical for overall mental well-being.
Sleep- Lack of sleep can throw off the body’s circadian rhythm and impact overall mood and mental health. Eight hours is ideal!
Physical Exercise- Causing chemical changes in brain which can boost mood and overall self-esteem and positivity.
Try something new and go outside your comfort zone to boost your mood and self- esteem.
Much of my expertise focuses on helping people to plan for after retirement. Retirement is a dramatic ‘life course transition’ that can impact one’s health. In addition to the idea you mentioned earlier, are there things that one should do to optimize mental wellness after retirement? Please share a story or an example for each.
Many in the workforce dream of retirement. Some are just biding time waiting desperately for the moment when they finally achieve financial independenceso they can cut ties with their employer. What many of them don’t realize is how much of their identity is steeped in their careers and that their job gives them purpose even if it no longer brings them satisfaction. All too often, they haven’t really thought through their retirement years but have only fantasized about the day they no longer have to wake up early to get to work. What fulfills us as human beings is having purpose in our lives. Living out our golden years is no different…we require a purpose-driven retirement to find happiness and satisfaction. I recommend that as one gets closer to retirement age, give great thought to how you intend to spend your time. Do you have a hobby or favorite pastime? What about a cause, nonprofit, community resource that you care about and could volunteer for? Do you have interests that you could develop into an avocation? Have you ever wanted to learn a language or play an instrument? Plan your golden years BEFORE you retire and visualize how you plan to spend your days and you will have taken your first steps toward a fulfilled and purposeful future.
How about teens and pre-teens. Are there any specific new ideas you would suggest for teens and pre-teens to optimize their mental wellness?
Group therapy/counseling in schools and afterschool programs along with mindfulness meditation will boost mood and social support. It creates community, fun, emotional venting, mindfulness practice and education about the mind/body connection. Schools that have implemented this has had good results overall.
Is there a particular book that made a significant impact on you? Can you share a story?
Book: The Untethered Soul by Michael A. Singer is a favorite for anyone and everyone who is searching for inner peace.
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. 🙂
I am currently writing a book about mining our childhood patterns and the defense mechanisms we implemented as children to protect ourselves from pain. This will be a self-exploration over a period of seven days with seven steps to emotional freedom.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Do you have a story about how that was relevant in your life?
Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever. Mahatma Gandhi
What is the best way our readers can follow you on social media?
Westwind Recovery
Drdeenatherapy
This was really meaningful! Thank you so much for your time.
Cassandra Chase of Chase Consulting Group On The 5 Things You Need To Do To Achieve a Healthy Body Weight, And Keep It Permanently
An Interview With Candice Georgiadis
Get support or help where you can, one of the things that was healthy for me was hiring a trainer and focusing a lot on functional training.
So many of us have tried dieting. All too often though, many of us lose 10–20 pounds, but we end up gaining it back. Not only is yo-yo dieting unhealthy, it is also demoralizing and makes us feel like giving up. What exactly do we have to do to achieve a healthy body weight and to stick with it forever?
As a part of this series, I had the pleasure of interviewing Cassandra Chase.
Cassandra Chase is a business owner and social entrepreneur committed to providing marginalized communities with opportunities and essential resources. For ten years, Cassandra has dedicated her career to public service leading massive grassroots efforts in education, health, wellness, and social reform.
Cassandra founded Chase Consulting Group (CCG), a boutique business consulting firm that provides strategic management, business development, and new media marketing services to small businesses, nonprofit organizations, and government entities. She also co-founded Read Lead, a nonprofit organization that provides literacy and leadership training.
Her foundational work has impacted over 2 million residents in Los Angeles County. In 2020, NIKE recognized and featured Cassandra as a changemaker in the Legacy Project among seven other black women transforming the landscape in Los Angeles.
In her spare time, Cassandra spreads accessible information on wellness, veganism, and yoga. As a thought leader, Cassandra continues to foster a culture of civic engagement in the community in which she lives and works.
Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Before we dive into the main focus of our interview, our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you tell us a bit about your childhood backstory?
My Mom is a registered nurse and my Dad is a United Methodist Minister. From a young age, they taught me to lead and serve my community. Activism and community service very much became a way of life growing up. My sister and I were always in a space of listening, and also learning how to strategize. Those aspects of my upbringing are really what sort of brought me to where I am today.
What or who inspired you to pursue your career? We’d love to hear the story.
For personal inspiration, it’s really my grandparents who dared to take a risk in leaving their home country. My paternal grandmother, who had my father at the age of 16 left Barbados to be a social worker in London. She did everything to ensure that my father received the proper resources growing up. She was actually one of the first women fishers in Barbados, so she was an entrepreneur in her own right. She then went on to become an elected justice of the peace in the country as well. My maternal grandfather left Jamaica and came to the United States to buy property, so I learned the importance of investing from him. Finally, my maternal grandmother was an educator, so in a sense everything that I currently do now is sort of a combination of what my grandparents did first.
None of us can achieve success without some help along the way. Was there a particular person who you feel gave you the most help or encouragement to be who you are today? Can you share a story about that?
My paternal grandmother gave me wisdom that has always stuck with me. She would always tell me how difficult it was for her to leave Barbados and her babies to go work at a challenging job in London. But in that, I learned a lesson about working with a purpose. That, whatever I do I have to make sure my success is shared with others.
Can you share the funniest or most interesting mistake that occurred to you in the course of your career? What lesson or take away did you learn from that?
I can’t really remember anything too specific, but I can say that I used to rush a lot. Sometimes I would not double check stuff with spelling mistakes or even who I was addressing in an email. Through those mistakes, I learned to find humor and became more humble in having my own sense of accountability.
Can you share your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Why does that resonate with you so much?
“Be impeccable with your words, don’t take anything personally, don’t make assumptions, and always do your best.” Those are the rules I use to guide my daily interactions, and they come from a book called, The Four Agreements.
What are some of the most interesting or exciting projects you are working on now? How do you think that might help people?
Envisioning and building a curriculum to create a Saturday academy. Learning opportunities for students.
Launch of vegan travel societies, show people how you can do it and travel the world.
Currently envisioning and building a curriculum to create a Saturday academy with my nonprofit organization. The need for a Saturday academy is an extension of our summer literacy work where we will focus on providing high quality learning opportunities for students to elevate their educational and social experiences. Our goal is to create well rounded citizens who understand how to critically think and analyze their own worlds.
The other thing I am really excited about is the launch of the vegan travel society, which is a space that shares tips, resources, and recipes for vegan plant based eaters. I want to share how you can maintain a vegan lifestyle while traveling the world at the same time. I’ve been vegan for 8 years now, and I always get asked how I balance traveling with my ability to remain loyal to a vegan diet. I think it’s a unique storytelling opportunity especially for me, as a woman of color.
I am working on so many things, but those two are at the top of my priorities right now.
For the benefit of our readers, can you briefly let us know why you are an authority in the fitness and wellness field?
I’m an authority in the field because of my experience. I have experience in terms of being intentional about taking control of my own wellness. I don’t consider myself an expert, but I have taken my time to learn from experts. I believe I have a lot of first hand experience I can share around just the learning and execution of a healthy lifestyle. I prioritize wellness in anything and everything I do.
OK, thank you for all of that. Let’s now shift to the main focus of our interview about achieving a healthy body weight. Let’s begin with a basic definition of terms so that all of us are on the same page. How do you define a “Healthy Body Weight”?
A weight you feel comfortable and confident in. People define what works for themselves, it is all very subjective. I do not believe there is any one definition of what a healthy person looks like.
How can an individual learn what is a healthy body weight for them? How can we discern what is “too overweight” or what is “too underweight”?
I think the way we do that is consulting with medical and fitness experts. It’s going to be different for everybody and so having the guidance of professionals is the best way to go forward. Having an understanding of our own health is important, but getting a professional opinion is as well.
This might be intuitive to you, but it will be instructive to expressly articulate this. Can you please share a few reasons why being over your healthy body weight, or under your healthy body weight, can be harmful to your health?
It can bring on the potential for many chronic illnesses to become a part of your life. I think it’s super important to take the best care of yourself and ensure you are maintaining a body weight that is positive for you. That means leaning on activity and putting the best things you can in your body. No matter where you are at in your journey, it comes down to balance.
In contrast, can you help articulate a few examples of how a person who achieves and maintains a healthy body weight will feel better and perform better in many areas of life?
When you have a healthy body weight there is a certain level of self-confidence that comes along with that. Confidence can fuel and energize you in ways that are irreplicable, and that potential energy creates more of a willingness to engage in your life. So I would say that confidence, energy, and engagement are the three main things a healthy body weight can improve.
Ok, fantastic. Here is the main question of our discussion. Can you please share your “5 Things You Need To Do To Achieve a Healthy Body Weight And Keep It Permanently?”. If you can, please share a story or an example for each.
Mindset and mindfulness. (Understanding what your goal weight is, keeping that vision in your mind. Be clear about what you want to achieve.)
Remember that abs are not made in the gym but they are made in the kitchen. (If you are thinking about how often you are working out, you should be equally focused on what you are eating. (For me personally, I really like the health benefits I get as a plant-based vegan.)
Get support or help where you can, one of the things that was healthy for me was hiring a trainer and focusing a lot on functional training. (This was really huge for me, especially being very busy as an entrepreneur. If you cannot get a trainer, there are tons of free apps that can also guide you through a workout.)
Do something that you enjoy. (Do not torture yourself! Do something you love and want to go back to! That’s what will keep you coming back.)
To be gentle with yourself, and noting that getting to your healthy weight takes time. (Don’t expect a change overnight, stay committed.)
The emphasis of this series is how to maintain an ideal weight for the long term, and how to avoid yo-yo dieting. Specifically, how does a person who loses weight maintain that permanently and sustainably?
I think it’s about finding systems that work for you, keep experimenting until you find something that you can do for the rest of your life. It also all goes back to the food intake, be mindful about what you are putting into your body.
What are a few of the most common mistakes you have seen people make when they try to lose weight? What errors cause people to just snap back to their old unhealthy selves? What can they do to avoid those mistakes?
I think trying fad diets causes a lot of yo-yo dieting. Things that push your body’s limits can cause you to stop trying. There are a lot of workout regiments that burn people out and cause them to quit. I think we should avoid things that make us uncomfortable, and try to avoid plans that do not have longevity attached to them.
How do we take all this information and integrate it into our actual lives? The truth is that we all know that it’s important to eat more vegetables, eat less sugar, etc. But while we know it intellectually, it’s difficult to put it into practice and make it a part of our daily habits. In your opinion what are the main blockages that prevent us from taking the information that we all know, and integrating it into our lives?
I think we get stuck in our habits and traditions. There has been a lot of unlearning that I’ve had to do in order to get into a space where my lifestyle became sustainable. I realized everything I do professionally is connected to my wellness, so I prioritize that. I used to put sugar in my cereal until I realized it’s addicting. There are healthy substitutes for everything, we don’t have to fall in line with what is considered, “traditionally nutritious”. Unlearning is a form of education too.
On the flip side, how can we prevent these ideas from just being trapped in a rarified, theoretical ideal that never gets put into practice? What specific habits can we develop to take these intellectual ideas and integrate them into our normal routine?
I think we can prevent these ideas from getting trapped through community. Being around others with a common goal can make it a lot easier to do these kinds of things. For me personally, it was easier to transition into a vegan because my sister was one already. It wasn’t me going through it alone, I had her to help troubleshoot any of the obstacles I ran into early on. It is so big to have a community that holds you accountable, a group of people you can lean on.
Ok, we are nearly done. 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.
I think it would be two-fold. The first part being centered around education, I would want to provide the highest quality of education to learners of all ages. I believe education is the foundation of success, so providing that to people who are in the need of it most would allow us to see a better world through that process. The other thing that I think would help us change the world would be a greater sense of awareness. People becoming more aware of who they are and calling into their lives what they wish to see. By doing this, we will be able to transform the world between our thoughts and actions. In order to accomplish any of this we have to be well ourselves, and take care of who we are.
We are very blessed that some of the biggest names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US, whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this, especially if we both tag them 🙂
Erris Lantham: raw vegan chef, that totally transformed my body. Mind and skin were clear. Would love to talk with him about his experience and lifestyle
I would love to share a meal with Erris Lantham. He is a raw vegan chef who has been practicing his diet for years. I tried raw veganism and it totally transformed my body. I wasn’t even working out that much at the time and I had six-pack abs. I was able to maintain my body weight, my mind was clear, my skin was clear… so I am a huge fan. I would love to talk with him about his experience and how he sustains a raw vegan lifestyle.
How can our readers further follow your work online?
Follow me on insta @mscchase
My nonprofit @readlead1
My consulting group: chasegroup.co
Thank you for these really excellent insights, and we greatly appreciate the time you spent with this. We wish you continued success.
Sandy Sheils of Equation Consulting: 5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Started Leading a Cannabis or CBD Business
An Interview With Candice Georgiadis
Break free from the standard work expectations, set goals instead and empower your employees to get those done. Teach/train them other business skills and get them trained in compliance, quality, and safety. They will be happier and more productive employees.
Ms. Sheils is a BCSP Board Certified Safety Professional, OSHA Outreach Trainer and Accident Investigator with special training and experience in the Cannabis Industry both Medical and Adult Use.
For over 20 years, both as a corporate safety director and private consultant, Ms. Sheils has provided a variety of organizations, including private industry; environmental industry; chemical industry; power companies; and the legal and insurance community, with technical assistance on safety and accident issues.
Ms. Sheils established Equation Consulting (DBA The Safety Equation LLC) certified WBE, Women in Business Enterprise. The objective of The Safety Equation LLC is to provide research analysis and consultative services in the areas of safety; contract safety services; and risk management to private industry, insurance and legal communities, government, and trade organizations. These services have included, but are not limited to, analysis of facilities, products, operations, and equipment; programs to detect physical or environmental hazards/failures, coupled with recommendations of needed solutions/methods to mitigate or eliminate hazardous and/or high-risk conditions and/or lower insurance and worker compensation costs; and seminar development and production, corporate safety manual drafting and written procedure development, emergency action planning, and providing site specific designated professional safety staffing.
Today, Ms. Sheils is impacting new industries, supporting equitable change and growth projects, developing neighborhood outreach programs for those re-entering the workforce and promoting public safety and workplace safety by bringing her experience and best practices into the Cannabis industry operations reducing risk and saving the businesses assets and image.
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?
I have a bet with my younger brother, who is a Sheriff Deputy, who voted “No” on our State 420 laws. I voted “Yes.” The bet is that once Cannabis is legal in our State the increased use will both cause community damage and injuries and I said that it will not. The bet is for only $1.00 but the unswallowable pride…. I set out to access the true risks of the industry from “seed to sale” so to speak. I closely analyzed the industry from coast to coast. Les than 50% of the industry was training their employees or even considering a health & safety plan. People were getting hurt. An explosion in a BHO lab, a press injury, a large-scale cultivar room fire. Loss of assets, time and personal injury were possible and are happening. I set out to do something. I championed for safety in all aspects of the business at every convention I could touch, participated in neighborhood outreach programs for those considering “opting-out.” We had an opportunity to make this industry a leader, a modern marvel of best practices, we can and will go beyond, to prove you wrong. You the naysayers, the “no” voters, the premium chargers who think Cannabis should pay an extra 25% because of “perceived” risk. I will bring my skillset to every operator from retail to extractor taking that ultimate step in legitimizing the industry and proving them all wrong: zero harm.
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?
In Michigan, our Marijuana Regulatory Authority allowed our Medical Caregivers in operation to come into full legal licensing with a “no questions asked” intake of caregiver product into the tracking system up until a certain compliance date. Any product after that date must be a fully tracked product in the system, meaning seed to sale licensed providers which caregivers were not. My client was integrating the caregiver inventory with my assistance in preparation of license application. While we were inputting inventory into the system the data had to be written over and over again because each day the owner was carrying in more and more caregiver products to fill his shelves before the deadline. Everyday gummies, more flower, more shake, more flower, more gummies, change the inventory count, submit, wait did we submit already? Do not submit, we have more gummies. When I finally closed out the project and all inventory was in the system and the caregiver deadline had passed and several months into the new year the provisioning center manager called me. She called me and told me that the plumber was in to repair the plumbing and when they removed a section of the drywall, they had found plastic containers of gummies, 15,000 containers of gummies to be exact. Gummies that the owner had placed on the other side of the wall to the bathroom that no one knew was there. What now? I learned an important lesson that day it was that of double verification and due diligence. The owner had indeed purchased the product legally, had legal receipts, and a chain of custody, the product was safety evaluated and had a date associated with it, the owner retained all video feed and could recall the day he carried in those products, and the day the contractor arrived. Documentation is everything in compliance think block chain evidence.
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?
It was about 3:30 in the morning after hours and hours of inventory data input conducted remotely using handwritten notes (during the pandemic) when I realized a strain, I had input I recalled specifically seeing far more than the data entry. When I went back through the data, I had found that each line item had an incorrect inventory count. I spent hours and hours verifying the inventory counts. I realized I had sorted the columns of data alphabetically but had not sorted the associated data column. It was a fatal data error in excel caused by me! I had to re-enter hours and hours of data in order to complete the inventory correctly. Verification is everything in compliance verification should not be remote. Verify and verify often throughout the project.
Are you working on any exciting projects now? How do you think that will help people?
Currently I am working with the ASTM’s D-37 committee on Cannabis to develop some standards and guidance specifically on Cannabis employee training. Training will help keep incoming employees safe at work. I am also providing training to the community through outreach programs to train the youth, transitional adults returning to work, and disabled veterans who have been disfranchised due to Cannabis. This training will bolster resumes and provide a good foundational employee for prospective employers.
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?
Denise Pollicella, founder of Cannabis Attorney’s of Michigan indirectly helped me along. I pursued and pounded doors on every legal office in the business. Her office called me for an interview of my services. I sat with her assistant and paralegal and explained my services and experience which at the time was innovative and unheard of, however necessary. Her team matched me with a large incoming player in the medical cannabis which spawned increased opportunities which ultimately created my name in the Cannabis space.
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?
I like humor and the unexpected. I find incorporating those into any marketing effort will make it memorable. I use direct approach and apply my services in person. In a drop by visit I may call out a violation I see; however, compliance and safety start at the top and it’s important to have that culture from the very beginning especially coming from an unregulated to regulated industry.
Can you share 3 things that most excite you about the Cannabis industry? Can you share 3 things that most concern you?
The most exciting aspects of the Cannabis industry are its potential, its growth, and its impact. The biggest concerns I have are its growth, its lack of specific regulatory oversight as in OSHA regulations specific to the industry thereby lack employer attention, and its potential to squeeze out small business by large corporations.
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.
Investors and operators are two different things and investors who attempt to operate without experience can risk or lose their investments. Two under thirty investors also insisted on operating without any business experience or formal training they followed the chapters of an EOS system. Six months into the venture the business in in the red and is stuck with inventory that is non-compliant and not sellable. Those investors would have been far better off and in a good financial position if they had made their first hire a business consultant.
Try not to hire your friends; friends are friends, business is business. As difficult as it is to turn a close friend down, do not hire your friends. A client hired a longtime friend who knew “a little about a lot of things” bundled in chaos and rolled into a package that few professionals would work with. He took liberties within the operation and over purchased and underperformed. He delayed the timeline by months impacting profit and embarrassing the business to the point of shareholders looking to quickly exit.
Everything in the Cannabis business costs more. It costs more for two reasons: the belief the industry is cash flushed and the perception of risk. Everything costs more from the property you will purchase to the insurance coverage you carry. You can control those risks and drive those costs down by hiring the right team to control those exposures. Be certain to include a Health & Safety professional.
To make money in Cannabis you need a network so you can control your supply chain. In Michigan, a few summers ago you might pay $540 an ounce for flower, if you could find it. A large influx of new licenses and limited legal supply created a huge imbalance with the supply and demand drying out supply. Provisioning centers did not turn sales for months unless they controlled their own supply chains. If you do not vertically integrate your licenses, then create a family network of licensees to service one another and keep the supply chain flowing.
Picking your company values is more important than its branding. Set your foundation in Compliance, Quality and Safety and your operations will naturally be efficient and profitable. Great branding is meaningless if your company is not trusted by the community or the employees that work for you. When a company favors profit over CQS the products and the brand suffer. A start up company placed family investment at risk and went all in. When times became difficult the finance favored choices deteriorated product quality and salability further pushing the company into negative financial losses. This company had an opportunity to create generational wealth and instead will be closed within 24 months. Tons of money wasted toward marketing and branding this company; however, their inexperienced operations is what set the tone.
What advice would you give to other CEOs or founders to help their employees to thrive?
Break free from the standard work expectations, set goals instead and empower your employees to get those done. Teach/train them other business skills and get them trained in compliance, quality, and safety. They will be happier and more productive employees.
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 would love to champion grocery store food trucks that would deliver fresh, healthy food choices as well as packaged cook at home meals into areas of urban food deserts then into all areas. Food choices would be local, farm to table, zero waste products at low cost.
What is the best way our readers can follow you on social media?
Female Founders: Michelle Cordeiro Grant of LIVELY On The Five Things You Need To Thrive and Succeed as a Woman Founder
An Interview With Candice Georgiadis
Mental Stamina-: Being an entrepreneur is like being a marathon runner. You need to train your mental muscle to get back up from failure and continue on.
As a part of our series about “Why We Need More Women Founders”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Michelle Cordeiro Grant.
Michelle Cordeiro Grant is the Founder and CEO of LIVELY, podcast host of No Makeup Needed, an angel investor and public speaker. Prior to launching LIVELY, Michelle spent the tenure of her career at household names in the lingerie industry including Federated Merchandising Group, VF Corporation, and Victoria’s Secret. In 2016, Michelle officially launched LIVELY, a community and brand that inspires women to live life passionately, purposefully, and confidently, by way of products and experiences.
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?
After graduating from University of Pittsburgh, I started my career as a Product Assistant at Federated Merchandising Group. From there I went to VF corporation where I climbed the ranks, ultimately becoming a director for Victoria’s Secret. After four years at the company I began feeling a disconnect — I was no longer wearing their products myself. Whereas, at the time, their product was geared towards helping women look a certain way to please others, I craved to feel confident, comfortable, and empowered in my own skin.
I came to the realization that there wasn’t anything on the market that catered to approachable branding products and bras that conform to women rather than forcing women to conform into the bra. I wanted there to be a brand that represents women as individuals and that acknowledges that she is her most powerful and beautiful asset. Shortly after this I left to begin my entrepreneurial journey, launching LIVELY, which aims to offer lingerie with a message of empowerment.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began leading your company?
One day I received an email from Shopify about an opportunity to be mentored by life guru Tony Robbins, and AirBnB founder, Joe Geppia. With the idea that I had a slim chance of winning this opportunity, I applied. That following August, I received a call letting me know that I was going to be meeting Tony Robbins along with 8 other winning Entrepreneurs out of the 8,000 that applied. I was told that the way to win this contest was based on the companies that grew the most within the months of applying- but our outcome was different. LIVELY did not reach the same growth as the rest of the winners but because of its eye-catching ethos, we were given a spot amongst the other winners. After spending an hour with Tony on the winners trip to Fiji, he said something that changed the entire trajectory of LIVELY. He said, ”You’re going to kill it at business but you’re sacrificing your personal life to do so.” Two months before I started LIVELY I found out I was pregnant and until this trip, I didn’t have a perspective of the importance of a work-life balance. I immediately changed the way I ran my business for the wellbeing of myself, my family and my employees. I am grateful for gaining that perspective while LIVELY was still young, and am still in close contact with Tony today.
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?
Six weeks before cyber week, our website’s load time was extremely slow and the only way to fix it was to redo the entire site. I took this opportunity to not only update the software but also change the aesthetics so in my mind this was a win/win circumstance. Well, I was totally wrong! When the site launched I was in Beijing which meant I had no access to it, so I asked my employees to send me real time screenshots of its activity. Only thing was, none of the prior traffic data was there. I came to find out that when you have to re-build an SEO, it automatically resets everything back to zero. Definitely learned my lesson with that one!
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?
My first investor has had an extremely meaningful impact on my life and business. Before LIVELY even had a name, and was just a concept and a dream, he believed in it as much as I did. I didn’t even know him that well, but he believed in the business and he believed in me. He ended up re-investing in the company 4 times over. We have become more than just business partners, we are lifelong friends!
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?
It all comes down to the appetite for risk. Men think they can climb any tree and someone will always catch them because our society has instilled them with a sense of security that will never allow them to fail. Women on the other hand have to develop a cohesive playbook that maps out every possible outcome- success and failure. If a woman wins, there are consequences. If a woman fails, there is no one to pick her back up. Women need to remember that we are beasts- our body, heart and mind are built for success.
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?
Communities and forums are our best bet. Businesses that women are creating have better ideas and statistically do better because women support women. The more resources we can develop for women to connect with one another, the more power we will have as a community.
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 capable of so much more than we give ourselves credit for. We create human beings, we are strong multi-taskers, nurturers, creative and logical. What women thought of as vulnerabilities (emotional, nurturing), are actually strong qualities of a good leader. Our resilience has shown us if you don’t operate out of fear, you operate out of thought and achieve good business.
What are the “myths” that you would like to dispel about being a founder? Can you explain what you mean?
This is not a glamorous, sexy job, most of the time you’re rolling your sleeves up and getting down and dirty. The money and fundraising stories are 1% of what a founder really is. A founder is someone who is so passionate about something that they can’t see anything else. They want to create impact and change in the world- not just roll around a pile of money.
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?
Founders are a little crazy, in a good way! We dont believe in barriers, we love to break rules and we love to be visionaries. A lot of people have that in themselves- they just have to find a way to passionately channel it. This comes with time, but a good founder is someone who eventually learns that “letting go” and letting other voices within your company demonstrate themselves is beneficial towards the brand. I am a great example of someone who also had to learn to do this with LIVELY. When we were acquired, it was a big turning point for me and showed me that I need to take a step back and allow the company to grow.
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.)
Mental Stamina-: Being an entrepreneur is like being a marathon runner. You need to train your mental muscle to get back up from failure and continue on.
See the world as puzzles; not problems- Instead of defeat, solve the puzzle.
Ask for help- You’re not shy to ask for help, it’s a sign of being humble. Don’t pretend you know it all. In fact, you want to surround yourself with people who are smarter than you. They teach you to learn and grow.
Know numbers to some degree- Not just profit but where do your sales really come from?
You have to love it so much. This cannot be a business case study, it has to be something you are so passionate about that you can’t sleep.
How have you used your success to make the world a better place?
I have aimed to inspire women to be passionate about living a life outside of the lines. You can be a mom, significant other and also do what you love. Our 150,000 ambassadors have done a great job at showing that you can transition your lifestyle to benefit the balance that you deserve. Even the ambassadors who are graduating school, are starting their new chapter with the idea that success isn’t just based on what is written inside of the lines. With the way our society is structured, the majority of your life is work so if you’re not fully enjoying your job you’re not living a full life. Create and cultivate. We want to tell our story of LIVELY and demonstrate that being a female founder is not just possible, it’s awesome. It’s hard- but it’s awesome.
I find investing in other female founder companies really important. I angel invest in other female founded brands while giving them advice, guidance, support and networking opportunities.
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.
I am unapologetically optimistic and live my life glass half full. If the world could live the same way, there would be so much kindness and love. As human beings, we are focused on negativity because we are focused on survival. Focus on the right, not the wrong. Let’s focus on things that are in our control. I do believe that this would change the trajectory of how human beings interact.
Thank you for these fantastic insights. We greatly appreciate the time you spent on this
Female Founders: Kayla Glanville of Upaway On The Five Things You Need To Thrive and Succeed as a Woman Founder
An Interview With Candice Georgiadis
Be the greenhouse. Crediting the late entrepreneur Tony Hsieh who saw his role was to be the architect of a greenhouse. Founders are not meant to be the brightest colored flower or plant with the biggest leaves, we are here to create an environment where every plant can thrive. My role is creating and maintaining an ecosystem where my team can dig in roots and continue growing to their full potential.
As a part of our series about “Why We Need More Women Founders”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Kayla Glanville.
Kayla Glanville is the Founder and CEO of Upaway, the world’s first and only company to combine travel organization tools with on-demand trip support in one app. Kayla’s passion is creating mission-driven companies at the intersection of technology and human empathy. As the founder of Upaway, she’s focused on building a team that reflects the communities that Upaway serves and is on a mission to make travel safe and simple for everyone by tackling unruly trip chaos.
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’m a natural-born leader: from my earliest memories at preschool leading all the other kids in pretend “school” (I was the make-believe teacher, of course) to captaining teams and spearheading high school inclusion groups. I’ve always found energy and purpose in enabling others to live their fullest, most fulfilling lives.
That said, I remember having limited visions of what’s possible at an early age. (Growing up in the 90s, I didn’t see many women at the top and often had my assertiveness labeled as bossiness — sexist perspectives that were unknowingly and unjustly dampening my self-confidence and limiting my aspirations.)
In college, a professor asked me, “What is your career goal?” to which I answered — without skipping a beat — a CMO (Chief Marketing Officer). I was a lifelong lover of community building and problem-solving, consumer marketing was my first love, and the career path seemed obvious.
Then that professor replied: “Why did you only say CMO? You’d be a great CEO.”
Those words stopped me in my tracks; talk about unlearning, reprogramming, and reconsidering assumptions! This quick interaction planted an entrepreneurial seed in the back of my mind: it’s possible.
So, that summer after graduation, I began my career at Nike, where I helped build the company’s Global Digital Strategy and social communities alongside notable marketing leaders and now-CMOs. In 2014, I joined Twitter to grow the company’s travel industry partnerships, where I worked with the world’s biggest airlines, hotels, destination marketing organizations, and experiential parks. Simultaneously, I co-led Twitter’s LGBTQIA+ group into a global entity, working on internal and external solutions for employees and global citizens.
This experience put the stressful consumer travel experience under a microscope and made clear the chaos that everyday travelers — often those who’ve been historically excluded or underserved — have to tackle alone.
Today, my commitment to equity and inclusion converges with my love of travel in Upaway: the first-ever travel app tackling trip chaos for everyday travelers. We built Upaway based on the experiences of everyday travelers who’ve been hung out to dry by the travel industry as traveling gets more and more chaotic, so you can get where you’re going safely and simply.
I often think back to that professor who challenged me to think beyond my self-imposed (often subconsciously learned) limitations and reflect in gratitude; sometimes, it takes a tiny spark — even years earlier — to ignite something big inside.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began leading your company?
As a founder raising your first ten thousand dollars can feel impossible, yet, when we received our first offer in the triple digits, we turned it down. Even more surprising, it was the right partner and someone I would be thrilled to work with in the future.
Nevertheless, as I started to understand the world of equity, investments, and the structure behind startup deals, I knew it wasn’t the right path for our company. We decided to turn down our first big term sheet, keep bootstrapping, and bet on ourselves.
This was unexpected and an interesting turn of events because I never imagined turning down capital this early in my startup journey. What I learned through the experience was how to operate in a mindset of abundance versus scarcity. The scarcity mindset makes you think about the what if’s: what if another check doesn’t come, what if I can’t financially support this team, what if we are one of the majority of startups that fail.
I had a conversation with our advisor and executive coach who shifted my lens to an abundance mindset: recognizing, honoring, and believing that there will be more offers, ones we can build towards, visualize, and manifest into reality.
I never expected to turn down our first big investment offer, yet, this was one of the most interesting and impactful decisions I made as an early-stage Female Founder that has served our team well.
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?
Yes! Looking back it’s almost comical — but primarily cringey. While at Twitter, my job was to partner with Travel Brands and pitch Travel Industry Executives. As I stepped into the CEO role at Upaway from an Account Executive role at Twitter, I thought to myself: This can’t be that different. I know how to pitch, curate a partnership, and source the right talent.
Of course, it wasn’t that simple. Those are all essential skills that have served me well time and again, but as I went out to pitch investors for funds to ‘begin’, I realized that building a great pitch is a moot point if your product isn’t rooted in deep consumer insights.
There I was, a consumer marketer and builder who had a solution to travel chaos without ever running it by a customer. Yes, it makes me cringe just typing that out. But it’s true: we often follow solutions that we think are right. After four unsuccessful months of fundraising, I hit pause when a friend/ investor asked: How many customers have you talked to?
My heart fell so fast to my feet it took me a second to pick it up off the metaphorical ground. I, a professional who knew data-informed anything is always better than assuming everything, had been pitching a product rooted in weak insights; this was my first great, big ego check.
From there, I conducted over fifty interviews with folks from all backgrounds, all around the USA, who had varying levels of travel experience. It was then that two questions popped out like the chaotic monsters they are: limited trip organization tools and almost non-existent trip support. Today, we continue to build with one north: working with our customers to create products that enable them to thrive.
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?
So many folks have supported this journey, whom I’m immensely grateful for; it’s a genuine team effort at Upaway. I’d be remiss, not to mention our incredible team working tirelessly to make travel safe and simple for everyone and our Advisory team who guides our efforts.
That said, there is one person I couldn’t do this journey without, who without her unwavering love and support, this entrepreneurial journey wouldn’t be possible: my wife.
The entrepreneurial journey is long, unpredictable, and unstable; it requires massive amounts of sacrifice, financial hurdles, and an unwavering belief in what ‘could be’. Choosing a career journey with a seventy-five percent failure rate isn’t just stressful for entrepreneurs — it’s also stressful for our partners.
That’s why, as I’ve poured hours into late nights and full weekends, my wife has been the loving wind beneath my startup wings. Spousal capital is, yes, financial: without her salary, I wouldn’t have been able to step away from my corporate life and build something new. (A massive privilege that I’m grateful for every day.) But, too, spousal capital is about the unwavering belief and support in you, your team, and your dream for the future.
I’m enormously grateful to my wife for being my biggest believer, strongest supporter, and above all the person who whispers “keep going” when the journey gets almost too tough to bear.
To my wife: thank you, I love you forever.
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?
The lingering, expansive impacts of the historical exclusion of women in business spaces — precisely in entrepreneurial spaces — continue to impact founders today.
Men have historically benefited most from entrepreneurship because resources, access, and professional networks tailor to their lived experiences and success. I would argue, this is still the case today. Primarily male, mostly white, and often financially well-off, becomes the default, and anyone outside of that default is still vying for their opportunity.
Yes, the good news is opportunity and spaces for historically excluded founders are broadening: we’re seeing an unprecedented amount of founders, VC firms, and startup teams enter the market with impressive funding. That said, the success of those companies hinges on their access to resources and professional networks.
In my experience, I see many women establish companies with brilliant ideas and incredible business plans. Sadly, those businesses often never see the light of day because the access to resources and professional networks weren’t built inclusively from the start; they don’t have equitable support for scale.
The solution lies in rebuilding a foundation that champions and empowers all visionary entrepreneurs — not just those who were born with the right skin color, gender, or socioeconomic status. This requires unlearning and reframing our assumptions about entrepreneurship and in creating teams that reflect the diverse communities our products serve.
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?
Government:
• Drawing from Susanne Althoff’s “Launching While Female”, in 1988 politicians championing a Women’s Business Ownership Act focused repeated a bold prediction: “that this legislation would allow women to own half of the nation’s businesses by the year 2000.” Well, in 2002, only 28% of all US businesses were owned solely by women. Today in 2021, 40% of U.S. businesses are owned by women. While this trend is moving in the right direction, it has taken over thirty years to get to this point and we’re not yet at the goal.
• Women often take on more responsibilities outside of work: housework, childcare, family organization, and more. As we venture into entrepreneurship, women need…
◦ Monetary support through non-predatory governmental grants and loans that don’t require revenue (this effectively counts out early tech entrepreneurs, who often operate in a monetary deficit in their early stages)
◦ Affordable childcare
◦ Full reproductive rights
◦ More women-identified folks and historically excluded communities in elected positions of influence across all levels of government
Society:
• Create space and opportunities for female entrepreneurs, including access to free or affordable childcare, nonpredatory financial support to pre-revenue first-time female founders (because a ‘friends and family’ fundraising round is a privilege many don’t have), and reimagining women’s home contributions to be more equitable across housework, child-rearing, and family organization.
Individuals:
• Be thoughtful about who you put on your Cap Table. From LPs, to your investors, your team, and Board — each person has the opportunity to make a ton of money if your venture drives outsized returns. As we build our Cap Table, I’m always thinking about who will benefit from our success and if it will drive generational wealth and capital to folks who’ve been historically excluded. Your product can be a changemaker for your customers, and your Cap Table can be a changemaker for every investor, their families, and generations to come.
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?
No one knows our lived experiences as well as we know our own. We’ve all seen the product or commercial that rings so tone-deaf, so unrelatable, we think: how did that even make it to market? For decades investors have invested mainly in male-led companies because, no surprise, 81% of VC investors are male. (source)
As humans, we tend to navigate towards familiarity and trust people who look and experience the world as we do. So, what happens when the LPs, the VCs, and the companies are all men? We get products that solely reflect the male experience: this can show up in…
• Small, but impactful ways like naming children’s workshop toolsets as “Big Boy Toys” when, for example, our niece loves to build and we chose to put black tape over words to express who the toy is really for: “Big Kid Toys”
• Huge concerns, like crash test dummies that are modeled after male bodies; no female body dummies are used in front-impact crash tests. The result? Women are seventy-three percent more likely to be seriously injured in frontal car accidents. (source)
As founders who identify as female, we have the opportunity to build inclusive, diverse teams that reflect the unique communities we serve. We get to build our Cap Tables in such a way that drives more leverage towards historically excluded folks, engage investors who align with our values, and build products that solve our real-life challenges.
What are the “myths” that you would like to dispel about being a founder? Can you explain what you mean?
“Workaholics drive success.” This myth should kick rocks, and no one will miss it. (Hopefully.) While the workaholic-in-a-garage archetype of Gates, Bezos, and Zuck dominate the narrative the reality is this “lone wolf” approach to startups never worked for me and I haven’t seen it work for others. Startups are a long game and the process will test your endurance more than ever before; take time to rest, prioritize time with your loved ones, and leave time for play. After periods of focused, productive work the times of diffusion — i.e. stepping away — are when your brain ties those loose ends together and creates the magic. (Yes, keep a notepad nearby!)
“We wrote a deal on a napkin!” Alright, if this was you then a huge congrats. In likeness, though, the narrative of having an idea and raising tons of money through a few network introductions doesn’t happen often; when it does, it’s typically going down between “trusted” folks within networks. When networks and access to resources aren’t extended equitably, we see outlier success stories like the napkin story but the reality is more steadfast and persistent than your Twitter and LinkedIn timelines will lead you to believe.
Before you begin… there’s no one way, no right way. You can (and probably will!) learn-via-doing; you’ll make mistakes, pivot a ton, and be better for it. Before I took the “leap” into entrepreneurship I spoke with a mentor-now-advisor about my idea, but when he asked why I hadn’t started the company my reply was this: I have no idea where to start. It was at this moment they looked at me and said, “no one does” and kept walking. The truth is we’re all figuring it out, and the philosophical stoplights on our road of life won’t all be green at the same time. The trick to beginning is to simply begin.
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’m of the opinion that anyone who says who a founder should be, or who’s likely to succeed, is sharing that perspective from the biases of their own lived experience. The traits that have helped me be successful in this entrepreneurial journey (commitment, empathy, vision) are likely different for other folks and their companies.
The one trait, however, that I see consistent across entrepreneurs is belief. We believe something can be better, so we create it. We believe we can, so we do. We believe in our teams, in our vision, in our products to such an extent that the odds stacked sky-high against us are mere shadows in our peripheral view as our focus stays laser-pointed towards success.
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 — Unlearn and reprogram. A mentor of mine said, “if you want to get to know yourself (the good, the bad, and the ugly), start a company.” I expected to learn about Cap Tables, funding rounds, and building teams. What I didn’t expect was unlearning what I thought to be the perpetual truths of “productive” working habits.
The accolades you have, who you think you are, the disappointment of letting someone down, and the guilt of taking a break all lead to burnout as a founder and leader. If I pushed myself to burnout through habits that did not serve me, I couldn’t be there for my team or my family. I put in an enormous amount of cognizant work into unlearning what our society programs us into thinking is efficient. I relearned and reprogramed with a growth mindset to be the best for those around me.
2- Find and empower your champions. Most folks have mentors that can help us contextualize ideas, soften blows, and guide us. They are incredible at providing support and creating stability throughout our careers. Champions or sponsors, as TED Talk speaker and business executive Carla Harris calls them, are the people who will be in the room fighting for your big moments of change. They put their verbal stamp of YES on you and pound the table to ensure you are represented.
Both mentors and sponsors are important roles, I encourage Female Founders to seek out both while being clear with your expectations. This empowers them to understand what you’re looking for, what you need from them, and it’s on founders to empower them with updates on what you’re working towards.
3 — It’s all about the team. I don’t know everything and have yet to meet anyone who does. There are always individuals who have specialized knowledge and insight superior to mine. My goal as a leader is not to know every answer to a question my job is to find and empower the folks who are subject matter experts.
As a founder, I am here to prompt the discourse around what we need, find the experts within that area of our business, and remove roadblocks to enable them to do their best work. If I do this correctly, it means I have an entire team who can put their heads together and find the best solution, versus having to find every answer independently.
4 — Be the greenhouse. Crediting the late entrepreneur Tony Hsieh who saw his role was to be the architect of a greenhouse. Founders are not meant to be the brightest colored flower or plant with the biggest leaves, we are here to create an environment where every plant can thrive. My role is creating and maintaining an ecosystem where my team can dig in roots and continue growing to their full potential.
5 — Get creative. The way things “should” happen for a founder is far different than how it is experienced by historically excluded founders, particularly women. Cis white men with access to capital and networks are featured as unicorn success stories, yet this is not the reality for most.
I hired my team and bootstrapped the business before any capital was even plausible. From power washing driveways in San Francisco to selling stocks for our overhead costs, I got creative to source enough funds to get where we needed to be.
To female and historically excluded founders who don’t have a family and friends funding round, I encourage you to bring people in who see your vision and are excited to build together. Women are uniquely tasked with figuring it out for not only ourselves but our families. Throughout centuries we’ve powered through this juggling act of life, as society expects more from us in the workplace and at home. Through this, we’ve become well-rounded, effective, and empathetic leaders who I hope to see more of every day.
How have you used your success to make the world a better place?
Prior to founding Upaway, I’ve always had a day job where within that workforce, I found a second project around equity, representation, and making inclusive spaces. I love working with the elderly, supporting women’s shelters, empowering student-athletes, and advocating for the LGBTQIA+ community.
I walked away from corporate life because I didn’t want my job and my societal contributions to be separate anymore. I’ve created a product and a company that is focused on inclusion, integrity, and helping everyday people thrive. Now, I get to work 100% at something that will provide millions of people access to support that makes their lives better.
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.
Of course, I have my own ideas on how we can change the world, but my ideas are not representative of our collective community. Throughout this journey, I’ve learned that the greatest movements are never based solely on personal experiences.
I would first start with questions to find where the opportunity is to provide the most amount of good for the greatest number of people, through asking real folks about their lives. The power lies within getting and hearing the voices of people who need a movement and enabling them to make it happen.
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.
Raise your hand if you aren’t someone who idolizes others?! There are many folks with whom I would love to have a thoughtful conversation, however, I don’t feel any one person has all the answers. That said, someone I admire is Alicia Keys. I appreciate her authenticity, love her perspective, and admire how she shows up as her full self in all spaces. She’s an incredible businesswoman, an accomplished singer/songwriter, and leads with authenticity. Also, Emma Lovewell from Peloton — let’s get lunch!
Thank you for these fantastic insights. We greatly appreciate the time you spent on this.
Female Founders: Crystal Etienne of Ruby Love On The Five Things You Need To Thrive and Succeed as a Woman Founder
An Interview With Candice Georgiadis
Nothing is holding women back from starting companies besides equal opportunity, and chance for Black women to have the same means, mentorship, and money to grow a company.
Crystal Etienne is the Founder + CEO of Ruby Love — a Period Swimwear and Underwear company. In 2016 she created Ruby Love (previously known as Panty Prop) from her own frustration with a sanitary pad, and was able to bootstrap the business within 2 years to over $10M. In 2021 the company became a $50M+ brand under her direction, and no-one in the tech industry knew or cared that a Black woman built a big brand, in a new category, with very little funding or help.
She felt “cajed” many times, but overcame every obstacle and was inspired to launch a new-to-market investment company CaJE, aimed at supporting early stage, women-led businesses. CaJE is on a mission to create a new category of capital called, “Soil.” Whether bootstrapping, qualifying for pre-seed, or seed-level financing from venture capital funds, CaJE is designed to build and create generational wealth through idea and market for Black women.
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 have always been an entrepreneur since I can remember. Solving problems fascinates me in the most weird way. Basic, everyday life issues all have solutions and I just happen to be one of the people solving it through my brand Ruby Love. I am a Black woman and have witnessed first-hand the brutal disservice that the tech industry and venture capital world do to women of color.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began leading your company?
In September, alongside my husband and business partner, we launched a new era venture capital brand, CaJE to support Black women founders and provide the financial support they need to build scalable businesses. My most memorable moment in launching CaJE was the amount of feedback and interest we received. We were expecting only a handful of submissions to pitch to us and within one week we received over 380 submissions, having to rearrange our calendars almost immediately. Because of this, we have had to rearrange and regroup almost immediately to support the cause that we are doing.
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?
Yes, my husband Jean. My husband operated his own logistics delivery company and it took 2 years of begging him to come onboard to help launch CaJE. My convincing paid off. Since that day, he has helped me make sound decisions and we have put together an amazing operation.
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?
Nothing is holding women back from starting companies besides equal opportunity, and chance for Black women to have the same means, mentorship, and money to grow a company.
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’s pretty simple, but mass society just won’t let it happen. The easy solution would be to give opportunity to the best candidate, not based on introductions and favoritism.
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?
Becoming a founder creates wealth and wisdom.
What are the “myths” that you would like to dispel about being a founder? Can you explain what you mean?
Founders never sleep.
Founders all work from their basements.
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?
Entrepreneurs and regular job workers have different mindsets. Entrepreneurs think big visions all day beyond a paycheck and take a lose-it-all risk. Regular job seekers think first about security in life.
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.)
You must be able to say NO.
You must be able to set boundaries and stick to them.
You need to not care about what others think.
You need to stay focused.
You need to be able to think big.
How have you used your success to make the world a better place?
With CaJE, I intend to create a solid starting point for Black women that normally would not exist for them.
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.
I want to live in a world where money does not exist, where value is based purely on good souls and who is truly the best.
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.
Absolutely — Oprah! Oprah seems to genuinely give from the heart to others and that reminds me of myself. I would love to just invite her over one day on my patio and talk about helping the underprivileged.
Thank you for these fantastic insights. We greatly appreciate the time you spent on this.
Live your best life regardless of what the naysayers think or say: If I listened to all the things that naysayers say and have said about me, I would have never achieved half of the things I set out to do. No matter what push forward brush off the negative’s opinions and people and pessimistic philosophies and live your best life. Your best life is living a life without listening to judgement, toxic critic, smiling, being grateful and writing your own contract for your life.
As a part of our series about “dreamers who ignored the naysayers and did what others said was impossible”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Rene Byrd.
Rene Byrd is a Singer-Songwriter, Ambassador for the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund UK, Online Influence Awards Finalist 2020, International Women of Empowerment Finalist 2021 and Co-Founder of Online Who AM I Talk Show.
Thank you so much for joining us! Our readers would love to ‘get to know you’ a bit better. Can you tell us your ‘backstory’?
I come from humble origins raised and born in London, UK. I come from a creative background most of my family is in the entertainment industry. My father was signed to a major record label and my uncles and cousins were regularly on television either performing or hosting their own television show. Most of my childhood and early adulthood was listening to live studio sessions or moving and shaking with unassuming creatives who are now very high-profile international celebrities. I knew from a young age that singing was my first love, if there was a stage and a mic, I would be singing out loud to one of my favorite songs. The music industry is not for the faint hearted it costs money to create music, marketing, and promotion. I decided as I climbed the entertainment ladder to go to university and work in the corporate world working along side top executives in board rooms which helped to fund my musical career.
Are you working on any new or exciting projects now? How do you think that will help people?
I created a talk show in the pandemic called the Who Am I Talk where I would invite experts, brands, public figures, and celebrities to share their journey and stories to help the masses at such a sensitive and delicate time. The feedback received was very positive as the audience said it helped them navigate such an unprecedented time listening to nutritionist, hairdressers, entrepreneurs and celebrities providing guidance, hope and inspiration at such a time as this.
In your opinion, what do you think makes your company or organization stand out from the crowd?
I am true believer that your passion leads you to your purpose and when you can help, educate, and inspire others i.e., provide a service this is purpose fulfilled. The purpose must be authentic and from the heart and have a genuineness. At the start of the pandemic, I released my single and was about to push the button on the international marketing campaign. The lockdown for Covid was announced in the UK and other parts of world, as you can imagine this was a tough pill to swallow the money, time and resources that goes into launching a campaign had to be put on pause. I had to shift the focus and mindset and decided at this delicate time to do my best to use my platform for purpose. I sat down with a team member (my brother) and artist Tez-lee and we agreed that I must use my platform to help heal inspire and create change. The Instagram live talk show called Who Am I Talk was born, this gave viewers the opportunity to enjoy conversations with Experts, Brands, Public Figures and celebrities within Beauty, Lifestyle, Entertainment, Fashion and Luxury. I had conversations with people like; Chris Collins ex Ralph Lauren model and now luxury fragrance owner, Patrick Hutchinson activist and author whose humanitarian nature shot him to fame and Kimberley Davis lead singer of Chic Nile Rodgers. My social reach exploded in this season to over 1m engagement as my audience were keen to hear and learn more.
Ok, thank you for that. I’d like to jump to the main focus of this interview. Has there ever been a time that someone told you something was impossible, but you did it anyway? Can you share the story with us? What was your idea? What was the reaction of the naysayers? And how did you overcome that?
From very young age in high school and college I experienced prejudice and was often told by some teachers you would never amount to nothing. That stung like a bee, imagine a young person with all your hope and dreams to be told you are a Prima Donna, at first, I thought this was a compliment and they were referring to my constant vocal acrobatics then I realised it was an insult. It’s the worst feeling, teachers who are supposed to encourage you saying things to hurt you. Even when choosing my options of what I wished to study some of the teachers would push me to take vocational courses such as beauty and hairdressing (not that I have anything against those professions), but I wanted to study law and the teacher at the time gave a smug laugh to insinuate that this would never happen. I managed to navigate the terrain and used that experience whilst at college as a catalyst to succeed and successfully graduated with a degree. The naysayers didn’t stop, imagine a young black girl with the whole world at her feet. I decided that I needed to find a job and made an appointment with a recruitment consultancy in an affluent part of town. The recruiter told me point blank that people of my kind will never be employed within the legal and banking sector. I remember leaving the office feeling broken and disheartened but very quickly wiping away my tears and used that experience as a catalyst to push forward. I have heard ‘no you can’t’ so many times but as my father has always said, there is nothing you can’t do if you know how. That’s the mantra I have used throughout my whole life, ‘When someone says you can’t’ I use this as fire in my tummy to live my truth. The naysayers were silenced as even they told me ‘I can’t’ I guess what I did.
In the end, how were all the naysayers proven wrong? 🙂
From humble beginnings to breaking glass ceilings, being one of the few women of color in the legal and banking sector rising to a senior position. Siting in board rooms amongst predominately male counterparts. Performing for the European Prime Minister and many other prestigious events, becoming the Ambassador for The Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund created by the late Nelson Mandela himself. Building from scratch a successful musical journey and co creating an entertainment talk show called Who Am I Talk in the heart of the pandemic, resulted in being a finalist for The Online Influence Awards 2020 and International Women of Empowerment Finalist 2021.
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?
It will be unfair of me to just mention one person there are some many people who are and have been instrumental in my career corporate and entertainment, mentors who have handed down the baton and given nuggets of wisdom to help navigate me throughout my journey. My team in particular, family, loved one and friends who continuously support me. I am grateful to everyone who listened, streamed, and download my music. Everyone who gave me a platform to share my story, my guests on my show and those who joined my conversations real time or who have watched them back and a big thanks to you for this interview.
It must not have been easy to ignore all the naysayers. Did you have any experiences growing up that have contributed to building your resiliency? Can you share the story with us?
Growing up in East London and as a young black girl resilience is a must. I have faced numerous instances of prejudices and situations when I decided not to take things personal. It’s easy to reflect what people give to you with negativity and hostility but the key is to rise when people go low and lead by example. I wasn’t privileged but grafted for everything I have now. The naysayers are often projecting their fears and insecurities and in the case of prejudice lack of knowledge, education and understanding about culture.
Based on your experience, can you share 5 strategies that people can use to harness the sense of tenacity and do what naysayers think is impossible? (Please share a story or an example for each)
Follow your Intuition: we often ignore our inner voice which is our guiding light for our direction in life. I knew from a young age that I wanted to be in the entertainment industry. It’s important to cut out the noise around you and listen to your inner voice and follow your heart.
Speak affirmations into your life: throughout my life I have spoken things out into existence, and they have come to pass. I made it a point to speak out what I want in life and then quickly realised a pattern that many of the things I asked for happened and continue to happen. I have even been able to manifest opportunities for others. I truly believe affirmations are a must to lead a fulfilled life.
Be intentional: Choose to make decisions and take actions on what’s important to you. You will be told by others that you don’t have what it takes to achieve, when that happens stare people then in the eyes and say ‘watch me shine bright like a diamond’.
Your passion leads you to your purpose: I am a strong believer that your passion leads you to your purpose. Everyone has a passion within them, something that sets their soul on fire. Your passion leads you to your true purpose and the reason we are here on this earth.
Live your best life regardless of what the naysayers think or say: If I listened to all the things that naysayers say and have said about me, I would have never achieved half of the things I set out to do. No matter what push forward brush off the negative’s opinions and people and pessimistic philosophies and live your best life. Your best life is living a life without listening to judgement, toxic critic, smiling, being grateful and writing your own contract for your life.
What is your favorite quote or personal philosophy that relates to the concept of resilience?
“Don’t be afraid. Be focused. Be determined. Be hopeful. Be empowered”. Michelle Obama
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.
I was saddened to hear that many women around the world have period poverty, many do not have access to feminine products which is part of every woman’s evolution. I would start a movement that all world leaders and governments would provide these products free, to every woman in need.
Can our readers follow you on social media?
You can find me on all social media platforms:
Instagram — Renebyrdofficial
Twitter — Renebyrdworld
Facebook — Renebyrdofficialglobal
Linkedin — Rene Byrd
Thank you for these great stories. We wish you only continued success!
Women In Wellness: Author Candy Marx On The Five Lifestyle Tweaks That Will Help Support People’s Journey Towards Better Wellbeing
An Interview With Candice Georgiadis
Laugh and spend loads of time with loved ones. Laughing and being with loved ones triggers endorphins, decreases stress hormones, raises one’s vibration and strengthens the immune system — increasing mental, physical and spiritual health.
As a part of my series about the women in wellness, I had the pleasure of interviewing Candy Marx, Author, a Vegan Wellness Entrepreneur and Influencer, and a Spiritual Mentor. She has been vegan for 9 years and lives in Sydney, Australia with her healthy vegan family.
Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Our readers would love to “get to know you” better. Can you share your “backstory” with us?
Thanks so much for having me! My background was in fashion footwear design. I was a long-term vegetarian and I started looking into veganism. Which is when I learned how detrimental leather production and the commercial dairy and egg industries are. I switched to a wholesome vegan diet while I rebranded my footwear label, but it was during this time that I truly experienced the health benefits of plant-based wholefoods. I was battling minor health issues at the time and they reversed just by changing my diet. At the same time, I was going through a spiritual awakening, so there was a lot of shifting, shedding and growing going on <laughs>. I’ve always loved animals, love to cook, and have always had an interest in health and wellness-and since I experienced the benefits of a wholefoods vegan diet-I studied Shark Biology, Marine Science, and then Master Herbalism and Nutrition. I then went on to study Immunology, and I haven’t looked back. Now, I have an herbal wholefood supplement brand and I help people nourish and heal themselves, while advocating for holistic health, animal welfare and conservation.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you started your career? What were the main lessons or takeaways from that story?
I don’t know if this fits the question exactly, but I had a dream that I had an herbal supplement brand and it was stocked at my local health shop. Fast forward two years, and I was literally packing an order for my local health shop and then I remembered having that dream. When I had the dream two years prior, I had no intention of releasing a supplement brand either. What I took away from that was that I’m on the right track.
Can you share a story about the biggest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
I’ve made plenty of small, trivial mistakes but I think the biggest mistake was not believing in myself — believing that I could help heal clients that couldn’t be helped by their doctors and specialists. At the beginning, when a client came to me with severe symptoms or autoimmune issues, it was quite daunting and that responsibility definitely overwhelmed me. But that subsided with more and more experience. The lesson I learned was that I was way too hard on myself, and that I can’t help anyone if I doubt myself.
Let’s jump to our main focus. When it comes to health and wellness, how is the work you are doing helping to make a bigger impact in the world?
I’m a huge believer that holistically healthy people are more likely to care about animals and the environment. So my aim is to help people to be holistically healthy and strong — while advocating for animal welfare and conservation. I’ve had many clients come to me as a last resort: they’ve been to a variety of doctors and specialists without seeing any improvement in their health. And because they’re so focused on their illness and just barely making it through the day, the last thing they care about is their environmental impact or other causes. Once they start healing and focusing holistically on their health, they start making that connection back to nature, they start seeing animals as other beings not just meat-machines, and they don’t want to go back to the food that made them sick in the first place. It’s really quite astounding seeing how much their minds open and shift once they become healthier.
Can you share your top five “lifestyle tweaks” that you believe will help support people’s journey towards better wellbeing? Please give an example or story for each.
True wellbeing is holistic: physical, mental and spiritual. If one is out, then the other two are affected. So all three are super important. For me personally, I focus on spiritual health — if it increases my spiritual health, then it naturally increases my mental and physical health as well. I look at everything as energy and vibration. For example, if the food I eat is high vibrational (raw organic fruits and vegetables, sprouts etc), then it will increase my spiritual health, as well as my physical health, which also increases my mental health. But if the food I eat is low vibrational (overprocessed, pesticide-laden, dead foods), then that food decreases my spiritual health, as well as my physical and mental health. Food is energy and vibration, not just nutrition.
These are my top five tips for true wellbeing.
If you have any ailment, no matter how big or small, do a juice or water fast! With the right regime, fasting is the most powerful way to heal the body. Moreover, intermittent fasting (I like 18 hours fasting/6 hour eating window) and doing regular cleanses also helps to keep the body healthy — especially since we’re exposed to toxins and pollutants every day. The body uses up a lot of energy digesting food, but when we fast, that energy is then used to heal the body. So giving our digestive system a decent rest and detoxing, results in healing. And while detoxing the physical body, detox your environment as well, also making sure to limit your screen time.
Eat to fuel your immune system and lift your vibration. Eat plenty of organic plant-based wholefoods: lots of raw fruit, sprouts and vegetables particularly greens, and herbs. Even barley grass, wheat grass, alfalfa and/or chlorella are fantastic sources of greens, especially if you’re detoxing. Common household herbs and spices like ginger, turmeric and garlic are great — black garlic is a favorite. Or Irish Sea Moss is fantastic as well. All of these are staples in my home. Also, drink plenty of filtered water or live spring water.
Meditate, do breathwork and exercise regularly. Meditation is good for the mind, body and soul, and deepens our connection to the Earth and to each other — and to Spiritual Beings, should you wish to. I find it’s also particularly powerful to practice when things feel a little bit crazy or when stress starts to arise. Breathwork is a very powerful way to not only strengthen the lungs, but it also removes physical, mental and spiritual ailments from within the body — and also helps balance the body’s pH levels. The first time that I practiced breathwork, I had an energetic attachment, which felt like a knitting needle move up through my right leg and out through the right-side of my abdomen. It’s particularly powerful when you’re feeling under the weather as well, but it’s a good habit to get in to. And exercising regularly is a no-brainer — movement is super important for overall wellbeing.
Laugh and spend loads of time with loved ones. Laughing and being with loved ones triggers endorphins, decreases stress hormones, raises one’s vibration and strengthens the immune system — increasing mental, physical and spiritual health.
Get plenty of Sun, get in the ocean, and get into nature as much as possible! Nature is cleansing and detoxing in itself: from earthing (walking barefooted on the grass), to Sunbasking, to swimming in the ocean and soaking up all of those healing and cleansing salts. Trees, particularly ferns, let off probiotics which we breathe in. The Sun helps the body to synthesize vitamin D, and amongst many other benefits, it also helps the body release a protein called GCMaF, which helps the body fight illnesses and cancers (ironically). But the Sun is also how lifeforce (chi, prana, Universal energy) which powers all life, reaches us on Earth. Speaking from a frequency perspective, when we are vibrating at a higher frequency, it means we are high in lifeforce. We only get sick when our lifeforce is low. The Sun streams lifeforce here on Earth, and the more lifeforce we have, the healthier we are. This in itself should highlight just how important the Sun is to our health and wellbeing. This is why foods like raw fruit are super high vibrational, because they’ve spent months growing on a tree in the Sun, and that tree has spent years growing in the Sun and in the Earth.
If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of wellness to the most amount of people, what would that be?
I’d start a Holistic Challenge, which would be a movement consisting of a dietary shift towards plant-wholefoods, meditation, breathwork, getting into nature, Sun-gazing, fasting, and detoxing the home from toxic household items. As people progress, then they can add in regular saunas and a colonic (if possible), increase their level of fasting, and detox other parts of their lives, like toxic relationships, not listening to oneself, and people pleasing etc. While it may sound like a lot, if you really think about it, adopting holistic practices is the ultimate form of self-love.
What are your “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Started” and why?
I don’t think I can even name one. I love learning by doing, so anything that I wish I knew before I started would take away those lessons.
Sustainability, veganism, mental health and environmental changes are big topics at the moment. Which one of these causes is dearest to you, and why?
I’m a huge believer that we are of the Earth, and what we do to the Earth, we do to ourselves. All four topics are dearest to me, but they’re interconnected as well. For example, we can’t hurt the Earth without hurting ourselves or hurting animals. When we hurt animals or the Earth, someone pays the price along the way, whether mentally, physically or energetically. We’ve seen how much our plastic pollution effects marine animals, and in turn, that plastic is now in the food chain. Everything we do, comes back to us.
Gut health is a huge component in mental health, and things like plastic and glyphosate (round up) which is now in food-as well as how much stress people experience without knowing how to channel it-also messes with gut health, which in turn effects mental health. And genuinely happy people don’t cause harm. Everything that we shouldn’t be doing to the Earth and to animals, comes back to bite us in one way or another. We can’t sacrifice one for the other — we have to align all four. From a vegan perspective, monoculture crops aren’t sustainable — permaculture needs to replace it. And here in Australia, the livestock farmers lose so much because of our droughts — farming livestock (which uses the most water from all industries) in drought-prone areas isn’t sustainable at all, yet nothing changes. Permaculture has been successful in the Middle East, it makes no sense why we haven’t followed suit. We have to change. I believe that we can meet our needs, be happy and healthy while being in a symbiotic and synergistic relationship with the Earth, as well as animals. If we do right by the Earth and right by animals, then we do right by ourselves. Or to flip that, if we truly do right by ourselves, then we do right by the Earth and by animals. You see how interconnected we are? Gosh, I could go on and on about this, but I’ll finish it up here <laughs>.
What is the best way our readers can follow you online?
I’m mostly active on Instagram @plantfedmama, same handle for Facebook, and at www.plantfedmana.com
Thank you for these fantastic insights!
Thank you so much for having me, and for listening to my rants! <laughs>
Female Disruptors: Kate Day, Kyle Summers and Sara DeLuca of Dovetail Workwear On The Three Things You Need To Shake Up Your Industry
An Interview With Candice Georgiadis
KYLE: If you’re looking for a seat at the table and it’s not there, build it. Then protect the space you have created and earned. — Raven Pearce, weartester, model, groundbreaker. Raven is 17 or 18 or something and carving out a space in the world for herself. Athlete, leader, artist, tradeswoman, whatever she wants to be. Right? I have her words on a sticky note on my laptop. What to remember for this brand as we fight for women and our place at the table. Move over Carhartt, and big companies that pay lip service but never actually deliver.
As a part of our series about women who are shaking things up in their industry, I had the pleasure of interviewing Kate Day, Kyle Summers, and Sara DeLuca, of Dovetail Workwear.
By women, for women, and with women, Dovetail Workwear is both a young company and the largest exclusively women’s workwear company in the northern hemisphere. Based in Portland, OR, Dovetail Workwear makes all-season, all-reason utility apparel that stands up to the job. Get dirty with Dovetail at dovetailworkwear.com.
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?
KATE: Kyle and I had a landscaping business here in Portland, Oregon, doing residential design, install, and maintenance. Trying to find clothes that were able to withstand hard physical work in the elements, while looking good and professional, and feeling comfortable — was near impossible. There were so few options. What we found in the market either did not fit well, and/or had flowers and pink on it, and the pockets! Don’t even get me started on the dumb, non-functioning pockets we were presented with. The women’s workwear fabrics were also thinner and cheaper than what you’d find in menswear. So we began to dream up the perfect denim workpant for ourselves, and we turned to a client, Sara, for her expertise. A veteran of the apparel industry, Sara took our dreams and turned them into reality, and we haven’t stopped since. 6 years ago, if you looked up womens workwear you found pencil skirts and heels. Today, you will see that has changed…The market still has a ways to go, but it’s better. I like that we helped to disrupt the definition of women’s work.
Can you tell our readers what it is about the work you’re doing that’s disruptive?
SARA: Our very existence is disruptive. The household names of workwear, such as Carhartt and Dickies, have always designed for men first. We do the exact opposite: we put women first. It’s sad that this has to be considered disruptive but that’s where we are.
KYLE: Yes, what we do is disruptive in itself, but also how we do it. For example, part of the fun of my job is working with the talent that models our clothes. At first when we had zero dollars and we did photoshoots in Kate’s garage, we brought in the professional tradeswomen who were wear-testing our prototypes and asked them to model for us. We quickly realized that the entire ethos of our brand is showcasing women who actually DO THE JOBS we make the clothes to perform for. So, by not hiring professional models to be in front of the camera, but actual tradeswomen, makers, farmers, etc, we tapped into a real connection with our audience. This has become a core part of how we connect with our audience. They know the women they see wearing our work are authentic, not pretending to be something they’re not.
KATE: That authenticity also threads through our marketing and influencer relationships. We like to say we believe in dirty work, but clean marketing. For us this means we don’t pay influencers to wear our clothing, we don’t have brand ambassadors, and we don’t sponsor any kind of buy-in media placement. If you see someone wearing Dovetail Workwear, or you read an article about our company, it’s not because we paid to be there. It’s genuine.
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?
KYLE: We used to spend a lot of time on minutiae. I remember our first bandana and how many hours we spent looking at color and design. Keep in mind we are a pants brand :). We’ve always paid attention to detail and we always will. But I think we’ve learned to put our energies into the key products that will grow the business. We’ve also learned not to make perfect the enemy of great.
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?
SARA: I can’t say enough about the mentors. In our early days, we were so fortunate to have mentors who would take a call from a startup and spend their time talking to us. They helped us with the investor deck. They walked us through their customer service philosophy. They gave tips on how to do PR without a big PR firm. You name it. So much of their advice has stayed with me. For example…
Turn each challenge into an opportunity to make your brand better — Kyle Ranson, Showers Pass.
Talk about mentors, Kyle Ranson was so generous with time and experience. He shared a time when women were frustrated Showers Pass didn’t cater more to women cyclists. He engaged his biggest critics to be wear testers and collaborators on women’s product development. I take that home to this day when we get feedback from women for whom the product doesn’t work either due to sizing or body shape. Join us and we’ll make it better together. Be a part of the journey.
Focus on the customer — Heather Hasson, Figs.
Kyle and I did a call with Heather early on. She talked about how Figs looks at every decision from a customer lens. Is this right for the consumer? They’ve built this powerful brand in the medical scrubs industry based on that tenet and it’s always stuck with me.
Can you share the best words of advice you’ve gotten along your journey? Please give a story or example.
KYLE: If you’re looking for a seat at the table and it’s not there, build it. Then protect the space you have created and earned. — Raven Pearce, weartester, model, groundbreaker.
Raven is 17 or 18 or something and carving out a space in the world for herself. Athlete, leader, artist, tradeswoman, whatever she wants to be. Right? I have her words on a sticky note on my laptop. What to remember for this brand as we fight for women and our place at the table. Move over Carhartt, and big companies that pay lip service but never actually deliver.
We are sure you aren’t done. How are you going to shake things up next?
KYLE:We’re just getting started, We’ve still trying to solve the problem of building functional, stylish workwear for as many women as we possibly can, in all of our diversity of body shapes and sizes. Our customers can expect more big things from us in 2022 and beyond: more sizing options, more beautiful, custom, high-performing fabrics that are also edge-of-the-cutting edge when it comes to environmental impact. We will also be offering new “X” styles of core products, where we optimize and add wish list items to our most beloved styles. Even when we have a bestseller, we don’t relax. Like our customers, we’re hardworking women! We want to make our best even better.
In your opinion, what are the biggest challenges faced by ‘women disruptors’ that aren’t typically faced by their male counterparts?
SARA: That very word “disruption” — right there that’s a challenge. Why is it even called disruption to make serious workwear products for women? Why isn’t it just building a product for a growing segment that needs serious gear? Herein lies the problem. We’re still in the DEI category of progressive companies that recognize women are a growing segment and need proper gear. We’ll have reached a milestone when this isn’t a special initiative, when this is just basic business. And when employers in construction and agriculture and everywhere else recognize that they need to gear up their women the same way you would the men.
Do you have a book/podcast/talk that’s had a deep impact on your thinking? Can you share a story with us?
KATE: Invisible Women: Data Bias in a World Designed for Men by Caroline Creado Perez. It’s mind-blowing to read how deeply data is skewed toward men, and how far-reaching and critical the implications across all aspects of life. I first heard Caroline talk on the podcast, 99% Invisible, about “reference man,” a generic set of data that determines so much of our physical world, and which excludes women altogether. When you hear the ramifications, it’s jaw-dropping. Her book is always on hand in our office. And her newsletter is also hilarious.
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. 🙂
KATE: That’s what we’re trying to do. Our work has never been just business to us. We’re fighting the PANTriarchy! This company was founded on a mission, to revolutionize women’s workwear and thus help empower women who work in physically demanding jobs. Pants are our way of contributing to a healthier society where women of all ages, ethnicities, orientations, and backgrounds are recognized for the work they do. That shouldn’t be revolutionary, but it is.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
KYLE: Do something your future self will thank you for. This motivates me to not just follow my pleasure (which I do sometimes, of course) but to set myself up for success and happiness. Little things like cleaning my house before I go on a trip — when I come back to a clean house and a made bed, I’m STOKED. Then I thank and praise my past self. More significantly, this advice propels me through the tough times in my work. We’re trying to leave a legacy for our daughters and nieces and all the other young women behind us, and that is more important to me, Kate, and Sara than anything else. Being mindful of this reminds us to play the long game, and build a business our future selves will thank us for.
How can our readers follow you online?
@dovetailworkwear on Instagram
This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for joining us!
Female Founders: Dr Andrea Simon of Simon Associates Management Consultants On The Five Things You Need To Thrive and Succeed as a Woman Founder
An Interview With Candice Georgiadis
PEOPLE BUY WHAT THEY NEED, NOT WHAT I DO. It didn’t take long to realize that being a corporate anthropologist is almost irrelevant to my potential clients. The fact that I can help them change is what matters to them. My credentials are nice. My methods are interesting. What really matters, however, is: can I help them reignite their growth.
As a part of our series about “Why We Need More Women Founders”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Dr. Andrea ‘Andi’ Simon.
Andrea ‘Andi’ Simon Ph.D., Founder and CEO of Simon Associates Management Consultants (SAMC), is an international leader in the growing field of corporate anthropology, author of the Axiom bronze Best Business Book of 2017 On the Brink: A Fresh Lens to Take Your Business to New Heights, trained practitioner in Blue Ocean Strategy® and in-demand speaker. Dr. Simon’s latest book, Rethink: Smashing the Myths of Women in Business, released in 2021, reflects her deep interest in helping women break through the cultural barriers and gender bias society has created to hold them back. A culture change expert and a curious explorer at heart, Dr. Simon is also the architect of a global thought leadership platform that blends academic perspectives, business experience, new media expertise and proven success in changing organizations and the people within them who are the keys to their success. Learn more about Dr. Simon at www.simonassociates.net.
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 grew up outside of New York City in a family deeply involved in a multi-generational family retail business located in Manhattan. As a child, I vividly remember learning the business from my grandmother, my mother, and my father. Gender stereotypes were being lived right in front of me, not preached, but I would watch my grandmother manage the cash at the end of the day. Our dinner conversations were as much about business issues as about the news, the weather, or challenges in school.
As I was growing up, I learned a great deal about what men and women did, and could do, and even what children and adults did. Fond memories. Yet, when it came time to return from college to expand my responsibilities in the business, I announced that I had discovered anthropology and was going to pursue a doctorate and an academic career. While my family supported my choice, they were dumbfounded. They also realized that the next generation — me — was not going to take over the business as they had planned.
Never did I realize the impact my announcement had on their plans, on what they had been expecting, or on how they would move forward with their business without me. In retrospect, I had become a catalytic moment for them, without ever realizing the impact my decisions had on others. On the other hand, I was beginning to recognize who I was. I was an anthropologist, not a retailer, and I have never looked back. This life-long training, however, prepared me for a career as I moved from academia to being a financial consultant to an executive, first in banking and then in healthcare organizations, all of which needed to change.
I did become an academic anthropologist as a professor of American Studies and Anthropology at Ramapo College in New Jersey. As I worked my way through my early years as an academic anthropologist, I was proud of my position, my work, and my tenure, until I realized that I was a woman who thrived on change. How would I endure a lifetime in a setting where each year was a repeat of the prior one? I did a Master Lecture series, two CBS television series, and completed my post-doctorate grants, filling my academic career with a variety of new experiences. But I was still wondering if this was all there was.
One fortuitous evening, I joined my husband at a cocktail party for Citibank executives. He was an executive and I was “the spouse.” As I met and socialized with the others, someone asked me if I would come join the Citibank team as a consultant to help them adapt to the new deregulating environment. I thought to myself, why not? I took a leave of absence from the college and tasted the world of financial services.
My serendipitous moment led to a 14-year career as a bank executive at four banks, then seven years as an executive in healthcare institutions that were coping with managed care. All those years were ones where I was honing my skills as a change maker. While the industries were different, the challenges were very similar.
Inside each of these organizations, I held executive management positions during periods of major industry transformations, whether it was the deregulation of the financial services industry or the rise of managed care in healthcare. My position was always as the change agent, the change maker, the change “guru.” It wasn’t my title, but it was my role. While people were not clear what anthropologists did or how we saw the world, the leadership teams knew they needed a fresh perspective on their business strategies and executions or they would quickly be left behind by the fast-changing world around them. I was their futurist. They just didn’t know it.
Two decades in those corporate cultures and up those proverbial ladders, I knew I was ready for another adventure. The entrepreneur in me was waiting to bust out. After 9/11, I launched my business, Simon Associates Management Consultants, specifically to bring the methods and tools of anthropology to help businesses and the people within them change. Little did I know I was launching my entrepreneurial career to fill a gap in the market where change was still painful and most companies fled, feared, or appeased the changes being urged upon them. I used to preach that if you want to change, have a crisis, or create one. As we think about this pandemic, I now preach, “Never waste a crisis.” It is a time to embrace change.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began leading your company?
“Interesting” is an interesting word when describing how a woman starts and grows an idea into a successful business venture. There have been three catalytic moments that helped me take my business from start-up to success.
The first was how I learned early on those potential clients were not at all interested inhow I was going to help them solve their problems. Rather, they knew they had a pain point, be it a business that had stalled or a university that needed more students, or a healthcare institution that wanted to reduce errors and improve the quality of care. Exactly how I was going to address their needs became almost a sidebar to the hope that I could solve it. I learned that in crafting my story, I needed to focus on how the client was going to feel as we approached solutions differently together, and most of all, how I would help them implement the needed changes, and quickly.
The second “aha” moment came when I was in an elevator at the Harvard Club, headed to a presentation by Renée Mauborgne, author of “Blue Ocean Strategy.” By chance, or luck, she was in the elevator with me. I said, “I love your book, it is so anthropological.” She replied, after a bit of casual conversation, “You should become a Blue Ocean Strategist.” I asked her what that was, and she said: “I have no idea, let’s make it up.” And so, we did. In the years since, I have completely embraced the methods, tools and thinking behind Blue Ocean Strategic Thinking and have conducted almost 500 workshops since that serendipitous meeting. I truly believe in “showing up” and then life takes you in great places.
My third interesting story is how I had spent four years writing a book and was not sure what to do with it. While I was speaking at a Vistage International meeting, Tanya Hall was in the audience, CEO of Greenleaf Book Group in Austin. She asked me about the book, and I mentioned that I thought I was ready for a publisher. She suggested I send along a copy to Greenleaf, but that they only take 5% of submissions. I sent her my manuscript and within a few days, she called. She loved the book, but alas, I had to rewrite it. Greenleaf had a fantastic editor who guided me in a far better direction and helped me turn out an award-winning book, On the Brink: A Fresh Lens to Take Your Business to New Heights.
Are these “interesting?” What has been a recurring theme for me is that you never really know how you are going to go from A to B on your life’s trajectory. I have become a true believer in just showing up, being yourself and trying to help others solve their needs, learning along the way how to change and grow yourself and your business comes along on the journey.
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?
Funny mistakes are long lasting in our minds. I laugh about it now, but I really was never sure what I was going to do when I decided to leave my corporate job and launch my own business. If I had been advising someone else, I probably would have told them to create a buyer persona of their ideal customer, map out demand and clarify how they would be funding their venture.
Instead, and this was almost 20 years ago, I had a wonderful PR agency that I hired as I launched my business. The CEO of that agency, John Rosica, had done wonderful work for the healthcare organization where I was previously an executive. As I left the corporate world to enter my own business, I went over to John’s office and said, I need a way to pull together all the things I can do into a clear vision for my business. What do I bring to the market? How do I answer the “why” question — “Why should someone choose to use my organization, and me?”
As he listened to me wander through my many careers as an academic, a corporate agent of change and an investor in non-profits, he stopped the conversation. He leaned over and said ever so quietly: “Andi, you are a corporate anthropologist who helps companies, and their people change.” I can feel that sense of awe even today. I said “Wow! That is exactly who I am and what I want my company to do: help people adapt to change, embrace change and learn how to turn the results of those changes from pain to gain.”
John had the brilliance to capture the essence of my story and turn it into a single statement that I could turn into a new business. And I had the wisdom to stay the course and remain true to who I am and what I and my organization can help companies do, particularly in today’s world where tomorrow looks little like the past and the future is unsure and unclear.
My funny mistake, however, was trying to launch a business without any clarity of what I was going to do. How silly of me. And how wise of John Rosica. How lucky that I listened, focused, and repeated the same elevator speech again and again until I built a successful corporate anthropology consulting business.
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?
We are often surprised when we find that someone sees something in us that we are unaware of. They lend a hand and encourage us to grow and try new ideas in unorthodox ways. My husband, Andrew (Andy) Simon, was my inspiration, as well as my support through all the perspiration. It did not matter if I was struggling to get my Ph.D. dissertation completed, or get my university tenure, or find a consulting position in the business world, or sustain my growth and career in new industries, or finally launch my business. Andy was always there for me, as a guide, a supporter, an idea person, and a safe haven to mull over tough decisions with and even cry at times. He has been a very successful serial entrepreneur, but each of his ventures had their own challenges as he grew them. We have always been able to speak our mind to each other, think out loud, and test ideas. As we raised our two daughters into amazing young women, we were a team that somehow allowed each of us to grow successfully as business owners and as individuals. I know I could not have grown the business without his support. But I also know that both of our lives are richer for the way we have been able to share, communicate, laugh, applaud, critique, and even knock some sense into each other. When he sold his business in 2017 and joined mine, I couldn’t have been more excited to be able to share his wisdom with our clients.
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?
There are two parts to this question. The first is what is holding women back from founding companies. The second is why only 20% of funded companies have women founders.
The reason I separate the two is because today, women own 40% of the businesses in the US, which amounts to 12 million businesses. Of those, about 10 million are solopreneurs and of those, about one-half are not earning more than $10,000 a year. Many of these businesses are necessity businesses or side-hustles that women have started to help them provide additional income or test an idea before leaving another type of job.
Part of the challenge women face as they start and grow their companies is that scaling the business is difficult, whether they are adding employees, expanding their products and services, or growing their markets. Increasing women’s access to capital is very slow and the percentage of women who do receive venture capital is very small. Today, only 2.3% of the venture capital funding goes to women-owned companies.
There is another perspective, however. Many entrepreneurial women I have interviewed are proud of the fact that they have grown their businesses without the use of venture capital or other external sources of funding. Perhaps they got a bank loan, or, as is often the case, they got favorable rates for a line of credit on their credit card. While we often talk about friends and family helping fund a startup, many women have few friends or family with the capital to help them. Instead, they manage the growth of their businesses carefully so that revenues can underwrite expenses. For them, timing of cash flow is critically important to their sustainability.
Remember that Sarah Blakely grew SPANX without any outside capital. SPANX was just profitable from the beginning. Not every woman’s company is as fortunate. Consequently, the bigger question is: why are only 20% of these women founders funded?
In our work at SAMC with men and women entrepreneurs, we have found that a recurring challenge for both is how to pitch venture capitalists to gain the funding needed to sustain the growth of their businesses. We watch as men get funded, and women don’t. We see from the data that men are far more likely to gain the funding they need at an extraordinary level. In 2019 in the U.S., 2.8% of funding went to women-led startups. In 2020, that fell to 2.3%, as Crunchbase figures show. This comes after years of increases. The 2019 2.8% figure, while paltry, was an all-time high.
Women entrepreneurs are often critiqued because their concepts or businesses are not appropriate for VC funding, or because their pitch is not as good as a man’s. Or because women do not have the technical expertise that VCs are looking for. Research suggests that investors are more likely to give money to people who look like them, and 90% of the VC decision makers are male. Men entrepreneurs are preferred by male investors, and those investors often penalize women entrepreneurs if they display stereotypical feminine behavior.
One would think that this inaccessibility of VC funding would negatively impact the rate at which women are founding companies, but ironically, the opposite is true. Women, particularly women of color, Asian women and Latina women are all forming companies at record levels.
Therefore, the challenge for women founders is understanding how to build a business that will provide products and services for a market that needs them, capture a share of that market, and craft a business model that will allow them to scale, expand and sustain themselves with a margin that matters — and then find the capital to grow.
Time to change. Yes! Women have been forming companies to help other women get the capital they need. Venture Capital funds such as Golden Seeds, Merian Ventures, JumpStart Focus Fund, and Female Founders Fund are focused specifically on funding women-owned businesses. Golden Seeds, for example, runs three venture funds and has invested more than $100 million since 2005. This year, Female Founders raised their second fund, for $27 million, with investors including Melinda Gates, Stitch Fix founder Katrina Lake, and Rent the Runway co-founder Jenny Fleiss. They have invested in Zola, Maven Clinic, and Tala.
I love to see the fast-moving trends where women are coming together and bringing the resources to help other women scale and succeed. There is real momentum here, and hope.
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?
What could or should be done to level the playing field for women entrepreneurs to obtain funding from banks, angel investors or venture capital financing? Here are some thoughts to consider:
1. The pitching process is the best place to start. Can we make the pitch process gender blind? And should we? Or are men and women different enough that investors need to be able to evaluate the person too, not just the business concept?
2. Should women be given funding based on different expectations than men? And when women receive that funding, does it come with additional support to help ensure it serves the desired purpose?
3. Are women-owned companies inherently different from men’s and therefore women founders need to find specific VCs for their business concepts? There are several women-led companies that are combining their financial resources to create lending streams for women-owned business. Should they only support women, or should they be gender neutral and only financially focused when finding companies in which to invest?
4. Do we have to re-train men to listen differently to women entrepreneurs and overcome the male bias? This is a big opportunity on many levels. We know there is nothing inherently predictable about how a company might succeed. Pitches are full of hope, assumptions and data that have been crafted to present the concept in the best light. Of course, women must pitch with the same types of data and insights that a man would use to have their business concept seen as a desirable investment. Is it their style or their concepts that need men to see them through a fresh lens?
Other ways to overcome these obstacles are coming from organizations such as WBENC, Golden Seeds and Astia. They are part of an expanding number of organizations trying to level the playing field for women entrepreneurs. Each has developed a different approach to overcome the obstacles women entrepreneurs face. Whether facilitating certifications that enable women to access government contracts, raising capital to expand funding options, or providing access to financial networks, organizations are helping women take their ideas and turn them into successful business ventures. There is more to come and more that is needed.
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?
Not long ago I met several women at a certain gathering. Several of them were successful in their fields: law, wealth management, banking. The recurring theme in our introductory remarks was how unhappy they were in their careers. The woman attorney had survived COVID but was burned out. The woman in wealth management wanted to know how to find purpose in her life and in her career. She was at the top of her firm and there was no more room for her to grow. Another in the financial services sector was tired of bumping up against the proverbial glass ceiling. As with so many of my coaching clients, I was saddened by their remarks. The trajectory for their success was not the problem. It was clear that the achievement of financial or professional “success” was nice, was necessary, but was hardly sufficient to give them a meaningful life.
What could these women do to change their emotional distress? As with many women whom I am coaching, the idea of having their own business was gnawing at them. They asked me what it was like to be in a firm of their own. Each had a unique idea that might catapult them into a successful business opportunity early in its development. Few wanted simply to do more of the same.
These women were like others that have come to us for help. Some had left their jobs or were thinking about doing so. They each wanted to find another way to be productive, purposeful, and to find passion in what their lives were all about. Their careers or their businesses were just a part of rethinking those lives.
Women who are wondering if there is more for their professional lives, and often for their personal lives as well, might be ready to become a business founder. It is a place where you can craft what you want to create, grow, and work hard to build. The women Andy and I have worked with at our Simon Initiative for Entrepreneurship at Washington University have spoken often about their dreams, their big ideas, their new ways to solve big problems, all of which fed into their desire to be founders of a company they were aspiring to create. They also did not want to be the CEO of a large company. They wanted their own company, for “better or worse.” They wanted to emulate Maxine Clark, founder of Build-A-Bear-Workshop, not Sheryl Sandberg.
And no wonder. The corporate culture in many companies is not conducive for women to stay in their jobs and grow their careers. It is often discouraging for women, propelling them to launch their own businesses.
Finally, and often most importantly, women founders are particularly good at seeing something that needs to be solved which others are ignoring. (Female intuition?) They see it from their own perspective — female-specific problems that need better solutions, often those that only a woman founder can recognize.
What are the “myths” that you would like to dispel about being a founder? Can you explain what you mean?
What’s a myth anyway? Simply, it is a widely held but false belief or idea. As humans, we have these unique minds that create stories that become our realities. We live those stories as if they are real. Once we have that story ingrained in our mind, we think it is a truth. The myth becomes the basis of our reality, and we believe it to be what should be. Consequently, the myths around female founders and their abilities to succeed create a profoundly durable framework for why and how women launch new companies and the lack of support they often receive once they do.
The myths that haunt me the most about women founders are those that come from the old ideas brought over by the British (men) when they colonized America. Under British rule, women could not own property, and when they married, they “belonged” to their husbands. They could not carry debt and could not get credit without their husband’s or father’s signature until 1974.
The belief behind this mythological idea is that women are not able to own property or run a business. This myth has stuck around and is still, at times, expressed when a woman wants to create her own business. Banks shun them. Investors are uncomfortable funding them. Customers are even unsure if a woman-owned company is credible. In short, men and even some women are sure that women cannot be entrepreneurs. Women, as the thinking goes, cannot have imaginative ideas nor take them to market and succeed. Maybe they can have a side-hustle out of their kitchen, baking cupcakes or doing party invitations. But they cannot manage a complex business nor effectively lead others. These aren’t “truths”…they are “myths.”
In fact, the reality is just the opposite. Women may not be growing hi-tech companies or creating enterprising corporations to the same degree as their male counterparts, but they are very capable of starting and growing successful companies.
Consider these women and what they have created: Janice Bryant Howroyd is the founder of ActOne Group, the first African American female-led company to earn more than $1 billion in annual revenue. There is Sarah Blakely and SPANX, Stitch Fix founder Katrina Lake, and Rent the Runway co-founder Jenny Fleiss. And consider Sheila Johnson, co-founder of Black Entertainment Television, and Sachiko Kuno, who has co-founded two drug companies.
Of course, there is Oprah Winfrey, Beyoncé, Arianna Huffington, Mary Kay Ash, JK Rowling, Estée Lauder, Lilly Pulitzer, Tory Burch…I could keep going.
In my book Rethink: Smashing the Myths of Women in Business, there is a chapter about this very topic. Stephanie Breedlove wanted to create a company to solve the “nanny tax” needs of families who were paying their childcare workers but did not know how to process the correct paperwork. While still working her day job, Stephanie began to grow her concept in her basement. It did not take long before she and her husband were ready to grow this startup full-time. When she told her family that she was going to become an entrepreneur and start her own woman-owned business, they were appalled, convinced that women could not grow any business. Well, she did, growing Breedlove & Associates to $9 million and selling it to www.care.com for $58 million. So much for the myth.
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?
Business founders need to be self-starters and able to operate without someone else structuring their days or their projects. They need to be willing to assume the uncertainties and risks that come with starting a new venture. It is helpful if they are complex problem-solvers as well as great communicators. They need to understand the entire dimensions of a business, particularly the financials, as well as other data points. They also must see the bigger picture of the business environment they are going to be operating in, as well as the trends.
There is also something important for a founder — the big picture vision and purpose of what they see for the business. This does not mean they are imagining their unicorn billion-dollar business. It does mean they have to want to solve a big problem in an innovative way. You will hear it in the story they tell you and the pain others are experiencing that they want to address.
Ok super. Here is the main question of our interview. What are your “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Started” and why? (Please share a story or example for each.)
1. WHAT’S YOUR STORY? The first thing I wish someone had told me is the importance of my story. While I had an idea about its importance, I really did not appreciate the fact that buyers of my services were buying my story. Crafted correctly for the right audience, sales flow smoothly. Poorly articulated or inappropriately expressed and the buyer walks away. You can talk about branding, marketing, influencers and all the various tactical options available today, but at the end of the day, people are buying your story and how it meshes with their own.
2. PEOPLE BUY WHAT THEY NEED, NOT WHAT I DO. It didn’t take long to realize that being a corporate anthropologist is almost irrelevant to my potential clients. The fact that I can help them change is what matters to them. My credentials are nice. My methods are interesting. What really matters, however, is: can I help them reignite their growth.
3. WHAT’S YOUR PURPOSE? Third is the need to have a purpose beyond the tactical and practical sides of the business. We might think that I wish someone had told me about how to build a business plan or compete in the market space. No. I intuitively knew that I had to solve a big problem in an innovative way. My purpose was to help people do something they did not know how to do and that they hated to do: change. My entire career was built on perfecting ways to help others do what they don’t want to do. The purpose is essential to sustain my own momentum. It is equally important to create a fan club of folks who embrace what you do, bring you others who need you, and encourage you to sustain your growth.
4. BE A FUTURIST! CREATE DON’T COMPETE.See those signals that are all around you. More of the same cheaper is not a good business strategy. I became a futurist and was always an explorer, but I wish someone had told me that as I launched my business. It would have helped me understand how to be fast and agile, and how to try new ways of solving old problems. You might start out in one direction but quickly you learn that you must integrate new approaches, methods, and tools into your approach. I never stop learning, trying new things, and hoping to stay true to the core business as an anthropologist. This is one of the enduring challenges of the entrepreneur: namely, how to balance the new ideas with a structure for delivering desired results to clients. Entrepreneurs are not just thinking outside the box. They are creating new sandboxes.
5. HAVE FUN! I have always had fun since the day I started Simon Associates. No one ever talks about the fun. They warn you about the hard work, the 24/7 commitment, the uncertainties, the risk, the difficulties of finding and retaining clients, the challenges of scaling for growth, and finding the funding to sustain the business. They should also tell you about how to enjoy the entire journey. I do love what I do, how I do it, and how my clients enjoy our time together. You can do the same. Just imagine your glass is overflowing and you can see the joy in what you are building. I do remember, nonetheless, that there are endless hurdles. Only those who can leap over them are ultimately successful. Just smile along the way!
How have you used your success to make the world a better place?
I love to watch people who are attending a workshop or working with us on their business. Listen softly and watch their eyes and their faces. You can feel the changes they are going through, seeing things through a fresh lens. When they have that “aha” moment and their mind shifts, I quietly celebrate the gift we are giving each other.
Whether it is as a coach, one person at a time or as consultant for a billion-dollar organization that needs to rethink its business model and its strategy, I am always trying to help others become the best that they can be. It really is never about “me.” It is always about them. Their worlds are at times fractured or stagnant or stalling out. The need to rebuild the plane, not just jump out with or without a parachute. They come in pain, personal and professional.
My book “On the Brink: A fresh lens to take your business to new heights” was about eight of our clients who had come to us when they were stuck or stalled. Each of the stories, and so many others, reflects the gift I love to give so they could step back, see the possibilities, and march forward with a fresh view of life — theirs and that of their own worlds. It has been humbling and gratifying to lend a hand.
Now, with my new book, “Rethink: Smashing the Myths of Women in Business,” and my program, Rethink Your Journey with Andi Simon, I am working to help women rethink their own lives and find better ways to grow and achieve purpose and pleasure.
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.
I remain convinced that this is a time for people to take care of themselves without feeling guilt about self-care. Far too many people are feeling burned out, depressed, saddened by their lives during this pandemic. Many women I have been coaching bemoan the fact that they are so busy with others that there is little time for themselves. Isn’t time for each of us to take care of ourselves.
What might that mean? What if we took a quiet walk and celebrated the time for me? Could you spend more time with your family, or simply sit still and have a cup of coffee on the porch? But when you do, recognize it, applaud, and refresh your own self-worth.
We launched an application in 2021. This application is designed to help people relax and enjoy self-care moments. Called the Time to Take Care of You 30-Day Challenge, it taught us a great deal about the joy of self-care. And it teaches those who take the challenge that it is indeed ok to care for themselves, even if it is 10-minutes a day.
As our beta testers went through the 30 days, we learned together about how important self-care is, how great it made them feel, and how hard it was to know what to do for themselves that made them feel appreciated. One of the hardest lessons to learn was that it was OK to take care of you. If you were going to care for others you had to allow yourself to take care of you. You could get past the guilt and enjoy the journey. Our hope is that it inspires a movement and spreads across the world.
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.
I am a big fan of Sarah Blakely, founder of Spanx. What she did to celebrate the sale of her business to give each of her employees a first-class roundtrip ticket to anywhere and a $10,000 check for themselves. Building Spanx from a pain point, an observation, to a unicorn business was amazing by itself. But how she thinks of life is even more important — being authentic, kind, and doing for women with women. Hers is a story I love to share, and a woman I would be honored to meet.
Thank you for these fantastic insights. We greatly appreciate the time you spent on this.
