Women In Wellness: Tara Riley On The Five Lifestyle Tweaks That Will Help Support People’s Journey Towards Better Wellbeing
An Interview With Candice Georgiadis
Be yourself. Actually, I was told this one a lot, but when you’re first starting out it’s hard not to compare yourself to others, to those more experienced and successful. Heck — this is still hard sometimes! Everyone is unique, be you and your people will find you.
As a part of my series about the women in wellness, I had the pleasure of interviewing Tara Riley.
Tara is a health and fitness instructor, teaching: Barre, Pilates, Cardio, pre/postnatal. Her goal and passion are to help people gain confidence and reduce stress and pain through positive and mindful movement that keeps you active and happy for life.
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?
I was a competitive gymnast growing up and during college, so fitness has been part of my life for a long time. However, when I retired from gymnastics, I had an identity crisis and I left health and fitness completely for advertising and commercial production. Fast paced, long hours, boozy lunches and evenings replaced my formerly healthy diet and lifestyle. I was a successful (and stressed out and unhealthy) commercials producer for 10 years. A diagnosis of Rheumatoid Arthritis at 27 years old brought me back to my healthy roots. And I’ve spent the past 15+ years trying different alternative ways to manage my RA, researching methods others have had positive results in, elimination diets to determine triggers and various forms of exercise to see what helps and what hurts. The method of fitness I teach incorporates the pillars of strength and resistance-based exercises with cardio and flexibility and its this combination that has helped me sustain mobility and strength in my muscles and joints and continue to move with agility and less pain. I teach with empathy and understanding what it feels like to move with pain — but it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t, or you can’t. The right types of movement do and can heal, and I do my best to share that belief with others.
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 would have to say this Pandemic is the most interesting things that has happened to me. Of course, it happened to literally everyone all over the world and our normal lives flipped on their heads, but the lesson I learned from it cemented my true purpose and mission as a movement instructor — and that is to lead and teach with positivity, compassion and energy. It’s infections, its inspiring and it does help others. Here are a few snips of the feedback I received in the midst of the pandemic
“Thank you for keeping up my resilience during COVID with your fantastic classes. You’re a complete star with your energy and positivity”
“I wanted to say thank you — your weekly classes have been a very big part of 2020 and in what has been a very challenging year, they have done so much for both my physical and mental health”
“I just wanted to say how much I enjoyed class today and how it put me in a good mood for the rest of the day”
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?
My biggest mistake was initially trying to correct every little thing on every single client. Yes, technique and positioning is important, but doing every exercise perfectly is not the point, it’s not possible and it’s not an encouraging or positive way to teach.
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?
Grandma — change something in your life every ten years.
I wouldn’t say there is just one person, but my husband and family have been huge supporters since day one. Switching careers with 2 children under the age of 5 isn’t easy — it wouldn’t have been possible without my husband who has remained unwavering and steadfast in keeping us going.
Ok perfect. Now 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 believe health and wellness is about so much more than how you look in your skinny jeans or graceful you look (or don’t) in a Barre class or the number of press ups you can do. It’s about finding movement that makes your body feel good, not moving as a punishment for something you ate. Finding and doing that type of positive movement for your body will seep into all areas — into your mind and your happiness in life. Let’s take it off the to do list of endless musts or chores and start having fun with it. I’d like see the dialogue shift from fitting into a certain body type or exercising to look a certain way into appreciating and celebrating what our amazing bodies can do for us. This will become especially important as we age — if we are confident and enjoying our exercise routines, we can a lot easier maintain that active lifestyle as we age. I’m passionate about inspiring and educating people to get active, stay active and build strong muscles and bones that will support throughout life.
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.
Schedule some form of movement into your life. Literally put it on the calendar and consider it non-negotiable. It can be anything, a walk whilst on a work call, a fitness classes a couple of times a week, or an online short class every morning, a scheduled strip to the gym or swimming pool. Put in in the diary and treat is exactly as you do client meetings, business opportunities, collecting the kids from school.
Eat the rainbow. Processed foods and refined sugars and grains tend to be beige. Add colour to your plate with fruit and vegetables at each meal and you’ll automatically be eating healthier.
Sleep — it’s the one many (myself included) tends to take advantage of. Your body and brain will function better on a good night’s sleep not to mention your patience and mood exponentially improved on a great night’s sleep. Aim for 7–8 each night between the hours of 10pm and 8am.
Intention setting and Morning mood. Set your intention and your mood for the day. A positive outlook can change so many things for the better and I think we forget this is actually something we have control over! Sure, everyone wakes up in a mood now and again and it can be tough to pull yourself out of it. Top tip — When my kids wake up on the wrong side of the bed, I tell them to get back in bed, smile to yourself and think about something that makes you happy and start again.
Move more. You may hit the gym 3 times a week or head to a barre class twice a week, which is great, but I’m talking about moving more in your everyday life. Take the stairs, step away from your desk, take a quick lunchtime walk,
If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of wellness to the most amount of people, what would that be?
Are we talking cultural movement or physical?
Physical I would introduce Anti-Desk workouts. Our modern world sees many of us sat in front of a computer screen every single day and often without the incentive to even get up out of your chair unless needing the toilet. Creating a program which allows for timed intervals where you could be taken through a 5–10 minute stretch and activation exercises to keep hips healthy, glutes from becoming inactive, eyes focusing on something further than 30 centimeters from your face and neck, shoulders back getting movement and tension release it so desperately needs.
If we’re talking about a Cultural movement, I would like to see more companies incentivizing their employees to actively engage in wellness. This could be a monetary amount offered to employees to used specifically on their own wellbeing or it could be subsidized activities. I believe wellness should include exercise of course, but also taking part in the arts — music, theatre, exhibitions, even travel. Offering free matcha green tea and granola in the office canteen isn’t doing enough to make positive behavior changes.
What are your “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Started” and why?
Ask for help. You can’t do everything, at least not well. Outsource what you can or ask for help from friends when first starting out
Ask more questions- even the ones that you feel are stupid and you should know
Take messy action. Everything doesn’t have to be perfect
Make time for yourself to recharge. As an instructor you will give and give and give and teach and pour yourself into helping your clients. Make the time to replenish and refill your own cup before hitting burnout mode.
Be yourself. Actually, I was told this one a lot, but when you’re first starting out it’s hard not to compare yourself to others, to those more experienced and successful. Heck — this is still hard sometimes! Everyone is unique, be you and your people will find you.
Sustainability, veganism, mental health and environmental changes are big topics at the moment. Which one of these causes is dearest to you, and why?
Wow, all important topics and all ones I pay attention to, but I would have to say Mental health is dearest to me. Our mental health affects how we feel, how we think and how we act — so essentially everything! It can also determine how we relate to others, the choices we make and how we react to stress.
After the past 18 months we’ve just endured worldwide, its more evident than ever that our mental health matters! It’s ok to not be ok! This conversation is finally getting more visibility and it is helping people. Mental health isn’t something to be ashamed of — though many still are, but that is slowly changing and there are many more options and ways to get help. Our minds matter as much as our bodies do!
What is the best way our readers can follow you on social media?
Female Disruptors: Content Creator Lillee Jean On The Three Things You Need To Shake Up Your Industry
An Interview With Candice Georgiadis
Be Proactive, Not Reactive: When the online bullying started, I did not know how to react. I mean you go through phases, like hurt, bewilderment that somebody could think they have a right to stalk, attack, defame and attempt to harm your life, your family, your reputation. I have learned through trial and error, it is better to be proactive in a situation, instead of reacting to a situation.
As a part of our series about women who are shaking things up in their industry, I had the pleasure of interviewing Lillee Jean.
Content creator Lillee Jean is best known for her beauty, skincare, and lifestyle content published on her YouTube, website, and Instagram channels. She is also an accomplished writer, producer, director, actress, model, young entrepreneur, and blogger. The content Lillee Jean creates for her videos, are fun and entertaining for her fans. Her advocacy on online bullying, stems from her experiences with it on notable online platforms.She currently has a live web series, that is Season 2, called “Lillee Jean TALKS! Live” (IMDB accredited), and features well-known entertainers, as well as innovators in the arts. Her scheduled showtimes can be viewed on her media website.
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?
It’s in my blood to be involved with something in the entertainment industry. When I was little, my grandfather would sculpt and paint with me. It was this precious time, spent with him, that would inspire me to pursue my true passion, art. He passed away when I was 8, but the great love he had nurtured within me, coupled with my parents allowing me to have a laptop at such a young age, put me on the path I am on to this day.
Can you tell our readers what it is about the work you’re doing that’s disruptive?
To me, a disruptor is someone who goes against all odds, shakes things up, and tips the scales back in their favor, no matter how bad the odds might look. As a disruptor, I strive to keep growing, learning, and teaching. I don’t let anyone’s disfigured vision of the world, or fantasies, deter me. That is really what disruptors do. Peacefully challenge and change what’s impossible to others.
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?
Off-set, while filming a video for a brand, I was joking around with the PR Manager and staff there on-hand, but I was not looking. I ended up tripping over the video camera wires, and it was suffice to say, lights out for me and everyone else.
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?
It has been an honor to be able to bounce ideas off the owner of Runway Rogue, Patricia Hartmann. Patricia is a former supermodel from the 1990s, who is not only business savvy, but beautiful inside and out. We are two peas in a pod, being Aries born on the same day. Throughout the years, she has given me amazing advice, when I was feeling down, knowing firsthand how it is to be bullied online and in person. As a result of her own experiences, I have learned about who I am as a person, what I want as a person, in the entertainment industry, and how to deal with the shaming and bullying I have experienced myself.
In today’s parlance, being disruptive is usually a positive adjective. But is disrupting always good? When do we say the converse, that a system or structure has ‘withstood the test of time’? Can you articulate to our readers when disrupting an industry is positive, and when disrupting an industry is ‘not so positive’? Can you share some examples of what you mean?
Shaking up an industry is never a bad thing, as long as it is done for the right reasons. Without different things that people add to the mix, it would be all stagnant and boring. Disruption is a diverse way of keeping everything moving and flowing in a positive way. Unless you are intentionally trying to be judgmental, or abusive, it is always good to bring new things to the table. For example, I love the beauty industry, but I do not consider myself a beauty guru. I consider myself an entertainer, who is an artist, that loves to express with makeup, however there is so much more to me than that. I define myself more as an entertainer who also is a director, producer, writer, actress, an advocate for a number of important causes. I love to share and teach, and I use makeup as one component of having that conversation with my fans. I like to take my fans on different journeys, such as my vlog on my orthodontic work, or talking about relevant subjects, without being overly political, since everyone has their own opinion. Being a disruptor can be bad if I distort my goal and make it one sided, of which I try not too. I always try to examine and put forth stuff that won’t betray who I am and what I want to project to the world, but it is a careful balance. My advocacy, if I was not so mindful of others, could end up on a level of disrespect to people in general. I choose to push myself to the limits, and keep that in perspective each day that I work.
Can you share 3 of the best words of advice you’ve gotten along your journey? Please give a story or example for each.
Know yourself. A truer statement cannot be said. I know who I am, and what I stand for. As long as I am true to myself with that knowledge I can never go wrong;
Always speak the truth. No matter what, always say the truth, it becomes harder to keep facts in place if you consistently tell a different story;
Be Proactive, Not Reactive: When the online bullying started, I did not know how to react. I mean you go through phases, like hurt, bewilderment that somebody could think they have a right to stalk, attack, defame and attempt to harm your life, your family, your reputation. I have learned through trial and error, it is better to be proactive in a situation, instead of reacting to a situation.
We are sure you aren’t done. How are you going to shake things up next?
My advocacy for the internet holds no bounds. There was a time I thought for sure the cybercriminals that were attacking me would just stop. When that didn’t happen, I went through a phase of disillusionment, confusion, I just couldn’t understand why people, who don’t even know me, would act so judgmental, create fictitious, defamatory lies, and then continue to do so, non-stop day and night. It bewildered me to the point that I felt catatonic sometimes when I would get in front of the camera. Once I was able to access what was going on, I realized that it is true, that you are never given a burden too hard for you to bare.
Once I was able to identify these issues, I was able to channel the advocacy that I wanted to see occur for online platform behavior. I plan on shaking up the internet next year a lot. We are working on a documentary as well as pushing for federal law, not state laws, to combat any of this online behavior that needs to be monitored more.
At the end of the day, that is what a disruptor does. I refuse ever again to allow my life to be led by a crazed mob of people that pray to a Discord server, and talk about me, my family, my friends day and night. It is time for me, a disruptor, to show through the power of laws and education how things need to be handled better.
In your opinion, what are the biggest challenges faced by ‘women disruptors’ that aren’t typically faced by their male counterparts?
I would say that men are taken far more seriously than women. This is only my opinion, but I feel that if a man is doing the same thing I am doing, they would be taken far more seriously, and in a faster time frame, than has been the case with me. We still live in the Men vs. Women universe. It is getting better, but I think a lot of work still needs to get done until women get more respected as to what they want and who they are.
Do you have a book/podcast/talk that’s had a deep impact on your thinking? Can you share a story with us?
“The Art of War” by Sun Tzu is the book I think everyone should read at least once in a lifetime. It is not so much about military strategy, as it is lessons that even today can be applied to life, whether business or personal. Sun Tzu, although a magnificent military strategist, believed there was more power to be gained by knowing how to diplomatically end a fight. While you should always know your enemies’ weaknesses, it is better to find a way to break through the walls that cause the differences, instead of moving forward without a focus and a plan.
You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂
It would be for people to start recognizing how they treat others, and show them a better way to act.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
My favorite quote is “…he will win who knows when to fight and when not to fight.”Sun Tzu,It is something I apply to myself on a daily basis. Nowadays, I focus on what I can change and what is good, instead of focusing on the negativity and darkness that can consume you when bitter people surround you.
Female Founders: Meghan Quinn of Bougie Bakes On The Five Things You Need To Thrive and Succeed as a Woman Founder
An Interview With Candice Georgiadis
Don’t sweat the small stuff, and don’t forget to celebrate the small wins. A lot of things aren’t going to go your way and sometimes it will feel like you are literally trying to push a rock up a hill. Don’t drive yourself crazy worrying about every little thing that goes wrong. Make sure you take some time, even if it’s just a minute, to acknowledge and celebrate the wins. As founders, we tend to become fixated on obtaining a certain level of success, and we can often lose sight of how freaking cool it is that you’re doing what you’re doing in the first place. Take time to celebrate all of the wins — big and small.
As a part of our series about “Why We Need More Women Founders”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Meghan Quinn.
Meghan Quinn is Co-Founder and CEO of Bougie Bakes, a Los Angeles-based maker, and distributor of better-for-you baked goods. Everything the company bakes is gluten-free, dairy-free, & sugar-free, and they have an expanded assortment of vegan offerings as well. Before baked goods, Meghan worked in marketing and consumer products, leading brand licensing for several high-profile children’s entertainment properties and billion-dollar toy brands like Barbie & Hot Wheels.
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?
Of course! Thanks for thinking of me for this opportunity. For as far back as I can remember, I have wanted to be an entrepreneur, but I never would have imagined it would be in the Food/CPG space.
I grew up in a family full of business owners, which should probably have dissuaded me from even considering it given I saw firsthand how hard it could be, but it was something I wanted from a very early age. I remember saving my birthday money and buying a VHS set about real estate investing and after watching it incessantly, a few of my cousins and I tried walking into a bank to secure a mortgage to buy a house we wanted to flip. Needless to say, we didn’t get the mortgage, and that was only one of a handful of failed business ventures that started before I even graduated college.
After graduation I secured a job at Viacom/Nickelodeon, working in Ad Sales, and it’s also where I met my now-husband, Ryan, who shared my same passion and fueled my entrepreneurial fire even more. He and I founded Bougie Bakes together. After a few years in Ad Sales at Nickelodeon, I yearned for something a bit more creative-focused and made a pivot that landed me at a company focused on creating children’s entertainment, where I worked directly under the CEO and managed outbound licensing of our owned IP. Years later, we acquired an iconic retro toy brand, and I assumed inbound licensing responsibilities as well. We had rights to the best of the best names in kids’ entertainment, including a Barbie license, which is how I first started working with the team at Mattel.
A few years after that, an opportunity to join Mattel is what brought my husband & me out to Los Angeles and changed our lives forever. We quickly became immersed in the healthy way of living in LA, but with a serious sweet tooth, we found ourselves struggling to find sweets that would satisfy our cravings without making us feel terrible. The gluten-free products we found in the market that tasted good were packed full of sugar and the sugar-free products tasted gross and fake, so we started baking what we wanted to see ourselves. We made those same baked goods into a business that began as a side hustle and grew to employ both of us and a team of people full-time. To this day, we remain committed to delivering healthier alternatives to life’s indulgences to people just like us around the country.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began leading your company?
My husband & I started this business as a side hustle. We were baking out of our home kitchen and spent our nights and weekends selling locally in Los Angeles — showing up at farmers markets, popping up at boutique fitness classes, and doing pretty much anything we could to get our bakes in front of as many people as possible. It took us six months until we had enough proof of concept and the confidence to invest some of our own money into building out a commercial kitchen, marketing our baked goods, and (fingers crossed) taking the business to the next level. It was another 18 months, of very long nights and no weekends off, before I could focus on this business and my passion full-time. The timing of this also happened to coincide with a global pandemic, and made the decision to quit a steady and stable job in the midst of just chaos and turmoil even more interesting (read: terrifying), to say the least.
Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
We knew from the start that we wanted to focus our efforts on selling direct-to-consumer and so our website was going to be key. What we didn’t know though was how to build one, and we definitely didn’t have the money to hire someone to do so for us. So, I took to Google and taught myself how to build a website through Wix. It was a grueling process, but I was so proud of it and it served us well for the first two years we were in business.
I’ll never forget the night before our expected launch date on October 15, 2018, when we were trying to push the site live and kept getting a DNS domain verification error. We had no idea what the heck was wrong and we were up until 4 am trying to figure it out. We finally did figure it out, but it was then a waiting game to get verified, which can take anywhere from 24–48 hours. By some stroke of luck, we got approved and were live by 10 am the following morning, which wasn’t ideal but still allowed us to start accepting orders that first day, as planned.
That was just one of the countless times things haven’t gone according to plan since starting this business and taught me one of the biggest lessons I’ve learned — always having a contingency plan is key. Looking back, it was foolish to assume the website would go live without a hitch, and we now try to always think through any/all scenarios and have plans B, C, D & so on.
None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?
I’ve been lucky enough to work for powerhouse women in literally every chapter of my career to date. Each of them has played a big role in getting me to where I am, but there are two women in particular that without, I’m not sure I would have ended up in Los Angeles or subsequently had started this company. These two women were my bosses at Mattel, and the way I met them and the series of events that lead me to get a job at Mattel is still to this day one of the most serendipitous things that have ever happened to me.
The company I was at before Mattel had acquired an iconic retro toy brand, and we had been working on a rebrand and new line of products. We were reintroducing the new toy line for the first time at Hong Kong Toy Fair in January 2016, and licensing was a big part of the toy strategy. We had meetings planned with buyers and retail partners, of course, as well as with executives from a lot of the studios that represented the brands we had licensed. Very unfortunately, my boss at the time and the President of our company came down with an illness the day before the show started and wasn’t going to be able to make it to any of the meetings we had set up. It was just him & me at the show, so by default, all of the meetings fell to me to lead. To be honest, I was terrified — I knew my stuff, but I was not expecting to have to run the show, especially with heads of networks and executives from some of the biggest retailers in the world.
The executive team of Mattel was coming through, because we held the license for Barbie, and I remember being so intimidated. Mattel was notorious within the industry, of course, given its size, scale, and brands in the portfolio, but they were also known for hiring the best and brightest in the field. Trying not to let my nerves get the best of me, I began by taking them on a tour of the showroom and slowly but surely got into my groove. As the meeting progressed, the questions were getting harder, but I was gaining more and more confidence. The meeting had gone as well as it could have, and I was genuinely proud of how I handled it, but mostly just happy it was over. On the way out the door, these two women, who ran the group, came up to me and told me how much I impressed them.
That was the beginning of what ultimately led me to be recruited by Mattel to join the team, what moved my husband & me to Los Angeles, and eventually led us to start this business. Still to this day, I often reflect back on that experience and how that one meeting changed the trajectory of my life, and more specifically how those two women — who went on to be two of the best bosses I’ve ever had and even greater mentors — changed my life. That experience also taught me 1) to always be over-prepared in case you have to step up and cover for someone or something and 2) that confidence is key.
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 obviously a lot of layers to this one and a lot of systemic gender inequalities that have led to the underrepresentation of women in entrepreneurship. I think what’s holding women back from founding companies is multifaceted. The disadvantage in terms of funding is real and added to the more universal setbacks like wage gaps, lack of universal childcare, and gender stereotypes about women’s strengths and interests have made navigating this world even more challenging for women. While we’ve made an encouraging amount of progress in recent years, we still have a long way to go, and I think with even more female representation, we’ll hopefully inspire the next generations and keep closing in on the gender gap.
Can you help articulate a few things that can be done as individuals, as a society, or by the government, to help overcome those obstacles?
We need to first and foremost acknowledge that men and women are different, and that’s okay! Those differences don’t make women any less superior or ill-equipped to lead. We need to continue to prioritize women’s representation in positions of political and economic power. COVID-19 even further heightened the reality that women still bear more of the responsibility for caring for their children and families, making all of these obstacles even harder to overcome. Federal paid leave and child care could help tremendously.
This might be intuitive to you as a woman founder but I think it will be helpful to spell this out. Can you share a few reasons why more women should become founders?
I think women are innately better entrepreneurs. We are great communicators and multitaskers, which are both keys to success. Women are also naturally good at building relationships, and since your network is literally your net worth when it comes to starting a business, it’s a great skill to have. More than a high IQ, I think EQ is what sets great leaders apart from the rest, and as women, I think we tend to have an advantage here and often lead with empathy. We need to keep leading by example and positioning future generations of females for success by showing them how it’s done.
What are the “myths” that you would like to dispel about being a founder? Can you explain what you mean?
“You need to quit your day job to start a successful business.” Obviously, every business is different, but we were able to build this business as a side hustle for a solid two years before we quit our day jobs to focus on it full-time. Though insanely challenging at times, in hindsight, I’m so grateful we chose to build it that way. We had our hands in literally everything because we were the only ones doing it in the beginning, and it made it a lot easier to hire when the time was right. It also forced us to get scrappy and act very results-driven, especially when it came to finances.
“You need to raise money before launch.” Speaking of finances, we bootstrapped the business ourselves until we hit our first $1M in sales. Our day jobs and savings are what funded the business in the early days, so we were hyper-focused on getting returns for every dollar we were putting in. This forced us to make more educated decisions and to prove things out thoroughly before investing money into different aspects of the business. Of course, not everyone is in a position to do so and each business is different, but I’m very thankful we chose to build the business this way, and to this day it keeps us laser-focused on profitability first and foremost.
“You need to be an expert in the industry you’re starting your business in.” We knew literally nothing about the food space before starting Bougie Bakes. Neither of us even really knew our way around a home kitchen, yet we were able to navigate the licensing and permitting to start the business out of our home kitchen and then eventually figured out how to scale it to a commercial facility. You’d be surprised what you can learn on Google, and we’re constantly amazed at how willing to help successful people in our specific category were to us. You don’t need to go into it as an expert — you just need to want it badly enough and not be afraid to ask for help.
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?
Definitely not. I always knew being a founder would be challenging, but I never in a million years would have expected it to be this hard. It takes an insane amount of perseverance, grit, and passion for what you’re doing. In some cases, you have to be okay with making less money than you’ve ever made and working harder than you’ve ever worked for many years until you start to see some of the fruits of your labor. You have to keep going, even when the going gets so impossibly tough. I think you also have to genuinely love the chaos that comes with entrepreneurship too — every day is different and very few go according to plan, but you have to be okay with that. Those who like structure and clear lanes and want to master one certain thing probably aren’t the right fit for entrepreneurship. I have a newfound respect for people who feel fulfilled and happy working a “regular job” as an employee — there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. For me, I just always felt like I was meant to do something different.
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.)
There are going to be people who don’t like what you’re doing. Whether it’s customers who aren’t a fan of your product, or potential investors you pitch that just don’t get the vision, you’re going to get a lot of no’s and for every 10 people who love everything about the brand you’re building and the product, there’s going to be 1 or 2 people who don’t. That’s okay. I like to focus on the positive, but we keep our customers (lovers and haters) at the forefront of every decision we make. Negative feedback regarding the amount of waste in our initial packaging ultimately led us to rethink the entire thing and we launched a huge sustainability initiative featuring reusable cookie tins. It’s important to consider all feedback because you never know what idea it might prompt and it could even end up helping you to make your product and business even better.
You can’t do everything yourself. It’s important to acknowledge what you don’t know and your weaknesses, and hire or outsource accordingly. We prioritized bakers and fulfillment people when we were finally in a position to hire, which didn’t leave us with any help on the sales, marketing, accounting, design, or operations front. We leveraged various agencies and consultants to help support until we were able to bring people on full-time. Better yet, we have been able to transition some part-time help/consultants to full-time employees, which is a win-win because you know you’re bringing people on that already get it.
You’re going to have to pivot from time to time. Whether it’s product-market fit, ever-changing retail landscapes, supply chain issues, platform changes that impact marketing, or something else entirely, there are going to be times when you need to pivot your strategy quickly and the quicker you can do so, the better off you’ll be. Just this year, our digital marketing efforts were impacted pretty significantly by the iOS and privacy changes. We needed to act swiftly and shift our budgets away from underperforming platforms where costs were skyrocketing and the results weren’t favorable. As a company, we continue to navigate some of those challenges as we speak, but we’ve been able to test and learn across several new platforms, and have been seeing some promising results. In doing something new and untested, you run the risk of it failing, sure, but there’s also the possibility it will become even more successful than what you were doing previously.
Accessing credit when you need it will be challenging. The worst time to look to borrow money is when you legitimately need it. Stay hyper-focused on cash flow. When we were raising money we had a group of investors that wanted to give us a lot more money than we were raising, which obviously meant they would get more equity too. For that reason, we said no. In hindsight, it was for sure the right call, but there were definitely times when that additional cash would have been helpful.
Don’t sweat the small stuff, and don’t forget to celebrate the small wins. A lot of things aren’t going to go your way and sometimes it will feel like you are literally trying to push a rock up a hill. Don’t drive yourself crazy worrying about every little thing that goes wrong. Make sure you take some time, even if it’s just a minute, to acknowledge and celebrate the wins. As founders, we tend to become fixated on obtaining a certain level of success, and we can often lose sight of how freaking cool it is that you’re doing what you’re doing in the first place. Take time to celebrate all of the wins — big and small.
How have you used your success to make the world a better place?
We have been focused on doing good through business since launch, and it’s something we want to continue to scale as the business scales. In the early days, we focused our efforts on feeding the homeless and donating our baked goods to women’s centers. While this continues to be something we are passionate about, we have also been working hard to reduce our carbon footprint and offset carbon emissions. We ship all orders in a reusable cookie tin and reorders are shipped minimally packaged. Alongside our partner, EcoCart, we also fund carbon offset projects like planting trees or building wind farms with every order, ensuring all of our shipping is 100% carbon neutral.
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.
What a great question. I’d love to help people, especially our youth, build a connection between their personal health, food, and community. Things have been trending in a better direction and the demand for healthier options has been growing steadily. We see populations of people that have been making healthier decisions with their food, but there are still many communities around the globe that are starving, malnourished, and do not have access to healthier options. These healthier options should also not come at the expense of our planet. We need to work harder to make healthier eating more feasible for communities around the globe and we need to work harder to protect our planet from the negative effects that change can sometimes bring.
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.
Sarah Blakely, Founder of Spanx, is top of mind given the recent headlines and majority investment. Her founding story is inspiring in it itself, but even more inspiring is how she bootstrapped the business for the last 21 years to a $1.2B valuation without raising any outside capital. As a fellow female founder, I am so incredibly inspired by her.
Thank you for these fantastic insights. We greatly appreciate the time you spent on this
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!
