Female Founders: Ananda Saba of Nua Swim On The Five Things You Need To Thrive and Succeed as a Woman Founder
An Interview With Candice Georgiadis
You will probably never sleep again. From late nights to early mornings, to not being able to fall asleep because you have an endless to-do list on your mind. So yeah, starting a business is like having a baby. Especially in the early stages where you have to be very hands-on and wear many hats.
As a part of our series about “Why We Need More Women Founders”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Ananda Saba.
Nua Swim Founder, Ananda Saba, is a mom, business-owner, and influencer now residing in Florida. When creating Nua Swim Ananda wanted to captivate the sensuality and beachside glamour of her Brazilian upbringing and hertiage alongside her love of fashion. Nua, meaning ‘naked’ in Portuguese, produces swimwear that stands out from the crowd. All pieces are made in the USA with eco-friendly and recycled fabrics along with only ethical factories and manufacturing sites. A portion of all sales is donated to the Brazil Foundation’s Amazon Fund. With fans including Alessandra Ambrosio, Nua Swim will help you to feel effortlessly glamourous the next time you step on to the beach.
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 was born in Miami, FL to Brazilian parents and grew up in São Paulo, Brazil. My early years spent in the beautiful country of Brazil only fed and nourished my connection with the beach. For as long as I can remember, many weekends and mostly every holiday was spent on the sandy, packed, and beautiful beaches of Brazil
So needless to say, bikinis have been a thing for me, for a long time. My college days led me to New York City, where I grew an even stronger passion for fashion when I got to work at a few fashion powerhouses and magazines while living in the city.
The idea of creating my swim brand had been at the forefront of my mind for a very long time. So after settling down, having kids, and seeing myself with the time and opportunity to do so — I had to jump on it! Creating Nua Swim allowed me to feed my passion for fashion, for my country, my entrepreneurial side, and my unending love for the beach (and tiny bikinis)!
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began leading your company?
I think for our brand the most memorable moment so far has been seeing Alessandra Ambrosio wearing our Valentina top and bottom. That was a true “fall off the chair” moment for me. I couldn’t believe my eyes and my heart was racing. She has been an icon and muse for many of the creations of Nua Swim so to see her wearing one of my pieces was truly special!
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?
A funny mistake that could have led to a disaster! I accidentally ALMOST ordered 5x the amount of fabric I needed for my collection. Thankfully I caught myself within minutes of sending the email and was able to correct it. So the lesson was — do your math, many times, before ordering and pressing that send button!
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 husband has been by far the most important person and mentor when it comes to Nua Swim. As an avid entrepreneur himself, he has guided me in an endless amount of ways. That’s not to say that I always listen to him, he’s my husband after all! But it has truly been an amazing and much more productive experience to have his knowledge and expertise along this journey.
Ok, thank you for that. Let’s now jump to the primary focus of our interview. According to this EY report, only about 20 percent of funded companies have women founders. This reflects great historical progress, but it also shows that more work still has to be done to empower women to create companies. In your opinion and experience what is currently holding back women from founding companies?
I think as women we find ourselves many times trying to wear 1000 hats, and that is even more vivid if you are a mother. The guilt of juggling and balancing family vs work is real! This is why I believe as women we need to empower each other to constantly chase our dreams and go after what makes us happy. After all, a happy woman is a better mom, wife, daughter, friend, sister. So if being your own boss and chasing your crazy dreams is what makes you happy, then I feel that the ones around you should try to support that as much as possible.
Nua Swim represents my support for all women. Our current team is made up of myself plus 5 amazing women, my manufacturing company is women-owned and so is the media production company we work with. We are a true women-run business and I am very proud of that!
Can you help articulate a few things that can be done as individuals, as a society, or by the government, to help overcome those obstacles?
I believe as individuals, supporting and empowering each other is the most important thing we can do. Being mentally and emotionally present to your team, understanding their needs, and helping them achieve their individual goals can surely facilitate the overcoming of obstacles. Something truly magical happens when women come together to support and empower each other, I think it’s the most beautiful thing to witness and amazing accomplishments can — and do happen!
This might be intuitive to you as a woman founder but I think it will be helpful to spell this out. Can you share a few reasons why more women should become founders?
It is a challenge to be the founder of anything as there are many mental obstacles, especially when juggling family life. However, I do believe in the voice, strength, and uniqueness that women possess and how we see business from a different viewpoint. So many times I hear women tell me how I made bikinis the “right way” — that’s because I understand women’s bodies and what we want a bikini experience to feel like. A lot of times men-led companies creating products targeted towards women miss that mark and special touch that could only come from a woman’s perspective.
What are the “myths” that you would like to dispel about being a founder? Can you explain what you mean? Is everyone cut out to be a founder? In your opinion, which specific traits increase the likelihood that a person will be a successful founder and what type of person should perhaps seek a “regular job” as an employee? Can you explain what you mean?
I think social media these days paints a very beautiful picture of what things look like. You see a company’s founder on social media with a growing business receiving praise and admiration from followers. However, many people are clueless about what goes on in the background and what has taken them to be where they are: many late nights, super early mornings, high stress, and therapy sessions! It is so rewarding, but you have to be super passionate about what it is that you are doing to be able to face those challenges.
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.)
- You will probably never sleep again. From late nights to early mornings, to not being able to fall asleep because you have an endless to-do list on your mind. So yeah, starting a business is like having a baby. Especially in the early stages where you have to be very hands-on and wear many hats.
- However long you think it will take to launch your business, it will take much longer — When I started developing Nua Swim, I intended to launch the brand at the beginning of the Summer of 2021. Long story short, I ended up launching at the end of Fall 2021 (not ideal by any means). But with production delays, samples having to be redone over and over until we got it right and everything in between, the process took much longer than expected.
- Whatever budget you have to start your brand, double it. Just like renovating a house always ends up costing more than you planned, the same goes for starting a business. There is always an extra cost, charge, fee, a setback that you didn’t expect or accounted for in the planning stages.
- You will start making money on day 1. Now that is such a myth! Just because you launched your business doesn’t mean there will be a flood of people visiting your website or walking through your door buying all your products (unless you are a Kardashian, of course). But for us regular people, it takes time, marketing, PR, and a lot of push to get seen by your customers.
- Being a founder sounds glamorous, but it’s not always the case. And it’s truly not, especially in the beginning stages. I have lost count of the number of times I’ve been buried in boxes, driving back and forth to UPS, sweating at Ikea furniture for my packaging facility, and building it all. Being a founder is not always glamorous and it is most definitely not just sitting pretty on the computer all day drinking my matcha as one may think!
How have you used your success to make the world a better place?
Giving back has been an important aspect of my brand since day 1. We manufacture all our swim ethically in LA and work with mostly sustainable and eco-friendly materials. We also partnered with the Brazil Foundation, where a percentage of all sales are donated to the Amazon Fund which contributes to the sustainable livelihoods of people in the Brazilian Amazon by investing in biodiversity conservation and local, socio-economic development.
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 believe that if every business gave back in some capacity, it would be a great start! Whether it is hiring minorities, donating a percentage of sales to an organization they admire, a cause they support, or simply making ethical decisions when it comes to the production and manufacturing of their products. Small steps can make a big difference, especially if we all jump on board to committing ourselves to leave this world a better place.
We are very blessed that some very prominent names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this if we tag them.
I’ve always admired and loved Eva Chen, and actually had the amazing opportunity of running into her during a family vacation in the Bahamas not too long ago. We spoke for a bit and she gave me some incredible advice in the short time we engaged, but it wasn’t enough! I would absolutely love to be able to have a one-on-one moment with someone so knowledgeable and influential as she is. Especially as a minority woman who made it so incredibly big as she did! Alessandra Ambrosio wearing our brand was amazing, but It would be a dream to have Eva Chen as a mentor and supporter of Nua Swim!
Thank you for these fantastic insights. We greatly appreciate the time you spent on this!
Female Founders: Ananda Saba of Nua Swim On The Five Things You Need To Thrive and Succeed as a… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.