Female Founders: Cristie Besu of ‘Eat Me Guilt Free’ On The Five Things You Need To Thrive and Succeed as a Woman Founder
An Interview With Candice Georgiadis
Use your woman’s intuition to make decisions even though it’s frowned upon in society. — I have had people roll their eyes at me when I say, “I know in my gut that this is the right thing to do.” Society loves to make decisions based on past successes and data, but if we only follow this in order to create we would have nothing truly new and innovative.
As a part of our series about “Why We Need More Women Founders”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Cristie Besu.
Cuban-American Cristie Besu started baking Eat Me Guilt Free treats straight from her very own kitchen in 2013 while working as a registered nurse and certified sports nutritionist. What began as a passion project soon turned into a small business for the mom-of-three, as she discovered the importance and satisfaction protein-packed and better-for-you foods provided to others.
Eat Me Guilt Free was created to fill a void for Besu’s original customers. She worked closely with clients to craft nutrition programs, helping them with everything from disease management to improving labs, to just being able to move and feel better about themselves. Eat Me Guilt Free has worked hard to help consumers feel less restricted and more open to being able to enjoy the everyday foods they love, without sacrificing taste. Eat Me Guilt Free’s consumer base continues to consistently broaden — from athletes to bariatric patients to everyday consumers who are conscious about what they put into their bodies — for a range of reasons beyond external appearance.
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 began my journey as a woman entrepreneur as a Registered Nurse and Sports Nutritionist. I started Eat Me Guilt Free as a passion project. My clients turned to me for nutrition and fitness guidance to help curb their sugar cravings. Nurses are problem-solvers by nature, so I started baking products to replace the foods we crave and feel “guilty” about eating, hence the name Eat Me Guilt Free. I started sharing my journey as an entrepreneur on Instagram and rapidly grew a successful D2C business. Since then, we have evolved to national and international distribution.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began leading your company?
As an entrepreneur, I find that I tend to be impulsive and respond too quickly at times. Early on, when I looked across the room at my team members, I realized that I had hired all family and friends. I found myself hiring any human body with a pulse for positions that were needed to find solutions to our growth. It worked out sometimes, but other times, it didn’t. One of the times it worked out wonderfully was when I had to spend my Christmas & New Year’s holiday inspecting our first large pallet sized order to a distributor.
As a leader it took me some time to learn how to build a team. I had heard that you should be slow to hire and quick to fire. Since then, I’ve taken my time to build the team, making sure that not only is each person a good cultural fit, but that they also have the necessary skill set.
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?
Somebody asked me once in a serious business setting, “How many brownies do you think you are going to sell next year?” and my answer was: “All of them.” Although I had a grand vision, my plan lacked tangible goals.
It is important to set goals that are measurable. When we know exactly what we are aiming to accomplish, it makes it easier to align and make decisions that will get us there. It seems that as women, we are doing an amazing job at identifying as business owners, but I feel like we need to start working in a less subjective manner in order to be more impactful.
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. You definitely can’t do this alone. Honestly, it’s very difficult to say that just one person was impactful, because I am grateful to and leaned on a lot of friends, family & EMGF members. I think I want to talk about Robert, my first friend/family investor, who eventually began working with me daily at EMGF and sharing the blood, sweat and tears. Rob and I could not be more different when it comes to perspective. Because Rob and I have such different points of view, it helps when making difficult decisions to have the yin to my yang.
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 is data that shows that women own 39% of businesses but are only responsible for 8% of employment and 4% of revenues. It shows that we are taking the initiative to start our own businesses but not believing in ourselves enough to ‘think big.’ It is possible that women are searching for freedom in their schedules and creativity in their careers, so they turn to starting a business to quench that desire. However, when they are concerned about their financial stability, the data on revenue and employment for businesses founded by women are not very encouraging.
I think the fear stems from our belief system that has been ingrained by society over hundreds of years, that we cannot do it all. While it is challenging to be a parent and a head of a large corporation, it is not impossible.
We have already started to dip our toes in the water by making up 39% of businesses owned. Now, the next steps are to erase the limiting beliefs that we cannot found and run fortune 500 businesses.
From my personal experience, it took lots of sleepless nights to convince myself that I was more than capable. As a woman, I feel like we have a tremendous amount of feminine grace to add to company cultures that could significantly impact day-to-day operations and viability as a disruptive brand.
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 that the first piece of advice for women entrepreneurs is to empower yourself, which grants you the permission to firmly believe that as a female business owner, women do have the ability to be successful. And, of course, elevating other women around us, when given the opportunity, is a given.
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?
As a woman and a mother, it is intuitive to me that everything I do is being observed and absorbed — and that my actions are more impactful than what my words are. So, taking the steps to lead in a more intentional and elegant manner will inspire more women to follow their dreams.
What are the “myths” that you would like to dispel about being a founder? Can you explain what you mean?
Founders are fearless. I think it is not a lack of fear but learning to trust your intuition.
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 believe that humans develop, change and evolve so much throughout our lifetime, that it is unfair to say that someone is or is not cut out for something. But I will say that I think a successful founder needs to be in a place where they feel internally aligned, because there is a lot of instability around you when building a business. There is a saying that says you can’t plant a seed when there’s a storm — and by no means am I referring to your external environment being calm and peaceful. I mean your internal environment. There is peace for some people knowing that they can be removed from their work at 5 p.m. and will always have a paycheck, and that is okay.
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.)
Believe in yourself.
If you are a woman entrepreneur, you have a vision. You need to be able to continue to see that vision and what aligns with it, even when those around you cannot.
Be patient with yourself.
I have always set very high expectations for myself and my business and would beat myself up when I was reaching steps and not my actual goal. When I learned to celebrate each accomplishment that aligned with my vision regardless of how small it was, I realized that it motivated me to keep pushing forward. I used to believe if I stopped to celebrate, that I would become complacent and not reach my goal. And the truth is, nothing could be further from the truth.
Use your woman’s intuition to make decisions even though it’s frowned upon in society.
I have had people roll their eyes at me when I say, “I know in my gut that this is the right thing to do.” Society loves to make decisions based on past successes and data, but if we only follow this in order to create we would have nothing truly new and innovative.
The ability to find new innovative ways to create & market.
I believe that we all have a sense of creativity somewhere deep inside. Using that whenever problem-solving or building is priceless. Part of our DNA at Eat Me Guilt Free is to never repeat what others have done or what we have done in the past, even if it’s just adding an interesting twist on a previous idea.
Have a sense of what you define is balance.
Building a business has extreme ebbs and flows. Recognizing that if you average out both highs and lows there will be a balance. In other words, chaotic days and uneventful days are both perfectly normal. You need to remain calm and keep a clear mind in order to make decisions.
How have you used your success to make the world a better place?
In 2020, during the pandemic, most of the world took advantage of or had no choice but to look within ourselves because we had to spend so much time isolated. Eat Me Guilt Free also chose to take this route as a brand and decided what was important to us. As a result, the You Glow Girl Woman Entrepreneur Grant was born. Elevating other women entrepreneurs is both invigorating and motivating to us. And being part of normalizing women founders is, no doubt, going to make the world a better place.
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.
Stop generalizing. If we were all open minded and didn’t use society’s stigmas and stereotypes to make decisions every day, we would advance in leaps and bounds. A movement that encourages people to live in a more conscious and aware state will allow us to be more intentional and inclusive.
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 have two. Sheryl Sandberg, because as a female entrepreneur, her book Lean In, is a must read. The second person is Arnold Schwarzenegger because of his ability to believe in himself so strongly that he was able to be successful in at least three very different careers. Most people have difficulty being successful in one career in a lifetime.
Thank you for these fantastic insights. We greatly appreciate the time you spent on this
Female Founders: Cristie Besu of ‘Eat Me Guilt Free’ On The Five Things You Need To Thrive and… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.