GEM, SARA CULLEN: The Modern Nutritionist

As consumers, we tend to trust the government to protect us and value our health. However, they don’t always do the best job. Did you know that just like the beauty industry, the vitamin industry is also extremely under-regulated? Yup, you can really get away with low-quality products these days. That is why it is so important to know the story behind brands and the authenticity behind the Maker. We got lucky to be introduced to Gem, a bite-size daily nutrient made with real food ingredients minus the fluff and synthetic fillers. 

From one nomination to the next, the way we grow our RADICHE network of Maker’s is through word of mouth. After our last feature with Jenna Kerner from Harper Wilde, we were introduced to the lovely Sara Cullen, Founder, and CEO of Gem. “My inspiration for Gem came out of my own personal health struggle. At the time, back in 2016, I was working with start-ups, building things and simultaneously dealing with a lot of stress. The stress had manifested itself in ways like swelling, mood swings, low energy and breakouts on my skin. When I turned to the vitamin aisle for relief, it only made the matter worse. I then looked closely at the ingredients in these drugstore vitamins and realized that if you look behind the label there is so much sneaky stuff you don’t see because it is hidden.” 

“We wanted to create a new delivery system for getting your vitamins.”

No one ever questions the origin of vitamins, yet we question everything we need to know about our meat, sometimes even the name of that fella (shoutout to T.V. show Portlandia!). During Sara’s quest to dig deeper she got inspired to start Gem in 2017. “I wanted to formulate specifically for women in order to give them the essentials needed to live a balanced and stress-free life.” Gem is powered by algae and includes 15+ vitamins, minerals, and herbs for optimal health. 

Some fun facts about vitamins:

• Vitamins are made with gelatin, the stuff left over from the meat industry such as pork skin, horns, and cattle bones.
  

• 90% of existing vitamin D comes from the wool of sheep. Gem derives theirs from mushrooms.

Testing The Market

When you go to raise VC funding, the main question you will get asked is how did you test the market? Fun fact: Sara was able to raise $750,000 in pre-seed funding! You go, girl! “We tested the market by creating an invite-only Facebook group in April 2018. We grew to over 300 women by word of mouth and were shocked by the community that came together to share inspiration around their health. We offered free samples to 150 of these women and received product feedback prior to launch. This is also how we figured out our product positioning.” Sara launched Gem on Product Hunt to gather more product feedback. 

“We want to reframe how women think about health and nutrition.”

Rewind back to the early years, Sara grew up on a farm in Oregon. She had always been around food which piqued her interest in nutrition. After graduating from Cornell University, with a major in International Development, she traveled to Kenya, Morocco, and India to work with female entrepreneurs. “I started out working with the governments around their policies but quickly realized that this wasn’t the path for me and ended up joining Venture for America fellowship.” Later, she started her first business around CBD beverages back in 2016, but was way ahead of the market and ended up leaving. “I used to be referred to as the weed water woman in those days.”

The Advice

Today, Gem has a team of 3 full-time employees and 4 part-time folks. Their first hire was a food scientist who helped them with product development. When we asked Sara for her advice she told us:

• Everyone has their own path.
  

• Learn what to prioritize and what matters the most to your customer.
  

• Don’t romanticize the need for fundraising.

If all this talk about nutrients has got your tummy rumbling, then click here to try out Gem’s daily essentials. Priced at $39 for a monthly subscription, their product is gluten-free, soy-free, corn-free, emoji-free (jokes) and vegan. If that doesn’t sound like music to your microbiome, then we don’t know what will. Happy munching!

Photo courtesy of Gem.

Written by Alysha Malik.

THE WILDIST, AARON PAAS: The Wild Thing

Decommodify the most boring categories in your life! With natural and clean taking a front seat at major beauty retailers, this personal care brand wants to make you rethink your everyday essentials. Wildist caters to those who care about natural hygiene, sustainability, and transparent ingredients.

Founder of Wildist, Aaron Paas came from a CPG background and views the world from a sustainable lens. He previously worked at Proctor and Gamble, with leading brand, Gillette and was able to understand the personal care industry better than most! “I get very excited about finding an opportunity through talking to people who are going to be using your product. With Gillette, I was leading their innovations team and focused on building products that would launch 7 years away. We did a lot of future forecasting and spent a lot of time looking at the Asian markets to see what was trending, especially in skincare.” 

Working on futuristic products and goals that would then become arbitrary as launch date approached is something that frustrated Aaron. It is mainly due to the hierarchical nature of these large multi-national corporations. As a result, he left and joined Etsy. “I left Gillette around the same time the Dollar Shave Club popped up and saw the way consumers were shopping, needs were shifting, and felt that it was time for me to broaden my experience.” 

“It was interesting to go from a place like P&G, where you had values posted on every wall, to Etsy, where values were just part of the conversation.”

During his time at Etsy, Aaron learned how to test concepts in the online world and more importantly implement values into everything you do. Today, he has carried this ideology into building out his own brand, Wildist. 

“We built Wildist for progressive people and want to provide customers with a choice. Sustainability, transparent ingredients, and an inclusive brand.”  

Wildist is a personal care brand that elevates your everyday essentials starting with natural toothpaste and deodorants. They value people, product and the planet, by transforming their packaging into pieces of art so that customers can reuse it and elongate its lifecycle. We were instantly drawn to their art direction and would describe their unboxing experience as walking through a jungle of colors, filled with surprises and curiosity (MUST TRY THEIR PRODUCTS!). 

Not to mention, their containers are 100% recyclable (plastic is one of the biggest contributors to global warming! Please try to reduce your carbon footprint when possible, RADICHE loves you). Fun fact: most toothpaste tubes are not recyclable. By making the Wildist toothpaste tube out of aluminum, you can have mother nature send some positive vibes your way. 

Why The Name

Why the name you might be wondering? They take their ingredients very seriously, hence, Wildist is a combination of wild + alchemist. Raw natural ingredients, repackaged in a beautiful way, for the consumer who wants to make a difference in this world with their purchasing power. 

Aaron’s Errands

Rewinding to Aaron's childhood, in Canada, he believes that “growing up I always had an entrepreneurial bug in me. When I was really young my father started his own business, it was a bookstore and at the time I was 12 years old. He would call me his co-founder and I remember thinking that I was a business owner from a really young age. This outlook on life stuck with me forever.” Young Aaron would also earn extra pocket money by running errands for the elder and naming his “business” Aaron’s Errands (quite smart!). “Since the age of eight, I would always find operational inefficiencies and my first thought would be how do I fix this as well as make some money?”

The Takeaways:

Aaron had been working on Wildist, full time for one year before launching. It took him 6 months to perfect the product and test the market via blind focus group product tests. It wasn’t until his product would win first place, would he enter a production run. 

“If you look at what P&G has done is they brought quality and consistency of a product to a level that is unprecedented. One of the things I brought to Wildist and was unwilling to cut corners on was the product. There is so much time being spent on brand, as there should be, but I think a lot of brands today tend to let the users down with product quality.” 

When we asked Aaron how his past experience prepared him for his role as CEO today, he says:

• If you do everything right and you deliver a good product, you have a lifetime consumer. So get that right!
  

• Gone are the days where a subscription model is a value proposition.
  

• Find a group of people that you take time to understand and identify how to create something that makes a difference. From a design perspective, create a safer, more natural, interesting product.
  

• Enter people's lives in a meaningful way by finding real people and solving a real problem.  
  

Wildist is a brand built on psychographics rather than demographics. Their products range from $7 for a toothpaste to $14 for a deodorant and can be purchased here. They are also celebrating their launch party tomorrow, Thursday, November 15th at 150 Franklin Street. We shall be there if y’all want to head on down and say hi. 

Photo courtesy of Wildist. 

Written by Alysha Malik.

PROSE, ARNAUD & PAUL: The Future Is Hair

Gone are the Panteen days when one product is “strong and beautiful”. Customization and personalization are two major trends driving the beauty industry forward. As a result, consumers demand products that are a direct extension of themselves, their needs and their preferences. Meet Prose, a hyper-tailored hair care company that allows customers to craft their own shampoo, conditioner and hair mask according to their hair goals and needs. So let’s hair (pun intended) how the founders got started!

Prose launched in December of 2017 with a simple idea, to create the best hair possible! This has been brought to fruition by customizing the manufacturing process and integrating technology into the on-boarding of customers. So how does it work? We sat down with co-founders Arnaud Plas (CEO) and Paul Michaux (VP of Product) to discuss their past, the present and the learnings. 

“Arnaud and I met when I got hired to work at L’Oreal. We were on the same team and given our French background we became friends quickly. As a man, I find the beauty industry very fascinating since my gender is not typically the primary user.” It wasn’t until one night over drinks that Arnaud shared his vision with Paul about disrupting the hair care industry. “I had originally started my career in home care products and quickly moved into skincare, body care, and hair care.” Fun fact: Arnaud and his dad started a business together back in 2010 to sell construction hardware in Europe online. Hence, this isn’t his first rodeo!

“We wanted to use personalization to fix a pain point in the industry and reinvent the market for professional hair care.”

Arnaud wanted to change the relationship between high salon clientele and products. While most prestige brands tackle one or two hair benefits, Prose tackles all! “The idea was to partner with individual hair stylists and empower them by creating personalized products for their clients via a diagnostic test. We sought out experts in artificial intelligence to create a software that is constantly learning via a feedback loop to process data and create fresh mixtures of ingredients, unique to each hair goals and needs.” Taking that one step further, Prose can also be accessed online where customers are encouraged to take a detailed quiz on their website in order to receive their personalized products in the mail shortly after. 

On Finding The Right Team

We know that Arnaud and Paul met while working at L’Oreal, but what about the remaining two co-founders? Yup, that’s right, Prose actually has four founding members! Arnaud tells us how he remembers mentioning to his barber “that I was going to be starting a hair care company and he insisted that I get in touch with a chemist, Catherine Taurin. At that time, Catherine was creating custom hair products for a salon and had been in the industry for over 35 years. She has been vital to our R&D success!” On the other hand, Arnaud was introduced to CTO, Nicolas Mussat via one of their early investors. This clearly goes to show that the author, Paulo Coelho was right when he mentions in The Alchemist, “the more you talk about what you want, the more likely the universe will make it happen.” 

The Name

“We wanted to start with Per Se but were unable to due to trademark laws. We actually ended up changing our name post-seed round (they have raised $7 million so far after Series A) and were introduced to Red Antler to rethink our name and overall brand identity right before our launch. As an American company with French roots, we wanted to have a name that sounded good in both English and French. Voilà, Prose: your unique way of expressing yourself!”

The Advice

If you are looking to start something within the beauty sector, here is our two-cents for you:

• Surround yourself with the right people from the beginning.

• Identify what industry trends are taking place and how your idea can fall into that formula and last over fads.

• While the barrier to entry in the beauty category is low, finding a good chemist has an extremely high barrier. Do your homework and partner with someone for product creation.

• Talk to as many people as you can, you’ll never know where the grapevine leads you.

• Once you get a sample, start a waitlist pre-order campaign online for traction.
  

Priced at $24 and above, Prose’s products contain 76 natural ingredients that are free from parabens, sulfate, mineral oil, GMO and cruelty. Stylists also have the opportunity to make a commission when they sign up with Prose to promote the products to customers. If you are interested in getting in touch with Arnaud or Paul, drop us a line and we’ll see how we can make magic happen. 

Photo courtesy of Prose. 

Written by Alysha Malik.

PINROSE, ERIKA SHUMATE: The Scent Matcher

Finding the right fragrance is hard, we get it! Therefore, co-founders Erika Shumate and Christine Luby developed Pinrose, a fun, user-friendly way of discovery new scents by matching customers personalities to scents via an algorithm-based online quiz. For the woman on the go, who has a curious nose, this one is for you!  

Co-founders, Erika Shumate and Christine Luby met back in 2010 at Stanford during their MBA. “We were both in an improv theatre class and bonded over our love for fractal geometry and revolutionizing consumer brands. It was while I was helping Christine shop for a new perfume that I was overloaded by the retail process of selecting a scent and felt that this category was ripe for disruption.” Erika has also always been obsessed with fragrance and how it triggers our brain to transport us to different moments in time. Essentially, making smell a time machine. “I studied the History of Science at Yale with a focus on olfaction (smell) and the psychology of scent.”

Testing An Idea

Pinrose launched in 2014, and the ladies spent roughly one year in R&D, building up their supply chain and testing out the market. “We made a fake, cheap website initially to test out different packaging styles and chose the winner based on the click-through rates as well as set up our supply chain before going to raise money. Both of us had no prior retail or beauty experience and developing this product was very new to us.” Typical background story of our RADICHE Makers, but what is interesting is Pinrose’s agility to consistently evolve the packaging and branding of their product over time to adhere to their customers. 

“We were inspired by synesthesia, incorporating colors, sounds, and textures to create a scent map for women to identify the best fragrance match for their personalities. Our tiny bottles also enabled customers to experiment with different scents before committing to one.”

Instead of producing the product overseas, Erika decided to create everything locally as the shipping costs were astronomically high. “We were lucky enough to have a friend who worked in the bottling industry to help guide us, but production, in general, is always a nightmare as each part comes from a different factory and you have to assemble the different pieces together.”  Their products are named after each customer persona such as a Wild Child, Secret Genius, and Pillowtalk Poet and can be found at Sephora, QVC and on their website. 

“There is no one to give you a stamp of approval before moving on to the next phase.”

When it comes to challenges in the fragrance category, Erika expressed concern around the lack of education when it comes to ingredients. Right now the term “fragrance” can contain multiple ingredients that corporations do not need to legally disclose as this includes top secret recipes. As a result, it is highly scrutinized. Erika also mentioned that “if you ask a scientist, they would tell you that it’s better to extract a natural ingredient and reproduce it synthetically due to allergies and the destruction of scarce natural resources. It is also very important to make sure that your ingredients are being harvested without displacing people and trees.”

The Advice

“Founding a company comes with a lot of emotional tolls, responsibilities, and pressure. I love being in the hot seat, and in the limelight. It only pushes me forward.” Erika believes that if you are looking to venture out on your own you should be self-aware about what your capabilities are and hire individuals for the ones you lack. 

Here are some of her key takeaways:

• You have to be an optimist!

• Design for your customer, prototype, and iterate.

• Don’t let the fear of failure guide you.

• Take your distribution slow the first year, but implement fast feedback from customers.

• Instead of spending a fortune acquiring customers online, look towards retail to build out a sales funnel.

Priced between $24 - $65, Pinrose can be bought here. Fun fact: Vanilla is one of the few scents that is widely loved across all cultures and is known to lower your heart rate (that lavender scent ain’t got nothing on these beans). However, if you are looking to hit the books or work on your latest venture, a rose scent is known for helping with memory and concentration.  

Interested in meeting Erika or collaborating on a project? Email us and we’ll put you in touch. 

Photo courtesy of Pinrose. 

DEEPICA MUTYALA: The Dreamy Desi

Not all of us are meant to be in the spotlight: the glamorous world of lights, camera and action. But, a few of us, dreamy folks, have an itch to become that person who changes how others are perceived. Deepica Mutyala is no different. As a badass blogger and entrepreneur with some serious convictions about the beauty industry, she wants to create a platform for South Asian women, one lipstick shade at a time.

Deepica Mutyala (@Deepica) is your typical South Asian gal with extraordinary superpowers. In her case, these superpowers include resting on-camera face, the real-deal attitude and ability to get 1,000s of fans excited about their skin. A beauty lover turned blogger turned entrepreneur, Deepica is on a mission to change the way South Asian women [and the rest of the world] interact with beauty.

Indian at heart, Texan by birth, New Yorker with the hustle

Deepica was born in Sugarland, Texas. A place filled with non-Indian descents, she remembers being called “coconut” during her high school days. “I was that Indian girl who hung out with no Indians in school; very much brown on the outside and white on the inside.” Yet, her upbringing in a South Asian family was nothing less than the stereotype of what you usually hear: a family full of doctors. 

Deepica’s dad is the youngest of seven brothers and she counts 40 first cousins (!!!), all of whom have gone on to become successful doctors, except for one who attended Harvard and Deepica, who decided to take the non-traditional route. She studied Marketing at the University of Texas, Austin and had always dreamed of moving to New York, working on the corporate side of beauty and eventually creating her own line of products especially focusing on“desi” skin types.

“Living in Texas, I always knew I was meant to do something different than what was being done around me.”

Her first gig in the beauty sphere was during a college case competition. A capstone project in shade matching for different skin types (an idea that has become so increasingly popular today) landed her an internship at L’Oréal. Here, as a national brand manager, she learned the ins and outs of how different departments work together. But devastated from not getting a full-time role, she found herself in the oh-so-glam offices of Victoria’s Secret in Ohio!

As an analyst at VS, “I had a lot of free time so I started a blog on Tumblr and would stay in on Friday nights to do makeup on my friends.” Fun fact: She was blogging for Clinique by 2011. This was a response to an inkling of being in the limelight, though to her, it was impossible because of two reasons: (1) you didn’t see many women of color in beauty and (2) popularity usually came with acting. This pushed her to enter the beauty industry head on, quit VS and eventually end up at Birchbox!

“There is a small market segment that makes up for 1 billion people and includes some of the highest household income earners in the U.S. yet no one in beauty is talking to them.”

At 22 years old, Deepica quit VS within 9 months, when she stepped upon an online fashion subscription service, ShoeDazzle. Inspired by their business model, she called up her cousin at Harvard to potentially start a similar company for beauty. Three days later, they realized that it already existed. Hello, Birchbox and their Series A funding of $10M! As the saying goes, “if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em.” In this case, Deepica joined the incredible female founders and caught herself playing multiple roles at Birchbox, from organizing the sample closet to account management to influencer marketing. All in all, figuring out how much $$$ influencers were raking in with brand deals and that there was no South Asian beauty blogger she personally could point out who was challenging brands to think about her specific skin needs.

So, on a very special New Year’s Eve day in 2015, Deepica decided to record her first video on how to contour. Shot on her iPhone with zero video recording experience, she recalls, “I had no idea what I was doing!” But, it was her second video on how to cover dark circles (a serious skin concern for most South Asian women) that went viral and ultimately, gave her an opportunity to make her first-ever TV appearance on the Today Show. “This was something I wanted to do for Birchbox for a while so I filmed it vertically on my iPhone and overnight, views went from 10s to 100s to 1,000s to now 10 Million! At 4M views, I got the best email ever: an invite to do a 3-minute segment on the Today Show.” This would also become the day Deepica gave her 2 weeks’ notice to Birchbox and started representing herself as a serious entrepreneur.

The Business of Beauty

Although many bloggers do make absurd amounts of money through brand deals, they struggle in the beginning to build an authentic following. Quitting a secure full time job and entering the world of unknown wasn’t easy so to prepare for the beautiful chaos that was about to ensue, Deepica went home for some peace. “I didn’t tell my parents that I had quit my job at Birchbox but through the Indian grape vine (of course), they found out. My dad told me to come into his room and handed me a check. I was so confused but he went on to say, ‘Don’t think of this as giving my daughter some money, think of it as me investing in someone I believe in.’ It was this moment that made me realize how much I wanted to make them proud.”

Today, Deepica’s following includes 18-34 years old college students and working professionals, mostly of the South Asian descent. She gets emails and direct messages from young Indian girls for having created a path that didn’t exist when Deepica was growing up. Hence, she takes it upon herself to act as a brand and follow some guidelines as a brand would usually do. For example, “The way I see social media is very different than how my friends perceive it. I can’t tag them in my posts. I struggle because I know the most popular Instagram accounts are your Pinterest mood boards with the perfect lighting, color scheme and product placement. But, for me, filters feel fake. I want my page to be more of a best friend giving you advice on beauty.”

The Challenges + Learnings

Being her own publicist, PR rep, marketer, agent and sometimes lawyer, Deepica has gained valuable insights while building her brand. Here are some tips from the source herself:

• There is power in saying no. Don’t get sucked into every brand deal.

• Be cautious of the comments you read. There are many trolls out there but if you’re nice to them, they will respond back with kindness.

• When negotiating with brands, come with hard facts to show that clear opportunities exist and that they are missing out on them.

• As her first manager advised her, “Don’t overcharge brands in the beginning. Make them realize the ROI after having worked with you and they will come back.” Repeat business is everything!

Follow Deepica on her journey as she pushes the boundaries for South Asian women via Instagram, Facebook or YouTube.

Having taken New York by a storm (she even lived near Carrie Bradshaw’s Sex and the City apartment on Perry St), Deepica currently resides in sunny Los Angeles. Want to chat with her or send her some beauty-lovin’? Contact us here and we’ll put you in touch. 

Photo courtesy of Deepica Mutyala.

TULA, JULIA STRAUS: The Skin Warrior

Ever heard of probiotics? The little fellas (microorganisms) that are introduced into the body for their beneficial qualities? Well, what if you could now use them on your skin for a healthier, glowing feel? Founded by Dr. Raj but run (like a boss) by CEO, Julia Straus, Tula is a probiotic skincare brand that fights wrinkles, dryness and basically all your personal skin wars.  

In an age where the personal care market is highly crowded, Dr. Raj, a gastroenterologist, saw a trend in medicine and the benefits of using probiotics for topical use and not just ingestion purposes. With products ranging from face cleansers, masks to hydrating creams, Tula is sold on QVC, at 12 doors of SpaceNK and through their own website.

Although Tula wasn’t founded by Julia Straus, her involvement with the company as CEO has helped scale it faster. This may be due to her always-on attitude, passion to make a difference in customers’ life and constant efforts to promote clean beauty. Whatever it is, we’re loving it!

“Growing up, to me, there was never an office. It was always my parents doing their own thing.”

Julia was born to entrepreneurial parents, one worked in the basement and the other on the top floor of their home. It’s safe to say that growing up, Julia was taught that “doing your own thing” was normal. Her first gig as a child was selling her own art at art sales; however, she wasn’t sure who would be buying it back then. “Entrepreneurship is very stressful and my parents hoped I would do something more predictable. They loved working for themselves but felt like security came with a corporate job.”

Following this advice, Julia enrolled at Princeton University and graduated in 2005 with a History major and an Art minor. While there, Julia “drank up liberal arts with almost 12 varied courses and truly explored different subject areas.” Post-graduation, she worked in finance at Lehman Brothers and Goldman Sachs, before pursuing her MBA at Harvard Business School. Her goal? To enter the startup world and potentially work for a smaller firm. She eventually ended up at PopSugar and later, BaubleBar as Director of Partnerships.  

Two’s a company, Three’s an opportunity

BaubleBar at the time of Julia’s tenure was a 20-people company, Tula on the other hand was being virtually operated by three founders. So, how did Julia move from creating cool celebrity partnerships for BaubleBar to running a skincare company? “I had hit a plateau at BaubleBar and through a mutual friend was introduced to Dan Reich, who was helping me bring BaubleBar on QVC. He told me about Tula over a phone call and at the end of the call, I asked if I could meet him.”

Tula’s three founders included Dan Reich, who had another company, Dr. Raj, a practicing doctor, and Ken Landis. However, they needed someone to run the show. As Julia recalls, “I am so thankful to them for trusting someone who had no experience in beauty. They believed in my well-rounded background and saw my motivation in going to the very beginning of a startup.” Well, it has paid off as Tula is doing extremely well via QVC and its ecommerce platform, becoming a favorite for women in their 20s-30s, who see Tula as their first step towards a more serious skincare regime.

“Skincare is harder than fashion because you see an image and you can picture yourself in it but with skincare, you need to touch, smell and feel it.”

Starting a cosmetic line is relatively easy; however, Julia reminds us how many cosmetic lines have kept their integrity of starting with one product and built a strong foundation based on that product. “Our approach to formulation is to be clean, simple and clinically effective. We do a lot of regulatory testing but there is no animal testing or parabens.”

Tula is effective not just your skin, but also the microbiome that lives outside on the skin. “There is more bacteria in you than human cells. Literally, 90% of your body is made up of bacteria. The more that you learn about the surface of the skin, the more you understand that whatever you’re using on top of it can really affect the full ecosystem.” That’s where Tula comes in!

The Name Game

Tula means balance in Sanskrit and was the perfect encapsulation of how the brand is creating a balanced ecosystem for your skin. Plus, the lifestyle aspect helps women define and find their balance in personal care and an overall balance in their lives. Complementing to this philosophy, the logo is a visual of a lotus, as a peaceful flower, representing this balance. 

The Marketing

With skincare, content is king and education is key! Tula’s success can be attributed to before and after videos with a very modern approach to selling products. Surprisingly, their model is a re-interpretation of teleshopping, with the same principles of direct-to-consumer communication. “Our approach is similar to that of QVC. People think home shopping is not glamorous but it’s a $12 billion organization. We are literally translating their proven techniques/dialogue on YouTube and through live stories on Instagram and Snapchat. We love that we have two separate customer bases but we talk to them in a very similar manner, one on TV and one on Instagram.”

Julia faced the challenge of differentiating Tula in a highly-saturated market. Besides having the reputation of being on QVC, other marketing tools that have worked for Tula include WOM, engagement with bloggers/influencers, and strategic partnerships with PopSugar, Physique57, and Health Magazine.

The Advice

As a successful CEO, Tula says that it is helpful to be well-rounded but to also have deep experiences in certain areas, but most importantly, be empathetic, resilient, and focused. A few other tidbits that she has learned along the way:   

• Start small and build from strength. Bobbi Brown started with 10 lipsticks and one door! To scale, you want to build from a place where you know what you’re doing is resonating.

• Live and love the details, the nitty-gritty and get into the weeds of everything as a CEO. The more you know, the more you can appreciate all the work that goes into every part of building a company from the ground up.

Interested in taking your skincare to the next level? Shop Tula today (our favorite is the Hydrating Day & Night Cream) using promo code: RADICHE for 20% off entire site (+ free shipping on orders $30+). Hurry, you only have till September 1, 2017.

Photo courtesy of Tula.

HELIX, ADAM TISHMAN: The Bed Builder

Too hot, too cold, side sleeper, back sleeper, not a sleeper? Whoever said there was a one-size-fits-all solution was probably the same person who convinced you that flossing increases your life expectancy (has not been proved by science, yet). Mind blowing, we know! Luckily, Co-Founder, Adam Tishman launched Helix to remove all the bells and whistles from the sleep industry and provide customers with an online platform to build their own customized mattress.  

Co-Founder, Adam Tishman has been interested in entrepreneurship since a young age. Even though he majored in History at Princeton University, it wasn’t until he got to Wharton and underwent a horrible mattress buying experience that he considered entering this category. “It was actually our co-founder, Kristian Von Rickenbach’s idea. He was thinking about the mattress space and had done a consumer study on it a while back. We both went to Wharton together for our MBA and bonded over our terrible mattress buying experiences along with our third founder, Jerry Lin.” 

If you are interested in how they met, Adam and Kristian were both at a talk by Warby Parker’s founder, Neil Blumenthal (back in 2013) and were one of the few members in the audience to ask questions. We like to think it was their drive and confidence that brought them together, turning the duo into the three musketeers, on a mission to combat the boogie monster.

Jerry, Kristian and Adam (from left to right).

How It Works

While most mattress startups try to sell you the idea of a “perfect mattress,” Helix goes against the grain by customizing each mattress according to the data received from their online quiz. “Our online quiz is able to assess each individual’s needs and understand where the pain points are to provide a better solution. No two people are alike, so why are we being told that we all need to sleep the same way? For example, if you are 6’2” and weigh 250 lbs or 5’2” and weigh 100 lbs, you need a different mattress based on its support characteristics and our algorithm is able to construct one for you.”

Helix also caters to couples who agree to disagree about the perfect a.c temperature (you know who you are). She freezes at night, you sweat. It’s a clash of the titans when it comes to getting some shut-eye with your significant other. By creating two mattress feels in one, Helix caters to both parties and is known for keeping couples happier long term.

Similar to the Build-A-Bear model, Helix’s showroom is very unique. Customers are encouraged to stop by, take the quiz and build their own mattress using foam layers. You can even opt in for a one hour nap! (Sheep 1, sheep 2, sheep 3...okay enough with the counting). Once an order is placed, it takes 5-8 business days to get to your door and under your pillow. Fun fact: Helix doesn’t use memory foam in their products as it tends to trap heat and encourage sweating. Instead, their materials allow for air to dissipate and regulate airflow. 

“We started working on the idea in 2013 and launched in August 2015. We raised a round of $800,000 with family, friends, and angels. This got us through launch, prototyping, building a website and having a couple of marketing dollars behind the brand.”

When we asked Adam about launch day he told us “naturally we got picked up by some media outlets (Business Insider, Entrepreneur, Inc.) which were a good push, but PR is very tricky. Therefore, we decided to acquire customers through different models and started out with digital first.”

Facebook, search, and content have worked exceptionally well for Helix. Adam tells us how you need to invest tens of thousands of dollars a month into digital to really understand if your campaign is working. “You are not testing the value of your dollars, but instead the educational aspect. You will see where you can improve and who to target further. The more expensive your product, the more money you will need to acquire that customer.”

Why The Name

“We went through thousands of names for this company. Choosing a name is one of the most stressful things ever. It is really hard. We explored every sleep word in the dictionary and every fictional and nonfictional character associated with sleep. We ultimately wanted something that embodied the personalization feature. Helix for us, represented the shape of DNA (since we tailor a bed based on your personal needs) and the shape of a spring in the mattress. Our logo represents an untwisted helix, double helix to visually showcase this story.”

The Advice

• Don’t start a company with your best, best friend. It might get awkward in the long run.

• Make your mistakes on your end and NOT on your customer’s.

• Don’t get scared using Facebook advertising. If you don’t push through, you won’t find out what works.

• When you start a digital channel, the CPA (cost to acquire a customer) is very high and over time it gets lower. This is why you need funding to start!

• Those who have fun while working will be more creative and execute better on even the not so fun pieces of the business.

• The founders should be aligned with what they want out of the venture.

• One of the biggest commodities is your time and how you optimize it.

Sick of the cookie-cutter solutions? Take the Helix quiz now to find out what kind of a sleeper you are and how your bedtime routine can be improved. Or, feel free to stop by their showroom located on 1123 Broadway, NY to build your very own mattress and say hi to Adam while you catch some zzz. 

 Photo Courtesy of Helix.

THINX, MIKI AGRAWAL: The Taboo Breaker

What do you get when you mix pizza, menstrual periods and poop? We apologize for the nasty visual but there is a reason why these work for Miki Agrawal. A triple threat when it comes to business, creativity and philanthropy, she is changing the world one leak-free underwear and clean tushy at a time.

Passionate about saving the world and making a small mark as she goes along, Miki Agrawal is not your typical female entrepreneur. From an investment banker to a restaurateur behind WILD to the Founder of THINX and now, TUSHY, she has basically tried it all. In fact, we’d be lying if we said that this is all she has done. She is also the genius writer behind the book, Do Cool Sh*t.

Her down-to-earth vibes, authentic voice, no-f*cks-given attitude are contagious and we were definitely inspired when we met her in New York. Little did we know, we had stumbled upon our next role model and muse in life!

“We have definitely been champions in exposing all things taboo.”

Hailing from Montreal, Canada, Miki is one of two twin sisters to a mother of Japanese descent and a father of an Indian origin. In 2001, she graduated from Cornell University where she studied Business and Communication. Post college, she did what most smart and ambitious people do: investment banking. A few years into the job, 9/11 happened and luckily, Miki slept through her alarm that morning. Knowing that she was meant to be in the towers that day forced Miki to ask herself, ‘what am I supposed to do in life?’

A creative soul and mind, Miki jotted down three things that she would focus her efforts on moving forward: 1) Play pro soccer again 2) Make movies 3) Start a business. And just like that, she began in 2005 with production of commercial music videos and launch of a gluten-free pizza restaurant in NYC, WILD. Manifesting your dreams is no joke, folks!

“I wake up a little afraid and scared every day because if I wake up and I’m not scared, then it’s not challenging enough.”

Before we get into what Miki has brilliantly created through THINX and TUSHY, let’s go over some facts. 1 in 3 women experience bladder leakage as a simple laugh, cough, run, jog, sneeze experience and over 100 million girls miss a week of school on their menstrual periods. Taking these mind blowing data points together, Miki crusaded through and launched THINX in 2014 as part of a $7 billion industry dominated by companies like Depend and Poise. Beautiful underwear that was designed to absorb and support women during those little leaks now helps solve the periods issue globally.

Inspired by the TOMS shoe model, THINX developed Buy One Fund One instead of doing one for one, where for every underwear sold, THINX gives money to a for-profit company in Uganda named Afripads, which in turn allows them to make washable reusable cloth pads. These are eventually sold to women in Uganda at an affordable price giving Afripads a margin that has led them to grow from 25 employees to almost 200 since the partnership’s inception. As if this wasn’t enough, THINX has also recently launched the THINX Foundation that will promote a six-month curriculum to transform young girls into budding micro-business female entrepreneurs.

The Aha-Moment(s)

The idea for THINX first came to Miki in 2005 when she was at a family barbeque in Connecticut. While in the middle of a race, Radha, her twin sister, got her period and had to rush to the bathroom. As she was washing off her bathing suit, that’s when Miki realized, ‘Wouldn’t it be amazing if we could create a pair of underwear that never leaked and supported women every day of the month?’ But it wasn’t until 2010 when Miki visited South Africa for the FIFA World Cup and witnessed the problems girls were facing because of their periods that empowered her to get the business up and running. The inspiration behind the name, THINX, came from creating “thoughtful underwear that thinks of you and thinks of girls around the world” and the "X" at the end is technical like "Goretex.”

“TUSHY is literally helping human beings defecate with dignity!”

Some more facts:

• 40% of the world doesn’t have access to proper sanitation facilities, affecting the health of those surrounded by defecated areas.

• On average, 57 sheets of toilet paper are used per day in America and 37 gallons of water are wasted to make one toilet paper roll.

• 15 million trees per year = production of toilet paper rolls.

Solution? TUSHY! By upgrading the first world experience while bringing light to the global sanitation crisis, Miki designed an alternative product, bidet, that can be attached to your toilet bowls for paper-less cleaning of your bums. What’s even crazier is that this simple shift in consumer behavior saves 26 million combined cases of hemorrhoids, UTIs and yeast infection per year. Following the social aspect behind THINX, TUSHY also partners with Samagra so for every TUSHY sold, one family gains access to clean community toilets in developing countries.

“We set the trend and people follow us, which is so wild!”

If you’ve lived in NYC for the past few years and even if you’ve never heard about Miki (low chances), there is absolutely no way you have escaped the genius THINX subway advertisements. As big fans of Miki’s creative work, we tried to get some insights into the creative process. “We have an amazing design team that has worked together for a while and they know what really could be on trend further down the road.”

The core strategy behind their eye catching visuals is understanding this look classy, sound sassy voice. “We really want to be colloquial and write as if we were texting our best friends.” More importantly, every campaign is launched after it goes through“is it unbelievably fridge-worthy?” Yes, Miki and her team literally have your fridge in mind and want to be placed next to photos of your loved ones and those polaroids you oh so dearly love! Thus, everything is designed from that lens.

The Advice

“Anyone can do anything if they just put on their running shoes and walk out the door each day.”

• Have teams for everything and do regular check-ins (this is how Miki stays sane!).

• It’s okay to not have mentors! Sometimes, it’s better to figure the do’s and don'ts on your own.

• Doing cool shit requires doing and working through bullshit. So, walk the talk!

• Failure is just an opportunity to learn. In her own words, “I feel people right now are less resilient than they used to be. It’s important to develop that resilience to things that will set you back.”

• The world ‘anxiety’ roots from the word anxietas, which means not knowing. The best way to combat anxiety and the unknown is by taking positive action every single day. Thanks Miki’s fiancé, Andrew, for these words of wisdom!

Follow Miki’s never-ending journey by subscribing to her newsletter or adding her on Instagram. 

All statistics and photos courtesy of THINX, TUSHY and Miki Agrawal. 

ARTI NAYAR: The Bollywood Mask

They say behind every movie actor’s success is an entire team of professionals. From makeup artists, stylists, photographers to social media strategists, the list for #squadgoals keeps growing. Well, here’s a behind-the-scene access to Arti Nayar’s career and how she became a makeup artist in Bollywood.

We caught up with Arti Nayar in Paris during her European travels and were smitten by her passion for the film industry. As a celebrated makeup artist behind Bollywood’s biggest names (think Sonam Kapoor, Alia Bhatt, Vidya Balan), she went from simply watching on-screen action in her living room to getting stars ready for some of their most important life moments.

Growing up in Mumbai, India, Arti graduated from St. Xavier’s College in ­2008 and is your typical Mumbaiite—embodying the casual feel of the city with a sky is no limit attitude. Dubbed as the city of dreams, Mumbai was Arti’s playing ground since childhood and is where she learned to be fearless and dream big. “I watched a lot of movies because of my father who was obsessed. Before my exams, I would watch award shows with him. We were both fascinated by the world of cinema.”

Bollywood actress, Alia Bhatt.

“I realized that although I always spoke about Bollywood, I secretly loved the glamour, fashion and beauty aspect of it.”

Arti’s journey began with a simple conversation with her mother, who is a bad-ass advertising executive and has directed Ad films throughout her career (she knows what’s up!). And just like all of us have been asked once upon a time: ‘what do you want to do in life,’ Arti’s aspirations to enter the industry led her to a meeting with India’s top producer and choreographer, Farah Khan.

Following Farah Khan’s advice, Arti’s interest slowly shifted towards fashion styling. In fact, she made it her life’s mission to tell everyone about her newfound dream including her cousin, a costume stylist. Through serendipity, they ended up working together. Although she worked as an assistant costume stylist on movie sets of Dostana and Wake Up Sid, Arti never forgot about makeup and enrolled in a three-month makeup course at Bharat & Dorris. How do you forget your first love, after all? 

“More than just learning the profession, I’ve learned work ethic, how to respect people and when to stand up for myself.”

Bollywood actress and fashion influencer, Sonam Kapoor.

By chance, she met Rhea Kapoor on the set of movie, Wake Up Sid. As the daughter of award-winning Bollywood actor, Anil Kapoor (you may recognize him from his cameo in Mission Impossible – Ghost Protocol), Rhea at the time was also working as an assistant director. They became good friends and shortly after, Arti’s career path would lead her to working with Rhea on her first film production, Aisha, starring her sister and the fashionable actress behind several hit Bollywood films, Sonam Kapoor.

It was at this time when Arti was introduced to Namrata Soni, a 22-year old makeup artist and hair stylist. There was no one better than Namrata to mentor and teach Arti the tricks of the trade. Overcoming her shyness to ask Namrata for an assistant position and with a little encouragement from Sonam Kapoor, Arti finally ended up working alongside Namrata for two years.

Living the Dream

Per Namrata’s suggestion, Arti worked as an artist at MAC for over a year and she recalls the best part being, “I didn’t choose my clients. Any customer from any background or skin type would come up to me and I would have to help them out.” Taking what she learned at MAC and from her time with Namrata, Arti today has become a household artist name for many celebrities.

While learning from the best and making a name for herself wasn’t enough, her daydreams of traveling outside India were also fulfilled by entering Bollywood. “I remember looking at my passport with my mother and telling her how I had no travel stamps. The first place I wanted to visit when I grew up was New York.” And as luck was her best friend, her first gig as a costume stylist indeed took her to New York. Since then, her passport has been getting some sweet lovin’ and has experienced New Zealand, Canada, Europe and Australia. Side note: you can do anything you put your mind to!

The Advice

So, if you’re thinking of becoming a makeup artist, Arti advises, “No matter where you are in the world, the first thing you need is to be passionate about makeup and understand that it’s not always easy and fun.” In an era of instant gratification, Arti adds, “the second thing is to have patience. You don’t learn tricks overnight or over a few months. It takes time and you have to be willing to invest in it and learn the ropes.”

For Arti, this meant 17-hour work days on set and constantly being on her toes while working with high profile celebrities (No, we couldn’t get any insider gossip unfortunately – Arti is a loyal one!). The most important thing, as Namrata Soni once told her, “work hard, do good work, be honest and people will call you back.”

As for makeup lovers, Arti’s go-to products include the Tom Ford primer and Nars highlighter. But her all time favorite look is healthy, glowing and dewy skin. Basically, foundation is everything!

What’s Next?

So, what does one do when they’ve hung out with celebrities, collaborated with successful professionals, passed on the wisdom through teaching and traveled the world? Arti says, “I still have a long way to go in the industry. I want people to know my story and I want to continue to work in fashion and films.” This may sound humble and it is true that chance had a lot to do with Arti’s success but her determination and curiousity to always be learning and growing surpasses those unexpected moments of ‘being in the right place at the right time.’

To return the support she was given by her friends and family, she is eager to pass on her knowledge through mentorship. If interested, email us or follow her journey through Bollywood and beyond here.

Photo courtesy of Arti Nayar.

EVIO, BRANDI LEIFSO: The Natural Look

Never let anyone tell you what you can or cannot do. Sometimes you have to hit rock bottom before you can reinvent yourself or as we say, let the magic happen. Founder of natural, organic and gluten-free cosmetics brand, Evelyn Iona, Brandi Leifso is that success story we keep on sharing. 

Brandi Leifso founded Evelyn Iona in 2013 and her story is a special one. One that makes women everywhere believe that anything is possible if you put your mind and soul into it.

“I want the company to be known for having good products, not just a sob story.”

Brandi grew up in a household of nine siblings on a dairy farm in Canada. No, they were not the former Brady Bunch. Unlike most teenagers, she left the house when she was only 17 and started working in the entertainment industry as a Model Manager. Fun fact: Brandi was homeschooled due to being a figure skater on the junior Olympic team. “I was skating competitively in Canada. We were second in our division. After my partner quit, I was never able to refill his spot due to synergy.”

While in the entertainment industry, Brandi started dating another fellow entrepreneur. But, that relationship was very unhealthy and she ended up admitting herself into a women’s shelter in 2012. “I wanted to get myself back up on my feet and help other women who were in the same situation.” During her time at the shelter, Brandi founded her company and wanted the brand to revolve around creating real human to human connections.

“Our products are made of things you find in your breakfast.”

Yes, this is true. For all you foodies out there, Evelyn Iona’s mascara is made out of coffee beans and its lip gloss is made out of carrots. “When we first started, our products were not natural or organic. But once I started acknowledging that most of our products are gluten free, have 5-8 ingredients and are very simple, I started to integrate products that are hard to find. For example, our gel liner stays on all day but is organic. This is what we have been recognized for mostly by The New York Times and Vogue.” Insider tip: the FDA is very lenient on regulating what goes in beauty products. Here are a couple of nasty ingredients most of your favorite brands probably used that you weren't aware of: whale vomit (great preservative), horse urine, iron and lead (gross!). Fear not, Evelyn Iona uses grapefruit and lemon as preservatives with a shelf life of 18-24 months.

“It is very rare that I sit down and talk to somebody about makeup. We just use it as a tool to make a connection and build a community.”

Brandi has done a great job on creating a community around her brand. She tells us how she finds it very important to build human connections with her customers. “We don’t Photoshop any of our photos.” When she is not up late at night commenting on every single YouTube video about her products, you can usually find her socializing with bloggers. The trick? “We reach out to bloggers saying ‘hey, we don’t want anything from you. We just want to be your friend and grab coffee.’ I literally flew to Boston, New York, Toronto, Chicago, you name it, to sit down with these bloggers and speak about our values, their values and build relationships. As a result, they have written about us because people generally tend to help their friends.”

The Marketing

Brandi reminisces on how she started the company with zero budget for marketing. As a result, everything has been via word of mouth. Evelyn Iona also had a launch event in partnership with Birchbox and Credo and to show just you how good storytelling gets, “people have been reaching out to us after they hear about my story or product.” Currently, the team consists of 5 full-time members with 7 individuals contracted out. The product is sold primarily through wholesale in 38 stores across the USA, Australia and Canada and can be found at Credo, Aillea, and QVC (just launched yesterday).  

The Advice

Being an entrepreneur is hard. Not only is it a lonely journey, but it also takes an emotional toll on the soul. Brandi’s key advice for those wanting to start their first venture: “you work the first four years of your business the way nobody would be willing to so that you can live the rest of your life the way most people can’t.” If you are planning to enter the beauty industry, create a product around a lifestyle and go organic!

The Future

“My vision for the company is to build a platform of different companies with the same values, social responsibility and community.” Brandi is looking to branch out into skincare and fashion industry in the next few years. Keep a look out!

Freaked out by what you just read? Don’t worry, get your new look here. Everything is sold under $30 and for every product sold, $1 is donated to the YWCA. Want to meet Brandi and get some makeup advice, email us and we will put you in touch. Bonus: We will be giving away Evelyn Iona products via Instagram, follow us and get in on the action!

Photo courtesy of Evelyn Iona. 

OUTDOOR FEST, SARAH KNAPP: The Urban Hiker

Listen up New Yorkers! You work hard, walk fast, talk fast, never say no, and never wonder if the grass is greener on the other side. So we’re bringing the grass to you! Founder of OutdoorFest, Sarah Knapp gets down and dirty by introducing the outdoors and recreational sports to NYC. 

Adventurous and kind, Sarah Knapp started OutdoorFest in 2013. A local, New York University graduate, Sarah was a History major, but didn't let WWII get to her and decided to take a different route in life. Although she worked in journalism for a bit during college, after graduation, she moved to Utah and worked the front desk at a Ski Lodge as a receptionist for one season. “I kept returning and realized that I loved the environment I was in. So when I went back to New York I got a job doing logistics and marketing for an outdoor guiding company.”

“The idea came about when I was working at the outdoor guiding company and was based on celebrating the outdoors in our community of urbanites.”

Founder, Sarah Knapp on a hike.

Even though we call ourselves New Yorkers and city dwellers, it doesn't mean that we don't appreciate nature. In fact, most of us love nature so much so that the city has to cage a patch of grass and call it a park and we still appreciate the heck out of that space! (Some may say we’re obsessed with the greens. The non-smoking kind). Looking to bridge that gap, Sarah launched OutdoorFest’s first event in the summer of 2014 for a duration of ten days. The festival brings together all types of recreational sports in the middle of the city. Kayaking, rock climbing, hiking, sailing, biking, you name it! Top tip: Sarah tells us how her venture was less about coming up with an idea, but more about embracing something she was willing to invest time and energy into, aka passion.

Running The Biz

Playing off the concept of “happy hour,” Mappy Hour is a free event that brings people, maps and alcohol together. The idea revolves around community building and future trip discussions. Talk about a good marketing strategy! These small meet ups build the momentum to the big day when OutdoorFest occurs annually in June.  

Similar to any event company, OutdoorFest makes most of its ka-ching ka-ching from sponsorships. “We work with a network of different resources that can be anything from Park Alliances, government, yoga teachers, and brands such as REI and North Face. All of these partners create a specific event during the festival and submit it to me. We then create a schedule based on these special themed events.” As a partner, you reach a new audience by collaborating with OutdoorFest and gain awareness. Anyone can submit an event with an option to raise money for specific cause. Yes, even you college students!

Tough Mudder

Looking young and fab, Sarah felt a lot of judgement and pushback due to her age. “I had not worked for a corporate event company before and therefore lacked the necessary skillset to be able to be successful.” However, at the time same time Sarah tells us how you have to “ignore it all and prove yourself.” Some other challenges include learning about trademark laws, tax structures and insurance markets that were vital to her business but not necessarily sexy.

In the future, Sarah hopes to create a subscription based model and grow the community. When she’s not working, you may find her skiing, climbing Kilimanjaro or conversing in Yiddish (random fact).

Want to be your own boss, love the outdoors and have a knack for technology? Sarah is looking for a Co-Founder to help her with future growth strategy. In addition, if you want to submit an event for OutdoorFest, contact us at founders@radiche.com and we’ll make sure it happens.

Photo courtesy of OutdoorFest.

CLEANACWA, SANGU DELLE: The Face of Africa

While most of us were trying to make it big in business post-college, a few were simply trying to change the face of a continent for the better. A smart businessman, humble humanitarian, and lover of all-things-Africa, our next SpaceMaker is not your average joe.

Sangu Delle, resides in Accra, Ghana (making him our very first global maker!) and is the Founder of Golden Palm Investments and cleanacwa. A high school graduate from Ghana International School and Peddie School and a double graduate from Harvard University, he oozes dedication and hard work. Let’s just say, Sangu is your everyday new-generation-entrepreneur with a sprinkle of kindness and social consciousness.

We were looking forward to catching up with him while he was visiting San Francisco to meet with some key investors. Not surprisingly, he is always on the road and when asked how he manages it all, he said, “When you love what you do, it’s a little easier.” It is true that many of us are still struggling to find our true calling, but Sangu was born knowing what he needed to do in his lifetime.

Doing Social Good

At the age of 5, Sangu was exposed to social activism through the work of his father, a prominent doctor and a human rights activist, who hosted refugees from Liberia and Sierra Leone. This inspired him to fight for the social welfare of others. In college, he started College Bound with his roommate at Harvard, Darryl Finkton. The goal was to connect intercity high school students with Harvard students as mentors and help them get through school and accepted into colleges.

Photo courtesy of Sangu Delle

In 2007, the two founded the African Development Initiative (ADI), an organization that focused on building sustainable initiatives in Africa. He recalls, “We were doing research and we thought we were going to do something in malaria but then we found out that more kids died from lack of access to water and sanitation than malaria and AIDS combined. During that time, one billion people didn’t have access to clean water and 2.7 billion didn’t have access to sanitation—literally, more people had mobile phones in hand! We thought if we could send a man to space and have all these advancements in technology, it’s crazy that we can’t have clean water. It was so basic. We were outraged and felt compelled to help.”

“My hope was that in ten years, we would close shop because the problem didn’t exist. That would be success for me.”

Coincidentally, 2008 was the United Nations Year of Water and Sanitation. ADI partnered with a community in Ghana that was facing a real crisis and planted a water pump, partly subsidized. Additionally, they set up a committee made up of local community members and a bank account with limited funds that the members could use in case any maintenance was needed. This made the model extremely sustainable and was the answer to Sangu’s frustration of most non-profit organizations not giving power to the people they were helping.

In 2012, after implementing a range of projects under ADI, the board of advisors and founders decided to focus on clean water and solve that issue wholly, instead of diversifying the social work. This was the beginning of cleanacwa and today, they are actively working in 120 communities.

Business in Africa and Beyond

Sangu may have a Bachelor’s degree in African Studies and Economics along with a JD/MBA degree but a quick peek at his website or LinkedIn, and you’ll see that Sangu is “All About Africa.” While his fellow Harvard classmates were landing well-paying jobs in finance, banking or private equity in the U.S., Sangu decided to move back to Ghana and take a 90+% pay cut (his family thought he had lost his mind!).

Photo courtesy of Golden Palm Investments

His aim was to build world-class businesses that would not only make great returns for shareholders but also be innovative, disruptive, and in some way, socially conscious. Hence, Golden Palm Investments (GPI) was founded. Presently, the for-profit company counts high growth and high impact sectors such as healthcare, infrastructure, and agriculture in Africa as its main focus. But Sangu’s passion for making a change goes beyond just investing in and advising new ventures. Besides multiple speaking engagements, TED talks, and  mentorship programs, he is also in the midst of publishing a book, Seeding Growth, which was shortlisted for the Financial Times/McKinsey Bracken Brow prize. “I have spent time in 43 African countries so far and interviewed 600 young entrepreneurs. This book tells the stories of a new Africa built by young entrepreneurs, chronicles my travels and profiles some of this young blood.”

The 100 Million Dollar Lottery Game

Photo courtesy of Sangu Delle

As a resident tutor at Harvard (yes, he is a man of many talents), Sangu was an advisor to students. He shares something that he always asked his mentees, “Imagine you just won the lottery. Remember your last Bank of America balance and now imagine it reads an additional 100 million dollars. What would you do with it? If your mother called, would you pick up? Would you stay at Harvard and finish your degree?” Funnily, pit balling through such questions, Sangu never answered these himself until one day, a student asked him what he would do. He says, “It got me thinking and what I realized was I would do exactly what I’m doing but just scale up. I would no longer have to run chasing investor money and would self-fund things. Maybe fly first class instead of economy, but outside of those little things, I love what I do and I won’t change anything.”

Entrepreneurship, Personal Branding, and Everything in Between

From changing the world to leading profitable businesses, whilst having some kick-ass mentors by his side and accolades like Forbes Africa 30 Under 30, Sangu has learned a thing or two about entrepreneurship, fundraising and personal branding. Here is an unedited roundup from Sangu:

• Build a reputation and a rolodex of references: It helps that prospective investors can call people who will vouch for you. Having certain key relationships that are respected is important.

• Have a track record: For example, if I want to run a 500-Million-dollar fund, I can’t just go out and ask for that much money. You start small, turn it over into profit. Be realistic and take it in small steps!

• Pedigree helps: Being able to have some of the checkmarks will never hurt. The richest man in Africa, Aliko Dangote, once said that people don’t realize it took me 30-40 years to build a billion-dollar empire. Nothing is an overnight success so get ready to work for it!

• Know yourself and what truly matters to you: If it’s money you’re after, find a good job that pays well. But, its short term return didn’t appeal to me. The chance to pursue my own dream and do my own thing is freedom to me and the freedom as an entrepreneur is priceless.

• Don’t take shortcuts: Too often, people get clouded and are in a rush to get somewhere but never compromise the “right thing to do” and your integrity.

• Have a vision of where you want to be and work backwards: Here’s an exercise! Imagine you turned 50 years old, and your wife/partner throws a huge party for you and you have to give a speech reflecting on 50 years to your closest family and friends. Write a draft on that speech. It forces you to imagine where you want to be and how you will get there.

Planning a trip to Ghana and would like to meet Sangu or simply contact him for advice? Email us at founders@radiche.com and we’ll put you in touch.

POP UP YOGA, ANGELICA OLSTAD: Straight Out of Savasana

To acknowledge your upbringing, experiences and faraway dreams is not for the faint hearted. Yet, this MoveMaker has been able to seamlessly master the performing arts, celebrate spirituality and support her community.

When we entered a quaint apartment in Brooklyn, we thought we were meeting Angelica Olstad, Founder of Pop Up Yoga NYC, one of the first pop up events company in New York. Instead, we ended up chatting about homemade chia puddings, learning about the philosophies of yoga, and exploring the realm of race, health and wellness. Let’s just say, it was one heck of an inspirational afternoon.

“I have a lot of things I am proud of that I know come from a Chinese upbringing but there are also setbacks.”

Born to American and Chinese parents in Colorado, Angelica recalls her childhood being defined by a lot of Chinese characteristics. “Personally, I wanted to eradicate my Chinese background because I was really the only ethnic kid around. I have always been hyper aware of my ethnicity and wanted to become as “American” as possible.”

At a young age, Angelica started playing the piano and was forced to keep at it by her mother (The concept of tiger mom was very real!). From competing till the age of 10 in choir, pro singing groups, and a cappella to taking a stab at creative writing as the editor of a publication, Angelica thrived in the performing arts. Hence, it was no surprise that she initially took up voice as her college major and eventually graduated with a performance degree in piano.

“The biggest decision of my life was to come back to play piano as an adult learner.”

Photo courtesy of Passion Stories

With no motivation to pursue a traditional path in classical music, especially at the thought of practicing alone for eight hours, Angelica was lost after pursuing an assistantship in piano from the University of Illinois. Realizing how tough the performing arts world was and that taking a break from playing the piano in a way denounced her ability among her peers, she started feeling depressed and anxious about her future.

Season of Change

Around this time, Angelica stumbled upon a free yoga class being taught at an art gallery on the college campus. “It was an open level class and I vividly remember the instructor. She was nurturing and had this really nice voice. I started going every Friday and I just felt better and healed inside. The more times I took the class, I started thinking about ways to connect ideas in different ways. It was yoga that inspired me to perform experimental piano for a new audience. Yoga allowed me to not be so rigid…it was the only place where I didn’t feel criticized or pushed to do something.”

On Manifesting Positive Thoughts

Following the aftermath feeling of yoga and her newfound goal to perform piano in a novel way, Angelica packed her bags and moved to New York. In addition to working at a finance firm and hustling at a few part-time piano gigs, she decided to enroll in a yoga teacher training program at Three Sisters Yoga. “I went to yoga teacher training with the intent of helping musicians overcome performance anxiety.  There is a very high expectation for professional musicians and no one understood that better than me.”

Angelica says her aha-moment was when she learned about the eight limbs of yoga including “Aparigraha,” the sense of non attachment. “The idea is when you attach something to the future, whether it is fear of failure or desire for success, what you do is you actually affect your present. When you are doing everyday things, if you think you are going to fail, you will because you are manifesting it.”

Taking Yoga to the Streets

So, how exactly did this pro pianist and spiritual gangster become a yogi and a businesswoman? Good question! Scarred from her 9-5 corporate job, Angelica quit after earning her yoga teaching certification and was connected to a woman who taught English to teenagers at a juvenile detention center. Forgoing her hesitation, Angelica agreed to teach yoga to these young prisoners with the intent of helping them find peace. After a year at this stint and minimal improvement in the mental health of these kids, mostly because of their view of yoga being exclusively for the privileged in addition to other staffing and internal issues, she left. She does remember the experience being not only a lot of hard work but also highly rewarding.

“Yoga is a way to live life in a way where you are being the square peg trying to fit in a square hole.”

Photo courtesy of Passion Stories

Ironically, at the same time while working as a yoga studio manager in Williamsburg, Angelica realized that classes were being taught at higher than average rates. Seeing this commercialization of yoga along with other social media trends on how modern yogis were monetizing at the expense of compromising true yogic traditions, Angelica decided to start hosting free open level yoga classes in the park. In 2012, her first pop up yoga event was organized at an urban market in downtown Brooklyn with 70 people in attendance! “I wanted to create a fun yoga experience with music and vendors but more importantly, I wanted it to be easy, free and an opportunity for people to find urban wellness.”

“I want people to feel comfortable going to a yoga class but I also want substance to my events.”

As with any business, when your brand evolves, it requires you to evolve with it. After hosting several pop up yoga events, Angelica decided to convert Pop Up Yoga NYC into a full time career option in 2015 with one caveat: she didn’t want to teach anymore. Rather, she self-taught herself the essentials of running a business, all the way from dealing with sponsors to curating social media feeds to managing large scale production events and to becoming the face of the brand.

Her advice? “Self-reliance was something I learned from being immersed in the performing arts. Playing the piano gave me autonomy and helped me trust my instincts. As Pop Up Yoga grew, it became necessary for me to start delegating tasks, and find collaborators who would help me in areas I didn’t need to teach myself anymore.” Using The Law of Success as her bible, Angelica has built a reputation in New York’s wellness community via Pop Up Yoga and is constantly motivating people to celebrate their city. With a combination of ticketed and free events, you can find her alongside our maker, Castel, at a Sound Off yoga event in partnership with the W Hotels or hosting yoga events on a helipad in the middle of New York City.

Looking to attend her next event or collaborate with her on a documentary that may just change the world (watch this space!)? Email us here.

REFINERY 29, LUCIE FINK: The Fink Phenomenon

We are living in an age of making; yet many of us fail to pursue what drives us for fear of what the world may think. But go-getters know to never stop pushing, even if their work doesn’t float everyone’s boat.

Lucie Fink—a superstar On-Camera Talent and Associate Producer for Refinery29, an independent stop motion artist and a Millennial spokesperson—is a triple threat to say the least. Her creative spirit and #makeitupasyougo attitude has brought her enormous success in the media and production space in less than two years.

If you haven’t already seen her on Refinery29’s Snapchat Discover button, or spent hours skimming through her incredible stop motion films on her website, or caught her onscreen appearances on The TODAY Show, do it NOW (We mean it). We promise her stop motion videos will make you want to drop everything you are doing at the moment to make things. Plus, it’s a few minutes of pure joy. (See, this excitement is what 23-year old, Lucie, has been able to accomplish in her young career.)

“Being around creative people, I realized that everyone was doing things on the side and had projects or companies they were running”

After switching from neuroscience into creative writing and graduating from Johns Hopkins University in 2014, Lucie’s first job was a stab at producing for OgilvyEntertainment, the branded content arm of Ogilvy & Mather at the time. This was where she learned the basics of video production, under an amazing boss whose great lesson was, “It’s not about face time, but about making sure the work gets done.” But even so, the real lesson Lucie took away from this job was that every single one of her coworkers was working two jobs—the 10 to 7 at the global advertising agency and an entrepreneurial venture post-work hours. Once she realized this, and her growing urge to build a social media presence, Lucie began to invest more time and energy (i.e. work) in finding her unique creative vision and building a personal brand.

As a typical Millennial, Lucie’s world is a combination of never-ending social media feeds, feelings summarizable in 140 characters, videos transforming anything into art in the span of 15 seconds and life experiments recorded monthly for millions of users. When we asked what keeps her on her toes, Lucie said, “I love Instagram and have been really inspired by people and brands that have turned their feeds into art. I will come across an interesting still image and produce a ‘making of’ video of that image and give that account credit for the original idea, which is really important these days when stealing and recycling content is a real thing.”

Putting Things In Motion

Lucie admits that her motivation behind redefining an old form of art—stop motion—was pure coincidence. Yet it was a moment where, she quotes, “I felt like I had discovered fire and thought it was the coolest thing in the world.” Researching stop motion videos for inspiration, she realized that not one of them was celebrating everyday awesome things like toast, pizza, candy, doughnuts, ice cream, or the usual celebrities she followed. She’d watch those kinds of videos, and maybe other people would, too.  

Her first video was made out of utter office boredom. A few days before, on a road trip with her boyfriend, she had discovered hedgehog marshmallow heads in a candy store. She schemed that these would be perfect #foodie posts to build up her Instagram following, because…what is there to do at work, when there’s no work? Why, you create your own work. So Lucie sat in a conference room and used a tripod and a high definition camera to take about 300 photos of these marshmallows in different positions. Four hours (and some snacks) later, as she scrolled through them, she realized that they were in motion! As an all-around producer, she ideated a story for the images, wrote the script, edited the footage and published a 30-second Instagram video. The next day was a whirlwind of followers, “Amazing job!!” comments from friends who she hadn’t seen in ages—and most importantly, a special request from her work team to produce more videos for internal client pitches. For this, Lucie does thank the culture that Ogilvy & Mather has crafted for their employees, where they are encouraged to “just go make stuff.” Moral of the story: Your first job and your first manager are central to the direction your career takes, so choose well!

The Art of Making and Selling

Aside from all that is a finger swipe away, Lucie prides herself on always having been an idea-doer, not just an idea-getter. From her initial attempt at producing videos in Baltimore to writing a page-long email to one of the TODAY show producers with a plethora of ideas, Lucie is a non-stop invention machine. Her work with stop motion videos has not only won her 12,000 followers on Instagram and 10,000 Facebook fans, but has also given her a whole new way of generating income. What started as a hobby in her apartment with a tripod, iPhone lighting and a desk, has turned into a business where brands pay anywhere from $500 to $5,000 for branded videos.

The biggest lesson she’s learned so far? She advises, "Generally, companies want more than people who are smart and have a track record of being successful. They want people who will make stuff. The only way they know you make stuff is when you do it for yourself, and they will then trust you with making things for them. But if you go in and say, yeah, I have all these ideas but I don't have a past of doing it, they are less inclined to trust you. At Refinery29, that helped me because they knew if they didn't take me, I would have gone and done it for someone else." To conclude, the work you do for yourself is your power. 

Future Of Content

Constantly shining on the Internet isn’t easy, but Lucie seems to have the secret recipe from both a personal branding and business-branding standpoint. To leverage content for a personal brand, she says, “Pick your platform. If you’re a writer, maybe Twitter; if you’re a photographer, choose Tumblr, Pinterest or Instagram…do whatever you are interested in and keep doing it, not judging yourself and consequently, failing to share it with the world. Details matter, but don't be scared to put things out there because they are not 'perfect.' I like going through my old videos and seeing how far I have come; it’s a growth journey and I would have been upset if I had deleted those files.”

On the flip side, understanding the different audience segments across a company’s social media platforms is extremely important. “The future doesn’t have anything to do with posting the same content five times over on various channels. I think, on a larger scale, the direction the industry is going in is fast bite-sized pieces of content. What an organization is doing with its content should show what it stands for as a whole.”

Posting A Legacy

Like any good aspirer, Lucie wants to be remembered for certain things. (And she’s definitely on the right track for it!) “For my art, I want people to remember me as someone who always created something out of whatever she was given and who actually did things when other people were just talking about them. For my on-camera experience, as someone who just put everything out there and wasn’t afraid of what anyone had to say and took the good for the good and took the bad for the bad—but at the end of the day, powered through and did what she loved. Having young women from Peru reach out to me for advice on life, relationships and creative undertakings is the most rewarding thing for me. If I don’t affect anyone else’s lives other than those women, I will be okay.”

So the next time you shoot a mini video of your dog, or take a selfie with your friend, and you’re worried about what others will say (or not say) when you post—take a minute. Ask yourself, “Do you care? Actually care?” If the answer is “Hell no,” (or even if it’s more, “Well…”), go ahead and post it if it’s a true reflection of you, and what you do. For every one person that will judge you, there are hundreds who will love you for who you are and what you’re trying to make.