How to Use Public Speaking to Build Your Brand
Is this thing on?
Have you ever looked at speakers on a stage and thought – how do I get there? How can I become confident, clear on my message, have the courage to stand in front of so many people and share what I love and what I know?
Well you’re not alone. As we move into the era of what I like to call the ‘Power Personal Brand’ where we follow people who have something to say and who say it so well, the personal brand has become the visual connector that we have to people and content that we love. In this digital age, having something to say and saying it well can be the difference between mega success and getting lost in the crowd.
Now when I talk about public speaking and presenting I think of it as speaking to a group from 2 people to 200,000 people. It doesn’t really matter the size, your ability to impact and connect with 1 person is just as important as the masses.
So if owning the stage is something that you would love to do here are some of my tips on presenting with power and purpose and getting the gigs that you want.
BE CLEAR ON YOUR MESSAGE
One: decide what your message is. This may sound simple, but what will you talk about exactly? If you can decide on 1 – 4 topics that you cover then it makes easy for event managers and hosts to know if you’re right for their business, event, and audience. If you’re able to give a clear outline then it makes for an easy decision. I’m sure that you already have a number of topics that you focus on in your business, so go with those. Consistency of message across all your platforms is what builds brands, so bang that drum!
"Consistency of message across all your platforms is what builds brands, so bang that drum!"
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SHOUT IT OUT
If you want to be a speaker then let people know by creating a speakers page. Creating a speakers page means that it’s easy for those who come to your website or blog to see that you’re a speaker. They can see what you talk about, where you’ve spoken before, and they can see what others have said about their experience with you as a speaker.
TESTIMONIALS
If you’ve spoken before and have testimonials then those are also a great thing to provide event organizers. Knowing that you’re an engaging speaker whose personality is congruous to my brand is really important to me as well as an event organizer. My brand personality is bold, fun, and focused on educational content, so my speakers need to be like that as well. If you’re able to show the type of content you share and the way in which you share it then you’ll appeal to the right event organizers.
GETTING STARTED & FINDING GIGS
So where to start? There are a couple of things you can do to get started. One of the easiest things to do is to run your own event. This means that you could have from 5-50 people, whatever works for you and test your message and talk it out. This could be free or charged. By doing this you’ll get a feel for what works for you when you’re speaking and what doesn’t. It may also mean that you’re able to get testimonials for your speaker’s page.
CONNECT WITH EVENT ORGANIZERS
If running an event sends you into cold sweats then it’s time to connect with others who run events and see if you’re the right type of speaker for them. I’ve spoken in paid and unpaid workshops and events for other women who run networking groups and events and that’s worked well for me. As an international conference speaker I also connect with those who run large scale conferences to ensure that I build a relationship with them for future events.
GOOGLE IT!
I secured a speaking event this year by Googling – ‘speaking opportunities in Melbourne’ and applying when I saw one that I thought was a good fit for me. Not only did I make some awesome connects at this event but I also gained a number of new clients. The event was unpaid but is still benefiting my business today.
PROMOTE YOURSELF
I saw a video on Facebook recently of someone advertising that they are open to speaking at events. It shared some information on where they had spoken before and what they speak about. Now you may not want to go that far (or maybe you do) but like anything in your business, if you want to build up your reputation in a certain area then you need to be out there sharing it. Social proof is always a great way to do that. When I get the professional photos back from places that I’ve spoken then I put them up on my social channels as well as my website to build up the social proof of what I’ve done. I always connect it with a testimonial where I can so that there is a visual as well as praise for a job well done.
HAVE A GOAL
With any speaking gig I do, I have a clear goal. The goal is convey a specific message, to connect with certain people, to entertain, educate or inspire. Know what your goal is and ensure that you set yourself up to be successful in achieving that goal. I’ve worked with women who have no idea what they want to get out of the experience and therefore miss an opportunity.
Speaking is one of the quickest ways to reach a large audience in a single instant, so if it’s something you’re looking to do, I would say go for it.
I’d love to know - what’s your biggest fear, worry or barrier to speaking?
An original version of this article appeared on Blog Society.
Suzanne Chadwick is a Business & Brand strategy coach and the CEO of The Connection Exchange providing coaching, training & events for women in business and supporting them to build their business, brand and bottom line. As an international conference speaker and trainer, Suzanne also coaches women to create the ‘Power Personal Brand’ through public speaking and Owning the Stage. You can find and connect with Suzanne on Facebook and Twitter.
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Find Out Why the Male-Dominated Tech Industry Won't Stop This Creative
She's adding dimension to the fashion and tech spaces.
Heather Lipner, tech maven, has worked in the dude-heavy industry for "at least 13 years." As the former creative director of MySpace, co-founder of Uncovet, and founder of Clashist, that oh-so-pop-culture-meme-tastic apparel line approved by James Franco, she has a few tricks up her techie sleeve.
Drawsta is her newest venture. An augmented reality fashion concept that adds an unexpected layer to your shirt [like the above panda (panda, panda, panda #broadsinatlanta)]. Augmented reality doesn't work without a tech device. In Drawsta's case, it's an iPhone app that allows for virtual designs to appear on a t-shirt. There are currently two screen-printed graphic unisex shirts ($48) each of which comes with 3-5 animations, with a new one released weekly.
We checked in with Heather to talk the industry's 'boys club,' how Drawsta is fighting against the need for fast and disposable fashion, and (read all the way to the end peeps) if we're becoming machines.
Let’s chat a little about your background. How did you arrive at the intersection of fashion and tech?
I have been in it for around six years, but prior I was doing tech/media. I worked as the Creative Director of Marketing as well as the Art Director of Product for Myspace and prior to that worked at a couple interactive design agencies for over six years. So been doing tech for at least 13 yrs.
How did the idea for Drawsta come about?
I wanted to take fashion to a new level, literally add a dimension to it. I felt stuck in a traditional world doing my previous brand Clashist. While it was a pretty viral line and lots of people loved it - I always had to make new - which, is very costly and often environmentally wasteful. So Drawsta solves the problem of wanting something new in the moment, but in a digital manner so we don't have to literally make so many physical goods. I think it’s more fun too. :)
How does it work?
It’s so simple - you just open up the app and point it at your tee and a layer of animated graphics pop and lock on the tee. You get the experience of wearing something new (you get new animations weekly) and you can also share yourself wearing the animated tee via social media, email, text - anything digital. (See below demo video.)
Social media made fashion shareable. Why is now the right time to take it a step further?
We’re going start losing the screen in a year or so and digital graphics will appear on, in front of, and around physical objects. Knowing that, I wanted to do something fun that can represent the individual’s ever-changing identity via something we’re all used to - fashion and social media.
Wearable tech is a billion dollar market, do you think we are going to see more augmented reality wearables?
Yes - from me for sure! :)
What is the most exciting part about being in the tech space right now?
I’ve always been obsessed with self-expression via fashion, social media, art, design, interior, etc and I think tech lets us explore our own identities in a faster manner. I get really excited when I see people (mostly younger generation on Snapchat) freely post without caring how perfect the image is. To me, that is freedom to explore and share our momentary thoughts, feelings, everything without caring about being judged. When you give people a way to do that in an acceptable manner, we can find our true passions and feelings in a more raw, real and evolutionary manner. THAT IS AMAZING AND EXCITING TO ME. MAKES ME CRY.
What’s been your experience in the tech world as a woman?
I hate it actually. It’s so annoying - sometimes I don’t care and sometimes I have this overwhelming rebellious feeling where I just want to roll my eyes, spit, and go in the opposite direction. LOL, but I love tech and I am also not sure if it is 'man vs woman' or there’s simply a club that is mostly male. You put a bunch of VCs in a room that are literally competing to see who will make more cash and it’s douchebag central. There’s a lack of creativity, sensitivity, understanding, depth, etc. I went to school and studied Economics at the UW Madison and it was the same - a room of mostly dudes asking each other who’s got higher grades. It’s lame - but not all VCs and guys in tech are like that - just a lot of ‘em. Heh. I just try to focus on the product, customers and creating a path towards what I believe is success. And hopefully in years to come the room will even out with less ego and more diversity, compassion, and care. :)
"I love tech and I am not sure if it is 'man vs woman' or there’s simply a club that is mostly male. "
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Is wo/man becoming machine?
Maybe we are already machines. We’re kinda at a high point right now in which we are really figuring out how to reverse engineer our DNA (coding) to manipulate our genes to live longer, to kill off diseases, to even alter our IQ. Once we can ingest nano robots to change our destiny then it will probably feel more and more like we are machines after all.
Arianna Schioldager is Create & Cultivate's editorial director. She's also a machine, in the best way possible.
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Food Intentions: How Sarah Michelle Gellar Went From Hwood to Foodie
The co-founders of Foodstirs are sharing the business of baking.
Food is one powerful force. It's tied to memory. It's hands-on. And it connects people. It's something 1/3 of the Foodstirs co-founders Galit Lebow knows well. "I remember the homemade cinnamon raisin kugel that grandmother would make for us on special holidays," she says. "I remember running into the house and we knew grandma was over. She passed away last year and it’s one of my goals to learn how to make it! I miss the smell."
The other 2/3 of the e-commerce baking company that delivers creative baking kits and mixing to your home are Sarah Michelle Gellar and Gia Russo.
Each woman brings something different to the table of the company that is "reinventing the baking category" and "intends to give consumers an opportunity to be creative and share their experience." We caught up with Foodstirs to talk all things baking and business in anticipation of #CreateCultivateATL where all three will be keynoting in conversation with Self magazine's entertainment director Rebecca Sinn.
Founders and CEOs often talk about the “problem” their company will solve. What “problem” is Foodstirs trying to solve?
Foodstirs is reinventing the baking category. We are offering a clean and green better tasting baking experience that is high quality, tastes amazing, and most importantly is accessible. There is nothing in the marketplace like us that exists right now. We see a huge opportunity to revolutionize the baking aisle and re-traditionalize home baking.
Moreover what is the ‘why’ of your brand?
Most of us are consumed by our digital devices, we're always on and always connected. Yet somehow because of this we often feel disconnected with our loved ones. We are so busy in our everyday lives that we are doing more but experiencing less. We wanted to create a product that gives you that time to spend with your family and friends - connecting, sharing and experiencing. We believe the act of preparing and enjoying food together has incredible power. Foodstirs allows us to connect effortlessly and create meaningful memories.
You were part of Mucker Lab, an accelerator based in Santa Monica. We’ve talked to female entrepreneurs before about the benefits of being in an accelerator. What was your experience?
We have had a great experience. We knew we wanted to launch an e-commerce site with a subscription component but we did not have a tech background. We decided to surround ourselves with e-commerce advisors and investors that could help. Our good friend of ours had been part of Mucker accelerator and recommended we take a meeting. We have a ton of respect for the founders of Mucker capital, Erik Ranalla & Will Hsu. They are smart investors who saw a unique opportunity that was a little out of their wheelhouse. They took a chance on 3 female entrepreneurs with an idea for a baking brand and we will be forever grateful for their early support. They have been super helpful to our business by offering resources, advice and mentorship. We have also met fellow start up founders in the program who are very collaborative. It’s a fun environment.
Why was it the right decision for Foodstirs?
We had big ideas and a big plan that involved an e-commerce subscription business that none of us had experience in. We believed that an accelerator would help guide us through the initial start up process and get us focused on the right things. We have been able to gain access to a network of amazing entrepreneurs and executives who we have built great relationships and have helped us execute more effectively.
"There is nothing in the marketplace like us that exists right now."
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Have you heard of the Rule of Three? It’s a concept in writing that says things that are presented in threes are more interesting, enjoyable, and memorable. Any thoughts on this as it pertains to having three founders?
We all have different strengths that compliment each other. Galit is the operator and visionary, Gia is the product innovator, and Sarah is our brand ambassador and creative officer. We share the same vision and passion. We sometimes agree to disagree but that's what makes it special. We respect each other. I have the best job in the world because we get to work with my close friends.
For female founders looking to raise capital, when you walk into a room of investors what are you thinking? How would you say your first meeting went compared to a later one?
Well first, we usually walk into a room of all male investors and we are 3 females selling a baking mix company. We knew it was going to be a challenge to sell them on this vision but luckily we have found amazing investors who believe in what we are doing and see the opportunity to disrupt a sleepy category. Sarah and I had our first investor meeting at a coffee house back in March and it was a disaster. We didn’t really know what to expect and probably weren’t as prepared as we should have been but it was a great lesson. We keep in contact with the investment fund and recently got a second chance to pitch them as we are currently in the process of raising another round. It was a much better presentation and we all laugh about it now.
With Sarah as the brand ambassador what challenges are you facing? People assume having a celebrity as the face of a company makes it easier, but in what ways is this not the case?
Having a celebrity as part of the start up comes with great advantages but also challenges. We have found that people sometimes don’t believe that Sarah is as involved in the day-to-day. She actually does come into the office everyday and even answers customer service calls. We are focused on producing the highest quality product and best experience. We take pride in what we have created and having an amazing partner who is also a celebrity allows us to amplify our message and get our story out there.
I’m pretty useless in the kitchen, but have a three-year-old and would love to bake with her. Why does Foodstirs make sense for me? Why does it make sense for her?
We created Foodstirs to make it simple and convenient for the modern parent to create a traditional home baking experience with their families and friends. We were inspired by our children and longing for a product that’s high quality made up of simple and delicious ingredients that allows us to spend quality time with family. Our mixes and baking kits are less than 6 easy steps - we call it quick scratch baking.
Among the three, who is the best chef? Who is the worst?
Gia is definitely the best chef, she grew up in an Italian household. She has also written three cookbooks! We go to her house when we want an amazing homemade meal.
What is a meaningful experience you each remember in the kitchen?
Galit: I have three sisters and both my pretend worked full time. We did not spend a lot of time in the kitchen, although we had dinner as a family every night. We had this amazing recipe for a sugar cookie with homemade frosting. Every Valentine’s Day we would make these cookies together - it was one of the few times we did not fight, we just had fun! We would frost, decorate and share them with the neighborhood. They were the best tasting cookies and more importantly, the inspiration for our amazing organic sugar cookie mix and frosting. Now I get to make it with my kids every weekend!
Why do you think there is such a tie between food and good memories?
Food just brings people together - it makes us happy. Everyone has a memory of favorite dish or recipe from when they were young. We hope to provide a product that gives you that opportunity to easily create your own food memories with your family and friends.
Why do each of you want to be a part of Create & Cultivate?
We believe in the power of collaboration and creativity. We believe that creativity leads to innovation. It’s important as women business leaders that we support each other and learn from each other. Our website has tons of recipe inspiration using our base mixes and we encourage our Foodstirs community to share their own. We love looking at the thousands of social posts of customers sharing their creations.
C&C Classifieds Nº9: Beat The June Gloom With A New Job
Put that resumé to work, work, work, work, work.
Each day, we see more and more of our readers asking for more job leads to get them in the right direction to the next step in their career. We've heard you loud and clear, which is why now we're doing our C&C Classifieds twice a month!
This month, we've got rad jobs from Mailchimp, Facebook, Airbnb, Revolve, Pandora, and many others for this round of C&C Classifieds. To get full access to this month's 100+ listings, enter your name and email below and check them out!
Kore Kitchen Founder Explains Why She'll Always Be a Small Business
More money, more problems.
Got an appetite for hearing from the leading boss women that are calling the shots in the culinary world? Get ready to grub hard on our new#CreateCultivate series: Counter Culture, where we'll be talking to prominent women in the food industry about good eats, food trends, and making it in the cutting edge cooking world.
Don't put a fork in it, because we're not close to done.
We’re making zero waste toothpaste in the kitchen of Meryl Pritchard of Kore Kitchen. She’s using an olive wood spoon made from branches; no trees were cut down in the name of the spoon. She uses aloe instead of Bandaids. Her water jug is filled with spring water a friend delivers. Even her TP is made with wheat straw and requires no deforestation.
“Why would we cut down trees so we can wipe our butts?” she asks me as she mixes the concoction of coconut oil, baking soda, turmeric, peppermint, and cinnamon. She scoops it into a glass jar for me to take home.
“The turmeric makes the toothbrush orange,” she tells me, “so don’t get weirded out.”
What’s weird is how little I know about recycling; a blue bin is hardly a perfect solution. “Less than 10 percent of plastic that gets thrown in blue bins is recycled,” she explains. The reasons for this are multifold: people don't sort, rinse, or really know what can and cannot be recycled.
[Unfun fact: In Los Angeles alone nearly 10 tons of plastic fragments-- think parts of plastic bags, straws, and soda bottles-- are carried into the Pacific Ocean, every day.]
Meryl hasn’t always been about that zero waste lifestyle. For a minute she was about that life. In her early twenties she was working for a well-known Hollywood celebrity stylist. “We’d spend days picking dresses, fitting these beautiful women, and then they’d get torn to pieces in the press.” It made her feel terrible about herself and her body. “At the end of the day,” she tells me, “I’d think, if people are saying this gorgeous woman looks terrible, how am I supposed to feel about myself?” It lead her down a dark road rife with body image issues: “I was trying every fad diet out there, not eating,” she says. “Feeling bad in your own skin is the single worst feeling.”
[Define it: Zero Waste is a philosophy that encourages the redesign of resource life cycles so that all products are reused. No trash is sent to landfills or incinerators.]
“Feeling bad in your own skin is the single worst feeling."
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“This is my trash from the past three months!” she exclaims. "I’ll keep it and I’ll analyze it. I like to keep it because then I can go through it and find a solution.We don’t have a relationship to trash. People just don’t know where it’s going-- someone picks it up, takes it away, so how are you supposed to care when you don’t see it?”
But then she came across a book, “The Kind Diet,” by Alicia Silverstone. Meryl says she had so many ah-ha moments while reading, from coming to understand aspects of the food industry to what she was putting in her body, she knew it was time for a change. She emailed “every single holistic nutritionist in LA who had a website and seemed legit,” and was surprised when they all responded nicely. “I was so used to dealing with people not getting back to me or being nice,” she says in reference to her styling career, “that the energy immediately felt different and promising.”
She began working with a holistic nutritionist who let her sit in on all client sessions. “That’s when I saw healing first hand. I watched as people would cancel surgeries doctors told them were 100% necessary, and they’d go on to live life healthy.” With a little experience and a lot of enthusiasm she went back to school at 23. What she says is a “great age to make a shift.”
She attended The Institute for Integrative Nutrition, which teaches over 100 different dietary theories. As she was learning them, she’d try them. “You are the best doctor you can have— you live in your body, you feed it, you feel what doesn’t work.” The hitch was that Meryl had no idea how to cook. “I would go on Google or talk to Siri and ask really basic things like, ‘Siri, how do I cook a chicken breast?’ But it taught me that I can do anything. If you want to, you can figure it out.”
Kore Kitchen evolved naturally from this mindset. Kore is a “curated and nutritionally designed, meal delivery service and cleanse offering based in Los Angeles.” The intention is to help clients adapt a healthier lifestyle through simple nutritional philosophies: eat whole, organic foods, that are local and sustainably sourced.
There's no packaging in her pantry. She fills reusable glass jars with foods from the bulk bins.
With these Kore values in mind she began cooking for friends and delivering meals. “It would take me forever.” she says. “What would take a chef 20 minutes would take me 3 hours, but with food you’re transferring energy into the meals.”
“I was planning the menu, doing the shopping, the cooking, the delivery, and right after I finished I’d get up and do it all over again.”
She had a few clients during this time, but it was when friends and clients Donovan and Libby Leitch recommended her to Gwyneth Paltrow, the business took an unexpected turn. “I delivered her meals and heard nothing for a few months,” she says. Until Goop’s food editor reached out in December 2014, saying they loved her recipes and would she contribute a few to the site. She shared some recipes for Goop’s 2015 Detox Guide and the email floodgates opened.
“It was just me with one pan, in this kitchen, and I had all these orders.” She hunkered down, found a chef, Anna Lagura, whom she met through a happenstance convo with her neighbors across the hall, and signed a lease for a commercial kitchen space. Anna and Meryl now work out of L.A. Prep.
Of Anna, Meryl says, “She’s the person I’m most inspired by. I can send her a photo of any dish and she can make it with our philosophy. And she knows all of the clients and their food preferences by name and memory.” The meals Kore offers are organic and made from local ingredients whenever possible. They use no processed foods, no additives, no antibiotics or hormones, no preservatives, and no refined cooking oils or refined sugars. They are 100% gluten-free and dairy-free.
The business has been running for about a year and a half, and Meryl acknowledges the difficulties of being a self-funded, small business, but insists that she prefers it this way. "No funding required us to be more creative with our marketing," she says, adding "and I think we have a stronger connection to our clients."
“It’s difficult, but it’s also really fun. Business is like life, there shouldn’t be an end goal— you should be learning and growing all the time.”
"Business is like life, there shouldn’t be an end goal— you should be learning and growing all the time.”
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Growth for Kore however, does not include meal delivery services outside of Los Angeles. It is important to Meryl that they stick to their values of staying local. “We’re not a corporation, we’re a small business.”
“I don’t want to grow outside of LA. Local is really important to me because of the carbon footprint. With other meal delivery programs, you have to wonder, why are you in California eating food from North Carolina?”
It’s also why they have partnered with LA Compost, a local compost with four hubs, one of which is five minus from the commercial kitchen space. “All of the food that you’re eating, the scraps are going directly to the compost. Not trucked out of the city and brought back to be sold as soil.” They also now have a plot at the Elysian Valley Community Garden where Meryl is trying out her green thumb.
“We’re not trying to feed everybody,” she says, “we’re trying to feed our community.”
Click through the below gallery to see more of Meryl's zero waste lifestyle and see our toothpaste!
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How This Female Inventor Is Turning Taboo Into Topical
TMI is dead. Miki Agrawal is bringing new meaning to the "share" economy.
Pizza, periods, and potties. That’s what we’re talking about with Miki Agrawal, serial social entrepreneur and champion of stuff we don’t want to talk about.
“Actually,” she says, “it’s pizza, periods, pee, and poop.”
Miki is referring to each of her businesses, founded in that order. The first is WILD, an alternative farm-to-table pizza concept opened in New York in 2005. The second is THINX, what the www has dubbed the period underwear changing the way we think and talk about periods (#periodpower). The third is Icon, a brand of panties for women who suffer from incontinence (happens to 1 in 3 women over their lifetimes). And the fourth is Tushy, a small, modern day bidet that attaches to your toilet, eliminating the need for TP.
For some it might be hard to understand the entrepreneurial jump from a good slice to the uterus (though, truth be bold, their shape is vaguely similar), but Miki's career trajectory is not as wild or disparate as first glances deceive. The through line for all of these companies: “Necessity is the mother of invention.”
AKA: She's solving problems with innovation.
Take THINX, the most dissected of her inventions. Buzzfeed editors have field tested it (with success). So have the gals at Nylon. With periods, Miki saw two problems. One: in the last 50 years there has been little to no innovation in the feminine hygiene category. Disposable pads were introduced to the market in 1888 and have been slowly improved upon since. A man invented the first tampon in 1931i. Certain birth control products promise your 'time of the month,' would only happen four times per year. In the '80s menstrual cups were introduced, but remain fringe. That's about it, despite the fact that almost every single woman on planet Earth gets her period. (We bleed for humanity people.) Two: Miki learned that 50% of Ugandan girls miss school when they're on their periods and that 100 million girls worldwide miss school when on their periods. She was so "mind-blown" that she went to Uganda to understand more. What she found was a domino effect detrimental to young woman and society: miss school, fall behind, drop out. It was a chain reaction unacceptable to Miki, so she, along with her twin sister, Radha, and friend Antonia Dunbar, decided to do something. Starting in 2011 THINX spent 3.5 years in R&D, where the trio worked to develop the tech for the underwear that would whisk blood into the fabric. The comfort level and practicality has been much discussed. Will it work? Public consensus is yes. Am I going to be running around in my own blood? No. Can I wear it all day, all day? Yes, though Miki suggests wearing a tampon on your heaviest days, as she does.
To address the second issue, THINX partnered with AFRIPads, a Uganda-based LTD. producing reusable pad solutions to women and girls, who would otherwise use cut up old mattress pads, banana leaves, newspapers, or simply stay home when menstruating. THINX is almost two.
Across the board, Miki is “looking at things that are uncomfortable to talk about— food, bodily fluid, bodily issues. People are very sensitive about food, their diets, and if they want to change their habits," she says. It's more obvious that people don't like to talk about bodily functions. According to Miki WILD was "the first restaurant to truly offer gluten-free pizza that was delicious."
"No one was talking about farm-to-table, gluten-free pizza in 2005," she says. "In the other categories it’s about using technological innovation to get people talking. To get people asking, ‘Why have I been doing it this one way this whole time?’‘Why have I just been coping?”
Despite the fact that these body convos typically happen behind closed doors, in doctors' offices, or wind up in the deleted category of our search history, Miki is getting people talking and believes TMI is dated. "There's almost nothing" she says, that she won't talk about. (Case in point: we chatted about Miki and longterm boyfriend using the rhythm method as birth control.)
But this isn't simply about making people uncomfortable, she has a head for business, and has isolated three prongs that are important to her across all of her brands. "You have to take things that are taboo and use innovation," she says. That's number one. But in order to get people talking you also need "considered design and accessible, relatable communication capable of changing the conversation." She believes that change will come, if you do all of the above “incredibly well and across every touch point of the brand: the website, the packaging, the product, the Facebook advertisements, the email, and the marketing."
"You have to take things that are taboo and use innovation."
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Beyond innovation, it has to look good. "Everything needs to be considered aesthetically," she says. So THINX created visually enticing and appealing ads, the first of which were rejected by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the corporation that oversees the New York City public transit system. Outfront Media, the company that manages much of the MTA's advertising argued that the ads were too suggestive and sexual.
Me THINX she's onto something.
Part of what MTA was so offended by was the word "period," asking Miki and her director of marketing, Veronica del Rosario, “What if a 9-year-old boy sees these ads?"
"As if that was a rebuttal,’” she says. “And we said, ‘Wouldn’t that be great if he did. Wouldn't that be great!?”
Instead of getting their period panties in a bunch, THINX stuck to its guns, challenging the idea and double standard that the ads were sexual, citing the approval of breast augmentation and lingerie ads. The above grapefruit design ran-- as originally submitted -- at the Bedford L Subway stop. Other ads ran on turnstiles and in Grand Central.
“People don’t want to talk about the things that actually happen to human beings. Even the thing that creates human life, that perpetuates humanity. Most people, including women, have never even felt their own cervix. Even as they’re giving birth, they have no idea how a cervix dilates."
She knows that these are uncomfortable conversations for most people, but also thinks that the less weird you make it, the better. “If we present the facts, for example," she says, in reference to Tushy, "that there are 26 million combined cases of hemorrhoids, UTIs, and yeast infections, per year in American alone, in a way that’s fun and relatable, then people will remember that, and ask, ‘Why the fuck am I using toilet paper?’” Same goes for periods. She’s not talking about the female ‘time of the month’ in hushed tones, she's not hiding tampons in her back pocket; her convo surrounding periods is like a firm handshake. “Hey,” she says authoritatively, “let’s talk about my period. You know, that thing that made you? You’re welcome.” Approaching these topics with confidence and without humiliation are a major keys in shifting the shame narrative around our bodies.
"Let’s talk about my period. You know, that thing that made you? You’re welcome.”
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Which is why beyond looking good, it has to sound good.
For Miki, one of the most important parts of her brands is presenting information in ways that people can digest. Or “like you’re texting your best girlfriend.” If you look at the websites for THINX or Tushy the language is what she calls “of the times.” These are not clinical and uncomfortable conversations about hemorrhoids. When you visit tushy.me the pop-out asks, “If a bird pooped on you, would you wipe or wash? So why is your butt any different?” The language challenges you, but in a friendly way.
"These are topics that could be talked about academically, medically, or clinically, but if all of the sudden it’s relatable, it’s not scary, it’s not a big change.” It also gives permission to everyone to talk about these subjects openly.
That’s not to say she hasn’t experienced WTF moments in investor and pitch meetings. “People have said, ‘Good luck getting people to use bidets. Good. Luck. No one is going to change. People also said, ‘No one is going to bleed in their underwear, that’s gross.”
But that hasn’t deterred her derriere; pushback is part of every entrepreneur's story. “Ye of little faith,” she laughs, referring to the doubters. “It just takes a few early believers and adopters to shout from the rooftops that they love it. Then you have a few great articles written, and it slowly builds from there.”
There are also environmental considerations with her products. For instance, 20 billion tampons and pads end up in landfills in the U.S. per year. She shares that we “cut down 50 million trees per year for American asses alone.”
“Do you know how many gallons of water it takes to make one single roll of toilet paper?” she asks. “37 gallons of water, isn’t that crazy?” she says, knowing yes, that is 100% crazy. For the people who argue that Tushy is also using water, she backfires. “Yes, you’re using a pint of water. Net per week you’re saving about 53 gallons of water.”
The pricing and product is accessible, easy to use, install, and/or wear. “It’s easy to change your habits. I’m giving you the easiest door to enter.”
All of the businesses also have corporate giving models. When you purchase Icon, it helps fund treatment and recovery for women with fistulas. THINX will continue to fund AFRIpad, but Miki says they have outgrown that partnership. What’s next and what she is incredibly excited about is the THINX Global Girls Club, a foundation currently in the 501c application process. “One of the things we kept hearing,” she says, “is that girls are unsafe when they hit puberty, unsafe walking to school, unsafe because they’re at risk for getting raped and having babies because they now have their periods.”
What Miki and her team intend is to “create safe spaces around the world for girls to learn about their bodies, get menstrual products at a subsidized cost, learn about self defense, personal finance, and entrepreneurship.” The pilot school will open in Tanzania, with branches in Uganda, India, and Nepal. It's taking social corporate giving to the next level.
As for any other bodily functions she's looking to take on, she claims, “No, I’m done. This is it.”
We hear her, but we’re not so convinced. Social innovation is in her blood.
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What Is Transgender Model Gigi Gorgeous' Most Vulnerable Career Move Yet?
We chat self love and big dreams.
Being inspired keeps up alive. And YouTube star Gigi Gorgeous, currently clocking 2.2 million followers on the video platform and 2 million on Insta, is nothing short of inspiring. Born Gregory Lazzarato, the middle of three brothers, Gigi began sharing YouTube videos from her bedroom in Toronto in 2008. They were confessionals, makeup tutorials, and normal goofy videos with high school friends. At the time Gigi identified as a gay male, receiving support from both her parents. Her brothers appeared in videos alongside her as well.
For a 14-year-old, Catholic school kid in Toronto, she says YouTube was “an amazing outlet,” and like we hear from so many bloggers, it was a creative space where she nestled into an online community.
“I found so many people online through my comment section who were like me, and I think that’s what is so amazing about YouTube. You can type in any topic and find it— it makes you feel like you’re not alone.”
The first YouTuber Gigi watched online was Michelle Phan, "pre-empire," when she doing makeup tutorials. “That’s what got me started, I was a huge fan of her, I started making videos and grew a community from there.”
It was after losing her mother to cancer that Gigi posted a video officially identifying as transgender. That was December 2013. She had spent the year prior not posting anything too personal to the channel. It was a move she recognized as not “fair to her fans,” later citing one of the reasons as wanting to “keep being the person that they loved.” In perfect makeup and fuzzy blue sweater she told her audience, “I’ve done some soul searching… I’m not the same person I was when I started my YouTube channel. It’s still my heart, it’s still my body, it’s still my mind, I’m just choosing to be identified as a different gender.”
It was an exercise in self love that she calls “successful and freeing.”
“Obviously not everyone has had as dramatic an experience as transitioning to another gender, but everyone is under pressure, everyone doubts themselves.”
"Everyone is under pressure, everyone doubts themselves." #selflove
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Looking back at her 14-year-old self she says, “I was so out there and unapologetic. I was in my own world, which I kind of still am. I was having fun.”
Fun is a lot of what Gigi has online, from answering fan questions to blindfold taste tests with Kylie Jenner, but she draws a fairly definitive line between her online personality and off. She’s always honest and forthcoming, but also acknowledges she hasn’t always shown an emotional side. For some it might be hard to imagine that Gigi, who has shared endless personal stories and laughs with her viewers, could share more. However this fall, she is, with a forthcoming documentary that follows her transition.
Gigi says she's "over the moon" about the release while also recognizing, "It's the most vulnerable thing I’ve ever done. It wasn’t just months. It’s years of footage and I’m sharing things that are so personal.”
The documentary will show an “in depth” view of her transition, “sadness, happy parts— there are tears," she says. "I go into aspects of my life that I’ve never touched on on my YouTube channel: family, relationships, really going in depth with my transition, whatever you haven’t seen on my YouTube channel, you’ll see in the documentary.”
It was a move she was hesitant to make and admits to being nervous about the camera crew following her around. “I do like to keep myself somewhat private, and online, making videos from my bedroom I have control over that. It was nerve-wracking but it was freeing,” she says.
“I think a lot of people watch my channel and think that everything is perfect, but the documentary shows that I am just like everybody else and I’ve gone through a really hard time.”
Still a hard time hasn’t slowed her down. She’s spent almost a decade in front of the camera. She edits all her own videos. She's taken acting classes and made a few moves in the world of cinema. As to who she wants to work with? "Any major star would be amazing," she says. "I really love acting." But she's also broken barriers, working with major brands like Pantene and Crest- what she calls “pinch me moments.” "When I signed the deal for the Crest campaign for 3D White, I bawled my eyes out to my dad, but it shows what you put in, is what you get out.” She’d love to work with MAC cosmetics, she says “for the same reason I use the products every day. I’m never going to work with someone that doesn’t align with me. It was the first makeup I ever bought as a young teenager, and that was a huge moment. I love their brand through and through.”
At the end of the day Gigi’s dreams “are to be happy,” adding, “I think everyone can relate to that.” As a role model for the LGBTQ community and LGBTQ youth, Gigi also serves as a role model to anyone who has ever felt alone, confused— human, really. Again, thinking back on her younger self she says, “I would tell myself to be strong. You’re going to get shutdown and feel alone and depressed, but I would also applaud myself.”
“If you’re feeling alone or not accepted, turn to YouTube, find a group of people or a community online, or in real life if you can, where people love and accept you for you," she says. "No one is alone. I definitely felt alone, but love yourself and find people around that support you.”
"No one is alone. I definitely felt alone, but love yourself and find people around that support you.”
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Standing ovation is more like it.
Be sure to catch Gigi on panel when she joins us for #CreateCultivateATL and follow her on IG, Twitter, and YouTube.
Arianna Schioldager is Create & Cultivate's editorial director. Follow her @ariannawrotethis.
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Exposing Engagement: Why You Need This Instagram Tool
Dig deep and analyze what matters.
Around 2.5 billion photos and videos are liked on Instagram every day. It is the ruling King, Queen, and Court Jester of social media. And if you have a public Instagram, you have a brand-- whether you are conscious of this or not. Your brand is who you are to the world. Now whether you choose to market this-- AKA tell people what you do, is a personal choice. However if you want to be successful on Instagram you have to understand your engagement.
It is the best way to build awareness, drive traffic to your blog, brand, or brick-and-mortar, and ultimately, grow your business. Figuring out your engagement is what separates successful grammers from the mediocre, and there's a new tool simplifying the process.
Peoplemap is an Instagram marketing tool that features: profile analysis, list building, campaign tracking, and statistics. If you are an individual with multiple accounts you can manage all accounts on a single platform; if you are a brand or a company, your entire team can access the account and information.
You can search groups, communities within a specific geographical region, and it exposes engagement numbers that are important to brands and individuals.
WHY IS THIS USEFUL TO BRANDS?
One: list building. Peoplemap has created a way to analyze Instagram marketing efforts and strategically build a targeted community. They make it easier to sort, filter, and analyze any user so you can create "the most comprehensive and strategic Instagram rolodex for your company".
Now let's chat about exposing engagement. Say you're building a list of beauty influencers, but you want to filter those with the highest engagement, you can do that. If you want to only hire influencers who have 2% engagement and up, you can do that. There is also an option to "analyze" a profile. If you click "analyze," in about an hour Peoplemap will send you a report that highlights who recently, liked, commented, or who was tagged. It's a way for brands (as well as individuals) to really understand the audience.
These are tools to really help brands understand the who, what, and why of the influencers they're hiring.
WHY IS THIS USEFUL TO INDIVIDUALS?
As with brands, understanding what performs well and what doesn't is key to growing and engaging your followers. When you analyze the posts that are not performing well vs. those that are, it will help you create a more robust, comprehensive strategy. The higher your engagement, the more money you'll make from brands who are looking for influencers.
"Understanding what performs well and what doesn't is key to growing and engaging your followers."
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It also helps you easily compare your engagement to others. While they say comparison is the thief of joy, in this instance it could also be a thief... of dollars. When you understand your engagement in comparison to others who are working in similar categories, you might be able to charge more. Let's say you have 200k followers less than an Insta-famous fashion blogger, but they have a .89% engagement and you're clocking in at 5%. You may have fewer followers, but you can make the case to a brand that the ROI is better with you.
You can also build a "competition" list in Peoplemap and compare your engagement to others. If your engagement is lower, use this as a means to analyze your content vs. someone who has high engagement and change your strategy.
When it comes to IG, knowledge and understanding is power. Peoplemap is putting the knowledge in your hands. It's up to you to understand your engagement, the numbers, and ultimately, your business.
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What a Female POTUS Win Really Means to Women
Hear the unedited voices of fellow Americans watching history in the making.
On Tuesday, June 8th when Hillary Clinton took the podium at Brooklyn Navy Shipyard she told the raptured crowd, “We’ve reached a milestone in our history.” Clinton was, of course, referring to securing the nomination as the first female nominated by a major party for the presidency. It was a speech that one Tweeter described as, “fiercely fuck you feminist.” Other women were quick to share about the “tears in their eyes.”
This election cycle it is impossible to ignore the gender politics, or what Trump calls the “woman card,” arguing that Clinton would receive less than 5 percent of the votes if she “were a man.” But what would a win really mean, both symbolically and otherwise? And does the win mean something different to different generations of women?
Hillary is divisive. She is currently under FBI investigation. Her campaign has accepted contributions from NRA lobbyists and Wall Street. There are many who believe all of her decisions and flip-flopping on issues are simply manipulations to achieve political gain. Opponents call her crooked, corrupt, and out for herself. Then there are others who believe her track record of defending women’s health and reproductive rights, ensuring equal pay, and fighting for paid family leave and affordable child care is progressive, unwavering, and tireless. During her time as a Senator she championed gender equality legislation, including introducing the Paycheck Fairness Act, designed to give women the tools they need to fight workplace discrimination. More are split on what one of her aides referred to as a "muscular brand of American foreign policy." Her activist approach backed Gen. Stanley McChrystal to send 40,000 more troops to Afghanistan. She supported the Pentagon’s plan to leave behind residual force of 10,000 to 20,000 troops in Iraq. She pressed for the United States to funnel arms to the rebels in Syria’s civil war. Nor does she shy from military entanglements but rather has an “appetite for military engagement abroad.” It’s what many liberals cite as their main source of distrust-- her “textbook view of American exceptionalism.”
For every #ImWithHer, there is an equally loud and resounding #NeverHillary.
Over the next few months as we wind closer to Election Day 2016, we will be sharing the thoughts and hopes from women of various generations and backgrounds on what a Hillary win-- and more generally, a female POTUS- means to them.
Name: Antoinette Nolan
Born: Seattle, WA
Year: 1947
I was born right after World War II so am among the first of the baby-boom generation. My parents always expected me to excel and go to college but there their expectations diverged dramatically. My dear, wonderful dad told me to have a good time and get a good education but not to worry about grades because I would find a husband.
Fortunately, he didn't say that was the only reason I was going to college. My much-more-forward-thinking dear, wonderful mother told me to work hard and graduate with the ability to support myself. She wanted me to be a doctor or lawyer. I didn't do exactly what either one wanted or expected. I did get married. I raised three daughters. And almost my entire adult life, I have held jobs that I thoroughly enjoyed and would have allowed me to support myself, but I never felt the need to get a professional label. In their own way, both of my parents positioned me to embrace the women's movement whole-heartedly. I was never told that a woman's abilities were limited or that a woman could not think for herself or that a woman was a second-class citizen. My parents' gift to me was belief in myself as a whole person with the freedom and skills to create a life of my own choosing.
"I was never told that a woman's abilities were limited or that a woman could not think for herself."
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I am thrilled with the thought that we might have a woman president. To me, this has always been in the same not-in-my-lifetime category of miracles as the Catholic Church accepting birth control or women priests. I wish I could say I think the election of a woman will unite the country or stop back-biting and hate mongering or foster cooperation or bring progress on the issues facing our county and the world. Hillary Clinton is brilliant, pragmatic, skillful, authoritative and uniquely positioned to be an outstanding President so I hope she can be a catalyst for change and progress. She's decisive and confident and isn't afraid of being tough, so I wouldn't worry about her getting pushed around by aggressive behavior of other leaders. I think her own heartbreaks give her empathy with the suffering of others. She's a great model for women but all those qualities make people hate her. I think if we elect a woman President, the feeling of exhilaration for women will be like when we got the right to vote. Finally women will have living proof that we can achieve anything. It's ironic that it's taken almost 100 years after women got the vote for us to finally have a chance to vote for a woman. The misogyny in this country is discouraging and frightening. There's already "news" that Hillary was somehow connected to the Orlando murderer.
My fear is that all the people who hate her will try to stop everything she does and it will be even worse than with Obama. I can't imagine people saying the same things about a man as they say about Hillary or a man being bullied and excoriated as Hillary has been. Not even Trump has been treated so badly. Hillary is a target for everyone's rage, dissatisfaction, and despair. Her decisions on foreign or domestic policy are likely to be wildly criticized simply because she's a woman. I'm fortunate that the men I work with want to work with competent people, be they women or men. That's not the case for many, many women in either their work or private lives.
I hope Hillary's domestic policy will include equal pay for the same job, living wages, and child care, issues that disproportionately affect women. Men will really hate her for it and she will be accused of trying to ruin families, take jobs away from men, bring wages down overall, etc. It might make things worse for women. I hope in foreign policy she will be wise. Obama has been careful and taken calculated risks, plus he's acknowledged US wrong-doing. That's angered people who believe one should never apologize. Hillary is unlikely to apologize and be more hawkish so she should proceed more deliberately. Sadly, the world is more dangerous than it was at least during Obama's first term. She would probably do well to schmooze with foreign leaders more than he did. Thoughtful people will appreciate a wise leader.
Internationally, I hope Hillary will work for peace through diplomacy and non-violence, but most Americans don't believe in a Gandhiesque approach. Domestically, I hope she will be able to build consensus and tackle substantive issues, focus on justice for Americans of all colors, creeds, classes and abilities, and be the point person for women and men to embrace our interconnected world.
"I hope she will be the point person for women and men to embrace our interconnected world."
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I hope Hillary Clinton's legacy will be belief in ourselves as a united nation made stronger through collaboration and for women in particular, recognition and acceptance that each of us is a whole being worthy of the freedom to make her own choices and reach for her own stars.
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Find Out Whitney Port's Key To Success
She launched Whitney Eve 7 years ago. Now Whitney Port is embracing change and restructuring her entire brand.
Whitney Port has come a long way since her days on The Hills. At 21, she was interning with Teen Vogue and Kelly Cutrone’s People’s Revolution. At 24, she took the leap to becoming her own boss and launched her own fashion line Whitney Eve, which was a Create & Cultivate Chicago darling last summer.
Now, at 31 she’s taking everything she’s learned as a businesswoman throughout the years and is restructuring her brand, with plans to make it even bigger and better than before.
We chatted with Whitney as she gets ready for her third Create & Cultivate appearance this fall in Atlanta. She told us that in the midst of changing your brand, you have to embrace change -- even if you think you might fail. It's all part of the process in becoming a better version of yourself.
Make sure to catch Whitney on panel this fall and grab your tickets for Create & Cultivate Atlanta here now!
What is the biggest lesson that you've learned as a young entrepreneur?
The biggest lesson I have learned, though extremely cliche, is that when one door closes, another really opens! It is easy to get all bent out of shape as a young entrepreneur because so many of the trials and tribulations we deal with are the first we have ever had to deal with, and thus we have no coping mechanisms. It is important that we take deep breaths and allow initial shock and horror to pass before we get all worked up when we're hit with hardships.
What is a common misconception that people have about you as an entrepreneur? What do you do to break away from those notions?
I think people have thought that since being on The Hills I have just put my name on things and simply been a face for my businesses when actually I have micromanaged everything. I'd love people to know that I actually grew up in the fashion business and have been behind every business decision that has been made for me! I do that by continuing to take an active role in my businesses and always making personal connections. Nothing gets by me these days.
"I continue to take an active role in my businesses and always make personal connections. Nothing gets by me these days."
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What would you say to the 21 year old Whitney just getting started at Teen Vogue?
I would tell myself to really nurture my relationships there and absorb all the lessons all the amazing people that worked there had to offer. In your early 20’s, you sort of think you know everything or you are too busy to make connections. I should have taken time out of filming to form relationships with the likes of Lisa Love and Amy Astley who could have been amazing mentors for me at the time and even now.
"Nurture your relationships and absorb all the lessons all the amazing people you work with have to offer."
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What kind of boss would you describe yourself?
In three words, I would describe myself as decisive, pragmatic, and motivational.
Overall, I think I am a pretty cool boss! I want to drive those working alongside of me to reach their fullest potential and motivate without feeling like I am their superior.
You are currently going through some brand restructuring - what are some of the keys that you are holding on to make sure it's the smoothest transition?
I make sure that every collaboration and partnership makes sense for my brand. That I am working alongside good and like-minded people and that I am really taking the time to think about things without making rash decisions.
One of the pieces of advice we like to follow is recognizing your fears and leaning into them instead of running away - what are one of your biggest fears that you've had to lean into no matter how scary they were?
My biggest fear in work was that my clothing line would fail and people would then look at me as a failure. But I have learned that nothing is a total fail, or fail at all for that matter, that change is a great, great thing and we truly need to learn from these changes and use them to become better versions of ourselves.
"I have learned that nothing is a total fail, or fail at all for that matter, & that change is a great."
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What is next in the pipeline for your brand?
I am working on multiple collaborations that you will start to see out there in the fall! One of which is an activewear collection! I am also continuing to better myself as a writer and content producer on WhitneyPort.com
Favorite hashtag?
#cleanskinisin or #nofilter!
How Virtue-Based Messaging Is Setting This Company Apart
A desire to be good, might be good for business too.
Credit: Manda Laine Photography
Karolyn Stayer worked for beauty brand philosophy for over 10 years. During that time, as a working mom handling the complicated balance of kids and career, she knew that bath time was special. "When I was working full-time crazy hours at philosophy, the time I arrived home was usually about the time the kiddos were headed to the bath. Bath time became our connection point each night," she says.
Now that her kids are 10 and 7, she says they still prefer a "nice warm bubbly bath over a shower," and that she still sits on the side of the tub, talking to them about their day, asking "What was a rose, what was a thorn?" She says it's also the time they chat about the values printed on the side of be good bottles.
be good is Karolyn's first entrepreneurial venture, started in 2014. It is "a socially conscious, next generation for this generation, personal care company." Born from Karolyn's desire to create something of her own as well as "the need to create clean, safe, virtue-based products," the company focusses on messaging like "be good," "be honest," and "be polite."
We talked with the entrepreneur about first ventures, hearing more "no" than "yes," and why be good's virtue-based messaging is its point of differentiation.
You did marketing and development for "one of the most beloved brands in cosmetics" for 10+ years, and were then inspired to create be good based on your experience. What would you say was the trigger that made you go the entrepreneurial route?
My desire to express my own creative ideas coupled with my desire for more flexibility in my schedule that allowed me to be there for my children was a huge motivation for me. Philosophy was created and built by one of the smartest, most amazing women I know who is very much a mentor to me. I loved the brand and culture she created. She inspired me. I figured if she could do, I could do it, and she has always been so supportive of me and be good. I think I’ve always had the desire to create something on my own. My dad and brothers have their own business and I think it’s in the blood. Ultimately I’d love to see be good grow into a brand that gives back in meaningful ways and fosters a corporate environment for women where they can thrive professionally while balancing home life. I believe it is possible!!
How did you go from idea to product? How involved were you in the testing phase?
Once you’ve got the idea, the first piece of advice I received was to protect it. I had the name and the idea for years before I was ever in a situation where I could actually move into development. There was a lot of sketching on pads of paper, coming up with names, color palette, product assortment. I did a lot of consumer research with my mommy friends to get an idea of what they felt was missing and what they wanted from children’s products. Once I knew what I wanted, I began creating a product brief that captured what I wanted the formulas to look, feel, and smell like. I knew I wanted these formulas to be as clean and safe as possible without sacrificing product performance. Once that brief was submitted, there is a lot of back and forth between me, the chemist, as well as a group of mom and child testers to continue to tweak and adjust until we got it to the perfect place.
"I wanted these formulas to be as clean and safe as possible without sacrificing product performance."
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Is be good your first entrepreneurial venture, or have you given entrepreneurship a try before? What other entrepreneurial ideas did you have in mind?
Be good is my first entrepreneurial venture. However, I do have my own marketing consulting company as well. For now, be good occupies the bulk of my brain power, but I’m always looking for white space in the market and where there might be real needs not being met by the consumer. I love ideas!!!
Describe being a "mom-preneur" in three words:
Challenging. Satisfying. Motivating.
You have a solid foundation in the beauty biz, but when you strike out on your own there are always new challenges and surprises. What are some of the things that you had to learn?
I’ve learned to be much more thick-skinned, extremely determined, and open minded. So far with be good, I’ve received a lot more "no's" and very few "yes’s." I thought I knew exactly where these products would go. I’ve been wrong — a lot of the time. You just can’t give up and you have to believe. We still have such a long way to go. It’s been a big lesson in patience, my expectation on how long it would take for things to happen was WAY off. I now know timing is everything and be good will have its day in the sun right when it's supposed to happen.
Don't give up: "I thought I knew exactly where these products would go. I’ve been wrong-- a lot."
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What would you say other moms who are looking to take the entrepreneurial route?
I say you have to go for it. Even though getting be good off the ground has been much more difficult than I expected, I know I would have lived in regret had I not decided to act on my dream. If it fails, so be it. I’m OK with failure - as long as I can say that I gave it my very best shot. I just don’t think I could have lived with myself if I never gave the idea a chance.
Where do you see be good in 5 years?
I’d love to see be good with an expanded personal care offering that includes tween skincare. I see be good doing good by giving back to the world in meaningful ways that help children. I’d also love to see the idea expand into other categories outside personal care.
Learning from the mistakes of your competitors is important. What would you say that you do better than your competitors?
I think our packaging is what truly sets us apart. It is sweet and charming and appeals to mom’s sense of style and children’s sense of discovery. The virtue-based messaging is so relevant right now. We are trying to teach our kids about good choices and about putting kindness and love in this world. Goodness know the world needs more good now more than ever. If I can champion that movement with fantastic products that are safe for our children and that bring happiness to our homes, I would be one satisfied mama!
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A Double Take With The Beckerman Twins
Although their style may stray away from being serious, these girls mean business.
Twins: they share the same birthday, the same room growing up, and sometimes, they even share the same clothes. For Cailli and Sam Beckerman, it’s all that and more.
As OG bloggers since 2009, the Beckerman twins have shared their eccentric style with the world via Beckerman Blog. And although their style may stray away from being serious, these girls mean business in the world of fashion, online and offline.
We spoke to the stylish and eccentric twins from the 6ix on their move from designers to bloggers, splitting the finances of their blog, sibling rivalry, and how they make blogging look so easy. (Spoiler alert: it’s not.)
Also, make sure to catch them on panel and as mentors this fall at #CreateCultivateATL. Grab your tickets now!
You’re designers turned bloggers. Both are tough businesses, capital T. Why did you decide to cross-over?
We were always photographing our own look books and making our own video's for our clothing line. We also kept fashion scrapbooks, pictures of our fittings and fashion shows, and journaled everything! So blogging was really the next step for us. It was just putting it all on an online platform so everyone could see!
Any plans to go back to the design world?
Never say never! We both have our BFA’s, but really enjoy blogging!
What’s another area you’d like to expand into?
We are writing and illustrating a children's book!
If you went your separate ways, what would that look like?
That's a cute question, and one that is very hard to say! Because we were wombmates, we enjoy hanging out and working together. However, we both have our separate things and hobbies we like to do.
For college kids looking for internships— you both landed some pretty stellar gigs, with Bottega Veneta and Marc by Marc Jacobs. How do you stand out as in intern candidate? What did you do to land the jobs?
We both cold called them and gave them our resumes! It was a lucky situation, but when Cailli interned for Oscar de la Renta, it was through F.I.T (Fashion Institute of Technology) that she did for credits for a class.
How do you keep your blog life and your real life separate?
We keep our boyfriends and dating life not on social media. It makes it easier to have something personal. That's not to say, it's always going to be like that, but it makes it easier to have a relationship.
Since you have a blog together, how does it work from a creative perspective? Who vetoes what?
We both are always 1000% in to what we do and talk a lot about our opportunities together.
What was the first big fashion invite where you screamed— internally or externally— with excitement?
When we got invited to Dubai with Chanel to see their resort show! It was a trip of a lifetime!
You’ve been blogging since ’09. What some changes in the blogging world that took a minute to get used to?
It really depends on what apps are being created and how social media keeps changing! Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter and Snapchat changed everything when they came out. So always being in the know of the new apps!
Where do you see the fashion blogger world heading?
It's really an exciting time for bloggers and influencers! The possibilities are endless!
In defense influencers, what do you have to say people who think you don’t work hard?
The only way people really know how hard a blog is to keep and maintain is when they start one themselves. It's a real compliment when people think we don't work hard because it means we make it seem effortless. It is a lot of fun!
Who is someone you’d kill (with kindness obviously) to work with?
We are working with our most favorite people and friends already! Wait... does Ryan Reynolds count?
Sibling rivalry, ever? Or nah?
Naaaaaaaah! It's too much energy to fight!
Favorite social platforms?
Instagram, Snapchat and Pinterest
What Do Millennials Really Want From Work
Hint: it's not ping pong tables
Credit: Laura Dee Photography
Everyone knows some lucky Millennial working at a Bay Area tech company where free food, massages, and dry cleaning are industry standard perks. Due to some major workplace jealousy, every Millennial is guilty of day dreaming about working somewhere where sneaking off to find a nap pod is encouraged. But despite what employers may think, these untraditional perks are not what most Millennials are looking for in a place of employment. In 2015 Millennials surpassed Baby Boomers as the majority of the U.S. workforce at 53.5% and as such it is time to take what they want at work seriously. And their needs are much more serious than one might think.
FLEXIBILITY
Millennials are starting to devote more time and money than ever on experiences. More than 3 in 4 Millennials (78%) would choose to spend money on a desirable experience or event over buying something desirable. Millennials’ desire for more flexibility with their work hours goes hand in hand with this spending trend. As it turns out, Millennials are not happy working your average 9 to 5 job. 81% would appreciate being able to make their own hours at work, 77% believe that flexible work hours would make them more productive at work overall and 43% would switch jobs if given greater flexibility in work hours elsewhere. The freedom to design their own work hours is so valuable to workers of any age that 2 out of 5 are even willing to forfeit a portion of their salary if it meant increasing their position’s flexibility. If Millennials were able to introduce more flexibility into their current posts, 64% would favor sometimes working from home and 66% would appreciate an adjustment in their hours.
MAKING A DIFFERENCE
Despite having a reputation for being self-centered, 84% of Millennials say that helping to make a positive difference in the world is more important to them than professional recognition. To feel fulfilled at work, Millennials need to feel as if their work matters. 60% of Millennials cite “a sense of purpose” as part of the reason they work for their current employer. Watch out Baby Boomers, Millennials were found to care much more about making a difference through their work than other generations. When surveyed 35% of Millennials found it important to have a job with a positive social impact, compared with just 19% of employed Americans overall.
"60% of Millennials cite a 'sense of purpose' as a reason they work for their current employer."
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TRADITIONAL VALUES
While ping pong tables, bringing your dog to work and riding around the office on scooters are all fun perks, what Millennials are actually looking for at work is not that different than previous generations of workers. Essentially employees of each recent generation share the same reason for changing jobs: more money and a more creative workplace. This sentiment was expressed by 42% of Millennials, 42% of Baby Boomers and 47% of Generation Xers. When gauging what makes an employer attractive, Millennials placed career advancement opportunities at the top of their list followed by competitive wages/other financial incentives and then excellent training/development programs.
CREATIVITY
Creativity is key for Millennials, with 31% placing value on working with creative people. Millennials are not the only generation craving more creativity at work, 36% of employed U.S. adults report that they want to leave their current job to pursue a career that allows them to be more creative. The American workforce values creativity so much that almost 41 million employed U.S. adults, are willing to take a pay cut for a job that allowed them to be more creative. Allowing Millennials to think outside the box is key to retaining Millennial talent. If they don’t, employers risk losing employees to the more creative and less restrictive path of being an entrepreneur. 67% of Millennial employees surveyed said they would leave their traditional jobs for a more creative self-employed track if they believed they could pay their bills by working for themselves.
Written by: Jacqueline DeMarco is a freelance writer with experience in editorial and news writing.
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Everything You Need to Know About Instagram Business Tools
Launching this week.
Instagram is arguably the best social platform to raise awareness for your business. With over 400 million users it remains a unique way to visually tell your brand's story and to capitalize on mobile domination.
It makes sense that the social sharing platform would develop Instagram Business Tools.
Armed with insights and hundreds of interviews with business owners, Instagram developed new features. “With so many companies using Instagram, and many people on the platform interacting with them, there was a desire from our business community to do more. So we listened,” they said via their blog. The company said that three needs became clear: businesses want the ability to stand out, get insights, and find new customers.
Here’s how they are addressing those concerns, as well as the pros and the cons.
STAND OUT
For companies that want to be recognized as businesses on Instagram, the platform is now offering a free “Business Profile” feature. “With a business profile, businesses can choose how they want their customers to get in touch with them: call, text or email with a tap of the contact button as well as get directions. Business profiles also unlock access to insights and the ability to promote.”
PRO: It’s free to change your profile from personal to business and changing your profile will give you access to other bonuses listed below.
CON: Unlock is a key word above. Instagram is essentially forcing your hand in labeling yourself as a business in order to get those analytics. Who isn’t going to want those analytics? Sure you could go to apps like Iconosquare or Plano.ly, but those aren’t free. The question is: is $X/month worth not being labeled as a business? If you have more of a brand than a business, you might be better off not labeling yourself as such. (I.e. if you're a blogger with a larger following.) Followers don’t want to be sold to.
GAIN INSIGHTS
“Insights on Instagram give businesses actionable information about who their followers are and which posts resonate better than others—all from within the mobile app. By learning more about the behavior and demographics of your audience, you can create more relevant and timely content.”
PRO: Pretty much everything listed above. Creating relevant and timely content will help you organically grow your following and create deeper engagement with your followers. Businesses want simple ways to get insight and refine their marketing strategies. Instagram is offering a solution that doesn’t require a third out-of-app step.
CON: As stated above, you only get insights if you’re listing your profile as a business. There are no cons however about understanding your analytics. You don't want to turn a blind eye to what's performing well and what's not.
PROMOTE YOUR CONTENT
Much in the same way Facebook does, Instagram is offering a way to promote content. You pick a post you’ve already shared, add a button “encouraging people to take action,” and then select a target audience. You can also opt to have Instagram select a target audience for you. That post is promoted for the length of time desired.
PROS: Whether we like it or not, the IG algorithm is changing. Businesses need Instagram to attract new clients and in order to attract new clients you have to get that content seen.
CON: It’s an ad and will be labeled as such. You will be getting more eyeballs on your content, but nothing beats organic marketing.
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Meet Love The Edit: Your New Personal Shopper
Right this way to a perfectly curated Amazon.
Anne Ziegler, Co-Founder Love The Edit
Are you looking for books by smart women? Or maybe you're a new mom overwhelmed by all of the breastfeeding products and need HELP! Enter: Love The Edit, a new e-commerce site dedicated to helping busy women sift through the 480 plus million products sold on Amazon in the United States. (That's more products than people who live here.)
Very simply, Love The Edit creates curated collections organized into eight sections: Baby, Kids, Style, Living, Beauty, Gifts, Guys, and Guest Editors, like Amber Lewis of Amber Interiors. All products are culled from Amazon and are shoppable on the site. You "check in" with Love The Edit and "check out" with Amazon. As much as online shopping has made our click-of-a-button lives that much easier, it's also become a bit of a chore-- or as we call it, "the over-world-wide-whelm."
So we checked in with Love The Edit Co-Founder Anne Ziegler to find out why curated is the new craze and why you need to hop offline to effectively trend forecast.
You have a background in trend forecasting. How did you figure out what was hip before the hyper-onset of blogs?
Trend forecasting is about seeing new patterns as they develop. In order to see new patterns, you have to be up on what is happening right now, and that takes research!
You need to be hyper-aware of what is happening around you, and always curious - if you’re not looking, you’ll miss it. For that reason, I try not to get caught behind the computer for too long - the best research is to be out and about - seeing how real girls are styling their clothes, what a new retail concept looks like or what the scene is like at a cool new restaurant. It’s really about understanding how people are living and what’s influencing them, so we can understand why, and what, they might want next.
"I try not to get caught behind the computer for too long - the best research is to be out and about."
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How do you figure out what’s on-trend now?
Blogs and social media are fast information and everyone is looking at them, so you have to be looking at them too. But the onset of blogs and social media hasn’t disrupted the process of trend forecasting - it's just another resource. You are still looking, listening, learning and ultimately editing through lots of data for newness, and then trying to connect the dots.
Who is Love The Edit for?
Anyone who feels like there aren’t enough hours in the day! a.k.a. every woman we know! Love The Edit is for women who are juggling everything - jobs, kids, home…life! We want to help women shop better and faster so we can all enjoy more time with family and friends! We always like to say “let us be your personal shopper” on Amazon.
How does it make busy working women’s lives easier?
We’re all about instant gratification. When I am coveting something, I want it yesterday. So Amazon is perfect for that. We chose to build Love The Edit around Amazon for a reason — they have the most products of any e-commerce site in the country and they deliver the fastest. By editing Amazon we are bringing our users the perspective of a good editor, without sending you all over the web to find it. You can add multiple items to your cart on Love The Edit, hit checkout, and your items are all pushed into your own Amazon account - no multiple checkout, just the stuff you want with one click.
How many products are you sifting through to get to the good stuff?
488 Million…
Are you at all worried you’re going to run out of content ideas?
No! Because our lives as working mom, friends, wives and daughters constantly provide us with new content ideas!
What am I supposed to get for 3-year-old boy’s birthday party this weekend? Bingo - Gifts for Little Dudes. I don’t want to lug all these French pharmacy finds back from France in my suitcase. Voila - French Pharmacy Buys! What do I give for a hostess gift this summer, besides Rośe? Done - The Perfect Gift. (OK fine, in ADDITION to rośe!)
What’s the most surprising product you’ve found on Amazon?
The selection of fair-trade home decor and gifts items is awesome. And, if you really want to splurge, there’s always $6K of caviar….
Curating and cutting through the internet noise is time consuming. Why is this something you’re passionate about?
It’s the thrill of the hunt! We love finding something super cool that you wouldn’t expect to be on Amazon. That’s what drives us!
Of all the jobs you’ve had, what’s been the most interesting/rewarding?
I am always rewarded when I can see work that I do directly make a difference for a client.
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The Origins of Work/Life Balance & How To Achieve It
It's not a myth, and it can be achieved with 4 small steps.
Work/life balance is the unicorn in every bedroom, kitchen, and desk of the modern working woman.
It is a term used indiscriminately that powerfully affects how we approach day-to-day tasks. How do we find it? Where is it hiding? Is it possibly beneath this desk I want to nap under? (No, it’s not there.)
Most Millennial women report that such a concept is a myth. Or at best, the out-of-key piano soundtrack to our lives that we can’t figure out how to tune. But work/life balance is no whisper campaign that effectively targeted and exploited a vulnerability-- even if it feels as such at times.
We all have the desire to buy into this concept as possible and the want to improve our quality of life. It makes sense that this groundhog day concept keeps appearing.
So how do we reconcile our relationship to work/life balance? How do we make quantitative decisions about what is right for us? How do we, as working women, scale balance?
Our friends at Origins created a new post-workout products that help us refresh after the gym and continue that zen a little longer, and it inspired us to nail down 4 keys ways that help us approach the elusive work/life balance.
REMOVE ONE APP RIGHT NOW!
In an almost astonishing way technology has changed the way we work. But it’s a double-edged sword because we’ve come to rely on said tech in ways that hinder our ability to balance.
If you know that the phone is an issue in your life stop relying on apps to solve all problems. Learn to rely on yourself again.
“Learn to rely on yourself again.”
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Remove one app from your phone right now that you rely too heavily on. You know what it is. It’s disguised as convenience, but has made you all the more entrenched in the work crunch. I.e. Food delivery apps that have made it all the more simple to order lunch straight to our desks. Delete it and walk to lunch tomorrow.
UNBLUR THE LINES BETWEEN WORK AND HOME
One person’s approach should not be another’s. In fact balance is idiosyncratic. Create & Cultivate keynote Rachel Zoe said that when she’s at work, she’s present and when she’s with her kids, she’s present. Which means she’s not scrolling IG at the dinner table. There is separation in her life and it’s important to her well-being and productivity as an entrepreneur.
Create a routine that’s not about work.
INCORPORATE A WEEKLY WORKOUT INTO YOUR ROUTINE
Working out is one of the best motivators, confidence boosters and is proven to increase productivity. But while we often think about pre-workout-- which is often rushing from the office to a class-- and the benefits of the workout itself, there’s also a chance to slow down, and take that post workout high time for yourself. You don’t have to sprint from the gym home. Instead take a little extra “balance” time for yourself and try the following:
Post-sweat session use Origins Shower Off™ Exfoliating Body Wash, a refreshing post-workout scrub cleanser designed to refine and deeply purify the skin by removing perspiration and dirt. Likewise, Origins Warm Down™ Warming Lava scrub, a water-activated heating lava scrub addresses three key needs after a workout – it detoxifies and exfoliates skin, while also promoting relaxation for sore muscles. Activated in the shower, it warms up on contact to help comfort sore muscles, while volcanic ash deeply purifies skin by removing dirt, sweat and perspiration.
You should also take a moment to replenish the skin. An average person sweats the equivalent of two large sports bottles per hour during rigorous exercise. Which means your skin is losing moisture too. With Origins new Hit Refresh™ Cooling Moisturizer with Hawaiian Mineral Water, you’re instantly replenishes skin’s hydration post-workout.
These products leave skin smooth and refreshingly clean, while your brain and body feel balanced and calm.
WHEN YOU GET HOME POST-WORKOUT, PUT YOUR PHONE IN A DIFFERENT ROOM
Check your email and answer anything pressing on the subway ride or walk home. Or if you commute, answer before you leave the gym.
You can make the choice to not let your work cross the threshold with you. When you arrive at home, place your phone in a different room. It’s a simple spatial barrier that will help you break a habit that is detrimental in your quest for W/L. (I.e. checking your email or Insta every five seconds while you enjoy an end of day glass of wine or cup of tea.)
You should also put your phone in a different room when you finally hit the hay, that way you’re not checking your email or putting out fires FIRST thing in the morning.
Simple adjustments allow you to be proactive about your day, instead of reactive, and aid in your desire to find balance.
Simple adjustments allow you to be proactive about your day, instead of reactive, and aid in your desire to find balance.
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And remember: you get to day 500 of balance by starting with day one.
Life After Reality TV Is Real Good for Courtney Kerr
Big hair, big personality, even bigger plans for her future.
Reality check time: Courtney Kerr is not your typical reality star. In fact the days of reality TV are behind her, and the Southern charmer is now calling all the shots.
After the premiere of Most Eligible Dallas in 2011, Courtney’s life landed on the national stage, but that was just a jumping off point. Today, the Dallasite has created her own brand, become her own boss, and is focussing on expanding her digital presence with her online publication KERRently.com and her YouTube channel.
From reality TV to entrepreneur, we caught up with Courtney to chat in anticipation of #CreateCultivateATL where she'll be joining us on stage!
Coming from the world of traditional media, what would say are some of the things you had to adapt when going digital?
Going to digital, you have to figure out clever ways to tell stories and weave your personality into your content. Everyone can take pretty pictures these days, but it is more difficult to infuse your personality and tell your specific story. This is something that not only readers want to see and feel, but clients who choose to have you represent their brands do as well.
If clients just wanted a pretty picture, they would hire a professional model. Clients want to push product and engage your readers with an emotional "OMG I HAVE TO HAVE THAT" feeling attached to their product. You as the influencer are responsible for delivering that.
Everyone can take pretty pictures, but it is more difficult to infuse your personality and tell your specific story.
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Was there ever hesitation about sharing yourself with the world?
Well, once you get in a hot tub on reality television, the hesitation to share is out the window, and I have Bravo to thank for that! (LOL)
As I have grown and my brand has developed, I have definitely learned to edit what I share with the world. I have purposefully kept my romantic life private because I have to have something that is mine...something that I choose to not share. Granted, if the day comes and I get married, you'll probably hear about it. But for now, it's not something I'm ready to offer up.
You’ve had multiple platforms where you are able to voice your opinions and show who you are as a brand. Have you ever felt restricted?
No. I have never felt restrictions because I own KERRently. It’s mine and it is my space to do with as I please. As long as my readers, audience and clients are pleased, then I am happy!
What would you say was the push that convinced you to launch Kerrently.com this year?
Readers constantly wanted content that I knew didn't fit into a traditional style site. They asked about my beauty regimen, where I was traveling, what I was cooking, etc., so I knew there was definitely an opportunity to expand. Thankfully, there's been nothing but incredible feedback. Still, I know I couldn't have done this if their trust wasn't there to begin with. Luckily they trust me, and that's valuable to me.
If I’m starting my Instagram tomorrow, what should I focus on? Should I go hashtag crazy? How do I stand out?
PHOTO QUALITY IS EVERYTHING! No one wants to look at a blurry picture, and no one cares what you ate for breakfast (leave that for Snapchat). Understand that in addition to your site, your Instagram is an online portfolio easily accessed by anyone and everyone.
"Understand that in addition to your site, your Instagram is an online portfolio easily accessed by anyone and everyone."
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You've touched on everything from fashion, lifestyle, travel, beauty, and shopping. What is another topic you’d like to cover?
Entertaining is something I’d like to share on my site eventually. I LOVE throwing parties and hosting friends, so finding a way to incorporate those into my site without making my friends feel like they are being subjected to be on KERRently would be a fun move!
Describe your brand in three words.
Realistic, Trustworthy, Colorful.
What is the smartest business decision you've made thus far?
Hiring a team of employees whom I trust and knowing when to delegate something to them.
Flip side— what’s the craziest business decision you’ve made thus far?
Honestly the smartest business decision I have made was also the scariest/craziest for me. Since launching my blog in 2011, I have always been a one woman team, so sharing the work load, delegating tasks, and having multiple people represent me and my voice was a scary thing to me.
You’ve been blogging since 2011, and KERRently.com just went through a rebrand 6 months ago. Where do you see Kerrently.com in 5 years?
I see KERRently continuing to grow as a destination that people trust as a go-to resource for fashion, beauty, travel, and shopping. I would also love to bring on more team members to help enhance each category of the brand.
A lot of entrepreneurs tell us that if you can’t answer a simple ‘why?’ you’re on the wrong track. What’s your ‘why’?
So why do I do what I do?! I do it because I found something that:
- Inspires women
- Pays my bills
- I really freaking love. (I mean, I get paid to play dress up and help women feel more beautiful. What else could I want?! )
Are you more of a ‘go with your gut’ or ‘go for it”? business woman?
I definitely 'go with my gut' everyday! My friends and family tell me that I would be a horrible poker player because you can read every single emotion I have on my face! Trust me, if I feel it, it shows, so I can't possibly ignore my gut!
Make sure to catch Courtney on panel this fall at Create & Cultivate ATL - grab your tickets now before they sell out!
Highlighting Diversity in Atlanta's Startup World
Nicknamed Silicon Valley of the South.
Credit: Laura Dee Photography
When it comes to diversity and inclusion in the workplace, Atlanta is king (or in our case, queen.)
Today, more and more companies are looking to be at the forefront of diversity and are shifting their focus towards inclusion and representation in the workspace. (To that, we say what a beautiful time, to be alive.) And with Atlanta being the poster child for diversity and our next #CreateCultivate stop, we had to highlight some of the ways other companies can take notes from the state that’s leading the pack.
INTEGRATION AND BREAKING THE INVISIBLE LINES
As Atlanta continues to move away from a history of segregation, the same concept has been applied to work practices, landing two of the city’s biggest companies (Coca Cola and Southern Company) on the list of Black Enterprise’s Top 40 Best Companies for Diversity List last year.
And inventors are taking more risks in the city because of its potential. In 2014 firms invested about $500 million in Atlanta companies — the most in a decade.
DIVERSITY IN ATLANTA’S STARTUP CULTURE
More POC in Atlanta are looking to change the face of what the typical startup founder or entrepreneur looks like. More men and women of color are starting their own companies, especially in the tech sector, and not only that: Atlanta has been named #5 in the best cities for female founders with 44.3% number of female-owned firms in the city.
While only .2% of venture capital deals have gone to black female founders and black women-led startups raising only an average of $36k in outside funding, more WOC are getting out there to show they are the future of innovation.
Thanks to programs like The BIG Innovation Center, which is currently housing a four-month long accelerator program training black and Latina women from Atlanta how to launch their startup, how to acquire office space, and how to find mentors, we’re not too far from seeing more of “The Real Unicorns of Tech” in the startup world.
"We’re not too far from seeing more of 'The Real Unicorns of Tech' in the startup world."
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Atlanta still has a long way to go when it comes having more POC-- especially women-- as the faces of companies. However, this city is taking exemplary steps to ensure that not too far from now, when a female WOC is represented as the boss in a startup sitcom, it won’t be too farfetched.
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Meet the Under 30 Duo Changing the Vegan Game
by CHLOE is expanding faster than Chloe Coscarelli & Samantha Wasser could have ever imagined.
Got an appetite for hearing from the leading boss women that are calling the shots in the culinary world? Get ready to grub hard on our new #CreateCultivate series: Counter Culture, where we'll be talking to prominent women in the food industry about good eats, food trends, and making it in the cutting edge cooking world.
Don't put a fork in it, because we're not close to done.
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Americans know burgers and they know mac ’n cheese.
Which is why we love that the Tuesday following Memorial Day, AKA national BBQ-eat-a-burger weekend, Chloe Coscarelli opened her second vegan restaurant, by CHLOE, housed inside the new 365 by Whole Foods concept in Silverlake, CA. It’s not the first time the chef has flipped the script.
The public got a taste of Chloe when she became the first vegan chef to win a culinary competition on national TV. The winning dish: cupcakes. A possible affront to your grandma’s secret family dessert recipe, but with three vegan cookbooks all featured on Amazon’s Top “100 Best-Selling Cookbooks” and Whole Foods on her fresh young branded coconuts, she’s clearly whipping up something the people want.
Today with partner Samantha Wasser, Creative Director of ESquared Hospitality, the two are committed to bringing healthy, affordable, and satisfying (yes, this vegan food will FILL you up) dishes to the people with the fast casual concept.
“The best way to change the world is through food,” Chloe says the Wednesday following the Silverlake opening. It is the second storefront that she and Samantha have opened in under a year. The first by CHLOE opened to a line around the block in New York’s Greenwich Village in July 2015; the response has been exciting. “If someone can sit down and enjoy a delicious meal in a fun environment," says Chloe, "that’s the way to win over their heart.”
"The best way to change the world is through food."
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Winning over the masses they are, even those who might be turned off by the more moral aspects of veganism. Chloe went vegetarian, and then vegan, at a young age, recognizing the correlation between "the animals on her plate and the animals her family had as pets." Still with her food she says that the goal wasn’t to create a “vegan restaurant,” noting that probably only about 10% of the New York customers are strict vegans. “From the start I knew I wanted it to be burger and fries,” she says. “The core cuisine is supposed to be a take on American comfort food.”
Credit: otteny.com
Samantha echoes this. “The intent was never to target vegans, it was to target everyone. 'Vegan' can be kind of scary and at one of our first meetings we talked about the priority of the brand— making this as playful as possible. Our menus have kitschy icons that feel approachable.” Kitschy icons include: a sad-faced ice cream cone, napkins that say “So Fresh and So Clean,” and crayons and coloring placemats for kids, whom they encourage to “Get Cray.”
“Originally I was inspired by retro, old supermarket branding and signs. I wanted it to be fun and I didn’t want to put the logo on everything,” says Samantha who focusses on the branding and visual aspects of by CHLOE. Instagram and social media was also on her mind when developing the branding. "You have to have a brand that translates to social, but we keep Chloe's Instagram and the by CHLOE Instagram separate." It's a different approach from most brand's that put the *star* front and center. There is not a single photo of Chloe or Samantha on the @bychefchloe handle.
As for the move out West, although Chloe is from LA it wasn’t where they expected their second location to open.
“It’s two coasts and you can’t be two places at once, but the opportunity with Whole Foods came up and there is so much crossover between our ethics and beliefs and theirs, we had to move,” says Samantha.
Move they did. The partnership came about as fast and casual as the cuisine. “We were talking about just getting our ice cream into Whole Foods,” explains Samantha, “when they came to us with the larger concept.” From the time Whole Foods approached the founder to the time they opened, "it was just about three months, but it was too good to pass up. We did everything we could to make it happen.”
As for the logistics of going back and forth, Chloe is optimistic. “This is our first time opening a store across the country, so we’re going to feel it out, and do what needs to be done.”
That doesn’t mean they aren’t still focussed on NY. "22nd street," as Samantha calls it, will the 3rd by CHLOE and is opening this month. “We have pretty big expansion plans in New York,” says Chloe. “Three more in New York, and two in Boston,” specifies Samantha.
Three restaurants in under a year is bold, as are their expansion plans, but we’ve all heard the bit about who fortune favors. “Being partners with ESquared,” adds Samantha, who is a 50% partner, “we do have a lot of support. With a traditional startup you don’t have some of the same infrastructure. Corporate came down and helped hire the staff and find the cooks, and then we came in and fine tuned everything.”
“The best way to describe the relationship is three-fold: Chloe heads up food-menu development, I head up the aesthetics and design with both branding and store design, and ESquared focusses on operations, which allows for each of us to play to our strengths."
If the packed house is any indication, they are playing their hands well. Chloe chats with patrons at tables, happily takes photos with others outside the storefront, and people are clearly excited by the chow and concept being in LA. There are customers wandering in from the market. Others who were familiar with the NY concept, sought out the space and made the drive from distant LA neighborhoods. “We also have a lot of people telling us they walked here,” says Chloe, “so there’s a nice, neighborhood vibe happening.”
They nailed their menu. They've nailed they branding. And now they're stretching their vegan sea legs.
by CHLOE is now open at 2520 N Glendale Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90026
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Interview with a Fierce & Feral Creature
Eugenie Grey is just a girl from the 'burbs. Sort of.
It's not surprising that you can spell "genuine" with the letters of Eugenie Grey's name.
The brazen blogger grew up in the suburbs of LA, but just one look at her Instagram and you'll find she's shed any evidence of a "little boxes all the same" kind of life. There's no one like her, which is part of her "brand."
So, what makes Eugenie, unique? In part she's always wants to stay away from safe. Find out more below and be sure catch her on stage when she joins #CreateCultivateATL.
You are considered one of the OG bloggers and have now amassed over 460k followers online. From a business perspective, what's been your growth strategy?
I was blessed with being an early adopter. I started blogging in 2008 and got social media accounts very early on, and have been able to observe trends and adjust quickly ever since. I also think that staying true to my unique style has helped build my brand--I wanted to stay away from "safe".
I think that staying true to my unique style has helped build my brand--I wanted to stay away from "safe".
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You go to school, live bi-costally between LA and New York, are a full time blogger, and still manage to have a pretty exciting social life that we're a little envious of. How do make time to fit it all in?
Ever since I was in high school, I worked three jobs at once while going to school, blogging on the side for fun all the way. The gradual increase of my workload with various transitions in my adult life felt natural to me.
For you to work with a brand, what are they guidelines they have to meet in order to create a partnership?
Does the brand appeal to me? Do I believe in the product? Will this benefit my life, and in turn want me to share it with others?
What is the smartest business decision you've made thus far?
Probably purchasing my domain name for $2500 off someone many, many years ago. That was a fortune to me back then!
What's the worst business decision you've made? How did it help you grow?
Maybe this wasn't the "worst" decision, but it was a lot of work to keep up my blog while finishing up school. It taught me a lot about proper time management and priorities.
Via Feral Creature, you have been able to create a brand that embodies being your true self and breaking away from the status quo. What other messages do you hope translates to your followers via your blog?
I hope to inspire others to embrace their individuality, quirks, and weirdness. I hope people feel confident in their differences and what makes them unique.
I hope people feel confident in their differences and what makes them unique.
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How do you see the world of Instagram evolving?
Instagram is moving more to video. Algorithms made likes go down, but video views (which you see instead of likes on video content) remain high.
Describe your brand in three words.
Bondage Sith Lord.
What is one hair color that you've yet to dye your hair?
Orange!
What is your trick to taking the perfect Instagram #OOTD pose?
Head down/looking away will usually leave you without any gripes about a weird facial expression. Stand straight up, pop one knee out to the side. Do something with your hands: put them in your pockets, hold your purse strap, brush your hair behind your ear, cross your arms, etc.
What's a creative area that you'd like to explore?
I've a keen little nose. I'd like to get into making fragrances one day.