Latest / Imagine If with Doone Roisin | Health, Wealth & Wisdom for Women (formerly Female Startup Club Podcast) / How this Founder solved her own skin problems by developing a natural skincare line, with COCOKIND’s Priscilla Tsai

Transcript

How this Founder solved her own skin problems by developing a natural skincare line, with COCOKIND’s Priscilla Tsai · Imagine If with Doone Roisin | Health, Wealth & Wisdom for Women (formerly Female Startup Club Podcast)

• 0:00
  This is Priscilla Tsai for Female Startup Club.
• 0:12
  Hey everyone, and welcome back to another episode of the Female Startup Club podcast. I'm your host, Doon Roisin, and joining me on the show today is Priscilla Tsai, founder of CocoKind. CocoKind is a clean, conscious, and accessible skincare brand dedicated to providing natural products at an accessible price.
• 0:32
  After years of using severe prescription acne treatments, Priscilla realized that traditional approaches to fighting skin concerns were unsustainable, unhealthy, and stigmatized. Instead, she wanted to find a solution that would create long-term yet gentle results for her skin, mind, and body.
• 0:51
  This is her story of leaving Wall Street to pursue a career in wellness, how she stays ahead of the game in a saturated market, and her advice for women who have a big idea. This is Priscilla for Female Startup Club. Priscilla, hi. Thank you so much for joining the Female Startup Club podcast today. It's so nice to be here. Thank you so much for having me.
• 1:13
  I'm super excited to jump into this. Yeah. Do you want to start by giving a little bit of an introduction of who you are and what your business is? Yeah, definitely. So I'm Priscilla. I'm the founder and CEO of a skincare company out in San Francisco called Coco Kind. We are clean, conscious, and affordable skincare brands.
• 1:36
  We sell primarily direct to consumer with national distribution at Whole Foods and Target as well. But I've been in the game for a little over five years now and
• 1:46
  Yeah, it's been quite the ride that I'm excited to talk about today. Quite the journey. I'm super excited to dig into it and hear kind of the evolution of where things were when you began and where they are now today, especially obviously during, well, are we during? Yeah, still during the pandemic, really. Very much still in it. Yeah, definitely. Unfortunately. Yeah, unfortunately. Gosh, can't wait for it to be over.
• 2:12
  I love to start by rewinding to life before you started the business to find out what you're up to and what kind of inspired you to actually get started down the entrepreneurial path. Yeah, totally. So I grew up, I always like to like take it way back. So I grew up in Michigan, just a suburb in Michigan. And
• 2:33
  My mom is a small business owner. She and my dad both immigrated from Taiwan and they met at Ohio State University and my dad got a job in Michigan. And so she came with him and she ended up starting as a clerk at this company that was seemingly kind of random and they distribute like industrial tools to other distributors. So she started working at that company and
• 3:01
  Long story short, like eight years later, I ended up buying it from the owner. And she's run that business for 25 years now. And so I grew up going to her office and kind of helping out, stuffing flyers, like seeing very much a small business work, but work well. So I kind of knew that there was this idea that I had that I could do my own thing one day. And it felt very motivating for me. And so I kind of had that in the back of my head.
• 3:30
  But I went to school at Penn and I studied finance and accounting. And, you know, as people do, when you go to Penn and you study those majors, you end up going into finance and, you know, working at investment banks after school. So I moved to New York after school. But I was always like a little bit of a hustler. Like, you know, I would have like two internships in one summer and just be work. I worked like all the time.
• 3:57
  I loved having like working jobs more than I did being in school, like being in a classroom just like was not for me. And I would like literally go to New York every Friday to intern or do whatever I could to work. And I was just like so excited at the prospect of working. And so I ended up working in finance and before I left to start CocoCind, I was at JP Morgan and I covered stocks and the equity research department and finance.
• 4:24
  covered food and food retail stocks and was very interested in like the consumer industry generally, but was taking it from more of like the finance angle. But then I realized like, yeah, I just really want, I'm so inspired by like the consumer industry. I think there's so much to be done in terms of like transparency and, you know, kind of showing people how business works and the behind the scenes and how their products are made. And,
• 4:51
  And so that was always like kind of like a passion of mine and something that I had known that like, okay, that's probably very likely one day that I will start a consumer company. And then, you know, the side note, which became like the main story, but in terms of my skin, I really struggled with skin care.
• 5:11
  And I had hormonal cystic acne, had been to, you know, a dermatologist and I was just on the wrong prescription. I was on like really harsh prescriptions that like tore my skin apart every single day and made it so red. And I was on antibiotics for three years. I was, you know, I went on birth control just for my acne. And yeah, just like in that process of taking drugs.
• 5:38
  all that medication just ended up really having some stomach issues actually. And because I didn't realize that like taking antibiotics every day for three years was, you know, potentially harmful for my gut. And that is now, you know, very widely known, but back then it was a very common treatment for acne. So I started having some stomach issues and then I was like, not only that, like every day I would wake up and I would put on moisturizers, Cetaphil.
• 6:07
  And my face would sting so much because it had been so sensitized from the prescriptions that it would turn red and my eyes would water. And it was just like a terrible process every day. I would wait for my skin to not be red, like throw a bunch of makeup on my face. And yeah, it's just like a terrible situation of feeling like I needed to cover myself up and my skin every single day in order to walk out the door. And I always did that.
• 6:34
  There was this kind of just like this misery in my skincare journey where I would, you know, pay whatever I could for services, for products, for any recommendations to help my skin. I felt extremely insecure about it. I wouldn't go to like daytime parties in college or after college because I felt like it just my skin was like so highlighted. And so there was that separate, you know, kind of journey for me.
• 7:04
  until I had started to cook more and eat more holistically and just look into more ingredients and understand more about skincare products. And because of that, I was able to kind of more specifically tailor my routine. I found a lot of comfort in oils and my barrier had been totally destroyed. So just like,
• 7:25
  feeding it with these really nourishing oils was like the first time my skin didn't sting. And from there, you know, I kind of took it into my own hands of just really understanding the industry and ingredients that we were using and taking a really long break from like these really, you know, powerful and good actives, but that my skin was just like so exhausted and needed to be repaired. Yeah.
• 7:52
  So, yeah, so that's kind of, you know, my skincare journey. And basically, I, you know, knew I wanted to start a company, but I was super insecure about my skin, never imagined myself as like a skincare company founder, especially in the era of like, you're seeing celebrities as faces of brands. And, you know, it just, it felt very uncomfortable. But ultimately, I just convinced myself that I could be like the quote unquote business person. Yeah.
• 8:19
  behind the brand and not really be out there, which is funny today. But yeah, that's how I ultimately decided just to take the plunge. And so I quit my job and officially launched in 2015. But it was, I'd say like through the years of 2015 to now, like through starting Coco Kind have gotten so much more comfortable in my skin in a way that I wasn't at the very beginning of this process.
• 8:47
  Yeah, in lots of ways, it feels like it healed your skin, not only physically, but that emotional side of you as well. And the stuff that you were dealing with as a young woman, you know, coming out and being who you are, it really helped with your confidence, which is which is so amazing. So special. Yeah, absolutely.
• 9:09
  I want to stay around that time when you were just launching the business. Um, obviously you were working a lot with coconut at that time and well, you still are, but you know, your hero ingredient began with, with coconut. Were you making things yourself or were you going and finding people to help you make products in those early days? Both. Um, so we started with that and we were making like body butters and lip balms and these salves with coconut, um,
• 9:36
  We actually don't have it in the majority of our products today, like most of our facial products don't have it. But those body butters and the lip balms and all that stuff, we were filling ourselves. And then for the facial products, those were the blends for those were the individual ingredients were ingredients that I love, but with the help of chemists helped to produce.
• 10:00
  Right. And how at that early time were you funding the business? And did you kind of have the vision of growing it into the big business that it is today? Or were you just kind of like, oh, like, I'll just see how it goes? What was the vision? Yeah. So I've always, I never wanted to start a small company. Not that I had an idea of what a big company was, but I never, you know, wanted to keep it small. Like I wanted to build something that had impact. And,
• 10:28
  that, you know, a lot of consumers knew about. So I, even things like farmers markets, like I love farmers markets and I love meeting makers there, but I just kind of felt like I wanted to reach scale and didn't want to kind of go into like a niche or like a very small corner versus just kind of approaching like the broader market. And then, yeah, so I think that was like very much like
• 10:57
  I never had an idea of like, and certainly, yeah, I think my idea of what a big business was back then is like very different from what it is today. But yeah, I always had that intention of trying to build something that reached as many people as possible and was a clear, you know, comfortable brand in terms of making people feel good. And it was like, instead of playing out of this fear and desperation, like a brand that people could trust. So that was like my biggest goal there.
• 11:28
  Yeah, totally. And were you, with that in mind, did you think, okay, I need to start with getting a loan or using personal savings? Or were you kind of like, I'm going to go straight into looking for potentially, you know, angel investors or institutional funding? Yeah. So we were really lucky in that I did start the business with my savings. So I had $60,000 in savings that I basically was, you know, to be 26 years old or 25 years old and
• 11:57
  have that in savings was like very, I feel very grateful for that just in working in finance and saving for a couple of years. So I do think that there's something very important about, not everybody is gonna go the bootstrap route and there's certainly a lot of pros and cons to it, but I did it for five years and I wouldn't take it back, but it is certainly a decision that has like a ton of pros and cons. And if you are gonna do it,
• 12:27
  saving beforehand is obviously very important. So we funded the first like, you know, production batches and everything using my savings insurance, like all that stuff. But we very quickly started to make revenue and we, our production batches were extremely small until we made revenue and they would just grow as we had more and more customers. But,
• 12:53
  I never really when you're a bootstrap company, you just can't get over your skis, you know, and and you have to start small. And so that's what we did. But we are also very lucky that like we started selling to Whole Foods in Northern California within like the second month of like technically launching. So like we started to have revenue pretty quickly.
• 13:15
  Wow, that's crazy to get them on board as a retail partner so early on in the journey. How did you get on their radar and what do you think was attractive to them about the brand? Yeah, I mean, I think, you know, back then, clean beauty didn't really exist in its form. And so in the way that obviously it's so prolific today and increasingly so. But back then, you know, all I had to say was like these other ingredients we're using were under $20.
• 13:45
  And that was basically it. And people would, you know, take it, take a meeting. And so when it came to Whole Foods, like they did, I was very aggressive. And like before the product was even ready, I was like reaching out. Like I knew the value proposition and everything, obviously, you know, what you're building. And I started emailing and everything. And they never got back to me on the regional office here anymore.
• 14:07
  in Northern California. So I just went to individual stores and I, yeah. And like at that time, the store team members were able to bring in like very local brands. And so I started to like set up meetings with literally individual stores. I would ask them how it's done. And they told me, you can drop off samples if you want, or like, Oh, okay. Like I have 15 minutes on this day. And I would literally set up meetings with like the 35 stores in Northern California. And I would drive up and down just for like a,
• 14:37
  just to drop off a box or to meet them for 15 minutes and eventually, um,
• 14:43
  that was really what I concentrated on in the first month. And then, and then they, the, the individual team members like loved the brand so much that they ended up pinging the regional buyer. And then I got an email from the regional buyer one day being like, okay, there's enough interest to set you up as a vendor. So, and then, you know, I was just ready to go after that. So then, so, so that was very special. And I will always remember kind of like that first time that, that beginning period and getting that email, but, you know,
• 15:13
  But yeah, then we started selling to Whole Foods within like two months. Wow, crazy. Does that mean in the early days, were you more focused on building the retail side of the business versus the e-com D2C side of the business? When did you start to be like, we're going to focus on our online store and how are we going to find the customers to bring them into our website instead of going to somewhere like Whole Foods? Yeah.
• 15:36
  Yeah, for sure. I mean, I like to say like I stumbled upon it, not because I planned for it. I wasn't smart enough to like know anything about B2C or like try to do anything there. And again, this is 2015 and it's just a different environment where you've had so many amazing B2C companies come up in the past five years, but that was not the case, you know, at that time. And so,
• 16:06
  All I knew was like retail is, all I thought was like retail is where it's at. Like that's how you reach customers. And so I did focus on that for the first like two years of the business. And we stumbled upon it because we launched these sticks, the matcha and the turmeric sticks and,
• 16:23
  We just didn't get retail placement for those on time, like retail, the calendars take a long time and, you know, you can launch something if it doesn't end up on shelf until like a year later because of their calendars. And so the only place we could launch it was on our website and
• 16:39
  our website was doing like a couple thousand dollars a month up until that point. And we had it, we were building Instagram, but it wasn't like this big thing yet. But then we launched these products and people just became really obsessed with them. And we had this waiting list and everything. And then all of a sudden our Instagram followers went from 10,000 to 20,000 in one month. And I was like, oh wow. And like our online sales went from a couple thousand dollars to $90,000.
• 17:07
  that first month after we launched that product. And I was like, okay, like that's like a real number now. And like, that's pretty awesome for cashflow and not to mention profitability, but also just like getting this feedback from our customers and like the fact that they're,
• 17:24
  I was just like so amazed and I still am so amazed when I realized that like people come to your, they, you know, intentionally come to your website and buy something. Like, I just think I'm so grateful for that experience because one thing that you realize as an entrepreneur, especially of a product is that,
• 17:42
  people think that like, oh, your products on the shelf or you launch a website that's beautiful with a product. Like you think people think that like you just start getting visitors. Like you can literally have like zero, you know, like you could literally have like zero customers or like six people visit your website in those beginning days per day. You know, it's like so you start to appreciate customer by customer in that level. And I think
• 18:09
  because I bootstrapped, like, I just have such a deep appreciation for like every single person, because I would do demos at the Whole Foods stores in those first two years before we had, you know, an online presence. And I would literally sell, you know, 10, 12 products. And that was like a great demo in a three hour period. And I've done that, you know, like literally one by one. And so, yeah, I think that,
• 18:36
  when we, when we launched those sticks and we started having this presence on online, I was just, I was very like, just pleasantly surprised and, and, and found that like, yeah, like it's a little bit easier for me to talk to like 20,000 people than like one person at a time at a store in like, you know, I was like driving like three hours to do a three hour demo. And it was like crazy. So, you know, I obviously made more sense. And so we started to figure out like, okay, like
• 19:05
  I'm going to be on social like I would be in a demo. Like I'm going to talk to you.
• 19:11
  my customer, how I wouldn't like to be talked to, you know, you, you said the same thing. It's like, just like talking to a friend, like that's what we wanted, what I wanted to do, because that's how I like imagine myself being so desperate, trying to find something that worked for me. I would just want like the truth. I would want honesty. I'd want transparency. And that's how we approach like every conversation really with our customer. And I'm really lucky that now we have people on the team, CocoCind team that like still carry those values.
• 19:40
  even though it's not me like DMing every single person. I definitely am in the DMs all the time. People don't realize that, but I respond to like a ton of DMs myself because I just love it. But that's just part of our values and it's part of our culture as a brand.
• 19:55
  Totally. I bet like those customers that you were selling to in the Whole Foods stores back in the day, I bet they're your kind of like true loyal customers still today. And they remember that time that they met you and that you spent that time with them. Yeah, no. And I definitely see that and see those messages on social. And I just think it's like quite amazing because the brands,
• 20:19
  and products have changed. We've developed so many new products and we went from like the body butter and the lip balm and like the very, very simple kind of ingredients to like a full on skincare line.
• 20:33
  and we will continue to develop and grow and change. And, but the one thing that's been the same is really how we speak to customers and our values as a brand and the values that we put into our products. And so that's why people have stuck with us, even though we've changed the branding, we've changed this and that, like everything has changed as we've, you know, grown up, um, quote unquote. But I think that that is, uh, when I hear people who have been around for so many years, I just, I can't believe it. I think it's amazing.
• 21:01
  Yeah, totally. Absolutely. You know, when you were saying like back in the early days of your marketing, you know, in one month you'd grow 10,000 followers and that would be a really great way to reach your customers. But obviously now five years down the track, social media is more pay to play. It's obviously evolved. Um, as a brand, how has your marketing evolved and what's kind of the best way for you to acquire customers today? Um, yeah, I mean, marketing is such a beast, you know, like you, it's,
• 21:30
  I feel like there's a million ways to market. And up until very recently, we were just going about our like organic marketing ways, which is like,
• 21:40
  And this is still our bread and butter, which is like, we really try to provide value add content, which help grow our customer base because people come to us and they realize they can learn a lot of different things. And then they, you know, they learn the values behind the brand and the products and then they try the products and they can try multiple different products for the same price that they would buy, like one product at a Sephora store. And basically they, you know, they go from there.
• 22:10
  but that, that is still our bread and butter is really just like, it doesn't matter what we're doing paid or unpaid on our channel or on a different channel. Um, value add content is very important and it's very hard to do consistently. So I think that's like number one for us. Um,
• 22:30
  But as we've grown, we have tried and we are growing different channels, whether it's paid media, you know, influencers obviously have been incredible, are incredible partners for brands. I think at the end of the day, you know, you can experiment with a lot of different things and marketing requires a lot of experiments and you need to be okay with like succeeding or failing equal opportunities for those outcomes.
• 23:00
  what ends up working is our things that just like feel really you, you know, like just like are kind of unsurprising in that way, because you're like, yeah, like this is the reason why this works, because this, you know, influencer believes in the same core values as we do and has that same relationship. Like she provides that value add to her, her followers. She cares about them. She talks to them in a caring, comfortable way, makes them feel good about themselves. Like that's the type of stuff that like, it's like,
• 23:29
  I'm never, I guess I'm never really surprised by that work, but it is hard to come by. So especially, you know, because there's so much like pay to play out there and there are so many sponsored ads these days. So we are in the phase right now of just like experimenting a lot with our marketing, but I feel like it always like kind of diverged back to what we're really known for, which is like that relationship and the values.
• 23:57
  Mm-hmm. Yeah. Putting the customer really at the forefront. You know, earlier when you were saying like back when you started, obviously it wasn't as saturated as it is now. Have you had to further differentiate yourself to remain, you know, really relevant in a market that's obviously, you know, there are tons of different brands now in the skincare industry. And what do you do to really differentiate yourself when you're seeing so many new brands come onto the market? Yeah, definitely. I go back and forth on this because I,
• 24:27
  on one hand, like, I think competition is so good for the consumer. And I always like try to be, even though I am a leader of this brand, like I try to be on the consumer's side, no matter what. And there are so many competitors that I really respect. And I don't think there's anything wrong with that. You know, just, just, just being able to say that and be like, yeah, like they have a great product, they have a great following, they have a great whatever brand, like,
• 24:56
  I think that's totally okay to like kind of have that and good to have that humility and respect for like what other people are doing. Because the industry is large and skincare is a highly fragmented industry. It's like...
• 25:11
  there's not like one, you know, player that dominates the market. It's like, there's so many, so many players. So there's room. I do believe there's room for all of us, but it does clearly feel more competitive today than it did before. And, you know, obviously it stings a little bit when you feel like, okay, there's,
• 25:30
  a brand that like either has like a very similar brand name to us or that they popped up or they have a very similar like whatever it is, like that will sting. And when we have customers that send that to us and they'll be like, look at what I found, like this is ridiculous. And you know, that kind of stings, I'm not gonna lie. But I think the way that I think about it is like competition, like you can either get scared by competition, which I sometimes find myself in those stages,
• 25:59
  Or you can use it as a source of inspiration. Like, just like put your head down and like motivate yourself. You shouldn't stay stagnant. Like you really shouldn't. So if it requires refreshing your brand, refreshing your products, thinking about like, how do you go back to the drawing board, staying innovative? Like that's what you need to do. So I try to like,
• 26:20
  have it go like turn it from this like anxiety to this like positive source of like, yeah, like the competition makes products better and they make companies better for the customer. So use that and be better. So I think that's kind of like what I, you know, on my best of days, like where I will channel that energy too. But it is definitely something that I feel like every, you know, kind of founder will have to deal with. And it's inevitable and it's really good.
• 26:50
  So it's just, it's, yeah, I think it's a good exercise. Totally. I love that. Like using it as a motivator instead of something that can bog you down and make you feel less than something. Where is the brand today in terms of how big is your team? How many products do you have? What's the vibe today? Five years on. Yeah. So, um, so we have around 25, 26 people on the corporate team here.
• 27:19
  And on the product side, it's probably around the same, actually, like 20, 25. So we've just been really lucky to continue growing. I'd say like the Coco Kind story has been more of a, like a story of compounding really great growth versus like a hockey stick. Like we've, we've just like consistently grown well versus like, you know, kind of
• 27:47
  being a little bit more like slower growth and then like this huge hockey stick of like 400% year over year growth. Like that's, that's not our story. I think, yeah, that also allows you to make a lot of mistakes.
• 28:01
  in a smaller like level when you're kind of consistently growing versus like dealing, like I have a lot of respect for the companies who go from like, you know, yeah, just go from very small to all of a sudden like this like huge company in one, two years, because like just running an organization is way harder than running a company. And yeah,
• 28:23
  And there's so many mistakes that every founder, every business owner makes along the way. And you kind of just have to like know that you're not going to be perfect. You're not. Yeah, everybody is human and you have your strengths and you have your weaknesses. So I feel like that's just something that I'm I'm also just like grateful for, too, like the opportunity to like kind of consistently learn ahead of my company as much as I can, because when you grow so exponentially quickly like that.
• 28:53
  I mean, it's still very challenging. Like any growth is very hard. And CocoCoin has certainly put up some really strong growth figures. But yeah, I just like the companies that go from like 5 million to 100 million in two years. Like I just, I don't know. You know, like it's just, it's a hard, hard job. Totally. Absolutely. Wow. That would be crazy. Yeah. Yeah.
• 29:15
  What does the future look like for you? Is there anything you could share that's coming up next? What does the next year look like? Yeah, I mean, we're in a really exciting stage right now where we have brought on some pretty amazing talent this year to just join our team and help us get to the next stage. And whether that's on our marketing or on our products or operations, you know, scaling that is quite difficult.
• 29:43
  And really just like having subject matter expertise, which before it was kind of like me being like a very average jack of all trades, the master of none. And so that to me is like the most, the best gift, I think, to be in a stage where we can, we have a lot of people who are just like bringing a lot of information.
• 30:04
  talent to the business. And so that is what's going to be driving us forward. And in terms of products, like, I think there's probably another evolution of where our products go to. I think we are interested in testing new categories, like body and hair, but at the same time, in our skincare, like, there's so much more to be done there, too. And with,
• 30:29
  so much innovation happening, whether it's, you know, continuing innovation with ingredients or formulation or, um, sustainability, like all that stuff. I think it's, it's a good time for us to just, you know, really think about what that looks like for us going forward. We never want to like dilute the market with just like unnecessary products. Um,
• 30:50
  But at the same time, like there's just a lot happening. So I'm excited to kind of build out that pipeline and see where that takes us. But for us, it's always like a balance of like we want to give the consumers like what she's asking us for. But then we also want to try some new things that she's not asking us for and see if that sticks. Yeah, totally. Sounds really exciting in any case. I'm excited to watch and see what happens next. Yeah, absolutely.
• 31:17
  what advice do you have for women who have a big idea and want to launch their own business? Yeah. I'd say like, what I always go back to is, well, yeah, I think this, there's a couple of things, but like the first is like, you can, it's totally okay to start small. You don't have to like wait for perfection, but you know, the, the best idea in the world is nothing without execution and like,
• 31:45
  the best founders I know are like just incredible people at execution. Like you just get shit done, you know, and that to me is like just irreplaceable.
• 31:57
  it has to happen somehow through your leadership team, either through you, because you just like are incredible at executing or your co-founder or something that basically allows you to like move quickly. I think that's like important, just very important, underestimated. And then the second thing is like, I think this year more than anything proves that it's like,
• 32:20
  this resilience, like every day is so hard. It really is. And like you go through a roller coaster, you go through emotions and it's, you have a lot of weight as a founder and CEO. Like you just, you, you carry a lot of weight. You care about the people on your team. You're also managing for a specific outcome and productivity. You're, you're so passionate and you're trying to like spill that over to your team. Sometimes that happens, sometimes it doesn't, you know, and you're just managing a lot. And so,
• 32:49
  Every day you're bound to have some type of win and some type of disappointment. And sometimes the disappointments are fairly large. And so it's just required this idea of like you have to get back up every day, even when it's like miserable. And people don't expect like that word to come into play.
• 33:08
  that like my mind when I talk about my job, but I joke with my founder friends, like sometimes it's truly miserable. Like, and only people who are like so passionate about what they do are gonna withstand that misery because you are so passionate and it brings you like this outsized joy in other moments, but it can be a very miserable job. And so like, I think it's just good to have a realistic view of like what you're getting into.
• 33:36
  It's not a glamorized thing. Like you are most of the time running a logistics company. You're running an organization. It's very hard. You're dealing with a lot of emotions from yourself. And yeah, it's just, you know, at the end of the day, it's like there's, it's a low probability ratio. So of companies that, you know, can really do it well. And so being grateful, being resilient is just really important.
• 34:04
  Yeah, absolutely. And is that something that you, was that advice that you learned from your mom and her journey going through business for such a long time? Or was there other advice that your mom gave you when you were kind of deciding to start your business that you have in your mind? I think the best thing, so my mom's somebody who's like a small business has been very stable for so many years. So less about like the growth and like the growing pains and what, you know, that, that
• 34:32
  my mom is also very like good at is like her superpower is similar in terms of she just like get shit done and she is like not a talker like she will like if she wants to do something she will do it and then she'll talk about it and and so like I think that's the thing that I learned from her the most which is probably the skill that I use the most on a day-to-day basis for myself
• 34:56
  Love that. How nice. Yeah, I'm very lucky. So good to have your mom as the role model entrepreneur in your life. Yeah, yeah. Definitely don't take that for granted either. We are up to the six quick questions part of the episode. Nice. Question number one is what's your why? I think impact. Like I just, I want to have an impact on consumers, on the consumer industry and
• 35:26
  and just, yeah, provide a better example of like what a conscious good business looks like. Totally love that. Question number two is what's been the number one marketing moment that's made your business pop? I think the most, I don't know if it's the number one in terms of like size or dollar amount, but like the most significant to me was probably when we launched our matcha and turmeric sticks and just
• 35:51
  going from like such a small scale of on our online website to being like, Oh my God, like this is like totally different and really exciting. And now I have to like ship all these packages myself. You're like, Oh my gosh, I've got to hand write all these notes. Question number three is where do you hang out to get smarter? What are you reading? What do you listen to? What are you subscribing to? Yeah. I mean, um,
• 36:17
  Unfortunately, like I've just been so busy this year that I haven't, I feel like I've dropped off my reading a little bit, but thankfully I have a lot of good friends and advisors and teammates that I just like.
• 36:30
  I feel like it's just like those moments where you don't have, you're catching up with a friend who's a founder and you don't have, you're not like trying to pick on one subject. You're just like talking. And that's when you just like find yourself talking about so many different things that are interesting and expanding your perspective. So I feel like I rely a lot on both my husband, who's incredibly smart, not a founder, but an investor, as well as my advisors and
• 36:57
  friends really that are doing similar but different things to help widen my perspective. Yeah. Getting those little bits of wisdom and gold just by chance, I guess, when you're having conversation. I love that. Question number four is how do you win the day? And that's around your AM and PM rituals that keep you feeling successful and motivated and productive and happy. Mm-hmm.
• 37:21
  Um, so I would love to say that I have like all these rituals and I, yeah, one day will. But it's like so crazy and I definitely don't feel like I do that well, but I do try to like either go on a walk or have some type of like, you know, moment to myself or physical activity today. I told you I played tennis. And, and, but that is not regular, to be honest, like it's a luxury and it's something I have to work.
• 37:50
  work for and find time for. So it's, yeah, I can do a lot better in that department. I feel like, like we always have dinner together, me and my husband, and just like having those moments where you're, we're kind of just like able to connect, I think, either with, yeah, a loved one or
• 38:12
  or just by yourself, like having that every day is what kind of grounds me when everything else in my day is never the same. Totally. Question number five is, if you only had $1,000 left in your business bank account, where would you spend it?
• 38:34
  Um, first of all, I'd be scared shitless if we only had a thousand dollars to take it out. I would be like, what? I would think I would be as honest as I would have defended. I mean, yeah, a thousand dollars, I would, I would, um.
• 38:50
  I would not be spending that. And I would be figuring out what I can do for free to help get our business in a different state. But yeah, that's kind of like do or die. So I would keep that in the bank account and figure out some other way. Nice. And last question, question number six is how do you deal with failure? I get back up. Like it happens every day. It's just, it is what it is. You have to be strong. And
• 39:17
  And you have to allow yourself that room. You have to allow your colleagues that room. We have to reinforce the positivity behind failure. Like it's, I actively allow my teammates the room to fail by saying like, I would rather us try every single day. And like, if it doesn't work, it doesn't work. That's totally fine. I celebrate that. Like it's not, it's when you don't have learnings where that's a problem. But if you have a learning from a failure, then I think that's invaluable. Yeah.
• 39:48
  Absolutely. Priscilla, thank you so much for taking the time to be on the podcast today. I've really loved chatting about your brand and what you're doing and the future. Yeah, no, I'm so, so happy to be here. Thank you so much for having me.
• 40:05
  Hey, it's June here. Thanks for listening to this amazing episode of the Female Startup Club podcast. If you're a fan of the show and want even more of the good stuff, I'd recommend checking out femalestartupclub.com where you can subscribe to our free newsletter. We send it out weekly covering female founder business news, insights and learnings in D2C, and interesting business resources.
• 40:30
  And if you're a founder building an e-commerce brand, you can join our private network of entrepreneurs called Hype Club at femalestartupclub.com forward slash Hype Club. We have guests from the show joining us for intimate Ask Me Anythings, expert workshops, and a group of totally amazing, like-minded women building the future of D2C brands.
• 40:52
  As always, please do subscribe, rate and review the show and post your favorite episodes to Instagram stories. I am beyond grateful when you do that.
• 41:09
  Hey, it's June here. Thanks for listening to this amazing episode of the Female Startup Club podcast. If you're a fan of the show and want even more of the good stuff, I'd recommend checking out femalestartupclub.com where you can subscribe to our free newsletter. We send it out weekly covering female founder business news, insights and learnings in D2C, and interesting business resources.
• 41:34
  And if you're a founder building an e-commerce brand, you can join our private network of entrepreneurs called Hype Club at femalestartupclub.com forward slash Hype Club. We have guests from the show joining us for intimate Ask Me Anythings, expert workshops, and a group of totally amazing, like-minded women building the future of D2C brands.
• 41:56
  As always, please do subscribe, rate and review the show, and post your favorite episodes to Instagram stories. I am beyond grateful when you do that.