Latest / Imagine If with Doone Roisin | Health, Wealth & Wisdom for Women (formerly Female Startup Club Podcast) / Disrupting the plant-based industry with pistachio milk, with Táche Co-Founder Roxana Saidi

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Disrupting the plant-based industry with pistachio milk, with Táche Co-Founder Roxana Saidi · Imagine If with Doone Roisin | Health, Wealth & Wisdom for Women (formerly Female Startup Club Podcast)

• 0:00
  This is Roxana Saidi for Female Startup Club.
• 0:12
  Hey everyone, and welcome back to another episode of the Female Startup Club podcast. I'm your host, Doona Roshin, and joining me on the show today is Roxana Saidi, co-founder of a company called Tash. Tash is a female minority founded and family run brand that launched recently on November 18 and is the first true pistachio milk in the US.
• 0:35
  It's healthier than oat milk and tastier than almond milk as it can be regularly consumed alone with no added oils. It's low in carbs and sugar and it steams and foams extremely well. And it has a smaller water footprint. This is something I'm so excited to try myself when I get to the U.S. next.
• 0:55
  Distinctly delicious, Tash is answering today's evolving customer demand for a more healthy, socially impactful and sustainable plant-based milk option.
• 1:06
  In this episode, we cover the blueprint that Roxanna took to launch the brand along with a step-by-step process of what she needed to do first, why she realized early on she wouldn't be able to bootstrap this company, and her advice for entrepreneurs with a big idea. And as always, please subscribe, rate, and review the podcast if you're loving these founder stories. It's what helps us find new ears. This is Roxanna for Female Startup Club.
• 1:34
  Roxanna, hi, hello. Welcome to the Female Startup Club podcast. Thank you so much, dude. I'm so happy to be here with you. I am extra excited to jump into this today because like I was saying before we started recording, you're really early on in that launch phase. And so you've got the blueprint really clear in front of you that you can help lay out for us. So I'm super excited. Do you want to start by introducing yourself and what your business is?
• 2:04
  Yes, absolutely. So I'm Roxanna Saidi. I'm the founder and CEO of Tash. Tash launched four weeks ago here in the U.S. And Tash is the first true pistachio milk in the U.S.,
• 2:19
  And what we mean by true is that tashes are purely pistachio milk. It's not blended with any other nuts, which are usually referred to as filler nuts. So you're getting honest to goodness pistachio milk that's really healthy and distinctly delicious. It sounds so delicious. This might be a really obvious question, but can you describe what it tastes like?
• 2:42
  Of course. So most people upon tasting Tash for the first time say, wow, this reminds me of pistachio gelato, which is true because they're both made from pistachios. But the difference of course, is that you're not getting as much sweetness as you would with a gelato or an ice cream. So it's a little nutty. It's got a little natural hint of sweetness. We have two flavors. There's unsweetened and then there's the original that has six grams of added sugar.
• 3:10
  So it's a little nutty, a little sweet. It has a beautiful, creamy consistency, very velvety. And it works really well with coffee and matcha without overpowering your coffee or matcha. It's very subtle and complimentary. It also works really well in baking, especially now around the holidays, baking any kind of loafs or cookies. It's great in smoothies and protein shakes. And it's also particularly good on its own.
• 3:37
  So one of our key sort of value props is that TASH, we believe, is the first plant-based milk that is delicious enough to drink entirely on its own. So I'm jumping ahead just slightly, but if you think about it, typically...
• 3:54
  All sorts of plant-based melts are vehicles for other things. Most consumers aren't reaching into their refrigerators, reaching for their almond or oat, what have you, and just pouring themselves a nice tall glass and enjoying it for pure pleasure. It's always alongside other things. So what we found with Tash, and we're going to get way more into this, but in the years that it took to build Tash, hundreds of people tasted it along the way. And over 90% said something to the effect of,
• 4:23
  wow, with an almost incredulous look on their face, I would drink this all by itself. And so that's really one of the key attributes of Tash that we're most proud of. Gosh, it sounds so, so yummy. I can't wait for the day that you are in London and the UK in general. I want to go back to life before Tash and what was happening for you, what you were up to, and when that light bulb moment really struck you for this business idea.
• 4:54
  Sure. So the year was 2015 and I was actually in Paris on a family vacation and we had a nice typical Parisian long lunch. And at that time I had completely phased dairy milk out of my diet.
• 5:12
  And I was drinking copious amounts of almond milk. I was eating tons of almond butter. And at the end of this long lunch, I was really longing for an almond milk latte. But because it was 2015, almond milk hadn't quite made its way over to Europe just yet. So at that moment, I just had the very cliched light bulb moment where it was almost like the world came to a halt. And I thought, wait a minute.
• 5:36
  I'm Iranian and my family pistachios have been in my household my whole life. If you ask any Middle Eastern immigrant, they will tell you that they grew up with pistachios in their house. And so I just thought, hold on a second. I don't have to wait to get back to the US. I could literally go back to my uncle's house and I could blend up.
• 5:56
  pistachios and make a pistachio milk. And wouldn't that be more delicious or more sort of have this dynamic taste profile that I'm not exactly getting with my almond milk. And so that's exactly what I did. And I looked up, you know, blogs on the internet in 2015 on how you make almond milk. And I adapted that to pistachio milk. And I thought,
• 6:16
  my God, why doesn't this already exist? It's so obvious. It's delicious. You know, I, at that point I got back to New York and I started making it in my little studio kitchen, having friends and friends and friends, you know, tasted, I wanted unbiased opinions. I even sort of went out and tried to find people who weren't plant-based milk drinkers, people who are ambivalent or skeptical or whatever. Cause I wanted to understand really like what, what did people think of us? And I
• 6:42
  I was really blown away by how many folks were just like, this is something that should be out there, I would buy it. It's very, very delicious and very healthy. And so the reason was actually quite obvious. It didn't exist because of supply chain. So pistachios for generations and generations have been a premium nut at a premium price point. So it's not exactly an easy supply chain issue to find high quality pistachios at an approachable price.
• 7:09
  So that was the reason that it didn't exist in the market in 2015. But it was at that lunch in Paris with my family, just wanting an almond milk latte where it all sort of came together for me. Gosh, that is just so incredible that it's the definition of a true light bulb moment. Something went off for you and you were like, but why doesn't this exist? Oh, love that. So you come back to the US, you're starting to validate the idea with your friends and friends of friends, and you understand why it doesn't already exist in the market.
• 7:38
  What are the next steps to you being like, okay, well, I'm actually going to do this. I'm going to build this brand and be the person to bring this to market.
• 7:46
  Yes. So at this point, to back up a little bit, I grew up in Menlo Park. I was born in San Francisco. We moved to Menlo Park pre-Facebook. At this point, this was not on the map. It wasn't a place that people were talking about in the media. And the reason we did that was because my dad was an engineer. He was working in Silicon Valley. And so in high school and growing up, the jargon in my
• 8:16
  funding round. That's what I grew up with. So when I realized that this was a huge opportunity and something that I was going to pursue, I first went to my dad and I sort of pitched him on it. And I
• 8:31
  And co-found this company with me because your expertise lends so well to building this business. You know exactly the trajectory, how you go about this, what kind of outcomes you should be building towards. All these things that I've learned and gleaned from him growing up.
• 8:48
  At this point, my dad was retired. He had already founded and exited three startups. So I really had to pitch him and say, do you want to come out of retirement? Let's go again, round four. And I'm so lucky that he said yes, because I don't think many dads would say like, yeah, let's go start this thing that you and I both really don't know anything about the CPG or the food and beverage, but let's do it. And he did that because he,
• 9:13
  I'd already started one company before. I started a social media agency before. And truthfully, he kind of doubted that that was going to be a successful business.
• 9:22
  And at the time, it was 2011, social media agencies did not exist really at all. And so I said, you know, I want to build this thing with you. Are you on board? And he said, I'm in. I'm 100% in. So our very first step was I knew that I wasn't going to pivot into this entirely new career to create a product that was at a price point that was inaccessible to most people.
• 9:52
  So the very first thing we did is we found a consultant who was a 30-year veteran in the industry. She was actually the buyer of North America for 7-Eleven. So she had this very incredible career of understanding cost of goods and margins and all that. So we brought her on to do a project for us and to cost out Tash and see what our suggested retail price would be and what our margin would be.
• 10:17
  And so when she came back to us and said, you know, you can do this at a fair price that's far below that $10 threshold, that to us was like, okay, great. It's been validated from a price perspective, and we can move this forward at around a $7 price point. And this is a 32-ounce multi-serve container. So that was sort of step one. Step two was finding a formulation agency. Actually, that's not true.
• 10:44
  Before even finding the analyst to do our pricing, I wanted to start on the trademark of a name because being a marketer, I understood that trademarking a name was essential. You know, a lot of founders I talked to the first sort of thing.
• 11:02
  that crosses their mind is, oh, I have a name that I like. Let's jump on Instagram and see if we can get the handle. For me, it was, let's jump on the USPTO website and search the database and find out if the name I like is available. And so the first name that I wanted was actually Stash.
• 11:20
  And that was not available. So I did a lot of thinking. And at the same time, I was reading books about how to start a food business. And one of these books recommended that if you don't have the capital to bring on a patent trademark attorney, you should go to a law school and see if the law clinic at a university will take on your case pro bono.
• 11:42
  So that's what I did. The UCLA Law Clinic took on TASH, which was soon to be TASH, and they did all of my legal work for free. It was such an amazing experience because it took three semesters of work to get to a name. A lot of the names that are derivatives of the word pistachio are already taken, but
• 12:02
  in the food category. So it took a really long time, but now I'm off on a tangent, but I always suggest it to founders who don't have, you know, they're bootstrapping and they don't have a ton of capital to put towards attorney fees around trademarks to go that path. I had a lot of success with that. So we did the trademark, we did the cost analysis, and then we did the formulation. So we found a team that only did beverages and we started on the formulation work with them.
• 12:31
  Did you have to find the pistachios independently to the formulator? Yes. Yes, we did. So fortuitously, my father was born and raised in Tehran. He moved to Michigan when he was 18, which was before the revolution. And he went to the University of Michigan. So fortuitously, we had family back in Iran and they were...
• 12:58
  we actually knew several farmers in the area and in neighboring countries who were all like third and fourth generation pistachio farmers, which came together quite nicely because
• 13:10
  We later tried doing many side-by-side comparisons of pistachios grown in different parts of the world. And some of them that we tested were ones grown in California. And, you know, on the surface, I think a lot of people assume that, you know, nuts are nuts. They should all kind of taste and function and look relatively the same, like in terms of specific nuts like pistachios. And truly, they're not too different from grapes in that, you know, on the surface, they may...
• 13:39
  appear to look the same, but they're very complex. And just like wine, you get very different results. So the soil, the climate, the farming techniques, all of that really plays into the end result of the pistachio milk. So when we did all these trials in our R&D process,
• 13:57
  The pistachios grown in California tasted entirely different as a milk than the pistachios grown in the Middle East. So that sort of was another layer of, OK, how are we going to build this? How is it going to be different? Why is supply chain important to us? And in the end, we we definitely were much, much happier with the taste and the mouthfeel of the Middle Eastern pistachios versus the stateside.
• 14:23
  And it's also just so special to be able to take this brand and this company that you're building back to your roots and be like, hey, we're supporting people who are connected to us. And, oh, gosh, I really love that. That's so cool.
• 14:38
  I want to talk a little bit more about the manufacturing piece of the puzzle. Obviously, there's lots of learning curves there, potentially lots of stumbles to go through. How did you find your manufacturer and what were you doing to convince them to work with you? I'm aware manufacturers won't just take on any new client and work with anyone. So I'm interested to know what your pitch was to them.
• 15:02
  Sure. So our industry is very atypical in that, so when I say our industry, what I mean by that is plant-based milks that are shelf stable. So generally when you go to most coffee shops and you see what baristas are working with them, they have their milks in these paper containers, which are usually Tetra Pak.
• 15:23
  And so what that means is that they're going through a manufacturing process that's called aseptic, and that's what produces shelf-stable products. So North America has actually been a little bit behind on picking up on aseptic manufacturing. So unlike Europe, we don't have them everywhere. There aren't dozens and dozens and dozens, if not hundreds, of options to choose from. There's kind of a few main players.
• 15:46
  And they have the luxury of commanding enormous minimum order quantities. So we're talking about, on average, about 200,000, 250,000 units to be produced on your very first production run. Wow. Which is enough to really just make you terrified when you're a young entrepreneur trying to start a business and you have a plan and you have a great supply chain and there's a lot of...
• 16:14
  Just early market validation happening. And then truly I was cold calling these manufacturers and pitching them on my idea. And most of them said, sure, you know, come back to us when you're ready to do the 200,000. We'd love to take your product on.
• 16:30
  So then you have the chicken and the egg thing where nobody is willing to do a small run with you. So I finally got through to to one owner of one plant and he said, you know, I really do love the idea. I'm not going to tell you that you can't do it, but it's going to take a minimum of a million dollars, probably closer to two million dollars to do what you want to do.
• 16:51
  So when you have the capital, come back and I'll take your product on and we can do a trial run for just under 100,000 units. And that, as crazy as it sounds, was a huge win because at that point, nobody was willing to wiggle at all with me. So I went, I came back, got with my dad.
• 17:12
  and mapped out how we were going to start a friends and family round, which we grew into more than that. And so there was no option to just bootstrap it and self-fund. With that, you knew you had to raise a round. And so I had a full circle moment when we did our very first production run with that same manufacturer who I cold called and said he was willing to do a smaller run with me when we did our first production run over the summer, which was just a tremendous feeling of...
• 17:41
  It took two years, but we've done it. So it took two years from when you cold called him to when you got your full batch back. Yeah, it took a little more than a year and a half. It feels like five. It was over a little a year and a half. And of course, the pandemic then came, which layered on some more delays. But yeah, it was just about a year and a half.
• 18:06
  Wow. I want to talk about, you know, the playbook that you've used to raise that 1.1 in pre-seed that I read that you raised 1.1 in pre-seed. Obviously, you had your dad there who had significant learnings and significant experience. Can you share a little bit about what it was looking like and what he brought to the table in those meetings and that kind of thing?
• 18:29
  Sure. So my dad's experience was raising hundreds of millions in tech. It was kind of the heyday of it all. What his company said was made the main chip in cell phones. So we're talking about like so.
• 18:46
  Koya's Northwest of the world, far, far beyond where we were at with Tash. So while all of his experience was invaluable, a lot of his connections and a lot of those relationships that he had, we weren't ready for them at all. So what we had to do is we had to, and this is, so now this is the very beginning of 2020.
• 19:10
  do a friends and family round and sort of start there, see how far along we can get. And it started pretty well. We started fundraising in February and then came March 2020. And the world came to a grinding halt. And many of those conversations and diligence processes that we were in with some investors were
• 19:30
  Everybody hit the pause button. And rightfully so. Nobody knew what was going to happen. So at that moment, there was certainly a level of what's the next step? What are we going to do? We need to cast a much wider net.
• 19:47
  It can no longer just be friends and family. It needs to go. We have to go to institutional investors, VCs. We need to have a much wider net. And so that's what we did. And a big turning point was when I got a phone call from the distributor who had already signed on with to do our food service distribution. So in New York City, for us, our food service is specialty coffee, matcha bars, high-end bodegas, cafes.
• 20:15
  And he called me and he said, Hey, um, Roxanna, I don't know if you're fundraising or really what's going on on that side. But if, if you are, do you, can I invest? And I said, yeah,
• 20:28
  we are fundraising and, and sure. Like, what did you have in mind? Like, let me know, you know? And so we, I did the pitch, we did the whole thing and he came on as at our time at that time, our lead investor. And from there, things just really started falling into place. I did like a digital shark tank style pitch competition and, um,
• 20:48
  The person who puts that on, his name is Gary Hirshberg, and he's a legend in the industry. He was the co-founder and CEO of Stonyfield Farms. Stonyfield Yogurt is the largest organic yogurt company in the U.S. And so everything really fell into place. But we were lucky because we I think that.
• 21:08
  It was looking to me at that point in the apex of the pandemic that we were going to have to have VCs in the round. And luckily, we didn't. We ended up having just these angels come in. And as of now, we've raised $1.25 million.
• 21:24
  Wow, goodness. That's so exciting. And did that money primarily go towards that first order or was that money for, you know, manufacturing or the inventory plus, you know, a runway for marketing and things like that? Yeah, absolutely. A runway for marketing, several production rounds, the inventory, some sales. It will go towards probably several more rounds of productions, actually, well into next year.
• 21:53
  Ooh, how exciting. I want to talk about, um, you know, getting into the marketing side of things and leading up to the launch that you had four weeks ago. Um, you mentioned you had, uh, was it under a hundred thousand units that you had to order? So around a hundred thousand rather. So you had to obviously have a plan of how you were going to sell or start to sell these once you launched. What did that plan look like? And what have you been doing to get the word out there and acquire your first customers? Yeah.
• 22:24
  Yes. So the plan changed, of course, like everything with the pandemic, it changed slightly. Pre-pandemic, we were relying pretty heavily on the food service channel. And I'd spent a lot of time building relationships with different small, medium-sized chains throughout New York City. And of course, with the pandemic, a lot of those chains changed
• 22:48
  had to kind of pull back. It wasn't the time to commit to a large PO. So we shifted our energy more towards the D2C side. We were always going to be a D2C brand first and foremost. Creating bands and building communities is really my bread and butter. But we had to put more emphasis on that. So we are now in about...
• 23:09
  70 food service locations in and around New York City, a couple sprinkled throughout the Midwest. And we launched, of course, online four weeks ago. And then next year, we plan to roll out into more retail. Each of these channels, I've learned, is its own three-ring circus. So you very much want to, with Amazon, retail, food service, direct-to-consumer,
• 23:36
  you get so much feedback of, we want to see you in California. We want to see you on Amazon, but being a team of three, we have to roll those out very strategically and at the right time. So we're going a little bit slowly into retail. Um,
• 23:52
  It's a tricky market. It's tricky with the distributors. It's tricky with buybacks. Luckily, we have a super long shelf life for 12 months. So we don't have spoilage the way that a lot of brands do. And so for that, we're very grateful. But retail is definitely, it's a little bit more tricky with the distributors and how that all works. But also Amazon is on the horizon as well, but probably not until the end of next year. Oh, that's exciting. Getting on Amazon. Yeah.
• 24:21
  I'm interested to learn more about the D2C side of things, how you're actually driving traffic to your website and finding your first customers and getting the word out there about the brand. Yes, absolutely. So discoverability is happening primarily through social media and through the coffee shops that we are in.
• 24:42
  So as I mentioned, we're in about 70 shops in and around the tri-state area. So a lot of folks see, oh, like pistachio milk is one of the milk options. I've never seen that before. You know, having a conversation with the barista, sometimes there's a special pistachio milk latte on some of the menus. So that's kind of the first antenna up. And then what is that? Obviously, then that leads to going to Instagram. They see our presence there.
• 25:12
  almost two years. We have pistachio milk.com as a domain. So that is a very easy way to find us. We also have PR running that machine up and going, which has driven a lot of traffic to our site and just general awareness around, Oh,
• 25:29
  pistachio milk, that's a thing now. And we're proud to say, yes, it is a thing now. So we're just through social media also really focused on like laying the foundation and getting that education piece out there because with any new category, there's an enormous need for education and how we're different, why we're healthier than a lot of oat milks out there, why we're more sustainable than almond milk, what we stand for, our social mission, all that kind of stuff.
• 25:56
  I was going to ask you actually about the pistachio milk.com website. That is so incredible. How did you manage to get that? Was it expensive? You know, Dan, you are going to be just as shocked as I was, but I literally could not believe that it was available. I did not have to spend any egregious amount of money at all. I think it was 10 bucks. It was just the standard rate. And it was shocking even to me.
• 26:23
  Oh my gosh, that is meant to be. That's crazy luck. Holy moly. I imagine your SEO then would be so great having that as your domain and for people searching pistachio milk, that would be crazy. I totally, I actually joke with one investor. He was so excited about it, but I say it's like that alone was the reason that he invested. Yeah, I can totally see that actually. Oh my gosh. Yeah.
• 26:52
  I'm wondering, um, you know, I'm aware you're only four weeks into, to selling and that kind of thing, but have you seen, or, or is there any difference in who you thought your customer would be and who your customer actually is? Not a huge, um, surprise in that department. I think, um,
• 27:13
  I think there's maybe just like a wider diversity. You really, you believe so much. It's going to be like the healthiest people, the people who really want the better for you option. They read every ingredient. And we're seeing, of course, some of that, but there's also folks who are, you know, it's really like they're driven by taste and flavor and they want something that's delicious. And maybe health is secondary to that.
• 27:35
  a lot of the reviews we get are really focused just around, like I mentioned before, just that they drink it on its own and it's delicious and they enjoy it as like an on its own, either, you know,
• 27:46
  in the evening, like with cookies or just like as a refreshing thing after working out. So I think if anything, it's just that it's not super targeted around the healthiest consumers, but it's a little, it's that mixed in with folks who that's just an added bonus. That's so interesting. What does the future look like? Is there product expansion? What's sort of next year onwards going to be?
• 28:14
  Yeah, so I always say that Tash, while we're launching a pistachio milk, the long view and the vision for this is for Tash to be a pistachio brand across different categories. You see now that nut-based and plant-based is burgeoning across everything from yogurt to ice cream. There's just so many categories. So really the opportunities are endless.
• 28:42
  For right now, we're focused on creating the most healthy, distinctly delicious plant-based milk out there. I think the immediate next product for us will be doing vanilla and vanilla unsweetened. But for right now, it's just the original and the unsweetened. Yum. Vanilla sounds so delicious. Love that for you. It truly is. That's my favorite. What do you think your superpower is as an entrepreneur?
• 29:12
  Yes. So this is my third startup. It's my father's fourth startup. So I would say that just resilience is something that I've honed and I've practiced and I've had a lot of just experience and experience.
• 29:30
  kind of picking yourself back up and finding a way and problem solving, even when it's maybe the last thing you want to do. My fiance, who's also a part of TASH and runs our biz stuff and sales, he always kind of gives me kudos to that end that I'm a very resilient problem solver. So I think that would have to be my superpower as an entrepreneur. Amazing. What advice do you have for women who have a big idea and want to launch their own
• 30:01
  Yeah. Okay. So I, I did this myself and what I saw in myself and I see in other women is we're excellent researchers really digging into podcasts, just like this one, learning so much, absorbing so much. We're fantastic at like synthesizing information, right? For me, I needed to, at some point also action those things and stop the sort of research
• 30:30
  Where we can kind of coach ourselves a little bit more is, okay, I've done enough of one specific type of research. Now it's time to action it. And it's fun to like, I'm such a book podcast junkie. I love all that. But you also have to remind yourself like actioning it is just as important.
• 30:47
  And sometimes I think as women, we wait a little bit longer than we need to, to be assertive and push the thing over the line or start the thing. And so I always just try and encourage myself, which takes daily reminders to not analysis paralysis it and just do it. And I think that that's just something that will be ongoing, but I love to always remind and talk to other people because it helps to talk about it too. And be like, oh yeah, like this is something that I'm seeing, you know,
• 31:15
  other people do and it helps to just sort of talk through it and, and sort of support each other and, and actioning those things and being assertive with what we want to do with our careers. That is so true. And I think I always come back to that saying of done is better than perfect. Just get started and don't worry about the perfection, which is also something that can cripple, you know, a lot of people, myself included. Absolutely. I could not agree with that more.
• 31:45
  We are up to the six quick questions part of the episode. Oh. Question number one. I ask every woman that I speak to the same six quick questions so that in a few years' time we can look back and see whether there are any trends, you know, that kind of thing. I love this part of the episode. Fun. Question number one is what's your why? What's my why? My why is to help young women and girls get,
• 32:13
  champion their dreams and become entrepreneurs and successful women out in the world. Love that. Love that. Ditto. Question number two is what do you think's been the number one marketing moment that's made your business pop so far? Gosh, that's a tough one. It's been a quick and a whirlwind of four weeks. Um,
• 32:38
  I don't know if this really counts because it happens before, but for me, the marketing moment that felt the most powerful, I would say long term, was really just securing our domain. Getting that URL and having pistachio milk.com for me was a really powerful moment. And so I think that would have to be it.
• 32:58
  Totally. I so get that. Question number three is where do you hang out to get smarter? What books are you reading? What podcasts do you listen to? What newsletters are you subscribing to? Oh, gosh. So this has unfortunately taken a backseat in the last few weeks, but I've always loved VMG's podcast, Unfinished Biz.
• 33:23
  I used to start every single morning with The Daily. I love Allie Kane, who I know you just spoke with in the sauce. She's been really instrumental in my early days of trying to figure out, you know, what are the tactical things I need to do to start a food business? An amazing resource. Love her. And then, of course, everybody's favorite NPR, How I Built This.
• 33:49
  one of our investors and a mentor of mine, Gary, if you have not listened to Gary Hirshberg's episode of how I built this, I couldn't recommend it more. His story is absolutely incredible. Um,
• 34:01
  I'm a real podcast person, but, and then books, of course, um, I read both Obama's books, Michelle and Barack's books this year. And sadly, that is really the only time I had to read at all. So those are the two that made it to 2020. Amazing. I'm going to listen to Gary's episode after this, and I'll link all of those resources in the show notes as well for anyone listening who wants to check those out.
• 34:25
  Question number four is how do you win the day? And that's around your AM and PM rituals that keep you feeling happy and successful and motivated and productive.
• 34:35
  Yes. Love this. And I can answer them very succinctly. Morning, as hard as it is, sometimes I get up at 630. I try to go to the gym from seven to eight. Has to have a coffee before. I don't understand the people who can do workout without the coffee, but incredible. And kudos to all of them.
• 34:56
  Real Housewives. I mean, my poor fiance, but now he's kind of a fan too. It just really helps to decompress and just kind of move from day to wind down. I so hear that. What's that show I watched recently? And it was such great, bad TV. I mean, not bad, but like my husband hates it. Yeah. Selling sunsets on Netflix. Another great example. Yes. Love that show. He's like,
• 35:26
  Question number five, if you only had $1,000 left in your business bank account, where would you spend it? My business bank account. Oh gosh, that's a great question. And I guess pistachios would be too obvious an answer. I would spend it...
• 35:56
  There's so many different directions this could go on. If it's not the pistachios, it would probably be on some ads on social, I would have to say.
• 36:07
  Love that performance marketing, put a dollar in, get a few dollars back, 100%. And last question, question number six is how do you deal with failure? And that can be around a personal experience that you've had and that you can talk to or just your general mindset and approach when things are going wrong or topsy-turvy. Yeah. And this year, it's just been so challenging and I think finding the tools that help you get through failure's business.
• 36:35
  both big and small, personal or as a company. For me, adding to that toolbox has been really important. So I've always been a journaler. For me, that's always been a way to release and work through something and just kind of get it out of my system and have a little bit of closure around things. So I've always been a journaler, and that's been great this year. But what I've added is I've never meditated before 2021.
• 36:59
  Truthfully, I think that, or I had, but it was very sparse in here and there. But now I've built it into my routine as much as I can. So I try and do it at least three times a week.
• 37:11
  And it's really helped, honest to God, like with, you know, failures or just frustrations, things that I, like we talked, touched on earlier, the perfectionism thing is a real struggle. And so with meditating, it's actually really, really helped me get it done and not fixate on, you know, how I could do it better, you know, all that kind of like inner stuff that we get stuck on from time to time. So between those two, those really help. But I think also if,
• 37:39
  If you're not open to therapy and if you haven't tried that, I think that that's great. Adding to your toolbox through therapy is an enormous gift. And I'm just a big proponent of that as well. Amazing. Thank you so much for taking the time to be on the show today and share your incredible journey. I'm just so excited to get to the US and try your products. They sound so right up my alley.
• 38:07
  Oh, I'm so excited. I so wish I could send you a case of Tash. You can't even imagine right now how challenging it is to get holiday orders to our neighbors to the north in Canada or to the south. It's such a challenge to send a liquid. It's blown my mind. It's been a huge learning curve, but we won't get into that. But soon you will and you'll have to tell me what you think. Absolutely. I will do. Thank you so much.
• 38:35
  Thank you so much, Dean. It was so great talking with you.
• 38:42
  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.
• 39:07
  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.
• 39:29
  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.
• 39:46
  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.
• 40:10
  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.
• 40:33
  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.