January Recap 2022

Written by: Kaylee Franklin

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This year we wanted to take some time to look back each month and reflect on the episodes we published for the month prior. We’ll cover what we learned from each episode, share their best piece of advice, and give you a glimpse into what you can expect launching this month on the podcast! We present to you, our very first monthly recap of 2022: January Recap 2022

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1. Roles, Raising, and Rae 

Starting off strong, we have Angie Tebbe from Rae Wellness! 

Angie is the Co-Founder and CEO of Rae Wellness, a modern supplement brand designed to nourish your body and mind to help you feel your best and shine from inside.  Angie shares with us her journey from growing up in a holistic household, to working at Target for 13 years, how her background in merchandising helped her build a business model around scale, and the challenges she’s faced while fundraising.

She came packed with lots of wisdom and advice about what she's learned in fundraising, how to give in and fully follow your dreams and passions, why it's important to live your truth and be yourself, and that part of raising capital is finding your pocket of people that support what you do and getting one person to bet on you.

Best piece of advice:

“Prioritization and discipline are my biggest challenges. You can do ten things okay, or you can do three things exceptionally well and get them over the finish line and execute really well.”

If you haven’t listened to Angie’s episode yet, listen HERE!

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2. Staying True to Clean Beauty

Our second episode published this year was with Hillary Peterson, Founder of True Botanicals

Hillary talked about her journey to becoming the Founder of True Botanicals, a luxurious, consciously crafted skincare brand on a mission to deliver clean, non-toxic, and sustainable products that are clinically proven to work with ethically sourced vegan ingredients.

Hillary shared what it was like growing up with three sisters and entrepreneurial parents in Pasadena, California and how living in an entrepreneurial household gave her the drive to start her own business. She also talked about the lessons she learned from knowing when it was the right time to make my transition from CEO to Founder and bringing in the right person to help scale the business, and how it's really important to not sweat the small stuff.

Best piece of advice:

“The key is to be incredibly selective about the people that ultimately invest in your company, because you will be interacting with them for a very long time”

To listen to more of Hillary’s story, check out Episode 88

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3. Shaving the Way

A good start to the middle of the month came from Leslie Tessler, Founder and CEO of Hanni

Leslie has a very interesting story about how she came up with the idea for Hanni, a beauty tools line that believes shaving is the first step to great skin. Hanni has a really unique design with their weighted razor and hydrating glycerin packed shave pillow, and Hanni’s technology brings the power and freedom to shave anywhere, anytime, no water needed!

She shares why it's important to put yourself in situations that scare you, to look outside of those traditional sources of funding, because you might find a lot of really interesting, cool people who might be willing to take a chance on you, and how when you have moments of self doubt it's important to remember to just put one foot in front of the other and keep going. 

Best piece of advice:

“When I have those moments of self doubt, I remember my husband always says to me, ‘just put one foot in front of the other and keep going’, because this is the moment where so many entrepreneurs just bow out. If you do that, you'll just be like everyone else who wanted to start a company and never got very far or never ended up launching or whatever the case may be. I always remember that.”

To hear more of Leslie’s great advice tune in to Episode 89!

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4. Collagen Cures

Finishing out the month of January is Carolyn Yachanin, Founder and CEO of Copina Co.

Lee chatted with Carolyn about her journey to founding Copaina Co, a modern wellness company that offers plant-based collagen drink blends that help support your body's own natural collagen production for lasting hair, skin, and nail benefits all without the use of animal products.

Carolyn shared the struggles she faced in launching three weeks prior to the pandemic and was forced to become a DTC company but is now selling in Erewhon and Urban Outfitters, and how at the end of the day it’s important to build your brand and tell your story. 

Best piece of advice:

“Stay true to yourself and think about how you can bring joy to others, but also bring joy to yourself. Do something when it's right, but also ask yourself ‘why’ instead of just following the crowd.”

Listen to Carolyn’s inspiring story here!

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Being True to Yourself

In looking back on the month of January, we got to hear the stories of four amazing women, each from very different backgrounds and fields, but all coming with the same purpose of staying true to themselves and their brand. 

Each woman found it important to be themselves in every moment from idea formation, funding, managing, and so much more. They choose to lead by example and are open to sharing their struggles so we can all learn from each other. 

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Next Month

Stay tuned next month for our February recap featuring Yaw Aning of Malomo, Shai Eisenman of Bubble, Jordan Nathan of Caraway, and Greg Davidson of Lalo!

Have any guest suggestions, comments or questions about Stairway to CEO? Drop us a line here!