Pooneh has lived the entrepreneur life for the past 25 years and has experienced the trials and tribulations of starting and scaling a business. She is currently the CEO and Co-Founder of Tokidoki a sought after global lifestyle brand with a cult like following which has had partnerships with Hello Kitty, Karl Lagerfeld, LeSportsac, Barbie, Sephora, Marvel and many others. She also cofounded Hard Candy, the ground breaking nail polish and cosmetics brand, with her sister Dineh which they scaled and sold to LVMH, Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SA, in 1999.

In this fascinating interview Pooneh walks us through the early days of Hard Candy, when her sister was creating and mixing colors for their revolutionary nail polish in a bath tub, selling their first bottle on consignment at Fred Segal and the complexities of a family partnership. We also touch on how her and her ex-husband, serial entrepreneur Ivan Arnold stumbled upon Simone Legno's brilliant artistic universe and the vision which led to the formation of Tokidoki. Pooneh has experienced the pitfalls of start up culture, the challenges of explosive growth, the euphoria of selling to a large multinational conglomerate and the hundreds of interconnected relationships which can make you or break you.

This is a true testament to mental toughness, grit, passion and perseverance the core ingredients behind every successful endeavor. School is in session.

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Simone Legno

Pooneh Mohajer

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