What happens when the business changes, but the reason you started building it doesn’t?

Joe Feminella and Hannah are building an ecosystem around one core idea: bringing people together in real life.

In the Season 1 finale of Born To Build, we talk about the evolution from First Round’s On Me to Lettuce, building The Brownstone Social, creating businesses that work together, knowing when to pivot without abandoning the bigger vision, and what it looks like to build alongside your partner while raising a family.

We also get into ambition, connection, curation, taking risks, knowing what opportunities to say no to, and why technology might be most powerful when it helps us spend less time on it.

Guests:

Joe & Hannah Feminella

@firstroundsonjoe @hannah_glasby

Lettuce @lettuce.social

The Brownstone Social @thebrownstonesocial

Nyla @nyladrinks

F.R.O.M Podcast @firstroundsonmepodcast

Listen & Subscribe:

BornToBuildPodcast.com

YouTube: https://youtu.be/OppT1yXjihw

Apple Podcasts: https://tr.ee/1HcLXID7Ht

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Instagram: @borntobuildpodcast

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Music: https://tinyurl.com/3pepwnc

What does it take to build a physical product in an industry you’ve never worked in, while still working full-time?

In this episode of Born To Build, I sit down with Sweetr co-founders Jared Markowitz and Emily Gamza, two lifelong friends who turned an idea for a better everyday sweetener into a CPG brand.

Neither Jared nor Emily came from the CPG world. They built Sweetr while navigating full-time careers, learning product development, manufacturing, branding, distribution and customer acquisition as they went.

We talk about what it’s really like to build a company with your best friend, how they divide responsibilities based on their strengths, the difference between creating a great product and getting people to buy it, and how they decide where to spend their time and money while building something from the ground up.

Jared and Emily also share what they’ve learned about entering an unfamiliar industry, figuring things out in real time and what it takes to turn an idea into something people can actually hold, use and buy.

00:00 Building Sweetr in 8 Months

00:28 Meet Jared & Emily

03:00 From Lifelong Friends to Co-Founders

04:49 Growing Up Around Entrepreneurship

08:01 The Idea Behind Sweetr

10:37 Saying Yes to the Idea

13:20 The Original Idea Wasn't the Final Product

15:47 Building a CPG Product From Scratch

18:12 Knowing When to Pivot

20:04 Developing & Taste Testing the Product

22:38 Use Your Network, Then Expand It

24:20 Knowing When It's Time to Launch

26:04 Bootstrapping While Working Full-Time

28:30 The Dream of Building Full-Time

30:29 Building With Different Strengths

32:27 Finding Their Actual Customer

35:21 Becoming the Face of Your Business

38:52 Knowing When to Turn Down Investment

40:40 Rapid-Fire: Co-Founder Edition

42:24 Were You Born To Build?

42:42 Where to Find Sweetr + BTB20

Guest:Jared Markowitz & Emily Gamza, Co-Founders of Sweetrgetsweetr.com (Enjoy 20% off with code BTB20)

@getsweetr

Listen & Subscribe:BornToBuildPodcast.comhttps://youtu.be/75oVr2O01gchttps://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/born-to-build-with-sarafina-mancuso/id1896610369

Follow Born to Build:Instagram @borntobuildpodcastTikTok @borntobuildpodcast

Music: https://tinyurl.com/3pepwnc

What if your body knows something before your mind is ready to trust it?

For more than 30 years, Jen Aks has explored the relationship between movement, communication and the intelligence of the body. Today, she is an embodied leadership coach, educator, TEDx speaker, author of Your Body Is Speaking and creator of The Power of Gesture®, a methodology built around accessing the wisdom we already carry within us.

In Episode 8 of Born To Build, Sarafina Mancuso sits down with Jen Aks to discuss body intelligence, the gap between knowing, trusting and acting, why mindset alone isn't always enough, nervous system regulation in leadership, learning to recognize the signals your body is sending you, and what it takes to turn decades of expertise and lived experience into a body of work that is entirely your own.

More than a conversation about movement, this episode explores self-trust, intuition, embodied leadership, reinvention, communication, decision-making, intellectual property and what can happen when you stop looking outside of yourself for answers you may already know.

If you're building a business, a career, a body of work, or simply learning to trust yourself more deeply, this conversation is for you.

Chapters

00:00 Meet Jen Aks
03:16 Building The Power of Gesture
07:43 The Story We Build About Ourselves
09:05 Turning Down Dinner With JFK Jr.
11:13 When Your Body Knows Before Your Mind
15:31 Mindset vs. Bodyset
17:05 The Four Forms of Intelligence
20:28 Turning 30 Years of Work Into a Methodology
25:25 Building Intellectual Property From Expertise
30:06 Knowing, Trusting & Acting
35:15 Reinvention & Starting Again
41:31 Leaving a 20-Year Marriage
46:08 The Self-Trust Gap
50:11 Nervous System Regulation & Leadership
54:17 All Detours Are in the Right Direction
58:22 Were You Born To Build?

Guest 

Jen Aks @jen_aks

Listen & Subscribe:

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Music: https://tinyurl.com/3pepwnc

What if you could build the audience before you built the business?

Anthony Portale built the career he was supposed to have. Then he walked away from it and came home to what he'd always loved: cars.

After earning his master's, becoming a CPA, and building a career in accounting in New York City, Anthony made the decision to return home and open Giovanni & Anthony Auto. What followed wasn't simply taking over a family business.

In Episode 7 of Born To Build, Sarafina Mancuso sits down with Anthony Portale, owner of Giovanni & Anthony Auto and founder of Whistle Motors, to discuss leaving accounting for entrepreneurship, reinventing a family business, building alongside his father, turning a lifelong passion for cars into a profession, and creating three businesses that ultimately strengthen and feed one another.

Under one roof, Anthony has helped reimagine Giovanni & Anthony Auto, grown a car storage business, and built Whistle Motors, a platform centered around car culture, community, content, and education. By building trust and an audience online before having a product to sell them, Anthony discovered an unconventional approach he calls “building a business backwards.”

The conversation explores entrepreneurship, ownership, pressure, consistency, family legacy, social media, community, calculated risk, sacrifice, self-belief, and what it means to play the long game while building in your twenties.

If you're building a business, navigating a career change, carrying something forward, or figuring out how to turn what you genuinely love into something bigger, this conversation is for you.

Guest
Anthony Portale
Whistle Motors @whistlemotors
Giovanni & Anthony Auto

Chapters

00:00 From Corporate Accounting to Cars
03:26 Following the Green Lights
08:19 Building a Business Backwards
11:35 Sacrificing vs. Investing in Your 20s
18:00 Family Legacy & Building With His Dad
22:07 Authenticity & Playing the Long Game
26:06 Seeing the Gap That Became Whistle Motors
31:01 Community Over Followers
35:57 Were You Born To Build?
36:48 Do the Work Before You Talk About It

Listen & Subscribe:

⁠⁠Born To Build ⁠⁠

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Music: https://tinyurl.com/3pepwnc

Most people see puppies. Builders see the business.

Puppy Sphere may look simple from the outside: puppy yoga, puppy Pilates, and an experience designed to make people feel good. Underneath it is a rapidly scaling operation spanning real estate, hiring, finance, technology, animal welfare, customer experience, leadership, and expansion.

In Episode 7 of Born To Build, Sarafina Mancuso sits down with Francesca Albo, Co-Founder & CEO of Puppy Sphere, to unpack how a simple idea grew into a bootstrapped business with more than $14 million in lifetime sales, 13+ locations across Canada and the U.S., 200+ employees, and more than 450,000 customers before raising outside capital. 

Together, they discuss building a category-defining company, finding product-market fit, scaling physical locations, protecting the customer experience as the business grows, building community as a competitive advantage, navigating the founder relationship, preparing for their first institutional fundraise, and the operational complexity behind a brand that looks effortless from the outside.

The conversation explores entrepreneurship, scaling, operations, customer experience, community, leadership, real estate, fundraising, founder dynamics, mental wellness, and what it takes to build systems around something people love without losing the feeling that made them love it in the first place. That tension between scaling the company and protecting its original “softness” was explicitly part of the episode's intended thesis. 

If you're building a consumer brand, scaling a physical business, or trying to turn a simple idea into something much bigger, this conversation is for you.

Guest
Francesca Albo @francescaalbo

The Puppy Sphere @thepuppysphere

Chapters

00:00 Puppy Sphere's $14M Bootstrapped Success
03:02 Francesca & Leia's Personal Healing Journey
05:42 How Puppy Sphere Was Born
07:49 Ethics & Community in Puppy Yoga
11:02 Building With Your Best Friend
16:46 Learning to Raise Capital
20:42 The Motivation Behind the Mission
23:02 Scaling a Physical Business Quickly
28:27 Why Founders Have to Embrace Discomfort
32:32 Knowing When to Raise Capital
34:59 Starting Before You're Ready
39:27 Protecting the Mission While Scaling
46:04 Advice for New Entrepreneurs

Listen & Subscribe:

⁠⁠⁠Born To Build ⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠Youtube⁠⁠⁠

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Music: https://tinyurl.com/3pepwnc

What if the best way to know whether an idea will work is to actually put it into the world?

Cara Lash didn't set out to reinvent outdoor travel. She saw a simple problem: New Yorkers wanted to get out of the city, but planning the transportation, activities, equipment, and logistics made it harder than it needed to be. So she built Caravan to do it for them.

In Episode 5 of Born To Build, Sarafina Mancuso sits down with Cara Lash, founder of Caravan, to explore leaving consulting to build a company from scratch, recognizing an opportunity that was hiding in plain sight, launching before everything was perfect, learning directly from customers, and adjusting the business in real time.

Together, they discuss how her background in strategy and operations prepared her for entrepreneurship, selling out early trips, building community around a service, partnerships and brand collaborations, mentorship, balancing instinct with customer feedback, and the realities of building a business around something you genuinely want to exist.

The conversation explores entrepreneurship, market gaps, execution, customer feedback, community, operations, partnerships, mentorship, experimentation, work-life balance, and why sometimes the only way to figure out what works is to start.

If you're sitting on an idea, waiting until you feel ready, or trying to figure out whether something is worth building, this conversation is for you. 

Guest 

Cara Lash @caravantripplan

Chapters

00:00 Meet Cara Lash & Caravan
01:22 From Michigan to New York City
01:51 How Consulting Prepared Her for Entrepreneurship
04:00 Finding the Idea for Caravan
07:00 Recognizing a Gap in the Market
10:00 From Idea to First Trip
13:00 Launching Before You Feel Ready
16:00 Selling Out & Learning From Early Customers
19:00 Building Through Feedback, Not Perfection
22:00 Creating Community Around the Experience
25:00 Brand Partnerships & Growing Caravan
28:00 Mentorship & Learning From Other Founders
31:00 What Cara Has Learned Building in Real Time
34:00 Knowing What to Listen to and What to Ignore
37:37 Building a Life Beyond the Business
38:59 Were You Born To Build?

Listen & Subscribe:

⁠⁠Born To Build ⁠⁠

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Follow Born to Build:

Instagram ⁠⁠@borntobuildpodcast⁠⁠

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Music: https://tinyurl.com/3pepwnc

What happens when the thing you love doing becomes the business you have to learn how to run?

Ryan Schumack never set out to become a business owner. He wanted to make great coffee, create beautiful spaces, and be a good neighbor. But turning that passion into Sweetbee Café meant learning how to build far beyond the craft itself.

In Episode 4 of Born To Build, Sarafina Mancuso sits down with Ryan Schumack, co-owner of Sweetbee Café, to explore what happens when passion becomes a profession. Together, they discuss building a business from the ground up, balancing creativity with operations, creating systems that scale, the realities of entrepreneurship, why perfection isn't the goal, finding leverage in business, and the lessons every builder learns along the way.

The conversation explores entrepreneurship, hospitality, operations, systems, creativity, community, leadership, leverage, perfectionism, and what it takes to build a sustainable business around something you genuinely love.

If you're building a business, a career, or simply trying to create something meaningful, this conversation is for you.

Guest 

Ryan Schumack @rswinter @sweetbeebk

Chapters00:00 Meet Ryan Schumack
04:25 From Minnesota to New York
07:40 Taking the Leap With $300
11:48 How Coffee Became the Business
13:00 The Space He Couldn't Stop Thinking About
15:13 When Passion Becomes a Profession
16:53 Finding Leverage: “Find Your Banana”
18:06 From People Pleaser to Business Owner
19:02 Turning What’s in Your Head Into Systems
21:19 Customer Service Is the Real Business
22:41 Can You Teach Employees to Care Like a Founder?
24:00 Building Standards Without Chasing Perfection
29:00 The Reality of the Numbers Behind a Café
34:00 Opening a Second Location
40:24 Working On the Business, Not in the Business
41:03 How Entrepreneurship Changes the Way You Think
47:21 Quality Over Quantity Online
49:19 Were You Born To Build?

Listen & Subscribe:

Born To Build: BornToBuildPodcast.com

YouTube: [Ryan episode link]

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Music: https://tinyurl.com/3pepwnc

What makes someone irreplaceable after more than three decades in an industry that never stops changing?

For more than 35 years, Wally Feresten has helped guide live television through thousands of sketches, hosts, musical performances, and moments that audiences never realize depend on the cue cards in his hands.

As the longtime cue card supervisor for Saturday Night Live and Late Night with Seth Meyers, Wally has spent decades operating in one of the highest-pressure creative environments imaginable, mastering a craft so specific, so human, and so pressure-dependent that technology never replaced it.

In Episode 3 of Born To Build, Sarafina Mancuso sits down with Wally Feresten to discuss his journey into television, building a career at SNL, operating under pressure, mastering a highly specialized craft, adapting alongside technology, turning decades of expertise into a business of his own, and what it means to build a life around becoming exceptional at one thing.

The conversation explores craftsmanship, live television, pressure, reputation, entrepreneurship, human connection, legacy, execution, and what it means to make the impossible possible, week after week, for more than three decades.

If you're building a career, mastering a craft, or trying to understand what makes someone's value endure as industries and technology change around them, this conversation is for you.

Guest 

Wally Feresten @cuecardwally_official

Chapters

00:00 Meet Wally Feresten
04:38 Getting His Start at SNL
09:47 How Saturday Night Live Actually Works
16:07 Spending Decades Inside One Creative Family
22:44 Operating Under Pressure
29:49 What Makes a Great Cue Card?
35:52 Working With Celebrities & Building Trust
39:07 Why Cue Cards Survived Technology
42:07 Turning a Craft Into a Business
47:32 From Labor to Leverage
52:43 What Students Need to Know About Building a Career
57:08 Ideas Are Easy. Execution Is Everything.
59:35 Were You Born To Build?

Listen & Subscribe:

⁠Born To Build ⁠

⁠Youtube⁠

⁠Apple Podcasts⁠

Follow Born to Build:

Instagram ⁠@borntobuildpodcast⁠

TikTok⁠ @borntobuildpodcast⁠

Music: https://tinyurl.com/3pepwnc

What if the thing everyone else overlooks is exactly where you see the most potential?

Duncan Smith built Trash Boy NYC around seeing possibility in what already exists. What began with a genuine instinct for thrifting, upcycling, and reimagining clothing grew into a creative career, a recognizable brand, and opportunities that have taken his work far beyond New York.

In Episode 2 of Born To Build, Sarafina Mancuso sits down with Duncan to explore building Trash Boy NYC, turning creativity into a business, developing your own point of view, navigating pricing and the creator economy, adapting as opportunities evolve, and learning how to make a living from something that doesn't follow a traditional career path.

The conversation explores creativity, upcycling, entrepreneurship, personal branding, pricing psychology, adaptability, content creation, opportunity, mentorship, self-trust, and what it takes to recognize potential before other people can see it.

If you're building a creative career, turning a skill into a business, or figuring out how to create value from what others might overlook, this conversation is for you.

Guest 

Duncan Smith @trashboynyc

Chapters

00:00 Meet Duncan Smith
03:00 Moving From the UK to New York
06:00 Discovering Thrifting & Upcycling
09:00 Seeing Potential in What Others Overlook
12:00 Turning Creativity Into a Career
16:00 Building Trash Boy NYC
20:00 Social Media & the Creator Economy
24:00 Pricing Your Work & Knowing Your Value
29:00 Learning to Say Yes to Opportunity
34:00 Mentorship & Learning From Other Creatives
39:00 Adapting as the Business Grows
44:00 Building a Career Without a Traditional Roadmap
50:00 What’s Next for Trash Boy NYC
58:00 Were You Born To Build?

Listen & Subscribe:

Born To Build

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TikTok @borntobuildpodcast

Music: https://tinyurl.com/3pepwnc

How do you turn one area of expertise into multiple businesses, communities, and opportunities?

Shermin Lakha built more than a law firm. As the founder of LVLUP Legal, she took expertise in a traditionally transactional, buttoned-up industry and built a modern legal brand around visibility, relationships, community, and trust.

In Episode 1 of Born To Build, Sarafina Mancuso sits down with Shermin to explore how she built LVLUP Legal, used social media to create visibility in the legal industry, scaled an all-women team, built businesses beyond the law, and turned relationships and community into a meaningful part of her business development strategy.

The conversation explores entrepreneurship, discernment, proximity, networking, personal branding, community, business development, visibility, risk, leadership, and what it takes to continuously evolve as both an operator and a public-facing founder.

If you're building from an existing skill, figuring out how to expand beyond your core business, or learning how to turn relationships into genuine community, this conversation is for you.

Guest
Shermin Lakha @shermin.lakha
LVLUP Legal @lvluplegal

Chapters

00:00 Meet Shermin Lakha
02:07 Blending Personal & Professional Brands
03:42 Confidence, Presence & Owning Your Power
05:58 Building a Visible Law Brand
06:32 The Skill of Simplifying Problems
08:35 Conviction, Negotiation & Becoming a Lawyer
10:22 Walking Away From the Traditional Path
12:38 Turning Relationships Into Business
13:23 Getting Into the Right Rooms
16:20 Building an All-Women Law Firm
18:27 Bringing Men Into Women’s Spaces
19:05 Leadership, Boundaries & Being Liked
22:27 High Performers, Receiving & Relationships
25:43 Money, Love & an Abundance Mindset
47:27 Quality Over Quantity Online
48:44 Why Not Me?
49:14 Were You Born To Build?

Listen & Subscribe:

Born To Build

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Follow Born to Build:

Instagram @borntobuildpodcast

TikTok @borntobuildpodcast

Music: https://tinyurl.com/3pepwnc