This is the first time I officially met Rechelle Balanzat, which is rare for my podcast guests. But prior to our interview, I did my homework and was completely FASCINATED by what she does and how she’s reinventing and reviving a somewhat tried-and-true experience (laundry and dry cleaning) with technology. 

Rechelle founded JULIETTE, a full-service laundry company that picks up, cleans and delivers clothes with a click of a button in the heart of New York City. JULIETTE clearly sits at the intersection of fashion, lifestyle, and technology and in just a few short years, it’s already a leading innovator within the industry.

I did my homework on Rechelle… and something that really resonated with me about her story was the fact that she is an Asian immigrant woman who built JULIETTE with zero funding. 

Rechelle wrote in an email to me and my podcast producer: 

“In 2020, VC’s invested $428M into US-based startups each day. That’s $156.2B in one year. 2.3% of that went to women. 0.2% went to women of color.”

Only .2% of US venture capital went to women of color… Clearly, the numbers were against her.

Listen as she answers how she made it work with the odds stacked against her and how she revolutionized an industry without any investors. 

We break down how she went from knowing nothing about running and owning a laundry service to building a company rooted in new technology while simultaneously working her 9-5.