Today I’m sitting down with Sofia Jiang, the founder of SOFSET, a workwear brand made for the women entering the corporate world who want to look polished, professional, and still like themselves.

Sofia grew up in New York City, went to Georgetown, and started her career in investment banking at Morgan Stanley. But after realizing banking wasn’t the life she wanted to build, she left to pursue startups, fashion, and eventually her own brand.

In this episode, we talk about leaving investment banking, building a fashion brand from scratch, growing a personal brand on TikTok, launching with a waitlist of over 6,000 people, and why Sofia believes your first job does not have to define the rest of your life. We also get into banking culture, career pressure, finding your why, wellness non-negotiables, gratitude, manifesting, and what it means to build a life you’re actually excited to wake up for.

This is such a good episode for college students, young women starting their careers, anyone interested in fashion or finance, and anyone who feels like they’re being pulled down a path that might not actually be for them.

In this episode, Lauren speaks with Rogers Healy about his career across real estate, venture capital, entrepreneurship, and investing.

The conversation explores Rogers’s transition from real estate into venture capital, including the role COVID played in prompting him to reassess what he wanted his next chapter to look like. He discusses what draws him to startups, the traits he looks for in founders, and why gut instinct, curiosity, and a strong sense of personal drive often matter as much as formal experience.

Rogers also shares the thinking behind “Lunch with Legends,” his practice of meeting 3-5 new people each day, and how consistent relationship-building has influenced both his personal and professional life. Beyond investing, he reflects on the importance of family, faith, music, and maintaining a clear sense of purpose outside of work.

This episode offers a thoughtful look at how relationships, conviction, and openness to change can shape an unconventional career path.

In this episode, I sit down with Denise Lambertson, founder and managing partner of Constellation Capital, a venture fund investing in early-stage consumer brands in the health and wellness space.

Denise’s path into venture capital was anything but traditional. She began her career building LMS, a celebrity and influencer marketing agency that connected high-profile talent with emerging brands through sweat equity partnerships. After facilitating a pivotal deal that introduced celebrity investing into her network, she realized she was already operating like a venture fund—just without deploying capital. That insight ultimately led to the creation of Constellation Capital.

We talk about what makes a standout early-stage CPG brand, how consumer trends are identified before they hit the mainstream, and why AI literacy is becoming a critical advantage for founders. Denise also shares how her background in marketing shapes her investment lens, what she looks for beyond traditional metrics, and the lessons she’s learned navigating a non-linear career path.

If you’re interested in venture capital, consumer brands, or building your career in an unconventional way, this episode is for you.

In this episode, I sit down with Holly Thaggard, founder of Supergoop! and a leading force behind the transformation of the suncare industry. What began as a mission to raise awareness around skin cancer has evolved into a category-defining brand, backed by a ~$700M investment from Blackstone’s Growth fund.

We talk through Holly’s journey from identifying whitespace in a stagnant, highly seasonal market to fundamentally shifting how consumers think about SPF, turning it from a beach-day afterthought into a daily skincare essential. Along the way, she shares how education became the foundation of the brand, why changing consumer behavior is one of the hardest challenges in business, and how product innovation helped Supergoop! meet consumers where they already were.

We also dive into her approach to building a mission-driven company, scaling through retail, and what it looks like to step away after 20 years to begin a new chapter focused on creating and solving new problems.

Key Topics Discussed:

• Holly Thaggard’s early entrepreneurial mindset
• The origin story of Supergoop!
• The sunscreen market in the early 2000s
• De-seasonalizing the industry 
• Leading with education to shift consumer behavior
• Habit stacking
• Advocacy and policy work
• Chapter 2

In this episode, I sit down with Jacqueline Tatelman, the Co-Founder and CEO of STATE Bags, to explore her journey with social entrepreneurship.

Founded in 2013 alongside her husband Scott, STATE Bags was born out of their firsthand experience running a nonprofit summer camp for New York City youth. Since its inception, the brand has grown from a one-for-one backpack company into a global lifestyle brand known for its premium products and deep commitment to supporting American children and families in the ways they need it most.

Topics Discussed:

• The origin story of STATE Bags
• STATE's social impact model evolution
• The design process and finding inspiration
• Jacq's transition to CEO
• Reigniting inspiration
• How social entrepreneurship has impacted Jacq
• How Jacq spends a day off
• Advice to young adults

In this episode, I sit down with Amanda Chantal Bacon, founder of Moon Juice, to explore her remarkable journey of healing her own autoimmune condition and pioneering the use of adaptogens in modern supplements and skincare.

Founded in 2011 in Venice, California as a local juice bar, Moon Juice has grown to be one of the wellness industry's most beloved brands. Known for its “cult-like following” and home to Moon Dusts, Sleepy Girl Mocktails, and SuperYou, the brand has transformed how we think about daily wellness and has remained a trusted leader through its commitment to clean, efficacious formulas.

Amanda takes us back to 2010 during a time before adaptogens went mainstream, before oat milk was in every coffee shop, and before wellness content flooded social media, to share the origin story of Moon Juice.

Topics Discussed:

• Moon Juice's origin story: Amanda’s quest to put her autoimmune disorder into remission, and creating an education-first platform to make holistic healing more accessible
• The dichotomy of being a “wellness entrepreneur”: Navigating overextension in a high-stress business world, and the importance of building a sustainable team structure
• Amanda’s wellness essentials: Why grounding your health habits in sleep and nervous system regulation matters more than expensive wellness trends
• Learning to say no: Her journey toward developing self-worth, boundaries, and stepping back to take care of yourself
• What she attributes Moon Juice’s “cult-like following” to: The importance of formula efficacy and 15 years of growth alongside customers

Check out the episode transcript at: https://www.doubletakepodcast.io/episodes/amanda-chantal-bacon

What does it look like to build a wellness company without cutting corners on quality, science, or values?

In this episode, Lauren Stenger sits down with Shahab Elmi, co-founder of Cymbiotika, to unpack the philosophy, science, and discipline behind one of the fastest-growing and most trusted supplement brands.

Shahab shares how a personal health wake-up call shifted his priorities, and ultimately led to the creation of Cymbiotika in 2018 with a radical premise: build the highest-quality wellness products possible, without optimizing for margins. That decision shaped everything from Cymbiotika’s R&D process to its industry-leading transparency, third-party testing standards, and fully in-house operations.

In this conversation, we explore:

• What liposomal supplements are and why bioavailability matters
• Shahab’s non-negotiable daily wellness habits, from training and diet to sauna and cold exposure
• How Cymbiotika scaled rapidly without sacrificing trust, quality, or brand integrity
• The mindset required to build companies that last, and why failure is part of the process

This episode is a must-listen for anyone interested in health optimization, science-backed wellness, entrepreneurship, or building brands with long-term credibility. Whether you’re a founder, a student, or simply trying to take better care of your body, this conversation offers both practical insight and perspective.

Cymbiotika • Shahab Elmi • liposomal supplements • bioavailability • longevity • NAD+ • wellness routines • health optimization • supplement science • purpose-driven entrepreneurship

Dr. James Gordon is a Harvard-trained psychiatrist who has spent nearly five decades challenging the way we think about mental and emotional suffering. After growing skeptical of traditional psychiatry’s one-size-fits-all solutions, he pioneered a mind body approach that blends science, self-care, and community support, a model now used everywhere from U.S. medical schools to regions affected by war and conflict. In this episode, Dr. Gordon shares the simple, biologically grounded techniques that help quiet stress, strengthen resilience, and reconnect us with our own internal resources.

Along the way, he reflects on the stories that shaped his work and explains why the mind body connection is far more than a wellness trend: it’s a science backed framework that can change lives at scale. Whether you're curious about soft belly breathing, navigating trauma, or rethinking what mental health can look like, this conversation offers practical tools and a fresh, hopeful perspective on the human capacity to adapt and grow.

In this episode, Lauren speaks with Mike Mauzé , Co-Founder and General Partner of VMG Partners, a San Francisco–based private equity firm investing in category-defining consumer and tech brands like Spindrift, [solidcore], Sun Bum, and Drunk Elephant. Since its founding in 2005, VMG has completed more than sixty investments and recently closed Fund VI at $1 billion, marking its largest fund to date.

Key topics discussed include:

• Mike’s career journey from investment banking to pioneering growth equity before it was mainstream

• The founding vision of VMG, built around values, collaboration, and authentic partnerships with entrepreneurs

• The meaning behind “Velocity Made Good” and how it reflects the non-linear path of building brands

• VMG’s investment philosophy, blending art and science to identify visionary founders and high-growth brands

• Firm culture and individuality, and why authenticity is essential for building trust with entrepreneurs

• The evolution of consumer marketing, from in-store demos to TikTok and influencer-driven channels

• Lessons from decades in investing, including embracing mistakes and the value of continuous learning

• Mike’s five-year cross-country bike journey, revisiting places from his life and career

• Advice for young professionals, focusing on building a strong foundation before stepping into creative, opportunity-driven phases of a career

More of VMG Partners: www.vmgpartners.com

In this episode, Jeni Britton founder of Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams and Floura, shares her entrepreneurial journey from questioning rules as a kid to building companies that merge creativity, resilience, and purpose. She explains how thinking of ice cream as scent, story, and art helped her stand out, why creativity is really about doing more with less, and how constraints fuel innovation. Jeni also opens up about the importance of struggle in shaping entrepreneurs, the deep connection between scent, memory, and nostalgia, and how those ideas now carry into Floura, her new wellness brand turning produce trimmings into fiber-rich bars that support gut health and joy.