Jen Rubio was born in the Philippines and moved to New Jersey at seven years old. She arrived in a classroom where she didn't look like anyone around her, got placed in ESL classes, and spent years hiding her accent, her food, her whole self — just trying to belong. In this episode of Fifteenish, I'm not talking about the suitcase or the billion dollar valuation. I'm talking about that classroom. And what it costs a person to flatten themselves to fit a room that wasn't built for them — and what gets built when they finally stop. Jen went on to co-found Away, grow it to a $1.4 billion valuation, and step in as CEO for the first time ever — eight months pregnant — when the company needed someone who actually believed in what it was supposed to be. This one is about visibility, belonging, and what becomes possible when someone finally goes first.

Sources & Disclaimer

• Wikipedia — Jen Rubio entry
• CNN Money — The Founders of Away Changed the Luggage Industry After a Travel Mishap (October 2017)
• Asian Journal News — Meet the Filipina Who Turned a Suitcase Filled With Dreams Into a Billion-Dollar Reality (October 2025)
• Grokipedia — Jen Rubio entry
• Forbes — Jen Rubio interviews and features
• Blank Brand — Women to Watch Vol 1: Jen Rubio's Community-First Brand Strategy (September 2025)
• Medium / The Founder Stories — Meet Jen Rubio, Who Created the Perfect Suitcase at Away



All facts shared in this episode are based on information available at the time of recording. Any personal reflections, interpretations, or opinions are my own. If anything is found to be inaccurate, I'm happy to issue a correction.

Jen Atkin grew up in a conservative Mormon community in Utah, adopted at birth, with one tiny salon in her town and a dream that had nowhere to go. At nineteen she moved to Los Angeles with $300, spent a year calling salons with no callbacks, and took a receptionist job on Beverly Boulevard just to get in the door. In this episode of Fifteenish, I talk about how she worked her way from answering phones to styling Madonna's world tour, built one of the most recognizable careers in beauty alongside the Kardashians, and then did something nobody expected — she started over. In 2016 she launched OUAI, a haircare brand built around the simple idea that women deserved products made by someone who actually understood their lives. It sold to Procter and Gamble in 2022 for nine figures. And it all started because a rock star asked what she wanted and she already knew.

I found today's founder the way I hope more founders find each other... completely by accident. Alice Bugeja, the founder of mileoff, was out on a run when she spotted a woman wearing her gear, ran up to introduce herself, and discovered she was talking to a founder. That founder was Emily Tout, co-founder and CEO of Mighty Slice. Alice even posted a reel about it. And I went down a rabbit hole immediately.

Emily's story is one of the most honest ones I've told on this show. She wanted to be a lawyer since she was eight years old. She went to the London School of Economics, pursued space law, got the career — and then realized it felt completely wrong. What followed was an identity crisis, a brother who was obsessed with entrepreneurship podcasts, a powerlifting habit that rewired how she thought, and a very simple question she couldn't stop asking: why do protein products taste so terrible? Mighty Slice started in her kitchen in 2021. In January 2023 the team was still hand-making every single cheesecake themselves. By the end of that year revenue had grown 1,900%. They're now in Asda, Sainsbury's and Ocado. She's still in it. Still building. And what she said about risk is something I haven't been able to stop thinking about.

Sources and Disclaimer

• Recipe for Greatness Podcast — From Powerlifting to Protein-Rich Desserts: Emily Tout's Journey with Mighty Slice (November 2024)
• The Grocer — Mighty Slice Nets Almost £1M in Fresh Investment as Giles Brook Backs High-Protein Cheesecake Brand (January 2025)
• Emily Tout — LinkedIn (@emily-tout)
• Alice Bugeja — Instagram @aliceroserunner (reel featuring the encounter)
• mightyslice.co.uk

All facts shared in this episode are based on information available at the time of recording. Any personal reflections, interpretations, or opinions are my own. If anything is found to be inaccurate, I'm happy to issue a correction.

Allison Ellsworth is the co-founder of Poppi, the prebiotic soda brand acquired by PepsiCo in May 2025 for $1.95 billion. In this episode of Fifteenish, I talk about how she spent ten years on the road in the oil and gas industry, developed serious health problems nobody could diagnose, fixed it herself with apple cider vinegar, and then spent three months in her kitchen trying to make it taste good enough to share. From mason jars to her neighbors, to a Whole Foods buyer showing up at her farmers market booth three weeks in, to pitching on Shark Tank nine months pregnant, to going viral on TikTok during a global pandemic with zero makeup and one honest video — Allison's story is about what happens when you stop waiting for someone else to solve your problem and just go figure it out yourself.

Sources & Disclaimer

• Texas Monthly — How Poppi Founder Allison Ellsworth Went From Shark Tank to Shark (September 2025)
• CNBC Make It — Poppi Went From Kitchen Experiment to $2 Billion Deal With PepsiCo (October 2025)
• Entrepreneur — She Went From Being Ignored at a Farmer's Market to Selling to PepsiCo for $1.95 Billion (2025)
• Tribeza — How Austin-Based Founders Journeyed From the Farmers Market to a $1.95 Billion-Dollar Brand (June 2025)
• DFW Child — Poppi's Allison Ellsworth on Trusting Her Gut
• Austin Woman — Allison Ellsworth: Poppi Power
• Wikipedia — Poppi entry

All facts shared in this episode are based on information available at the time of recording. Any personal reflections, interpretations, or opinions are my own. If anything is found to be inaccurate, I'm happy to issue a correction.

Allison Ellsworth IG

Poppi website

Poppi IG

There's a voice most of us have. The one that says not yet, not you, not this. And today's founder built an entire brand around proving it wrong. Alice Bugeja is the solo-female founder of mileoff — a women's running brand she built completely from scratch, self-funded, while working full time at Dyson, in a city where she barely knew anyone. She spent two years building in secret before anyone knew her name and launched on International Women's Day March 2025 to a completely sold out first drop. In this episode we talk about the history behind the name mileoff, Kathrine Switzer and what actually happened at the 1967 Boston Marathon, and why the most powerful thing Alice did wasn't design a product, it was letting people in. This one's for anyone who's been dreaming about something for a year without actually doing the hard part yet.

Sources & Disclaimer

• Hypebae — Why Mileoff Makes Running Gear for the Girlies (July 2025)
• Emirates Woman — How Alice Bugeja is Redefining the Activewear Space with Mileoff (September 2025)
• Alice Bugeja — LinkedIn and TikTok (@aliceroserunner)
• Sky Sports News — Kathrine Switzer: First Woman to Officially Run Boston Marathon (December 2021)
• Wikipedia — Kathrine Switzer entry
• Running USA — Women's marathon participation data

All facts shared in this episode are based on information available at the time of recording. Any personal reflections, interpretations, or opinions are my own. If anything is found to be inaccurate, I'm happy to issue a correction.

mileoff website

mileoff instagram

Alice Bugeja instagram

Three weeks into marathon training (not a runner, by the way) I hurt my foot. And the frustration of being forced to slow down right when I'd finally found my momentum sent me straight to Ellen Latham's story. Ellen was a single mom in her forties when she got fired from her dream job without warning. No plan. No backup. Just a Pilates certification and a spare room in her house. What she built from there eventually became Orangetheory Fitness. A billion dollar global company with over 1,300 studios in 23 countries. In this episode we talk about her dad's "momentum shifts up" philosophy, what it actually looks like to rebuild from nothing, and why the forced stop might be the thing that creates the opening. This one's for anyone sitting in a pause they didn't choose.

Sources & Disclaimer

• Strong Fitness Magazine — Orangetheory's Ellen Latham Found Wild Success After Being Fired at 40
• PNC Insights — Momentum Shift: How Ellen Latham Transformed a Career Setback into Orangetheory Fitness
• Austin Woman Magazine — How Ellen Latham Made Orangetheory Fitness a Global Trend
• Lifestyle Media Group — How Ellen Latham Created Orangetheory Fitness
• FranchiseWire — Turning Setbacks into Successes: The Ellen Latham Story
• Orangetheory Fitness — Momentum Shift documentary (2019)

All facts shared in this episode are based on information available at the time of recording. Any personal reflections, interpretations, or opinions are my own. If anything is found to be inaccurate, I'm happy to issue a correction.

orangetheory fitness website

orangetheory fitness instagram

ellen latham instagram

Tiffany Masterson wasn't a beauty insider. She wasn't a chemist. She wasn't even looking to build a company. She was a stay at home mom in Houston who got a one-star review on a product she was selling, and instead of quitting, she decided to go make something better herself. In this episode, we talk about the moment that started everything, the midnight research sessions that turned her into an expert, the cold email that landed her in Sephora, and what it actually looks like to let criticism redirect you instead of stop you. Also: she started at forty. With no industry experience. And sold for $845 million six years later. This one's for anyone who's ever felt too late, too unqualified, or too stung by a no to keep going.

Sources & Disclaimer

• Fashionista — How Drunk Elephant Founder Tiffany Masterson Went From Stay-at-Home Mom to Beauty Mogul (March 2018)
• Glam — Drunk Elephant Founder Tiffany Masterson's Journey to Becoming a Beauty Mogul (March 2023)
• NUVO Magazine — Tiffany Masterson on Drunk Elephant, Gen Alpha's Essential Beauty Brand (April 2024)
• How I Built This with Guy Raz — Drunk Elephant episode (January 2024)
• Wikipedia — Drunk Elephant entry

All facts shared in this episode are based on information available at the time of recording. Any personal reflections, interpretations, or opinions are my own. If anything is found to be inaccurate, I'm happy to issue a correction.

drunk elephant website

drunk elephant instagram

We're Not Really Strangers has become one of the most recognizable brands of the last decade, those red and white cards, those questions that make you go quiet for a second. But most people have no idea where it actually came from.

In this episode, we talk about Koreen Odiney, founder, photographer, and the woman who turned a broken heart into a global movement. At 16, after her first heartbreak, Koreen walked out onto Ventura Boulevard in Los Angeles and started asking strangers one question: Did you ever get over your first love? That single act of vulnerability became the seed for everything.

Sources & Disclaimer

This episode was created using publicly available information about Koreen Odiney and We're Not Really Strangers, gathered from verified interviews, articles, and brand coverage, including:

• Hypebae — Interview with Koreen Odiney on the origin of WNRS and her photography background (November 2020)
• The Digital Campfire — "How a Card Game Exploded into a Global Movement" (September 2020)
• ILY Magazine — Interview with Koreen Odiney on heartbreak, vulnerability, and building WNRS (November 2019)
• UP Magazine — "Turning Lessons into Art: The Story Behind We're Not Really Strangers" (February 2023)
• Wikipedia — We're Not Really Strangers entry

All facts shared in this episode are based on information available at the time of recording. Any personal reflections, interpretations, or opinions included are my own. If any details are found to be inaccurate, I'm happy to issue corrections.

we’re not really strangers website

we’re not really strangers instagram

I just signed up for a marathon. 26.2 miles. And I am not a runner. I've started and stopped workout plans so many times over the last ten years. But when World Vision came to speak at our church, I felt like she was speaking directly to me. She said, "If you're sitting there thinking I'm not an athlete, or I'm not a runner, you can do this." And I realized I literally had no excuses.

So I signed up. And I'm terrified. But I'm doing it anyway.

And that decision of saying yes even when I felt unqualified, made me think of Payal Kadakia. She was a consultant at Bain with a safe job and a clear path. But she had this side project, first Classtivity, then ClassPass, that she couldn't let go of. And she had to decide: stay safe or quit and go all-in on something she had no idea how to build.

She wasn't a tech person. She wasn't a fitness person. She was just someone with an idea who said yes even though she felt completely unqualified. She quit Bain in 2013, almost ran out of money multiple times, had to pivot the business model, and faced major backlash. But she kept going. And ClassPass was eventually acquired by Mindbody for hundreds of millions of dollars.

If you're waiting to feel qualified before you say yes to something, this one's for you. You don't have to feel ready to start. You just have to say yes and figure it out as you go.

Mentioned in this episode: I talk about running my first 6K in this episode

Sources & Disclaimer

This episode was created using publicly available information about Payal Kadakia's life and career, gathered from verified interviews, articles, and business reports, including:

• Payal Kadakia's background as an Indian classical dancer
• Her education at MIT studying economics
• Her career at Bain & Company as a consultant
• Founding Classtivity in 2010 as a search engine for fitness classes
• Building Classtivity as a side project while working at Bain (2010-2013)
• Pivoting to the ClassPass membership model in 2013
• Quitting Bain in 2013 to work on ClassPass full-time
• ClassPass's early growth and near-failure moments
• The business model change from unlimited to credit-based system
• ClassPass expansion to 30+ cities by 2015 and international growth
• ClassPass reaching millions of users by 2020
• ClassPass acquisition by Mindbody in 2021
• Interviews where Payal discussed the decision to quit Bain and challenges of building ClassPass

All facts shared in this episode are based on information available at the time of recording. Any personal reflections, interpretations, or opinions included are my own. If any details are found to be inaccurate, I'm happy to issue corrections.

The last few weeks, we've talked about Hilary Duff stepping back, Katrina Lake refusing to step back, and Emma Grede building in the background. This week, we're talking about rejection. A lot of rejection. Melanie Perkins got rejected by over 100 investors while trying to raise funding for Canva. Over three years, she heard no again and again. One investor literally fell asleep during her pitch. And she kept going anyway. She was running Fusion Books during the day, pitching Canva at night and on weekends, flying to conferences, refining her deck, and hearing no over and over. For three years. Until she finally got the yes she needed. Now Canva is worth $26 billion. Melanie is one of the youngest female tech billionaires in the world. And over 170 million people use Canva every month. If you're sitting with a rejection right now, if you've been told no and you're wondering if you should give up, this one's for you. Rejection isn't the end. It's just part of the process.

Sources & Disclaimer

This episode was created using publicly available information about Melanie Perkins' life and career, gathered from verified interviews, articles, and business reports, including:

• Melanie Perkins' background growing up in Perth, Australia
• Her experience teaching design software in college
• Co-founding Fusion Books in 2007 with Cliff Obrecht
• Her journey pitching Canva to over 100 investors (2010-2013)
• The story of an investor falling asleep during her pitch
• Meeting Bill Tai in 2012 and securing funding
• Canva's launch in 2013
• Canva's user growth milestones (10M in 2018, 30M in 2020, 60M in 2021, 170M+ currently)
• Canva's valuation reaching $26 billion
• Interviews where Melanie discussed the rejection years and what kept her going
• Her vision of democratizing design and making it accessible to everyone

All facts shared in this episode are based on information available at the time of recording. Any personal reflections, interpretations, or opinions included are my own. If any details are found to be inaccurate, I'm happy to issue corrections.