In today’s episode, I have a conversation with Karen about her company Makeena. She talks about her journey and her background in coding, and how she went from being a practicing lawyer to founding makeena.  She goes into details about her journey and what led her to create Makeena. We also talk about how Makeena incentivizes consumers to buy better, no matter where they shop so they can buy better at different places like the Target store, Thrive Market, Amazon and others. Makeena provides healthy and eco friendly brands, data and insights that they need to grow. 

We also dive in the challenges when it comes to funding, and the challenges that she faced. She talks about how it is more challenging to be a woman founder and raising funds. She gives examples of women such as Melanie Perkins, founder and CEO of Canva and Whitney Wolfe, founder and CEO of Bumble. 

We discuss the next steps for Makeena and Karen is looking forward to launching the Makeena TikTok campaign. And lastly, we talk about Karen’s personal favorite things to do, what books she reads, what TV shows she watches etc.. 

Here’s a closer look at the episode:

• What is Makeena 
• Karen’s background and her family’s background
• What led her to start Makeena
• When she made the jump, quit her job and her side gigs 
• Challenges in Makeena’s journey 
• Progress and challenges as a female founder
• When she got on the list 
• Next steps for Makeena 
• Karen’s favorite things to do 

Resources:

Makeena Website: https://makeena.com/

Makeena on the App Store: ‎Makeena: Healthy Savings on the App Store

Makeena on Google Play: Makeena: Healthy Savings - Apps on Google Play

Karen Frame email: [email protected]

Karen’s Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/karensframe/

In today’s episode, I talk with Chris Bowler, the founder of Creminelli . His company produces a wide variety of charcuterie grade snacks. We talk about his background starting from Stanford, and being in tech, to becoming an entrepreneur. We talk about his “checkered” career as he described it, from government, to non-profit, to a tech startup. We also talk about the time he moved to italy, how he ended up meeting the co-founder of Creminelli. We dive deep into the journey of Creminelli, how they started in a basement, to where they are now. We touched on the changes of the food consumer habits and how it played a role in making Creminelli what it is today. 

Here’s a closer look at the episode:

• Stanford and the tech startups in the 90s 
• Chris’s background and journey 
• How Chris went from Government, to Non profit to Tech to Entrepreneurship 
• Chris’s time in Italy 
• The shift in the food industry 
• What is Creminelli and how did it start 
• The rise of Creminelli across the US food market 

Resources:

Creminelli Website: https://www.creminelli.com/

Creminelli on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Creminelli/

Chris Bowler’s Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chris-bowler-5962b6/

In today’s episode, I talk with Kristin the founder of GoodBuyGear. Her company’s mission is to reduce consumerism and save families time and money. She talks about her own challenges as a parent and what led her to create GoodBuyGear. She dives deeper into why this is the future of shopping for our children. How her business model shifted from being an app to a marketplace. She also talks about her company’s journey and the tech that they created in-house. We had a conversation on how the pandemic affected her company, and how they have survived it. We took a closer look into what problem she is trying to solve and what is her motivation behind it. 

Here’s a closer look at the episode:

• What is GoodbuyGear
• What inspired Kristin to create GoodbuyGear
• Kristin’s background in the product.
• Venture Vs Bootstrapping
• How the company survived the pandemic 
• The company’s tech created in house 
• A closer look into Kristin’s motivations and drive 

Resources:

GoodBuyGear Website: https://goodbuygear.com/

Kristin’s Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kmcclement/

Kristin’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/kmcclement

Kristin’s email: [email protected]

In today’s episode, I have a conversation with Kimberly about her company Fenix Verify which creates safe environments for customers and employees in a COVID world. She talks about the changes in consumer habits and how the pandemic has changed the way people shop. She dives deeper into why these changes are here to stay. She discusses her journey as an entrepreneur and a brief background on the businesses she created prior to Fenix Verify. 

She discusses the Fenix process, and how it helps companies have better relationships with their employees as well as their customers. We discussed how she and the co-founder Jeff met, and the idea became what it is today. 

Here’s a closer look at the episode:

• What is Fenix Verify  
• What inspired Kimberly to create Fenix Verify 
• Kimberly’s background and prior businesses
• The changes influenced by the pandemic in customer habits 
• How companies benefit from the Fenix process 
• How employees benefit from the Fenix process 
• Why is trust the new shopping currency 
• A closer look into Kimberly’s habits and hobbies 

Resources:

Fenix Verify: https://fenixverify.com/

Fenix Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/fenixverify/

Fenix Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FenixVerify/

Kimberly’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/KimberlyAtFenix

Kimberly’s Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/kimberlynasief