From The Basement Up

Courtney Howard began her professional career as an attorney and changed careers to own her own company, Love Your Scalp. Love Your Scalp is a company aiming to build confidence and healthier scalps for its customers. Today, Courtney shares how it all began and how she came up with her unique formula. Tune in and learn more about building a company from the ground up and where Courtney wants to take Love Your Scalp next.

Sunny Lu Williams is the President of TechServ, a woman-owned business aimed at helping underserved communities, focusing on healthcare, corrections, and education. Sunny Lu is passionate about improving community and public health, and today she shares how she and TechServ are doing just that. Listen now for TechServ's incredible story, and learn how they are expanding and doing good for our communities.

Saratoga Tea and Honey is a tea and honey shop in Saratoga Springs, NY, offering an authentic, inviting, and warm experience in the teabar and discovery room. Saratoga Tea and Honey has traditional tea, organic traditional tea, and organically produced tea even from local vendors.

Today we listen in to how Hayley got her start, where she got to travel to learn about tea, how she sees her business evolving, and the difficulties that being a business owner has. Hayley wanted to "do it once, and do it well" and she has held true to that in every subset of the business.

Faena is an innovative Spanish language learning video game founded by their CEO Isabel Last. Isabel wanted to make learning fun by creating a game where you learn by speaking and interacting in a story-filled world.

Today, Isabel shares her background, what led to her wanting to start her business, and what the word "Faena" means. Listen now and learn more about Faena and what the future holds for the company.

Lindsay Tjepkema is the CEO & Co-Founder of Casted, the only amplified marketing platform, and is where we host our very own podcast! Lindsay has an extensive background in marketing, is passionate about women in leadership and workplace culture, is a podcast host and speaker, and is a mother of 3 boys.

Lindsay started her company just before the pandemic hit; what a time 😅. Today, she takes us through her journey as a marketing leader turned CEO and Co-Founder of a company. She shares how she put her vision into play and where she hopes to take Casted in the future. Listen now!

Takeaways:

00:03 - 02:07 Introduction to episode and Lindsay

02:32 - 03:39 Set out to be the change you want to see

04:04 - 06:37 The process of putting a vision to play

07:01 - 09:00 The good, the bad, the ugly - Having a demanding work and personal life

09:39 - 11:56 Venture Capitalist Funding - How it happens and what the process is like

14:40 - 16:08 A day in the life of Lindsay Tjepkema

18:27 - 20:36 Casting a Vision - An evolution of Casted

23:26 - 25:07 The biggest win at Casted

27:15 - 28:42 Final Thoughts

Meggan Wood is the CEO & Founder of Lily Jade, a leather diaper bag and handbag company. Inspired by wanting style and efficiency, Meggan started her company in 2013, and it has grown into the successful company it is today.

In this episode, Meggan joins Michelle to discuss everything Lily Jade. This discussion includes Meggans's background in communications and broadcast journalism, how that translates to her role now, and the evolution of Lily Jade and "keeping the niche."

All that and more on this episode of From the Basement Up.

Founder & CEO of The Baby Cot Shop, Toks Aruoture, talks with host Michelle Brandriss about what it's like to be an entrepreneur and nursery interior designer. Toks shares how she went from the pharmaceutical industry to interior design while being the mother of four children.

During the conversation the two discuss traveling to help people all over the world to design their dream nurseries, and how that process has shifted with the prevalence of remote meeting apps like Zoom and WhatsApp that allow Toks to meet people anywhere they're at. Toks also talks about overcoming imposter syndrome, and how she realized she should follow a passion for interior design.

All that and more on this episode of From the Basement Up.

Julie Clark is the author of multiple New York Times bestselling novels, “The Ones We Choose” and “The Last Flight”. As a mother, teacher, and author, she has some life experience. In this episode, Michelle invites in author, Julie Clark. We hear how tenacity, grit, commitment, and ability to bounce back stronger than you were before are all necessary components of being a successful author.

Visit her website at https://julieclarkauthor.com/

Today on From the Basement Up, Michelle Brandriss is joined by Jen Shultz, a mentor and teacher, who is encouraging people to “Find Their Why” and step into an entrepreneur life and redefine the typical 9 to 5 workday. Jen will explain some key ingredients of starting out on your own and what it takes to find success. She is here to share how she helps others find their professional purpose and we are excited to welcome a dedicated businesswoman, educator, and coach onto the show…

In 2020 Melinda, a mother of three, received a box of masks that her father had developed with scientists during the 2003 SARs virus epidemic. She quickly noticed the positive reaction not only from her kids in their ability to continue to laugh, talk and play; but other parents and families as well who were taking an interest. Requests began to pour in. Hear how Melinda turned a neighborhood group chat into her successful business on today's episode.