From The Basement Up

Closing this season with gratitude, appreciation, and excitement for what is to come. Thank you to all of our guests who started out with us on Season One of From the Basement Up!

In today's episode, we're joined by Shennel Fuller. A mom, and entrepreneur, who’s created a clothing brand for kids that is known for its minimalist style. Though her collection takes us back to basics, it is meant to blend in with anyone's wardrobe. Treated like your everyday uniform, or favorite outfit that you could wear everyday if only you had five sets of the exact same soft cute long-lasting, staple pieces. Shennel’s genius is a gift for moms wanting soft, high-quality clothing that removes the fuss. The brand excels with the basics, is gender-neutral, and shares big smiles in white, grey, and black. Miles and Milan by Shennel Fuller. It was featured in InStyle Germany, on Oprah’s list of favorite things, recommended by celebrities, and found in stores like Saks Fifth Avenue and Nordstrom. The clothing inspires an effortless style that is current and allows a little one’s cuteness to shine. Shennel is a veteran in the world of fashion, she has worked as an executive at brands like Talbots, Converse, Levi’s, and 7 for All Mankind, and From the Basement Up is very excited to have her share her journey with our listeners.

Today's episode highlights Sejal Thakkar, a civility officer, leader, mom, and entrepreneur.

Sejal teaches us a little bit about ourselves through this episode. She created her company to try to help other companies create a positive and constructive workplace. She provides legal advice, consulting, and training in creating constructive employee relations. Sejal helps companies avoid costly litigation, but more importantly, she helps companies elevate their culture with training and sound personnel policies.

As you will hear in today's episode, Sejal is also a public speaker, she has been a keynote speaker and even appeared and TED talks. She discusses her own experiences of discrimination, bullying, and harassment, and how that is shaped her career and addressing the importance of diversity and inclusion, sexual harassment prevention, anti-bullying, and unconscious bias.

In this episode we hear how she got her start, where she plans to go, and some of the hurdles she's had me and mitigate through along the way.

Over 30 years ago, Jessica Iclisoy embarked on a journey to create a non-toxic environment for her family. In 1995, launching in her kitchen with ingredients she had sourced, Jessica began to create the beloved formulas for what is today, the industry standard in natural skincare, California Baby.

Since then, Jessica has built California Baby into a globally recognized brand, with more than 200 products available at retailers nationwide and through a global distribution network. California Baby is a recognized Women Owned Business, with its own certified organic and FDA registered manufacturing operation and organic farm.

Jessica is a member of the Plant Based Product Council and serves on their Policy, Education and Communication Committees. She is also a member of the Fast Company Impact Council which is an invitation-only collective of innovative leaders and the most creative people in business. Jessica is the chair of Female Arts Initiative, which is a nonprofit to support women in the arts. She is a Board member of UCLA – Santa Monica Hospital and serves as the Board Chair of the committee for their Integrated Medicine Initiative. 

Jessica believes that her mission extends far beyond creating products that are safe for children and healthy for the environment. In 2016, she launched The Natural Advisory Council (NAC) to form a coalition of natural, organic, and “green” product manufacturers, retailers, and non-profit consumer protection organizations to advocate, collaborate and educate (ACE) on the definition and use of the term, “natural” in all consumer products.

Resources:

https://www.californiababy.com/

https://www.youtube.com/c/californiababy

Key Takeaways:

00:24 - 01:16 🎙 Episode overview: California Baby and Jessica Iclisoy

01:25 - 07:26 🧑‍🍳 The most important ingredient in every California Baby product, and more about the company

07:26 - 12:13 🧪 Creating recipes with scientists, and what that process was like

12:14 - 14:33 💎 What inspires Jessica and her team to create new products?

14:40 - 19:17 👏 Jessica's thoughts on organic and natural practices spreading across industries

19:18 - 24:13 🌼 Being a stickler for ingredients and the capability to grow all California Baby's own ingredients

24:53 - 28:37 🧩 The organic industry, marketing strategy, and doing the research

28:37 - 33:03 🐝 Beekeeping failures, learnings, and considerations

33:05 - 35:58 🌳 The Natural Advisory Council's relation to California Baby

35:59 - 37:21 🎉 Reflecting on 30 years of business

37:21 - 40:56 🌔 The stages of California Baby's life

40:57 - 42:59 🗝 "When did you know you would be wildly successful?"

43:01 - 45:21 ♻️ What the pandemic was like for California Baby from a supplier standpoint

45:25 - 51:29 👯‍♀️💪 On encouraging other women in business

51:31 - 59:19 🔮 Jessica's reactions to people wanting to buy California Baby, and her future outlook for the brand

In this week's episode of From the Basement Up, Michelle and Emily are joined by Genika Blandshaw, founder, owner, and operator of Juice Factory VII. Her passions are food, health, and staying true to herself. Among the most dedicated and hard working women From the Basement Up has had the pleasure to host, Genika had an interesting background before beginning her career as a serial entrepreneur. While she at one time had a hand in policy making for Medicare and Medicaid, her career path has clearly changed completely; however she maintains that common thread of health throughout all of her endeavors.

Join us today and listen in on how Genika got her start, found her balance as a mom, wife, and businessowner; and where she plans to go!

Today's episode is another installment of meeting the Name Bubbles team! Listen in for some fun questions, hard questions, and advice about small business ownership from our very own, Brent Marianetti!

In today's episode, Michelle is joined by her sister and fellow entrepreneur, Nicole Love. Nicole has had an incredible journey, and continues to seek ways to deepen her journey, connect with herself and others, and ultimately spread love.

We hear Michelle and Nicole share stories, lessons, and incredible experiences. This episode is definitely a special one!

Nicole Love is a Psychic, Intuitive Energy Healer, Meditation Teacher, and Energy Healing Teacher. She loves to create sacred space for clients, and guide them into a deeper connection with their Divinity. She has been studying and practicing ‘energy medicine’ for over 25 years with mentors from around the world.

Nicole is a mother of two teenagers and has a background in Nursing, Midwifery, and Child Development.

Her website is www.soulgratitude.com and she collaborates with a friend on a podcast called Soul Reverence found on Anchor and Spotify.

In this episode of From the Basement Up, Michelle Brandriss is joined by entrepreneur and business owner, Mark Parobek. We get to listen to Mark's experience in looking for a property for himself to be able to enjoy the beauty at Gore Mountain, only to end up bringing the community exactly what it needed. Whether this is a restaurant, bar, an ornate hotel with themed rooms, great stories, good music, yurts, bike trails, and the list goes on. This haven of fun and relaxation was the perfect addition to a developing ski town in Upstate New York.

Mark is an Upstate New York native, and while spending some time with his wife and family in Saratoga Springs, he felt like he needed a change. That change ended up being purchasing a property in the ski region at Gore Mountain, with his brothers. The 'Parobros' have evolved this ski hill motel into an kitschy hotel, a restaurant, bar, hive of yurts, stage for live music, bike trails, and more. In 2013 Mark didn't see himself becoming an entrepreneur, but now almost a decade later, he is happy to call himself an accidental entrepreneur and small business owner.

In today's episode of From the Basement Up, we are joined by Alison Martin of Engage Mentoring. Based out of Indianapolis, this mentoring group seeks out businesses, universities, or people looking to expand their network and expand their skillset. In learning throughout this mentoring program, mentees are offered the ability to learn about new topics they may have previously had an interest in, or maybe had never heard of. Within the span of months professionals can grow their interest base, and become experts in new areas of their abilities.

Engage Mentoring provides a leadership program for companies and individuals to access mentoring on topics of their choosing, while impacting the next generation of talent by providing a mentoring program to college students through partnerships with nonprofits and universities.

In this episode we hear Michelle and Amy from Name Bubbles talk about some of the more fun aspects of working for a small business. Amy tells our listeners about what she does, how she found her work-life balance during the busiest season Name Bubbles had ever seen, which was past season in Summer 2021, and what advice she would give about business owners connecting with their employees. The tight-knit community that has been created over the years is something that Amy tells us is one of her favorite parts of Name Bubbles.