Before wrapping season one, we’ll count down the five most common ways our founders landed on their big idea — pulled from this season’s conversations with women who left traditional careers to build something of their own. Hear how Lindsay Scherr Burgess turned decorative moss walls spotted overseas into GreenWallscapes, how Emily De Souza rescued a rundown "zombie" laundromat and built Pacific Beach Laundry Co., and how Erica Tuggle solved her own impossible schedule by launching Livin. This countdown episode also revisits Alice Park (Park Studios), Naama Nicotra (NakedPak), Nicole Lipkin (HeyKiddo), Carrie DeMartini (The Wishing Well Center), Kacie Darden (Blue Pineapple Travel), Andia Winslow, Breanna Hoepner (Once Upon a Cake Studio), Stephanie Angelides (Clean Plus Comfort), Gayle Jones (FuelBox), and Sabina Gendler (Friendly) — and answers the question every aspiring founder asks: where do I find inspiration for my own big entrepreneurial idea?

Links:

My Great Pivot Podcast:  www.mygreatpivot.com

The Female Founders Project:  www.thefemalefoundersproject.com

Green Wallscapes: https://greenwallscapes.com/

Park Studios: https://parkstudios.co/

Pacific Beach Laundry Co: https://www.pacificbeachlaundryco.com/

Naked Pak: https://www.nakedpak.com/

HeyKiddo: https://hey-kiddo.com/

Wishing Well Center:  https://wishingwellcenter.com/

Blue Pineapple Travel: https://bluepineappletravel.com/

Andia Voiceover:  https://www.andiavoiceover.com/

Once Upon a Cake Studio: https://www.onceuponacakestudio.com/

Livin:  https://www.chooselivin.com/

Clean + Comfort:  https://cleanpluscomfort.com/

FuelBoxx: https://fuelboxx.com/

Friendly: https://friendly-app.com/

#MyGreatPivot #FemaleFounders #WomenInBusiness #Entrepreneurship #CareerPivot #WomenEntrepreneurs #SeasonOneRecap #BusinessIdeas #StartupStory #WomenWhoStartup

After twenty years of working in corporate customer success, Emily DeSousa was feeling overworked, burnt out, and desperate for a change. Then, she randomly came across a "for sale" listing for a run-down laundromat in her neighborhood. Reviews for the place were horrible; half the machines were broken, and it had become a hangout for hard drug users and the unhoused. But Emily saw potential: an underperforming business she could transform to serve her community and make her very own. In our conversation, Emily shares how she rebuilt a neighborhood eyesore into the now-thriving Pacific Beach Laundry Co. She details exactly how she made it happen, including how she was able to finance its purchase when the laundromat didn’t qualify for a bank loan, and how her years managing customer relationships for places like Trader Joe’s proved the perfect training ground for creating a successful, client-centric business.

Links:

My Great Pivot podcast: www.mygreatpivot.com

The Female Founders Project: www.thefemalefoundersproject.com

Pacific Beach Laundry Co.

• Website: www.pacificbeachlaundryco.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pacificbeachlaundryco/
• Emily's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/emily-desousa/

Laundry Cares donation page (if you'd like to contribute to a laundry event at Emily's laundromat, under "dedication," please note that you'd like your donation to go to an event at Pacific Beach Laundry Co.): https://laundrycares.org/donate/

Cami the Laundromat Girl on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/laundromatgirlofficial/

#careerpivot #boringbusinesses #laundromatbusiness #femalefounders #femaleentrepreneurs #financialindependence #womenentrepreneurs #femaleentrepreneur #womeninbusiness #womensupportingwomen #womenempowerment #entrepreneur #startuplife #entrepreneurship #smallbusiness #bossbabe
#growthmindset #newbeginnings #careerchange #motivation

Andia Winslow is an award-winning voice artist, actor, and storyteller who’s appeared in campaigns for the world’s biggest brands, in series like the TV adaptation of A League of Their Own, bestselling video games like Call of Duty, documentary series like PBS’s Wild Hope…and so much more.  Her professional journey offers a masterclass in pivoting: a Yale grad, she’s been a golf pro, live-in care provider, personal trainer, and even spent a year training for the US Olympic skeleton team at the Olympic training center in Lake Placid. In our conversation, Andia shares how her willingness to venture off the beaten path – combined with her relentless pursuit of excellence – has produced an inspired professional life bursting with adventure, growth, and creative energy.

Links:
www.andiavoiceover.com
www.wildhope.tv
www.mygreatpivot.com
www.femalefoundersproject.com

Takeaways

• How uncertainty can inspire personal transformation
• Career transitions require resilience and resourcefulness
• Unexpected pivots can lead to unexpected success
• Breaking into a career in voiceover and acting
• Building a futureproof brand

Chapters

• 00:00 The Journey of Uncertainty
• 05:36 Navigating Post-College Uncertainty
• 16:52 Transition to Winter Sports
• 24:20 The Challenge of Finding Purpose
• 32:57 Monetizing Skills and Pursuing Joy
• 39:29 Transitioning to LA and Learning the Industry
• 46:15 Influence of Family and Personal Background
• 52:36 Voice Acting vs. On-Camera Work
• 58:16 Brand Extensions and Future Plans

Gayle Jones shares how a 25-year career in sports television — producing for NBA on TNT, multiple Olympic Games, the NFL, and more — gave her an insider’s view into how professional athletes fuel their performance. When her teen daughter’s soccer performance began suffering from injuries and slow recovery, Gayle recognized that nutrition was the issue, inspiring her to create FuelBoxx, a pre-game and recovery nutrition system for teenage athletes. The conversation covers how Gayle launched her company, recruited a nutritionist, market-tested her product, and why she’s pivoting from a largely B2C model to B2B. Gayle also shares how she stays motivated during the inevitable tough days all founders experience, and why Fuelboxx is as much an education platform as it is a product.

Links:

FuelBoxx: www.fuelboxx.com

My Great Pivot: www.mygreatpivot.com

The Female Founders Project: https://thefemalefoundersproject.com/

Female Founders Wishlist: www.femalefounderswishlist.com

#femalefounders #startups #startuplife #innovation #sportsnutrition #womeninentrpreneurship #entrepreneurship #venturecapital

Sabina Gendler, CEO and co-founder of Friendly, traces the idea for her startup to a job relocation. The marketing exec was eager to make new friends locally – especially during her maternity leave – but found no easy way of doing so. Her solution? Friendly, an app that connects women who share common values, are in the same stage of life, and live within a two-mile radius. Sabina realized that just identifying potential new friends didn’t solve the problem: people need help planning meet-ups, or more often than not, they'll never happen. Friendly does all the heavy lifting, recommending a time and local place/event that suits their schedules and common interests. In the interview, Sabina reveals how she and her co-founder decided to partner, how they tested the idea for Friendly in a low-cost, low-tech way, and why they chose to focus on building female friendships first during this early stage.

Links:

Friendly: www.friendly-app.com

My Great Pivot podcast: www.mygreatpivot.com

Takeaways

• Finding great startup ideas from real-life experience
• Recuiting a business partner
• Testing a concept before building
• Launching an app
• Evolving a concept
• User safety and trust
• The logic behind a subscription-based business model

Chapters

• 00:00 The Birth of Friendly
• 05:50 The Evolution of Friendly's Concept
• 16:42 The Power of a Strong Team
• 22:46 Ensuring Safety and Privacy
• 30:27 User Onboarding and Information
• 37:07 Secret Circles and Safety
• 43:51 Focus on Women's Safety and Trust

#startup #femalefounders #womenintech #lonelinessepidemic #femaleentrepreneurship

For Stephanie, a Peabody Award-winning media executive, producer, and writer, the inspiration behind her startup was deeply personal. When she was told that her son — who has profound autism — would never independently manage certain daily tasks like showering, she set out to prove the experts wrong. She spent the pandemic lockdown creating adaptive tools, and today, he’s conquered the shower ritual. Her success at home revealed a gaping market need, and Clean + Comfort was born. Our conversation covers her journey from homemade prototypes to a full product line – one that includes adaptive loofahs, step-by-step illustrated shower curtains, and children’s books where autistic kids can finally see themselves on the page – and how she employs the very community she serves in manufacturing her products.

Links:

Clean + Comfort: www.cleanpluscomfort.com

My Great Pivot: www.mygreatpivot.com

Female Founders Wishlist: www.femalefounderswishlist.com

The Female Founders Project: www.thefemalefoundersproject.com

Like the podcast? buymeacoffee.com/tffp

Takeaways

• The importance of hygiene independence in the disabled community
• Representation and aesthetics are important in creating products for the special needs community
• The importance of visual storyteling in the autism community
• Challenges in navigating the market for low-tech solutions

Chapters

• 00:00 Addressing the Diverse Needs of the Special Needs Community
• 36:17 Visual Learning Aids
• 41:42 Focus on Impact vs. Profit
• 46:51 Navigating Resistance and Rejection
• 53:06 Research and Development Challenges
• 01:00:59 Female Founders Wishlist

#femalefounders #startuplife #entrepreneurship #autismawareness #adaptingtools #adaptivelearning

Nicole Lipkin, an organizational and clinical psychologist, shares her journey as the founder of Hey Kiddo, a parenting partner app for caregivers of children from birth through age twelve. She traces the app's inspiration back to her late parents, South Bronx school teachers who made their home a psychologically safe space for every kid in the neighborhood. Nicole discusses why she walked away from private equity offers to sell her practice on her own terms, the emotional rollercoaster of startup life, the NSF grants that funded her R&D, and landing investors at a Shark Tank–style live pitch.

Links:

Hey Kiddo: www.hey-kiddo.com

Nicole Lipkin: https://nicolelipkin.com

Nicole's husband, comedian Matt Hyams: https://www.instagram.com/matthyams/

My Great Pivot: www.mygreatpivot.com

The Female Founders Project: www.thefemalefoundersproject.com

The Female Founders Wishlist: www.femalefounderswishlist.com

Takeaways

• Developing a parenting app through many iterations
• Building - and selling - a venture
• Team dynamics in a startup
• The emotional rollercoaster ride of startup life
• Fundraising strategy

Chapters

• 00:00 The Birth of Hey Kiddo
• 06:04 Hey Kiddo's Role as a Parenting Partner
• 18:14 The Decision to Sell the Practice
• 25:29 The Roller Coaster of Startup Emotions
• 31:05 Building the Hey Kiddo Team
• 36:30 Pressure of External Investment
• 43:23 App Features and Functionality
• 51:23 Fundraising Strategy

#femalefounders #entrepreneurship #femaleentrepreneurs #startuplife #startups #womenentrepreneurs #techstartups #impactinvesting

Breanna Hoepner shares how she left a 24-year career in unscripted television to launch her own custom cake business, Once Upon a Cake Studio. She details how an assumption nearly kept her from pursuing this dream, and how a friend’s challenge and simple Google search revealed that it was far more accessible than she’d ever imagined. The conversation covers how her television production background has helped shape her client process and the design of her custom cakes, why her cakes have been a more powerful marketing tool than any paid advertising, her plans to scale, and how motherhood and a family legacy in the bakery business have informed each stage of her entrepreneurial journey.

Takeaways:

• Passion-driven entrepreneurship
• Launching a cottage food business
• AI and social media as tools in small businesses
• Balancing Business and Family

Links:

Once Upon a Cake Studio homepage: www.onceuponacakestudio.com

Once Upon a Cake Studio on Instagram

Once Upon a Cake on Facebook

My Great Pivot podcast homepage: www.mygreatpivot.com

The Female Founders Project

Chapters:

• 00:00 The Birth of Once Upon a Cake Studio
• 31:14 Business #2: Athlete Highlight Reels
• 37:08 Handling Pressure and Risk
• 42:21 Balancing Business and Family
• 48:00 Avoiding Inventory and Storefront
• 53:18 Freedom and Balance

#femalefounders #entrepreneurship #femaleentrepreneurs #startuplife #startups #womenentrepreneurs #cottageindustries #homebaker #smallbusiness #careerpivots

Carrie DeMartini shares her journey from copywriter to end-of-life doula and owner of the Wishing Well Center, a business focused on end-of-life planning and grief support.

She discusses the multifaceted nature of her role, the importance of certification, and the challenges of carving out a unique business in a field with limited existing pathways.

In sharing the challenges of monetizing a calling, Carrie outlines how a sliding-scale payment structure and options for individual, group, and community offerings make her services accessible to just about anyone who needs them.

She also emphasizes the value of local resources and partnerships in building her business, and highlights the need for community-based healing and support for grief.

Links:
The My Great Pivot podcast: www.mygreatpivot.com
Wishing Well Center: www.wishingwellcenter.com
Knoxville Entrepreneur Center: www.knoxec.com

Takeaways

• End-of-life doula work is a calling that involves emotional, spiritual, and practical support.
• Monetizing a calling presents challenges, but sliding scale models and group courses can make services more accessible.
• Intuition and discernment are crucial in navigating the challenges of entrepreneurship.
• Local resources and partnerships play a significant role in building a business and creating community-based healing.
• Grief is a complex and layered experience, and community support is essential for processing and healing from it.

Chapters

• 00:00 The Calling: Becoming an End-of-Life Doula
• 11:51 Certification and Training as an End-of-Life Doula
• 21:49 Pivoting Careers: From Copywriter to End-of-Life Doula
• 32:20 Creating an End-of-Life Plan: Impact and Importance
• 38:39 Carving Out a Unique Business
• 45:20 Challenges of Social Media and Community-Based Healing
• 52:05 The Role of Feminine Energy in Entrepreneurship
• 01:00:29 Grief Retreats and Community Healing
• 01:06:24 Balancing Motherhood and Entrepreneurship

#femalefounders #entrepreneurship #femaleentrepreneurs #startuplife #startups #womenentrepreneurs #deathdoula #endoflifeprep #smallbusiness #careerpivots

In this episode of the My Great Pivot podcast, Erica Tuggle shares her journey from corporate marketing director to founder of Livin, a platform that connects busy families and professionals to affordable home chefs in their area.

The discussion highlights the evolution of Erica's idea and the challenges she's faced in the early stages of the business. We cover a range of topics, including evolving your business model, fundraising strategy, VC guidance and support, the challenges of being an underrepresented founder, and advice for aspiring entrepreneurs.

Links:

The My Great Pivot podcast: www.mygreatpivot.com

Livin: www.chooselivin.com

Takeaways

• The entrepreneurial journey: from leaving a job to launching
• Accelerators
• Evolving a brand and business plan
• Raising capital

Chapters

• 00:00 Introduction to Livin and Erica's Journey
• 23:00 Partnerships for Health and Nutrition
• 28:19 Fundraising Strategy and Investor Selection
• 33:36 Customer Subscription and Brand Experience
• 39:52 Rebranding and Emotional Connection

#femalefounders #entrepreneurship #femaleentrepreneurs #startuplife #startups #womenentrepreneurs #techstartups #appdevelopment #careerpivots #foodstartups