March 17, 2020

Rebecca Lima, founder of The Lieu

1 hour 10 minutes

About this episode

Wouldn’t you love the idea of never having to cart around personal hygiene products to work, ever again? Enter The Lieu. It is a subscription box service dedicated to bringing everything that today’s female hopes their workplace restroom would have. Rebecca Lima is co-founder and CEO of The Lieu, and she is this week’s featured founder.

The Lieu delivers beauty, grooming, and personal hygiene products to offices everywhere to improve the workplace environment for their female workers. Rebecca came up with this idea while she was working on her first startup. She was moving around New York City, from pitch presentation to pitch presentation, and often found herself in need of a little touchup before a meeting. It was not feasible to carry everything with her everywhere.

After talking to strangers on subways and sidewalks, she realized the need for personal hygiene and beauty products in workplace environments was something many women wanted and needed. While that might be the origin of The Lieu, Rebecca’s entrepreneurial roots began with private jets. Her journey then continued as an engineer in the oil and gas industry, and now she sells feminine health products. It sounds more glamourous than it is, but isn’t that also true of entrepreneurship? Here is Rebecca Lima’s startup story.

In this episode, you’ll hear

Her experience raised by an entrepreneurial father who sells private jets, and how aviation and entrepreneurship have been part of her life since she was very young

Life as a child of parents who immigrated from Brazil and how she traveled to Brazil from the U.S. and back again throughout childhood

Her gratitude towards her parents, who allowed her to grow up and to be born in a country with opportunities, and graduating with a robotics degree in mechanical engineering

All about her first job as a field engineer at gas and oil company, Schlumberger

The decision to move on from field engineer to creating her first startup, Ment which was an airport app to help travelers navigate airports in real-time

Rebecca’s approach to being a female in male-dominated industries, “I take the approach that we need to play the game with the cards you are dealt. As you make little moves to invoke change, change will happen. Just flipping over the table won’t change anything.”

The launch of Ment in tri-state area airports, lessons learned and her eventual exit

How her first startup was a failure, by the world’s standards, but how for her, it was a tremendous learning experience

The story of how she came up with the idea for The Lieu and how she thinks of The Lieu as ‘The Sephora’ for the office bathroom

The importance to surround yourself with the right people and to take advice from people who are ‘in it’ or have already done something themselves

“You need to be able to get hit in the face THOUSANDS of times in order to endure entrepreneurship.” – Rebecca Lima, The Lieu

Resources from this episode

The Startup Story LIVE Dallas! May 7th in Dallas. Tickets on sale now → https://startupstorylive.com

Fuse Workspace: http://workatfuse.com

Vinetta Project: https://www.vinettaproject.com/

The Lieu: https://www.thelieu.com/

Rebecca Lima on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rebeccablima/

You can become part of The Lieu story, visit https://republic.co/the-lieu to learn more.

The Startup Story on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/thestartupstory

The Startup Story is now on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/jamesmckinney

The Startup Story on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thestartupstory

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EPISODE CREDITS

If you like this podcast and are thinking of creating your own, consider talking to my producer, Danny Ozment.

He helps thought leaders, influencers, executives, HR professionals, recruiters, lawyers, realtors, bloggers, and authors create, launch, and produce podcasts that grow their business and impact the world.

Contact him today at https://emeraldcitypro.com/startupstory

Special Guest: Rebecca Lima.

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By James McKinney