Soaring Stories

Lauren Hodgen is a passionate food enthusiast and the creative mind behind Citrus Diaries Studio. Since 2018, she has shared her journey of wellness through food, and she now works with food brands on their packaging design, website design, and recipe development. Lauren’s love for wholesome, nourishing ingredients is at the heart of her work, which is designed to inspire others to embrace a healthier, more vibrant lifestyle.

✨ We talk about:

The partnerships + parallels between fashion and food

Two design trends that are most popular for food brands right now

A typical week in Lauren’s life running Citrus Diaries Studio

Lauren’s process for developing recipes for brands

Finding a community while working for yourself

Measuring success and progress as a creative

✨ Connect:

Lauren’s website: citrusdiaries.com

Lauren on Instagram: @citrusdiaries.studio

Lauren’s Podcast: Dear Citrus Diaries

Lauren on Substack: Wholesome Goods

Anna’s website: annamadeblog.com

Business email: [email protected]

Sara Noel is a Website Copywriter + Marketing Mentor for business owners who want to craft compelling narratives and build better connections with their ideal clients and customers. Through copywriting, marketing strategy, and mentorship, she helps creative brands, founder-first businesses, and freelancers create, tell, and sustain their success stories—and have a whole lot of fun while doing it. In this episode, Sara goes deep into landing an internship, how she runs her six-figure copywriting studio, and her client processes.

✨ We talk about:

What was Sara like in high school?

Cold-emailing + how Sara got her first internship

How Sara learned to set up the process for her copywriting clients

Why Sara decided not to build an agency and instead focus on individual clients and courses

What a week in the life looks like for Sara

Sara’s top procrastination tips!

✨ Connect:

Sara on Instagram: @btlcopy

Sara’s Newsletter: Tattoo Story on Table of Contents

Sara on TikTok: @sara__noel

Sara’s (free) Cold Pitch Guide

Sara’s Website: betweenthelinescopy.com

Sara’s Email: [email protected]

Anna’s website: annamadeblog.com

Business email: [email protected]

Jesslyn Rollins is the CEO of BIOLYTE, the IV in a bottle. She started selling BIOLYTE from the back of her Toyota Highlander to high school football teams, but over the course of eight years has transformed a product into a brand now featured in 15,000 retail locations, including QuikTrip and Circle K. Jesslyn embodies an infectious energy, igniting a spark in others to pursue their goals with confidence and relentless dedication.

✨ We talk about:

Why Jesslyn’s family created BIOLYTE

Taking action vs planning when running a company

How Jesslyn sold BIOLYTE to high school football teams

Expanding from high school sports programs to college sports programs

Sweat, sport, or sick: who BIOLYTE is for

The sports drink industry and new sports drinks

How Jesslyn landed her product in Kroger

The connection between theater, improv, and sales

Preparing for a big sales meeting + what goes into that

Getting feedback on her pitch deck

✨ Connect:

BIOLYTE on Instagram: @drinkbiolyte

BIOLYTE’s website: drinkbiolyte.com

Anna’s website: annamadeblog.com

Business email: [email protected]

Maxine Cunningham is a startup founder and creative visionary obsessed with helping people share their knowledge. She quit her job as an economist after seeing Airbnb launch and realizing the power of the knowledge economy.

✨ We talk about:

What is the knowledge economy?

What Maxine learned from her parents, who were both entrepreneurs

Maxine’s mindset around risk

Why Maxine decided to pursue economics

Validating the idea for Pick My Brain

Building her dream “knowledge marketplace”

How Maxine decided on her pricing model

Living an unconventional life

✨ Connect:

Maxine’s company: pickmybrain.world

Maxine on Instagram: pickmybrain_ceo

Maxine on LinkedIn: @maxinecunningham

Anna’s website: annamadeblog.com

Business email: [email protected]

Kelsi and Cassandra are the co-founders of Kelsi’s Kitchen, a raw chocolate brand sold in Whole Foods, Sprouts, Wegmans, and more! Since 2019, Kelsi’s Kitchen has created raw truffle bites – and when I tried one (the raspberry flavor is AMAZING), I knew I wanted to chat with them to hear how they did it and how Kelsi and Cassandra are now expanding the business.

✨ We talk about:

Kelsi and Cassandra as high school students

Parallels between being an entrepreneur and an athlete

Problem solving, challenges, and why they’re actually helpful

How Kelsi and Cassandra met

Cassandra’s background working in the beauty industry

How Kelsi created the recipe for the chocolates

Demoing and retail sales launches

Days in the life of Kelsi and Cassandra

✨ Connect:

Kelsi’s Kitchen on Instagram: @kelsiskitchensnacks

Kelsi’s Kitchen website: kelsiskitchen.com

Kelsi’s podcast: Fueled

Anna’s website: annamadeblog.com

Business email: [email protected]

Today's episode is super special... I've been working with Ranya on the SIBZ social media accounts for a few months now and I finally get to ask her about her life before starting a snack company, and how SIBZ came to be! We also get into what celebrity fashion styling is and the similarities between that and starting a business.

✨ We talk about:

How SIBZ launched nationwide in Sprouts

Why Ranya and her brother started a food brand around dates

How Ranya got into a fashion styling

How Ranya and Tarik settled on the branding and packaging of the date bites

Handling rejection in business

What it’s like working with a sibling

Logistics, operations, and creative aspects of the business

Ranya’s go-to snacks

✨ Connect:

Ranya on TikTok: @ranyabatal

Ranya on Instagram: @ranyabatal

SIBZ on Instagram: @getsibz

SIBZ website: getsibz.com

Anna’s website: annamadeblog.com

Business email: [email protected]

Livi is a twentysomething podcaster, business owner, and mentor on a mission to empower the next generation. From leaving her college and full-ride scholarship to pursue her marketing company to moving to San Diego despite having never even visited, Livi has so much to share about the life of an entrepreneur.

✨ We talk about:

What career path Livi was pursuing while in college

Why Livi moved to San Diego

How to get through the discomfort of moving to a new place where you don’t know anyone

Livi’s priorities in entrepreneurship

Figuring out when to pivot and try something new

Quitting certain high school sports

The structure of Livi’s business

Monetizing your passions – is it worth it?

Livi’s current side projects

✨ Connect:

Livi on Instagram: @liviredden

Livi on TikTok: @liviredden

Livi’s website: liviredden.com

Livi’s podcast: Today is the Future

Anna’s website: annamadeblog.com

Business email: [email protected]

From idea to appearing on Shark Tank to now having sold more than 600,000 units, Shirah Benarde is the founder and CEO of Nightcap and a Forbes 30 under 30 alum. Her products are sold in Forever 21 and the brand has worked with over 150 universities to get Nightcap in the hands of students. Shirah is incredibly inspirational to young business owners and I’m so excited to have her on Soaring Stories today!!

✨ We talk about:

How Shirah invented Nightcap

Looking for opportunities (and finding them!)

Going for it and walking up to the CEO of Forever21 at a conference

Talking with Paris Hilton and giving her a NightCap

Being face-to-face vs sending a cold email to someone

One piece of business advice Shirah disagrees with

Having patience in business

How Shirah measures the sales and marketing outcomes

✨ Connect:

Shirah on TikTok: @shiraah

Shirah on Instagram: @shirahbenarde

NightCap website: nightcapit.com

Shirah’s podcast: In Your Dreams

Join the Soaring Together newsletter: join.soaringtogether.org

Anna’s website: annamadeblog.com

Business email: [email protected]

Lacey Madison is a 4x business owner and marketing consultant on a tenacious mission to build a billion-dollar portfolio by creating, shaping & funding the next generation of female-founded unicorns industry agnostically. In everything she does, Lacey aims to put more money, knowledge, tools and networks into the hands of women to help them join the elite 1%. Today, we talk about how she’s grown from freelancer to CEO and investor in the last decade.

✨ We talk about:

How Lacey got her start with content marketing for brands like REVOLVE

Building personal brands in 2024

Standing out in a saturated market when job searching or building a business

How to uncomplicate creating content

Why Lacey closed her marketing agency

Steady and gradual growth over the last 10 years

Lacey’s broadcast channel on Instagram

Prioritizing content creation

Balancing school and work

Cultivating a mindset of confidence

What Lacey looks for when investing in a company

The quick + easy explanations for VC and angel investing

Who is on Lacey’s team?

✨ Investing when you’re under 18:

From Lacey: This is mostly for crowdfunding purposes but you can essentially ask your parents to open a custodial investment account on your behalf. This means they essentially "manage" your investments but you are able to start investing and your investment trust is the owner of the shares you buy in a company! Super exciting stuff.

Crowdfunding sites:

Finding Angel Investment Deal Flow OR Finding Angel Investors

✨ Connect:

Lacey on Instagram: @laceymadison_

SIR. BUSINESS ACADEMY™ for founders looking to develop & grow their startup idea: sirconsulting.co/sir-business-academy

SIR. VENTURES™ for founders looking to fund their business idea or need Board Members + Advisors: @sir.ventures

Anna’s website: annamadeblog.com

Business email: [email protected]

Maya is an incredible entrepreneur who’s founded not one, but two brands. Today, she joins me to talk about all things building businesses, recovering from failure, and building awareness for a new company. She’s also part of the Forbes 30 under 30 class of 2019 and has been in the CPG space for over 10 years.

✨ We talk about:

Maya’s transition from her first company (Koia) to her second (Happypop!)

What was Maya like as a teen?

Having coworkers try and test her drink

How Maya and her co-founder split up the responsibilities for Happypop!

How has the CPG industry changed?

Maya’s plans and goals for the company

✨ Connect:

Maya on Instagram: @mayajfrench

Happypop! on Instagram: @drinkhappypop

Happypop! website: drinkhappypop.com

Join the Soaring Together newsletter: join.soaringtogether.org

Anna’s website: annamadeblog.com

Business email: [email protected]