The Founders' Roundtable

Ries is a company born from Megan Graham's own experiences with traveling. As she began to rise up the ranks at Vogue and Condé Nast, the amount of travel she was doing began to increase as well. Along with this came the experience of attempting to take her self-care routine along for the ride, but failing to feel like her best self when traditional plastic toiletry containers did not do the job to hold her products together.  

In addition to the impact work that she was doing outside of her job,  she began to realize that this was a universal issue. In order to do our best work, we need to feel like our best selves. This is the story of how she went from seeing a problem in the travel space to now being a brand founder carried by one of the largest beauty retailers in the world.

CONNECT WITH US:

TFR (our YouTube & social media): linktr.ee/thefoundersroundtable

Megan Graham - Ries

Dominique Golden

Isha Naik - Treeo

Being in the restaurant industry has not been easy over the past few years, and it has taken pivoting and catering to customers using innovative strategies for some to save their businesses. Many restauranteurs took their businesses online and attempted to double down on creating more efficient ordering systems. However, many are still stuck without easy-to-use technology to help them thrive. Nabeel Alamgir is an entrepreneur attempting to empower restaurants with his company, Lunchbox, which enables restaurant owners to grow their online revenue and have the chance to thrive in a tech-driven world. Today, Lunchbox works with over 100 restaurant groups as clients that represent over 750+ locations.

CONNECT WITH US:

TFR (our YouTube & social media): linktr.ee/thefoundersroundtable

Nabeel Alamgir - Lunchbox

Dominique Golden

Isha Naik - Treeo

Our guest for this episode has been a mentor and professor to both of us, and she has played a big role in shaping us into the founders that we are today. Marijo Upshaw is a movement leader in the social impact space, and she has worked tirelessly for over 30 years to launch and lead programs, scale her family business, and guide the next generation of impact leaders at Wayne State University School of Social Work and School of Business. Today, she’s sharing with us her story from the very beginning to where she is now, conducting research as a Ph.D. candidate to understand barriers to entrepreneurship for marginalized communities and increase awareness around trauma for business and social enterprise developers.

CONNECT WITH US:

TFR: linktr.ee/thefoundersroundtable

Marijo Upshaw

Dominique Golden

Isha Naik - Treeo

Amy Peterson is the co-founder and CEO of Rebel Nell, a company dedicated to uplifting women and providing underserved women with a route to self-sufficiency and equitable opportunity. The company uses fallen street art to create sustainable jewelry, all while giving women an equal opportunity to work and renew their lives. Amy started as a lawyer and was the first-ever associate female council for the Detroit Tigers.   While she was working for the team as one of the few women in prominent MLB positions, she began to witness the everyday barriers her neighbors at a women’s shelter next to her place in Detroit were facing. Shortly after, she met her co-founder and founded Rebel Nell. Because she could relate on a personal level to the struggles caused by women not being given equal opportunities, she made it her mission to have female empowerment as her company’s central focus. Rebel Nell is now a certified social enterprise and has been nationally recognized for the work they’ve done over the past 9 years.  

CONNECT WITH US: 

TFR: linktr.ee/thefoundersroundtable

Amy Peterson - Rebel Nell

Dominique Golden

Isha Naik - Treeo

RESOURCES/LINKS:

NBC Nightly News | Detroit's Rebel Nell helps women find their way out of the cycle of poverty 

For the first time ever, we're joined by two guests on TFR. Raphael Wright and Dazmonique Carr are relentlessly building their food sovereignty movement in Detroit. On the pod, we discussed the many factors that influence a community's relationship with food, from transportation barriers to the lack of access to nutritional literacy. Dazmonique is an old friend who has been building her business, Deeply Rooted Produce, to grow food in Detroit and empower legacy Detroiters to return to home cooking. Raphael is a 2-time bestselling author and the founder of Urban Plug, which aims to empower inner-city Detroiters. His most recent project, Neighborhood Grocery, is the first black-owned grocery store in the city. What makes it even more special, is that it is funded by the very community it serves. These two leaders are making enormous strides to empower the city that raised them by working together.

CONNECT WITH US:

TFR: linktr.ee/thefoundersroundtable

Raphael Wright - Urban Plug

Dazmonique Carr - Deeply Rooted Produce

Dominique Golden

Isha Naik - Treeo

RESOURCES/LINKS:

Deeply Rooted Produces Works to Transform Detroit's Food System with Hyperlocal Produce Delivery

Detroit Entrepreneur Hopes to be the City's Only Black Grocery Store Owner

To Nikita Mehta, self-care means much more than what most people would imagine. The founder and creative director of Fable & Mane, a hair wellness brand, believes that acts of self-love and wellness rituals are the key to unlocking our best selves, as well as influencing the world around us in positive ways. After working in the luxury fragrance industry, she co-founded her company with her younger brother, Akash Mehta. In this episode, she discussed working with a sibling, balancing a personal and professional relationship, and overcoming communication obstacles to build strategically.  

In addition to being in the personal care space, she goes above and beyond to work on efforts related to health and environmental conservation. One of her projects, Fable Fund, is working to help support those who are protecting tigers and cheetahs to avoid further exploitation and extinction. Nikita aided in the production of Game Changers, a documentary led by James Cameron, to spread the word about plant-based nutrition and its impact on human health. She spoke about how important it is to take the time to get to know ourselves and to embrace our inner wildness. In doing so, she hopes empowered people will go on to empower the world.

NOTE: There may be some audio distortion throughout this episode -- we apologize and hope you can still enjoy the interview!

CONNECT WITH US:

TFR: linktr.ee/thefoundersroundtable

Nikita Mehta - Fable & Mane

Dominique Golden

Isha Naik - Treeo

This episode was all about women's health, a topic that has been politicized for far too long. Roya Pakzad is the founder of Feminade, a company that believes that providing women with root-cause tools and solid data can help them reclaim their lives and their health stories. The current approach to healthcare relies heavily on band-aid solutions and addressing symptoms instead of the core of a condition, and Feminade is part of a larger shift that has gained momentum in recent years to look beyond the obvious and empower patients with information. Women are often denied the chance to take a deeper look at their health or are overlooked by standard care protocols. With Roya, we discussed how healthy, empowered women are our best shot at building a balanced, forward-looking world. Feminade recently relaunched and is offering a 10% discount to those who sign up for email updates. 

CONNECT WITH US:

TFR: linktr.ee/thefoundersroundtable

Roya Pakzad - Feminade

Dominique Golden

Isha Naik - Treeo

Ashton Keys is a tech founder born and bred in Detroit and is building his company, Athlytic, with his co-founder Jared Eummer. The company is a marketplace that allows colleges athletes the ability to use their name, image, and likeness for endorsement deals. It is also using its platform to empower athletes by giving them tools to increase financial literacy and improve mental health under the immense pressure they face from sports fans. During this episode, Ashton took us all the way back to his days as a student at Cass Technical High School in Detroit, as well as to his time building his first company. He shared valuable lessons related to engaging with the press, entering startup support programs/accelerators, and staying true to yourself to lead with direction.

CONNECT WITH US:

TFR: linktr.ee/thefoundersroundtable

Ashton Keys - Athlytic

Dominique Golden

Isha Naik - Treeo

EPISODE-RELATED RESOURCES:

Black-Owned Mobile Platform, Athlytic, Allows Student-Athletes To Monetize Their Name, Image, And Likeness

From Tech to Television; Athlytic Co-Founder Ashton Keys is Here to Leave a Mark!

Joan Nguyen and her team at Bumo are building the future of family. Bumo, which means 'parent' in Korean, is reinventing what childcare and work will look like in the future. As the world was attempting to cope with the effects of the pandemic, she and her team set out to build a human-first solution that has positively impacted families globally. Joan has been a trailblazer in the education space, growing her previous company MeriEducation, into an Inc 5000 company. In this episode, she shared how her early life experiences shaped her as a leader and as an innovator and shared the importance of choosing a team that will carry you, your company, and your mission to the top.

CONNECT WITH US:

TFR: linktr.ee/thefoundersroundtable

Joan Nguyen - Bumo

Dominique Golden

Isha Naik - Treeo

EPISODE-RELATED RESOURCES:

Being Bumo Podcast

Bumo Brain

Bumo Work

Bumo Care

Bumo Closes $3.5 Million in Seed Funding 

In our discussion with Gina Adams, founder and CEO of Wareologie, she detailed the events in her personal life that led her to start building products for those with physical limitations. After watching her stepfather struggle with Parkinson's and working in the apparel and sportswear industries, she realized that existing products were not doing much to empower populations with dexterity challenges. While completing her MBA at Wayne State, she began to build Buttons2Button magnetic adapters, allowing people to button and unbutton shirts effortlessly to regain a vital aspect of daily living.

CONNECT WITH US:

TFR: linktr.ee/thefoundersroundtable

Gina Adams - Wareologie

Dominique Golden

Isha Naik - Treeo

EPISODE-RELATED RESOURCES:

Customer Discovery

How to test an MVP

Defining Social Entrepreneurship

For-profit vs. nonprofit?