The Two Percent

In this episode of The Two Percent, Anu is joined by Allison Conrad, founder of Arey – the ‘wrinkle cream of haircare’. Allison shares the personal journey that led her to found Arey, the science behind graying hair, the challenges in pioneering a new category in the haircare industry, and her strategy in delivering a science-backed product that not only works but provides an exceptional customer experience.

This episode of The Two Percent podcast features Adrianne Nickerson and Elaine Purcell, who are on a mission to revolutionize maternity care as the co-founders of Oula. Their discussion delves into the problems with the current maternity care system in the U.S, the role of technology in maternity care, the importance of a personalized patient experience, and their vision for Oula's future. This episode is a must-listen for healthcare professionals, expecting mothers, and anyone interested in the advances of maternity care.

In this season premiere of The Two Percent, Anu engages in a captivating conversation with Fidji Simo, CEO and Chair of Instacart. Born in France to a family of fishermen, Fidji shares the journey that led her to Silicon Valley, where she started her career at eBay and Facebook before joining Instacart to lead the company in 2021. The episode delves into Fidji’s people leadership philosophy, her experience taking Instacart public, role as a co-founder of Metrodora Institute, and more.

To close out Season 4 Anu sits down with Michelle Cordeiro Grant, founder of Lively, a community and ‘leisurée’ brand inspiring women to live passionately, purposefully, and confidently. In this episode Michelle shares insights from her experiences building an empire by breaking all the rules, putting community before company, and successfully navigating the acquisition process as a three year old start up.

Today’s guest is Olamide Olowe, Co-Founder & CEO of Topicals – the Gen-Z brand reimagining the ointment aisle with effective science-backed products and mental health advocacy – and the youngest Black woman to raise over $2M in funding. Olamide shares how she built a go-to-market strategy around her own experiences with chronic skin conditions, why storytelling is the greatest growth hack, and her best community building lessons for consumer brands.

Anu chats with FFF portfolio founder Babba Rivera of Ceremonia, the clean hair care brand rooted in Latinx heritage. Babba opens up about her experiences navigating identity and representation, innovating as an industry outsider, and takes us through her unique product and brand development thought process.

In our first ever two-guest episode, Anu sits down with portfolio founder Lisa Mayer of Boss Beauties, a women-led global NFT initiative with huge momentum, alongside fellow Boss Beauties strategic investor Randi Zuckerberg. Lisa and Randi give listeners a crash course in the world of NFTs, discuss their shared passion for mentorship in the metaverse, and share onboarding advice for founders, investors, and newcomers who feel overwhelmed with where to start in their Web3 education.

Anu is joined by Female Founders Fund portfolio founder and Parisian makeup artist Violette, of VIOLETTE_FR – a cosmetics line made ‘avec amour’ for people and the planet, and designed with the purpose of helping people celebrate their natural beauty. Violette walks us through the behind-the-scenes of building her personal and company brand with a loyal digital following – from discovering her passion for beauty, to creating a brand bible, fundraising while 8 months pregnant, last-minute launch day ideas, product development, an increased commitment to sustainability and transparency, and more.

Anu is joined by physicist Lisa Dyson, who is the founder and CEO of Air Protein, the company crafting the world’s first carbon negative air-based meat alternatives. They discuss the NASA-inspired science, mission, and go-to-market strategy behind Air Protein, plus Lisa’s thoughts on the broader macro environment surrounding sustainability.

Today’s guest is Sarah Jones Simmer, who is currently the CEO of Found, a company focused on making evidence-based sustainable weight care for all, and previously was COO at Bumble, the female-first social networking app – where she helped build the company and then spearhead Bumble’s IPO while battling a stage 3 breast cancer diagnosis. In this episode Sarah goes deep on scaling a business, gets personal on how her own health journey inspired her to build again, shares how she is approaching the most critical problem in public health, and advice for stepping into the CEO role.