On SUPERWOMEN, I talked to Shirah Benarde, the 22-year-old CEO and co-founder of NightCap. When she was just 16, Shirah found out that one of her friends had been roofied. Not long after, she got to work, taping together a pair of pantyhose and a scrunchie to make a prototype of a device that can help protect people from drink-spiking. 

Cut to one year later: Shirah and her brother Michael pitched the product on “Shark Tank” and secured a deal. But launching her business as a Gen Z founder was far from easy. “I knew deep down that I had no idea what I was doing, and that made it really hard for other people to see me in a professional way,” she told me. Shirah pushed herself to really understand her business, making costly mistakes along her journey.

“We definitely spent a lot of money on things that we didn’t know that worked,” she said, “but it was a huge learning lesson.” In the process of building her company, she discovered how to get people to trust her vision: “You have to take yourself seriously.” NightCap has since taken off, partnering with nonprofits, and over 200 universities. The company has also been spearheading legislation to help people stay safe when they go out. 

This week on SUPERWOMEN, I talked to @shirahbenarde, the 22-year-old CEO and co-founder of @nightcapit about drink-spiking and her life-saving (literally!) accessories that help people stay safe when they go out. Shirah lets us in how she deals with the stigma of being a Gen Z woman in business, her time on “Shark Tank,” and how she personally convinced the CEO of a multinational fashion company at a conference to team up with her company.

Thank you for listening! Don’t forget to order my book, “Fearless: The New Rules for Unlocking Creativity, Courage, and Success.”

Follow SUPERWOMEN (@rmsuperwomen) and Shirah (@shirahbenarde) on Instagram