Woman Inc.

Allison Ellsworth is the Co-Founder and Chief Brand Officer of poppi, a modern, fun(ctional) prebiotic soda designed for the next generation. Poppi was born from Allison’s relentless pursuit to build the perfect healthy soda — one with full flavor, real digestive health functionality, and clean ingredients that are good for you. In 2015, she started having a variety of health problems and discovered that Apple Cider Vinegar (ACV) could reset and naturally detox her body, improving everything from her gut health and immunity to refining her complexion. She started drinking ACV every day, and within two weeks, all of her symptoms subsided. Since drinking ACV alone had a less appealing taste, Allison went to her kitchen and began experimenting, working around the clock to create a better tasting ACV beverage made with real fruit juice. The result was poppi, which first launched in 2017 and was later re-branded in Spring 2020.

Allison is widely recognized as a pioneer in beverage product development, and she is the recipient of the prestigious “Best New Beverage” Award from the publishers of BevNet (2016). After gaining early traction at local Farmer’s Market, Allison and her husband Stephen took their vision to the next level and pitched their beverage on ABC’s Shark Tank. The pair secured a 6-figure investment from Rohan Oza and have since received additional investment and guidance from Rohan’s CAVU Venture Partners.  

I was blown away by the success of Poppi after hearing their numbers and have so much respect for how Allison started this company. I hope you find the inspiration you need in this chat; now let’s get on over to my conversation with Allison. 

Happy Wednesday our Woman Inc. listeners! Our guest this week is Katie Sands, founder of lifestyle blog, HonestlyKate.

As a blogger and an Amazon Live Style host on the rise known for her trendsetting and product reviews in fashion, beauty, and health + wellness. Named the “Do Good Influencer of Our Time” by Guest of a Guest, she has made it her goal to partner with brands that give back to honorable causes. So far, her collaborations with David Yurman for BCRF, Coors for Change the Coarse, Kenneth Cole for the Mental Health Coalition, and Phat Buddha for JED have helped to fuel cancer research, clean-up America’s rivers, and combat the stigma surrounding Mental Health while supplying young adults with the skills and support they need. 

Despite her 24/7 hectic hustle lifestyle, Katie believes ‘to feel good, you must do good’, so in her spare time, she gives back to those in need and uses her platform to inspire others to do the same. She is the youngest Make-A-Wish Board Member in the NY Chapter, has donated $40K to Northwell Health COVID-19 Emergency Fund and live-streamed her personal therapy sessions to raise Mental Health Awareness. Katie’s thoughtful use of her influence has earned her widespread admiration across the globe, and ultimately, her goal is to inspire everyone to curate the lives of their dreams.

Hello my beautiful Woman Inc. listeners!

Katerina Schneider is Founder and CEO of Ritual, a personal health brand bringing a new level of transparency to the health and wellness industry. While pregnant and in search of a prenatal she could trust, Katerina took matters into her own hands and pioneered a new standard of high-quality multivitamins and supplements that are backed by science and Made Traceable, openly sharing the science and sourcing. Now as one of the most trusted brands in the category and one of few supplement companies to be a Certified B Corporation, Ritual has had more than a million customers and has the top selling online prenatal multivitamin.

Katerina has been honored on Forbes 30 Under 30, EY Entrepreneur of the Year, Inc 100 Female Founders and Marie Claire’s New Guard 50. Prior to founding Ritual, Katerina was a venture partner, managing a portfolio of over 70 tech investments including Spotify, Uber, Dropbox, and Warby Parker. She previously served as Head of Global Innovation at Atom Factory and as Global Lead of Digital Innovation at Universal Music Group.

This is the book we reference: https://www.amazon.com/Art-Happiness-Handbook-Living/dp/1573227544

Caroline Winnett, Executive Director | Berkeley SkyDeck (https://skydeck.berkeley.edu/)

As Executive Director of Berkeley SkyDeck, UC Berkeley’s startup accelerator, Caroline leads a program that hosts over 200 companies per year and is partnered with the Berkeley SkyDeck Fund, a VC fund investing in SkyDeck startups that shares half of fund carry with UC Berkeley.

Prior to SkyDeck, Caroline was a serial entrepreneur. Caroline co-founded the pioneer company in the neuromarketing industry, NeuroFocus, which was acquired by Nielsen in 2011. Before her career in startups, Caroline was a professional concert violinist.

Caroline is a recognized speaker on startups, accelerators, and neuromarketing. She is an angel investor and an Advisor and Board member for technology startups.

Caroline received her MBA from the Haas School. Her undergraduate studies were at Brown University and she earned her Violin Performance degree at the Indiana University School of Music.

Bio - Siffat Haider is an entrepreneur, host of Dear Media’s The Dream Bigger Podcast and Co-Founder + CEO of Arrae, a holistic wellness brand that features 100% Naturopathic Doctor-formulated Bloat + Calm Alchemy Capsules, designed to supercharge your digestion and relax your mind. Prior to launching Arrae in March 2020, Siffat spent time in the publishing industry working for ELLE Canada, and then moved on to launch a successful blog titled Icing & Glitter, which she launched in 2016. Siffat founded Arrae after struggling with many different health issues for years and found that natural remedies were able to cure many of her day-to-day issues. With that intention of bridging the gap between finding natural, organic, high-quality supplements that solved targeted problems while being beautiful, Siffat created and expertly-formulated Arrae Bloat + Calm capsules that have now reached a total of over $5 million in sales. Originally from Bangladesh, but grew up in Toronto and Dhaka, Siffat graduated from the University of Toronto in 2013 and Conde Nast College in 2014. She currently resides in Los Angeles with her husband and Arrae co-founder Nish Samantray, where they spend their free time cooking, reading, and traveling the globe together.

 Happy Friday our Woman Inc. listeners! Our guest this week is @Madison.utendahl, Founder & CCO of Utendahl CreativeUtendahl Creative is an all female, Black owned, full service branding and design agency behind cutting-edge brands like Simon Huck’s Judy, Halsey’s About-Face, and Lena Dunham’s Good Thing Going. Madison is also a Forbes 30U30 alum and a two-time Webby Award winner who was on the founding teams of cultural phenomenons Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, 29Rooms and Museum of Ice Cream. Madison’s experience being on the creative teams behind these massive cultural successes led not only to a specialty in emotional brand storytelling, but to a personal experience with burnout, leading to her present-day mission of ENDING burnout in the creative industry by starting her own agency where she is fundamentally changing the way creatives work.We hope you enjoy this episode, and as always, come back here to let us know your favorite part!

Happy Friday our beautiful Woman Inc. listeners!

Lisa Green was the Senior Vice President of Brand Partnerships and Operations at THE YES, helping the brand become acquired by Pinterest, the visual inspiration app, in June 2022. Lisa is currently the Head of Brand Partnerships, Shopping at Pinterest. Lisa has spent her career at the intersection of fashion and technology, serving as Google’s head of fashion and luxury for 6+ years and overseeing the fashion category at Conde Nast. Prior to her role leading fashion and luxury at Google, Lisa held several senior executive roles in sales at Google. Lisa also sits on the board of the 5 Under 40 Foundation. Green received her B.A. from Middlebury College and resides in New York.

We hope you enjoy this episode!

Amira Rasool, Founder & CEO of The Folklore (https://www.thefolklore.com/)

Amira Rasool, founder of The Folklore, is changing the way retailers and consumers discover African and diasporic brands globally, and in April became one of the youngest Black women to raise $1M+ in a pre-seed round. Amira speaks to her experiences as a fashion editor that led her to studying in South Africa that inspired her to launch The Folklore in 2018 at just 22 years old! She shares how she personally scouted brands across the continent to join the platform, and how she translated her vision to evolve from her original wholesale business to a B2B & shopping aggregator platform for investors to scale access to incredibly talented African brands globally. 

Prior to launching The Folklore, Amira was a writer and fashion editor that has worked with several notable publications including TIME, Vogue, Teen Vogue, i-D, PAPER, Glamour, InStyle, V Magazine, and WWD. Amira is also a passionate Black history scholar. For her undergraduate education, she attended Rutgers University, where she received a B.A. in African American and African Studies. She later earned a Master of Philosophy in African Studies from the University of Cape Town.

Ariane Goldman, Founder & CEO of HATCH

Ariana is the founder and CEO of HATCH, the premier destination and lifestyle brand for women before, during and after pregnancy. Since its launch in 2011, HATCH offers chic maternity clothing and “mama safe” clean beauty products that directly address the issues women face throughout their pregnancy and into postpartum. Seeking chic and elevated maternity clothing, Ariane developed HATCH in 2011 to fill that void in the maternity market with solution-driven designs that enable women to invest in the clothing, well past pregnancy. In scaling her business, Ariane has built HATCH as a trusted name in the market becoming the go-to maternity brand for partnerships with high profile retailers including Nordstrom, J.Crew, Keds, La Linge, and Target. Her mission was the same as it is today, ten years later: to create a trusted resource for women who want to feel beautiful, confident and stylish during one of life's most rewarding (yet also most challenging) periods. 

Carine Camry, the CEO and Co-Founder of progressive pelvic floor therapy company Origin (https://www.theoriginway.com/). 

Every year, 40 million women suffer from issues relating to maternity, menopause and sexual health that physical therapy can treat and heal, yet it’s not offered as part of the standard care provided by regimented doctor visits. Origin believes that every woman and individual with vaginal anatomy should have access to the care they need to feel good in their bodies. Their goal is to make pelvic floor therapy part of the standard care provided to every woman and mother to feel their best, while offering them the support they need.

Origin prevents women from undergoing unnecessary surgeries, improves clinical outcomes at stages of maternity and menopause, reduces the waste of misdiagnosis that is common with pelvic pain, and increases the use of preventative OB/GYN services. Their incredible team of physical therapists provide deep expertise and create personalized programs to help retain, promote, and advance women by supporting them through major life transitions. 

Origin was acquired by the largest in-network pelvic floor practice in Texas to expand their clinical team by 50%, furthering their mission to increase access to essential, affordable physical therapy care.