From Dallas Startup Week's Women of Innovation on August 10th, Lauren speaks to a live audience on rethinking strategic marketing through the customer lens.
Episode 24: F*CK IT! Let's Do It! with the Founders of Sip City
At 25 these ladies are busting through the beverage industry! With bottles of switchel in hand a SpitFire approach to business development, they are showing up, delivering and asking for what they need.
I got to sit down and taste their amazing concoctions mixed with sparkling wine. This stuff is amazing (and I don't have a poker approach). WARNING: There are a bunch of F bombs dropped in the show, so make sure you have ear buds in. Enjoy!
About The Founders of Sip City
In 2012, both women battled parallel autoimmune and digestive issues—Josie in Nashville, and Nikki in Boston—and began tinkering with homemade concoctions to improve their health. While Josie and her mother began crafting apple cider vinegar drinks called Haymaker’s Punch in the kitchen, Nikki was home-brewing switchel, the same product under a different name and an alternative to expensive kombucha. When Nikki brought her concoctions to work at PBS, her coworkers were immediately hooked. Before long, Nikki had established an underground smoothie/switchel subscription service with loyal customers, run right out of the WGBH newsroom.
Fast forward to January 2017. A mutual friend brought Nikki and Josie together at the Women’s March in Boston, and it was like love at first sight. Bonding over everything from all-natural, gluten-free products to kombucha cocktails, the two quickly discovered that they had been making the same apple cider vinegar and ginger drink—switchel, or Haymaker’s Punch in the South—to help alleviate their health symptoms. That commonality sealed the deal: both women realized the need to do something more with their lives, and they needed to do it together.
In June, Nikki moved to Washington DC, inspired to take a chance and create something new. She and Josie had become closer since the Women’s March. The two linked up one night in NoMa, over boozy homemade popsicles on Nikki’s roof. That’s when they decided: “Screw it, let’s start something.” They researched and realized the untapped potential for the drink that they both turned to in their time of need. After building a business plan and creating product samples, Nikki and Josie pitched Union Kitchen. Today, they are co-owners of Sip City, a functional beverage company focused on convenient, on-the-go drinks for mindful consumers.
www.sipcitydc.com
@sipcitydc
Episode 20: Growing Bold with Patricia Brooks
Assumption: Introverts are Home Bodies that Don't Take Risks
Fact: Patricia Brooks is an introvert who quit her job, wrote a book and moved to France to a city she didn't know a soul in.
How does someone who didn't own a passport until 2013, get the courage to put herself out there, write a book and start fresh in a brand new country and city? Here Patricia Brooks' story and find out how.
About Patricia Brooks
Patricia Brooks is a certified life coach and speaker. She is the author of Growing Bold: How to Overcome Fear, Build Confidence, and Love the Life You Live. Known as The Courage Catalyst, Patricia helps people, who are underwhelmed by the life they are living, find what makes them happiest. She inspires them to take bold action and pursue their dreams so they can live the extraordinary lives they were meant to live.
During the course of her 25-year project management career in Corporate America, Patricia found herself dissatisfied and underwhelmed with her life. After the deaths of her parents she woke up to the reality that life is short. Not wanting to die without really having lived, she decided to follow her dream. Now Patricia has grown bold and is walking the talk. She is currently living in France where she continues to coach and write her next book.
Links
Growing Bold: How to Overcome Fear, Build Confidence, and Love the Life You Love
Snag yourself a copy of Growing Bold: How to Overcome Fear, Build Confidence, and Love the Life You Live
Episode 18: From the Baltimore Projects to Projecting Passion, Cheryl Wood of Cheryl Empowers
Cheryl Wood is a passionate, mission-driven woman determined to live life on my own terms. Cheryl grew up in poverty in a housing project in the inner city of Baltimore, MD. She graduated high school with good grades but didn't go to college so she could go straight into the workforce to support her mom. Even without a college degree, she was able to make a good salary as a legal secretary, which she did for 15 years until she needed a change. In 2009, Cheryl started a small mommy t-shirt business on the side. A year later (September 18th to be exact) she was asked to speak at Morgan State University. And that's exactly where she discovered her natural born talent for public speaking.
From that moment forward she spoke at as many places as she could until she felt confident leaving her full-time job. Cheryl is now speaking around the globe and teaching others how to own their power on the stage. www.cherylempowers.com