SheVentures Doria Lavagnino

Drinking in public can be awkward when you choose not to consume alcoholic beverages — for whatever reason. Becca Gardner, however, is paving the way to diminish this stigma. 
 
Gardner is the founder and CEO of NKD LDY, an innovative company specializing in non-alcoholic spirits and beverages. The mission of NKD LDY is to ensure that delicious non-alcoholic mocktails are available along with wine and spirits. Gardner’s personal experience stems from embracing sobriety after years of working in a high-profile and high-pressure NYC strategy consulting role. She pivoted both career and location and embarked on her purpose-driven business. 
 
Garner hopes NKD LDY will normalize the choice to consume high-quality non-alcoholic drinks. Founded in Gardner’s home state of Kentucky, NKD LDY uses actual distilled spirits as the base of its products. Once the alcoholic portion of these spirits has been gently removed, customers are able to enjoy aromatic and tasteful alternatives to whiskey, gin, and tequila.
 
Listen to Gardner discuss her experience with alcoholism and how she founded ALT Distilling, a venture-backed mission-based startup that creates non-alcoholic spirits under the brand NKD LDY, on this episode of SheVentures.

2:00 Gardner opens up about when she knew she had crossed the line into addiction — and how embracing sobriety led to a career pivot.
7:00 Gardner’s “aha” moment with non-alcoholic drinks
9:35 How did Gardner translate a business idea she first identified while in the U.K. and apply it to the U.S.?
11:00 Gardner discusses the process of creating non-alcoholic beverages.
17:00 Curious about the NKD LDY product line?
18:10 Gardner discusses her success in raising venture capital.
21:40 How did Gardner create a board for NKD LDY? 
26:20 Gardner shares her biggest surprise as a CEO. 
30:20 Tips for women considering personal or professional pivots 

If anyone knows how to create, run, take public, and exit a company successfully, it is Sheila Lirio Marcelo. The Filipino technology entrepreneur is famously known for founding Care.com, an online marketplace for childcare, special needs caregivers, tutors, and more. 
 
After selling Care.com in 2020 for $500M, Marcelo embarked on a new business venture: the creation of Proof of Learn, a Web3 education platform, which allows students the opportunity to earn rewards while learning code blockchain, a skillset Marcelo says is rare. 
 
Though Marcelo is an entrepreneurial icon, she is transparent about the values her childhood instilled in her that play a role in her success. Marcelo describes moving from the Philippines to the United States, and how it created challenges, biases, and opportunities to overcome on her way to the top.
 
Listen to Marcelo describe how she identified a gap in the market as a married mother and student that would lead her to create Care.com a decade before other companies embraced an online business-to-consumer model. She also shares the human side of entrepreneurship as well as the challenges she faced (and her wins), on this episode of SheVentures.
 
2:20 Marcelo describes growing up in the Philippines.
6:30 How did Marcelo balance both motherhood and a startup?
12:35 Marcelo weighs in on her educational accomplishments. 
17:30 What was Marcelo’s experience like as a woman of color founder? 
20:32 Tips for women who aspire to be in leadership roles 
23:10 Marcelo discusses her new career pivot, Proof of Learn. 
29:50 How Marcelo’s experience at Care.com influences her approach at Proof of Learn. 
32:50 Marcelo speaks about a woman who inspires her and why
34:30 Where listeners can find more about Marcelo, her career ventures, and her current podcast, W3B’D.

Menstruation is often a taboo topic. From the potential confusion surrounding your first period to embarrassment while purchasing feminine hygiene products, there’s a negative stigma many people associate with menstruation. And that’s assuming you are not one of the 63 percent of women who have difficulty affording these necessary products.
 
However, CEO Vilmante Markeviciene, is bringing power and positivity to the feminine hygiene market. She is the founder of the U.S. brand Genial Day and the European brand Gentle Day, sustainable feminine care products aimed at minimizing rashes, skin irritation, and unpleasant period smells and spills.
 
Pivoting from a career in business administration and interior design, Markeviciene found herself at a crossroads in 2008. During the recession, she realized how expensive pads, tampons, period underwear, and related products were in the United States — and seized the opportunity to expand her business from the EU to the U.S.
 
Listen to Markeviciene describe her entrepreneurial journey, and how your purchases can support displaced Ukrainian people who menstruate, on this episode of SheVentures.
 
2:33 Markeviciene describes growing up in Lithuania.
7:22 Markeviciene’s promise to donate one product to Ukrainians for each product bought 
8:40 What were Markeviciene’s early career pivots? 
10:38 How did Genial Day start?
17:10 What is the product approval process?  
26:20 Markeviciene discusses the complications of going global. Hint: How did she end up with two names for one company? Listen to her tips so it doesn’t happen to you.
29:00 What role do women play in the feminine hygiene market? 
36:00 Education is the base of Genial Day’s mission. 
43:30 Markeviciene breaks down sustainability with Genial Day products. 
49:42 Tips for young entrepreneurs starting out 
51:10 Where to find Genial Day products 

Octavia Goredema, the founder of career coaching agency Twenty Ten, offers a variety of work strategy sessions and workshops for underrepresented employees. With areas of expertise in career mentorship, stress management, and navigation, Goredema works to amplify and redirect the needs of women of color in entrepreneurship and corporate America. 
 
Goredema is the author of Prep, Push, Pivot: Essential Career Strategies for Underrepresented Women, a career coaching guide for women of color.
 
Listen to Goredema discuss her career and life pivots from moving continents for romance to her wins and challenges as a minority business owner,career coach, and book author, on this episode of SheVentures.
 
1:45 Goredema discusses her childhood curiosity.
3:50 How Goredema was appointed to the Order of the British Empire 11:54 How Goredema pivoted from corporate America to startup agency founder and book author 
17:30 What role has rejection played in Goredema’s career? 
23:09 How race and representation affect women of color in corporate America  
30:40 Goredema discusses the three most common areas where women of color seek coaching.
34:10 Where listeners can learn more about Goredama and her book, Prep, Push, Pivot: Essential Career Strategies for Underrepresented Women

When you realize you are role models for millions of women, it’s both exhilarating and scary. Sister co-founders Angela Muhwezi-Hall and Deborah Gladney had their reckoning this year as women of color founders. Both realized they are role models for all Black women — the 99.5 percent that haven’t yet succeeded in raising capital like they have — and they feel added pressure and responsibility to succeed.
Last year when we spoke, these founders covered their oversubscribed raise of $1.4M after completing the Techstars accelerator. In this episode, the sister-founder duo talks about raising more capital and share how it was tougher this time despite both being a “known quantity.”
Listen to them candidly discuss race, venture capitalists, the rebrand of their career-discovery platform to WorkTorch, and their goals for 2023. And yes, we set a date to speak again in 2024 to trace their growth, hardships, and wins. 
As women of color, the pair discuss role-modeling for other women in entrepreneurship and tech and how important it is to remain confident. 
Tune in to hear about what they believe they’ve done well, where they can improve, and their respective goals until we speak next year. 
 
2:40 Muhwezi-Hall and Gladney discuss the milestones and barriers of raising capital. 
8:10 The duo talk discrimination in the tech industry as women of color founders. 
11:50 Tips for staying fueled and dealing with microaggressions in the workforce 
14:00 All about WorkTorch and why a rebrand was essential 
19:45 How WorkTorch is positioned as a B2C and a B2B company, always free for job seekers with a subscription model for companies 
23:45 The impact and responsibilities Muhwezi-Hall and Gladney face as minority founders
27:20 Three tips about entrepreneurship the founder-duo would give to their past selves 
31:50 Muhwezi-Hall and Gladney discuss their goals for 2023.

Representation of women in the fintech industry is scarce. So scarce that women make up less than 10 percent of fintech founders or executive board members, according to a recent paper from the International Monetary Fund. But Sofiat Abdulrazaaq is changing the game for women of color in fintech.
Abdulrazaaq is the co-founder of Goodfynd, a platform that began as a way to help consumers find nearby food vendors/trucks and facilitate ordering and delivery where available. 
Goodfynd also has a B2B application. Abdulrazaaq identified the need for all mobile vendors — food or otherwise — to have an accessible and affordable one-stop shop to run their business. This “business in a box” model is meant to reach the under-served community of first generation and immigrant mobile vendors, allowing them to include what they need from the Goodfynd platform — without extra bells and whistles. What started off as an organic quest to find food trucks before the pandemic morphed into B2C and a scalable B2B model.
Pivoting from a stint in privacy law (she got her JD then decided to become an entrepreneur), Abdulrazaaq shows resilience in the face of hardship as a woman of color in a male-dominated world. 
Listen to Abdulrazaaq discuss raising capital and launching Goodfynd, on this episode of SheVentures.
1:45 Abdulrazaaq discusses her career pivots.
4:20 How did the idea for Goodfynd emerge? 
10:15 Abdulrazaaq reflects how a grant from Lighthouse Labs helped her and her co-founders create a proof of concept. 
19:05 Will Goodfynd expand its business model to all mobile businesses? 
22:12 What does being an “impact-first executive” mean to Abdulrazaaq? 
25:22 Abdulrazaaq shares her experience as a woman of color raising capital. 
33:55 What are her three tips for women pursuing entrepreneurship? 
38:06 Where can listeners learn more about Goodfynd?