Yasmin is the host of the "Behind Her Empire" podcast, focused on highlighting self-made women leaders and entrepreneurs and how they tackle their career, money, family and life.
Each episode covers their unique hero's journey and what it really takes to build an empire with key lessons learned along the way. The goal of the series is to empower you to see what's possible & inspire you to create financial freedom in your own life.
On this episode of Behind Her Empire, I spoke to Loren Ridinger, the co-founder behind e-commerce giants shop.com and Market America.
Ridinger is recognized as an internet pioneer— an industry leader who has had a serious impact on the world of e-retailers. She got her start in Greensboro, NC with her husband JR. The two took a leap of faith starting up an online sales platform before personal computers were commonplace. She explained how they started their product search when most people didn't have computers and how their perseverance paid off in a big way.
Ridinger discusses how she managed to balance being a working mother and an entrepreneur—from bringing her daughter to work to making weeknight dinners a priority. She talks about the inspiration she got from her own mother and highlights why its so important for her to keep her values at the forefront of her life. She also talked about how her expectations for herself as a mother had to shift as her businesses grew.
Market America and shop.com now generate over $1 billion in annual sales, while serving over 10 million customers. Ridinger also is the founder of the cosmetics line Motives, and she has been recognized for her work in Forbes, Elle and Vogue.
Listen to to how she she brings faith into her work, tackles challenging projects, worked with early cosmetic influencers and maximizes productivity daily. She also speaks candidly about being a mother and the terrifying health struggles she endured.
Loren Ridinger is the co-founder of Market America and Shop.com, and the founder of the cosmetic line Motives.
"I think if you don't make a decision about what you want to be or do with your life and have a plan, you ultimately end up taking someone else's path. And I'm so glad that that happened, because it stands out in my mind as a defining moment of choosing to be authentically myself or choosing to be the person that somebody else wanted me to be." —Loren Ridinger
Want to hear more of the Behind Her Empire podcast? Subscribe on Stitcher, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeart Radioor wherever you get your podcasts.
dot.LA Engagement Intern Colleen Tufts contributed to this post.
On this week's episode of Behind Her Empire, I sat down with Divya Gugnani, the CEO and co-founder of Wander Beauty. Her latest company is a cruelty-free, clean beauty brand, designed to be the ultimate on-the-go beauty essentials.
Gugnani began her work in finance at Goldman Sachs, where she says she learned the important of being a team player.
"I believe that investing in people and investing in relationships would always be the best thing for me, both personally and professionally," she said. "And I learned that in finance you work hard, you work a lot of hours and you work on teams."
After dabbling in personal equity and then getting her MBA, she worked on weekends to create an auto parts company with her boyfriend, which she says gave her quality hands-on experience.
Reflecting on the venture, she said, "I think it's great to have very strong relationships, but I do believe they should be based on skillset. They shouldn't be based on your personal chemistry. I think that the biggest mistake is getting involved in business with someone that you're emotionally involved with, because the emotions come at work, the work comes at home and plays into the emotional relationship. That for me was the biggest mistake I made."
After launching two other businesses and becoming a mother, Gugnani started Wander Beauty. Her experience as an entrepreneur and as a mother inspired the company. She said she wanted to look done-up, despite the limited time she had in her day. Wander's first product was a double-sided makeup stick that works as a blush, highlighter, lipstick and eyeshadow.
Since then, the startup has won over 30 beauty awards in five years, including an Allure '"best of beauty" award. Wander has become a favorite of reviewers, influencers and customers alike, and has won its share of celebrity devotees, including Heidi Klum, Emma Roberts, Sarah Jessica Parker and Molly Sims, among others.
Listen to the episode to hear firsthand advice from Gugnani on starting a business, what she's learned about building her teams and how to enter the industry at the right time.
"I've been in four different industries with four different startups and I've learned them all along the way. You learn it all. Be a learn-it-all, not a know-it-all." —Divya Gugnani
Divya Gugnani is the CEO and co-founder of Wander Beauty.
Want to hear more of the Behind Her Empire podcast? Subscribe on Stitcher, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeart Radioor wherever you get your podcasts.
dot.LA Engagement Intern Colleen Tufts contributed to this post.
On this episode of Behind Her Empire, I talked with the CEO and founder of One Potato, an organic and family-oriented meal delivery service. Catherine McCord created the business after becoming a mom and realizing there was a large community of mother's needing nutritious, quality meals — especially if their child has allergies or food-intolerances.
McCord started her career as a supermodel, posing on the cover of Vogue, walking the runway for Donna Karan and Calvin Klein and appearing in movies with stars like Matt Damon, the Rock and Jennifer Aniston. After witnessing 9/11 from a few blocks away, she said her perspective on life totally shifted.
McCord attended and graduated from culinary school, and became a food writer. She has released three cookbooks. During this time, she became a mother, and started a blog titled 'Weelicious' about her experience cooking for her son with a sensitive stomach. She said she started the blog to feel less alone in motherhood, and to connect with other like-minded mothers with similar struggles.
"You're like, 'oh my God, I know how to cook a four-star meal and I have no idea what to feed you', this tiny human. And so that was really the way that Weelicious was born, was I was just a little blog helping other moms in Facebook and in rooms. I mean, it was just really connecting with like-minded people through the education that I had received and practical experience. And it really just grew from there."
Weelicious grew into One Potato because McCord saw an urgent response from families facing a tremendous amount of stress from trying to feed their kids. She sees her goal as removing that stress and giving families the confidence to know they're feeding their children wholesome foods that meet their dietary needs.
In this episode, Catherine discusses how she pivoted from modeling to the food industry, how she became a serial entrepreneur, how she balances being a mother of three children with her work, and how leveraging community is an important part of getting your business off the ground.
"I don't think that anyone when they're like, 'I want to have a baby' realizes that it's 21 meals plus snacks, 365 days a year for 18 years. As a parent, it's the one thing you can't escape. And especially when you're co-parenting, you'll see a lot of couples and kids and parents get into these food feuds and we try to take a lot of that away, take a lot of that stress away." —Catherine McCord
Catherine McCord is the CEO and founder of One Potato, and the author of "Weelicious: One Family, One Meal," "Weelicious Lunches" and "Smoothie Project."
Want to hear more of the Behind Her Empire podcast? Subscribe on Stitcher, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeart Radio or wherever you get your podcasts.
dot.LA Engagement Intern Colleen Tufts contributed to this post.