4 Woman-Owned Food and Beverage Brand Founders Share Tips for Success
Brave. Good. Kind. Women
Mar 28, 2022
Happy Women’s History Month! In honor of that, we’re highlighting four of our favorite woman-owned brands and hearing tips from the founders about how to succeed as a woman in business.
These women exhibit dazzling leadership skills every day - not just during the month of March. Watching them lead with empathy, grace, and humility inspires us to be better year-round!
Brave. Good. Kind. Sydney Karmes-Wainer
1. Sydney Karmes-Wainer, founder and CEO,
About the brand:
French Squirrel makes 100% organic, protein-packed, nutrient-dense chocolate berets.
What is one piece of advice you’d give to female founders or women who want to be founders?
Just start. Oftentimes we are worried about “perfecting” something, when really, it’s about getting something out there.
How is your company celebrating Women’s History Month? How does your company uplift women year-round?
We are participating in a Women’s History Month-inspired giveaway on Instagram with other female-founded CPG brands!
Year-round, we continue to highlight other female-founded CPG brands through recipes, giveaways, and other social media callouts. I’m a Certified Hormone Specialist who promotes female health and overall hormone health through food and exercise, and we share similar messaging on Instagram.
Brave. Good. Kind. Alexis Jones
2. Alexis Jones, founder,
About the brand:
TheTéSpa creates hand-blended loose leaf tea and tea-based beauty products. The brand is raising funds to launch a mobile tea cart in Boston!
What is one piece of advice you’d give to female founders or women who want to be founders?
You are not the next person’s competition.
Competition in the minds of entrepreneurs is oftentimes deemed as negative. When you feed into negative thoughts and actions you often cannot see how — for example, a collaboration with a similar business — could possibly benefit you tremendously. Collaboration breeds community, community brings sharing, and sharing brings strength.
How is your company celebrating Women’s History Month? How does your company uplift women year-round?
We celebrate women everyday and nurture women-owned businesses in our community and across the country. TheTéSpa specifically looks to partner with women-owned businesses, and our main goal has always been to shed light and make space for marginalized groups of women and Black women.
Brave. Good. Kind. Emshika Alberni
3. Emshika Alberni, founder,
About the brand:
Emshika’s specializes in delicious no-sugar Thai tea and Thai coffee lattes.
What is one piece of advice you’d give to female founders or women who want to be founders?
Keep learning and improving! Learn about your product and process as much as you can, and get advice or help from your mentor or people in your industry.
Network in your industry and beyond. Most importantly, find who values you and supports you and helps you in the process. This will help you to create a support system since being a founder can be very overwhelming sometimes.
How is your company celebrating Women’s History Month? How does your company uplift women year-round?
Have a positive and creative mindset and give back to one another. We encourage everyone on our team to be supportive, positive team players with a great attitude from their hearts and souls. This will create the energy to fuel the business. Trust me, people will feel it!!
Brave. Good. Kind. Caroline Cotto
4. Caroline Cotto, co-founder and COO,
Renewal Mill
Renewal Mill
About the brand:
CPG and ingredient brand Renewal Mill utilizes upcycled ingredients that would otherwise be wasted to create tasty products like cookies and brownies.
What is one piece of advice you’d give to female founders or women who want to be founders?
Make the leap and lean on your collective community. Life is too short not to make your vision a reality, and there’s never been a better time to be a founder.
There’s an incredible community of fellow female founders who’ve paved the road and are happy to share their advice and support, and learning from them as you grow your own brand is one of the best parts of being an entrepreneur.
How is your company celebrating Women’s History Month? How does your company uplift women year-round?
In particular, we are celebrating Women’s History Month this year by launching a co-branded product with a fellow female-owned company, Miyoko’s Creamery, to use their butter in a new vegan peanut butter cookie!
We seek out partnerships with fellow female founders because we believe rising tides lift all boats and that when women support women, we all win.
Anything else you’d like to add about being a female leader?
Being a female leader is challenging, especially when it comes to fundraising. That’s why it’s so important to push for change at the ecosystem level. We need more female decision makers across the entire food industry landscape — more female VC, more female buyers, brokers, and distributors.
When we have women in these pivotal positions, they are able to promote other women’s brands and make sure they have the access to capital, resources, and support they need to succeed.
Tags: Purpose, Leadership, Empathy, Grace, Humility, Female founders, Empowerment
4 Woman-Owned Food and Beverage Brand Founders Share Tips for Success
Brave. Good. Kind. Women
Mar 28, 2022
Happy Women’s History Month! In honor of that, we’re highlighting four of our favorite woman-owned brands and hearing tips from the founders about how to succeed as a woman in business.
These women exhibit dazzling leadership skills every day - not just during the month of March. Watching them lead with empathy, grace, and humility inspires us to be better year-round!
Brave. Good. Kind. Sydney Karmes-Wainer
1. Sydney Karmes-Wainer, founder and CEO,
About the brand:
French Squirrel makes 100% organic, protein-packed, nutrient-dense chocolate berets.
What is one piece of advice you’d give to female founders or women who want to be founders?
Just start. Oftentimes we are worried about “perfecting” something, when really, it’s about getting something out there.
How is your company celebrating Women’s History Month? How does your company uplift women year-round?
We are participating in a Women’s History Month-inspired giveaway on Instagram with other female-founded CPG brands!
Year-round, we continue to highlight other female-founded CPG brands through recipes, giveaways, and other social media callouts. I’m a Certified Hormone Specialist who promotes female health and overall hormone health through food and exercise, and we share similar messaging on Instagram.
Brave. Good. Kind. Alexis Jones
2. Alexis Jones, founder,
About the brand:
TheTéSpa creates hand-blended loose leaf tea and tea-based beauty products. The brand is raising funds to launch a mobile tea cart in Boston!
What is one piece of advice you’d give to female founders or women who want to be founders?
You are not the next person’s competition.
Competition in the minds of entrepreneurs is oftentimes deemed as negative. When you feed into negative thoughts and actions you often cannot see how — for example, a collaboration with a similar business — could possibly benefit you tremendously. Collaboration breeds community, community brings sharing, and sharing brings strength.
How is your company celebrating Women’s History Month? How does your company uplift women year-round?
We celebrate women everyday and nurture women-owned businesses in our community and across the country. TheTéSpa specifically looks to partner with women-owned businesses, and our main goal has always been to shed light and make space for marginalized groups of women and Black women.
Brave. Good. Kind. Emshika Alberni
3. Emshika Alberni, founder,
About the brand:
Emshika’s specializes in delicious no-sugar Thai tea and Thai coffee lattes.
What is one piece of advice you’d give to female founders or women who want to be founders?
Keep learning and improving! Learn about your product and process as much as you can, and get advice or help from your mentor or people in your industry.
Network in your industry and beyond. Most importantly, find who values you and supports you and helps you in the process. This will help you to create a support system since being a founder can be very overwhelming sometimes.
How is your company celebrating Women’s History Month? How does your company uplift women year-round?
Have a positive and creative mindset and give back to one another. We encourage everyone on our team to be supportive, positive team players with a great attitude from their hearts and souls. This will create the energy to fuel the business. Trust me, people will feel it!!
Brave. Good. Kind. Caroline Cotto
4. Caroline Cotto, co-founder and COO,
Renewal Mill
Renewal Mill
About the brand:
CPG and ingredient brand Renewal Mill utilizes upcycled ingredients that would otherwise be wasted to create tasty products like cookies and brownies.
What is one piece of advice you’d give to female founders or women who want to be founders?
Make the leap and lean on your collective community. Life is too short not to make your vision a reality, and there’s never been a better time to be a founder.
There’s an incredible community of fellow female founders who’ve paved the road and are happy to share their advice and support, and learning from them as you grow your own brand is one of the best parts of being an entrepreneur.
How is your company celebrating Women’s History Month? How does your company uplift women year-round?
In particular, we are celebrating Women’s History Month this year by launching a co-branded product with a fellow female-owned company, Miyoko’s Creamery, to use their butter in a new vegan peanut butter cookie!
We seek out partnerships with fellow female founders because we believe rising tides lift all boats and that when women support women, we all win.
Anything else you’d like to add about being a female leader?
Being a female leader is challenging, especially when it comes to fundraising. That’s why it’s so important to push for change at the ecosystem level. We need more female decision makers across the entire food industry landscape — more female VC, more female buyers, brokers, and distributors.
When we have women in these pivotal positions, they are able to promote other women’s brands and make sure they have the access to capital, resources, and support they need to succeed.