Behind Her Empire

In this week’s episode, we’re re-airing one of our top episodes with Monique Rodriguez, the founder and CEO of Mielle Organics, an all natural hair care and beauty brand.

Monique created Mielle Organics’ first product in her kitchen. Now, the brand has products in over 85 countries – and still pursues the same vision it did from when it operated out of Monique’s kitchen, with the same values.

Monique worked as a registered nurse for almost a decade. She pursued nursing initially to please her mother and secure a financially stable career. As a wife and mother of two girls, it was a big risk to leave her stable career path to pursue her passion. Yet she always had a love of beauty and haircare, and once she saw the engagement of her online community with the products she was creating in the kitchen, she decided to bet on herself and launch her own product, and that’s when Mielle Organics was born.

In 2021, Monique became the first Black woman to raise a non-controlling nine-figure investment, over $100M, in a deal with Berkshire Partners. In 2023, Monique made history again when Mielle Organics was acquired by Procter & Gamble in an unprecedented acquisition, the largest exit ever for a Black Female beauty founder, in which she will continue to serve as CEO of the company. As part of her deal with P&G, she also established Mielle Cares, the non-profit arm of her company, with a $10M donation that was matched by P&G.

In this week’s episode we discuss the many business ventures Monique tried that didn’t work out, why she decided to pursue her nursing career and the biggest skills she learned there that have propelled her when starting her own business. We also chat about her process of building a passionate community through social media, how that helped her create product market fit for her product, and the steps she took to find a chemist to work on her first batch that ended up selling out. Monique also ends on sharing insights on manifesting success, the exact steps she took to bring her ideas to life, her advice on navigating challenging situations both personally and professionally, and so much more.

In this episode, we'll talk to Monique about:
* Confronting fears and building self-belief. [04:06]
* Strong women in Monique's upbringing. [07:27]
* Leaving her comfort zone. [20:09]
* High-risk pregnancy experience in 2013. [22:49]
* Funding Mielle's early stages. [31:35]
* Starting Mielle at home and the initial orders. [35:24]
* Driving Mielle Organics' launch success.[36:41]
* Leaving nursing job to focus on Mielle. [37:54]
* Manifestation steps and vision importance. [40:41]
* Bringing in private equity, alignment with Berkshire. [55:31]
* Timeline of P&G acquisition. [58:05]
* Journaling and gratitude cultivation. [01:00:26]
* Business sale impact on Monique's life. [01:02:33]

This episode is brought to you by beeya:
* Learn more about beeya's seed cycling bundle at https://beeyawellness.com/free to find out how to tackle hormonal imbalances.
* Get $10 off your order by using promo code BEHINDHEREMPIRE

Follow Yasmin:
* Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yasminknouri/
* Website: https://www.behindherempire.com/

Follow Monique:
* Website: https://mielleorganics.com/
* Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mielleorganics/
* Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/exquisitemo/
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sahara Lotti is the founder and CEO of Lashify, the beauty brand that created the world's first at-home lash extension system and completely redefined what DIY beauty could look like.

But her path here had nothing to do with beauty. It had everything to do with refusing to quit.

Sahara was an Iranian immigrant who grew up in Silicon Valley and never quite felt like she fit in. Before Lashify, she spent years as an actress and screenwriter in Hollywood, hustling on the side and building businesses out of sheer resourcefulness. Beauty wasn't superficial for her. It was tied to confidence, to belonging, to feeling like she had a place in the room. So when she discovered lash extensions and felt truly beautiful for the first time, she was hooked. Then her lash technician got pregnant, the replacement wasn't as good, and she went looking for a DIY solution and found absolutely nothing. For most people, that's the end of the story. For Sahara, it was the beginning.

She melted wire in her kitchen. Filed patents before she told a single factory what she was building. Flew to Korea to convince a manufacturer to build something that had never existed. And launched Lashify on sheer obsession. Today Lashify holds more than 750 global patents, has become a celebrity favorite, and recently secured a landmark $30.5 million legal victory against counterfeit manufacturers.

Sahara tells it like it is and in this episode she gets into all of it. The building, the lawsuits, the loneliness, the moments she almost lost everything, and why she believes the only way to truly lead a company is to know every corner of it yourself. This is the real story. And she holds nothing back.

In this episode, we’ll talk to Sahara about:
Standing up for what’s right and refusing to back down. [02:20]
Feeling different after moving from Iran to Northern California. [04:05]
How beauty insecurities shaped her confidence at a young age. [04:20]
Becoming obsessed with her appearance and wanting lash extensions. [05:25]
Building early side hustles by teaching herself everything. [06:03]
Using her principles to protect people from fake luxury goods. [06:57]
Why making money was never the main motivation behind her success. [08:08]
Learning that money creates freedom, experiences, and the ability to help others. [09:27]
The moment her lash technician couldn’t fit her in and everything changed. [13:10]
Teaching herself to build a completely new lash system from scratch. [13:04]
Seeing a major gap in the beauty market and realizing there was a business opportunity. [16:22]
Why screenwriting helped her think about product development and storytelling. [17:20]
Building an entire brand system instead of creating just one product. [19:03]
Self-funding the business and learning early lessons about working with friends. [23:50]
Patenting the idea before going to manufacturers and protecting it from copycats. [24:48]
Becoming profitable quickly by doing her own marketing, customer service, and education. [29:49]
Using Instagram Lives to teach customers how to use a completely new product. [31:03]
How building a business forced her to overcome insecurities and show up publicly. [32:45]
Why customer stories gave her the motivation to keep fighting through setbacks. [33:56]
Learning hard lessons about friendship, loyalty, and trust as the business grew. [43:37]
Why the best founders understand every part of their business from the ground up. [50:18]

This episode is brought to you by Beeya:
* If you or anyone you know have been struggling with hormonal imbalances and bad periods, go to https://beeyawellness.com/free to download the free guide to tackling hormonal imbalances
* Plus, get $10 off your order by using promo code BEHINDHEREMPIRE10

Follow Yasmin:
* Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yasminknouri/
* Website: https://www.behindherempire.com/

Follow Sahara:
* Website: https://www.lashify.com/
* Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lashify/
* Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/saharalotti/
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this week’s episode, we’re re-airing one of our top episodes with Joanna Griffiths, the Founder and President of Knix, the innovative direct-to-consumer intimates and apparel brand.

The idea for Knix started after she had a conversation with her mom about what women’s bodies undergo as they age especially when it came to post-pregnancy leaks. After doing research on her end and speaking to more women, she realized there was a massive gap in the market. So in 2013, she launched a Kickstarter campaign that placed Knix on the map not only for its intimates but for talking openly about the reality of women’s bodies.

A decade later, the womenswear brand has expanded into a variety of categories, including bras, activewear, shapewear, swim, loungewear, and more. Joanna has built Knix into one of the fastest-growing intimate apparel brands globally. In 2022, Joanna decided to sell 80% of her business for $320 million, making it one of the largest exits by a female founder in Canada and one of the most significant sales of a brand by a female founder in US history.

In this week’s episode, Joanna talks to us about her incredible journey building Knix, what she learned in her career in media & entertainment, and how it actually helped her disrupt the intimates industry despite having no background. She shares how she pivoted early on from wholesale even though they were doing incredibly well, how they ended up launching as a direct-to-consumer company, and why it was one of the boldest decisions she made. Joanna also opens up about how she dealt with depression even when she had major success with the brand, and the steps she took to manage this difficult time. We talk about how she dealt with difficult investors who didn’t believe she could run a high-growth company being a mom of three, what she did to prove those naysayers wrong, and so much more.

In this episode, we’ll talk to Joanna about:
* Being vulnerable and open on social media. [03:21]
* The reality in entrepreneurship. [05:22]
* Joanna’s coping mechanisms as a founder. [08:57]
* Creating momentum in the early stages. [13:25]
* Working in a record label, getting an MBA, and shifting passions. [16:49]
* The genesis of the Knix idea and testing their first product. [18:38]
* The manufacturing processes. [23:14]
* Launching Knix on Kickstarter. [25:42]
* Joanna’s depression despite the business doing well. [32:38]
* Joanna’s fundraising journey. [39:31]
* Building confidence and managing negativity. [45:29]
* Joanna’s behind-the-scenes in managing her business and motherhood. [46:47]
* Selling the company and buying a house for their nanny. [48:37]

This episode is brought to you by Beeya:
* If you or anyone you know have been struggling with hormonal imbalances and bad periods, go to https://beeyawellness.com/free to download the free guide to tackling hormonal imbalances and to learn more about Beeya’s seed cycling bundle.
* Plus, get $10 off your order by using promo code BEHINDHEREMPIRE10

Follow Yasmin:
* Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yasminknouri/
* Website: https://www.behindherempire.com/

Follow Joanna:
* Website: https://knix.com/
* Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/knix/
* Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joannaknix/
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Leah Marcus and Yasaman Bakhtiar are the co-founders of Good Girl Snacks, the brand that turned a TikTok obsession into a full-blown business.

These two best friends didn't come from food. They came from corporate. Leah was in marketing at a tech startup, Yas was at an auction house debating whether to go back for her master's. What changed everything was a lot of TikTok scrolling and asking one question: why is everyone obsessed with pickles right now, and why isn't there a brand that actually feels like us? So at 23, they quit their jobs, hired a food scientist, found a manufacturer in the middle of Massachusetts, and started building. Documenting every messy, unfiltered moment along the way on social. By the time they launched in February 2024, they already had a community waiting. They sold out in under three months, closed a pre-seed round in two weeks, had a collab with Khloé Kardashian, and are now on shelves at Erewhon, Whole Foods, and Bristol Farms. All with zero dollars spent on ads.

In this episode, we get into all of it. The leap they took before they were ready, the social media playbook they built from scratch, and the production nightmares that would have made most people quit. But this isn't really a story about pickles. It's about what it actually feels like to bet on yourself when the odds aren't clearly in your favor. Leah and Yas are proof that the founders who win aren't always the most experienced. They're just the ones who refused to stop.

In this episode, we’ll talk about:
* Leaving corporate jobs and feeling the pull toward entrepreneurship. [02:12]
* How a TikTok pickle trend sparked the idea for Good Girl Snacks. [03:58]
* Doing the research before quitting their jobs. [06:52]
* The confidence that comes from building with the right co-founder. [09:10]
* Taking the leap and launching the business in 2023. [11:20]
* Building hype on social media months before the product existed. [12:33]
* Creating a viral content series to grow an audience. [14:30]
* Why consistency and daily posting built early momentum. [18:19]
* Finding the first manufacturing partner and navigating production challenges. [19:36]
* “Cucumber Gate” and the realities of building a food product. [23:06]
* Turning startup mishaps into viral storytelling content. [26:31]
* Why resilience and problem-solving matter more than glamour in entrepreneurship. [29:00]
* Building community through events, activations, and everyday customers. [31:15]
* How influencer relationships and brand partnerships fueled growth. [32:19]
* The Khloe Kardashian moment and what celebrity exposure really does for a brand. [34:09]
* Landing early retail wins with Pop Up Grocer, Erewhon, and Whole Foods. [38:04]
* Raising their first investment round after proving product-market fit. [40:00]
* The long-term vision for Good Girl Snacks beyond pickles. [42:23]
* Lessons about entrepreneurship they learned the hard way. [43:23]
* The sacrifices founders make that people rarely see. [44:20]

This episode is brought to you by beeya:
* Learn more about beeya's seed cycling bundle at https://beeyawellness.com/free to find out how to tackle hormonal imbalances.
* Get $10 off your order by using promo code BEHINDHEREMPIRE10

Follow Yasmin:
* Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yasminknouri/
* Stay updated & subscribe to our newsletter: https://www.behindherempire.com/

Follow Good Girl Snacks:
* Website: https://goodgirlsnacks.com/
* Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/goodgirlsnacks/
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Cyndi Ramirez-Fulton is the Founder and CEO of Chillhouse, a cult wellness destination that evolved into a category-defining, design-led nail care brand.

But the version of Cyndi you see today is not how this story begins. It begins with dropping out of college twice, working nightlife to stay financially stable, starting over in her mid-twenties with unpaid internships, and quietly questioning whether she was actually “good” at anything.

When she opened Chillhouse, it wasn’t instant success. It was long hours, tight margins, staffing challenges, seasonality, expansion risks, and the constant pressure of making payroll. She had to learn how to raise money, survive volatility, and pivot when the original business model was not scalable. The breakthrough came when she listened to her customers and launched salon-quality press-on nails, a move that completely transformed the trajectory of the company.

In this episode, Cyndi shares what it really takes to rebuild confidence when you feel behind. We talk about the unglamorous realities of running a service-based business, why shiny opportunities can become expensive distractions, how motherhood reshaped the way she leads, and what shifted when Chillhouse entered a new chapter through its acquisition by KISS Beauty Group.

If you have ever questioned your path or wondered whether you are capable of building something bigger than you imagined, this conversation is for you.

In this episode, we’ll talk to Cyndi about:
* Why becoming obsessed is what makes you “good” at something. [01:50]
* Growing up around small business hustle — but craving financial stability. [03:41]
* Rejecting the traditional 9–5 and carving her own path. [08:14]
* Starting over at 25 and taking an unpaid internship to rebuild. [10:57]
* Blogging before influencing was mainstream and monetizing early. [15:07]
* The desire to build something physical and the birth of Chillhouse. [17:43]
* Why the original business model had to evolve. [22:37]
* Raising money for the flagship store. [27:49]
* Challenging moments Cyndi experienced in the business. [28:31]
* The hard lesson of expansion and chasing shiny opportunities. [32:33]
* Letting customer behavior guide the pivot to nail care. [34:45]
* Testing products before discovering the breakout opportunity. [36:57]
* Launching press-ons and creating instant brand recognition. [40:14]
* From viral growth to legacy credibility: why today’s virality starts with product performance. [44:27]
* Motherhood, infrastructure, and building real support systems. [47:14]
* Why exiting her business wasn’t the goal, but the right partnership changed everything. [54:07]
* Moving from survival mode to structured, strategic growth. [56:46]

This episode is brought to you by beeya:
* Learn more about beeya's seed cycling bundle at https://beeyawellness.com/free to find out how to tackle hormonal imbalances.
* Get $10 off your order by using promo code BEHINDHEREMPIRE10

Follow Yasmin:
* Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yasminknouri/
* Stay updated & subscribe to our newsletter: https://www.behindherempire.com/

Follow Cyndi:
* Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cyndiramirez/
* Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chillhouse/
* Website: https://chillhouse.com/
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.