March 8, 2022 • 14 mins
Supporting women-owned businesses is a powerful way to advance women in the economy. And that’s something Walmart has been doing for years, by making products from women-owned businesses available in their stores. On International Women’s Day, we talk to the founders of two companies whose products can be found on Walmart's shelves: Gail Becker, the founder of Caulipower, and Kristen O'Meally and Lamia Haley, the founders of Kids for Culture.
Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
Welcome to this special episode of Here's Something Good, a
production of the Seneca Women podcast Network and I Heart Radio.
Today's episode is brought to you by Walmart. Each week,
we aspire to bring you something good in the world,
something positive, something useful, something that will help you through
your day and help you toward a better tomorrow. Happy
(00:28):
International Women's Day. Now, we at Seneca Women have been
working for many years to advance women in the economy
and around the world with a variety of partners. One
of those partners is Walmart. In fact, in two thousand
and eleven, Walmart launched its Women's Economic Empowerment Initiative to
bring more women into the supply chain. And I'm proud
(00:48):
to say that Seneca played a big role in helping
to build that program to make sure that one of
the biggest companies in the world sources from women to
own businesses. To date, Walmart has sourced more than twenty
billion dollars from women owned companies for products and services
just in the US alone. Now, Walmart is one of
the world's largest retailers, so the opportunity to sell your
(01:09):
products through them is a very big deal. Today, we're
highlighting two amazing women owned businesses whose products you can
find right now on the shelves at Walmart. You'll hear
from Gail Becker, the founder of Collie Power, and Lamia
Haley and Kristin o'mealey, who founded Kids for Culture. First,
let's hear from Gail, founder of Collie Power. Thanks so
(01:31):
much for joining us, Thanks so much for having me.
So tell us what inspired you to start your own business?
You know, it was really the convergence of three different
things that happened in my life. One was this realization
that I was not being fulfilled by my my life
in corporate America. I worked my way up the ladder
(01:54):
and realized it didn't like the view very much. The
second was this notion that I can't be the only
person who thinks that, you know, ninety minutes is a
ridiculous amount of time to make a pizza crest. And
so I did see an opening and I thought someone
should do something about that. And then third, and you know,
(02:14):
in some ways most importantly was the passing of my dad,
who was an entrepreneur. He came here with nothing and
he built a small American dream. And when he passed,
I realized that you know, I wanted to follow in
his footsteps in some way, and and so you know,
Colleige Power ended up the to be the way that
that I was going to do that. Well, that's incredible.
(02:37):
Thank you, Thank you. So what challenges have you faced
as a woman in the world of entrepreneurship. You know,
the challenges have really been you know, throughout the entire journey,
even starting with, you know, trying to find someone to
even create this product. I mean, we, you know, we
(02:58):
are the ones that created the cat Gregory. And when
I went to co manufacturers and said, you know, hey,
i have no experience in the food industry, but I'm
really interested in making a pizza crest at a cauliflower,
they looked at me like I had three eyes. And
so it took me a long time to find someone
who would actually even either believe in the concept or
(03:20):
you know, keep trying enough to to to make it happen.
I would say, you know, from there, raising money was
also very challenging. I spoke to a lot of people.
You know, I think when you're a woman trying to
raise capital less people are willing to take that risk.
(03:40):
But trying to get people to understand the concept or
buy into the concept, or buy into the fact that
I was the one to create this category. That also
was a hardship, I think because I was a female entrepreneur.
Now the reverse is also true. I've been given a
lot of court and a lot of cheers of support
(04:02):
by people who wanted to cheer on the female entrepreneur.
And you know, I really really value those moments when
people did that. Well, I have to say, we are
some of those people who want to cheer on women entrepreneurs.
And a lot of the obstacles that you've mentioned we
hear over and over again. But amazingly you overcame those obstacles.
I think you went from like zero to a hundred
(04:23):
million in three years if I'm right, Yeah, that is
about right. That's incredible. So how has partnered with Walmart
impacted your business? When did you start working with them
and what happened? You know, it's interesting because I don't
think people realize just how big of a bet Walmart
and I took on each other. So, you know, we
(04:44):
launched in thirty stores in southern California in February of
two thousand seventeen. By September of that year, we were
in Walmart, which is virtually unheard of. Wow. So I
was very very fortunate that, you know, Walmart took a
bet on a on a very small supplier, and didn't
(05:07):
just take a bet on me, but actually helped me
overcome some hurdles that I you know that without their assistance,
I don't know if I would have overcome. And we
took a bet on each other very early on, and
I'd like to say it caid off well for both
of us. Well, I have to say it. I think
Walmart making the commitment to help women entrepreneurs be part
(05:31):
of that supply chain the suppliers to a company at
scale is no small feet. What impact do you think
they're having on the community or that they hope to
have on the community through their partnership, you know, Um,
it's interesting, I I think in this respect and to
your point, they have really led the way and they
have helped people realize why it's important to support female
(05:55):
owned businesses. And I think my Walmart actually celebrating that
different knowing the importance of that difference really speaks to um.
You know, what the what consumers are looking for, and
what consumers are looking for is not just great food,
(06:15):
and not just great food at great prices, but they're
looking for great food at great prices that actually stands
for something that actually actually has a mission. I mean,
most female founded companies, interestingly enough, have some kind of
you know, social mission, as as Colleague Power does. And
(06:36):
it's really, you know, it's really Walmart that has sort
of celebrated that for both the entrepreneur and also the
end consumer. So finally, how does it feel when you
walk into a Walmart and you see your product on
the shelf? Well, it never gets old every time, no
matter what door I've happened to see, I definitely smile inside,
(06:58):
and I'm pretty sure it was my laying on the
outside too. It's a thrill and it's one that I
never take for granted. Well, it's been such a pleasure.
Thanks so much for joining us, Thanks so much for
having me. What an incredible story. After the break, we'll
hear Lamya and Kristen have to share about their incredible
experience building their company and working with Walmart. And now
(07:32):
let's hear what Lamia and Kristen, founders of Kids for Culture,
had to say. Thanks so much for joining us today,
Thanks for having us. Thank you. Yes, So we are
super inspired by your business. It is really an incredibly
positive business to put out in the world. What inspired
you to start your own business? So what really inspired
us to start Kids for Culture was we saw the
(07:53):
need for it in the market. There's so many brands,
especially kids brands, that don't represent the multi cultural world
that we live in. So we really wanted to build
a brand that is inclusive to everyone, not just one race,
not just one culture, but include all races and all
cultures first of all, so important and such a big contribution.
And I know you started the company in the middle
(08:15):
of the pandemic. How was that for you? It was
challenging but also rewarding in a sense. I was a
preschool director when we started this business, and of course,
you guys know that COVID hit the childcare industry pretty hard,
So working on this business and building it during the
pandemic was an outlet for me. So that's what I
enjoyed most about it. I was actually previously working in
the hospitality industry, kind of more like the sales and
(08:37):
marketing side. As you can imagine, the pandemic hit the
travel industry, hospitality industry very very hard. I was actually
laid off shortly before we began, so it was like
prime opportunity for me. It's like I had the time,
and it's like why not, Like this is the perfect
time to start your own business and to get it
(08:57):
off the ground and get going. That's one of those
amazing situations where something really negative is happening, but it
opens the door to something super positive. You know, you
start a business in the middle of the pandemic and
there are so many challenges facing small business owners. What
challenges did you face. Some of the biggest challenges that
we faced was just getting product here. A lot of
(09:19):
our product is manufactured in China, um, so the time
it took to get from China to the US was
just a long time. Like normally to take a month,
it took like four or five months to get products here.
So when we first launched back in October, we launched
with just one product. Of course, we had other products
that were coming, but it just took so long for
(09:39):
them to get here, so we had to push, you know,
our launch dates back. And also just when we started
the Walmart deal, we had to kind of rush kind
of the design process in a sense, just because we
knew that with deadlines and the time that Walmart wanted
to launch the product, we had to make sure that
we were hitting all of our mouth zonnes earlier so
that we could, you know, leave some leadway for shipping time. Wow,
(10:00):
that's kind of amazing in the amount of time. I mean,
to partner with Walmart so early in your business cycle
is is pretty exciting. And then in the middle of
the pandemic. How has partnering with Walmart impacted your overall trajectory?
Partner with Walmart has been a dream come true. Um,
it's still unbelievable that they found us so early on.
We were less than six months and to start in
(10:22):
our business when Walmart found us on Instagram and it
really just kind of turned our world around in the
most positive way ever. Um, We've gotten so much exposure
from this partnership with Walmart. We're super excited. It's definitely,
UM what we was creating a plan for ourselves. We
set goals and then it's like it happened so quickly,
(10:45):
so it's like pushing us. We're having to learn things
so much quicker, which we greatly appreciate. Walmart has been
amazing and helping us work through the different hurdles and
be impatient with us because we're on a learning journey
of our own. Um, so it's definitely pushed our path
for our business timeline up much faster. So in the
(11:07):
best way possible. Though. So, how does it feel when
you walk into a Walmart and you see your product
on the shelf? So the products are starting to hit
shelves now, Um, some Walmarts are getting them, you know
before others. So in our actual areas, we haven't seen
them yet, but we know within the next two weeks
we'll see it. I mean, Lamia, and I keep saying now,
it just feels, you know, surreal, Like a lot of
(11:28):
people are asking you know, how do you feel about it?
It just feels surreal. Um. I think maybe once we
actually get into the store and see our product, I
feel like it's just gonna be like that moment is
going to hit us like I can't believe we did
this well. Given that your business is about creating positivity
for children and as you said, creating an inclusive culture
and an inclusive environment for children, you obviously have a
(11:50):
very mission driven company. What impact do you feel that
Walmart is having You're hoping to have on the community.
I think Walmart is trying to be more inclusive. I mean,
Walmart has a very diverse customer base, so I think
it's important for Walmart for their customers to see themselves
in their products, especially children, and so I think it's
important for Walmart to include more diverse brands, brands that
(12:13):
represent multiple races and multiple cultures into their stores and
in their products. Well, we have to thank you for
everything you've done. Again, amazing to do this during the
pandemic and to go from kind of start to Walmart
in such a short amount of time. It's probably could
be a record. I know, I think you might be
setting a record here. So thank you so much for
joining us, and we look forward to seeing your product
(12:35):
in store and of course supporting you in any way
along the journey. Thank you so much for having us. Yes,
thank you so much. What an incredible journey these women
have had. It's really no small feet growing a business
into one that can be found on the shelves of Walmart.
So here are three things I took from the conversation. First,
for women launching their own businesses, one of the most
(12:57):
critical factors is finding a partner who believes in you.
Both Collipower and Kids for Culture were fortunate to partner
with Walmart, which gave them access to retail expertise and
a huge distribution channel. Second, as we've heard from these
incredible business owners, their life experience help them identify a
gap in the market. In Gayl's case, it was califlower pizza,
(13:18):
and for Lamiah and Kristen, they identified a gap in
the market for inclusive children's products. Finally, what sets women
led companies apart is that so many of them are
mission driven. They have a big agenda and they're driven
by purpose, and that gives meaning to their work into
their products. You can learn more at Walmart dot com,
slash celebrate her. Thank you for listening, and please share
(13:43):
today Something Good with others in your life. This is
Kim Azarelli, co founder of Seneca Women. To learn more
about us and how you can support women owned businesses
every day, go to Seneca Women dot com or download
the Seneca Women app free in the app store. Here's
Something Good is a production of the Anika Women podcast
network and I Heart. For more podcasts from my Heart,
(14:03):
check out the i Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts or
wherever you listen to your favorite shows. Have a great day.
M
Welcome to this special episode of Here's Something Good, a
production of the Seneca Women podcast Network and I Heart Radio.
Today's episode is brought to you by Walmart. Each week,
we aspire to bring you something good in the world,
something positive, something useful, something that will help you through
your day and help you toward a better tomorrow. Happy
(00:28):
International Women's Day. Now, we at Seneca Women have been
working for many years to advance women in the economy
and around the world with a variety of partners. One
of those partners is Walmart. In fact, in two thousand
and eleven, Walmart launched its Women's Economic Empowerment Initiative to
bring more women into the supply chain. And I'm proud
(00:48):
to say that Seneca played a big role in helping
to build that program to make sure that one of
the biggest companies in the world sources from women to
own businesses. To date, Walmart has sourced more than twenty
billion dollars from women owned companies for products and services
just in the US alone. Now, Walmart is one of
the world's largest retailers, so the opportunity to sell your
(01:09):
products through them is a very big deal. Today, we're
highlighting two amazing women owned businesses whose products you can
find right now on the shelves at Walmart. You'll hear
from Gail Becker, the founder of Collie Power, and Lamia
Haley and Kristin o'mealey, who founded Kids for Culture. First,
let's hear from Gail, founder of Collie Power. Thanks so
(01:31):
much for joining us, Thanks so much for having me.
So tell us what inspired you to start your own business?
You know, it was really the convergence of three different
things that happened in my life. One was this realization
that I was not being fulfilled by my my life
in corporate America. I worked my way up the ladder
(01:54):
and realized it didn't like the view very much. The
second was this notion that I can't be the only
person who thinks that, you know, ninety minutes is a
ridiculous amount of time to make a pizza crest. And
so I did see an opening and I thought someone
should do something about that. And then third, and you know,
(02:14):
in some ways most importantly was the passing of my dad,
who was an entrepreneur. He came here with nothing and
he built a small American dream. And when he passed,
I realized that you know, I wanted to follow in
his footsteps in some way, and and so you know,
Colleige Power ended up the to be the way that
that I was going to do that. Well, that's incredible.
(02:37):
Thank you, Thank you. So what challenges have you faced
as a woman in the world of entrepreneurship. You know,
the challenges have really been you know, throughout the entire journey,
even starting with, you know, trying to find someone to
even create this product. I mean, we, you know, we
(02:58):
are the ones that created the cat Gregory. And when
I went to co manufacturers and said, you know, hey,
i have no experience in the food industry, but I'm
really interested in making a pizza crest at a cauliflower,
they looked at me like I had three eyes. And
so it took me a long time to find someone
who would actually even either believe in the concept or
(03:20):
you know, keep trying enough to to to make it happen.
I would say, you know, from there, raising money was
also very challenging. I spoke to a lot of people.
You know, I think when you're a woman trying to
raise capital less people are willing to take that risk.
(03:40):
But trying to get people to understand the concept or
buy into the concept, or buy into the fact that
I was the one to create this category. That also
was a hardship, I think because I was a female entrepreneur.
Now the reverse is also true. I've been given a
lot of court and a lot of cheers of support
(04:02):
by people who wanted to cheer on the female entrepreneur.
And you know, I really really value those moments when
people did that. Well, I have to say, we are
some of those people who want to cheer on women entrepreneurs.
And a lot of the obstacles that you've mentioned we
hear over and over again. But amazingly you overcame those obstacles.
I think you went from like zero to a hundred
(04:23):
million in three years if I'm right, Yeah, that is
about right. That's incredible. So how has partnered with Walmart
impacted your business? When did you start working with them
and what happened? You know, it's interesting because I don't
think people realize just how big of a bet Walmart
and I took on each other. So, you know, we
(04:44):
launched in thirty stores in southern California in February of
two thousand seventeen. By September of that year, we were
in Walmart, which is virtually unheard of. Wow. So I
was very very fortunate that, you know, Walmart took a
bet on a on a very small supplier, and didn't
(05:07):
just take a bet on me, but actually helped me
overcome some hurdles that I you know that without their assistance,
I don't know if I would have overcome. And we
took a bet on each other very early on, and
I'd like to say it caid off well for both
of us. Well, I have to say it. I think
Walmart making the commitment to help women entrepreneurs be part
(05:31):
of that supply chain the suppliers to a company at
scale is no small feet. What impact do you think
they're having on the community or that they hope to
have on the community through their partnership, you know, Um,
it's interesting, I I think in this respect and to
your point, they have really led the way and they
have helped people realize why it's important to support female
(05:55):
owned businesses. And I think my Walmart actually celebrating that
different knowing the importance of that difference really speaks to um.
You know, what the what consumers are looking for, and
what consumers are looking for is not just great food,
(06:15):
and not just great food at great prices, but they're
looking for great food at great prices that actually stands
for something that actually actually has a mission. I mean,
most female founded companies, interestingly enough, have some kind of
you know, social mission, as as Colleague Power does. And
(06:36):
it's really, you know, it's really Walmart that has sort
of celebrated that for both the entrepreneur and also the
end consumer. So finally, how does it feel when you
walk into a Walmart and you see your product on
the shelf? Well, it never gets old every time, no
matter what door I've happened to see, I definitely smile inside,
(06:58):
and I'm pretty sure it was my laying on the
outside too. It's a thrill and it's one that I
never take for granted. Well, it's been such a pleasure.
Thanks so much for joining us, Thanks so much for
having me. What an incredible story. After the break, we'll
hear Lamya and Kristen have to share about their incredible
experience building their company and working with Walmart. And now
(07:32):
let's hear what Lamia and Kristen, founders of Kids for Culture,
had to say. Thanks so much for joining us today,
Thanks for having us. Thank you. Yes, So we are
super inspired by your business. It is really an incredibly
positive business to put out in the world. What inspired
you to start your own business? So what really inspired
us to start Kids for Culture was we saw the
(07:53):
need for it in the market. There's so many brands,
especially kids brands, that don't represent the multi cultural world
that we live in. So we really wanted to build
a brand that is inclusive to everyone, not just one race,
not just one culture, but include all races and all
cultures first of all, so important and such a big contribution.
And I know you started the company in the middle
(08:15):
of the pandemic. How was that for you? It was
challenging but also rewarding in a sense. I was a
preschool director when we started this business, and of course,
you guys know that COVID hit the childcare industry pretty hard,
So working on this business and building it during the
pandemic was an outlet for me. So that's what I
enjoyed most about it. I was actually previously working in
the hospitality industry, kind of more like the sales and
(08:37):
marketing side. As you can imagine, the pandemic hit the
travel industry, hospitality industry very very hard. I was actually
laid off shortly before we began, so it was like
prime opportunity for me. It's like I had the time,
and it's like why not, Like this is the perfect
time to start your own business and to get it
(08:57):
off the ground and get going. That's one of those
amazing situations where something really negative is happening, but it
opens the door to something super positive. You know, you
start a business in the middle of the pandemic and
there are so many challenges facing small business owners. What
challenges did you face. Some of the biggest challenges that
we faced was just getting product here. A lot of
(09:19):
our product is manufactured in China, um, so the time
it took to get from China to the US was
just a long time. Like normally to take a month,
it took like four or five months to get products here.
So when we first launched back in October, we launched
with just one product. Of course, we had other products
that were coming, but it just took so long for
(09:39):
them to get here, so we had to push, you know,
our launch dates back. And also just when we started
the Walmart deal, we had to kind of rush kind
of the design process in a sense, just because we
knew that with deadlines and the time that Walmart wanted
to launch the product, we had to make sure that
we were hitting all of our mouth zonnes earlier so
that we could, you know, leave some leadway for shipping time. Wow,
(10:00):
that's kind of amazing in the amount of time. I mean,
to partner with Walmart so early in your business cycle
is is pretty exciting. And then in the middle of
the pandemic. How has partnering with Walmart impacted your overall trajectory?
Partner with Walmart has been a dream come true. Um,
it's still unbelievable that they found us so early on.
We were less than six months and to start in
(10:22):
our business when Walmart found us on Instagram and it
really just kind of turned our world around in the
most positive way ever. Um, We've gotten so much exposure
from this partnership with Walmart. We're super excited. It's definitely,
UM what we was creating a plan for ourselves. We
set goals and then it's like it happened so quickly,
(10:45):
so it's like pushing us. We're having to learn things
so much quicker, which we greatly appreciate. Walmart has been
amazing and helping us work through the different hurdles and
be impatient with us because we're on a learning journey
of our own. Um, so it's definitely pushed our path
for our business timeline up much faster. So in the
(11:07):
best way possible. Though. So, how does it feel when
you walk into a Walmart and you see your product
on the shelf? So the products are starting to hit
shelves now, Um, some Walmarts are getting them, you know
before others. So in our actual areas, we haven't seen
them yet, but we know within the next two weeks
we'll see it. I mean, Lamia, and I keep saying now,
it just feels, you know, surreal, Like a lot of
(11:28):
people are asking you know, how do you feel about it?
It just feels surreal. Um. I think maybe once we
actually get into the store and see our product, I
feel like it's just gonna be like that moment is
going to hit us like I can't believe we did
this well. Given that your business is about creating positivity
for children and as you said, creating an inclusive culture
and an inclusive environment for children, you obviously have a
(11:50):
very mission driven company. What impact do you feel that
Walmart is having You're hoping to have on the community.
I think Walmart is trying to be more inclusive. I mean,
Walmart has a very diverse customer base, so I think
it's important for Walmart for their customers to see themselves
in their products, especially children, and so I think it's
important for Walmart to include more diverse brands, brands that
(12:13):
represent multiple races and multiple cultures into their stores and
in their products. Well, we have to thank you for
everything you've done. Again, amazing to do this during the
pandemic and to go from kind of start to Walmart
in such a short amount of time. It's probably could
be a record. I know, I think you might be
setting a record here. So thank you so much for
joining us, and we look forward to seeing your product
(12:35):
in store and of course supporting you in any way
along the journey. Thank you so much for having us. Yes,
thank you so much. What an incredible journey these women
have had. It's really no small feet growing a business
into one that can be found on the shelves of Walmart.
So here are three things I took from the conversation. First,
for women launching their own businesses, one of the most
(12:57):
critical factors is finding a partner who believes in you.
Both Collipower and Kids for Culture were fortunate to partner
with Walmart, which gave them access to retail expertise and
a huge distribution channel. Second, as we've heard from these
incredible business owners, their life experience help them identify a
gap in the market. In Gayl's case, it was califlower pizza,
(13:18):
and for Lamiah and Kristen, they identified a gap in
the market for inclusive children's products. Finally, what sets women
led companies apart is that so many of them are
mission driven. They have a big agenda and they're driven
by purpose, and that gives meaning to their work into
their products. You can learn more at Walmart dot com,
slash celebrate her. Thank you for listening, and please share
(13:43):
today Something Good with others in your life. This is
Kim Azarelli, co founder of Seneca Women. To learn more
about us and how you can support women owned businesses
every day, go to Seneca Women dot com or download
the Seneca Women app free in the app store. Here's
Something Good is a production of the Anika Women podcast
network and I Heart. For more podcasts from my Heart,
(14:03):
check out the i Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts or
wherever you listen to your favorite shows. Have a great day.
M
Popular Podcasts
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations.
The Nikki Glaser Podcast
Every week comedian and infamous roaster Nikki Glaser provides a fun, fast-paced, and brutally honest look into current pop-culture and her own personal life.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.