Sandra Velasquez, founder and CEO of Nopalera, -a Mexican luxury Bath and Body brand,
was raised by Mexican immigrant parents in California near the US/Mexican border. Nopalera celebrates her culture, loud and proud. She launched her business during the pandemic, when she found herself in between jobs. Since its launch in November of 2020, Nopalera has gained thousands of loyal followers and can be found in major stores including Nordstroms and Credo. Sandra was also recently featured on Shark Tank, where she proudly proclaimed her worth by saying “My ancestors are whispering in my ear and they say, ‘Mija, no te desprecies.’” We talk to Sandra about why she decided to start Nopalera and the strategies she implements to grow her business.
You can find Nopalera at Nopalera.co
Naibe Reynoso is the Host and Executive Producer of Latinas Take the Lead.
Production Assistant is Ana Sophia Monzon
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
At that time, I was forty three and I have
no savings, I have student loan debt, I have credit
card debt, I have a daughter. And the answer to
changing my life is not going to be getting yet
another job. The answer is going to be me actually
building something bigger than I have ever been a part
of before. So it was almost from a place of
(00:27):
discomfort that I started my company.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
You just heard Sandra Velasquez, founder of Nopallera, a Mexican
luxury bath and body brand, And if you're a fan
of Shark Tank like I am, you probably saw her
on a recent episode where she stoically and proudly stood
her ground amongst the sharks. She had a dollar amount
in mind and would not budge for anything else as
(00:53):
far as an investment from the Sharks was concerned. We
talked to Sandra about why she decided to start her
business in the first place, in the middle of a pandemic,
the strategies she implements to grow no palera, and much
much more. So let's just dive in. Let's go, Hi, Sandra,
(01:13):
how are you.
Speaker 1 (01:14):
I'm doing great? How are you? Thanks for having me well?
Speaker 2 (01:17):
I am such a big fan of you, of your brand,
of your efforts, of everything that you're representing for Laco, Munida, Latina,
La mouhead, small businesses, entrepreneurs, all of that in a
bag of No Pallea soap.
Speaker 1 (01:31):
Thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
So. No Palleta is a line of luxury body care
with products such as Cactus soap, botanical bar and exfoliance.
And you have said that your love for your culture
is the heart of No Pallea, So talk to us
about that.
Speaker 1 (01:46):
Yeah, well, you know, I used to be a professional musician.
So I was the lead singer and the band leader
of a Latin alternative band called Pistolera for the majority
of my adult life, and I thought that I was
put on earth to you know, share my cultural stories
through music. And it seems like a big jump, you know,
being a musician to all of a sudden being an
entrepreneur and owning a beauty brand seems you know, a
(02:09):
little random. But actually the mission is the same, which is,
you know, to celebrate and elevate our culture and tell
our stories. I'm just doing it with a different paintbrush now,
not doing it through music anymore. And really, for this brand,
for Not Palleta, what I wanted to do. Was I
set out with a lot of intentionality from day zero
to create a highend Latina brand to just wrap to
(02:31):
the historically eurocentric beauty shelves. You know, we Latinos are
twenty percent of the population, and yet I don't see
any premium Latina brands on shelves. I see brands with
French names, with Italian names, And so it was really
about positioning our culture as aspirational.
Speaker 2 (02:49):
Why do you think that is so important? Because I'm
totally right there with you. I feel like as Latinos
were always positioned as like second class citizens. We never
get the spotlight, we never get to be front and center, right,
So why was it important for you to really drive
that point home?
Speaker 1 (03:03):
Well, I think, first and foremost, as being twenty percent
of the population, it just makes no sense why we're
not already there, Like why aren't there already five brands
like No Plea, you know, like it doesn't really make
any sense. So in business, you know, you often people
often talk about the white space opportunity. You know, what
is the white space? Where is there what's missing? Right?
And I really fliped that on its head and said, actually,
(03:24):
the opportunity it's the brown space opportunity that's actually what's
missing on shelves and what I want to what I
really want to do, because everything that I've ever done,
even when I was a musician, always has like a
socio political undertone. Right, this is not just about beauty products.
This is not just about cleaning your skin. Right. My
mission is not to help people get clean, absolutely not. Right.
Do the products have to work, yes, do they have
to be great, yes, But the deeper mission here is
(03:48):
to change the cultural perception of the value of Latino goods. Right,
because you know, here in the United States, people have
no problem paying five dollars for a croissant, but when
a taco is five dollars, they're like, oh, why is
it so expensive? Right? They want Latino products to be cheaper,
and our you know, the artistry and the artisans and
the richness of Mexigo and just all of Latin America
(04:10):
is worthy of the same price tags. And that's really
what we're also establishing.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
Right.
Speaker 1 (04:14):
So when people come to me and say your products
are so expensive, I'm like, no, they're not. You would
not say that to Chanel. You would not walk into
Saphora and ask for a discount, So why would you
do that to us?
Speaker 2 (04:23):
I love it. I love it. I love that effort
one hundred percent. You started Not Pallera in twenty nineteen
at forty four years old, is that correct?
Speaker 1 (04:31):
So I had the idea in twenty nineteen, that's really
when I started working on it. But I launched on
November second, twenty twenty, so in the middle of the pandemic,
when I was forty four.
Speaker 2 (04:39):
Yes, So before you launched No Palleera, you were a
full time musician or did you have another career.
Speaker 1 (04:45):
I was a professional musician. I toured, I released several albums,
I played on big stages. I've had my music and
television shows. But it's New York. It's a very expensive
place to live, and so I always had a job
for health insurance and so in the most recently, like
the jobs that I was working, you know, while I
was launching Note by Lena, I was working in sales
(05:06):
for other CpG brands. So I was, you know, in
the trenches of New York grocery by day and then
at home, you know, at night, I would formulate and
work on my brand, and also on the weekends.
Speaker 2 (05:15):
So I'm forty eight. I'm going to be forty nine.
And I also started my company in my mid forties,
Gondola Press, which is a children's book publishing company. Talk
to us about that that I feel like there's this
new wave of women in their forties that are pivoting
and they're kind of reinventing themselves. Talk to us about
that journey.
Speaker 1 (05:36):
Well, for me, my entry point into entrepreneurship was self responsibility.
And what I mean by that was in that summer
of twenty nineteen, when I was visiting my parents in
San Diego, where I'm originally from. I was actually unemployed
at the time. I had just left a job because
there was a lot of problems there was basically it
was a coup, so I quit. I wasn't fired. I quit.
(05:57):
So for the first time in my adult life, I
was on employed and that was very scary because I
looked at my life like here I am. At that time,
I was forty three, and I have no savings. I
have student loan debt, I have credit card debt, I
have a daughter. And the answer to changing my life
is not going to be getting yet another job. The
answer is going to be me actually building something bigger
(06:21):
than I have ever been a part of before. So
it was almost from a place of discomfort that I
started my company because it was like go big or
go home, right, Like, this is it. I'm going to
go big. I'm going to be bold about it. Some
people are going to get mad about it, but I
really focus in on the opportunity and what was missing
in the market and built for that right. So to me,
(06:45):
I think I like to inspire people to live boldly
because I'm a very courageous and bold person and there's
no such thing as you're too old to do X
y Z. And also, you know, covid was it was
like the great reset button everyone because people took a
look at their lives and they were like, wow, maybe
this is a great opportunity. I don't really like my child,
(07:05):
let me go start a business or let me you
know whatever. They it just they were everyone was stuck
at home, right, So it gave people time to think
for the first time in a long time.
Speaker 2 (07:14):
And I think a lot of women do want to
be entrepreneurs, but sometimes they have a hard time. And
this actually happened to me trying to figure out what
is that product that I'm going to bring to life.
So the concept of note baleda. How was that birth?
Speaker 1 (07:26):
Well, the concept was birthed by me. First of all.
I was learned how to make soap that summer in
twenty nineteen.
Speaker 2 (07:31):
As a hobby, or like, is that something that you
always like had a passion for? Is it just like, hey,
let me take a fun class.
Speaker 1 (07:38):
It was really just kind of on a whim because
again I was unemployed, right, So here I am with
time on my hands, and I'm at my parents' house
in San Diego, and I was like, well, let's just
I told my daughter. I was like, this summer, we're
just going to learn how to make stuff. We're going
to make, you know, lotion bars, We're going to infuse
oils with botanicals. And so I just kind of got
into formulating. And my first commit it was to myself
(08:01):
to really learn how to formulate, to be an actual formulator.
So I actually enrolled myself in formulation school Formula Botanica,
which is based in the UK, and it's a very intensive,
like year long program, and I put that investment on
my credit card because again remember here I am unemployed
with no money. How am I going to start a
business right. So that's another point that I want to
make to people that you don't need to wait until
(08:21):
you have all the money to have an idea or
to begin because now that I'm in the middle of
this seed fundraise I'm raising two point five million dollars
and I'm almost done, is that there's plenty of money
in the world. If you don't have money and you
don't know anybody with money, then you just need to
go meet new people, go put yourself into new rooms
where the money is. Because what I have learned through
(08:43):
this process is that once you meet one person with money,
you meet five people with money because all the people
with the money hang out with each other and they
know each other, and they're all looking for a deal
flow and where to invest their money. So the idea was,
you know, just going back to your question, was just
I was learned how to make soap substituted alo vera
for Nopal and kind of the idea was born, and
(09:04):
I realized that this plan that I had grown up
with was going to be the key to the success
of this brand because I knew that all Latinos had
grown up with Nobile, I mean, all Mexicans right, had
grown up with Noble right, and it would speak to
them first. And also, it's an amazing plant, right, It's
highly regenerative, it's sustainable. We can eat it, you can
(09:24):
make textiles from it, you can you know, cleanse your
skin and hair. And I just didn't. I had like
this aha moment, but also like wow, I have known
this plan my entire life and I've totally overlooked it,
and I'm going to build a high end brand around it.
Speaker 2 (09:38):
The whole aesthetic, the branding, the bright colors. I think
you got that right from the beginning. Talk to us
about that process. Did you think about the branding at
the same time that you were thinking of your company
of what like when you were starting or how you
came up with the name and the colors and the
branding and all of that.
Speaker 1 (09:55):
Yeah. So, because I knew that I was going to
be creating a beauty brand. I knew from just my
time in sales and just being you know, working in
the music industry that branding was going to make her
break this brand. You cannot enter into the beauty industry
and have not good branding and expect that your ingredients
are going to make you succeed absolutely not. Like beauty
(10:16):
is an aspirational category. We as human beings are emotional creatures.
We buy based off of emotion, you know. We are
attracted to colors, then shapes, and then text. So I knew,
you know, that the branding was going to be critical
to this brand success, which it has been. And so
my first investment was in enrolling in formulation school right
(10:39):
and learning how to formulate. My second investment was in branding.
So I called my friend, you know, Abbi Haddickan who
is the designer behind this brand, and told her what
I was trying to build. And I created a whole
presentation to present to her that really spelled out the
mission of the brand, who the customer was, why it
needed to exist, what our core values were. I really
built the brand right, wrote it out like I was
(11:01):
creating a religion, which I recommend to all founders, like
really sit down and build your brand, you know, because
if you don't have that, your a logo is not
going to save you. So you know, I asked again,
I have no money right at this time, so I'm
asking Abby haddeck In, my designer, for a payment plan,
Like can we spread these payments out over like five months, right,
(11:21):
and she agreed, which obviously allowed me to be able
to do this, So that was really working on the
formulations and the branding both took a year, so I
worked on them concurrently.
Speaker 2 (11:31):
And I read an article that says that six hundred
boutiques applied to sell your products. So does that mean
that they're not that you have to approve them or
they're already in these boutiques? Talk to me about that.
Speaker 1 (11:42):
Yeah, so I think it's like over now, maybe seven
hundred boutiques have applied. We get inquiries every single day.
I honestly stop looking at the emails. I filter them
to a different folder because my head of sales takes
care of that. So, yes, people apply through our website,
and then Priscilla, our wholesale manager, vets them like make
sure like they're not too close to an existing account
(12:03):
we already have, that they carry brands that are aligned
with note that it's really a good fit. And then
once she vets them and says yes, then she provides them,
you know, the information to purchase. So we've turned down
like hundreds at this point.
Speaker 2 (12:17):
And then you obviously mentioned that your sales team funnels
at who was the first employee or contractor besides the
branding that we already talked about, that you hired for
your team marketing.
Speaker 1 (12:31):
So I started with So Sam Gomez is our marketing manager.
She started as a freelancer, right. I hired her for
like five hours a week, like can you please help
me with you know, posting on Instagram or creating something,
and then it turned into you know, two hours or
like you know, ten hours a week, and then it
turned into like a monthly retainer and then I was like,
(12:52):
you know what can now she's just a full time employee.
She's a W two employee, you know, with a four
one K and you know, paid vacation. So that was
really my first hire because you know, marketing is really
what we're doing, is we're running marketing companies, you know,
and so it's to me, it's it's also such a
(13:13):
huge time suck to be creating content constantly when you're
actually running a business. Because at that time, I was
also the formulator, I was also the production manager. I
was mad, I made the products myself for the first year.
I had no time to be like dealing with you know, Instagram.
Speaker 2 (13:26):
So I see your Instagram is beautiful. It's it's just
esthetically so beautiful. Like you said, it's it's aspirational because
you just look at it and immediately it draws you
in with the colors and it's the photography. Do you
have like biannually or like how how often do you
have like branding sessions where you take pictures of your
products and and all of that.
Speaker 1 (13:48):
So the way that we work is that we we
do quarterly planning, So we plan out the quarters all
of you know, so three months at a time, and
then we have a brand photographer, so we'll sit out
and we'll plan the quarter and then you know, Sam
will decide what pictures we need and then we send
those requests to Amande Lopez or a photographer and then
she takes the picture send them to us, and then
they're all scheduled.
Speaker 2 (14:07):
Can you share how big your team is? Now?
Speaker 1 (14:10):
Yeah? I think we are, so not everyone is full time,
but it's me, Sam, Edith, Priscilla, and then Sean part
time and then you know, not counting my book cheaper,
not counting, you know, but so really like.
Speaker 2 (14:23):
Five people and you're running everything out of New York, Yes, Brooklyn,
your product is I believe in Nordstrom and in free
People right.
Speaker 1 (14:33):
Yes, and in Credo Beauty and in Whole Foods in
New York City?
Speaker 2 (14:35):
And how did that happen? Can you demystify because I
think there's a lot of mystique around like how do
I get into Costco or Nordstrom, et cetera. Sometimes I've
heard that it's not as fancy as it sounds because
there's a lot of upfront costs and then you you know,
you have to really sell the product and you have
all that pressure. So can you kind of just walk
(14:56):
us through what that process is like, like do they
come to find you? Do you pitch to them? How
does that happen?
Speaker 1 (15:01):
Yeah, it happens all of those ways, So there is
no one way. And you know, like the boutiques that
we have right now, they all came to us, right,
So that's one way. And then Northstrom was our first
big retailer that we onboarded with literally a year ago
and we launched it's part of this LATINX collection that
they brought in. And so I used to be a
(15:22):
sales rep, so I know what it's like to pitch
right and to sell into stores and it just goes
back to right when people ask me because a lot
of founders, I mentor a lot of founders as well,
and I have like an entrepreneurial news letter Where'm always
giving advice. People always want to know, like how do
I get into wholesale? And the first question is really
like can you afford to get into wholesale? And I'm
not talking about upfront costs because there are no upfront
(15:43):
costs when we're talking about you know, you don't pay
to get into Nordstrom. What I mean by can you
afford to is like are your margins strong enough to like,
are you going to be profitable if you sell like
to at a wholesale price? Because a lot of people
don't do their margins correctly. They don't calculate or they
don't even know their margins, or they don't calculate their
cogs correctly, or they're if you're making stuff at home,
(16:04):
then you're certainly not like you're certainly under pricing what
your cogs really are because you're not really working with
a co packer. You're not you're not paying production rant,
you're not paying staff right to create your product. So
really it's about understanding like can you afford to Like
that's the first question, because there's no point in getting
into a store if you're going to make negative dollars
(16:26):
from from the relationship, right, And so number two to
answer your question, like, yes, sometimes we pitch and then
sometimes people come to us, like Free people found us
at a trade show. So that's how we got into
that store, Creto. You know, Priscilla had been talking to
them for a while and then I went through their
their Creto for change cohort and Nordstrum was like we
(16:51):
pitched to them, right, And so there's different ways to
get into retailers. There's not one way. And every buyer
is on LinkedIn, so it's no longer mysterious about how
to find people. Like if you can't find people, you're
just not trying hard enough to be honest with you.
And it's not like the old days where no one
knew who anyone was and we were like working enough
of the yellow pages, right, Like everyone's on LinkedIn now
(17:11):
every buyer's on LinkedIn. And the key thing is like
if you're going to go and present to a retailer,
like make sure that you have a very very like
you have clarity of brand. You understand your differentiation in
the market. Like I just I've because I work with
so many brands and because i've I've been teaching a
CpG class for the last three years. I just see
(17:32):
what a lot of brand founders do wrong, which is
talking about, you know, like how their ingredients are good,
and it's like everyone's ingredients are good. That's not enough,
you know, or like they're like, well I'm vegan, everyone's vegan. Now,
like there's there has to be a stronger, like a
very very strong brand story, right, And you have to
truly understand your category, right, Like I'm in the bath
(17:56):
and body Yes it's beauty, but I'm in the bat
like the body care category subset of that. So really
understanding who are my competitors on shelf? Who am I
really competing with? I'm not competing with, you know, mal Cosmetics,
They're a cosmetics brand, right, right, So really understanding the market,
really doing your homework in advance, understanding your competitive shelf,
making sure that you are priced correctly, you know, and
(18:17):
then you know to your point why it's expensive to
deal with retailers is the support that's required, right, So
one of the meetings that I had today was with
with an in store sales support company, right, and they
will go in, they'll they have field teams all over
the country and they go in, they merchandise your product,
they get reorders, they educate the store staff. You know,
(18:37):
this is like twenty thousand dollars a month, right, So
that's the that's what it means. Like when people say
it's expensive, it's that, right, it's the support. You have
to give free samples, you have to give reproduct to
the store staff to educate them. You have to hire
a say, you know, a merchandising team, right, because the
store does not. No one at the store knows what
(18:58):
your brand is, you know.
Speaker 2 (19:00):
And then also don't you have to have a lot
of inventory on hand, so you have to put up
the money for that inventory.
Speaker 1 (19:06):
Yes, so there's that, but it really depends on how
many stores are you launching into. Right. Then that's the
conversation that you have with your buyer, like what is
the forecast, what's the first purchase order going to look like?
What do replenishment orders look like after that? So that's
something that you should be prepared for because you asked
in the first meeting so it shouldn't be a surprise.
Speaker 2 (19:22):
And you mentioned you have a copacker, right, what is
that for people that are listening and don't know what
that is? And how long did it take for you
to finally get a copacker and how important and pivotal
has that been for your business?
Speaker 1 (19:34):
Yeah? So a copacker otherwise known as a contract manufacturer,
otherwise known as a manufacturer, otherwise known as a factory.
These are people that make products. So I made the
products myself for the Fairsteer only because I couldn't find
a copacker to take over my formulas. I couldn't find
someone who would make my soaps the way that we
make them, in custom molds. It's very laborious. Who could
(19:55):
make our botanical bars, right? These are unique products with
unique molds and shape apes. So it took me a
long time to find someone. And it's I can't even
imagine trying to make my own products now, there's just
absolutely no way. I mean, it was really difficult trying
to scale. And I was wearing hospital scrubs every day
covered in oils, and everyone thinks it's so cute and
(20:18):
so like great and like you know, and everyone wanted
all the you know, media wanted to come and film me,
like making my soap. I'm like, this is not what
we want to glorify, Like we want to show that
we can start businesses and outsource things to be made,
because that's how all beauty brands are made. No one's
making their own products, you know.
Speaker 2 (20:34):
So you were working many hours a day until you
got to the point where you can find a copac
or you were comfortable with like you were literally in
your apartment, i'm assuming, or your house in New York
making all of this.
Speaker 1 (20:46):
In the very beginning, I was in my house, but
like by month three, I had found a production space
because I grew in my house like immediately, So I
had to go find a studio and then I had
to hire two assistants and train them. And yeah, it's
so it's just Marla Warious.
Speaker 2 (21:01):
Time for a short break. But when we come back,
Sandra talks to us about hustle in a world turning
more and more towards self care. Is hustle a bad word? Well,
she tells us, we'll be right back. You were talking
about how hard you were working and all of that,
(21:22):
and I feel like, right now there's this battle between
don't hustle, Like hustle is a bad word, And I'm
not sure if it's a bad word because I'm hustling
right now, So does that mean that I'm doing something wrong.
I do give myself plenty of time to work out, rest,
go to sleep, but I do hustle. What is your
take on this whole demonizing, you know, the girl Boss,
et cetera. I just feel like there's a happy medium.
(21:44):
We can hustle, but we can rest as well.
Speaker 1 (21:46):
Well. I think that hustle is fine when it's when
it's like a finite thing that you're doing right. Because
I knew when I was building my brand and I
was still working for Van Law and a high bar
and teaching and consulting at night, I was like, this
is not sustainable, but I have to do it for
now because it's the only way that I can launch
this brand, right, Like I can't quit my job before
I start selling product. So so I knew. I was like,
(22:09):
I just it's going to take me a year, right,
I'm going to have to work my I'm gonna have
to burn both candles, you know, birthbone, both ends of
the candle at the same time for a year. While
I get this off the ground, and then hopefully I'll
be able to quit. Right So, I think that if
you know that there's an end in mind, right like that,
it's possible, but over a sustained period of time. I
(22:31):
think what really the problem is. I don't think that
the problem is hustling. I think that the problem is
that people try to do everything themselves. I think that women,
especially are expected to you know, we are expected to
somehow take care of the house and also run the business,
and also cook and clean and raise the children while
we're running businesses, when really you should be outsourcing as
much as possible so that you can focus because you cannot.
(22:54):
It really depends on what we are trying to build.
You know, some people they want to do everything themselves,
and they don't I want a copacker to make their products.
I'm like, okay, well, then you're never going to scale.
So let's just be realistic about what you're trying to build.
Don't tell me that you want to get into Alta
but you want to make your products yourself. It's not
going to happen. So be very again deliberate and honest
with yourself about what you want and what you're trying
(23:15):
to build what you're good at what you're not good at,
and outsource. Right when I launch my brand, I'm outsourced
cleaning my I got a cleaning lady. I send up
for meal delivery service. And because I live in New York,
I'm able to outsource my laundry. Like they pick it
up for my porch, they deliver it the next day,
and I'm still too busy, right, So I think that's
really the thing, right, It's not about hustling. It's like,
(23:37):
if you're hustling, why are you hustling? Right? Why are
you hustling? Are you doing too much? Are there things
that other people could do? And let's talk about that instead,
you know, because I really think that that is really
hard for people to let go and to Everyone is
scared of hiring people. They think they don't have the
money to hire people. I'm like, well it actually works
the other way around. You need to hire the people
(23:58):
so that you can make money.
Speaker 2 (23:59):
Yesd Per, I'm going through that right now with hiring
and all of that. So I completely agree with you
on that one. I want to ask you, what do
you think has been like the biggest learning lesson in
your entrepreneurial journeying, or maybe like a mistake that you made.
They say there's no such thing as a mistake because
we always learn from them. But like, what's something that
if you could have done differently you would have done?
Speaker 1 (24:21):
I think there's not many things that it would change
because I really thought it out a lot before I launched.
You know, I plotted and planned and built for a
year in silence before the world even knew what I
was doing. And I really sat down and built the
foundation of my brand. And I did that well, and
that's why we are where we are today. It's absolutely
(24:42):
because I invested in branding and it took a year
to do that. It's absolutely because I wrote down our
company values and what we stood for and had a
very clear picture of what we were trying to do right,
So that clarity is why we're here now. Right. I'm
not here because I make soap. Lots of there's plenty
of soap in the word world, Like why my soap? Right,
It's about what it stands for, it's about how it looks,
(25:03):
it's about how it makes people feel. But I think
that I wish I could have, you know, found a
copacker sooner. But I mean I was really trying, but
it was also hard to look while I was working, right,
So that's kind of the double ed store that I
think a lot of people find themselves in is they
know they need help, but they don't even have time
to find the help. They don't have time to sit
down and write the job description because they're too much
(25:23):
in it. Right, So I think maybe looking for a
copacker sooner. And then I think the biggest learning that
I have had, there's a couple I'm just going to
just highlight too. Number One, if you are trying to
build a business, you need to hang out with other
people that are doing the same thing. So I you know,
as I mentioned, I was a professional musician. I know
(25:44):
a lot of amazing musicians and a lot of them
that have no money, and so that's not going to
help me build my multimillion dollar empire, right. And this
is not to be mean, This is not to say
that you should stop being friends with people, but you
need to surround yourself. You need to find a new
squad of people who are also trying to change their
lives and also building something and also in the same
boat as you, and ideally a couple steps ahead of you,
(26:04):
even revenue wise, so that you can learn and normalize
what it's like to build. And so that's that's one
thing that I did last year that has changed my
life as I joined a mastermind and now I have
a squad of women that we're just there an amazing
support network. So and then I think the second thing is,
(26:27):
you know, really being honest about your relationship with money
and understanding that we all have a relationship with money,
whether you think you do or you don't you do,
and understanding that truly understanding, like in your DNA, that
there is a lot of money in the world and
that if it feels far away, it's just temporary. Like
(26:50):
when I first started fundraising, you know, a year ago,
I like, I mean, I've only been fundraising for three months.
But when I first was thinking, oh I need money,
it was a year ago and I was at actually
I was at a retreat at my business coach's house,
and you know, she asked me, Okay, so like, how
much is it that you think you need? Because I
was panicking. I was like, I don't think we're going
to make it through the holiday, Like I don't have
(27:11):
enough inventory we're going to sell out, you know. She's like, well,
how much do you think you need? And I was like,
I don't know, like one hundred thousand dollars and she
was like, that's it, you know, because at the time
a year ago, one hundred thousand dollars felt like a
lot of money, right, you know. And then my friend
that same trip and this is you know, I said,
like a year ago, she said, you know, you should
(27:32):
really like try to find two hundred and fifty thousand.
And I was like, you're right, you're right, right, But
emotionally it was difficult for me to like imagine trying
to go find two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. And
then I was like, you know what, I need five
hundred thousand, and then it was like, no, I need
a million. And now I'm in the middle of a
two point five million.
Speaker 2 (27:50):
Rais that's amazing.
Speaker 1 (27:52):
But the thing is that the only hurdle was in
my mind is my point.
Speaker 2 (27:55):
Right, right? And I've heard that we all have kind
of a money thermometer, or we always like our bank
account is always going to have whatever we feel is
the comfort zone, whether it's five hundred dollars one thousand,
tenenty twenty, and we're always going to keep it and
maintain it at that at that level because our mind
serves us as a thermometer. So yeah, I totally agree
(28:18):
with you. Let's bring that thermometer all the way to
the millions, because I completely believe in generation creating generational wealth,
and that's how you really create power and sustainable power
through generations. You know, I know that we have to
go soon, so I just wanted to quickly ask how
can people help with your fundraising or what stage or
are you at right now? Like how is that going?
Speaker 1 (28:39):
Yeah? So I set out to when I started the
raise in June, I was like, Okay, I'm going to
raise a million dollars. And when I had my first
meeting with one of the vcs, they were like, is
that enough? And I was like, probably not right. But
the fact that they even asked me that, I think
is just so telling, right, because again, a million dollars
to a lot of people sounds like an enormous amount
(28:59):
of money, but when you actually sit down with a
financial model and you plot out how much it's going
to cost you to hire people to make inventory, to
market to support, you see how quickly a million dollars
goes right, and people in the venture world, they know
that a million dollars is not really a lot of money,
right because you're thinking about a million dollars in your
personal bank account.
Speaker 2 (29:18):
Right.
Speaker 1 (29:19):
That's different than a business bank account that has like
operating expenses, you know, or especially a product based based
business that is inventory heavy. So I didn't I never
wanted to do a crowdfund because you know, I love
what like Little Libitos did, right. They turned to the
community and they raise like two million dollars from the
community and their community owned, right, which is a beautiful,
(29:41):
beautiful thing. The reason I did not go that route
is because one of the benefits of having institutional investors
is that they're also bringing resources to the table, right,
Like I need people with operational expertise, people with digital
marketing expertise that have already built and scaled brands multiple times.
So that is, you know, when you're looking for a partner,
a financial partner, it needs to be more than the money,
(30:02):
because again, there's so much money in the world, Like
what else are the money runs out? Then what? Right?
Speaker 2 (30:08):
So you need.
Speaker 1 (30:10):
Resources, right, And so that is why I chose to
go the VC route. So I made a spreadsheet, right,
I still have it that I track like all the
vcs that I have reached out to, that I've talked to,
when did I meet with them? You know, I have
my pitch deck that I worked on. I have a
data room that has all of my company information. And
it was just it's a full time job, right, like
(30:30):
every day like who can I email? Who can I
follow up with? It's it's really exhausting. So it was
it's also difficult to fundrais in the summer because although
rich people go on vacation, so people warn me about that,
but I did it anyway. I was like, well, this
is when I need to raise the money, So it's
going to happen in the summer. Oh well, and you know,
just like when I launched the pandemic, people were like, oh,
it's not a good time to start a business. Well,
(30:51):
I'm like, oh well, you know, and people are like,
it's not a good time to raise money because the
market is down. I'm like, oh well, you know, like
the life must go on. So you know, I have
a lead investor who is committed, you know, over a
million dollars and then I have some angel investors also.
Speaker 2 (31:06):
So what do you do with a seed money with
all of the three million dollars? What do you use
it for? Or what are you going to use it for?
Speaker 1 (31:14):
Yeah, so it's always you know what what investors want
to see as you building your team, right, because what
you don't want to do is just like get like
sell equiting your company for inventory. Right, So you know
what you want to do is use credit cards, get
a line of credit right for those like inventory needs,
and use the money to hire people, hire experts, build
the team, build the infrastructure, and obviously marketing. Right. So
(31:39):
it's the three piece people, product and promotion.
Speaker 2 (31:41):
You had mentioned earlier that you mentor entrepreneurs. Is this
the program that you offer offer or or is it
just like people that you meet along the way that
you take under your wing.
Speaker 1 (31:52):
So I have a private entrepreneurial newsletter from my personal
website santre vesciz dot com and people, you know, there's
like hundreds of founders that follow me there, and I
send a weekly newsletter giving like actionable advice and sharing
my journey transparently, just like I do through the note
Letta podcast. I think it's really important for people to
hear like what it's really like. And so I also
(32:15):
was teaching live classes, so I would like announce that
to my mailing list, you know. And I was teaching
like a branding workshop and also a margins class. Now
I have them just evergreened down my website because I'm
in the middle of a fundraise, I have no free time.
So and then you know, over the summer, I also
offered like free mentorship spots to people and it was
just like on a first come, first serve basis. So
I did a lot of like one hour sessions with
(32:37):
just founders that are on my mailing list.
Speaker 2 (32:40):
So where could people find you? Your products? You your platform?
Speaker 1 (32:44):
Yeah, so no pal Leta is you know, noepi letta
dot co dot for company, not dot com. It's also
Nobletta dot co on Instagram and on TikTok and then
I am personally. My personal account is on Instagram official slv.
Those are my initials sande Releve ask us and my website.
My personal website is sandreayli levitescz dot com. So that's
(33:05):
pretty much everywhere. Of course on LinkedIn as well. And
you have a podcast and it's called La it's called
the No Letta Podcast.
Speaker 2 (33:12):
This is a question I always ask all my guests,
what is something you are reading, listening to, or using
that you're obsessed with and that you would want to recommend.
Speaker 1 (33:20):
So at the moment, I'm not reading anything, which I
should be, But what I am obsessed with is doing
a morning meditation. I really am committed to visualizing because
I do believe that you have to first achieve it
in your mind before you do it in the physical world.
So every morning I do a fifteen minute meditation that
(33:40):
is actually it's on YouTube. I do Doctor Joe Despenza.
He has a fifteen minute morning meditation that's really all
about visualizing who you are in the future and really
connecting with what that feels like, you know, Like my
business coach would say, like be her now, you know,
like instead of saying like, oh, I'm going to wait
to you know when this happens, to be happy, like
(34:02):
feel it now, you know. So that's how you bring
the future to you.
Speaker 2 (34:06):
And now the last last question. The name of the
show is Latina's Take the Lead. How are you taking
the lead?
Speaker 1 (34:12):
Well, I mean not by Letta is leading what I
call the brown space opportunity in the bath and body category.
You know, in business, we always talk about the white
space opportunity, but I really think that it's the brown
space opportunity. So that's a term I coined and I'm
using all the time and really showing our community what
is possible. I have a collection, like an actual growing
(34:33):
collection of letters from founders and just people in the
community thanking me for creating this brand and making showing
them what's possible. For you know, that I've inspired them
to start their own company. And to me, that is
the ultimate reward because you know, I had no one
to look to ei there was no other you know,
high end latina brand in the space for me to
(34:53):
be like, oh wow, well she did it so I
can too. Like I was like, I'm going to be
that person, and then you know, people, I'm going to
Establis and it's we're going to normalize that, and then
it's going to inspire other people to do the same.
Speaker 2 (35:03):
Well, thank you so much, Sandra for your time. We
know you're busy in the middle of fundraising, so I
really appreciate the space that you're given in this podcast.
Speaker 1 (35:11):
Yeah, it's my pleasure. Thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (35:13):
Thank you. I'm naive Reinoso signing off. I hope you
enjoyed this episode, and if you did, please like and subscribe.
Follow us on Instagram at Latinas take the Lead, and remember,
don't be afraid to break barriers. It's about time Latinus
(35:35):
take the lead. Latinus Take the Lead is a production
of the Seneca Woman Podcast Network and iHeartRadio. For more
podcasts from iHeartRadio, check out the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
At that time, I was forty three and I have
no savings, I have student loan debt, I have credit
card debt, I have a daughter. And the answer to
changing my life is not going to be getting yet
another job. The answer is going to be me actually
building something bigger than I have ever been a part
of before. So it was almost from a place of
(00:27):
discomfort that I started my company.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
You just heard Sandra Velasquez, founder of Nopallera, a Mexican
luxury bath and body brand, And if you're a fan
of Shark Tank like I am, you probably saw her
on a recent episode where she stoically and proudly stood
her ground amongst the sharks. She had a dollar amount
in mind and would not budge for anything else as
(00:53):
far as an investment from the Sharks was concerned. We
talked to Sandra about why she decided to start her
business in the first place, in the middle of a pandemic,
the strategies she implements to grow no palera, and much
much more. So let's just dive in. Let's go, Hi, Sandra,
(01:13):
how are you.
Speaker 1 (01:14):
I'm doing great? How are you? Thanks for having me well?
Speaker 2 (01:17):
I am such a big fan of you, of your brand,
of your efforts, of everything that you're representing for Laco, Munida, Latina,
La mouhead, small businesses, entrepreneurs, all of that in a
bag of No Pallea soap.
Speaker 1 (01:31):
Thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
So. No Palleta is a line of luxury body care
with products such as Cactus soap, botanical bar and exfoliance.
And you have said that your love for your culture
is the heart of No Pallea, So talk to us
about that.
Speaker 1 (01:46):
Yeah, well, you know, I used to be a professional musician.
So I was the lead singer and the band leader
of a Latin alternative band called Pistolera for the majority
of my adult life, and I thought that I was
put on earth to you know, share my cultural stories
through music. And it seems like a big jump, you know,
being a musician to all of a sudden being an
entrepreneur and owning a beauty brand seems you know, a
(02:09):
little random. But actually the mission is the same, which is,
you know, to celebrate and elevate our culture and tell
our stories. I'm just doing it with a different paintbrush now,
not doing it through music anymore. And really, for this brand,
for Not Palleta, what I wanted to do. Was I
set out with a lot of intentionality from day zero
to create a highend Latina brand to just wrap to
(02:31):
the historically eurocentric beauty shelves. You know, we Latinos are
twenty percent of the population, and yet I don't see
any premium Latina brands on shelves. I see brands with
French names, with Italian names, And so it was really
about positioning our culture as aspirational.
Speaker 2 (02:49):
Why do you think that is so important? Because I'm
totally right there with you. I feel like as Latinos
were always positioned as like second class citizens. We never
get the spotlight, we never get to be front and center, right,
So why was it important for you to really drive
that point home?
Speaker 1 (03:03):
Well, I think, first and foremost, as being twenty percent
of the population, it just makes no sense why we're
not already there, Like why aren't there already five brands
like No Plea, you know, like it doesn't really make
any sense. So in business, you know, you often people
often talk about the white space opportunity. You know, what
is the white space? Where is there what's missing? Right?
And I really fliped that on its head and said, actually,
(03:24):
the opportunity it's the brown space opportunity that's actually what's
missing on shelves and what I want to what I
really want to do, because everything that I've ever done,
even when I was a musician, always has like a
socio political undertone. Right, this is not just about beauty products.
This is not just about cleaning your skin. Right. My
mission is not to help people get clean, absolutely not. Right.
Do the products have to work, yes, do they have
to be great, yes, But the deeper mission here is
(03:48):
to change the cultural perception of the value of Latino goods. Right,
because you know, here in the United States, people have
no problem paying five dollars for a croissant, but when
a taco is five dollars, they're like, oh, why is
it so expensive? Right? They want Latino products to be cheaper,
and our you know, the artistry and the artisans and
the richness of Mexigo and just all of Latin America
(04:10):
is worthy of the same price tags. And that's really
what we're also establishing.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
Right.
Speaker 1 (04:14):
So when people come to me and say your products
are so expensive, I'm like, no, they're not. You would
not say that to Chanel. You would not walk into
Saphora and ask for a discount, So why would you
do that to us?
Speaker 2 (04:23):
I love it. I love it. I love that effort
one hundred percent. You started Not Pallera in twenty nineteen
at forty four years old, is that correct?
Speaker 1 (04:31):
So I had the idea in twenty nineteen, that's really
when I started working on it. But I launched on
November second, twenty twenty, so in the middle of the pandemic,
when I was forty four.
Speaker 2 (04:39):
Yes, So before you launched No Palleera, you were a
full time musician or did you have another career.
Speaker 1 (04:45):
I was a professional musician. I toured, I released several albums,
I played on big stages. I've had my music and
television shows. But it's New York. It's a very expensive
place to live, and so I always had a job
for health insurance and so in the most recently, like
the jobs that I was working, you know, while I
was launching Note by Lena, I was working in sales
(05:06):
for other CpG brands. So I was, you know, in
the trenches of New York grocery by day and then
at home, you know, at night, I would formulate and
work on my brand, and also on the weekends.
Speaker 2 (05:15):
So I'm forty eight. I'm going to be forty nine.
And I also started my company in my mid forties,
Gondola Press, which is a children's book publishing company. Talk
to us about that that I feel like there's this
new wave of women in their forties that are pivoting
and they're kind of reinventing themselves. Talk to us about
that journey.
Speaker 1 (05:36):
Well, for me, my entry point into entrepreneurship was self responsibility.
And what I mean by that was in that summer
of twenty nineteen, when I was visiting my parents in
San Diego, where I'm originally from. I was actually unemployed
at the time. I had just left a job because
there was a lot of problems there was basically it
was a coup, so I quit. I wasn't fired. I quit.
(05:57):
So for the first time in my adult life, I
was on employed and that was very scary because I
looked at my life like here I am. At that time,
I was forty three, and I have no savings. I
have student loan debt, I have credit card debt, I
have a daughter. And the answer to changing my life
is not going to be getting yet another job. The
answer is going to be me actually building something bigger
(06:21):
than I have ever been a part of before. So
it was almost from a place of discomfort that I
started my company because it was like go big or
go home, right, Like, this is it. I'm going to
go big. I'm going to be bold about it. Some
people are going to get mad about it, but I
really focus in on the opportunity and what was missing
in the market and built for that right. So to me,
(06:45):
I think I like to inspire people to live boldly
because I'm a very courageous and bold person and there's
no such thing as you're too old to do X
y Z. And also, you know, covid was it was
like the great reset button everyone because people took a
look at their lives and they were like, wow, maybe
this is a great opportunity. I don't really like my child,
(07:05):
let me go start a business or let me you
know whatever. They it just they were everyone was stuck
at home, right, So it gave people time to think
for the first time in a long time.
Speaker 2 (07:14):
And I think a lot of women do want to
be entrepreneurs, but sometimes they have a hard time. And
this actually happened to me trying to figure out what
is that product that I'm going to bring to life.
So the concept of note baleda. How was that birth?
Speaker 1 (07:26):
Well, the concept was birthed by me. First of all.
I was learned how to make soap that summer in
twenty nineteen.
Speaker 2 (07:31):
As a hobby, or like, is that something that you
always like had a passion for? Is it just like, hey,
let me take a fun class.
Speaker 1 (07:38):
It was really just kind of on a whim because
again I was unemployed, right, So here I am with
time on my hands, and I'm at my parents' house
in San Diego, and I was like, well, let's just
I told my daughter. I was like, this summer, we're
just going to learn how to make stuff. We're going
to make, you know, lotion bars, We're going to infuse
oils with botanicals. And so I just kind of got
into formulating. And my first commit it was to myself
(08:01):
to really learn how to formulate, to be an actual formulator.
So I actually enrolled myself in formulation school Formula Botanica,
which is based in the UK, and it's a very intensive,
like year long program, and I put that investment on
my credit card because again remember here I am unemployed
with no money. How am I going to start a
business right. So that's another point that I want to
make to people that you don't need to wait until
(08:21):
you have all the money to have an idea or
to begin because now that I'm in the middle of
this seed fundraise I'm raising two point five million dollars
and I'm almost done, is that there's plenty of money
in the world. If you don't have money and you
don't know anybody with money, then you just need to
go meet new people, go put yourself into new rooms
where the money is. Because what I have learned through
(08:43):
this process is that once you meet one person with money,
you meet five people with money because all the people
with the money hang out with each other and they
know each other, and they're all looking for a deal
flow and where to invest their money. So the idea was,
you know, just going back to your question, was just
I was learned how to make soap substituted alo vera
for Nopal and kind of the idea was born, and
(09:04):
I realized that this plan that I had grown up
with was going to be the key to the success
of this brand because I knew that all Latinos had
grown up with Nobile, I mean, all Mexicans right, had
grown up with Noble right, and it would speak to
them first. And also, it's an amazing plant, right, It's
highly regenerative, it's sustainable. We can eat it, you can
(09:24):
make textiles from it, you can you know, cleanse your
skin and hair. And I just didn't. I had like
this aha moment, but also like wow, I have known
this plan my entire life and I've totally overlooked it,
and I'm going to build a high end brand around it.
Speaker 2 (09:38):
The whole aesthetic, the branding, the bright colors. I think
you got that right from the beginning. Talk to us
about that process. Did you think about the branding at
the same time that you were thinking of your company
of what like when you were starting or how you
came up with the name and the colors and the
branding and all of that.
Speaker 1 (09:55):
Yeah. So, because I knew that I was going to
be creating a beauty brand. I knew from just my
time in sales and just being you know, working in
the music industry that branding was going to make her
break this brand. You cannot enter into the beauty industry
and have not good branding and expect that your ingredients
are going to make you succeed absolutely not. Like beauty
(10:16):
is an aspirational category. We as human beings are emotional creatures.
We buy based off of emotion, you know. We are
attracted to colors, then shapes, and then text. So I knew,
you know, that the branding was going to be critical
to this brand success, which it has been. And so
my first investment was in enrolling in formulation school right
(10:39):
and learning how to formulate. My second investment was in branding.
So I called my friend, you know, Abbi Haddickan who
is the designer behind this brand, and told her what
I was trying to build. And I created a whole
presentation to present to her that really spelled out the
mission of the brand, who the customer was, why it
needed to exist, what our core values were. I really
built the brand right, wrote it out like I was
(11:01):
creating a religion, which I recommend to all founders, like
really sit down and build your brand, you know, because
if you don't have that, your a logo is not
going to save you. So you know, I asked again,
I have no money right at this time, so I'm
asking Abby haddeck In, my designer, for a payment plan,
Like can we spread these payments out over like five months, right,
(11:21):
and she agreed, which obviously allowed me to be able
to do this, So that was really working on the
formulations and the branding both took a year, so I
worked on them concurrently.
Speaker 2 (11:31):
And I read an article that says that six hundred
boutiques applied to sell your products. So does that mean
that they're not that you have to approve them or
they're already in these boutiques? Talk to me about that.
Speaker 1 (11:42):
Yeah, so I think it's like over now, maybe seven
hundred boutiques have applied. We get inquiries every single day.
I honestly stop looking at the emails. I filter them
to a different folder because my head of sales takes
care of that. So, yes, people apply through our website,
and then Priscilla, our wholesale manager, vets them like make
sure like they're not too close to an existing account
(12:03):
we already have, that they carry brands that are aligned
with note that it's really a good fit. And then
once she vets them and says yes, then she provides them,
you know, the information to purchase. So we've turned down
like hundreds at this point.
Speaker 2 (12:17):
And then you obviously mentioned that your sales team funnels
at who was the first employee or contractor besides the
branding that we already talked about, that you hired for
your team marketing.
Speaker 1 (12:31):
So I started with So Sam Gomez is our marketing manager.
She started as a freelancer, right. I hired her for
like five hours a week, like can you please help
me with you know, posting on Instagram or creating something,
and then it turned into you know, two hours or
like you know, ten hours a week, and then it
turned into like a monthly retainer and then I was like,
(12:52):
you know what can now she's just a full time employee.
She's a W two employee, you know, with a four
one K and you know, paid vacation. So that was
really my first hire because you know, marketing is really
what we're doing, is we're running marketing companies, you know,
and so it's to me, it's it's also such a
(13:13):
huge time suck to be creating content constantly when you're
actually running a business. Because at that time, I was
also the formulator, I was also the production manager. I
was mad, I made the products myself for the first year.
I had no time to be like dealing with you know, Instagram.
Speaker 2 (13:26):
So I see your Instagram is beautiful. It's it's just
esthetically so beautiful. Like you said, it's it's aspirational because
you just look at it and immediately it draws you
in with the colors and it's the photography. Do you
have like biannually or like how how often do you
have like branding sessions where you take pictures of your
products and and all of that.
Speaker 1 (13:48):
So the way that we work is that we we
do quarterly planning, So we plan out the quarters all
of you know, so three months at a time, and
then we have a brand photographer, so we'll sit out
and we'll plan the quarter and then you know, Sam
will decide what pictures we need and then we send
those requests to Amande Lopez or a photographer and then
she takes the picture send them to us, and then
they're all scheduled.
Speaker 2 (14:07):
Can you share how big your team is? Now?
Speaker 1 (14:10):
Yeah? I think we are, so not everyone is full time,
but it's me, Sam, Edith, Priscilla, and then Sean part
time and then you know, not counting my book cheaper,
not counting, you know, but so really like.
Speaker 2 (14:23):
Five people and you're running everything out of New York, Yes, Brooklyn,
your product is I believe in Nordstrom and in free
People right.
Speaker 1 (14:33):
Yes, and in Credo Beauty and in Whole Foods in
New York City?
Speaker 2 (14:35):
And how did that happen? Can you demystify because I
think there's a lot of mystique around like how do
I get into Costco or Nordstrom, et cetera. Sometimes I've
heard that it's not as fancy as it sounds because
there's a lot of upfront costs and then you you know,
you have to really sell the product and you have
all that pressure. So can you kind of just walk
(14:56):
us through what that process is like, like do they
come to find you? Do you pitch to them? How
does that happen?
Speaker 1 (15:01):
Yeah, it happens all of those ways, So there is
no one way. And you know, like the boutiques that
we have right now, they all came to us, right,
So that's one way. And then Northstrom was our first
big retailer that we onboarded with literally a year ago
and we launched it's part of this LATINX collection that
they brought in. And so I used to be a
(15:22):
sales rep, so I know what it's like to pitch
right and to sell into stores and it just goes
back to right when people ask me because a lot
of founders, I mentor a lot of founders as well,
and I have like an entrepreneurial news letter Where'm always
giving advice. People always want to know, like how do
I get into wholesale? And the first question is really
like can you afford to get into wholesale? And I'm
not talking about upfront costs because there are no upfront
(15:43):
costs when we're talking about you know, you don't pay
to get into Nordstrom. What I mean by can you
afford to is like are your margins strong enough to like,
are you going to be profitable if you sell like
to at a wholesale price? Because a lot of people
don't do their margins correctly. They don't calculate or they
don't even know their margins, or they don't calculate their
cogs correctly, or they're if you're making stuff at home,
(16:04):
then you're certainly not like you're certainly under pricing what
your cogs really are because you're not really working with
a co packer. You're not you're not paying production rant,
you're not paying staff right to create your product. So
really it's about understanding like can you afford to Like
that's the first question, because there's no point in getting
into a store if you're going to make negative dollars
(16:26):
from from the relationship, right, And so number two to
answer your question, like, yes, sometimes we pitch and then
sometimes people come to us, like Free people found us
at a trade show. So that's how we got into
that store, Creto. You know, Priscilla had been talking to
them for a while and then I went through their
their Creto for change cohort and Nordstrum was like we
(16:51):
pitched to them, right, And so there's different ways to
get into retailers. There's not one way. And every buyer
is on LinkedIn, so it's no longer mysterious about how
to find people. Like if you can't find people, you're
just not trying hard enough to be honest with you.
And it's not like the old days where no one
knew who anyone was and we were like working enough
of the yellow pages, right, Like everyone's on LinkedIn now
(17:11):
every buyer's on LinkedIn. And the key thing is like
if you're going to go and present to a retailer,
like make sure that you have a very very like
you have clarity of brand. You understand your differentiation in
the market. Like I just I've because I work with
so many brands and because i've I've been teaching a
CpG class for the last three years. I just see
(17:32):
what a lot of brand founders do wrong, which is
talking about, you know, like how their ingredients are good,
and it's like everyone's ingredients are good. That's not enough,
you know, or like they're like, well I'm vegan, everyone's vegan. Now,
like there's there has to be a stronger, like a
very very strong brand story, right, And you have to
truly understand your category, right, Like I'm in the bath
(17:56):
and body Yes it's beauty, but I'm in the bat
like the body care category subset of that. So really
understanding who are my competitors on shelf? Who am I
really competing with? I'm not competing with, you know, mal Cosmetics,
They're a cosmetics brand, right, right, So really understanding the market,
really doing your homework in advance, understanding your competitive shelf,
making sure that you are priced correctly, you know, and
(18:17):
then you know to your point why it's expensive to
deal with retailers is the support that's required, right, So
one of the meetings that I had today was with
with an in store sales support company, right, and they
will go in, they'll they have field teams all over
the country and they go in, they merchandise your product,
they get reorders, they educate the store staff. You know,
(18:37):
this is like twenty thousand dollars a month, right, So
that's the that's what it means. Like when people say
it's expensive, it's that, right, it's the support. You have
to give free samples, you have to give reproduct to
the store staff to educate them. You have to hire
a say, you know, a merchandising team, right, because the
store does not. No one at the store knows what
(18:58):
your brand is, you know.
Speaker 2 (19:00):
And then also don't you have to have a lot
of inventory on hand, so you have to put up
the money for that inventory.
Speaker 1 (19:06):
Yes, so there's that, but it really depends on how
many stores are you launching into. Right. Then that's the
conversation that you have with your buyer, like what is
the forecast, what's the first purchase order going to look like?
What do replenishment orders look like after that? So that's
something that you should be prepared for because you asked
in the first meeting so it shouldn't be a surprise.
Speaker 2 (19:22):
And you mentioned you have a copacker, right, what is
that for people that are listening and don't know what
that is? And how long did it take for you
to finally get a copacker and how important and pivotal
has that been for your business?
Speaker 1 (19:34):
Yeah? So a copacker otherwise known as a contract manufacturer,
otherwise known as a manufacturer, otherwise known as a factory.
These are people that make products. So I made the
products myself for the Fairsteer only because I couldn't find
a copacker to take over my formulas. I couldn't find
someone who would make my soaps the way that we
make them, in custom molds. It's very laborious. Who could
(19:55):
make our botanical bars, right? These are unique products with
unique molds and shape apes. So it took me a
long time to find someone. And it's I can't even
imagine trying to make my own products now, there's just
absolutely no way. I mean, it was really difficult trying
to scale. And I was wearing hospital scrubs every day
covered in oils, and everyone thinks it's so cute and
(20:18):
so like great and like you know, and everyone wanted
all the you know, media wanted to come and film me,
like making my soap. I'm like, this is not what
we want to glorify, Like we want to show that
we can start businesses and outsource things to be made,
because that's how all beauty brands are made. No one's
making their own products, you know.
Speaker 2 (20:34):
So you were working many hours a day until you
got to the point where you can find a copac
or you were comfortable with like you were literally in
your apartment, i'm assuming, or your house in New York
making all of this.
Speaker 1 (20:46):
In the very beginning, I was in my house, but
like by month three, I had found a production space
because I grew in my house like immediately, So I
had to go find a studio and then I had
to hire two assistants and train them. And yeah, it's
so it's just Marla Warious.
Speaker 2 (21:01):
Time for a short break. But when we come back,
Sandra talks to us about hustle in a world turning
more and more towards self care. Is hustle a bad word? Well,
she tells us, we'll be right back. You were talking
about how hard you were working and all of that,
(21:22):
and I feel like, right now there's this battle between
don't hustle, Like hustle is a bad word, And I'm
not sure if it's a bad word because I'm hustling
right now, So does that mean that I'm doing something wrong.
I do give myself plenty of time to work out, rest,
go to sleep, but I do hustle. What is your
take on this whole demonizing, you know, the girl Boss,
et cetera. I just feel like there's a happy medium.
(21:44):
We can hustle, but we can rest as well.
Speaker 1 (21:46):
Well. I think that hustle is fine when it's when
it's like a finite thing that you're doing right. Because
I knew when I was building my brand and I
was still working for Van Law and a high bar
and teaching and consulting at night, I was like, this
is not sustainable, but I have to do it for
now because it's the only way that I can launch
this brand, right, Like I can't quit my job before
I start selling product. So so I knew. I was like,
(22:09):
I just it's going to take me a year, right,
I'm going to have to work my I'm gonna have
to burn both candles, you know, birthbone, both ends of
the candle at the same time for a year. While
I get this off the ground, and then hopefully I'll
be able to quit. Right So, I think that if
you know that there's an end in mind, right like that,
it's possible, but over a sustained period of time. I
(22:31):
think what really the problem is. I don't think that
the problem is hustling. I think that the problem is
that people try to do everything themselves. I think that women,
especially are expected to you know, we are expected to
somehow take care of the house and also run the business,
and also cook and clean and raise the children while
we're running businesses, when really you should be outsourcing as
much as possible so that you can focus because you cannot.
(22:54):
It really depends on what we are trying to build.
You know, some people they want to do everything themselves,
and they don't I want a copacker to make their products.
I'm like, okay, well, then you're never going to scale.
So let's just be realistic about what you're trying to build.
Don't tell me that you want to get into Alta
but you want to make your products yourself. It's not
going to happen. So be very again deliberate and honest
with yourself about what you want and what you're trying
(23:15):
to build what you're good at what you're not good at,
and outsource. Right when I launch my brand, I'm outsourced
cleaning my I got a cleaning lady. I send up
for meal delivery service. And because I live in New York,
I'm able to outsource my laundry. Like they pick it
up for my porch, they deliver it the next day,
and I'm still too busy, right, So I think that's
really the thing, right, It's not about hustling. It's like,
(23:37):
if you're hustling, why are you hustling? Right? Why are
you hustling? Are you doing too much? Are there things
that other people could do? And let's talk about that instead,
you know, because I really think that that is really
hard for people to let go and to Everyone is
scared of hiring people. They think they don't have the
money to hire people. I'm like, well it actually works
the other way around. You need to hire the people
(23:58):
so that you can make money.
Speaker 2 (23:59):
Yesd Per, I'm going through that right now with hiring
and all of that. So I completely agree with you
on that one. I want to ask you, what do
you think has been like the biggest learning lesson in
your entrepreneurial journeying, or maybe like a mistake that you made.
They say there's no such thing as a mistake because
we always learn from them. But like, what's something that
if you could have done differently you would have done?
Speaker 1 (24:21):
I think there's not many things that it would change
because I really thought it out a lot before I launched.
You know, I plotted and planned and built for a
year in silence before the world even knew what I
was doing. And I really sat down and built the
foundation of my brand. And I did that well, and
that's why we are where we are today. It's absolutely
(24:42):
because I invested in branding and it took a year
to do that. It's absolutely because I wrote down our
company values and what we stood for and had a
very clear picture of what we were trying to do right,
So that clarity is why we're here now. Right. I'm
not here because I make soap. Lots of there's plenty
of soap in the word world, Like why my soap? Right,
It's about what it stands for, it's about how it looks,
(25:03):
it's about how it makes people feel. But I think
that I wish I could have, you know, found a
copacker sooner. But I mean I was really trying, but
it was also hard to look while I was working, right,
So that's kind of the double ed store that I
think a lot of people find themselves in is they
know they need help, but they don't even have time
to find the help. They don't have time to sit
down and write the job description because they're too much
(25:23):
in it. Right, So I think maybe looking for a
copacker sooner. And then I think the biggest learning that
I have had, there's a couple I'm just going to
just highlight too. Number One, if you are trying to
build a business, you need to hang out with other
people that are doing the same thing. So I you know,
as I mentioned, I was a professional musician. I know
(25:44):
a lot of amazing musicians and a lot of them
that have no money, and so that's not going to
help me build my multimillion dollar empire, right. And this
is not to be mean, This is not to say
that you should stop being friends with people, but you
need to surround yourself. You need to find a new
squad of people who are also trying to change their
lives and also building something and also in the same
boat as you, and ideally a couple steps ahead of you,
(26:04):
even revenue wise, so that you can learn and normalize
what it's like to build. And so that's that's one
thing that I did last year that has changed my
life as I joined a mastermind and now I have
a squad of women that we're just there an amazing
support network. So and then I think the second thing is,
(26:27):
you know, really being honest about your relationship with money
and understanding that we all have a relationship with money,
whether you think you do or you don't you do,
and understanding that truly understanding, like in your DNA, that
there is a lot of money in the world and
that if it feels far away, it's just temporary. Like
(26:50):
when I first started fundraising, you know, a year ago,
I like, I mean, I've only been fundraising for three months.
But when I first was thinking, oh I need money,
it was a year ago and I was at actually
I was at a retreat at my business coach's house,
and you know, she asked me, Okay, so like, how
much is it that you think you need? Because I
was panicking. I was like, I don't think we're going
to make it through the holiday, Like I don't have
(27:11):
enough inventory we're going to sell out, you know. She's like, well,
how much do you think you need? And I was like,
I don't know, like one hundred thousand dollars and she
was like, that's it, you know, because at the time
a year ago, one hundred thousand dollars felt like a
lot of money, right, you know. And then my friend
that same trip and this is you know, I said,
like a year ago, she said, you know, you should
(27:32):
really like try to find two hundred and fifty thousand.
And I was like, you're right, you're right, right, But
emotionally it was difficult for me to like imagine trying
to go find two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. And
then I was like, you know what, I need five
hundred thousand, and then it was like, no, I need
a million. And now I'm in the middle of a
two point five million.
Speaker 2 (27:50):
Rais that's amazing.
Speaker 1 (27:52):
But the thing is that the only hurdle was in
my mind is my point.
Speaker 2 (27:55):
Right, right? And I've heard that we all have kind
of a money thermometer, or we always like our bank
account is always going to have whatever we feel is
the comfort zone, whether it's five hundred dollars one thousand,
tenenty twenty, and we're always going to keep it and
maintain it at that at that level because our mind
serves us as a thermometer. So yeah, I totally agree
(28:18):
with you. Let's bring that thermometer all the way to
the millions, because I completely believe in generation creating generational wealth,
and that's how you really create power and sustainable power
through generations. You know, I know that we have to
go soon, so I just wanted to quickly ask how
can people help with your fundraising or what stage or
are you at right now? Like how is that going?
Speaker 1 (28:39):
Yeah? So I set out to when I started the
raise in June, I was like, Okay, I'm going to
raise a million dollars. And when I had my first
meeting with one of the vcs, they were like, is
that enough? And I was like, probably not right. But
the fact that they even asked me that, I think
is just so telling, right, because again, a million dollars
to a lot of people sounds like an enormous amount
(28:59):
of money, but when you actually sit down with a
financial model and you plot out how much it's going
to cost you to hire people to make inventory, to
market to support, you see how quickly a million dollars
goes right, and people in the venture world, they know
that a million dollars is not really a lot of money,
right because you're thinking about a million dollars in your
personal bank account.
Speaker 2 (29:18):
Right.
Speaker 1 (29:19):
That's different than a business bank account that has like
operating expenses, you know, or especially a product based based
business that is inventory heavy. So I didn't I never
wanted to do a crowdfund because you know, I love
what like Little Libitos did, right. They turned to the
community and they raise like two million dollars from the
community and their community owned, right, which is a beautiful,
(29:41):
beautiful thing. The reason I did not go that route
is because one of the benefits of having institutional investors
is that they're also bringing resources to the table, right,
Like I need people with operational expertise, people with digital
marketing expertise that have already built and scaled brands multiple times.
So that is, you know, when you're looking for a partner,
a financial partner, it needs to be more than the money,
(30:02):
because again, there's so much money in the world, Like
what else are the money runs out? Then what? Right?
Speaker 2 (30:08):
So you need.
Speaker 1 (30:10):
Resources, right, And so that is why I chose to
go the VC route. So I made a spreadsheet, right,
I still have it that I track like all the
vcs that I have reached out to, that I've talked to,
when did I meet with them? You know, I have
my pitch deck that I worked on. I have a
data room that has all of my company information. And
it was just it's a full time job, right, like
(30:30):
every day like who can I email? Who can I
follow up with? It's it's really exhausting. So it was
it's also difficult to fundrais in the summer because although
rich people go on vacation, so people warn me about that,
but I did it anyway. I was like, well, this
is when I need to raise the money, So it's
going to happen in the summer. Oh well, and you know,
just like when I launched the pandemic, people were like, oh,
it's not a good time to start a business. Well,
(30:51):
I'm like, oh well, you know, and people are like,
it's not a good time to raise money because the
market is down. I'm like, oh well, you know, like
the life must go on. So you know, I have
a lead investor who is committed, you know, over a
million dollars and then I have some angel investors also.
Speaker 2 (31:06):
So what do you do with a seed money with
all of the three million dollars? What do you use
it for? Or what are you going to use it for?
Speaker 1 (31:14):
Yeah, so it's always you know what what investors want
to see as you building your team, right, because what
you don't want to do is just like get like
sell equiting your company for inventory. Right, So you know
what you want to do is use credit cards, get
a line of credit right for those like inventory needs,
and use the money to hire people, hire experts, build
the team, build the infrastructure, and obviously marketing. Right. So
(31:39):
it's the three piece people, product and promotion.
Speaker 2 (31:41):
You had mentioned earlier that you mentor entrepreneurs. Is this
the program that you offer offer or or is it
just like people that you meet along the way that
you take under your wing.
Speaker 1 (31:52):
So I have a private entrepreneurial newsletter from my personal
website santre vesciz dot com and people, you know, there's
like hundreds of founders that follow me there, and I
send a weekly newsletter giving like actionable advice and sharing
my journey transparently, just like I do through the note
Letta podcast. I think it's really important for people to
hear like what it's really like. And so I also
(32:15):
was teaching live classes, so I would like announce that
to my mailing list, you know. And I was teaching
like a branding workshop and also a margins class. Now
I have them just evergreened down my website because I'm
in the middle of a fundraise, I have no free time.
So and then you know, over the summer, I also
offered like free mentorship spots to people and it was
just like on a first come, first serve basis. So
I did a lot of like one hour sessions with
(32:37):
just founders that are on my mailing list.
Speaker 2 (32:40):
So where could people find you? Your products? You your platform?
Speaker 1 (32:44):
Yeah, so no pal Leta is you know, noepi letta
dot co dot for company, not dot com. It's also
Nobletta dot co on Instagram and on TikTok and then
I am personally. My personal account is on Instagram official slv.
Those are my initials sande Releve ask us and my website.
My personal website is sandreayli levitescz dot com. So that's
(33:05):
pretty much everywhere. Of course on LinkedIn as well. And
you have a podcast and it's called La it's called
the No Letta Podcast.
Speaker 2 (33:12):
This is a question I always ask all my guests,
what is something you are reading, listening to, or using
that you're obsessed with and that you would want to recommend.
Speaker 1 (33:20):
So at the moment, I'm not reading anything, which I
should be, But what I am obsessed with is doing
a morning meditation. I really am committed to visualizing because
I do believe that you have to first achieve it
in your mind before you do it in the physical world.
So every morning I do a fifteen minute meditation that
(33:40):
is actually it's on YouTube. I do Doctor Joe Despenza.
He has a fifteen minute morning meditation that's really all
about visualizing who you are in the future and really
connecting with what that feels like, you know, Like my
business coach would say, like be her now, you know,
like instead of saying like, oh, I'm going to wait
to you know when this happens, to be happy, like
(34:02):
feel it now, you know. So that's how you bring
the future to you.
Speaker 2 (34:06):
And now the last last question. The name of the
show is Latina's Take the Lead. How are you taking
the lead?
Speaker 1 (34:12):
Well, I mean not by Letta is leading what I
call the brown space opportunity in the bath and body category.
You know, in business, we always talk about the white
space opportunity, but I really think that it's the brown
space opportunity. So that's a term I coined and I'm
using all the time and really showing our community what
is possible. I have a collection, like an actual growing
(34:33):
collection of letters from founders and just people in the
community thanking me for creating this brand and making showing
them what's possible. For you know, that I've inspired them
to start their own company. And to me, that is
the ultimate reward because you know, I had no one
to look to ei there was no other you know,
high end latina brand in the space for me to
(34:53):
be like, oh wow, well she did it so I
can too. Like I was like, I'm going to be
that person, and then you know, people, I'm going to
Establis and it's we're going to normalize that, and then
it's going to inspire other people to do the same.
Speaker 2 (35:03):
Well, thank you so much, Sandra for your time. We
know you're busy in the middle of fundraising, so I
really appreciate the space that you're given in this podcast.
Speaker 1 (35:11):
Yeah, it's my pleasure. Thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (35:13):
Thank you. I'm naive Reinoso signing off. I hope you
enjoyed this episode, and if you did, please like and subscribe.
Follow us on Instagram at Latinas take the Lead, and remember,
don't be afraid to break barriers. It's about time Latinus
(35:35):
take the lead. Latinus Take the Lead is a production
of the Seneca Woman Podcast Network and iHeartRadio. For more
podcasts from iHeartRadio, check out the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
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