April 29, 2021 • 24 mins
Beautiful, comfy loungewear is only half the story at Sudara. This mission-driven company is empowering women in India, giving them skills training so they don’t end up being trafficked into brothels. Founder and CEO Shannon Keith reveals how Sudara combines purpose and profit.
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Speaker 1 (00:05):
Welcome to Made by Women by the Seneca Women Podcast
Network and I Heart Radio. At a moment when businesses
face some of the biggest challenges in recent history, we
bring you inspiring stories, practical insights, and shared learnings to
help you successfully navigate in today's environment. Every Thursday, Made
(00:26):
by Women will showcase the experiences of legendary women, entrepreneurs,
fierce up and comers, and everyday women who found success
their own way. Consider this your real world NBA designed
for the New Now. I'm Kim Azzarelli and thanks so
much for joining us Today. Mother's Day is coming up
(00:46):
and the perfect gift for many moms is some beautiful
loungewear and a great place to shop for that is Sudara,
not only because it makes leisure were from amazing, unique
textiles in beautiful styles, but also because there's a greater
mission to give women in India job skills, training and
to fight sex trafficking. Shannon Keith had no entrepreneurial experience
(01:08):
when she started Sudhara. Like so many women founders, she
just knew she wanted to create positive change in the world.
Learn how she went from launching a nonprofit to becoming
a certified be corps, a profit making company that uses
the power of business for social good. I hope you
enjoyed my conversation with Shannon Well. Thanks so much for
(01:32):
joining us today. Thank you. I'm so delighted an honor
to be here. So you run a pretty incredible company
with wonderful products, but also an incredible mission. Can you
tell us a little bit about Sudhara, the products and
the work you do on behalf of Women? Yeah, I
would love to. So Sudhara is a certified benefit corporation
and those are companies that have a triple bottom line.
(01:55):
So we believe in using business as a force for
good and we put people and planet on a with profits.
And our mission specifically is to empower women and their
children out of sex trafficking through skills training and job
creation and we do that through a beautiful line of
pajamas and loungewear and kind of resort where for the
(02:15):
whole family. UM that you know, has traditionally been directed consumer,
but we're really opening up in UM in kind of
a larger business to business spased to fulfill our mission.
So we use really lovely products that are inspired and
made in India that kickoff revenues for job creation far
beyond just sewing. Um so that again, women have economic
(02:37):
empowerment to pull themselves and their families out of poverty. Well,
that's a pretty incredible mission and a pretty amazing accomplishment.
Before we get too far down, I want to just
understand a little bit about how you got started and
how you came up with this idea to found Sudhara. Yeah,
you know, like so many other entrepreneurs. Some some people
I guess go to business school, but there are many
(02:57):
like me who just kind of fall into it. So
in two thousand five, my husband and I took a
trip to India and that was really the inspiration because
I saw firsthand, um what sex trafficking and human trafficking was.
So again, that was like fifteen years ago, before those
terms were really in the popular vernacular. They weren't early
on anyone's radar. But our family was dedicating a fresh
(03:18):
water well within NGO in India and it happened to
be matched with a brothel community. And um, so I
was asked to say a few words on behalf of
the family because most of the women in this most
of the people in the community were women, and when
I started asking, well, what's a brothel community? Like, what
does that even mean? Um? I was horrified to find
out the reality that women and children are trapped in
(03:41):
uh sex slavery with no option to get out if
they don't have a viable vocational training options to feed
themselves without selling their bodies against their will. And at
that time, I was just blown away. I mean I thought, wow,
here I was in my late twenties, I had a
pretty successful career in corporate sales, and I thought, you know,
slavery had been abolished off the face of the earth.
(04:03):
That was such a naive um. You know, understanding back
then as we know now. But it really was about, okay,
if I could use my sales skills in background to
partner and collaborate with this amazing group of underrepresented women
to give them job opportunities, Like, that's what I wanted
to do. I wanted to play my part, and so
kind of a flash of divine inspiration, pajamas just like
(04:26):
popped into my mind that could be made out of
beautiful Indian material that they were wearing. So you're in
cells take us a little bit further back, did you
ever think you would be an entrepreneur or were you
kind of on a corporate track? You know, I really didn't.
And I'm I'm Mexican Americans, so I'm by racial and
a person of color. And my parents were not entrepreneurial.
(04:47):
They were very hard workers but really more like blue
collar essential type workers. And I didn't have entrepreneurship and
my family, so I didn't really know to aspire to
be that, even though I think in me are all
of those skills. UM. I had just never really seen
a model to me in my family, and so I
was on more of a corporate track because I thought
(05:07):
that's what you did after college, right, Like I had
student loans to pay back, and it was like, Okay,
get a good job with good benefits at a big company,
and that was sort of the goal. And I became
pretty disillusioned actually after doing that. And so when I
had this opportunity that like, oh wow, I can actually
start something and help women. Um, you know, that's what
(05:29):
sparked I think my entrepreneurial spirit. So the beginning of
all this, so you're in India, your mind is really
open to the very harsh reality, and you think I
can do something, and I want to use my skills.
What's the next step that you take? And how long
is the journey until you actually start Sudhara, Yeah, it's
such a good question. And you know, I don't like
grass grow under my feet. I'm sort of an action
(05:52):
oriented person. So right there, I told my husband like,
kind of this sounds crazy, But when I was speaking
to this women, I had this flash of inspiration and
I think I'm really supposed to help them with job
creation and sell pajamas on their behalf in the US.
And he was like, Okay, go for it. What does
that look like? And I said, well, I'm just I
want to go to the market tomorrow and just buy
a bunch of this sorry fabric and then take it
(06:13):
back to the US and and just see, like, you know, um,
what this would look like, how much of people pay,
you know, and then start doing really off the market research.
And so that's what we did. Interestingly enough, again, back
fifteen years ago, there were no benefit corporations, um and
and so really if you wanted to help people, you
started a nonprofit. Right This was before tom Shoes and
(06:34):
a lot of these other like social brands that people
would recognize and and so I started asking people around
me that had business experience, you know, this is what
I want to do. I want to help empower women
through jobs. And they were like, oh, you want to
help people. Start a nonprofit. So that's what we did. Actually,
it started under a nonprofit umbrella in California. So we
(06:54):
have a five oh one c three which we still have.
It's called Pseudora Freedom Fund. And that's where the business
program was under under this nonprofit. And it wasn't until
two fifteen. And again this is ten years later after
kind of the social entrepreneurial space had had sort of
evolved that I said, Hey, I think we should spin
(07:16):
out the business component into um, you know, a for
profit benefit corporation. So that's what we did, started as
a nonprofit, but now fifteen years later we have a
hybrid corporation that has a nonprofit side and then a
for profit side as well. So you get your fabric.
You come back to the States and are you a designer?
(07:37):
How did you even start the process. I'm not. I know,
I'm a woman with a lot of vision and um
in a sales background, and I could be pretty persuasive,
my friends tell me, So I learned those people who
had better skills than me um to come and help me, basically,
(07:58):
And so the initial one was like, hey, does anyone
know how to sew? Does anyone even own a sewing machine? Um,
I will give you like wine and chocolate if you
come to my house and we have this little sewing party.
And I went and bought some basic like pajama patterns
at like Joanne's Fabrics. And then I had all this
beautiful material, so I bought like the raw material. And
then I had girlfriends who knew a little bit more
(08:20):
than I did about sewing. Mock up um some like
prototypes that we then sort of um asked our other friends,
you know, hey do you like these? How much would
you pay for them? What do you think about the
story behind them? You know that sort of thing, and
then just did some um some really ad hoc type
focus groups with like friends and family. So you start
(08:40):
the business, you're moving into actual production. I know it's
never easy to start a business, and I know they're
always bumps along the way. Was there ever a time
where you felt like, Wow, why did I just quit
my corporate job to do this? And then how am
I going to make it happen. Yeah, I feel like
I probably had that thought like every other day. The uh,
the nice part was actually I didn't quit my corporate
(09:03):
job for the first probably year and a half because
that really funded UM the business operations, and and I
had a lot of like PTO and time off. I
think I was working for UM for a company, European company,
and so we had almost I think it was like
five or six weeks paid off time and so I
used that to go back and forth to India and
(09:25):
to really fund UM what was going on. So I
always like to say, Sudar was my firstborn child, right,
so this is before I had kids, So I had
extra time on my hands UM in order to kind
of incubate this, this budding business and so UM. But
even at that, you know, when I still had my
corporate job in his salary coming in, it was like, wow,
(09:45):
I sort of bit off maybe more than I could chew.
But I think they say, you know, ignorance is bliss,
and that really I think lots of people would be
scared off from being an entrepreneur if they really knew
every single barrier. But somehow you get the strength to
do it. In the moment, and I think that's what
it's about, like perseverance and grit and resiliency, not necessarily
(10:09):
having your plan goes smoothly, right, because that's just not
reality of life for sure. And we you know, on
the show and obviously in our experience we've seen that.
It seems like every entrepreneur says, if I knew then
what I know now, I'm not sure I would have
done it, but I'm glad that I did exactly. So
where was your along the journey? Where was your sort
of big break? You said there was a little bit
(10:29):
of divine inspiration in the idea. Where did you see
kind of your big break happen to give you the
energy to keep going? You know, I love that question,
And I don't know. It's as if it's one big break,
you know that people say that hasn't really been our path.
I think it's been um small winds along the way
that that you know, uh, that collectively add up to
(10:51):
a bigger thing, right, And I think that that's really
kind of the ethos of our journey and our company.
Really it's it's not about me and one a break.
It really is about a collaboration of UM the amazing
women that we serve in India. UM, these beautiful products,
a beautiful community right of customers who really care about
(11:13):
others and they want to use um, whatever influence and
buying power that they have on behalf of others. And
so it's been all of those little things that have
kept the momentum going and have been kind of like
um guides along the way to say yes, keep going right.
So it could have been in the early days, Um,
you know, I wasn't just you know, I was kind
(11:34):
of selling out of my trunk and and bins in
my garage. UM, just a friends that I knew. But
beyond that, someone would say, oh, hey, I have a
book club, why don't you come here. Another person would say, oh,
I have a a church, bizarre thing we could sell
them there. Someone else would say I want to sell
some for you, you know, and all of those little
things was like, Wow, there really is a market here.
(11:55):
And this is before then, we of course went online
and we're able to to start leveraging kind of the
Internet and a wider audience. But there have been just
good people and amazing people on our team all along
the way who have really given us signs that Yeah,
we're to keep going. This is the direction we need
to go. We'll be back with Seneca's Made by Women
(12:18):
after this short break. So you've been doing this for
a while, Um, of course, and then COVID hits. How
have you experienced COVID and has had an impact on
what you've been doing? Yeah? That, I mean, it really
has changed our world, right, Um. And one of the
(12:40):
interesting things about it is that we were always talking
about marginalized and underrepresented groups because that's who we serve,
and COVID one of the silver linings was that suddenly
everyone was talking about marginalized and underrepresented groups and people
being disproportionately impacted by something like this, and so it
really brought I think to the collective consciousness the ideas
(13:05):
that we've been talking about all along, so that when
we talk about what we're doing and we're trying to serve,
they're like oh ah ha, And there was like, uh,
you know, they were able to connect the dots a
lot easier, Um, And that the women that we serve
are and and the population we serve there, they've always
been vulnerable and marginalized, and then COVID has made them
even more vulnerable. And marginalized, right, and so we were
(13:29):
able to communicate that message to our Sudara community, and
our generous donors stepped up in a huge way. So
we have a lot of you know, we have donors,
we have customers, and then there's a huge amount of
crossover and what we call like our donor customers, and
our generous donors stepped up and said, hey, like we
get it and and we want to help. And so
(13:50):
we we had an increase actually in donations because we
were we were needing to pay the women even though
they weren't able to come to work and be at
their jobs because you know, Indie it was locked down
much like the US and UM and then these women
don't have a lot of savings to fall back on
and that sort of thing, right, so they still needed
to collect their salary, you know, without producing goods and whatnot.
(14:11):
And we also had a mask kind of options, so
we did they were able to make some ppe once
they were able to start slowly opening up, and so
we had an option where you could buy a mask
and then we would donate a three pack of mass
with hand sanitizers you know, that would stay then in
India and they could be distributed into the larger community.
(14:32):
So really, like in partnership with our generous and very
conscious um suit our community, we were able to meet
some real felt needs on the ground in India. That's
incredible and it's amazing that you have such an incredible
community that you've built around the company who really understand
your mission. Can you just tell us a little bit
about the production process. You say that obviously you've designed
(14:55):
it with the job creation in mind. How does it work?
I love that we like to a you know, are
cool pants and they're really versable, so they can be pajamas,
UM you know, their their resort where you can wear
them at you grow on a date night for some
fun whimsical pants. But are cool pants really are the engine,
the revenue engine behind job creation and skills training and
(15:17):
job placement. So really, even though they're cool pants, we'd
like to see, it's not about the pants. It really
is about the mission and the women. So the pants
are merely the product that we use, that outward facing
product that helps us achieve. So the revenues kicked off
by the pants. Then in partnership with with our partners
(15:37):
in India, UM it has job training programs that have
vocational training options like ten to twelve different options for women.
Because you can imagine Kim, like if you and I
were stuck in the brothels, maybe we want to have
a propensity or an interest. It would be a seamstress
or or or a tailor. Right, but we we could
have um, you know, maybe you'd want to be a
henna artist. Maybe I would want to be a plumber.
(16:00):
I don't know. There's lots of different, you know, vocational
options and so that the revenues really kick off the
training program so that women can choose what they want
to do. Right, So we're not creating an army of seamstresses. Um,
we're creating programs for women so they can choose their
own path. And so the those that maybe do want
(16:20):
to sew great. So we have a sewing center partner
there that that creates our products, right, that's cut and
so and tailoring. But that's a very small fraction of
the women we help on a yearly basis. So we're
in partnership with an organization that's completely mission aligned to
ours and they train over twelve women a year um
(16:41):
and they have I believe it's like trimesters per year,
so about four hundred women each trimester go through their programs. Now,
a very small percentage will want to be a tailor
and so our products great. But all of those other
women are trained with real life um you know, skills training.
And then there's an eight nine job placement rate of
(17:01):
those graduates a year, which is pretty incredible, right, because
we know that when you invest in women and when
you give women economic power, they in turn invest back
in their children and then their communities, and so they
are able to pull themselves out of poverty. They don't
need us to do that, they just need us to
help them with opportunities to do that themselves. So your
(17:24):
work has inspired some really incredible initiatives. And obviously you've
created a company that's in the business of empowering women.
You've also collaborated on other programs like she e o
UM or Ohio University program. Can you tell us a
little bit about that and how these collaborations really tribe
what you do? Yeah, and SHEO is actually not a
program that we created, it's other brilliant women UM. The
(17:47):
founder is Canadian Vicky Saunders, and we're just part of that.
So I think that kind of the net net is
you know much of what you're doing, Kim. When women collaborate, UM,
magic happens. Right. It's all about the collaboration and the connection,
and that's really where the power is, right when you
give women power, when we empower one another, you know,
(18:09):
one plus one really does equal three because there's such
this incredible synergy that happens. And we've been fortunate enough
to start UM programs and then we've been fortunate enough
to join other's people's great programs like she eo. Right,
we didn't start it, but we join it, and then
we become part of that synergy. UM. You mentioned the
the Ohio you that that's really cool because personally, I
(18:33):
have a motivation to inspire the next generation of leaders
and particularly women leaders. UM. And again I'm by racial
Mexican Americans, so I love UM empowering black and brown
women future leaders specifically. And so UM there was just
this really cool collaboration where we can work with not
only their women in Entrepreneurship department there at the university,
(18:55):
but also their design so so again, people from business school,
people from the design school all collaborating together on a project.
And so they designed some of our graphic T shirts,
which are our statement tease that we that we really
like and so you know, they were able to get
real life hands on experience. I also did a keynote
UM at their Women's and Entrepreneurship Week and UM and
(19:18):
talked about you know, not only Sudora, but about the
benefits of doing business for good and b Corpse and
all that kind of thing. So, so we love collaboration
that isn't just transactional right kind of on one and done,
but it really is how do we do this together,
how do we do this across multiple points of the
organization UM so that it really makes a lasting impact
(19:40):
because we like to look at kind of the long game.
So obviously, you know, we at Seneca women are really
excited to learn about you, and the products are just beautiful.
Everybody loves them, and we're hoping that by including you
in our marketplace, card holders and marketplace shoppers will be
inspired to shop Sudara first when they're thinking about their
cool pants that they want to buy. I know I will,
(20:02):
So before we close, I want to ask you, do
you have any advice for entrepreneurs out there who are
looking to start a purpose driven company, or have an
idea for a purpose driven company, but feel that you know,
it's a hard journey. Any advice for those who are
just getting started on your path. Yes, absolutely, And first
I just want to start off by saying thank you,
thank you for including us in UM what Seneca women
(20:25):
are doing. It's incredible. I can't wait to read your book. Actually,
and you and UM this organization that's exactly like the
type of women that we want to be collaborating with,
and that really leads into that's my advice. So for
any social entrepreneur out there, whether you're a man or
a woman, but specifically being a woman, I think it's
(20:45):
so important to find like minded organizations and people to
collaborate with. You know, it's just too hard to go alone.
There's no need to reinvent wheels. I think the world's
problems today are too big and too complex, Um to
think that you can do it alone. And it really
is about each of us playing our unique part and
(21:06):
leveraging the strength of each other. So what you just said,
Kim is a beautiful example an illustration of that, and
that you've built this amazing community of folks and the
card and the marketplace. And then here you want to
partner with Sudara, who's doing amazing things for women on
the ground through beautiful projects. That's a beautiful partnership. Right.
(21:26):
You didn't say, oh, now, Seneca women needs to go
and make all the products ourselves and and have complete
vertical integration from top to bottom. No, you're seeking amazing
people to partner with. And that's how I think we
are going to move the needle on the world's to
do list, right, which are the U N S tgs.
It's through very strategic, highly leveraged, and highly aligned um
(21:48):
collaborative partners. And so that is my most I think
valuable advice to anyboddying entrepreneur or social entrepreneur is find
collaborative partners who are like minded so that they can
give you kind of a fast forward button and you
and and the relationship will be mutual, right, and you'll
(22:09):
save yourself a lot of time and spinning wheels trying
to convince people who are really not your people to
get on board. You need to find your people and
then make magic happen there. It's really funny. We are
definitely you and I like minded. As you mentioned our book,
our book is actually called Fast Forward, and our formula
is know your own power, to know what your skills are,
what you did early on, understanding your ability and your
(22:31):
incredible skills, and then find your purpose, which you did find,
and then connect with others, find like minded people who
share your values and give you the energy to keep going.
And so you have. You are definitely the embodiment of
that we believe in. And we're just so delighted to
have you on the show and and so excited about
what you've been doing. We hope to continue to work
together and follow you on this incredible journey. So listeners,
go get your cool pants. That's really important. Get your
(22:53):
cool paths from Sudhara and you can find them at
Sudhara and you can also find them on the Senegoman Marketplace.
Thanks so much for joining us. Thank you. Shannon Keet's
vision and her ability to make it a reality through
Sudara is so inspiring. Here are three things I took
from the conversation. First, as we've heard before, sometime it's
(23:15):
better not to know too much before you start a business.
As Shannon says, a lot of people might be scared
off if they knew in advance about all the roadblocks,
But true entrepreneurs, she says, we'll find strength in the
moment and carry on with grit and perseverance. Second, collaboration
spells success. Shannon tells us that you don't have to
reinvent every wheel. She suggests finding like minded partners so
(23:39):
that each of you complay to your strengths. Finally, remember
that you can do well in business and do good
for the world. Look at Sudhara. It's helping train twelve
women a year towards economic independence. And that's possible because
shoppers are using their buying power to make a difference.
So this Mother's Day, check out the beautiful lead you're
(24:00):
aware from Sudhara on the Seneca Women Marketplace. Go to
shop Seneca Women dot com to learn more. While you're there,
learn about the Card from Seneca Women, the first ever
credit card that rewards shoppers for buying from women donn businesses.
And here's another way you can help empower other women
for Mother's Day. Do you know a mom or another
(24:20):
woman who owns a business. Nominate her to be in
the Seneca Women Marketplace. She'll have the chance to be
listed and might even be featured on a Seneca Women
podcast again. Go to shop Seneca Women dot com to
learn more. Made by Women is brought to you by
the Seneca Women Podcast Network and I Heart Radio, with
support from founding partner PNG
Welcome to Made by Women by the Seneca Women Podcast
Network and I Heart Radio. At a moment when businesses
face some of the biggest challenges in recent history, we
bring you inspiring stories, practical insights, and shared learnings to
help you successfully navigate in today's environment. Every Thursday, Made
(00:26):
by Women will showcase the experiences of legendary women, entrepreneurs,
fierce up and comers, and everyday women who found success
their own way. Consider this your real world NBA designed
for the New Now. I'm Kim Azzarelli and thanks so
much for joining us Today. Mother's Day is coming up
(00:46):
and the perfect gift for many moms is some beautiful
loungewear and a great place to shop for that is Sudara,
not only because it makes leisure were from amazing, unique
textiles in beautiful styles, but also because there's a greater
mission to give women in India job skills, training and
to fight sex trafficking. Shannon Keith had no entrepreneurial experience
(01:08):
when she started Sudhara. Like so many women founders, she
just knew she wanted to create positive change in the world.
Learn how she went from launching a nonprofit to becoming
a certified be corps, a profit making company that uses
the power of business for social good. I hope you
enjoyed my conversation with Shannon Well. Thanks so much for
(01:32):
joining us today. Thank you. I'm so delighted an honor
to be here. So you run a pretty incredible company
with wonderful products, but also an incredible mission. Can you
tell us a little bit about Sudhara, the products and
the work you do on behalf of Women? Yeah, I
would love to. So Sudhara is a certified benefit corporation
and those are companies that have a triple bottom line.
(01:55):
So we believe in using business as a force for
good and we put people and planet on a with profits.
And our mission specifically is to empower women and their
children out of sex trafficking through skills training and job
creation and we do that through a beautiful line of
pajamas and loungewear and kind of resort where for the
(02:15):
whole family. UM that you know, has traditionally been directed consumer,
but we're really opening up in UM in kind of
a larger business to business spased to fulfill our mission.
So we use really lovely products that are inspired and
made in India that kickoff revenues for job creation far
beyond just sewing. Um so that again, women have economic
(02:37):
empowerment to pull themselves and their families out of poverty. Well,
that's a pretty incredible mission and a pretty amazing accomplishment.
Before we get too far down, I want to just
understand a little bit about how you got started and
how you came up with this idea to found Sudhara. Yeah,
you know, like so many other entrepreneurs. Some some people
I guess go to business school, but there are many
(02:57):
like me who just kind of fall into it. So
in two thousand five, my husband and I took a
trip to India and that was really the inspiration because
I saw firsthand, um what sex trafficking and human trafficking was.
So again, that was like fifteen years ago, before those
terms were really in the popular vernacular. They weren't early
on anyone's radar. But our family was dedicating a fresh
(03:18):
water well within NGO in India and it happened to
be matched with a brothel community. And um, so I
was asked to say a few words on behalf of
the family because most of the women in this most
of the people in the community were women, and when
I started asking, well, what's a brothel community? Like, what
does that even mean? Um? I was horrified to find
out the reality that women and children are trapped in
(03:41):
uh sex slavery with no option to get out if
they don't have a viable vocational training options to feed
themselves without selling their bodies against their will. And at
that time, I was just blown away. I mean I thought, wow,
here I was in my late twenties, I had a
pretty successful career in corporate sales, and I thought, you know,
slavery had been abolished off the face of the earth.
(04:03):
That was such a naive um. You know, understanding back
then as we know now. But it really was about, okay,
if I could use my sales skills in background to
partner and collaborate with this amazing group of underrepresented women
to give them job opportunities, Like, that's what I wanted
to do. I wanted to play my part, and so
kind of a flash of divine inspiration, pajamas just like
(04:26):
popped into my mind that could be made out of
beautiful Indian material that they were wearing. So you're in
cells take us a little bit further back, did you
ever think you would be an entrepreneur or were you
kind of on a corporate track? You know, I really didn't.
And I'm I'm Mexican Americans, so I'm by racial and
a person of color. And my parents were not entrepreneurial.
(04:47):
They were very hard workers but really more like blue
collar essential type workers. And I didn't have entrepreneurship and
my family, so I didn't really know to aspire to
be that, even though I think in me are all
of those skills. UM. I had just never really seen
a model to me in my family, and so I
was on more of a corporate track because I thought
(05:07):
that's what you did after college, right, Like I had
student loans to pay back, and it was like, Okay,
get a good job with good benefits at a big company,
and that was sort of the goal. And I became
pretty disillusioned actually after doing that. And so when I
had this opportunity that like, oh wow, I can actually
start something and help women. Um, you know, that's what
(05:29):
sparked I think my entrepreneurial spirit. So the beginning of
all this, so you're in India, your mind is really
open to the very harsh reality, and you think I
can do something, and I want to use my skills.
What's the next step that you take? And how long
is the journey until you actually start Sudhara, Yeah, it's
such a good question. And you know, I don't like
grass grow under my feet. I'm sort of an action
(05:52):
oriented person. So right there, I told my husband like,
kind of this sounds crazy, But when I was speaking
to this women, I had this flash of inspiration and
I think I'm really supposed to help them with job
creation and sell pajamas on their behalf in the US.
And he was like, Okay, go for it. What does
that look like? And I said, well, I'm just I
want to go to the market tomorrow and just buy
a bunch of this sorry fabric and then take it
(06:13):
back to the US and and just see, like, you know, um,
what this would look like, how much of people pay,
you know, and then start doing really off the market research.
And so that's what we did. Interestingly enough, again, back
fifteen years ago, there were no benefit corporations, um and
and so really if you wanted to help people, you
started a nonprofit. Right This was before tom Shoes and
(06:34):
a lot of these other like social brands that people
would recognize and and so I started asking people around
me that had business experience, you know, this is what
I want to do. I want to help empower women
through jobs. And they were like, oh, you want to
help people. Start a nonprofit. So that's what we did. Actually,
it started under a nonprofit umbrella in California. So we
(06:54):
have a five oh one c three which we still have.
It's called Pseudora Freedom Fund. And that's where the business
program was under under this nonprofit. And it wasn't until
two fifteen. And again this is ten years later after
kind of the social entrepreneurial space had had sort of
evolved that I said, Hey, I think we should spin
(07:16):
out the business component into um, you know, a for
profit benefit corporation. So that's what we did, started as
a nonprofit, but now fifteen years later we have a
hybrid corporation that has a nonprofit side and then a
for profit side as well. So you get your fabric.
You come back to the States and are you a designer?
(07:37):
How did you even start the process. I'm not. I know,
I'm a woman with a lot of vision and um
in a sales background, and I could be pretty persuasive,
my friends tell me, So I learned those people who
had better skills than me um to come and help me, basically,
(07:58):
And so the initial one was like, hey, does anyone
know how to sew? Does anyone even own a sewing machine? Um,
I will give you like wine and chocolate if you
come to my house and we have this little sewing party.
And I went and bought some basic like pajama patterns
at like Joanne's Fabrics. And then I had all this
beautiful material, so I bought like the raw material. And
then I had girlfriends who knew a little bit more
(08:20):
than I did about sewing. Mock up um some like
prototypes that we then sort of um asked our other friends,
you know, hey do you like these? How much would
you pay for them? What do you think about the
story behind them? You know that sort of thing, and
then just did some um some really ad hoc type
focus groups with like friends and family. So you start
(08:40):
the business, you're moving into actual production. I know it's
never easy to start a business, and I know they're
always bumps along the way. Was there ever a time
where you felt like, Wow, why did I just quit
my corporate job to do this? And then how am
I going to make it happen. Yeah, I feel like
I probably had that thought like every other day. The uh,
the nice part was actually I didn't quit my corporate
(09:03):
job for the first probably year and a half because
that really funded UM the business operations, and and I
had a lot of like PTO and time off. I
think I was working for UM for a company, European company,
and so we had almost I think it was like
five or six weeks paid off time and so I
used that to go back and forth to India and
(09:25):
to really fund UM what was going on. So I
always like to say, Sudar was my firstborn child, right,
so this is before I had kids, So I had
extra time on my hands UM in order to kind
of incubate this, this budding business and so UM. But
even at that, you know, when I still had my
corporate job in his salary coming in, it was like, wow,
(09:45):
I sort of bit off maybe more than I could chew.
But I think they say, you know, ignorance is bliss,
and that really I think lots of people would be
scared off from being an entrepreneur if they really knew
every single barrier. But somehow you get the strength to
do it. In the moment, and I think that's what
it's about, like perseverance and grit and resiliency, not necessarily
(10:09):
having your plan goes smoothly, right, because that's just not
reality of life for sure. And we you know, on
the show and obviously in our experience we've seen that.
It seems like every entrepreneur says, if I knew then
what I know now, I'm not sure I would have
done it, but I'm glad that I did exactly. So
where was your along the journey? Where was your sort
of big break? You said there was a little bit
(10:29):
of divine inspiration in the idea. Where did you see
kind of your big break happen to give you the
energy to keep going? You know, I love that question,
And I don't know. It's as if it's one big break,
you know that people say that hasn't really been our path.
I think it's been um small winds along the way
that that you know, uh, that collectively add up to
(10:51):
a bigger thing, right, And I think that that's really
kind of the ethos of our journey and our company.
Really it's it's not about me and one a break.
It really is about a collaboration of UM the amazing
women that we serve in India. UM, these beautiful products,
a beautiful community right of customers who really care about
(11:13):
others and they want to use um, whatever influence and
buying power that they have on behalf of others. And
so it's been all of those little things that have
kept the momentum going and have been kind of like
um guides along the way to say yes, keep going right.
So it could have been in the early days, Um,
you know, I wasn't just you know, I was kind
(11:34):
of selling out of my trunk and and bins in
my garage. UM, just a friends that I knew. But
beyond that, someone would say, oh, hey, I have a
book club, why don't you come here. Another person would say, oh,
I have a a church, bizarre thing we could sell
them there. Someone else would say I want to sell
some for you, you know, and all of those little
things was like, Wow, there really is a market here.
(11:55):
And this is before then, we of course went online
and we're able to to start leveraging kind of the
Internet and a wider audience. But there have been just
good people and amazing people on our team all along
the way who have really given us signs that Yeah,
we're to keep going. This is the direction we need
to go. We'll be back with Seneca's Made by Women
(12:18):
after this short break. So you've been doing this for
a while, Um, of course, and then COVID hits. How
have you experienced COVID and has had an impact on
what you've been doing? Yeah? That, I mean, it really
has changed our world, right, Um. And one of the
(12:40):
interesting things about it is that we were always talking
about marginalized and underrepresented groups because that's who we serve,
and COVID one of the silver linings was that suddenly
everyone was talking about marginalized and underrepresented groups and people
being disproportionately impacted by something like this, and so it
really brought I think to the collective consciousness the ideas
(13:05):
that we've been talking about all along, so that when
we talk about what we're doing and we're trying to serve,
they're like oh ah ha, And there was like, uh,
you know, they were able to connect the dots a
lot easier, Um, And that the women that we serve
are and and the population we serve there, they've always
been vulnerable and marginalized, and then COVID has made them
even more vulnerable. And marginalized, right, and so we were
(13:29):
able to communicate that message to our Sudara community, and
our generous donors stepped up in a huge way. So
we have a lot of you know, we have donors,
we have customers, and then there's a huge amount of
crossover and what we call like our donor customers, and
our generous donors stepped up and said, hey, like we
get it and and we want to help. And so
(13:50):
we we had an increase actually in donations because we
were we were needing to pay the women even though
they weren't able to come to work and be at
their jobs because you know, Indie it was locked down
much like the US and UM and then these women
don't have a lot of savings to fall back on
and that sort of thing, right, so they still needed
to collect their salary, you know, without producing goods and whatnot.
(14:11):
And we also had a mask kind of options, so
we did they were able to make some ppe once
they were able to start slowly opening up, and so
we had an option where you could buy a mask
and then we would donate a three pack of mass
with hand sanitizers you know, that would stay then in
India and they could be distributed into the larger community.
(14:32):
So really, like in partnership with our generous and very
conscious um suit our community, we were able to meet
some real felt needs on the ground in India. That's
incredible and it's amazing that you have such an incredible
community that you've built around the company who really understand
your mission. Can you just tell us a little bit
about the production process. You say that obviously you've designed
(14:55):
it with the job creation in mind. How does it work?
I love that we like to a you know, are
cool pants and they're really versable, so they can be pajamas,
UM you know, their their resort where you can wear
them at you grow on a date night for some
fun whimsical pants. But are cool pants really are the engine,
the revenue engine behind job creation and skills training and
(15:17):
job placement. So really, even though they're cool pants, we'd
like to see, it's not about the pants. It really
is about the mission and the women. So the pants
are merely the product that we use, that outward facing
product that helps us achieve. So the revenues kicked off
by the pants. Then in partnership with with our partners
(15:37):
in India, UM it has job training programs that have
vocational training options like ten to twelve different options for women.
Because you can imagine Kim, like if you and I
were stuck in the brothels, maybe we want to have
a propensity or an interest. It would be a seamstress
or or or a tailor. Right, but we we could
have um, you know, maybe you'd want to be a
henna artist. Maybe I would want to be a plumber.
(16:00):
I don't know. There's lots of different, you know, vocational
options and so that the revenues really kick off the
training program so that women can choose what they want
to do. Right, So we're not creating an army of seamstresses. Um,
we're creating programs for women so they can choose their
own path. And so the those that maybe do want
(16:20):
to sew great. So we have a sewing center partner
there that that creates our products, right, that's cut and
so and tailoring. But that's a very small fraction of
the women we help on a yearly basis. So we're
in partnership with an organization that's completely mission aligned to
ours and they train over twelve women a year um
(16:41):
and they have I believe it's like trimesters per year,
so about four hundred women each trimester go through their programs. Now,
a very small percentage will want to be a tailor
and so our products great. But all of those other
women are trained with real life um you know, skills training.
And then there's an eight nine job placement rate of
(17:01):
those graduates a year, which is pretty incredible, right, because
we know that when you invest in women and when
you give women economic power, they in turn invest back
in their children and then their communities, and so they
are able to pull themselves out of poverty. They don't
need us to do that, they just need us to
help them with opportunities to do that themselves. So your
(17:24):
work has inspired some really incredible initiatives. And obviously you've
created a company that's in the business of empowering women.
You've also collaborated on other programs like she e o
UM or Ohio University program. Can you tell us a
little bit about that and how these collaborations really tribe
what you do? Yeah, and SHEO is actually not a
program that we created, it's other brilliant women UM. The
(17:47):
founder is Canadian Vicky Saunders, and we're just part of that.
So I think that kind of the net net is
you know much of what you're doing, Kim. When women collaborate, UM,
magic happens. Right. It's all about the collaboration and the connection,
and that's really where the power is, right when you
give women power, when we empower one another, you know,
(18:09):
one plus one really does equal three because there's such
this incredible synergy that happens. And we've been fortunate enough
to start UM programs and then we've been fortunate enough
to join other's people's great programs like she eo. Right,
we didn't start it, but we join it, and then
we become part of that synergy. UM. You mentioned the
the Ohio you that that's really cool because personally, I
(18:33):
have a motivation to inspire the next generation of leaders
and particularly women leaders. UM. And again I'm by racial
Mexican Americans, so I love UM empowering black and brown
women future leaders specifically. And so UM there was just
this really cool collaboration where we can work with not
only their women in Entrepreneurship department there at the university,
(18:55):
but also their design so so again, people from business school,
people from the design school all collaborating together on a project.
And so they designed some of our graphic T shirts,
which are our statement tease that we that we really
like and so you know, they were able to get
real life hands on experience. I also did a keynote
UM at their Women's and Entrepreneurship Week and UM and
(19:18):
talked about you know, not only Sudora, but about the
benefits of doing business for good and b Corpse and
all that kind of thing. So, so we love collaboration
that isn't just transactional right kind of on one and done,
but it really is how do we do this together,
how do we do this across multiple points of the
organization UM so that it really makes a lasting impact
(19:40):
because we like to look at kind of the long game.
So obviously, you know, we at Seneca women are really
excited to learn about you, and the products are just beautiful.
Everybody loves them, and we're hoping that by including you
in our marketplace, card holders and marketplace shoppers will be
inspired to shop Sudara first when they're thinking about their
cool pants that they want to buy. I know I will,
(20:02):
So before we close, I want to ask you, do
you have any advice for entrepreneurs out there who are
looking to start a purpose driven company, or have an
idea for a purpose driven company, but feel that you know,
it's a hard journey. Any advice for those who are
just getting started on your path. Yes, absolutely, And first
I just want to start off by saying thank you,
thank you for including us in UM what Seneca women
(20:25):
are doing. It's incredible. I can't wait to read your book. Actually,
and you and UM this organization that's exactly like the
type of women that we want to be collaborating with,
and that really leads into that's my advice. So for
any social entrepreneur out there, whether you're a man or
a woman, but specifically being a woman, I think it's
(20:45):
so important to find like minded organizations and people to
collaborate with. You know, it's just too hard to go alone.
There's no need to reinvent wheels. I think the world's
problems today are too big and too complex, Um to
think that you can do it alone. And it really
is about each of us playing our unique part and
(21:06):
leveraging the strength of each other. So what you just said,
Kim is a beautiful example an illustration of that, and
that you've built this amazing community of folks and the
card and the marketplace. And then here you want to
partner with Sudara, who's doing amazing things for women on
the ground through beautiful projects. That's a beautiful partnership. Right.
(21:26):
You didn't say, oh, now, Seneca women needs to go
and make all the products ourselves and and have complete
vertical integration from top to bottom. No, you're seeking amazing
people to partner with. And that's how I think we
are going to move the needle on the world's to
do list, right, which are the U N S tgs.
It's through very strategic, highly leveraged, and highly aligned um
(21:48):
collaborative partners. And so that is my most I think
valuable advice to anyboddying entrepreneur or social entrepreneur is find
collaborative partners who are like minded so that they can
give you kind of a fast forward button and you
and and the relationship will be mutual, right, and you'll
(22:09):
save yourself a lot of time and spinning wheels trying
to convince people who are really not your people to
get on board. You need to find your people and
then make magic happen there. It's really funny. We are
definitely you and I like minded. As you mentioned our book,
our book is actually called Fast Forward, and our formula
is know your own power, to know what your skills are,
what you did early on, understanding your ability and your
(22:31):
incredible skills, and then find your purpose, which you did find,
and then connect with others, find like minded people who
share your values and give you the energy to keep going.
And so you have. You are definitely the embodiment of
that we believe in. And we're just so delighted to
have you on the show and and so excited about
what you've been doing. We hope to continue to work
together and follow you on this incredible journey. So listeners,
go get your cool pants. That's really important. Get your
(22:53):
cool paths from Sudhara and you can find them at
Sudhara and you can also find them on the Senegoman Marketplace.
Thanks so much for joining us. Thank you. Shannon Keet's
vision and her ability to make it a reality through
Sudara is so inspiring. Here are three things I took
from the conversation. First, as we've heard before, sometime it's
(23:15):
better not to know too much before you start a business.
As Shannon says, a lot of people might be scared
off if they knew in advance about all the roadblocks,
But true entrepreneurs, she says, we'll find strength in the
moment and carry on with grit and perseverance. Second, collaboration
spells success. Shannon tells us that you don't have to
reinvent every wheel. She suggests finding like minded partners so
(23:39):
that each of you complay to your strengths. Finally, remember
that you can do well in business and do good
for the world. Look at Sudhara. It's helping train twelve
women a year towards economic independence. And that's possible because
shoppers are using their buying power to make a difference.
So this Mother's Day, check out the beautiful lead you're
(24:00):
aware from Sudhara on the Seneca Women Marketplace. Go to
shop Seneca Women dot com to learn more. While you're there,
learn about the Card from Seneca Women, the first ever
credit card that rewards shoppers for buying from women donn businesses.
And here's another way you can help empower other women
for Mother's Day. Do you know a mom or another
(24:20):
woman who owns a business. Nominate her to be in
the Seneca Women Marketplace. She'll have the chance to be
listed and might even be featured on a Seneca Women
podcast again. Go to shop Seneca Women dot com to
learn more. Made by Women is brought to you by
the Seneca Women Podcast Network and I Heart Radio, with
support from founding partner PNG
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