October 15, 2020 • 40 mins
What’s Her Story With Sam & Amy talks to Kara Goldin, founder and CEO of the world-famous Hint Water beverage company. Kara is full of hilarious stories, from marching into the Time’s Inc. offices unannounced to request a job interview, to pushing her products onto the Whole Foods shelves on the day she gave birth to her fourth daughter. She is a force of nature.
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
Hi. I'm Amy Nelson and I'm Sam Edis, and this
is what's her story with. Sam and Amy were so
excited today to welcome the founder and CEO of Hint,
which is our favorite flavored water. Kara is an inspiration.
She started her company, she's grown it, she's had four kids,
um and and she just doesn't really stop. She's also
(00:24):
someone who is always giving back. I don't know Sam
if I told you this, but I was just on
the phone with Kara this week and talking to her
about my business, and she just and she just volunteered
to find time within her day between everything she's doing
to walk me through some hard decisions I had to make. Yeah,
Kara is super generous and she's become a good friend
and I feel like she's one of those women that
(00:48):
just there's something about Kara where she's an optimist at heart,
and she also really doesn't see hard things at that hard.
She just keeps on going and I think that's that's
a big part of her success. And we'll find out
a lot more from her today, and I really I
find that inspiring. She's just she's a warning person like
I am, and she just waked up with like what's
(01:10):
going to happen today? And she really like we were.
She was telling a story to me once about something
some jerk said to her, some guy, and I remember thinking, like,
if someone had said something like that to me, I
would have just kind of not been able to move
forward with the situation on any level. And Kara, of course,
is like, and I saw it, and I thought about it,
and I thought, what can I learn from this? And
(01:30):
I'm like, this guy's an asshole. There's literally nothing to learn.
And yet Kara's like, no, there's something to learn, like
and she just takes the lesson and moves forward and
just doesn't even think about the negative part of it,
or maybe she does, but she doesn't talk about it.
Do you find that you have far fewer negative interactions
now in the pandemic because you just aren't around as
(01:50):
many people in all of these different situations. You're shaking
your head, She's shaking your head. No, do you have
as many. I'm just I've always been a really sensitive person,
so I have like negative interactions like hurt me more
deeply than they hurt you, I think, because you're you're
tougher than I am, so I know I'm just as
(02:11):
sensitive as I always was, and I have fewer interactions,
so if they're negative, they really like haunt my dreams
and stuff. So that's absolutely not that's interesting my mother,
although I'm very conflict diverse, so I don't like having conflicts,
so I'm not um. I would say that in general,
I don't have that much conflict in my life. Like
(02:32):
I've kind of constructed a life where I'm a little
bit conflict free. And I think it's easier to do
that during the pandemic, certainly because you can killed yourself
from that. My mother, when she listens to this, will
die to hear you say that I'm not that sensitive
because she thinks I'm like the most sensitive person on earth.
She mus to be super tough. Then my mother is
like she's and I mean that lovingly, Mom, because you're wonderful, truly,
(02:55):
you're one of my best friends, but like she's just
she's very tough and I am very not tough. Sometimes well, no,
I mean, you're senseive, but you're also I sometimes will
be like Amy, like how do you handle this card conversation?
Like I'm not it's not something I think it affects
me more deeply than I wish it would. And I'm
(03:16):
just I've always been like that because I'm such a
feeler and it's like I feel other people's pain and
I just have a hard time with it. No, I
get it. I think with the hard conversations, and you know,
Karen might talk about this today, but with hard conversations,
it's like a certain point, you're just having so many
of them. You've got to come up with justice system
like this is how I tackle this incredibly hard and
disruptive thing that for me ten years ago, I wouldn't
have been able to even say out loud. That's actually
(03:39):
something I've learned from you, is you do you are.
You're good at compart mentalizing a difficult conversation and like,
let's just get it done and let's get through it.
And I do appreciate that. And by the way, I
don't think that we talked to Kara about hard conversation,
so I think I but I did think that she
told us so many amazing stories it was it was
(03:59):
hard to like I could have listened her forever. And
that's kind of how her book Undaunted is is there
are so many great stories in that book. And one
of the stories that she begins with in in this
episode is talking about her first job at a Mexican
restaurant in Arizona that I am now dying to go to.
(04:19):
I know, I want to go for sure, that little
that little job and by the way, my favorite Mexican
restaurant still in this day. It's what ultimately lead me
to I talked about in the book being an accidental entrepreneur,
and I think that that's the key thing. Like people
(04:39):
are always asking me, did you always want to be
an entrepreneur? And you know, my sort of short answer
is no, I just always wanted to smile and enjoy
what I was doing and learn a long way. And
as long as I continued learning, and as long as
I was working with great people and you know, and
(05:00):
and ultimately that really led me to also understand that
I'm you know, more and more curious about things and
wanting to develop a product around. It was never something
that I thought, Okay, one day, I'm going to go
do my own company. Instead, it was like, let me
just go figure this out, and um, because nobody else
(05:21):
was doing it. So but I think it all kind
of goes back to that time. So Kara, you ended
up in the time Inc. Building. We're not going to
spoil the book. I can assure you everyone's gonna want
to read this book, but because it's so inspirational, but
share with everyone what ended up happening, what that first
job was, and also what a fish out of water
you were when you arrived. Yeah. So I walked into
(05:47):
the time Inc. Building and uh, this was a time
when there was no security down on the bottom floors.
U and I walked up to the HR department because
as I knew that that's where you applied for jobs.
That's what I thought, like, that's what HR does, right,
You submit a resume and then you just go and interview, right.
(06:12):
And so I had emailed the then managing editor of
Fortune magazine, Marshal Lobe, and said, Hey, I'd love to
come work for you, and he sort of sent me
this nice letter back that said, you know, if you're
ever in the New York area, please let me know.
And I saved that letter and put it in my
(06:33):
little briefcase and I went to, you know, the Timing
building and marched up to HR. And you know, this
was looking great in my green, my my Kelly green
uh suit Linen suit and you know, which frankly was
probably not the best thing to be wearing. But I
(06:53):
marched up and I said, I got this letter from
Martial Lobe and I'd really like to interview because I
here in New York. And that's what it says, if
you're ever in the New York area, just just following instructions.
That following instructions. And the poor receptionist was like she
didn't know what to do with me. She was probably
like the year older than me, and she, you know,
(07:15):
I frazzled her a little bit, and she called the
head of HR and she said, there's this woman here
and she's got this letter from Martial Lobe and it said,
if you're ever in the New York area, what do
we do? And said that of HR said, uh so,
I think what he meant was that you should let
us know ahead of time. And I said, oh, that's
too bad. I'm leaving tomorrow and it'd be really great
(07:37):
if I could just like say hi to him. I mean,
we had this communication and went back and forth, and
anyway that the net of it is is that it's true.
I mean, it was crazy, right, and and so she
I don't know we just hit it off and and
she said, so, why do you want to work for Fortune?
And I went on to tell her that, you know,
(07:59):
for me, finance was made simple just by reading Fortune
magazine and he just really inspired me. And she said, well,
you know, you seem like you're really motivated and would
be a great employee. Have you would you be interested
in any other roles? And I said, sure, I'll do
anything here. Like I just thought, I'm in the building
(08:21):
and why not. And so she connected me with somebody.
And you know, somewhere in my mind was this thought
that if I actually get in the building, then maybe
I'll be able to get to Fortune and talk to
Marshall at some point. And uh, I'll give away that
the news that I never did work for Fortune magazine
(08:43):
on the editorial side, but I was, you know, I
ended up taking a role in circulation, and which ended
up to be really the path that I was meant
to take. So the receptionist, I think basically wanted you
to leave. You were like, no, no, I'm here. I'm
in New York City, I'm in the building. I have
(09:04):
a letter that told me to come here. Have you
always been someone who doesn't take no for an answer,
or isn't afraid of no or getting past to know.
(09:27):
Where I wouldn't stop was if I didn't get the
answers right and oftentimes, and I think this is true
to this day. And part of the reason why I've
been able to build the company that I've built with
without having experience from the beverage industry was that, you know,
we would go when we were first starting hint, we
wanted to create a product that you know, didn't have
(09:49):
sweeteners in it, but didn't have preservatives in it. And
I would go to our co packers or bottlers when
we were first starting out, and I'd say, so, why
do you have to use preservatives in the product? And
people would say just because? And I'm like, now that's
not an answer. I mean, that's like an answer, but
that's not the answer, Like why do you really have
(10:10):
to use preservatives in it? And so, and you know,
there were plenty of people who slammed the door on
me and said, can you just leave? I don't really
have time for this conversation. But other people were like, Oh,
that's really interesting. I don't know the answer. I've been
saying it for so long, and I don't really know,
and it'd be really interesting to kind of explore this
(10:32):
with you, and and and so it ends up that,
I mean, we were the first product that used real
fruit in it, that did not use preservatives in the product.
And so again, sometimes if you captinacity curiosity, you can
actually stumble upon something that actually changes an entire industry
(10:55):
that is now used by many other people in the industry. Um,
but I think it just really goes back to this,
this whole idea of you know, I guess you can say,
not taking no for an answer, but also not being
so quick to accept now as an answer that ability
(11:16):
to just say you know, no is a slower path too.
Yes is also what brought you to the beverage industry
and to your first client in the industry and to
creating hints. Can you share a little bit about that?
And also, you know, tell us what happened the morning
that you were giving birth to your fourth child. Did
(11:37):
you know that story before before the But I did,
and I did it. I didn't either, and I loved it.
So so yeah, so we you know, basically, I decided
that I was going to launch this company and wrote
the business plan and I told my husband about six
months prior to uh, actually getting the first bottle on
(11:57):
the shelf that I was going to be not only
launching a company, but also launching my fourth child. And
you know, he sort of like did a double take
and thought that I was really strange. And I think
he wasn't sure why he was married to me, because
he was like, I can't even believe you're putting these
two things into the same conversation, and you know, it's
just really weird. But anyway, so he, uh, so, you know,
(12:22):
we were moving along. He was staying close to me
and this whole thing because I was writing very large
checks out of our personal bank account, and I think he,
you know, knew that I had made a little bit
of money when I was at a o L. But
he also knew that I could spend money like, as
he says, like no other person he had ever met
in his life. And so he was like, Okay, let
(12:43):
me go with you to the bottling plant and actually
see where this fifty dollars for bottles and caps is
actually going. And so through the process, we we thought
we were gonna get supplies back like a month before
we ultimately launched, and like every other launch of a product,
we were a little delayed, and so the product actually
(13:05):
showed up at my house at my garage a day
before I was having my plans C section. And so
I wake up the morning of my plans C section
and my husband said, so, what do you want to do.
We're living in San Francisco at the time. He's like,
do you want to go on a walk? Do you
want to go have brunch? And I said, no, I
want to go to Whole Foods and see if I
(13:28):
can get the product on the shelf. And we had
a babysitter all lined up for our the three kids.
And he said, not what I expected you to say
at all, but if that's what you really want to do,
that's fine. I said, it would be so great if,
you know, we got on the shelf and then I
could just go and just be really calm and deliver
(13:48):
the baby. And he's he's like, okay, whatever. And so
we get to the Whole Foods and you know, he's like,
let me just carry the cases in for you. I
don't want you lifting. And what we get in there,
I see this guy who's you know, the guy that
I had met months before who's merchandising the shelves? And
I said, hey, how are you? And remember that product
(14:11):
I told you that I was going to develop, and
here it is and this is my husband THEO and
he said, wow, you're really pregnant. And he didn't even
say like, oh, that's a name of your product. He
was like, I didn't realize you were so pregnant. And
I said, yeah, no, I'm super pregnant. And I said,
but anyway, so would you mind putting it on the
(14:33):
shelf and you know, and so my husband is like,
you know, backing up, just thinking oh my god, this
could just end really, really badly. And he said, so, wait,
you're delivering a baby this afternoon. How do you know
you're delivering a baby this afternoon? And I said, well,
I'm having a planned C section And he said, well,
what's a planned C section? And I said, oh, okay.
(14:55):
So I've had three other C sections and i' c
C section in my first baby, and then I ended
up having you know, my daughter accidentally broke my ribs
and the second delivery, and so I ended up having
all these C sections. And so we went on and
on for like thirty minutes. My husband was just like,
(15:16):
I cannot believe that she's educating this guy who's merchandizing
shelves in his twenties about planned c sections. And he
was listening so intently to this conversation, and he was like,
thank you so much for telling me. Like I've heard
people say they're having a planned c section, but I
never knew that what that's what it was. And I
(15:38):
said any time, like if you have any other questions
about childbirth, like I'm your girl, and and my husband
was like okay, anyway, and I said, okay, so getting
back to what we were talking about, can we put
the product on the shelf? And he said, look, I
really appreciate this. I will do my best. But we
(15:59):
left the store not really knowing. I mean, I was
basically like, you know, listen, like can I watch you
put the bottle on the shelf. And my husband was
finally like pulling me out of the store like we
need to have a baby, like we're having a baby.
Now You're over the line, Like let's just get out
of there, and so, uh so, anyway, so we left
(16:21):
the store and went and delivered my son Justin and
then the next morning, uh, get a phone call in
the hospital and I, you know, the one thing, And
I'm sure you guys can appreciate this when you have
your fourth child, none of your friends or family actually call. Yeah,
no one really cares. You're like checked out another baby,
(16:42):
like she won't be around, won't be able to go
to lunch or walk or anything for a few weeks.
But I was just so excited that the phone ring
and I thought, oh, who's calling me? And my husband said,
it's the guy from Whole Foods. And I was like, oh,
he's calling to see how I was doing. And he
said no, uh, and he's talking, talking, talking, and I said,
(17:03):
what's he saying? What's he saying? And he said he
said that the cases are gone. And I said, give
me the phone, and so I grabbed the phone and
I said who took the cases? And he said what
do you mean? And I said who took the cases?
Like I really I hadn't gotten that far and sort
of the idea like I was like, so in the
mode of get this product on the shelf, but whatever,
(17:25):
And now all of a sudden people bought the product
and I thought at first, I was like, did you
know one of the big soda companies come in and
just throw it in the garbage or something like. It
was somebody trying to you know, screw with me in
some way. And and he said no, like we went
through ten cases overnight. Oh my gosh. And I mean
you've understand to like how crazy it was. I was
(17:46):
sitting in hospital. I'm like, you know, I have my
three days in in uh the California you know hospital
system now that I've had this plan C section, And
I thought, you know, I need to get out of
the hospital to go and get product on the shelf
because I don't think this guy is gonna be very
(18:07):
nice to me. So I I like literally called my nurse.
I'm like, um, can you check me out? And she
said no, no, you have like two more days. And
I said, no, no, I'm fine, Like I've done this
three times before. I'm totally good, Like I can get
checked out right now. And and so anyway, we we
checked out and got product back on the shelf, and
(18:27):
you know, it's you know, we really thought we were
at that point off to the races. What role has
do played in your career over over your entire career
which spans you know, before you started hint when you
worked in tech and of course what you told us
about the beginning of your career, but what role has
he played in your career and yours and his? Yeah,
(18:48):
I mean I think a lot of people ask, like, oh,
what's it like working with your husband? I think that
the key thing that not only I would say and
he would say, but people who know us really well
and imploy poise in the company were very different skill sets.
I mean, it's part of the reason we just celebrated
our twenty fifth anniversary wedding anniversary, and you know, we
(19:09):
have four kids. We worked together now for over fifteen years.
I think that the key thing is like not only
having the different skill sets that we bounce off of
each other and we really appreciate each other, but also
having each other's back, right. I think that there's there's
(19:30):
certainly days where, um, you know, you're tired, right, You're
you're trying to not only manage your work and different
stresses there, but also you know your family, right, and
both are unpredictable, right, whether it's you know, somebody like
getting sick for somebody really needs you more than somebody else,
(19:53):
and so having somebody that you're living with and breathing
with every single day that may not be able to um,
you know, may not be able to take your place necessarily,
but can actually be filled in enough because you guys
are you know, roughly talking to each other about everything
going on. And so often I hear, you know, from
(20:16):
from entrepreneurs who are starting companies together where maybe they're
two best friends from college and you know, and unfortunately,
like it sounds good initially, but so often you have
two different lives and two different sets of families and
and you know, maybe two different maybe just career wise too,
(20:36):
that maybe you're not thinking, you know, along the same lines.
And I think that that's the thing that I've seen,
you know, with with THEO, that has just been really
really nice. And I mean I remember in the early
days when we were going out and raising money, and
I remember one investor said that they want to have
(20:57):
a private call with THEO on the phone, and uh,
I was like, okay, it's fine, and uh they said, so,
you know, we don't really invest in husband and wife
teams because you know, it's just I don't know, there's
like there's just high failure rate. And uh, he said
(21:18):
one of the smartest things, he said. THEO said to
this investor, potential investor, He said, so, I'm just not
really that familiar with any of the companies that are
like husband and wife teams that have failed. Can you
share one of those with me? And um? And he said, well,
I can't really think of any right now, but I
(21:39):
know they're out there. And he said, okay, okay, Well,
I just I'm sure Kara's gonna ask like who. You know,
she's very curious and she's going to ask like who
it was. And it's totally fine if you, you know,
aren't going to invest. But I'm just really curious because
it seems to kind of work for us. But but anyway,
I thought, again, I don't know that I would have
(22:01):
that day sort of been so quick to kind of
think of that, you know, response to it, right. Instead,
I maybe I would have been defending like oh no, no,
it's all gonna be fine or whatever. But you know,
he's not afraid to sort of show up and come
up with those things. I'm like, wow, that was like
that was impressive, right, And he was like, yeah, whatever,
(22:24):
we need to move on. And and that's another thing too,
I think having somebody that you know, really believes in
you and believes in you know, supporting you. I think
he's he's also been, you know, the number one person
saying like, look, I'm the chief operating officer of this company.
She's the CEO of this company, and it's I mean
(22:45):
in our next gig. Like that may reverse right, she
may she may be supporting me, but it's not my idea.
He was like, I drink a ton of water, but
that's not my idea. I mean a few people know
this secret, but like the main reason why we developed
hink Fizz was because of him, and he's a carbonated
(23:07):
water drinker. I grew up with two parents who owned
a market research company together and so they worked together.
They walked to work together. They you know, everything they
did was together. They were inseparable. And what my mom
did is she created this boundary where we weren't allowed
to talk about work at dinner. Um for for better
or worse. But I just wonder what the boundaries are
(23:29):
in your life so that your kids don't feel like
they're at the office all the time, or your office
doesn't feel like they're part of your family life. How
have you, you know, created those boundaries. I remember when Keenan,
my eighteen year old, was um eleven or twelve years old,
and I think he saw Sheryl Sandberg on TV talking
about Lenan, and you know, it was just kind of
(23:50):
watching it for a minute and he said to me, well,
I didn't realize that women aren't CEO s. And I
was like, okay, where is where is this kid go
in with this like conversation. I'm about to you know,
like hit him on the head or something, and and
I was like, yeah, now it's there. There's not many
(24:10):
of us out there. And he was like, well, I
think that's really cool that, like I've grown up in
a house with like a mom who's a female who's
the CEO. And I'm like, okay, you're like that's right.
And he said, but I don't get it, like why
aren't there more women CEOs? And and I said, well,
(24:33):
there's a lot of reasons along the way. It sup
what we have this really nice conversation, and he said,
you know, it's like I play a lot of tennis
and I don't really understand why, like there aren't co
ed teams at school. And I said, that's a really
interesting point. And he said, I would much rather play
so often with women because I just I just enjoy
(24:55):
it and and I was like, well, that will probably
change in your life time and he said, yeah, Like
I don't know. I think there's a lot of things
like that that are really messed up. And so I
feel like also him seeing his parents, right, not only
working together but also just you know, doing things a
(25:16):
little bit differently. They pay attention, right, And I mean, frankly,
I think all of my kids, but him in particular,
will be not only a good manager, um, but also
you know, a good employee, right, a good like he
doesn't understand it, right, why there is this like challenge
(25:39):
and why people don't aren't more inclusive or aren't more
supportive of women because he grew up in a house
that just didn't live that way. Right. He's got two
very strong sisters as well, And never has there been
a conversation like well I get to do that because
I'm a guy, or you know, that's not a career
(26:00):
for you. And I think like that is such just
being a role model, and again an accidental role model
to these kids. I think it's just so key. Well
maybe it was an accident, but it sounds like you've
brought a lot of intentionality to raising your kids. Um,
And I think that's really amazing and something for me
(26:21):
to look up to as I am on the other
end of parenting with these little girls. Um, but how
do you how how did you talk to your kids
about work when they were little? Like, how did you
talk to them about what you were doing? I've always
wanted to simplify things down, to make them very, very
(26:43):
easy and for people to understand. And so oftentimes, even
you know, speaking to consumers, Like I always tell people
whenever I'm mentoring entrepreneurs and I feel like their pitch
is way too complicated, I'm like, go talk to you
a twelve year old about your plan and make sure
(27:04):
that they understand it. Because what I've learned is that
people don't if you're looking for money as an example,
people don't invest in things that they don't understand, and
they won't take the time to actually say, typically I
don't understand it right. Instead, they'll, you know, they'll just say, oh,
(27:25):
it just wasn't for me, it was too complicated or whatever,
and they won't actually own the fact that it might
actually be be them. And so I'm always like thinking
if a twelve year old can understand, and again, it
doesn't matter what the company is, I think you have
(27:46):
to have this. You know, people call it an elevator pitch,
but it has to be something really really simple that
people can ultimately understand. So again, I think it was
just talking to them and maybe also as you know,
as you're growing a business and we were super busy,
and I know you guys totally hear me on this
(28:08):
that it's just you know, maybe there's a little bit
of guilt along the way that you're feeling like, Okay,
I have to go on this business trip and here's
what I'm doing. I felt like if I could actually say, Okay,
here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to this
plant to bottle the product. And the reason why I
think this is really important is that it's you know,
state of the art. They got all of their equipment
(28:30):
from Germany and you know, and I'd show them the
pictures and they were like, oh wow, that's really neat.
And then when I came back, I would tell them,
you know, that exact same thing as well, and again,
I think, you know, that's that sort of explanation really
helps kids too, you know. And by the way I
(28:51):
mean that, that is actually such a key point that
I think enough, not enough working women understand, which is
that if you share your life with your child, and
you should share what you're doing at work, they feel
good about it because you're excited about it and they
feed off of our energy. Whereas if you apologize to
your kids for working, they're gonna feed off of that
and say things that make you feel guilty. So I
(29:12):
think every working parent has a choice. Do you involve
your kids in your work and show them that you're
proud of what you do so they grew up to
one day feeling proud of what they do, or do you,
you know, talk to them in a way that is
just embedded with guilt. I think that's so interesting, Sam,
Just like my six year old this morning, Sloan said
to me, Mom, do you have to work today? And
(29:34):
I said, oh, I do, and she goes, I don't
want you to work anymore, and I said I looked
at her, and I felt guilty for a second, and
then I said, you know, Sloan, I love working, and
she's like, oh, sometimes I forget because I tell her
that all the time. I grew up with a mom
that worked. My mother was a teacher in my entire life,
and she loved it and she was so good at it,
(29:54):
and I never saw it as a drawback. I so
often feel like, you know, there's people that are coming
(30:18):
in contact with your kids where it's kind of either
you pass or you fail, you win or you lose,
and it's not that clear, right, And that is not
what life is about. Instead, it's I think the best
people that you know I interview, I always say candidates
(30:39):
are you know, the people that can actually own that
you know, they had challenges and they understand that about
themselves and they fixed things right like that. Those are
the types of things and again sharing those things, you know,
within our house with my family too. On why I
think it's cool. It's just, you know, it's not so
(30:59):
pretent iry. Although in your book, one of the things
that surprised me about Undaunted is after reading it, this
subtitle surprised me because it says overcoming doubts and doubters,
And after reading it, I don't feel like you have
a lot of self doubt. You're you're full of optimism.
I think everybody has doubt, right, and I think it's
(31:20):
it's what you do with the doubt. It's always challenging,
right when, especially when you've got this, you know, whether
you call it a little voice or big voice or whatever.
And what I find too is that you can always
find people, and particularly people that care about you, that
will almost feed into that doubt and so then you're
(31:42):
then you know, unfortunately, and this is not intentional, but
it often will really really take you down. It really
just boils down to and what I talk about in
the book, the decision of what you do at that
point with those doubts. Do you tackle them or you know,
do you call the game. Something related to that, I
(32:04):
think related to failure is the feeling of being tired
and exhausted, and you know, you have been at working
at HINT for fifteen years. The Riverter is my first company,
Emily three years in part place Payments is not Sam's
first company. But then this go around to a couple
of years in do you ever get tired? Have you
(32:25):
ever wanted to think, as my two year old would say,
pause the game? And what do you do? Of course
I do? I mean, I really again, like I'm leading
a healthy left lifestyle company. So I hope I would be.
But I'm really, I really really believe that what we
eat and what we you know, put inside of our
(32:46):
body and how we treat ourselves right, not just about
what we're putting inside of our body, but mental health
and also exercise. And it's not just one or the other.
People say like, oh, I need to go focus on
my diet, I need to start exercising, I need to start,
you know, focusing on mental health. I'm a huge hoy
(33:09):
that it's all of it. And sometimes that freaks people
out because it's a lot, but it's like, you know,
it's it's like managing your life right, was so key
like that, and I think that when you do that
that you will come back to a place figuring out,
like I just and clearer in my brain. I'm happier.
(33:32):
I know that I know the way right, and I
think that that's such a key piece. If you ever
need to talk to somebody too that has been there
and been through it, I'm here so and I mean
that sincerely. That is like, it is pretty remarkable. We
all met, you know, through mutual friends, through a group
that we're all in and the power of women helping
(33:53):
other women and connecting has been truly transformative in my
own life. So thank you, Kara. Yeah, total it. You
really you really walk the walk, talk the talk. Um,
Am I saying that expression correctly, Well you too, feelings
mutual um. All right, So Kara, we're just gonna ask
you some rapid fire questions and then we're gonna finish
(34:14):
with one last question from Lou who's our sound engineer,
who will get on at the very end, but in
the meantime we'll just go rapid between me and Amy.
I'll start, Um, what's the last book you read? The
Soulful Art of Persuasion? Actually, and it's an incredible, incredible
(34:34):
book on just the eleven habits that will make anyone
an influencer, So very very interesting. Jason Harris and uh
close runner up right before that one because I hit
all genders is uh you guys know this one Sherry Salata. Yes,
(34:55):
I know Sherry. Yeah, she worked for O Breath amazing. Uh,
what I think we have time for one more from me?
But what's your morning routine? Hike? Hi? Perfect? That that's it.
So one last question is just if you could change
anything about the last ten years in terms of your
family life. What would it be, God, I don't think anything. Actually,
(35:19):
I you know, I would say that the thing that I,
you know, really value the most today is time. That's
it's just something that I just, you know, I wish
it would slow down. I feel like my mom saying that,
but I do. I really feel like it's like, you know,
something that I wish there were more time. And maybe
(35:41):
this goes to sort of point the question that you
were just asking is believe that it's all okay, right,
that that even when there's challenges along the way, that
you know, it's just it's really about experiences and listening,
and that it always does get better and it really
(36:04):
does even when you think it doesn't, it really does.
Kara Loui is going to pipe in with one last question.
I know people really love to hear about people coming
out of adversity and like overcoming. I'm sure on it's
fifteen year journey you had some like pitfalls and stuff
that maybe stumbled you up. Would you mind share like
a small antidote of something that happened Starbucks story? Yeah? So,
(36:30):
you know, the Starbucks story was huge win. Right. We
get into Starbucks eleven thousand locations and then we get
a phone call a year and a half later that
we were getting bumped out of there, um, which you
know is not the phone call that you want to get.
And uh, I had over a million dollars of inventory
(36:51):
sitting in my warehouse and had to go back and
share this news with my investors. And you know, I
don't cry very often, but that one I definitely cried.
O her. I thought, I don't know how I'm going
to be able to handle this, and then got back
to the office the next day and really looked at
the bright side of things was that we had been
(37:13):
exposed to people in many cities and many states that
we wouldn't have had the money to really or the
time to go and get distributions. So we were really
lucky that we got this, you know, opportunity with Starbucks.
And of course there were a few chuckles in my
company saying like, of course Terra fines, like you know,
(37:34):
the silver lining and this whole thing. And I still
hadn't figured out what to do with the million dollars
in distribution. Um. But that's when we got an email
from Amazon, and Amazon said, hey, I've been buying your
product in Starbucks and we love it, and we're launching
this grocery business online and we're we'd love to buy
(37:57):
some inventory from you, and uh, have you be one
of the first partners to launch in grocery And I said,
I have like a fair amount of BlackBerry hint sitting
in the warehouse right now, so if you want to
buy it, that would be amazing. And so they did,
and you know, fast forward, Um, not too long after that,
(38:20):
but we became one of the number one products for
Amazon in grocery. And you know, fast forward even a
few more years, six years now, Uh, the online business,
which was really started with Amazon is over of our
overall business. That was that point in that I talked
(38:41):
about before where that wasn't the goal. The goal wasn't
to get bumped out of Starbucks. But with every experience
along the way, like if you listen, if you're out
there right, you handle it. There's a there's a million reasons.
Did did everything go the way that I wanted it
to with Starbucks? No? But ultimately it lad if we
(39:04):
wouldn't have been in Starbucks, would Amazon have seen our
product and gotten it in there? And so I think
that it's just it's really about you know, recognizing those
challenges as just they're they're necessary for your next steps.
That was such a fun and inspirational interview. Kara's just
(39:26):
so good at sharing the stories of how she built
Hint and how she's building in what she's doing. So
I love talking with her. Yes, she sent a case
to my family the other day, and so we've been
going through all the flavors caring uh and that's been
really fun. And I do think one of the things
that that this period have taught me even is that,
(39:46):
you know, I talked to Karak quite frequently now, and
I feel like our friendship has developed only recently. And
it is really neat to know that you're you're never
too old to make new friends. You there's you never
want to close that door of making new friends and
finding people that you have things in common with. The
think so often we think, Okay, I have my five
(40:06):
best friends and that's all I need. And at the
end of the day, as life changes, your needs change
and your interest change, and so it's okay to always
keep that door open. I agree, Um and Sam. Look,
we made friends with each other in the past two years.
So if you have been closed off You're You're on
the eight team now and keeping I never I'll never
(40:28):
Leave Sam. Our podcast is powered by Sam and I's companies.
My company is the Riter at the Riveter dot c
O and Sam's company is park Place Payments at park
place payments dot com. So proud of you for not
saying that ww dew Is did it just for you
as whole
Hi. I'm Amy Nelson and I'm Sam Edis, and this
is what's her story with. Sam and Amy were so
excited today to welcome the founder and CEO of Hint,
which is our favorite flavored water. Kara is an inspiration.
She started her company, she's grown it, she's had four kids,
um and and she just doesn't really stop. She's also
(00:24):
someone who is always giving back. I don't know Sam
if I told you this, but I was just on
the phone with Kara this week and talking to her
about my business, and she just and she just volunteered
to find time within her day between everything she's doing
to walk me through some hard decisions I had to make. Yeah,
Kara is super generous and she's become a good friend
and I feel like she's one of those women that
(00:48):
just there's something about Kara where she's an optimist at heart,
and she also really doesn't see hard things at that hard.
She just keeps on going and I think that's that's
a big part of her success. And we'll find out
a lot more from her today, and I really I
find that inspiring. She's just she's a warning person like
I am, and she just waked up with like what's
(01:10):
going to happen today? And she really like we were.
She was telling a story to me once about something
some jerk said to her, some guy, and I remember thinking, like,
if someone had said something like that to me, I
would have just kind of not been able to move
forward with the situation on any level. And Kara, of course,
is like, and I saw it, and I thought about it,
and I thought, what can I learn from this? And
(01:30):
I'm like, this guy's an asshole. There's literally nothing to learn.
And yet Kara's like, no, there's something to learn, like
and she just takes the lesson and moves forward and
just doesn't even think about the negative part of it,
or maybe she does, but she doesn't talk about it.
Do you find that you have far fewer negative interactions
now in the pandemic because you just aren't around as
(01:50):
many people in all of these different situations. You're shaking
your head, She's shaking your head. No, do you have
as many. I'm just I've always been a really sensitive person,
so I have like negative interactions like hurt me more
deeply than they hurt you, I think, because you're you're
tougher than I am, so I know I'm just as
(02:11):
sensitive as I always was, and I have fewer interactions,
so if they're negative, they really like haunt my dreams
and stuff. So that's absolutely not that's interesting my mother,
although I'm very conflict diverse, so I don't like having conflicts,
so I'm not um. I would say that in general,
I don't have that much conflict in my life. Like
(02:32):
I've kind of constructed a life where I'm a little
bit conflict free. And I think it's easier to do
that during the pandemic, certainly because you can killed yourself
from that. My mother, when she listens to this, will
die to hear you say that I'm not that sensitive
because she thinks I'm like the most sensitive person on earth.
She mus to be super tough. Then my mother is
like she's and I mean that lovingly, Mom, because you're wonderful, truly,
(02:55):
you're one of my best friends, but like she's just
she's very tough and I am very not tough. Sometimes well, no,
I mean, you're senseive, but you're also I sometimes will
be like Amy, like how do you handle this card conversation?
Like I'm not it's not something I think it affects
me more deeply than I wish it would. And I'm
(03:16):
just I've always been like that because I'm such a
feeler and it's like I feel other people's pain and
I just have a hard time with it. No, I
get it. I think with the hard conversations, and you know,
Karen might talk about this today, but with hard conversations,
it's like a certain point, you're just having so many
of them. You've got to come up with justice system
like this is how I tackle this incredibly hard and
disruptive thing that for me ten years ago, I wouldn't
have been able to even say out loud. That's actually
(03:39):
something I've learned from you, is you do you are.
You're good at compart mentalizing a difficult conversation and like,
let's just get it done and let's get through it.
And I do appreciate that. And by the way, I
don't think that we talked to Kara about hard conversation,
so I think I but I did think that she
told us so many amazing stories it was it was
(03:59):
hard to like I could have listened her forever. And
that's kind of how her book Undaunted is is there
are so many great stories in that book. And one
of the stories that she begins with in in this
episode is talking about her first job at a Mexican
restaurant in Arizona that I am now dying to go to.
(04:19):
I know, I want to go for sure, that little
that little job and by the way, my favorite Mexican
restaurant still in this day. It's what ultimately lead me
to I talked about in the book being an accidental entrepreneur,
and I think that that's the key thing. Like people
(04:39):
are always asking me, did you always want to be
an entrepreneur? And you know, my sort of short answer
is no, I just always wanted to smile and enjoy
what I was doing and learn a long way. And
as long as I continued learning, and as long as
I was working with great people and you know, and
(05:00):
and ultimately that really led me to also understand that
I'm you know, more and more curious about things and
wanting to develop a product around. It was never something
that I thought, Okay, one day, I'm going to go
do my own company. Instead, it was like, let me
just go figure this out, and um, because nobody else
(05:21):
was doing it. So but I think it all kind
of goes back to that time. So Kara, you ended
up in the time Inc. Building. We're not going to
spoil the book. I can assure you everyone's gonna want
to read this book, but because it's so inspirational, but
share with everyone what ended up happening, what that first
job was, and also what a fish out of water
you were when you arrived. Yeah. So I walked into
(05:47):
the time Inc. Building and uh, this was a time
when there was no security down on the bottom floors.
U and I walked up to the HR department because
as I knew that that's where you applied for jobs.
That's what I thought, like, that's what HR does, right,
You submit a resume and then you just go and interview, right.
(06:12):
And so I had emailed the then managing editor of
Fortune magazine, Marshal Lobe, and said, Hey, I'd love to
come work for you, and he sort of sent me
this nice letter back that said, you know, if you're
ever in the New York area, please let me know.
And I saved that letter and put it in my
(06:33):
little briefcase and I went to, you know, the Timing
building and marched up to HR. And you know, this
was looking great in my green, my my Kelly green
uh suit Linen suit and you know, which frankly was
probably not the best thing to be wearing. But I
(06:53):
marched up and I said, I got this letter from
Martial Lobe and I'd really like to interview because I
here in New York. And that's what it says, if
you're ever in the New York area, just just following instructions.
That following instructions. And the poor receptionist was like she
didn't know what to do with me. She was probably
like the year older than me, and she, you know,
(07:15):
I frazzled her a little bit, and she called the
head of HR and she said, there's this woman here
and she's got this letter from Martial Lobe and it said,
if you're ever in the New York area, what do
we do? And said that of HR said, uh so,
I think what he meant was that you should let
us know ahead of time. And I said, oh, that's
too bad. I'm leaving tomorrow and it'd be really great
(07:37):
if I could just like say hi to him. I mean,
we had this communication and went back and forth, and
anyway that the net of it is is that it's true.
I mean, it was crazy, right, and and so she
I don't know we just hit it off and and
she said, so, why do you want to work for Fortune?
And I went on to tell her that, you know,
(07:59):
for me, finance was made simple just by reading Fortune
magazine and he just really inspired me. And she said, well,
you know, you seem like you're really motivated and would
be a great employee. Have you would you be interested
in any other roles? And I said, sure, I'll do
anything here. Like I just thought, I'm in the building
(08:21):
and why not. And so she connected me with somebody.
And you know, somewhere in my mind was this thought
that if I actually get in the building, then maybe
I'll be able to get to Fortune and talk to
Marshall at some point. And uh, I'll give away that
the news that I never did work for Fortune magazine
(08:43):
on the editorial side, but I was, you know, I
ended up taking a role in circulation, and which ended
up to be really the path that I was meant
to take. So the receptionist, I think basically wanted you
to leave. You were like, no, no, I'm here. I'm
in New York City, I'm in the building. I have
(09:04):
a letter that told me to come here. Have you
always been someone who doesn't take no for an answer,
or isn't afraid of no or getting past to know.
(09:27):
Where I wouldn't stop was if I didn't get the
answers right and oftentimes, and I think this is true
to this day. And part of the reason why I've
been able to build the company that I've built with
without having experience from the beverage industry was that, you know,
we would go when we were first starting hint, we
wanted to create a product that you know, didn't have
(09:49):
sweeteners in it, but didn't have preservatives in it. And
I would go to our co packers or bottlers when
we were first starting out, and I'd say, so, why
do you have to use preservatives in the product? And
people would say just because? And I'm like, now that's
not an answer. I mean, that's like an answer, but
that's not the answer, Like why do you really have
(10:10):
to use preservatives in it? And so, and you know,
there were plenty of people who slammed the door on
me and said, can you just leave? I don't really
have time for this conversation. But other people were like, Oh,
that's really interesting. I don't know the answer. I've been
saying it for so long, and I don't really know,
and it'd be really interesting to kind of explore this
(10:32):
with you, and and and so it ends up that,
I mean, we were the first product that used real
fruit in it, that did not use preservatives in the product.
And so again, sometimes if you captinacity curiosity, you can
actually stumble upon something that actually changes an entire industry
(10:55):
that is now used by many other people in the industry. Um,
but I think it just really goes back to this,
this whole idea of you know, I guess you can say,
not taking no for an answer, but also not being
so quick to accept now as an answer that ability
(11:16):
to just say you know, no is a slower path too.
Yes is also what brought you to the beverage industry
and to your first client in the industry and to
creating hints. Can you share a little bit about that?
And also, you know, tell us what happened the morning
that you were giving birth to your fourth child. Did
(11:37):
you know that story before before the But I did,
and I did it. I didn't either, and I loved it.
So so yeah, so we you know, basically, I decided
that I was going to launch this company and wrote
the business plan and I told my husband about six
months prior to uh, actually getting the first bottle on
(11:57):
the shelf that I was going to be not only
launching a company, but also launching my fourth child. And
you know, he sort of like did a double take
and thought that I was really strange. And I think
he wasn't sure why he was married to me, because
he was like, I can't even believe you're putting these
two things into the same conversation, and you know, it's
just really weird. But anyway, so he, uh, so, you know,
(12:22):
we were moving along. He was staying close to me
and this whole thing because I was writing very large
checks out of our personal bank account, and I think he,
you know, knew that I had made a little bit
of money when I was at a o L. But
he also knew that I could spend money like, as
he says, like no other person he had ever met
in his life. And so he was like, Okay, let
(12:43):
me go with you to the bottling plant and actually
see where this fifty dollars for bottles and caps is
actually going. And so through the process, we we thought
we were gonna get supplies back like a month before
we ultimately launched, and like every other launch of a product,
we were a little delayed, and so the product actually
(13:05):
showed up at my house at my garage a day
before I was having my plans C section. And so
I wake up the morning of my plans C section
and my husband said, so, what do you want to do.
We're living in San Francisco at the time. He's like,
do you want to go on a walk? Do you
want to go have brunch? And I said, no, I
want to go to Whole Foods and see if I
(13:28):
can get the product on the shelf. And we had
a babysitter all lined up for our the three kids.
And he said, not what I expected you to say
at all, but if that's what you really want to do,
that's fine. I said, it would be so great if,
you know, we got on the shelf and then I
could just go and just be really calm and deliver
(13:48):
the baby. And he's he's like, okay, whatever. And so
we get to the Whole Foods and you know, he's like,
let me just carry the cases in for you. I
don't want you lifting. And what we get in there,
I see this guy who's you know, the guy that
I had met months before who's merchandising the shelves? And
I said, hey, how are you? And remember that product
(14:11):
I told you that I was going to develop, and
here it is and this is my husband THEO and
he said, wow, you're really pregnant. And he didn't even
say like, oh, that's a name of your product. He
was like, I didn't realize you were so pregnant. And
I said, yeah, no, I'm super pregnant. And I said,
but anyway, so would you mind putting it on the
(14:33):
shelf and you know, and so my husband is like,
you know, backing up, just thinking oh my god, this
could just end really, really badly. And he said, so, wait,
you're delivering a baby this afternoon. How do you know
you're delivering a baby this afternoon? And I said, well,
I'm having a planned C section And he said, well,
what's a planned C section? And I said, oh, okay.
(14:55):
So I've had three other C sections and i' c
C section in my first baby, and then I ended
up having you know, my daughter accidentally broke my ribs
and the second delivery, and so I ended up having
all these C sections. And so we went on and
on for like thirty minutes. My husband was just like,
(15:16):
I cannot believe that she's educating this guy who's merchandizing
shelves in his twenties about planned c sections. And he
was listening so intently to this conversation, and he was like,
thank you so much for telling me. Like I've heard
people say they're having a planned c section, but I
never knew that what that's what it was. And I
(15:38):
said any time, like if you have any other questions
about childbirth, like I'm your girl, and and my husband
was like okay, anyway, and I said, okay, so getting
back to what we were talking about, can we put
the product on the shelf? And he said, look, I
really appreciate this. I will do my best. But we
(15:59):
left the store not really knowing. I mean, I was
basically like, you know, listen, like can I watch you
put the bottle on the shelf. And my husband was
finally like pulling me out of the store like we
need to have a baby, like we're having a baby.
Now You're over the line, Like let's just get out
of there, and so, uh so, anyway, so we left
(16:21):
the store and went and delivered my son Justin and
then the next morning, uh, get a phone call in
the hospital and I, you know, the one thing, And
I'm sure you guys can appreciate this when you have
your fourth child, none of your friends or family actually call. Yeah,
no one really cares. You're like checked out another baby,
(16:42):
like she won't be around, won't be able to go
to lunch or walk or anything for a few weeks.
But I was just so excited that the phone ring
and I thought, oh, who's calling me? And my husband said,
it's the guy from Whole Foods. And I was like, oh,
he's calling to see how I was doing. And he
said no, uh, and he's talking, talking, talking, and I said,
(17:03):
what's he saying? What's he saying? And he said he
said that the cases are gone. And I said, give
me the phone, and so I grabbed the phone and
I said who took the cases? And he said what
do you mean? And I said who took the cases?
Like I really I hadn't gotten that far and sort
of the idea like I was like, so in the
mode of get this product on the shelf, but whatever,
(17:25):
And now all of a sudden people bought the product
and I thought at first, I was like, did you
know one of the big soda companies come in and
just throw it in the garbage or something like. It
was somebody trying to you know, screw with me in
some way. And and he said no, like we went
through ten cases overnight. Oh my gosh. And I mean
you've understand to like how crazy it was. I was
(17:46):
sitting in hospital. I'm like, you know, I have my
three days in in uh the California you know hospital
system now that I've had this plan C section, And
I thought, you know, I need to get out of
the hospital to go and get product on the shelf
because I don't think this guy is gonna be very
(18:07):
nice to me. So I I like literally called my nurse.
I'm like, um, can you check me out? And she
said no, no, you have like two more days. And
I said, no, no, I'm fine, Like I've done this
three times before. I'm totally good, Like I can get
checked out right now. And and so anyway, we we
checked out and got product back on the shelf, and
(18:27):
you know, it's you know, we really thought we were
at that point off to the races. What role has
do played in your career over over your entire career
which spans you know, before you started hint when you
worked in tech and of course what you told us
about the beginning of your career, but what role has
he played in your career and yours and his? Yeah,
(18:48):
I mean I think a lot of people ask, like, oh,
what's it like working with your husband? I think that
the key thing that not only I would say and
he would say, but people who know us really well
and imploy poise in the company were very different skill sets.
I mean, it's part of the reason we just celebrated
our twenty fifth anniversary wedding anniversary, and you know, we
(19:09):
have four kids. We worked together now for over fifteen years.
I think that the key thing is like not only
having the different skill sets that we bounce off of
each other and we really appreciate each other, but also
having each other's back, right. I think that there's there's
(19:30):
certainly days where, um, you know, you're tired, right, You're
you're trying to not only manage your work and different
stresses there, but also you know your family, right, and
both are unpredictable, right, whether it's you know, somebody like
getting sick for somebody really needs you more than somebody else,
(19:53):
and so having somebody that you're living with and breathing
with every single day that may not be able to um,
you know, may not be able to take your place necessarily,
but can actually be filled in enough because you guys
are you know, roughly talking to each other about everything
going on. And so often I hear, you know, from
(20:16):
from entrepreneurs who are starting companies together where maybe they're
two best friends from college and you know, and unfortunately,
like it sounds good initially, but so often you have
two different lives and two different sets of families and
and you know, maybe two different maybe just career wise too,
(20:36):
that maybe you're not thinking, you know, along the same lines.
And I think that that's the thing that I've seen,
you know, with with THEO, that has just been really
really nice. And I mean I remember in the early
days when we were going out and raising money, and
I remember one investor said that they want to have
(20:57):
a private call with THEO on the phone, and uh,
I was like, okay, it's fine, and uh they said, so,
you know, we don't really invest in husband and wife
teams because you know, it's just I don't know, there's
like there's just high failure rate. And uh, he said
(21:18):
one of the smartest things, he said. THEO said to
this investor, potential investor, He said, so, I'm just not
really that familiar with any of the companies that are
like husband and wife teams that have failed. Can you
share one of those with me? And um? And he said, well,
I can't really think of any right now, but I
(21:39):
know they're out there. And he said, okay, okay, Well,
I just I'm sure Kara's gonna ask like who. You know,
she's very curious and she's going to ask like who
it was. And it's totally fine if you, you know,
aren't going to invest. But I'm just really curious because
it seems to kind of work for us. But but anyway,
I thought, again, I don't know that I would have
(22:01):
that day sort of been so quick to kind of
think of that, you know, response to it, right. Instead,
I maybe I would have been defending like oh no, no,
it's all gonna be fine or whatever. But you know,
he's not afraid to sort of show up and come
up with those things. I'm like, wow, that was like
that was impressive, right, And he was like, yeah, whatever,
(22:24):
we need to move on. And and that's another thing too,
I think having somebody that you know, really believes in
you and believes in you know, supporting you. I think
he's he's also been, you know, the number one person
saying like, look, I'm the chief operating officer of this company.
She's the CEO of this company, and it's I mean
(22:45):
in our next gig. Like that may reverse right, she
may she may be supporting me, but it's not my idea.
He was like, I drink a ton of water, but
that's not my idea. I mean a few people know
this secret, but like the main reason why we developed
hink Fizz was because of him, and he's a carbonated
(23:07):
water drinker. I grew up with two parents who owned
a market research company together and so they worked together.
They walked to work together. They you know, everything they
did was together. They were inseparable. And what my mom
did is she created this boundary where we weren't allowed
to talk about work at dinner. Um for for better
or worse. But I just wonder what the boundaries are
(23:29):
in your life so that your kids don't feel like
they're at the office all the time, or your office
doesn't feel like they're part of your family life. How
have you, you know, created those boundaries. I remember when Keenan,
my eighteen year old, was um eleven or twelve years old,
and I think he saw Sheryl Sandberg on TV talking
about Lenan, and you know, it was just kind of
(23:50):
watching it for a minute and he said to me, well,
I didn't realize that women aren't CEO s. And I
was like, okay, where is where is this kid go
in with this like conversation. I'm about to you know,
like hit him on the head or something, and and
I was like, yeah, now it's there. There's not many
(24:10):
of us out there. And he was like, well, I
think that's really cool that, like I've grown up in
a house with like a mom who's a female who's
the CEO. And I'm like, okay, you're like that's right.
And he said, but I don't get it, like why
aren't there more women CEOs? And and I said, well,
(24:33):
there's a lot of reasons along the way. It sup
what we have this really nice conversation, and he said,
you know, it's like I play a lot of tennis
and I don't really understand why, like there aren't co
ed teams at school. And I said, that's a really
interesting point. And he said, I would much rather play
so often with women because I just I just enjoy
(24:55):
it and and I was like, well, that will probably
change in your life time and he said, yeah, Like
I don't know. I think there's a lot of things
like that that are really messed up. And so I
feel like also him seeing his parents, right, not only
working together but also just you know, doing things a
(25:16):
little bit differently. They pay attention, right, And I mean, frankly,
I think all of my kids, but him in particular,
will be not only a good manager, um, but also
you know, a good employee, right, a good like he
doesn't understand it, right, why there is this like challenge
(25:39):
and why people don't aren't more inclusive or aren't more
supportive of women because he grew up in a house
that just didn't live that way. Right. He's got two
very strong sisters as well, And never has there been
a conversation like well I get to do that because
I'm a guy, or you know, that's not a career
(26:00):
for you. And I think like that is such just
being a role model, and again an accidental role model
to these kids. I think it's just so key. Well
maybe it was an accident, but it sounds like you've
brought a lot of intentionality to raising your kids. Um,
And I think that's really amazing and something for me
(26:21):
to look up to as I am on the other
end of parenting with these little girls. Um, but how
do you how how did you talk to your kids
about work when they were little? Like, how did you
talk to them about what you were doing? I've always
wanted to simplify things down, to make them very, very
(26:43):
easy and for people to understand. And so oftentimes, even
you know, speaking to consumers, Like I always tell people
whenever I'm mentoring entrepreneurs and I feel like their pitch
is way too complicated, I'm like, go talk to you
a twelve year old about your plan and make sure
(27:04):
that they understand it. Because what I've learned is that
people don't if you're looking for money as an example,
people don't invest in things that they don't understand, and
they won't take the time to actually say, typically I
don't understand it right. Instead, they'll, you know, they'll just say, oh,
(27:25):
it just wasn't for me, it was too complicated or whatever,
and they won't actually own the fact that it might
actually be be them. And so I'm always like thinking
if a twelve year old can understand, and again, it
doesn't matter what the company is, I think you have
(27:46):
to have this. You know, people call it an elevator pitch,
but it has to be something really really simple that
people can ultimately understand. So again, I think it was
just talking to them and maybe also as you know,
as you're growing a business and we were super busy,
and I know you guys totally hear me on this
(28:08):
that it's just you know, maybe there's a little bit
of guilt along the way that you're feeling like, Okay,
I have to go on this business trip and here's
what I'm doing. I felt like if I could actually say, Okay,
here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to this
plant to bottle the product. And the reason why I
think this is really important is that it's you know,
state of the art. They got all of their equipment
(28:30):
from Germany and you know, and I'd show them the
pictures and they were like, oh wow, that's really neat.
And then when I came back, I would tell them,
you know, that exact same thing as well, and again,
I think, you know, that's that sort of explanation really
helps kids too, you know. And by the way I
(28:51):
mean that, that is actually such a key point that
I think enough, not enough working women understand, which is
that if you share your life with your child, and
you should share what you're doing at work, they feel
good about it because you're excited about it and they
feed off of our energy. Whereas if you apologize to
your kids for working, they're gonna feed off of that
and say things that make you feel guilty. So I
(29:12):
think every working parent has a choice. Do you involve
your kids in your work and show them that you're
proud of what you do so they grew up to
one day feeling proud of what they do, or do you,
you know, talk to them in a way that is
just embedded with guilt. I think that's so interesting, Sam,
Just like my six year old this morning, Sloan said
to me, Mom, do you have to work today? And
(29:34):
I said, oh, I do, and she goes, I don't
want you to work anymore, and I said I looked
at her, and I felt guilty for a second, and
then I said, you know, Sloan, I love working, and
she's like, oh, sometimes I forget because I tell her
that all the time. I grew up with a mom
that worked. My mother was a teacher in my entire life,
and she loved it and she was so good at it,
(29:54):
and I never saw it as a drawback. I so
often feel like, you know, there's people that are coming
(30:18):
in contact with your kids where it's kind of either
you pass or you fail, you win or you lose,
and it's not that clear, right, And that is not
what life is about. Instead, it's I think the best
people that you know I interview, I always say candidates
(30:39):
are you know, the people that can actually own that
you know, they had challenges and they understand that about
themselves and they fixed things right like that. Those are
the types of things and again sharing those things, you know,
within our house with my family too. On why I
think it's cool. It's just, you know, it's not so
(30:59):
pretent iry. Although in your book, one of the things
that surprised me about Undaunted is after reading it, this
subtitle surprised me because it says overcoming doubts and doubters,
And after reading it, I don't feel like you have
a lot of self doubt. You're you're full of optimism.
I think everybody has doubt, right, and I think it's
(31:20):
it's what you do with the doubt. It's always challenging,
right when, especially when you've got this, you know, whether
you call it a little voice or big voice or whatever.
And what I find too is that you can always
find people, and particularly people that care about you, that
will almost feed into that doubt and so then you're
(31:42):
then you know, unfortunately, and this is not intentional, but
it often will really really take you down. It really
just boils down to and what I talk about in
the book, the decision of what you do at that
point with those doubts. Do you tackle them or you know,
do you call the game. Something related to that, I
(32:04):
think related to failure is the feeling of being tired
and exhausted, and you know, you have been at working
at HINT for fifteen years. The Riverter is my first company,
Emily three years in part place Payments is not Sam's
first company. But then this go around to a couple
of years in do you ever get tired? Have you
(32:25):
ever wanted to think, as my two year old would say,
pause the game? And what do you do? Of course
I do? I mean, I really again, like I'm leading
a healthy left lifestyle company. So I hope I would be.
But I'm really, I really really believe that what we
eat and what we you know, put inside of our
(32:46):
body and how we treat ourselves right, not just about
what we're putting inside of our body, but mental health
and also exercise. And it's not just one or the other.
People say like, oh, I need to go focus on
my diet, I need to start exercising, I need to start,
you know, focusing on mental health. I'm a huge hoy
(33:09):
that it's all of it. And sometimes that freaks people
out because it's a lot, but it's like, you know,
it's it's like managing your life right, was so key
like that, and I think that when you do that
that you will come back to a place figuring out,
like I just and clearer in my brain. I'm happier.
(33:32):
I know that I know the way right, and I
think that that's such a key piece. If you ever
need to talk to somebody too that has been there
and been through it, I'm here so and I mean
that sincerely. That is like, it is pretty remarkable. We
all met, you know, through mutual friends, through a group
that we're all in and the power of women helping
(33:53):
other women and connecting has been truly transformative in my
own life. So thank you, Kara. Yeah, total it. You
really you really walk the walk, talk the talk. Um,
Am I saying that expression correctly, Well you too, feelings
mutual um. All right, So Kara, we're just gonna ask
you some rapid fire questions and then we're gonna finish
(34:14):
with one last question from Lou who's our sound engineer,
who will get on at the very end, but in
the meantime we'll just go rapid between me and Amy.
I'll start, Um, what's the last book you read? The
Soulful Art of Persuasion? Actually, and it's an incredible, incredible
(34:34):
book on just the eleven habits that will make anyone
an influencer, So very very interesting. Jason Harris and uh
close runner up right before that one because I hit
all genders is uh you guys know this one Sherry Salata. Yes,
(34:55):
I know Sherry. Yeah, she worked for O Breath amazing. Uh,
what I think we have time for one more from me?
But what's your morning routine? Hike? Hi? Perfect? That that's it.
So one last question is just if you could change
anything about the last ten years in terms of your
family life. What would it be, God, I don't think anything. Actually,
(35:19):
I you know, I would say that the thing that I,
you know, really value the most today is time. That's
it's just something that I just, you know, I wish
it would slow down. I feel like my mom saying that,
but I do. I really feel like it's like, you know,
something that I wish there were more time. And maybe
(35:41):
this goes to sort of point the question that you
were just asking is believe that it's all okay, right,
that that even when there's challenges along the way, that
you know, it's just it's really about experiences and listening,
and that it always does get better and it really
(36:04):
does even when you think it doesn't, it really does.
Kara Loui is going to pipe in with one last question.
I know people really love to hear about people coming
out of adversity and like overcoming. I'm sure on it's
fifteen year journey you had some like pitfalls and stuff
that maybe stumbled you up. Would you mind share like
a small antidote of something that happened Starbucks story? Yeah? So,
(36:30):
you know, the Starbucks story was huge win. Right. We
get into Starbucks eleven thousand locations and then we get
a phone call a year and a half later that
we were getting bumped out of there, um, which you
know is not the phone call that you want to get.
And uh, I had over a million dollars of inventory
(36:51):
sitting in my warehouse and had to go back and
share this news with my investors. And you know, I
don't cry very often, but that one I definitely cried.
O her. I thought, I don't know how I'm going
to be able to handle this, and then got back
to the office the next day and really looked at
the bright side of things was that we had been
(37:13):
exposed to people in many cities and many states that
we wouldn't have had the money to really or the
time to go and get distributions. So we were really
lucky that we got this, you know, opportunity with Starbucks.
And of course there were a few chuckles in my
company saying like, of course Terra fines, like you know,
(37:34):
the silver lining and this whole thing. And I still
hadn't figured out what to do with the million dollars
in distribution. Um. But that's when we got an email
from Amazon, and Amazon said, hey, I've been buying your
product in Starbucks and we love it, and we're launching
this grocery business online and we're we'd love to buy
(37:57):
some inventory from you, and uh, have you be one
of the first partners to launch in grocery And I said,
I have like a fair amount of BlackBerry hint sitting
in the warehouse right now, so if you want to
buy it, that would be amazing. And so they did,
and you know, fast forward, Um, not too long after that,
(38:20):
but we became one of the number one products for
Amazon in grocery. And you know, fast forward even a
few more years, six years now, Uh, the online business,
which was really started with Amazon is over of our
overall business. That was that point in that I talked
(38:41):
about before where that wasn't the goal. The goal wasn't
to get bumped out of Starbucks. But with every experience
along the way, like if you listen, if you're out
there right, you handle it. There's a there's a million reasons.
Did did everything go the way that I wanted it
to with Starbucks? No? But ultimately it lad if we
(39:04):
wouldn't have been in Starbucks, would Amazon have seen our
product and gotten it in there? And so I think
that it's just it's really about you know, recognizing those
challenges as just they're they're necessary for your next steps.
That was such a fun and inspirational interview. Kara's just
(39:26):
so good at sharing the stories of how she built
Hint and how she's building in what she's doing. So
I love talking with her. Yes, she sent a case
to my family the other day, and so we've been
going through all the flavors caring uh and that's been
really fun. And I do think one of the things
that that this period have taught me even is that,
(39:46):
you know, I talked to Karak quite frequently now, and
I feel like our friendship has developed only recently. And
it is really neat to know that you're you're never
too old to make new friends. You there's you never
want to close that door of making new friends and
finding people that you have things in common with. The
think so often we think, Okay, I have my five
(40:06):
best friends and that's all I need. And at the
end of the day, as life changes, your needs change
and your interest change, and so it's okay to always
keep that door open. I agree, Um and Sam. Look,
we made friends with each other in the past two years.
So if you have been closed off You're You're on
the eight team now and keeping I never I'll never
(40:28):
Leave Sam. Our podcast is powered by Sam and I's companies.
My company is the Riter at the Riveter dot c
O and Sam's company is park Place Payments at park
place payments dot com. So proud of you for not
saying that ww dew Is did it just for you
as whole
Hosts And Creators
Samantha Ettus
Amy Nelson
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