Rosie is the founder of Perkies, which makes innovative undergarments for women. Perkies' first product was a sticky bra with replaceable adhesives, since the adhesive wearing off or becoming dirty is the reason why most traditional sticky bras have a short usage life. Rosie also turned the head around nipple covers and created Perkies Nips, which are stick-on nipples, which have become a pop-culture favorite at Urban Outfitters along with the free-the-nip trend, as well as worn by breast cancer survivors and previvors to reclaim their femininity and confidence post-mastectomy.
Rosie shares her advice on problem-solving and mindset, including the importance of enjoying the journey -- lessons she learned the hard way losing games and not getting playing time as part of the women's lacrosse team at Brown, as well as the power of networking and not taking no for an answer.
I am in such awe of Rosie and I am so grateful we met at Brown! Her positivity, energy and radiance is contagious. Thanks again for your time, Rosie, I don't take it for granted!
Chapters
(00:00:00) Perkies Sticky Bra with Replaceable Adhesives at Brown
(00:03:49) 3 Years of Branding, Learning & Changing the Name of the Company
(00:08:38) Power of Networking and Persistence
(00:09:04) Selling with Urban Outfitters & Getting Them as a Buyer
(00:12:54) Selling on Amazon, Direct Website, Urban Outfitters
(00:17:31) Finding the Gap in Market in Diversity of Bra Colors in UK & Australia
(00:20:06) Being Accommodating to Retailers for Long-Term Strategy
(00:24:13) How Hailey Bieber's Free the Nip Look Inspired Perkies Nips
(00:26:14) Partnering with Breast Cancer Research Foundation
(00:26:54) Empowering Women Post-Mastectomy with Non-Permanent Stick-On Perkies Nips
(00:31:05) Keeping the Mind Strong with Working Out, Sleep, Friendships & Enjoying the Rollercoaster of the Journey
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Rhaime Kim (00:00):
Rosie manda rotti is the founder of herkes, which
(00:03):
makes innovative undergarmentsfor women including sticky bras
with replaceable adhesives alongwith perky nips, which is
actually now available at UrbanOutfitters. So Rosie, thanks so
much for taking the time today.
Rosie (00:17):
Of course, thank you for inviting me on to the podcast.
Monterde.
Rhaime Kim (00:21):
Could you tell us about perky like, What are y'all
doing? What are you all about?
Rosie (00:25):
The initial premise behind herkes was to create a
better stick on bra. And forthose listening who don't know
what a sticky bra is, it's abackless and strapless bra that
sticks directly to a woman'sbreasts. And the huge problem
with current sticky bras is thatafter you wear them a few times,
they begin to lose adhesion, andthey get dirty and gross. But
(00:46):
the only real issue is with theadhesive. So perky creates
sticky bras layered andreplaceable adhesives. So
instead of buying a whole newbra, you could just buy the
replacement packs. Since workingon it, we've launched Perkins
pedals, which are reusablenipple covers. And then more
recently, we've launched perkysnips, nipple enhancers, which
(01:08):
kind of play into the popculture trend of freedom nip and
you know, if you walk around, alot of women are embracing the
freedom uptrend. But they'realso a great product for breast
cancer survivors or providerswho no longer have nipples post
mastectomy can love how you'vebeen able to expand your product
lines, just see you change withdifferent just discovering
(01:29):
different people's needs. Sostarting with the reusable
sticky bra, how did you go fromhaving the idea until having the
first reusable sticky brought inyour hands? Like did you have
any manufacturing connectionsbefore I wouldn't know where to
begin? Yes, I didn't knoweither. And I give a lot of
credit to brown. So I actuallycame up with the idea back in
(01:52):
high school. And I mentioned itto my friend gab and she logged
it on her idea list. Because Iturned to her once and I was
like they need to create stickybras and replaceable adhesives.
Like I think we're on vacationand my sticky Brown was totally
sweating off. And fast forwardfive years later, I'm in Danny
workspace class at Brown. Andpart of that class was creating
(02:18):
a business plan off of an ideathat solves a customer pain
point. So with my team of fiveclassmates, we brainstorm ideas,
and I reached out to gab and Iwas like, I know some of those
ideas on her list are mine. Andshe's like, the only one to
remember is the sticky GRE idea.
And thankfully, most of my teamof classmates were women. And
(02:42):
all the women in the group werelike, that's such a no brainer.
Let's do it. Yeah. So tangible,it's easy to wrap your head
around. Anyway, worked on itthrough Danny worst case class.
And that kind of gave meconfidence in the idea. And then
it also gave me a lot of clearlywas very passionate about it. I
remember after that semester,throughout the summer, people
(03:02):
ask me how my year was. And Iwas just like glowing talking
about this sticky bride. Yeah,the sticky roof project. And
then going into senior year,that's when brown started
putting a lot of money intotheir Nelson Center for
Entrepreneurship. And Brownwould tap on me to pitch it
competitions and to apply tospecific things, including V
lab, where we met. And you know,from there, I kind of decided to
(03:25):
take it on full time and someonespoke up brown once I think I
was a senior. And he said, Whenyou are young, this is the time
to start a company. Don't waittill you have kids. Don't wait
until you have a mortgage to payoff. Like do it when you're
done. Because when you fail, youonly fail so far, where when you
do it when you're older, you'refalling a lot further. Yeah, you
(03:46):
will fail, you know, orthroughout the process, you'll
fail. Hopefully it's nothingcrazy. But he really struck a
chord with me. And thenthankfully I have a great
relationship with both of myparents and they had an extra
bedroom in their house and I wasable to move home with them
right after our eight weeksummer accelerator program
together. And I was able tobuild this and it was no easy
(04:11):
feat. There are no public patentmanufacturers in the US so I had
to go overseas and then thecomplexities of creating a
sticky brow with replaceableadhesives. It kind of puts me
into two different products, thebra the bra pad and then the
adhesives and the process ofcreating both of those are
(04:32):
completely separate. So it was amatter of finding a prop had
manufacturer overseas and thenfiguring out how to make this
layered adhesive medical gradereusable that in the back had to
be acrylic and pull tabs and ohmy god that process. Yes that
upon anyone. But it was greatbecause during that three year
(04:56):
product development process, Iwas able to build out the
purpose for And in the initialname for parties which Ron Do
you remember the original name
Rhaime Kim (05:04):
actually do your branding
Rosie (05:08):
there's there's there's a reason why you don't remember it
was reliable raw.
Rhaime Kim (05:12):
Oh my god
Rosie (05:13):
yeah brutal name kind of connotates to like an old woman
with a reliable bra wherePerkins's lay more young and
contemporary standing by usuallynamed perky is was able to get
the dome domain and trademarkthe name parky's. And really
build out our branding so thatwhen we launched, we kind of
(05:34):
have this strong identifiablebrand Foundation, which has
since allowed me to expand ondifferent products. And again,
with that same brand identity,I'm a big silver linings type of
girl. But I do look at thosethree years as essential in
brand building. And not tomention, I also treated it like
I was in business school. And Italked to every single person
(05:56):
who could give me advice,whether it was on fundraising or
marketing or brand building ordeveloping a website and
different marketing channels andselling in Amazon and Facebook
marketing. It's I mean,everything under the sun,
whether it was patent attorneysor accountants learned. And
again, that's all served me verywell. So once I was ready to
(06:18):
launch, I also had thatfoundation of knowledge, which
I'm still working on and stilllearning every day. But it was
nice kind of launching with that
Rhaime Kim (06:26):
it took you three years. And was it challenging to
get through that and pushthrough and keep the dream
alive? Like I have a lot ofrespect for you. This is a
thread for many founders to likegrind through and obviously
those three years you said youwere growing the branding and
networking and really absorbingand learning everything that you
(06:48):
cut. But how did you keepyourself motivated and feeling
like you were making progressduring that time of product
development? Well,
Rosie (06:58):
I first like to preface this by saying I was very lucky
to be living with my parents,like I wouldn't be able to do
this if I had to pay for rent.
And yes, on the side I wouldbabysit and tutor and, you know,
do those odd jobs. But I do. Iam very fortunate. So I was able
to you know, stay afloat byliving with them. And then they
(07:18):
live Long Island. So I was ableto like maintain a social life
and was with my friends everyweek in New York City. And
that's what kept me going, myfriends. They were the end
users. They were the ones whohave been had been so excited
about this product since the dayI told them in the grandmas
lacrosse locker room. They werelike my champions, and the ones
(07:42):
who would constantly tell methat sticky bra stories and tell
me how badly they needed thisand that they won't they refuse.
So buy a sticky bra untilPorky's comes out. And I made a
promise to myself I'm like, Idon't care how freakin hard this
is I am getting this product inthe hands of my best friends and
(08:03):
my supporters from day one. Thatdefinitely is what kept me
going. And then also, I was ableto learn a lot from my friends.
And through spending time withthem. I learned that nipple
covers were an option and that alot of women like nipple covers
which kind of led me to launchparties pedals reusable that
book covers, surrounding myselfwith my target demographic was
(08:24):
motivating, but also gave me alot of insights into what
products I was creating andlaunching. I love that
Rhaime Kim (08:31):
because even the start of herkes and starting
that idea and Danny where she isclass back at Brown. That came
from your friend Gab, right. Ithink it's so lovely that both
potentially without Gab, thiswhole purposing be here so
trans. It's also like yourfriend just like motivating you
(08:54):
and I think that's so good thatyou have such a solid group of
friends. And you've been able tolike lean on that and that
they've been like so outwardlysupportive. Recently I saw perky
snips are available on UrbanOutfitters and I think that's
such a dream for many people whohave a retail brand of a fashion
(09:15):
brand. How did that end uphappening? And would you have
any advice on finding saleschannels or getting into places
like urban
Rosie (09:24):
I mean, Fussel someone they live, it was like, did you
get a sales? Rep. You're gettinginto all these big stores? And
I'm like, Nope, I just Mosler. Ido a lot of LinkedIn cold
messaging, or like if there'sone mutual connection, I'll be
like, Hey, can you ever meet alot of times? Once a day, but DM
people on Instagram connectingwith everyone under the sun? No
is yeah, my vocabulary? I sayyes to every connection, every
(09:48):
relationship, every conversationevery coffee date, because you
do not know where thoseconversations will lead. Steve
Jobs has a great quote aboutnever being able to connect the
dots looking forward but Onlylooking backward and looking
backward. I'm like, Oh my God,if I didn't go to that coffee
meetup in LA, right when I movedhere, which I was debating going
(10:08):
to because I just moved here andI had so much going on, I
wouldn't have met this guy whoconnected me with this woman who
was led to like, all theseamazing things. So I think
saying yes to a lot of thingsand putting yourself out there
is my number one piece of adviceas a supporter and knowing that
that is part of the job. But theurban connection was through a
friend of mine who again, friendnetwork, who started a company
(10:32):
called Road curls. Her name'sEmily, Kennison, and she
launched on urban last like sixto 12 months ago, and she
connected me with the buyer backin like the spring, and I had
never heard back. And to behonest with you, I totally
forgot that I remember reachingout to her, but like, I don't
(10:53):
remember connecting me. So a fewmonths later, I reached out as
so crazy. Persistence, andperseverance is also the number
two or if not, number one, likeI keep tabs of what I do
throughout the day, andthroughout the weeks and the
months. And at the end of eachmonth, I'll review it to see who
I need to follow up with andwhat fell through and what,
whatever I need to do. And I waslike, oh my god, I never heard
(11:14):
from the urban team. Let mereach out to Emily. I don't
think she made that intro yet.
So I reached out to her. She'slike, Oh, my God totally forgot
it. Let me make that intro now.
So she makes the insurance likethe head guy. He had forgotten
that she had reached out. He'slike, I'm with the buying team.
Now. I just pitched to them theidea. They're really into it,
(11:34):
have Rosie send us samples. Soit was just like a pure
definition of persistence, andsometimes not taking no or no
response for an answer. Soanyway, he connected with the
buying team, then they place theorder over the summer. And then
we launched two weeks ago, andwe just sold out a couple days
ago of the light nude lapstone.
So I'm like, Yeah, scream forthat happened. So anyway,
(11:56):
hopefully we're on the way tothe urban shelves.
Rhaime Kim (11:59):
Yeah, fingers crossed, because
Rosie (12:00):
you're available on our website.com. Yes, check us out.
Rhaime Kim (12:06):
I would imagine that that's so whole, like learning
with? Well, first of all, withreaching back out to your friend
Emily, that definitely happenswhere sometimes you just have to
not have an ego about reachingback out or make assumptions
that it's a no, because like,the worst thing that will happen
is you get rejected. But why?
(12:28):
It's better to just reach outlike I actually remember I was
speaking to somebody that I'llbe interviewing in a few weeks.
And he didn't show up to ourcall. And it turns out he just
got the schedule wrong and asmine, but I could have not
called but I called and that'slike another connection that I
might not have eight crazy. So Idefinitely love that with the
(12:52):
work that you do. I wouldimagine that a big part of it is
is meeting buyers and developinga network and thinking about
your sales channels. What saleschannels do you currently have?
And what were some of thedifferent learnings that you've
had in breaking through andmaking progress in those
different sales channels.
Rosie (13:14):
I've said the base three naturally, ecommerce so perky.
Amazon, which we launchedparky's pedals on Amazon, and
now starting these wholesalechannels, including shop urban,
and then of course, like smallerboutiques, but I'm focusing more
so on like the bigger scalelarger orders. One thing I'm
(13:34):
realizing is the beauty andworking with a bigger retailer
is they have the marketingdollars, you know, yes, they
take typically like they mark upyour product to two and a half
times. So they're getting a cutof what you typically make if
you were to sell it on your econwebsite. But you're also
piggybacking off their marketingdollars. So a friend of mine
(13:56):
just sent me a screenshot of theUrban Outfitters promoting perky
snips to her. And I'm like,Okay, it's not my mark money.
Oh, exciting. I know. I waslike, seven. Yeah. And then I
got targeted like an hour later.
But yeah, so like, I thinkthat's important to know. And
then the brand visibility thatthey're giving you. I mean, yes
online, and then hopefully instore in the future. But that's
(14:17):
just like traffic, making yourbrand more visible and not to
mention, maybe they see it andstart mentioning it to a friend
or they don't want to buy itright then and there. They can
then go on your website laterbecause they have your product
name. It's interesting to theonboarding process with
retailers. every retailer I'veworked with has a different or
big retailer I've worked withhas a completely different
(14:39):
onboarding process. Some of themlike take these like little
hidden fees. Some of them don't.
Some of them are like superaccommodating. Some of them make
you pay for shipping. Some ofthem have a strict deadline.
Some of them are like wheneveryou get it to us. So that's been
interesting. And like, I thinkwhen I onboard with a new
retailer, that's when my brainis at It's the highest point of
(15:01):
learning and doing like I'mdoing. I don't even know how I
wrap my head around it. Somepeople, typically teams on board
with urban has like a team of 30people and 10 of those people
are allocated to the onboardingprocess. But instead it's me
doing it all alone. Yeah. ButI'm just like, okay, so this is
this is the end goal. This iswhat I'm here for is what what,
why wake up every morning andwork on per se, get into sort of
(15:25):
urban. So it's, I think theexcitement that gets me through
those, that onboarding process,and like the seasons, shipping
and bottle labeling and stuff.
So anyway, that's my spiel onretailers, and then Amazon's
great again, I've learned somuch through that reviews are
essential, as we all know, asAmazon consumers, how important
(15:45):
reviews are. So it's funny tofoster reviews in a legal way,
because Amazon like would flagyou if they found like, if I
left a review on perky and thenExcel, my name associated with
it, they could like shut down mywhole account. So that's pretty
interesting. But yeah, Amazon isgreat. And apparently, there's a
stat like 70% of online shopperslook for the product on Amazon
(16:08):
first. So being on Amazon,especially as like, unnecessary
essential product, like nipplecovers, has been critical. And
then also, we're prime eligible.
So I send all my products, I wasshipping out an order this
morning, I'll send like 100units to Amazon and put the SKU
labels on it, or I'll go to oneplace at first. And then I think
(16:29):
from there, they like send itall around the US. And then
they're all prime eligible. Soas people order them, it's
guaranteed two day shipping, orone day shipping through prime,
which makes it more desirable asa consumer to buy it on Amazon.
Yeah, and Amazon's also big onlike how you do at first. So if
(16:50):
at first you're convertingpretty well, they'll organically
bring your product towards thefirst or second page, because
people are buying it and it'sconverting. So like, let's say
people have nipple covers, andthey end up buying turkeys. And
Amazon sees that they're gonnamake great, they make more
money, we make more money. Yeah,so like, there's like, I think
(17:10):
like a 60 day, I might totallybe watching this number, a 60
day window where you really wantto focus on getting your product
through specific keywords sothat it can organically bring
you towards the front. And Dannyworks. He has a great quote. The
presser from Brown is brandingreduced his searching costs, and
(17:30):
it's so true. And on Amazon, wehave a really low total
advertising cost of spend, whichbasically means people are like
organically finding me on Amazonby searching and perky paddles,
so that the proof is in thepudding. brandings everything.
The name, I think is prettygood. That's been great. And
(17:52):
then we just launched on Amazonin the UK. So this is
fascinating. I wanted to launchin the UK. Obviously, the
process for VAT registration isnot easy. I did it and but I
wanted to make sure there was amarket there before I went
through the process of payingmoney for VAT registration and
(18:13):
monthly fees and shipping fees.
And through that search, I foundthat I don't think there's I
mean, maybe there's one or two,but there really are not many
nipple cover brands selling onAmazon in the UK that sell more
than the light nude shade. Andwe have light, medium and dark.
(18:33):
And a lot of our orders comingfrom the UK are of the medium
and darker shades. And yeah, andthen we just launched on
Australia, I have to get myaccount approved, something's
off right now. But we'll be liveon in Australia hopefully by end
of day. And same thing they'relike light new shades only when
you type in nipple covers foramazon.au. So, you know finding
(18:58):
a gap in the market is critical.
And then also the good thingabout Australia is their reverse
seasons as us so when thingsslow down for nipple cover
purchases later in the US theystart heating up in Australia
and then online on forbes.com. Alot of it's just like email
marketing and I have I don'thave a crazy budget for like I
(19:19):
really don't. I try to be reallystrategic about how I invest in
marketing Tik Tok shop has beenpretty good. And that's been fun
to kind of be on the forefrontof because a lot of I think it
like there's so many hoops youhave to jump through to sell
through Tiktok shop. And forwhatever reason we were approved
early on and like the day wewere approved we had one woman
(19:42):
super nice paddles and she didone minute video completely in
Spanish talking about how ourpaddles are better than other
brands. And it went viral. And Ihad like two days. I was in New
York and my poor roommate was inLA and I was like gee me, can
you please stop me, I need youto send out all these orders.
(20:04):
But it's been really cool to beon like the forefront of this
tic tock shop and the viralityof it and the organic approach
to marketing more so than likethe paid ads, the Google Ads the
this net, which like, are waytoo expensive, because it's so
competitive, especially for thedemographic that we target
Rhaime Kim (20:22):
about that gap in the market with light shades of
the nipple covers beingavailable, but not the medium
dark shades. It just goes toshow that diversity and business
is just good business. And Ithink it's really cool that
you're able to just see that.
And for you, I think from thevery beginning, in 2018, it was
(20:42):
very obvious that you are goingto offer different shades of the
sticky bras. While it's crazyfor me to realize that that was
a case that it was so like notreally available. But I love
that that's something thatyou're able to fill in the UK
and fingers crossed soon theAustralia markets, you mentioned
that different big retailers dobusiness differently. And I
(21:07):
would think that there's somelearnings in negotiation that
you've had, you mentioned that,with the onboarding process,
people usually have a multiperson team to do that work. But
have you had any learnings ormistakes or things regarding
negotiation, and what have beensome things that you've taken
(21:27):
away from your experience atPurkey. So far,
Rosie (21:30):
thank you for reminding me that everything can be
negotiated. But I also feellike, this is what one of my
investors slash advisors told meand she actually went to ground
she kind of alluded to early onwith a retailer be as
accommodating to them aspossible, because they kind of
have your fate in their hands.
They could at one, nevermind, wedon't want to work with you. And
(21:51):
then there goes like yourbiggest account you'll ever get.
So I think it's kind of like aprove that you're a good seller.
And then, you know, from there,negotiate. But I do think there
is something to be said aboutbeing accommodating just to
start, then they realize howbadly they need you. And then
(22:11):
you could start the negotiating.
Rhaime Kim (22:13):
That definitely makes sense, especially because
in retail, there's just so manyamazing brands, I think it
definitely makes sense to beaccommodating and know, like
what timeline of a game you'replaying are playing a long term
strategy. So it definitely makessense that especially with
working with a big retailer,like urban just being associated
(22:36):
with urban is like good enough.
Rosie (22:37):
And another note just have that no margins are
critical. And I remember,probably again, it was dandy,
but like margins can make orbreak your business. Right now,
the sticky bras aren't exactlywhere I need them to be margin
wise. So I'm kind of leaningmore into the pedals in the next
but better margins easier toproduce easier to manufacture
(22:58):
easier to scale. And because ofthose margins, I'm able to have
so much wiggle room amongstretailers. And I probably
shouldn't be saying this on thepodcast. But it does give you
that flexibility, where ifyou're only working within you
know, a specific percentage ofmargin, then you don't have that
(23:21):
flexibility where you know, youhave that bigger margin, you
have a little bit moreflexibility in living room.
Yeah.
Unknown (23:28):
And I think that sometimes you're talking about
margins and the importance ofmargins. I think there's
sometimes great ideas. And thenthere's also like, you have to
balance that with does this makebusiness sense? So I can
definitely imagine that if youhave a product suite, even if
all of them are reallyinteresting and provide great
(23:48):
value to clients, the one withthe higher, like higher margin
is the one you strategicallyfocused on because that's going
to be what is the biggest thingfor the amount of time you put
in? The idea of the nips, Ithink is fantastic. And
personally, you know, I don'tknow if I've seen anything like
that before. Could you tell meabout how you got the idea for
(24:09):
nips
Rosie (24:10):
was spring of 2022. My mom and I are watching the Mad
Cow. And my mom and I are likebig fan girls of Haley Bieber.
And then she came out in thisgorgeous white silk dress and
her nipples were prominentlyshowing through her dress, and
my mom and I like to each other.
(24:30):
And my mom also is like, alwaysthinking of like good ideas.
We're always proud. We're big.
We're big problem solver family,and we like looked at each
other. We're like a she looksamazing. Always. And they were
like, Oh my God. Like that's nowlook, and it is a luck. And I
remember the next day I was inNew York City walking around and
I swear every single woman Iwalked by was wearing like a
(24:52):
tank top with their nipples likepermanent like prominently
showing through their top. I waslike, oh my god, it's a trend.
So I thought I mean meanwhileLike most people who have a
nipple cover company would havea heart attack when Haley Bieber
is wearing her nips out, likethat's totally the antithesis of
what we do. But I'm like, if youcan't beat them, join them. So,
(25:12):
like the next day, I reached outto my intern from Brisby shoe
on, and I was like a shoe, doyou mind making a 3d rendering
of a fake nipple? So I sent overthe prominence and prominence
and the width. And, you know, myvision for what this nipple
would look like, which isbasically a nipple on like a
(25:35):
nipple cover, like, emulation ofa nipple on a nipple cover. And
he sent me the rendering, and Ireached out to my nipple cover
manufacturer like, Hey, can weopen up a mold? And we I asked
for, like 100 units sister? Andthey said yes, because I paid
for the mold. And it was like atrial run. And I we did the
three shades. And I startedgiving them to people, I started
(25:57):
wearing them. And I was like,Oh, Baby, this is this is it?
Yeah, ever since we've just beenpromoting them. And outside of
it being a pop culture train.
And in that moment, I was like,Oh, my God, this is a stone, I
immediately thought of thebreast cancer community since
early 2022. perfuse has been apartner of the Breast Cancer
Research Foundation, BCRF. Andinstead of writing a check, at
(26:21):
the end of each month, I waslike, there has to be a tie in
like we were creating, likenipple covers that like, are on
a woman's breasts, like, therehas to be something we could do
with the breast cancercommunity. And it's fine, as you
know, writing a check to them.
So instead of just doing that, Iwould reach out to survivors and
providers and women who areactive on tech company
(26:42):
Instagram, and would listen toInstagram lives and would get on
phone calls with these women andlearn about their experiences
and their needs and their wants.
And through that process, Ilearned that a lot of women post
mastectomy. And for thoselistening mastectomy is when a
woman gets her breasts removed,it could be a double mastectomy
(27:02):
or a single mastectomy, athere's a lot of unevenness and
scarring. So that's kind ofwhere the nipple covers can play
a role because it can helpsmooth things. But essentially,
women get their breasts removed,which is one surgery, then they
get the reconstructive surgery,which is surgery. Number two, a
lot of woman can't or don't optfor surgery number three, which
(27:23):
is then the nipplereconstructive surgery. And
that's again, where we come in.
And it's a non permanent option,it's kind of it could be a
intermediate option for thewoman. Or it could just be an
option for them to wear and feelthat sense of having a nipple.
Another option is permanenttattoos, but a lot of women
(27:43):
don't want to get permanenttattoos. And upon launching
this, we actually just launchedon a company called Anna odo
earlier this month, and it's amastectomy bra company. And the
feedback and thoughtfulresponses I've gotten for our
product has been the most movingpart of this entire business
(28:04):
startup journey, what some womenare saying, you know, it's fake,
but it's made me feel wholeagain, you've renewed my sense
of sexuality, you've given meback a piece of myself, you've
given me my femininity back. Andto give women options, you're
empowering them. There's like acomplete direct correlation. And
when women are like strippedfrom their breasts and stripped
from their nipples, and they aregiven two options, either a
(28:27):
permanently hard nipple or nonipple. To give that third
option is a really special thingto give the nips are double
wrong, no pun intended for thepop culture. And people like me
who want the freedom, that luckwho don't have like perfectly
perky nips all the time. Andthen for woman who had breast
cancer, and it gives them thatsense of self. And that sense of
(28:49):
confidence, clearly my favoriteproduct
Rhaime Kim (28:51):
and love that once you saw Haley Bieber, you took
action the next day, and thenit's grown and and you've been
able to touch woman in a waythat maybe you didn't expect the
day that you got the idea. And Ithink that's such like a
beautiful thing. And I love thatyou've been open to creating new
products and evolving thebusiness in different ways. But
(29:14):
then once it's out in the realworld, there's another whole
layer of what does it mean topeople and how do they use your
product. So I think that's justsuch an incredible story. And it
just ties so well back to thefact that from the very
beginning, you had a partnershipwith the Breast Cancer Research
Foundation. And so it's justthis nice, really like full
circle moment again, as well.
(29:35):
Right now, what is the mostimportant challenge or thing
that you're focused on?
Regarding herkes?
Rosie (29:43):
I would say growth is kind of I'm at this inflection
point where I'm like, Okay, now,how do we bring to the next
level? And I mean, every dayit's like, keep my head above
water, water, I'm treadingwater. But at the end of the
day, I'm a one woman show and IAs I grow, it's almost time like
a cap sign to like, I need moneyright now to help me grow. And
(30:06):
so I could bring on someone elseand bring on a new hire and like
really hit the ground runningand grow. But I need like a few
more proof points and validationpoints to raise that money at
the valuation that I deempurpose worthy of have,
hopefully, we'll get into urbansource, and maybe a few of the
big retailers. And I think fromthere, I'll be able to raise
(30:27):
some more money, get a betteridea on our marketing plans. And
then, you know, ideally, bringsomeone on if not full time,
part time and be able to divideand conquer, because it's
definitely challenging. Doingit. I mean, it's crazy, right?
And throwing in like, a bunch ofweddings and my social life. And
(30:47):
it's just, I mean, I also lookat it, as I'm young, I'm
capable, I'm healthy and aren'tkids, I don't have a husband, I
don't have a boyfriend. So I'mable to, like fully go all in on
this. And I'm taking advantageof this like golden period of my
life to give it all to porkieswith the knowledge that it's not
always going to be like this.
You're for the ride.
Rhaime Kim (31:05):
How do you keep your mind strong? Do you focus a lot
on working out making sure youhave certain working hours like
what are certain habits orthings that you do to like, keep
that like mentality there andmindset strong?
Rosie (31:20):
Yes, I am. A big, I am in a complete. So I do try to work
out every day. Sometimes it's 30minute yoga. peloton, sometimes
it's just a walk on the beach,like a 10 minute walk to the
beach, which is amazing. But Ithink it's super important to
like, take care of your physicalhealth. And then I always say
like, as a one woman show or asa founder, like the company
(31:43):
lives and dies by me. And if I'mnot taking care of myself, the
company is not being taken careof. So I've begun working out
I'm big on eating healthy, andI'm big on sleep. I think
getting my nine hours a night iscritical. And then also like
having a life outside ofpurpose. And that's what keeps
me sharp. Also, I am constantlylearning through my social life
(32:04):
and through dinners ofgirlfriends and through beach
walks with my sister, I'mlearning what their needs are,
and being able to incorporatethat into the business. So like,
as much as that's like a nonbusiness part totally ties back
into the business. And sincemoving out to LA, there are a
ton of networking opportunities.
So I find myself out and aboutway more often than just like
(32:25):
sitting on my computer inside.
And I think balance is importantas an entrepreneur. Yes, there
are the days where you just needto like sit on your computer
sitting at work. But then it'sthe magic happens off your
computer, and meeting people andmeeting business owners and
people who have thoseconnections to the Urban's of
the world I recently read. Soit's probably a meme. But it was
(32:47):
about like, Get off yourcomputer, the magic happens
outside. And it's so true. Sosaying yes to like work dinners
and events. And yeah, the westside of LA is definitely big on
events, I could probably go tofive a week if I chose to. And
then also, just not, not lettingthat lowest of lows get you down
and not letting the highs ofhigh is too high. Just knowing
(33:08):
that it's a roller coaster andbad days are followed by great
days. And the best days can befollowed by not so great days.
And just knowing that, you know,it's a journey. And it's about
the journey. It's not about thedestination. I know it's cliche,
but it's true cliche, those
Rhaime Kim (33:23):
things. They're cliche because they're real, but
you don't understand thatthey're real until you live
through them. You talked aboutdon't get too down and by the
low lows don't also don't gettoo high when things are going
really great. I feel like peoplehave said that but I working on
this podcast. Like when you'reworking on your own thing. You
(33:45):
just get really riled up andsometimes you're in bed you're
like, oh my god, I'm excitedabout this. Like, I want to do
it now and then afterwards, youfeel so tired. If you go on that
high of being celebratory andsuper excited about something.
Do you think you've just gottenused to some of the highs and
the lows and it's like part ofyour process or totally? Yeah,
Rosie (34:06):
I honestly think I'm like numb to it. Like okay, knowledge
is power and like by living itfor five years now. It's just
like, Okay, this is normal herelike
Rhaime Kim (34:13):
always you're learning or meeting new people
like making those connections.
It's really cool and likegrowing but I guess still try to
be a little bit unattached tolike the outcome and keep on
going keep on growing andchanging a lot. pride
Rosie (34:26):
aside, ego aside. Yeah.
And again, yeah, comes fromdoing it for so many years and
like not caring what otherpeople think about you.
Rhaime Kim (34:34):
What advice would you have given yourself when you
were getting started back in2018. Looking back now,
Rosie (34:40):
I would say embracing the pivots and embracing the change
and like knowing that ideanumber one might not be the end
all be honest. There's betterthings in the pipeline. You
know, being open to change, butalso highlighting what I just
talked about is pride aside,like yourself Al said being
(35:00):
authentic to the brand and notcaring what other people think
is essential as an entrepreneuryou can't go into with ego,
you'll be let down too early on,and understanding that failures.
Part of the process. I playedlacrosse at Brown. And I
correlate a ton of what I'velearned from division one sports
(35:23):
to being an entrepreneur. And Iset out four full years of
varsity lacrosse withoutquitting and without, I mean,
it's like, with a good head onmy shoulders, just by not
winning that many games notgetting playing time. And
understanding that like gettingwins and getting playing time
isn't what it's about. It'sabout the people you meet along
the way. And the journey. Andthat's like completely
(35:46):
correlated to my experience withparky's
Rhaime Kim (35:49):
just going with the grind and grinding and not being
so fixated on those things thatare like big on ego, you've
always like had just kind oflike a radiant vibe and you have
a lot of energy. So I thinkmaybe having that mentality has
helped you kind of get over itand just enjoy.
Rosie (36:08):
Like, yeah, I don't know if that's genes or nature or
nurture, or my parents. I don'tknow why I'm like reading rose
colored glasses. Like it'sreally helpful.
Rhaime Kim (36:20):
Yeah, definitely.
Otherwise you're just, it's justdark. You know, Rosie, where can
we find you? Where can theaudience find Perkins products
and how can we help you?
Rosie (36:29):
Yes. Well, as you know, we're all in southern urban
parties.com is our website. Myperk ease is our Instagram and
Perkins is spelled PRK i e sways in which listeners can help
me are getting me introduced tobuyers of stores like urban and
just spreading the word aboutturkeys.
Rhaime Kim (36:49):
Cool. Rosie, thank you so much. I really appreciate
your time.
Rosie (36:52):
Thank you so much for having me.
Rosie manda rotti is the founder of herkes, which
(00:03):
makes innovative undergarmentsfor women including sticky bras
with replaceable adhesives alongwith perky nips, which is
actually now available at UrbanOutfitters. So Rosie, thanks so
much for taking the time today.
Rosie (00:17):
Of course, thank you for inviting me on to the podcast.
Monterde.
Rhaime Kim (00:21):
Could you tell us about perky like, What are y'all
doing? What are you all about?
Rosie (00:25):
The initial premise behind herkes was to create a
better stick on bra. And forthose listening who don't know
what a sticky bra is, it's abackless and strapless bra that
sticks directly to a woman'sbreasts. And the huge problem
with current sticky bras is thatafter you wear them a few times,
they begin to lose adhesion, andthey get dirty and gross. But
(00:46):
the only real issue is with theadhesive. So perky creates
sticky bras layered andreplaceable adhesives. So
instead of buying a whole newbra, you could just buy the
replacement packs. Since workingon it, we've launched Perkins
pedals, which are reusablenipple covers. And then more
recently, we've launched perkysnips, nipple enhancers, which
(01:08):
kind of play into the popculture trend of freedom nip and
you know, if you walk around, alot of women are embracing the
freedom uptrend. But they'realso a great product for breast
cancer survivors or providerswho no longer have nipples post
mastectomy can love how you'vebeen able to expand your product
lines, just see you change withdifferent just discovering
(01:29):
different people's needs. Sostarting with the reusable
sticky bra, how did you go fromhaving the idea until having the
first reusable sticky brought inyour hands? Like did you have
any manufacturing connectionsbefore I wouldn't know where to
begin? Yes, I didn't knoweither. And I give a lot of
credit to brown. So I actuallycame up with the idea back in
(01:52):
high school. And I mentioned itto my friend gab and she logged
it on her idea list. Because Iturned to her once and I was
like they need to create stickybras and replaceable adhesives.
Like I think we're on vacationand my sticky Brown was totally
sweating off. And fast forwardfive years later, I'm in Danny
workspace class at Brown. Andpart of that class was creating
(02:18):
a business plan off of an ideathat solves a customer pain
point. So with my team of fiveclassmates, we brainstorm ideas,
and I reached out to gab and Iwas like, I know some of those
ideas on her list are mine. Andshe's like, the only one to
remember is the sticky GRE idea.
And thankfully, most of my teamof classmates were women. And
(02:42):
all the women in the group werelike, that's such a no brainer.
Let's do it. Yeah. So tangible,it's easy to wrap your head
around. Anyway, worked on itthrough Danny worst case class.
And that kind of gave meconfidence in the idea. And then
it also gave me a lot of clearlywas very passionate about it. I
remember after that semester,throughout the summer, people
(03:02):
ask me how my year was. And Iwas just like glowing talking
about this sticky bride. Yeah,the sticky roof project. And
then going into senior year,that's when brown started
putting a lot of money intotheir Nelson Center for
Entrepreneurship. And Brownwould tap on me to pitch it
competitions and to apply tospecific things, including V
lab, where we met. And you know,from there, I kind of decided to
(03:25):
take it on full time and someonespoke up brown once I think I
was a senior. And he said, Whenyou are young, this is the time
to start a company. Don't waittill you have kids. Don't wait
until you have a mortgage to payoff. Like do it when you're
done. Because when you fail, youonly fail so far, where when you
do it when you're older, you'refalling a lot further. Yeah, you
(03:46):
will fail, you know, orthroughout the process, you'll
fail. Hopefully it's nothingcrazy. But he really struck a
chord with me. And thenthankfully I have a great
relationship with both of myparents and they had an extra
bedroom in their house and I wasable to move home with them
right after our eight weeksummer accelerator program
together. And I was able tobuild this and it was no easy
(04:11):
feat. There are no public patentmanufacturers in the US so I had
to go overseas and then thecomplexities of creating a
sticky brow with replaceableadhesives. It kind of puts me
into two different products, thebra the bra pad and then the
adhesives and the process ofcreating both of those are
(04:32):
completely separate. So it was amatter of finding a prop had
manufacturer overseas and thenfiguring out how to make this
layered adhesive medical gradereusable that in the back had to
be acrylic and pull tabs and ohmy god that process. Yes that
upon anyone. But it was greatbecause during that three year
(04:56):
product development process, Iwas able to build out the
purpose for And in the initialname for parties which Ron Do
you remember the original name
Rhaime Kim (05:04):
actually do your branding
Rosie (05:08):
there's there's there's a reason why you don't remember it
was reliable raw.
Rhaime Kim (05:12):
Oh my god
Rosie (05:13):
yeah brutal name kind of connotates to like an old woman
with a reliable bra wherePerkins's lay more young and
contemporary standing by usuallynamed perky is was able to get
the dome domain and trademarkthe name parky's. And really
build out our branding so thatwhen we launched, we kind of
(05:34):
have this strong identifiablebrand Foundation, which has
since allowed me to expand ondifferent products. And again,
with that same brand identity,I'm a big silver linings type of
girl. But I do look at thosethree years as essential in
brand building. And not tomention, I also treated it like
I was in business school. And Italked to every single person
(05:56):
who could give me advice,whether it was on fundraising or
marketing or brand building ordeveloping a website and
different marketing channels andselling in Amazon and Facebook
marketing. It's I mean,everything under the sun,
whether it was patent attorneysor accountants learned. And
again, that's all served me verywell. So once I was ready to
(06:18):
launch, I also had thatfoundation of knowledge, which
I'm still working on and stilllearning every day. But it was
nice kind of launching with that
Rhaime Kim (06:26):
it took you three years. And was it challenging to
get through that and pushthrough and keep the dream
alive? Like I have a lot ofrespect for you. This is a
thread for many founders to likegrind through and obviously
those three years you said youwere growing the branding and
networking and really absorbingand learning everything that you
(06:48):
cut. But how did you keepyourself motivated and feeling
like you were making progressduring that time of product
development? Well,
Rosie (06:58):
I first like to preface this by saying I was very lucky
to be living with my parents,like I wouldn't be able to do
this if I had to pay for rent.
And yes, on the side I wouldbabysit and tutor and, you know,
do those odd jobs. But I do. Iam very fortunate. So I was able
to you know, stay afloat byliving with them. And then they
(07:18):
live Long Island. So I was ableto like maintain a social life
and was with my friends everyweek in New York City. And
that's what kept me going, myfriends. They were the end
users. They were the ones whohave been had been so excited
about this product since the dayI told them in the grandmas
lacrosse locker room. They werelike my champions, and the ones
(07:42):
who would constantly tell methat sticky bra stories and tell
me how badly they needed thisand that they won't they refuse.
So buy a sticky bra untilPorky's comes out. And I made a
promise to myself I'm like, Idon't care how freakin hard this
is I am getting this product inthe hands of my best friends and
(08:03):
my supporters from day one. Thatdefinitely is what kept me
going. And then also, I was ableto learn a lot from my friends.
And through spending time withthem. I learned that nipple
covers were an option and that alot of women like nipple covers
which kind of led me to launchparties pedals reusable that
book covers, surrounding myselfwith my target demographic was
(08:24):
motivating, but also gave me alot of insights into what
products I was creating andlaunching. I love that
Rhaime Kim (08:31):
because even the start of herkes and starting
that idea and Danny where she isclass back at Brown. That came
from your friend Gab, right. Ithink it's so lovely that both
potentially without Gab, thiswhole purposing be here so
trans. It's also like yourfriend just like motivating you
(08:54):
and I think that's so good thatyou have such a solid group of
friends. And you've been able tolike lean on that and that
they've been like so outwardlysupportive. Recently I saw perky
snips are available on UrbanOutfitters and I think that's
such a dream for many people whohave a retail brand of a fashion
(09:15):
brand. How did that end uphappening? And would you have
any advice on finding saleschannels or getting into places
like urban
Rosie (09:24):
I mean, Fussel someone they live, it was like, did you
get a sales? Rep. You're gettinginto all these big stores? And
I'm like, Nope, I just Mosler. Ido a lot of LinkedIn cold
messaging, or like if there'sone mutual connection, I'll be
like, Hey, can you ever meet alot of times? Once a day, but DM
people on Instagram connectingwith everyone under the sun? No
is yeah, my vocabulary? I sayyes to every connection, every
(09:48):
relationship, every conversationevery coffee date, because you
do not know where thoseconversations will lead. Steve
Jobs has a great quote aboutnever being able to connect the
dots looking forward but Onlylooking backward and looking
backward. I'm like, Oh my God,if I didn't go to that coffee
meetup in LA, right when I movedhere, which I was debating going
(10:08):
to because I just moved here andI had so much going on, I
wouldn't have met this guy whoconnected me with this woman who
was led to like, all theseamazing things. So I think
saying yes to a lot of thingsand putting yourself out there
is my number one piece of adviceas a supporter and knowing that
that is part of the job. But theurban connection was through a
friend of mine who again, friendnetwork, who started a company
(10:32):
called Road curls. Her name'sEmily, Kennison, and she
launched on urban last like sixto 12 months ago, and she
connected me with the buyer backin like the spring, and I had
never heard back. And to behonest with you, I totally
forgot that I remember reachingout to her, but like, I don't
(10:53):
remember connecting me. So a fewmonths later, I reached out as
so crazy. Persistence, andperseverance is also the number
two or if not, number one, likeI keep tabs of what I do
throughout the day, andthroughout the weeks and the
months. And at the end of eachmonth, I'll review it to see who
I need to follow up with andwhat fell through and what,
whatever I need to do. And I waslike, oh my god, I never heard
(11:14):
from the urban team. Let mereach out to Emily. I don't
think she made that intro yet.
So I reached out to her. She'slike, Oh, my God totally forgot
it. Let me make that intro now.
So she makes the insurance likethe head guy. He had forgotten
that she had reached out. He'slike, I'm with the buying team.
Now. I just pitched to them theidea. They're really into it,
(11:34):
have Rosie send us samples. Soit was just like a pure
definition of persistence, andsometimes not taking no or no
response for an answer. Soanyway, he connected with the
buying team, then they place theorder over the summer. And then
we launched two weeks ago, andwe just sold out a couple days
ago of the light nude lapstone.
So I'm like, Yeah, scream forthat happened. So anyway,
(11:56):
hopefully we're on the way tothe urban shelves.
Rhaime Kim (11:59):
Yeah, fingers crossed, because
Rosie (12:00):
you're available on our website.com. Yes, check us out.
Rhaime Kim (12:06):
I would imagine that that's so whole, like learning
with? Well, first of all, withreaching back out to your friend
Emily, that definitely happenswhere sometimes you just have to
not have an ego about reachingback out or make assumptions
that it's a no, because like,the worst thing that will happen
is you get rejected. But why?
(12:28):
It's better to just reach outlike I actually remember I was
speaking to somebody that I'llbe interviewing in a few weeks.
And he didn't show up to ourcall. And it turns out he just
got the schedule wrong and asmine, but I could have not
called but I called and that'slike another connection that I
might not have eight crazy. So Idefinitely love that with the
(12:52):
work that you do. I wouldimagine that a big part of it is
is meeting buyers and developinga network and thinking about
your sales channels. What saleschannels do you currently have?
And what were some of thedifferent learnings that you've
had in breaking through andmaking progress in those
different sales channels.
Rosie (13:14):
I've said the base three naturally, ecommerce so perky.
Amazon, which we launchedparky's pedals on Amazon, and
now starting these wholesalechannels, including shop urban,
and then of course, like smallerboutiques, but I'm focusing more
so on like the bigger scalelarger orders. One thing I'm
(13:34):
realizing is the beauty andworking with a bigger retailer
is they have the marketingdollars, you know, yes, they
take typically like they mark upyour product to two and a half
times. So they're getting a cutof what you typically make if
you were to sell it on your econwebsite. But you're also
piggybacking off their marketingdollars. So a friend of mine
(13:56):
just sent me a screenshot of theUrban Outfitters promoting perky
snips to her. And I'm like,Okay, it's not my mark money.
Oh, exciting. I know. I waslike, seven. Yeah. And then I
got targeted like an hour later.
But yeah, so like, I thinkthat's important to know. And
then the brand visibility thatthey're giving you. I mean, yes
online, and then hopefully instore in the future. But that's
(14:17):
just like traffic, making yourbrand more visible and not to
mention, maybe they see it andstart mentioning it to a friend
or they don't want to buy itright then and there. They can
then go on your website laterbecause they have your product
name. It's interesting to theonboarding process with
retailers. every retailer I'veworked with has a different or
big retailer I've worked withhas a completely different
(14:39):
onboarding process. Some of themlike take these like little
hidden fees. Some of them don't.
Some of them are like superaccommodating. Some of them make
you pay for shipping. Some ofthem have a strict deadline.
Some of them are like wheneveryou get it to us. So that's been
interesting. And like, I thinkwhen I onboard with a new
retailer, that's when my brainis at It's the highest point of
(15:01):
learning and doing like I'mdoing. I don't even know how I
wrap my head around it. Somepeople, typically teams on board
with urban has like a team of 30people and 10 of those people
are allocated to the onboardingprocess. But instead it's me
doing it all alone. Yeah. ButI'm just like, okay, so this is
this is the end goal. This iswhat I'm here for is what what,
why wake up every morning andwork on per se, get into sort of
(15:25):
urban. So it's, I think theexcitement that gets me through
those, that onboarding process,and like the seasons, shipping
and bottle labeling and stuff.
So anyway, that's my spiel onretailers, and then Amazon's
great again, I've learned somuch through that reviews are
essential, as we all know, asAmazon consumers, how important
(15:45):
reviews are. So it's funny tofoster reviews in a legal way,
because Amazon like would flagyou if they found like, if I
left a review on perky and thenExcel, my name associated with
it, they could like shut down mywhole account. So that's pretty
interesting. But yeah, Amazon isgreat. And apparently, there's a
stat like 70% of online shopperslook for the product on Amazon
(16:08):
first. So being on Amazon,especially as like, unnecessary
essential product, like nipplecovers, has been critical. And
then also, we're prime eligible.
So I send all my products, I wasshipping out an order this
morning, I'll send like 100units to Amazon and put the SKU
labels on it, or I'll go to oneplace at first. And then I think
(16:29):
from there, they like send itall around the US. And then
they're all prime eligible. Soas people order them, it's
guaranteed two day shipping, orone day shipping through prime,
which makes it more desirable asa consumer to buy it on Amazon.
Yeah, and Amazon's also big onlike how you do at first. So if
(16:50):
at first you're convertingpretty well, they'll organically
bring your product towards thefirst or second page, because
people are buying it and it'sconverting. So like, let's say
people have nipple covers, andthey end up buying turkeys. And
Amazon sees that they're gonnamake great, they make more
money, we make more money. Yeah,so like, there's like, I think
(17:10):
like a 60 day, I might totallybe watching this number, a 60
day window where you really wantto focus on getting your product
through specific keywords sothat it can organically bring
you towards the front. And Dannyworks. He has a great quote. The
presser from Brown is brandingreduced his searching costs, and
(17:30):
it's so true. And on Amazon, wehave a really low total
advertising cost of spend, whichbasically means people are like
organically finding me on Amazonby searching and perky paddles,
so that the proof is in thepudding. brandings everything.
The name, I think is prettygood. That's been great. And
(17:52):
then we just launched on Amazonin the UK. So this is
fascinating. I wanted to launchin the UK. Obviously, the
process for VAT registration isnot easy. I did it and but I
wanted to make sure there was amarket there before I went
through the process of payingmoney for VAT registration and
(18:13):
monthly fees and shipping fees.
And through that search, I foundthat I don't think there's I
mean, maybe there's one or two,but there really are not many
nipple cover brands selling onAmazon in the UK that sell more
than the light nude shade. Andwe have light, medium and dark.
(18:33):
And a lot of our orders comingfrom the UK are of the medium
and darker shades. And yeah, andthen we just launched on
Australia, I have to get myaccount approved, something's
off right now. But we'll be liveon in Australia hopefully by end
of day. And same thing they'relike light new shades only when
you type in nipple covers foramazon.au. So, you know finding
(18:58):
a gap in the market is critical.
And then also the good thingabout Australia is their reverse
seasons as us so when thingsslow down for nipple cover
purchases later in the US theystart heating up in Australia
and then online on forbes.com. Alot of it's just like email
marketing and I have I don'thave a crazy budget for like I
(19:19):
really don't. I try to be reallystrategic about how I invest in
marketing Tik Tok shop has beenpretty good. And that's been fun
to kind of be on the forefrontof because a lot of I think it
like there's so many hoops youhave to jump through to sell
through Tiktok shop. And forwhatever reason we were approved
early on and like the day wewere approved we had one woman
(19:42):
super nice paddles and she didone minute video completely in
Spanish talking about how ourpaddles are better than other
brands. And it went viral. And Ihad like two days. I was in New
York and my poor roommate was inLA and I was like gee me, can
you please stop me, I need youto send out all these orders.
(20:04):
But it's been really cool to beon like the forefront of this
tic tock shop and the viralityof it and the organic approach
to marketing more so than likethe paid ads, the Google Ads the
this net, which like, are waytoo expensive, because it's so
competitive, especially for thedemographic that we target
Rhaime Kim (20:22):
about that gap in the market with light shades of
the nipple covers beingavailable, but not the medium
dark shades. It just goes toshow that diversity and business
is just good business. And Ithink it's really cool that
you're able to just see that.
And for you, I think from thevery beginning, in 2018, it was
(20:42):
very obvious that you are goingto offer different shades of the
sticky bras. While it's crazyfor me to realize that that was
a case that it was so like notreally available. But I love
that that's something thatyou're able to fill in the UK
and fingers crossed soon theAustralia markets, you mentioned
that different big retailers dobusiness differently. And I
(21:07):
would think that there's somelearnings in negotiation that
you've had, you mentioned that,with the onboarding process,
people usually have a multiperson team to do that work. But
have you had any learnings ormistakes or things regarding
negotiation, and what have beensome things that you've taken
(21:27):
away from your experience atPurkey. So far,
Rosie (21:30):
thank you for reminding me that everything can be
negotiated. But I also feellike, this is what one of my
investors slash advisors told meand she actually went to ground
she kind of alluded to early onwith a retailer be as
accommodating to them aspossible, because they kind of
have your fate in their hands.
They could at one, nevermind, wedon't want to work with you. And
(21:51):
then there goes like yourbiggest account you'll ever get.
So I think it's kind of like aprove that you're a good seller.
And then, you know, from there,negotiate. But I do think there
is something to be said aboutbeing accommodating just to
start, then they realize howbadly they need you. And then
(22:11):
you could start the negotiating.
Rhaime Kim (22:13):
That definitely makes sense, especially because
in retail, there's just so manyamazing brands, I think it
definitely makes sense to beaccommodating and know, like
what timeline of a game you'replaying are playing a long term
strategy. So it definitely makessense that especially with
working with a big retailer,like urban just being associated
(22:36):
with urban is like good enough.
Rosie (22:37):
And another note just have that no margins are
critical. And I remember,probably again, it was dandy,
but like margins can make orbreak your business. Right now,
the sticky bras aren't exactlywhere I need them to be margin
wise. So I'm kind of leaningmore into the pedals in the next
but better margins easier toproduce easier to manufacture
(22:58):
easier to scale. And because ofthose margins, I'm able to have
so much wiggle room amongstretailers. And I probably
shouldn't be saying this on thepodcast. But it does give you
that flexibility, where ifyou're only working within you
know, a specific percentage ofmargin, then you don't have that
(23:21):
flexibility where you know, youhave that bigger margin, you
have a little bit moreflexibility in living room.
Yeah.
Unknown (23:28):
And I think that sometimes you're talking about
margins and the importance ofmargins. I think there's
sometimes great ideas. And thenthere's also like, you have to
balance that with does this makebusiness sense? So I can
definitely imagine that if youhave a product suite, even if
all of them are reallyinteresting and provide great
(23:48):
value to clients, the one withthe higher, like higher margin
is the one you strategicallyfocused on because that's going
to be what is the biggest thingfor the amount of time you put
in? The idea of the nips, Ithink is fantastic. And
personally, you know, I don'tknow if I've seen anything like
that before. Could you tell meabout how you got the idea for
(24:09):
nips
Rosie (24:10):
was spring of 2022. My mom and I are watching the Mad
Cow. And my mom and I are likebig fan girls of Haley Bieber.
And then she came out in thisgorgeous white silk dress and
her nipples were prominentlyshowing through her dress, and
my mom and I like to each other.
(24:30):
And my mom also is like, alwaysthinking of like good ideas.
We're always proud. We're big.
We're big problem solver family,and we like looked at each
other. We're like a she looksamazing. Always. And they were
like, Oh my God. Like that's nowlook, and it is a luck. And I
remember the next day I was inNew York City walking around and
I swear every single woman Iwalked by was wearing like a
(24:52):
tank top with their nipples likepermanent like prominently
showing through their top. I waslike, oh my god, it's a trend.
So I thought I mean meanwhileLike most people who have a
nipple cover company would havea heart attack when Haley Bieber
is wearing her nips out, likethat's totally the antithesis of
what we do. But I'm like, if youcan't beat them, join them. So,
(25:12):
like the next day, I reached outto my intern from Brisby shoe
on, and I was like a shoe, doyou mind making a 3d rendering
of a fake nipple? So I sent overthe prominence and prominence
and the width. And, you know, myvision for what this nipple
would look like, which isbasically a nipple on like a
(25:35):
nipple cover, like, emulation ofa nipple on a nipple cover. And
he sent me the rendering, and Ireached out to my nipple cover
manufacturer like, Hey, can weopen up a mold? And we I asked
for, like 100 units sister? Andthey said yes, because I paid
for the mold. And it was like atrial run. And I we did the
three shades. And I startedgiving them to people, I started
(25:57):
wearing them. And I was like,Oh, Baby, this is this is it?
Yeah, ever since we've just beenpromoting them. And outside of
it being a pop culture train.
And in that moment, I was like,Oh, my God, this is a stone, I
immediately thought of thebreast cancer community since
early 2022. perfuse has been apartner of the Breast Cancer
Research Foundation, BCRF. Andinstead of writing a check, at
(26:21):
the end of each month, I waslike, there has to be a tie in
like we were creating, likenipple covers that like, are on
a woman's breasts, like, therehas to be something we could do
with the breast cancercommunity. And it's fine, as you
know, writing a check to them.
So instead of just doing that, Iwould reach out to survivors and
providers and women who areactive on tech company
(26:42):
Instagram, and would listen toInstagram lives and would get on
phone calls with these women andlearn about their experiences
and their needs and their wants.
And through that process, Ilearned that a lot of women post
mastectomy. And for thoselistening mastectomy is when a
woman gets her breasts removed,it could be a double mastectomy
(27:02):
or a single mastectomy, athere's a lot of unevenness and
scarring. So that's kind ofwhere the nipple covers can play
a role because it can helpsmooth things. But essentially,
women get their breasts removed,which is one surgery, then they
get the reconstructive surgery,which is surgery. Number two, a
lot of woman can't or don't optfor surgery number three, which
(27:23):
is then the nipplereconstructive surgery. And
that's again, where we come in.
And it's a non permanent option,it's kind of it could be a
intermediate option for thewoman. Or it could just be an
option for them to wear and feelthat sense of having a nipple.
Another option is permanenttattoos, but a lot of women
(27:43):
don't want to get permanenttattoos. And upon launching
this, we actually just launchedon a company called Anna odo
earlier this month, and it's amastectomy bra company. And the
feedback and thoughtfulresponses I've gotten for our
product has been the most movingpart of this entire business
(28:04):
startup journey, what some womenare saying, you know, it's fake,
but it's made me feel wholeagain, you've renewed my sense
of sexuality, you've given meback a piece of myself, you've
given me my femininity back. Andto give women options, you're
empowering them. There's like acomplete direct correlation. And
when women are like strippedfrom their breasts and stripped
from their nipples, and they aregiven two options, either a
(28:27):
permanently hard nipple or nonipple. To give that third
option is a really special thingto give the nips are double
wrong, no pun intended for thepop culture. And people like me
who want the freedom, that luckwho don't have like perfectly
perky nips all the time. Andthen for woman who had breast
cancer, and it gives them thatsense of self. And that sense of
(28:49):
confidence, clearly my favoriteproduct
Rhaime Kim (28:51):
and love that once you saw Haley Bieber, you took
action the next day, and thenit's grown and and you've been
able to touch woman in a waythat maybe you didn't expect the
day that you got the idea. And Ithink that's such like a
beautiful thing. And I love thatyou've been open to creating new
products and evolving thebusiness in different ways. But
(29:14):
then once it's out in the realworld, there's another whole
layer of what does it mean topeople and how do they use your
product. So I think that's justsuch an incredible story. And it
just ties so well back to thefact that from the very
beginning, you had a partnershipwith the Breast Cancer Research
Foundation. And so it's justthis nice, really like full
circle moment again, as well.
(29:35):
Right now, what is the mostimportant challenge or thing
that you're focused on?
Regarding herkes?
Rosie (29:43):
I would say growth is kind of I'm at this inflection
point where I'm like, Okay, now,how do we bring to the next
level? And I mean, every dayit's like, keep my head above
water, water, I'm treadingwater. But at the end of the
day, I'm a one woman show and IAs I grow, it's almost time like
a cap sign to like, I need moneyright now to help me grow. And
(30:06):
so I could bring on someone elseand bring on a new hire and like
really hit the ground runningand grow. But I need like a few
more proof points and validationpoints to raise that money at
the valuation that I deempurpose worthy of have,
hopefully, we'll get into urbansource, and maybe a few of the
big retailers. And I think fromthere, I'll be able to raise
(30:27):
some more money, get a betteridea on our marketing plans. And
then, you know, ideally, bringsomeone on if not full time,
part time and be able to divideand conquer, because it's
definitely challenging. Doingit. I mean, it's crazy, right?
And throwing in like, a bunch ofweddings and my social life. And
(30:47):
it's just, I mean, I also lookat it, as I'm young, I'm
capable, I'm healthy and aren'tkids, I don't have a husband, I
don't have a boyfriend. So I'mable to, like fully go all in on
this. And I'm taking advantageof this like golden period of my
life to give it all to porkieswith the knowledge that it's not
always going to be like this.
You're for the ride.
Rhaime Kim (31:05):
How do you keep your mind strong? Do you focus a lot
on working out making sure youhave certain working hours like
what are certain habits orthings that you do to like, keep
that like mentality there andmindset strong?
Rosie (31:20):
Yes, I am. A big, I am in a complete. So I do try to work
out every day. Sometimes it's 30minute yoga. peloton, sometimes
it's just a walk on the beach,like a 10 minute walk to the
beach, which is amazing. But Ithink it's super important to
like, take care of your physicalhealth. And then I always say
like, as a one woman show or asa founder, like the company
(31:43):
lives and dies by me. And if I'mnot taking care of myself, the
company is not being taken careof. So I've begun working out
I'm big on eating healthy, andI'm big on sleep. I think
getting my nine hours a night iscritical. And then also like
having a life outside ofpurpose. And that's what keeps
me sharp. Also, I am constantlylearning through my social life
(32:04):
and through dinners ofgirlfriends and through beach
walks with my sister, I'mlearning what their needs are,
and being able to incorporatethat into the business. So like,
as much as that's like a nonbusiness part totally ties back
into the business. And sincemoving out to LA, there are a
ton of networking opportunities.
So I find myself out and aboutway more often than just like
(32:25):
sitting on my computer inside.
And I think balance is importantas an entrepreneur. Yes, there
are the days where you just needto like sit on your computer
sitting at work. But then it'sthe magic happens off your
computer, and meeting people andmeeting business owners and
people who have thoseconnections to the Urban's of
the world I recently read. Soit's probably a meme. But it was
(32:47):
about like, Get off yourcomputer, the magic happens
outside. And it's so true. Sosaying yes to like work dinners
and events. And yeah, the westside of LA is definitely big on
events, I could probably go tofive a week if I chose to. And
then also, just not, not lettingthat lowest of lows get you down
and not letting the highs ofhigh is too high. Just knowing
(33:08):
that it's a roller coaster andbad days are followed by great
days. And the best days can befollowed by not so great days.
And just knowing that, you know,it's a journey. And it's about
the journey. It's not about thedestination. I know it's cliche,
but it's true cliche, those
Rhaime Kim (33:23):
things. They're cliche because they're real, but
you don't understand thatthey're real until you live
through them. You talked aboutdon't get too down and by the
low lows don't also don't gettoo high when things are going
really great. I feel like peoplehave said that but I working on
this podcast. Like when you'reworking on your own thing. You
(33:45):
just get really riled up andsometimes you're in bed you're
like, oh my god, I'm excitedabout this. Like, I want to do
it now and then afterwards, youfeel so tired. If you go on that
high of being celebratory andsuper excited about something.
Do you think you've just gottenused to some of the highs and
the lows and it's like part ofyour process or totally? Yeah,
Rosie (34:06):
I honestly think I'm like numb to it. Like okay, knowledge
is power and like by living itfor five years now. It's just
like, Okay, this is normal herelike
Rhaime Kim (34:13):
always you're learning or meeting new people
like making those connections.
It's really cool and likegrowing but I guess still try to
be a little bit unattached tolike the outcome and keep on
going keep on growing andchanging a lot. pride
Rosie (34:26):
aside, ego aside. Yeah.
And again, yeah, comes fromdoing it for so many years and
like not caring what otherpeople think about you.
Rhaime Kim (34:34):
What advice would you have given yourself when you
were getting started back in2018. Looking back now,
Rosie (34:40):
I would say embracing the pivots and embracing the change
and like knowing that ideanumber one might not be the end
all be honest. There's betterthings in the pipeline. You
know, being open to change, butalso highlighting what I just
talked about is pride aside,like yourself Al said being
(35:00):
authentic to the brand and notcaring what other people think
is essential as an entrepreneuryou can't go into with ego,
you'll be let down too early on,and understanding that failures.
Part of the process. I playedlacrosse at Brown. And I
correlate a ton of what I'velearned from division one sports
(35:23):
to being an entrepreneur. And Iset out four full years of
varsity lacrosse withoutquitting and without, I mean,
it's like, with a good head onmy shoulders, just by not
winning that many games notgetting playing time. And
understanding that like gettingwins and getting playing time
isn't what it's about. It'sabout the people you meet along
the way. And the journey. Andthat's like completely
(35:46):
correlated to my experience withparky's
Rhaime Kim (35:49):
just going with the grind and grinding and not being
so fixated on those things thatare like big on ego, you've
always like had just kind oflike a radiant vibe and you have
a lot of energy. So I thinkmaybe having that mentality has
helped you kind of get over itand just enjoy.
Rosie (36:08):
Like, yeah, I don't know if that's genes or nature or
nurture, or my parents. I don'tknow why I'm like reading rose
colored glasses. Like it'sreally helpful.
Rhaime Kim (36:20):
Yeah, definitely.
Otherwise you're just, it's justdark. You know, Rosie, where can
we find you? Where can theaudience find Perkins products
and how can we help you?
Rosie (36:29):
Yes. Well, as you know, we're all in southern urban
parties.com is our website. Myperk ease is our Instagram and
Perkins is spelled PRK i e sways in which listeners can help
me are getting me introduced tobuyers of stores like urban and
just spreading the word aboutturkeys.
Rhaime Kim (36:49):
Cool. Rosie, thank you so much. I really appreciate
your time.
Rosie (36:52):
Thank you so much for having me.
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