Resilience, Growth, and the Power of Connections with Cydni Tetro

Thank you for tuning in to the True Grit and Grace podcast. I'm Amberly Lago, and I'll be sharing inspirational stories of resilience and empowering ideas to elevate your business and your life, ignite your passion, and fuel your purpose. Hey, Amberly Lago here. Thank you for tuning in to True Grit and Grace. I have something really special for y'all today. Someone I have been dying to have on the show. Someone I really look up to with all that she has accomplished. She is an incredible entrepreneur. She's so successful. I have my friend who our, my good friend Randy Garn introduced us to, um, Sydney Tetreault. She is the CEO of Brandless. She's an innovator of experience, a growth leader, technologist, STEM advocate, author, speaker. And y'all get this, like, seriously, she recently raised $118 million, the largest fundraise led by a woman in the Silicon Slopes. She is the CEO of Brandless. It's a mission-driven omnichannel commerce platform that's growing through technology. And the acquisition of mission-driven brands. She is all about empowering women. She is on a mission to make massive change, and I am so excited to have her here. The list goes on and on. I mean, she, she's done— her bio is so long, and I want to get into exactly what she's doing, but she's the founder and president of the Women Tech Council. She holds a master's degree in business administration and a bachelor's in computer her science. And I'm telling you, I've been— I'm geeking out on all that she does and can't wait to learn from her. So thank you so much, Sydney. Thank you for being on the show.

I'm so honored to be here. I'm so excited for our conversation. Also, I love everything that you're working on and what you stand for and how you use your platform to really just enable these conversations. So thank you.

You're amazing. Can I tell you something really quick?

Yes.

I'm sweating a little bit. I got to take the sweatshirt off because I'm sweating. I'm sweating a little bit just because— and the guests who listen to the show all the time, they could probably tell just by my introduction that I'm a little bit nervous about having you on the show. I am. I am. Just because You are so incredible, all your luminous achievements. And I know you're so, like, down to earth and you're so nice. We've been on a phone call before.

Yeah.

You're amazing and you're out there helping other women. But there's just— you're so smart and you're a tech whiz, which I am so, like, intimidated by. That I was, like, a little bit nervous, and I have a whole list of questions to ask you. So, yeah, in my introduction, I'm usually a little more smooth, but I'm just like, yeah, I'm a little sweating here.

Okay.

Just having you on.

None of that. None of that. We'll just have this great conversation. And don't worry, you've got the texting. You're running this amazing podcast. I think the thing that everyone forgets is that all of our lives are navigated with technology, and it feels hard when you think about computer science. It's like every day you navigate— everyone does their whole world in tech, and they just don't think about it that way because tech's part of everything we do.

It is. And you know what? One of the things that I love that you do is that you really— one of your passions is bringing really good people together to do great things. And Highlighting people who are working behind the scenes, whether it is in the tech behind the scenes of these big brands and big companies, or, and even through brandless with what you do. So that was the thing that I was really drawn to you, that what you did is I was like, oh, she's my people, because that's what I love doing. The thing that I love the most that I do is bringing women together and empowering them to go and speak on stages and write their books and do podcasting. But I want to talk about, like, how did you get to, to do— because you've done, you're doing some incredible things. How did you get in this space where you are, where you are today, into this business space? Have you always had that business mindset?

You know, it's a, it's a great question because you think about, you're sitting here in this place, and sometimes it's hard to think about all of the steps that you, you arrive. So when I very first jumped into my career, as I came out of my undergrad and then my graduate program, I actually took a job just like everyone does going into a traditional company. It's kind of, it was like the normal path when I came out of school. And, you know, I went, I had 2 things that have always motivated me. One is What do I wanna learn next has kind of been this hat that I've always worn. Like, I've never felt like I needed to have a career that was a straight line. It's completely fine saying there's skills that I wanna learn, things I wanna go after, and I'm gonna go learn those so that I can become like who I'm meant to be. And I can just pick up knowledge around. And I've, I've been, I've had a lot of careers where people have allowed me to do that. I remember one time kind of early in my career, I'm like, I wanna go learn how to raise venture capital. I've never done it before. And I was the CMO at the time, and I went to our CEO and I'm like, look, I've never been on the road raising capital. I really wanna learn that. Can I join you in this round that we're gonna, going to go raise? I want that experience. So I've been pretty intentional about not saying my degree was gonna put me in one path, but that as I found things and I learned more, that I was gonna jump in and take advantage of whatever I could learn and, and be open to every opportunity. I had one point in my career that kind of moved me from what I would have said was like working every day. And you know, you've embraced this too because of what you're doing. But I, I had this opportunity when I actually went to Disney. And so I'd been working in a company, and I found myself in a spot. I'm like, what should I do next? I don't know. Like, how should I go navigate this next step in my career? I got a call from one of my friends who had gone to run a group in Imagineering called Disney Research. And they needed people with business skills and entrepreneur skills to come in and basically build technology companies. And it was a job they'd never hired before. It was really new to them. So I flew down, I did this interview, and I come back and I get this call, and Tom's like, sit. Here's the deal. We've never hired this before. I cannot tell you if this job is gonna exist for 3 months or 6 months or 9 months or a year. All I know is that it could be incredible, and you should come take it. But I just can't tell you what it will look like 3 months from now. And I only paused for 5 minutes and I decided— 5 seconds. And I was like, you know what? I'm never getting this call again. Disney's never calling me and asking me to have this job again. And if it doesn't work out in 3 months, it doesn't matter. The experience will be transforming for me and my career. So I said yes. I stayed 6 years.

Wow.

And it completely changed the trajectory of my career because my mindset changed about how I then owned. the decisions that I was making, the learning that I was going to have, and the places and opportunities I would be willing to take.

That is incredible. And I think so much is like just being open to learning and eager to ask questions. And for me, like, shoot, we were talking before we started this call and you said, oh, yeah. I was like, oh, yeah, you are like the tech wizard. You're amazing. I've been geeking out on all of your info. And you said, but yeah, but you've got this podcast. I didn't own a computer 5 years ago.

And now look at you. See?

And now look at me. You know what, though? And I went to the Apple Store, bought myself a laptop, and I was raising my hand for every question. Like, anybody got a question? I was like, yep, got a question. Got a question. And he actually said, he was like, I have to just stop the class for a minute. I've never had anybody that has not been embarrassed to ask as many questions as you're asking, because they were pretty basic questions, but I didn't know how to do anything at all. And so I think there's something to be said that when you're like, you have that, that eager to learn and grow and curiosity, it seems like you have a lot of curiosity with a lot of things.

Sure.

That you have done, because you've done some very interesting things.

Yeah.

I was listening to one interview that you did when I was researching all the things that you do about how you have, um, some heads, collectible toy heads.

Oh, I do. Yes.

At your house.

I wanna talk about—

I wanna hear that story basically that I, let's share that with the audience right now. That's pretty amazing.

So it was a super fun company I had a chance to build. So when I left Disney, I was really in this like storytelling mind, and I'd been really exposed to entertainment. And so I decided to create a company where we could make you Iron Man. So we built a system that would scan your face with a 3D scanner, and then you could buy yourself as a 3D printed collectible, or eventually Hasbro built a toy line for us. So we launched at Comic-Con in San Diego, which is like the best Comic-Con ever. It's like exactly what you imagine Comic-Con to be. And I launched with the Marvel characters. And after the conference, I got a call from Walmart. And this was in Comic-Con, was in June. And like I said, how many Walmarts can you launch in for Superhero September? This is like 70 days later. And I was like, hey, just like my Disney call. I'm like, when those people call, you just say yes. So my answer is almost always in these moments, even when something looks impossible, but someone gives you an opportunity. Like, I'm gonna go try to make that happen. And so I get this call. I'm like, Okay, I'm in. And we just start down this journey. And at the point in time when they called me, we didn't have a toy line. And I knew that my price point of my collectible was too expensive. It was like $130. No one was gonna spend that at Walmart. So I needed a toy line to drop my price.

Wait, your price point for the toy was $130?

The full 3D printed. So I needed a toy so I could be cheaper.

Oh, wow.

So I had no relationships at Hasbro. I had never even pursued a toy line, and I needed to launch in 70 days.

Oh my gosh.

And so we, like, make all the phone calls. We make all these connections. When I look back on it, I still don't know how we launched in 70 days in Walmarts across the country with an entirely new toy line. And so what it meant is over the course of this 70 days, We had to make a ton of decisions to get to market. So we get to Hasbro, and they're like, Sid, we can't make product in China fast enough. Like, you can't have a custom action figure. And so I'm like, well, what do you have? And so they had these action figures, and we're like, okay, well, we're gonna reassemble them anyway, because we're gonna put custom heads on them. So we ended up basically taking all of their current products, unpackaging them, popping the heads off, 3D printing new heads, making them personalized per person, putting them back on in assembly, putting them in new packaging and shipping them to customers. So to your question about heads, every one of those Captain America and Iron Man heads that we took off from the very first round, I still have at my house. Someday I'm gonna make a full sculpture, but mostly because they represent— you talk about grit on this podcast. They represent the grit of a team. To take on something that was probably seemingly impossible, but we had never done it before. And we launched inside of these Walmarts with action figures in, in 70 days. And so for me, those heads represent just this core, like, belief that you have that you can do the impossible and you can make great things happen. And you should answer the call when they come for opportunities that you probably won't get ever again.

Oh my goodness. Yes. Answer the call and say yes and don't make excuses. You didn't make excuses. You were like, I am going to figure it out one way.

Exactly.

Somehow I'm going to figure it out. I want to go back to something you said, though. You were like, I didn't have any connections. I didn't, I didn't know, you know, how to do a toy or get into Walmart or what I was doing. And I think that connections are powerful. It's, it's how I will never forget. Speaking of, like, before we started talking, we were talking about Randy Garn and how he introduced us.

Yes.

And I'll never forget my very first big speaking gig was at an event in Salt Lake City. And I was the only person that had no social media following. No one knew who I was. I had no connections. I was the new person. And it was with, um, Lewis Howes and Mel Robbins and Jay Shetty and, uh, Brandon Burchard and Dean Graziosi. And Randy Garn was there, and Randy was so nice to me. There were some other people there— I won't say any names— that wouldn't give me the time of day because back then I wasn't verified. I had no following. Nobody knew who I was.

Interesting.

Randy was so good to me, and he was like, He always, from day one, I want to help you, Amberly. I want to help you. And I think it's so important to have those connections. What would you suggest? Because I think it's so important in business, especially for females, to find your right tribe and build those connections. How did you go about making connections? Like, how did you just contact some huge toy company? Like, and, and how, you know what I mean?

Yeah.

Like, how do you do that effectively? This goes for anybody listening who has a big idea or they wanna launch anything, whether it's digital or a product, and they're like, mm-hmm, I need to meet the right people. What would be your suggestion on how to make the right connections in the right way?

So I have this whole theory. I actually call it deal sense, which is when you're really gonna go ultimately deals, sales, relationships, anyone you want, it's all about creating relationships that have a joint value exchange. And so the thing sometimes we miss is like we think about ourselves as needing something so much that we put that over what the other person also needs in order to create a relationship, especially in business transactions.

Mm-hmm.

So when you head into something like, say, that Hasbro example, You know, we were at a time where like 3D printing was completely taking off. Everyone was talking about it. They were trying to solve real innovation challenges for their business. And so we could make a very strong conversation around, hey, this is transforming and personalizing merchandise. You guys are already thinking about this. We actually ended up connecting with the person who was the head of their innovation 3D printing at the time. It's the perfect connection in because we jointly could be on the same mission. of creating product market fit and transforming that. And oftentimes that's forgotten. Like, we need a connection, so we make the call and we're like, they should just respond back or they should give this to me. But the way you truly open doors is by understanding the other person and by partnering with you, how that moves you forward. And it's your job to articulate that value so that they know how to partner with you. And it's a bunch of hard work, right? Like, we had to call the people and do all the research and figure out who the right people were to make those ins. But when you're in front of that meeting, it no longer be— in that meeting, it no longer becomes about you. It becomes about the other person and what you can do to create a successful partnership so that they feel listened, heard, there's value creation, and then people take action because they know you're aligned in the outcomes you're going for.

That is so good. And I hope that all of you listening really took that to heart. You might want to rewind that. Just go back and listen to that one more time. Because that goes to anyone, whether someone is trying to get on a podcast for an interview or trying to launch a book or trying to get into a huge store like Walmart. That is so valuable. That's so important. That was so good. Just really trying to understand. And I think all of us really want to be seen, heard, and understood. And if you can approach that as Like if you're reaching out to a, you know, somebody that you want to work with, you understand their brand and what their customer needs and how you can help them and how it can be a win-win. That would, that would, that's how it works. That's amazing. So a lot of people that listen to the show, they might not per se have like an actual physical product that they're selling, but they might have like a digital course that they're trying to sell. And so I wanted to ask you. What would be your suggestion for them to start to sell that course, whether it be through a website, through emails, through social media, through word of mouth, or all of the above? What would be if you had somebody who is like starting out, they, they've been posting on social media a little bit, but they're like, it's time for me to sell my coaching course. What would you have them do?

I call it product validation. Whether it's a service or a physical product doesn't actually matter to me. But the way I think about how you take products to market, the end of the day, it's about who your target customer is and knowing your customer so that you can both speak and reach them. Like, where are they hanging out? Over the course of my career, I've done a lot of product validation. I have this magic number 13, which is, I believe—

That's my lucky number.

It's your lucky number.

Okay. See? Yes.

Okay. 13. What I've learned over time is if I'm gonna go sell a product or service and I want to scale it, I've gotta be really clear on who it is that's going to engage and buy. If I'm gonna go sell a coaching session, there is an audience that I'm speaking to. There's tools that I'm giving them. And what I want to do as a business owner or the entrepreneur is to figure out exactly what that target customer looks like so I can find more of them. And then I can actually channel the marketing tactics I'm gonna use to where that audience hangs out. Reason my number is 13 is my recommendation is you actually find 13 people who you think look exactly like the perfect target customer. They have to be somewhat the same, right? Whatever those same demographics or psychographics, whatever it is that defines who your target customer is. And you have to ask them, you have to tell them, this is what my coaching system is. This is what it's not. This is, these are the limitations. The limitations for me are just making sure people understand what it's not. That's actually how people purchase. They don't purchase based on just what it is. They purchase based on a whole bunch of other things you don't know. And then I always ask people procurement and justification questions, meaning, hey, if I offer this class, will you buy? And how would you think about my pricing strategy? So this is like my product market fit discussion. And my reason for asking these questions are because what I've found is if you talk to 13 people who are exactly the same, no friends and family because they lie and love you. So it has to be 13 people. And if they look at you—

They lie and love you.

Yes, exactly. They're like, it's a great idea. And you're like, okay, well, were you giving me your money? And they're like, no, but we love you. So they're out. But if you find those people, then in talking to them, you actually are putting them in your customer pipeline. You're like, I'm offering this. They're like, that's so amazing. You're like, great, I'm gonna start the course in 30 days. Are you ready to go? And then it tells you if they're willing to sign up and participate. And what you then start doing, I profile them and I say, will they buy as is? Are they gonna buy this product as is with the price point that I suggested? If they say, if I'm wondering, then I might say, what's my buy as is? What do I have to change in order to get them to say yes every time? And then I rank them on sophistication and relevance. Relevance for me is if I don't get this person to sign up for my coaching class, do I have a problem? Like, are they my perfect target audience? And they should totally love what I'm doing. And if my score is low or if it's super high, but then they won't buy, I've got this gap that I'm trying to fix and make sure I offer. Because once you identify that, then when you go to the marketing tactics where you were asking, you actually know how to find those people and where they hang out. Do all of those people go to common forums, or do they look at same types of news information? Are they following the same types of people? Do they discuss the same types of things in other areas? Because your goal in marketing is to create enough predictability that when you reach a crowd, you know exactly who will engage with your product, because otherwise it takes you a lot of money to spend your message out there and not enough conversion. So your job with limited resources is always to identify the core group of people who are going to love your product or service, and then find the circles that you can reach them and focus your efforts there because you can't do everything at once. We don't have enough resources, can't go to every channel, but we can when we know who those core people are and then we build from there over the course of time.

That's so— it seems like so smart and so simple and like, oh yeah, of course you would do that. But how do you find those core people? How do you find the 13 people and do you meet with them in person? Do you meet with them on Zoom? I know this is kind of a crazy question. What do you get them all together in the same room? How do you— when you say meet with these 13 people, I'm getting basic with you. Like what?

No, you're totally good. I actually think about it as sales calls basically because my job is to talk to them. I would talk to my first 13. I would actually talk to, like, Zoom calls, fine, in person, whatever it is. But like, if I were to be like, hey, Amberly, are you— I'm gonna go launch this. I think you're the perfect person, but I need you to— this is how I'd actually start the meeting, the call. I'd be like, hey, I'm thinking of developing the system, and you are exactly the type of person that I think would use this service. So I'd love to tell you what it is. And then I'd love to know what you think about it so I can figure out if I have a gap to really introduce a great product to the market. So let me tell you about it. And then I tell them about it and I'd say, hey, have you signed up for other coaching systems? Like, how did people price those? How did you consume them? What types of things did you like? And I'd be like, oh yeah, that's what I'm going to do. I'm going to offer it every week or you join the Zoom session. And what starts to do is it gives you all of the indicators about if they'll do it. And at the close of it, I would actually say, Okay, is this something you'd use? When I launch this, will you sign up for it? Oh my gosh. And if they say yes, then I'm like, awesome, taking your money.

And see, Sid, that is so good because I think, I think a lot of people skip that. Well, they do. I'm speaking for myself. I skipped that whole process. And I remember, oh gosh, this has been probably 4 years ago when I went to launch my very first 12-week, this is gonna be amazing.

Mm-hmm.

Coaching program, group coaching program. I mean, I paid all this money for this, you know, beautiful designer to design this 43-page workbook. Yeah. And this graphic designer to build this website. I spent so much money. And I did this 5-day free challenge and I'm like, I got my target audience and I'm doing this and I skipped the part where I took the 13 people and asked them questions. Would you buy this? Would you, is this something that you would be interested in? And had I done that, I would have not only saved myself a lot of money, Yeah. I would have saved myself a lot of time because I ended up doing this 5-day free challenge where I poured my heart and soul out into this group. And everybody loved it, but I had the wrong demographic. I'd hit a—

For when you went to convert them to paid.

When I went to convert them to pay, my whole target audience, they were all completely on disability, out of work, had no income whatsoever. And, but I, they were like, I'm sorry, I have to choose groceries over buying your coaching.

Yeah.

You know, and, and some people might be listening to this going, oh yeah, well, there's always a way to find the money. I was like, no, I really missed, I missed it. I missed what I was offering versus what I could give them. Like there was a, there was something. So I think it's so smart of you to go before you go, because this could save you thousands in dollars, basically.

And that's really the intent. If you can reduce risk up front, then when you launch, you have more predictability in going forward. You're still gonna have to pivot and all of those things. And what you just shared, you're, you just like hit the nail on the head. That's exactly what you're doing is we all have limited time and resources and passion and we want success in the things that we launch. And so can we create more predictability when we go to launch so that You've reduced your risk. When you go to market, you know exactly how it's going to pitch up. And I too have killed products because it didn't make sense. Like, I got all this data back and I'm so passionate about it and I was like, oh yeah, that was bad. Really? Yes, I've done it. I've probably— I bet there's almost 20 products that I've not done over my career by following that process. Wow.

Wow.

Because you just don't know what you don't know, right? You think you know. And until you are in front of those customers and you're asking the questions that are truly about purchase intent, and at the end of the day, I only do it as business development. Like, if someone— I'm talking to someone and they're willing, they're gonna sign up for my coaching program, or they think it's a great idea, my job right in that interview is to say, awesome, you're in my pipeline. I'm gonna launch the program in 30 days. You are fantastic. I need you to be my first customer. And so you're doing all of the things at the same time. But there have been many times where it didn't work out. There was one instance where what I needed from the pricing economics, similar to the story you just shared, there was no way we were ever gonna get it. It was a bigger company, like software system, but I needed all 2,000 people in a company to, to use it. And when I did the validation, the data came back that one person in a company would use it.

Oh, God.

And there was no way we could build it for that economic. So we stopped.

So what do you do from that?

Are there— You pivot. You're like, okay, actually, I would say there's 2 buckets. You either pivot, like you have— you learned enough to say, I can change my offering, which is what you did, right? As you said, I'm gonna change my offering.

But, and you know what though?

Or you, or you completely change it, right? You can either pivot or you end up completely walking away from that. It's way better to walk away earlier though than later.

Yeah. And you know what's so interesting about that? Yeah. At the time, I felt like I was crushed. I was like, I spent so much time on this and poured my heart and soul and like months and months on developing this and years of experience to put it together. But you know what? I learned so much from that experience, things that I will never forget, which has helped me with other launches. And it's interesting because I'm developing this whole other pipeline of free content that I can offer people. And that beautiful workbook that never was put into use, I'm actually offering that as a free asset as part of the pipeline. And it's like, it took a few years. It took, well, about 4 years, but it I'm finally gonna be using that.

That's awesome.

Yeah.

So, well, and that's the journey, right? It, I think when you're building things and you're creating product or services, you're on this journey of making sure that you're meeting your customer's needs. And it is a forever journey. Everyone's in a pivot. Everyone's in it. How am I learning data rapidly enough to continue to add value to our audience? And so the more you develop that hat of talking to customers, Understanding the value they're getting and continuing your roadmap to meet them, just the better offerings you're going to have. And I really believe the more successful you have and the more risk you will reduce. So you're focusing your time, energy, talents in the places with the highest return.

I mean, I know y'all got to check her out on social media and also check out Brandless on social media. I'm amazed at all you do. And I wanted to ask you, as far as like, You know, being an entrepreneur, I've always had an entrepreneurial heart and mindset. I mean, I started working when I was 8 years old and started working like babysitting, but then started at an actual job at 13 where I was getting paid from, and, you know, and, you know, from, and, and by the time I was 16, I had 4 jobs. And then I was like, okay, I'm doing this.

Okay, there's a whole story I should learn there.

I'm like, I'm gonna. I'm gonna do my own thing and do— run my own business. But it's a lot. It's hard sometimes being an entrepreneur and to be in all places and do a lot of different things. So as far as like advertising for all the different things that you're doing or promoting your businesses, Yeah. What would you suggest for someone who has this big idea that they want, they, let's say they have a new business and they are like, or even a new podcast and they're like, I really want to get that out. I want to get it out there in the world. I want to promote it. I want to eventually start making money from sponsorships on my podcast. How's the best way to promote it? What would you suggest to them to the best way to promote?

You know, when— so I have a couple of theories and philosophies that I embrace when I'm very first launching something that's kind of unknown, and they fall in 2 buckets for me. One is you need other people to help lend their credibility to you, right? To give you the endorsement. You talked earlier about, you know, Randy, right? And the opportunity you had to meet him early when you were on a speaking stage, right? What you need is to find a network of people who also have great experience, who are willing to both lend you insight but also use their platform to help you if you want to really amplify in a very fast way. Now, again, you gotta go back to our value exchange conversation, but you always need early-stage credibility boosters and early-stage endorsements when you're starting something new. When I started my 3D printing business, I was brand new in 3D printing, never been in that industry. So I took 2 tactics. I went after speaking And I went after awards because both of them give you a third-party endorsement of what you become a thought leader in. And so in the 3D printing world, I started speaking all over the world because I could have a thought leadership strategy, not a pitch of my company, but how 3D printing was transforming this next phase of personalized merchandising. And that led me to speak everywhere in the world and created then relationships because I was on a stage where I didn't pay to speak, but I could create this thought leadership and then everyone saw me and then I could do deals with them. And so I'm always looking for ways when I very first start something that no one knows about to create this lift in the networks and ecosystems where my customers are so that I can build that credibility, I can build that reputation that then I become one of the platforms to help other people. And so I really view it that way. How do you get people around you who trust you, believe in what you're doing, have other stages— stages relative, right? But that you can jump into so that they can help you. You were starting a podcast and you, you know, you know this very, very well. You do all of the exchanges of showing up on other people's show and inviting them on your show and creating these symbiotic relationships, which really are just giving you endorsement that you are interesting enough to have a conversation for people to then share. And that's what we're really looking for when we build things, our platforms in whatever space we're in that we don't naturally have, but we can create relationships and build leverage. And I think my, my 2 things that I think are very true. One, it's not about taking advantage of someone, and you should never try to do that just for the intent of building yours. But it's truly about participating in an ecosystem where you create value. And so in the very early stages, you really have to be grassroots and super creative. One of my— I've been watching this guy on Instagram. He's not doing a coaching course, but he's super interesting. He's a musician and he's fairly unknown. I think he's— I wanna say he's from Ireland, but maybe he's from somewhere in Europe. And he decided that the way he would start creating content is they show up in all sorts of just great, crazy circumstances and he brings a choir with them and he just starts singing. So whether it's been on like the tube or just like walking through a park or a shopping mall, like he'll just randomly create these settings and then this whole choir fire around him sings. And he's gone viral by basically using his own ingenuity to create a platform of awareness. And then other people are filming it and other people are like, that's so clever. And the story just continues. Sometimes it's about your own ability to be creative with who your audience is and how you can bring your message out. And when you do that, people pay attention because it's both interesting and creative and insightful and valid.

Oh, that's so good and so well said. And yes, I think that, I really do think that proximity is power and success is built on relationships and collaboration is key. You know, we, that we grow together and the more things that you can do together, but it's picking the right people that you want to align yourself with for sure. And so, oh my goodness, everything that you say is just gold. We're talking about, okay, how to launch something, how to create like more influence, how to, to get your brand out there, how to get your name out there. What is more important for people to do when they're first starting? Do they get a website? Do they start social media? They start an email list? Do they start talking to people? Do they start their own podcast? Do they get on podcasts or all of the above?

When you know your target customer. So first of all, we can't do everything at once. That's the greatest challenge. But you do have to have a presence, right? So one of the things I, every time I come up with a com— a product name or an idea, I like buy the URL and I pick up the handles on social.

Me too.

Even if I don't use it, even if I don't end up using it, I just pick 'em up. I'm like, okay, I should own that name.

Me too. I'm so glad you said that because I have so many domain names and I actually had true grit and grace The handle on social media years before I ever even used it, but I had it.

That's awesome. That's right. Because you never know. So when you have ideas, I'm a total believer in just like picking up the domains and all of the handles in social. So you should absolutely do that so that you have them because you have to have— people have to know what you're offering and how to get information. So you have to have those fundamentals of whatever your product and service is. So once you have that, then the question of which channel do you use to go to market in, I really do think is tied to customer. If your customer is on TikTok, And that's where they're gonna find out about you. Actually have a friend, she's called the Job Doctor, and she came out of being like a, a head of people, and she started a TikTok around helping answer like the HR job career path questions. She's totally taken off. But her audience loves TikTok, loves TikTok. It's her favorite one. And she answers these like short questions around like, how do you negotiate salary? What happens if your manager does this to you? And the audience just is eating it up, and she has exploded in the course of the last 18 months. So it's all about customer, the type of delivery you're having, and which one channel to use most. So she's built on TikTok. Okay.

But let me ask you something. Is she getting business from TikTok? Is that—

So much.

Really?

Yes. Like, she is crushing it. And so in 18 months, can't even remember how much she has. She probably doesn't have quite a million yet, but she's Crushing it. She's just repurposing that content when she posts on Instagram so she doesn't have to create twice. Created those audiences, but TikTok was her first audience, and then it led to a book deal, and then it led to all the speaking things. And she monetized that with HR-type partners on the TikTok side. She has done just a phenomenal job. But it's all about right audience, right content, right channel.

I couldn't agree more. You know how I got my TED Talk?

How?

Instagram.

Really?

Instagram. Uh, Ted Curator from Berkeley had been watching what I was posting, and she wasn't just watching what I was posting, but she was also watching how I was responding to people.

Oh, interesting.

And she messaged me, and I was like, oh wow, this is legit. She emailed me back, and it had all the credentials of Berkeley TEDx. And I was like, oh my God. And she said, yeah, we want you at our event because you have a PhD in heart. Because I was the only person that didn't have a college education. Everyone else there had a PhD except for me. And so it was interesting. So Instagram seemed to be kind of my main hub, but some people— Facebook. But I think that it's so important to always have a website for people to go.

Exactly.

Yeah, but you have to have to find and engage you.

They have to. You have to.

Well, yeah, I mean, and, and honestly, I, I hate to say this, but it's true that I think that places like Instagram, um, well, it was Instagram. Maybe it'll be more towards TikTok later. Who knows? But I think Instagram is kind of your scorecard to see, like, Well, how many people really engage with you? How many people—

That's right.

You know what I mean? And it's not even about the followers, I don't think anymore. It's like how many people are really saving, engaging with you? Because who knows now? It used to be about the blue badge, the verified blue badge. That doesn't even matter anymore. You know what I mean? Yeah.

Okay. But I, but I think you're— what you're saying is so critical. It's about You're offering something and you need an audience to engage. And you need them to engage because that's how you know you're adding value and that they're talking about it and they're willing to share. So whatever it is, you gotta find your channel and it's usually based on content and audience and then lean into that. And then once you've nailed that, you can start adding other things just like you've done, right? We add other channels all the time. You just can't do them all well at the same time. So you gotta pick the place you wanna lean into first so that you can really optimize for it. Granted, you have to have all the foundational stuff. Gotta have a site, gotta have a product offering, service, all those things, and then lean into the thing that makes sense.

So you say pick the one place you think that you get the most engagement interaction on and lean into that place the most.

I think first, because you gotta, you have to build an, it's really hard to say I create amazing TikTok content and amazing Instagram and amazing LinkedIn. It's really difficult. Even though eventually you might want to be on all of those. So you're trying to figure out where people engage with you first and then build an audience around that to drive growth. And for many people, it's been Instagram. And then we have these new channels like TikTok that are— we're leaning into. And it's really fascinating to watch the TikTok evolution and how it's adding a whole other layer of content creation that didn't exist 5 years ago.

Oh, yeah. And I see my daughter Who is amazing at creating TikTok, and she gets like millions of views on her TikTok channel. And I'm like, can you please just— can I hire you to help me make some TikToks? Because I think that it is hard to, to do, be good at all the different things and all the different channels.

Sure.

It would be like you saying, okay, I'm a rock star, but I'm an actor. Oh, and I'm a race car driver and it's like, so it's, it's, it's a lot. I want to talk about Brandless. Tell people what that is. I've scrolled through and looked at all the health products and the blenders and all that, but tell everybody what Brandless is and also about the next best thing that like something you're so excited about.

One of the coolest things about Brandless is we've been able to build this consumer company that's really transforming what's happening in consumer. So we're completely focused on things that help you take better care of yourself, your family, and the planet. And so we're bringing together everything in that wellness category through really curating great partnerships with other entrepreneurs. We've done 6 acquisitions in the last year, and we're making those all part of the Brandless platform. And what's so cool about it is we're bringing together amazing products with amazing people and entrepreneurs that have created them into a way to really elevate the impact of all of them. So our platform and our products tend to look like We have a pro— a company we own called Ambrosia. It's like the top plant-based protein in the country, has flavors that everyone loves, like candy bar and strawberry ice cream. And so we're focused on all of those things in the wellness ecosystem, but with really great people. And I just love the fact that we get to make a difference in the world with great entrepreneurs and building the brandless platform. So that's what I get to spend my day job doing, and I absolutely love it. And I get to layer on another layer because I also started a nonprofit about 14 years ago called the Women Tech Council. Where I'm building—

that was my next question, which— oh, no, but I mean, because I'm so— I love that you do the Women Tech— well, you do a conference, and I love bringing women together, and I love how you support women and uplift them. And so, yes, tell us all about that.

So when you build your careers, and like you, right, you get to decide where you spend time. And for me, it has been in Like, how do I create impact and accelerate change, particularly for women? So Women Tech Council, we're completely focused on economic impact of women in tech and increasing the number predominantly because tech jobs tend to pay 139% of average. They tend to give women flexibility and they tend to create all sorts of opportunity for women. It's a flexible industry, just got great opportunity inside of it. So I saw this opportunity and we only have 23% of our workforce that are women. in these higher-paying jobs. So we need more women. And so we created programs that go from a high school to the boardroom. We've had about 30,000 high school girls go through our program to activate into STEM careers all the way to the boardroom. So we do visibility programs like our Women in Tech Awards. We do summits. For me, spending my time doing things that last, that build impact and make change for people is really where my passion lies. I think about that in my business context and in my community context. Because we all have time and talents. We all have limited, limited resources, but we get to choose where we spend them. And for me, it's like, how do I make the greatest impact over the course of my life and leave it better than it was when I was there, so that other people have more opportunities? And we've made more significant change for women in the workforce. And ultimately, that enables all of them to accomplish their goals and dreams. And if I've been just a little part of that, that's what I want to accomplish as I'm trying to build my career and life and balance everything that's around me.

Oh, you are so amazing. Well, can you tell people where they can get connected if they want to be more involved with that and also with you and learn more about Brandless and all the—

Oh, the things.

All the amazing products from Brandless. It's just, it's incredible. Like, I also, I have to say, I watch your reels for Brandless and I was like, okay, Amberly, I gotta go work out. Stop watching them make smoothies with that cool blender or them wash their face with the— You're the best.

Yes, exactly. All those things. Yeah. So you can find us on Brandless. You can find us on social at Brandless Life or on brandless.com. The Women Tech Council is just womentechcouncil.org. You can follow me, which I'm Sid Tetreault on Instagram and on LinkedIn. So all the places, right? For me, it's just about building communities that make a difference. And similar to you, right? Like, how do we use our talents to make a difference in the world and just help everyone on their journeys of life? That's ultimately what we're trying to do.

Oh, you are amazing. I just appreciate you coming on the show and sharing your wisdom, but also all that you do in the world, especially for women. Like, we do need more. women making lots more money and, and out there. So thank you for all that you do and connecting and the community that you build. Um, all of these links will be in the show notes. So if you're listening and you're out for a run or you're driving or whatever, don't worry about it. Just go in the show notes and you can find all the links and, and be able to connect with her. And, and you know what? They'll be on the website as well. So. Thank you so much for being on True Grit and Grace. Y'all, thank you for listening to the show. Take a screenshot and share it. And what is the best— where do you want them to share it on social media?

Let's see. Great question. Probably Instagram or Twitter. Those are the best 2.

Instagram. Do you want them to share it to your personal page or to Brandless?

Oh, tag both of them if you want to. We'll share from both. We'll share from both sides.

Okay, we'll do it. And tag me at Amberly Lago Motivation and we'll get it. out there. It always makes me feel good when I see that you've listened to the show, and I always share it when I see it. So hey, thank you so much for being here and being on the show. I'm gonna have to call Randy and tell him thank you for introducing me to you. And hey, next time I'm wearing my Sundance sweatshirt. Next time I'm in your neck of the woods, I'll make sure—

You come.

I'll let you know. And if you're in Dallas, let me know.

For sure. And next time I'll wear my Sundance sweatshirt also so we could be twins.

Okay, we'll be twins. Thank you.

Thank you so much.