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Mignon Francois – How She Turned $5 into $10 Million as the CEO & Founder of The Cupcake Collection

November 18, 2020 | By Joy Chudacoff Leave a Comment

Mignon Francois on She's Got Moxie with Joy Chudacoff

My guest today, Mignon Francois, CEO & Founder of The Cupcake Collection, is a very enthusiastic and positive entrepreneur who turned a recipe that she received from her grandmother into a $10 million business.

Mignon was a stay-at-home mom who was tired of her children not being able to go on field trips because she did not have the extra money. At the time, she had no bakery experience, but she took her grandmother’s recipe, spent $5 on ingredients and the rest they say is history. Mignon’s business turned out to be a much bigger success than she could ever imagine.

On today’s show, Mignon shares the story of how The Cupcake Collection began its humble beginnings. She talks about the challenges that she has faced in her company, her “sampling” strategy, her actions steps to success, and more.

You can Subscribe and Listen to the Podcast on Apple Podcasts. And be sure to leave me a Rating and Review!

Overnight success takes 10 years.” – Mignon Francois

Show Notes:

  • The moment Mignon decided to turn an old recipe into a NEW idea
  • What MOTIVATED her to keep going every day despite the challenges
  • How she has grown and scaled her business from a start-up to being recognized as one of the TOP cupcake bakeries in the US with multiple locations
  • Why a “sampling” strategy is important for a product-based business
  • The really big gamble Mignon made as she bet on her success
  • What it has been like to maintain business during the pandemic

My action step was to stop waiting and start doing.” – Mignon Francois

Connect with Mignon Francois:

Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | The Cupcake Collection

Everybody wants to be great, but nobody wants to get up at dawn.” – Mignon Francois

Emily Raiber – Media Expert & Entrepreneur on Using Social Media to Enhance Your Business

September 16, 2020 | By Joy Chudacoff Leave a Comment

Emily Raiber on She's Moxie with Joy Chudacoff

Emily Raiber, Founder & CEO of Emily Raiber Media, is an award-winning media professional with over a decade of experience producing television programming and content in both news and entertainment. She has worked with NBC, CNN, and FOX. As an experienced television professional, she has produced national, cable, live, local, and broadcast network programs.

She decided to hang her hat in the entrepreneurial arena and use her genius to help entrepreneurs expand their brand using the power of social media.

On today’s show, Emily shares that even though she worked for some of the most powerful networks in New York, she knew entrepreneurship was in her future. She also talks about how she harnessed the power of Instagram early on, her thoughts on the TikTok app, tips on how to get more attention on Instagram, advice for pricing your services, the importance of finding your team and so much more.

You can Subscribe and Listen to the Podcast on Apple Podcasts. And be sure to leave me a Rating and Review!

If you are doing a little bit on all of those channels and really not succeeding in any of them, you need to scale back and concentrate in one that will give you results.” – Emily Raiber

Show Notes:

  • How to use social media to ENHANCE your business
  • Her best advice on where to FOCUS your energy when it comes to social media – PRICELESS!
  • Her thoughts on WHY it’s Essential to price your products and services well
  • The BEST social media platform to use for your business
  • Her 4 TOP TIPS to attract attention and gain followers on Instagram
  • How and why HASHTAGS are key
  • Her advice on what to do when you feel like giving up – PURE GOLD!
  • The challenges working mothers are facing trying to run a business while NAVIGATING online school for kids
  • The SILVER Lining she has discovered in 2020

A lot of things will come up and you have to move on from them very quickly and bounce back.” – Emily Raiber

Connect with Emily Raiber:

 Instagram | Emily Raiber Media

You have to find your joy and you have to be present for your family.” – Emily Raiber

From Wall Street to Wellness, Meet Priscilla Tsai, CEO & Founder, CocoKind, an Organic Skin Care Line With Products Under $25

November 13, 2019 | By Joy Chudacoff Leave a Comment

Priscilla Tsai on She's Got Moxie with Joy ChudacoffMy guest today, Priscilla Tsai, struggled with life-long hormonal acne issues until one day she decided to take matters into her own hands and literally solve this problem that created insecurity for her every day.

She left her job on Wall Street and went straight into wellness by founding, Cocokind, an organic skincare brand that is clean, conscious and accessible to everyone.

On today’s show, she talks about how she took her struggle with hormonal acne and turned it into a business that now has 133K raving fans on Instagram who love Cocokind.

You can Subscribe and Listen to the Podcast on Apple Podcasts. And be sure to leave me a Rating and Review!

How I actually convinced myself to just do it was – I was like ‘you know what? You don’t have to be the face of the company – you can just be a business owner.'” – Priscilla Tsai

Show Notes:

  • How she took her struggle with acne and turned it into 133K followers on Instagram who love her products and her approach
  • How she got her products into Whole Foods – a simple strategy that required a BOLD move
  • Why every decision she makes is around a set of “conscious” values
  • Why she almost didn’t start the company (Priscilla talks openly about her insecurities and vulnerability)
  • How vulnerability became her secret sauce
  • Why perfection doesn’t sell well
  • Her passion for helping other women entrepreneurs and how this lead to the Cocokind Foundation
  • And much, much more

We don’t ask, ‘what can we charge?’… we charge what we think is fair.” – Priscilla Tsai

Connect with Priscilla Tsai:

LinkedIn | Instagram | Facebook | Cocokind

For me, when I hear from my other friends who started things say ‘we go through similar pains’, and then you that, it is normal and you shouldn’t be so hard on yourself.” – Priscilla Tsai

Rosie O’Neill – How Sugarfina Has Achieved Explosive Growth Over The Past 450 Days

February 20, 2019 | By Joy Chudacoff Leave a Comment

Rosie O'Neill on She's Got Moxie with Joy Chudacoff

**Rosie O’Neill is the FIRST in a series of ENCORE podcast interviews we will be conducting over the next few months. We’ve been closely watching the growth of some of the women we’ve had on the show before and we’re inviting back guests who are having explosive growth and are willing to share the journey with you.

Rosie O’Neill, is an entrepreneur with a major sweet tooth for business. I had Rosie on ‘She’s Got Moxie’ back on November 15, 2017, and that episode is still today one of our most popular. Since my last interview with Rosie, (about 450 days ago), Sugarfina has grown tremendously. Today, she shares with us what business has been like and how the company has exploded with growth so quickly.

In July 2012, along with her co-founder and fiancé (now hubby) Josh Resnick, Rosie launched Sugarfina, a luxury candy boutique for grown-ups featuring the finest confections from artisan candy makers around the world. Best known for Champagne and Rosé-infused gummy bears, Sugarfina has been named one of the “World’s 50 Most Innovative Companies” and “World’s 10 Most Innovative Retailers” by Fast Company as it disrupts the $200B confections industry. Sugarfina has also made the list of the “World’s Most Beautiful Candy Shops” by Architectural Digest.

 

You can Subscribe and Listen to the Podcast on Apple Podcasts. And be sure to leave me a Rating and Review!

I certainly have those days where I start to go into the negative self-talk, but I’m trying to be much better about catching it and turning it around. And basically, the same advice that I would give to a female entrepreneur friend, I try to give that to myself. Sometimes we’re harder on ourselves than we would be to a friend.” – Rosie O’Neill

Show Notes:

  • What’s happened in the last 450 days (it’s quite Remarkable)
  • The strategy they’ve used to grow beyond physical locations to get into the hands of their target consumer
  • The difference between hiring for the “RIGHT NOW” versus Hiring for Future Growth (Brilliant!)
  • Her Biggest Challenge (“it’s always the same”)
  • DAILY rituals have contributed to her success as a CEO and Co-Founder
  • How she handles the really tough “I’m not sure if I can go on” days
  • Her quick decision-making process
  • The things she’s outsourced in her life (this was a humorous moment for sure!)
  • Her BEST Advice for women entrepreneurs who are in the sweet spot of scaling

Do your most dreaded task first thing in the morning. It is basically like wake-up and do that disgusted ‘ugh, I can’t wait to get it over with’ thing.” – Rosie O’Neill

Connect with Rosie O’Neill:

LinkedIn | Instagram | Twitter | Sugarfina  |  Instagram |  Facebook

I am a big believer that you’ve got to focus on two or three things and do those things really well before you start to focus on the next thing.” – Rosie O’Neill

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