Takin' Care of Lady Business®

Sometimes the best growth strategy is refusing to grow the way everyone tells you to. Takin’ Care of Lady Business 172 Nancy Yen was working as a management consultant and merchandiser at The Gap when a problem she kept running into as a mom sparked the idea for OmieLife. She wanted a better way to pack hot and cold food together for her son, so she started researching, prototyping, and eventually built the product that became OmieBox. But building the company meant ignoring a lot of conventional startup advice. Nancy was told to grow faster, raise venture capital, add technology to the product, and expand into retail before the business was ready. Instead, she focused on profitability, product quality, customer research, and building the brand one step at a time. OmieLife has been profitable since its first year, and nearly a decade after an early conversation with Target, the retailer came back to the brand. In this episode of Takin’ Care of Lady Business, Jennifer Justice sits down with Nancy to talk about bootstrapping OmieLife, learning to trust her instincts, and why the right advice for one founder can be completely wrong for another. Nancy also shares how Kickstarter helped validate the market, why focus became one of her most important operating principles, and what it took to build a consumer brand that could grow on its own terms. What You'll Learn Why Nancy chose profitability over the traditional venture growth model How Kickstarter helped validate demand for OmieBox Why founders need to know when advice does not fit their business How years of patient brand building eventually led OmieLife into Target Highlights: (00:00) Meet Nancy Yen (01:30) When Target said you're not ready yet (02:31) Why you can't run before you walk (04:09) How a lunchbox problem became a business (06:14) Going into people's homes to find the truth (08:58) Why venture capital doesn't fit consumer brands (11:19) The advisor who kept her on a straight path (13:34) How to filter advice and trust your gut (15:28) When no one believes in your vision (20:55) What makes an Omie Box different (24:43) Profitable from day one without VC About Our Guest: Nancy Yen is the Founder and CEO of OmieLife, the consumer products company behind OmieBox, a bento-style lunchbox designed to keep hot and cold foods together. Before starting OmieLife, Nancy worked as a management consultant and as a merchandiser at The Gap. She launched the company after identifying a problem in her own life as a mom and spent months researching how families packed and ate lunch before developing the first product. Today, OmieLife remains a small, fully remote team of nine and has been profitable since its first year in business. The brand has grown from selling through Amazon and its own website to expanding into Target stores nationwide, while continuing to develop new products around the needs of kids and families. Nancy Yen’s LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/nancyyen1/ Explore OmieLife: https://www.omielife.com/ About Jennifer Justice and The Justice Dept. JJ’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennifer-justice-354a0b99 The Justice Dept: https://www.thejusticedept.com/ JJ’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jenniferjusticel/ Newsletter: https://tkolb-newsletter-a50814.beehiiv.com/ JJ’s YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TakinCareOfLadyBusiness The Justice Dept. is a female-focused advisory, consulting, and law firm advocating for female founders, talent, execs, and brands. We represent bo$$ ladies to make them 💰💰. If you love what you hear, please subscribe and share with a friend. This is a Lady Business LLC Production.

The first thing women are asked to prove is often the thing they’ve already spent years proving. Takin’ Care of Lady Business Episode 171 Emily Ramshaw had nearly two decades in nonprofit media when she started The 19th, a national newsroom focused on gender, politics, and policy. She knew how to run a newsroom and knew the audience existed. But fundraising exposed a different set of rules, including donor meetings where she was told to uncross her arms, smile more, and make the work feel less threatening. In this episode of Takin’ Care of Lady Business, Jennifer Justice sits down with Emily to talk about what raising money taught her about power, leverage, and the size of the ask. Emily shares the meeting where she asked for $100,000 and a donor pushed her to say what she actually needed, then offered $1 million. She also explains how she learned to turn every “no” into new introductions and how repetition changed the way she approached fundraising. Emily also shares why she built The 19th differently from the start, with paid family leave, elder care leave, health coverage, meaningful time off, and a higher salary floor. Her story is a reminder that women are not lacking the experience to succeed. They are navigating conditioning around who gets to ask, who gets treated like a credible bet, and what changes when you understand the rules well enough to rewrite them. What You'll Learn How fundraising exposed the different rules women face around money What a $100,000 ask becoming $1 million taught Emily about scale How Emily turned rejection into a repeatable path to new funders How Emily designed The 19th around the barriers that keep women from advancing Highlights: (00:00) Meet Emily Ramshaw (02:32) Building the newsroom women were missing (04:49) Starting The 19th with $20,000 (06:24) When your experience is the proof (09:39) Women funding The 19th (13:24) Learning to make the bigger ask (16:09) When motherhood changes the career equation (19:03) Turning every no into three introductions (19:54) The story that put The 19th on the map (21:03) Raising nearly $120 million (26:45) Why confidence was never the problem (35:01) The worst advice Emily ever received About Our Guest: Emily Ramshaw is the Co-Founder and CEO of The 19th, an independent nonprofit newsroom covering gender, politics, and policy. Before launching The 19th in 2020, she spent nearly two decades in nonprofit journalism, including serving as editor-in-chief of The Texas Tribune. Today, The 19th has a staff of roughly 60 across more than 20 states and distributes its journalism free to readers and partner newsrooms across the country. Under Emily’s leadership, the organization has raised close to $120 million while building an institution designed around the realities of the people doing the work. Emily Ramshaw’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/emily-ramshaw-0b952854/ Emily Ramshaw’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/eramshaw/ Explore The 19th: https://19thnews.org/ About Jennifer Justice and The Justice Dept. JJ’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennifer-justice-354a0b99 The Justice Dept: https://www.thejusticedept.com/ JJ’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jenniferjusticel/ Newsletter: https://tkolb-newsletter-a50814.beehiiv.com/ JJ’s YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TakinCareOfLadyBusiness The Justice Dept. is a female-focused advisory, consulting, and law firm advocating for female founders, talent, execs, and brands. We represent bo$$ ladies to make them 💰💰. If you love what you hear, please subscribe and share with a friend. This is a Lady Business LLC Production.

Building a company once teaches you how to survive. Building one again shows you what you actually learned. Takin’ Care of Lady Business Episode 170 Lindsey Boyd, left her dream job at Chanel to co-found The Laundress, bootstrapping the company for 15 years before selling it to Unilever. Now she's back in founder mode with Lindry Lab, bringing two decades of hard-earned lessons about money, ownership, growth, and trusting your instincts. In this episode of Takin’ Care of Lady Business, Jennifer Justice sits down with Lindsey to talk about building without traditional investors, asking for the help and opportunities you need, and what founders should understand before selling a company. Lindsey also shares what she learned navigating an acquisition, including the reality of earn-outs and the money founders actually walk away with. And as she builds Lindry Lab, she’s making different choices, including exploring outside capital to grow faster, while holding onto the instincts that helped her build The Laundress in the first place. What You'll Learn How Lindsey bootstrapped The Laundress without traditional investors Why asking for help can be one of a founder's biggest advantages What founders need to understand about acquisitions and earn-outs What Lindsey is doing differently the second time around Highlights: (00:00) Meet Lindsey Boyd (01:20) From Chanel to founding The Laundress (02:05) Hand-washing cashmere and discovering the gap in the market (03:27) Going all-in on product over service (06:07) Leaving her dream job and calling her parents (07:43) Bootstrapping The Laundress with a soap splash fundraiser (12:11) Why staying the course matters (17:27) The Unilever "love letter" that started acquisition talks (21:35) Facing an investor's "unsexy" comment (25:00) Building Lindry Lab's three pillars: formula, fragrance, packaging (34:55) The worst advice she ever received About Our Guest: Lindsey Boyd is the founder of Lindry Lab and former co-founder of The Laundress, the luxury laundry care brand she bootstrapped for 15 years before selling to Unilever in 2019. With a background in fashion and textiles at Chanel, Brooks Brothers, Nicole Miller, and Malia Mills, Lindsey has spent more than two decades rethinking how consumers care for clothing and their homes. Today, she's bringing that experience to Lindry Lab, a new laundry and home care brand built around high-performance formulas, fragrance, and thoughtful design. Lindsey Boyd’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lindsey-julia-boyd-9007073/ Lindsey Boyd’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lindseyjuliaboyd/ Explore Lindry Lab: https://lindrylab.com/ About Jennifer Justice and The Justice Dept. JJ’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennifer-justice-354a0b99 The Justice Dept: https://www.thejusticedept.com/ JJ’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jenniferjusticel/ Newsletter: https://tkolb-newsletter-a50814.beehiiv.com/ JJ’s YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TakinCareOfLadyBusiness The Justice Dept. is a female-focused advisory, consulting, and law firm advocating for female founders, talent, execs, and brands. We represent bo$$ ladies to make them 💰💰. If you love what you hear, please subscribe and share with a friend. This is a Lady Business LLC Production.

Your biggest career opportunities may not come from what you know, but from who remembers your name. Takin' Care of Lady Business Episode 169 On this episode of Takin' Care of Lady Business, Jennifer Justice sits down with Caroline Dell, Co-founder and CEO of Goodword, to explore why your network is one of the most valuable assets you'll ever build, and why its real power comes from knowing how to activate it. Drawing on her experience helping scale Chief and now building Goodword, Caroline shares why relationships, not resumes, algorithms, or AI alone, continue to create the biggest career opportunities. From finding her co-founder through a single introduction to raising her first $500,000 almost entirely through her personal network, she explains why the people who advocate for you behind closed doors often shape your future more than any application or pitch ever could. Jennifer and Caroline also unpack why women are often more hesitant to ask for introductions, support, and opportunities, how understanding the realities of fundraising creates leverage rather than limitation, and how AI can strengthen, not replace, the human relationships that move careers forward. This conversation is a reminder that your network isn't just who you know. It's the trust you've built, the people willing to vouch for you, and the opportunities that become possible when you're willing to make the ask. What You'll Learn: How relationships become a real source of career leverage Why asking for an introduction doesn’t require turning every contact into a friendship How Caroline used her own network to find her co-founder and fund her company How AI can help preserve the context that makes professional relationships valuable Highlights: (00:00) Meet Caroline Dell (01:39) Why your network is your most powerful asset (06:08) The gap Goodword fills that communities can't (06:53) Why our brains can’t keep up with our networks: The Dunbar number (13:52) Why women hesitate to ask for favors (19:53) Leaving Chief and deciding to found a company (23:56) Finding her technical co-founder Chris (24:59) The hard truth about women raising venture capital (34:38) The worst advice Caroline ever received About Our Guest: Caroline Dell is the co-founder and CEO of Goodword, a modern relationship management platform designed to help professionals manage, cultivate, and leverage their networks. Before launching Goodword, she spent nearly a decade building communities and creating access for women in leadership, including serving as an early employee and executive at Chief. Drawing from her experience scaling a professional network to thousands of members, Caroline recognized that while relationships drive career-changing opportunities, people struggle to maintain the context and connections needed to use those networks effectively. Today, she is using AI to transform how people understand and activate their relationships, helping professionals turn their networks into a powerful source of opportunities, introductions, and growth. Caroline Dell’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/caroline-dell/ Caroline Dell’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/foundercaroline/ Explore Goodword: https://www.goodword.com/ Get $25 off (1 free month) of Goodword with the code: FRIENDOFJJ About Jennifer Justice and The Justice Dept. JJ’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennifer-justice-354a0b99 The Justice Dept: https://www.thejusticedept.com/ JJ’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jenniferjusticel/ Newsletter: https://tkolb-newsletter-a50814.beehiiv.com/ JJ’s YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TakinCareOfLadyBusiness The Justice Dept. is a female-focused advisory, consulting, and law firm advocating for female founders, talent, execs, and brands. We represent bo$$ ladies to make them 💰💰. If you love what you hear, please subscribe and share with a friend. This is a Lady Business LLC Production.

Tamara Warren has spent decades test-driving thousands of cars, covering the automotive industry as a journalist, and watching one truth play out over and over again: women drive the majority of car-buying decisions, yet the industry still isn't built with them in mind. Takin’ Care of Lady Business Episode 168 From crash-test standards and product design to dealership experiences and executive leadership, the systems behind one of the biggest purchases of our lives continue to overlook the people making most of the buying decisions. The result isn't just frustrating – it's costly, inefficient, and, in some cases, dangerous. In this episode of Takin' Care of Lady Business, Jennifer Justice sits down with Tamara Warren, Founder and CEO of Le Car Inc., to unpack the hidden power mechanics of the automotive industry. They explore why representation has to start long before the marketing campaign, how women can make more informed and empowered purchasing decisions, and why designing for women isn't just good equity, it's good business. This conversation isn't really about cars. It's about what happens when the people driving the economy aren't the ones shaping the products, systems, and decisions that affect them. What You'll Learn Why women's purchasing power still isn't reflected in how cars are designed or sold How product design, leadership, and representation shape the customer experience long before a sale is made Why knowledge—not intimidation—is one of the greatest sources of leverage when making a major purchase How Tamara built Le Car by rejecting the traditional business model and putting consumer trust first Highlights: (00:00) Meet Tamara Warren (02:47) The everyday ways cars still fail women (06:26) How the automotive industry became a system built by—and for—men (16:04) Why traditional negotiation advice doesn't always work for women (30:27) The safety gap: what crash testing still misses (33:48) Why representation in leadership changes the products we buy (38:38) Building Le Car to empower women before they ever step into a dealership (43:19) The worst business advice Tamara ever received About Our Guest: Tamara Warren is the founder of Le Car, a Techstars company built to validate women in the automotive space. Raised in Detroit, Michigan, Tamara spent decades as a journalist and author covering transportation, lifestyle, and business for top outlets including The New York Times, Car and Driver, Elle, Esquire, and The Verge, as well as serving as a jurist for the World Car of the Year awards. After recognizing that women control the vast majority of car-buying decisions yet remain overlooked by traditional auto design, marketing, and dealership networks, she launched Le Car to disrupt the industry. Today, she shares her perspective on dismantling male-dominated spaces, reclaiming female economic power in major life purchases, and proving that women belong in the driver’s seat, literally and figuratively. Tamara Warren’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tamaralwarren/ Tamara Warren’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tamarawarren/ Explore Le Car Inc.: https://www.lecar.co/ About Jennifer Justice and The Justice Dept. JJ’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennifer-justice-354a0b99 The Justice Dept: https://www.thejusticedept.com/ JJ’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jenniferjusticel/ Newsletter: https://tkolb-newsletter-a50814.beehiiv.com/ JJ’s YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TakinCareOfLadyBusiness The Justice Dept. is a female-focused advisory, consulting, and law firm advocating for female founders, talent, execs, and brands. We represent bo$$ ladies to make them 💰💰. If you love what you hear, please subscribe and share with a friend. This is a Lady Business LLC Production.