DeepSummary
Monique Rodriguez, the founder and CEO of Mielle Organics, an all-natural hair care and beauty brand, discusses her journey from being a registered nurse to becoming an entrepreneur. She shares her upbringing with a strong-willed mother and grandmother, which instilled in her the determination and discipline to succeed. Monique talks about the various business ventures she tried before finding success with Mielle Organics, which she initially started in her kitchen.
Monique emphasizes the importance of building a passionate community through social media, which helped her create a product that resonated with her audience. She also shares her experience of selling out the first batch of her product and the challenges that came with it, such as managing inventory and shipping. Monique discusses how her nursing career equipped her with skills that helped her in her entrepreneurial journey, such as building trust and rapport with customers.
Monique highlights the power of manifestation and vision boarding, sharing how she wrote down her goals and the steps she took to bring them to life. She talks about her journey of securing investments, including a deal with Berkshire Partners and the eventual acquisition of Mielle Organics by Procter & Gamble. Throughout the episode, Monique offers insights on navigating challenging situations, staying grounded, and cultivating gratitude.
Key Episodes Takeaways
- The importance of building a passionate community and engaging with customers to create a successful product.
- The power of manifestation and visualization in achieving goals and bringing visions to life.
- The value of transferring skills and experiences from previous careers to entrepreneurship.
- The significance of surrounding oneself with mentors and seeking guidance when facing challenges or knowledge gaps.
- The importance of self-awareness, discipline, and determination in overcoming obstacles and achieving success.
- The need to cultivate gratitude and reflect on accomplishments throughout the journey.
- The ability to balance respecting others' opinions with maintaining one's independent thinking and leadership qualities.
- The importance of effective communication and transparency with customers, especially during challenging times.
Top Episodes Quotes
- “Never despise small beginnings and never despise your journey because you never know what part of your journey will pay off with a certain skill set that you may need later on in life.“ by Monique Rodriguez
- “The reason why I've been able to build this successful company is because of that discipline and determination that I was taught growing up as a child.“ by Monique Rodriguez
- “I believe that you have to see it because that tells your brain that you have something to work towards and you have to be able to manifest what you want to become a reality. You have to pray on that.“ by Monique Rodriguez
- “I've always valued and respected my mom's opinions and her thoughts, but because she's also raised me to be a strong woman, I also have my own strong opinions. And I kind of walk to the beat of my own drum because she always instilled in me, be a leader, not a follower.“ by Monique Rodriguez
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Episode Information
Behind Her Empire
Yasmin Nouri
12/4/23
Monique Rodriguez is the founder and CEO of Mielle Organics, an all natural hair care and beauty brand.Â
Monique created Mielle Organics’ first product in her kitchen. Now, the brand has products in over 85 countries – and still pursues the same vision it did from when it operated out of Monique’s kitchen, with the same values.
Monique worked as a registered nurse for almost a decade. She pursued nursing initially to please her mother and secure a financially stable career. As a wife and mother of two girls, it was a big risk to leave her stable career path to pursue her passion. Yet she always had a love of beauty and haircare, and once she saw the engagement of her online community with the products she was creating in the kitchen, she decided to bet on herself and launch her own product, and that’s when Mielle Organics was born.
In 2021, Monique became the first Black woman to raise a non-controlling nine-figure investment, over $100M, in a deal with Berkshire Partners. In 2023, Monique made history again when Mielle Organics was acquired by Procter & Gamble in an unprecedented acquisition, the largest exit ever for a Black Female beauty founder, in which she will continue to serve as CEO of the company. As part of her deal with P&G, she also established Mielle Cares, the non-profit arm of her company, with a $10M donation that was matched by P&G.Â
In this week’s episode we discuss the many business ventures Monique tried that didn’t work out, why she decided to pursue her nursing career and the biggest skills she learned there that have propelled her when starting her own business. We also chat about her process of building a passionate community through social media, how that helped her create product market fit for her product, and the steps she took to find a chemist to work on her first batch that ended up selling out. Monique also ends on sharing insights on manifesting success, the exact steps she took to bring her ideas to life, her advice on navigating challenging situations both personally and professionally, and so much more.Â
In this episode, we'll talk to Monique about:
* Confronting fears and building self-belief. [03:33]
* Strong women in Monique's upbringing. [06:54]
* Leaving her comfort zone. [19:36]
* High-risk pregnancy experience in 2013. [22:16]
* Funding Mielle's early stages. [31:02]
* Starting Mielle at home and the initial orders. [34:51]
* Driving Mielle Organics' launch success.[36:08]
* Leaving nursing job to focus on Mielle. [37:21]
* Manifestation steps and vision importance. [40:08]
* Bringing in private equity, alignment with Berkshire. [54:58]
* Timeline of P&G acquisition. [57:32]
* Journaling and gratitude cultivation. [59:53]
* Business sale impact on Monique's life. [01:02:00]
This episode is brought to you by beeya:Â
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Follow Yasmin:
* Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yasminknouri/
* Website: https://www.behindherempire.com/
Follow Monique:
* Mielle Organics Website: https://mielleorganics.com/
* Mielle Organics Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thetappingsolution/
* Monique’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/exquisitemo/
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