Behind Her Empire

Steph Hon is the founder and CEO of Cadence, the design company behind the magnetic Capsules that keep your whole routine in one place.

What I love about Steph's story is that she really had no idea what she was doing when she started. She was a dancer turned video editor, with no background in engineering, manufacturing, or entrepreneurship. She didn't have investors lined up or a network of people in the industry. She just had a problem she wanted to solve and was willing to figure things out along the way.

She went through hundreds of prototypes, had people tell her over and over again that her idea wasn't possible, and somehow managed to raise money from 180 investors, many of whom she found through cold outreach and putting herself out there. She eventually launched Cadence in February 2020, sold out in just 16 days, and then had to navigate a global pandemic almost immediately.

What I especially loved about this conversation is how incredibly practical Steph gets. She doesn't just share the big lessons, she walks us through how she actually did it. From what to do when you first have a business idea, to finding engineers, manufacturers, and mentors with little money or experience, and raising her first investment check without knowing any investors. She also shares why putting yourself out there and asking for help can open unexpected doors, why building a great product should come before marketing, and how small changes made a huge difference for her business during the pandemic. If you've been dreaming about starting your own business but aren't sure where to begin, or you're already building one, there's so much in this conversation I think you’ll find helpful.

In this episode, we’ll talk to Steph about:
* Why you don’t need a traditional background to start a company. [02:39]
* Feeling lost in college and learning to trust her intuition. [03:25]
* How dance, psychology, and video editing led her to entrepreneurship. [05:12]
* What her parents taught her about meaningful work over money. [06:11]
* Learning the value of curiosity, listening, and asking better questions. [08:58]
* Why finding what genuinely interests you can change the way you work. [10:22]
* How mentors became pivotal in her journey to building Cadence. [12:20]
* Finding mentors by putting yourself out there and asking for help. [12:39]
* Why sharing your ideas can create unexpected connections and opportunities. [15:32]
* How a personal frustration with traveling sparked Cadence. [19:56]
* Realizing that carrying everyday routines was becoming a shared burden. [21:50]
* What to do after you have an idea: start with the problem. [24:48]
* Finding the engineers, designers, and mentors needed to build from scratch. [26:56]
* Why an operations mentor can unlock critical early relationships. [28:09]
* Learning not to let “impossible” stop you from pursuing an idea. [32:35]
* Going through hundreds of prototypes to refine Cadence. [36:37]
* How designers and engineers turn a vision into a manufacturable product. [38:31]
* Raising money without traditional friends-and-family capital. [41:52]
* Launching Cadence, selling out in 16 days, and navigating COVID. [50:05]

This episode is brought to you by Beeya:
* If you or anyone you know have been struggling with hormonal imbalances and bad periods, go to https://beeyawellness.com/free to download the free guide to tackling hormonal imbalances
* Plus, get $10 off your order by using promo code BEHINDHEREMPIRE10

Follow Yasmin:
* Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yasminknouri/
* Website: https://www.behindherempire.com/

Follow Steph:
* Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stephhon/
* Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/keepyourcadence/
* Website: https://usecadence.com/
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Mally Roncal is a celebrity makeup artist who has worked with Beyoncé, Jennifer Lopez, Rihanna, Celine Dion, and so many more, and the founder of Mally Beauty.

A big theme in Mally’s life is learning not to make herself smaller. We get into the moments that made her question whether she should tone herself down, how she learned to see what made her different as a strength, and what working with some of the biggest women in entertainment taught her about confidence, intuition, and listening to her gut.

Then there’s the business story. Mally launched Mally Beauty on QVC in 2005. We talk about what it actually looked like building a company for nearly two decades, becoming a mom while growing the business, raising three daughters, and the harder chapters that taught her about trust and what happens when you hand parts of your company over to other people.

Mally has experienced loss, rejection, setbacks, and plenty of moments that could have made her bitter or afraid, but instead she’s built a practice around gratitude, perspective, and choosing her energy over and over again. We get into how to trust your instincts, how to build without losing the people and parts of life that matter most, how to recover when things don’t go according to plan, and why authenticity can become one of your biggest advantages in both business and life.

In this episode, we’ll talk to Mally about:
* How losing her mother shaped her gratitude and courage. [02:30]
* Growing up with two inspiring Filipino doctor parents. [05:44]
* Turning childhood bullying into a belief in her uniqueness. [08:37]
* Learning to celebrate your differences instead of fitting in. [09:57]
* Discovering makeup artistry after studying fashion design. [15:59]
* Choosing authenticity after being told to change her appearance. [17:56]
* How staying true to herself led to an InStyle opportunity. [21:05]
* Building a celebrity makeup career and trusting her instincts. [22:12]
* The Beyoncé makeup moment that changed her career. [24:01]
* Finding creative freedom through collaborative client relationships. [26:53]
* Balancing a demanding celebrity career with building a family. [28:36]
* Creating Mally Beauty from personalized makeup formulas. [29:58]
* Why she chose QVC to teach women makeup techniques. [31:41]
* Building a business and raising twins while redefining success. [34:13]
* Challenging the myth that women can’t have it all. [38:52]
* Finding the courage to expand beyond Mally Beauty. [42:58]
* Why entrepreneurs must understand every part of their business. [45:34]
* Prioritizing mental, physical, and spiritual well-being over business. [46:22]
* Choosing joy, empathy, and gratitude through life’s challenges. [50:31]
* Manifesting a bigger vision and trusting the journey. [52:43]
* Why you should acknowledge hard moments, then “fix your crown” and move forward. [57:52]
* Remembering that life, family, and relationships matter more than business. [01:00:06]

This episode is brought to you by Beeya:
* If you or anyone you know have been struggling with hormonal imbalances and bad periods, go to https://beeyawellness.com/free to download the free guide to tackling hormonal imbalances
* Plus, get $10 off your order by using promo code BEHINDHEREMPIRE10

Follow Yasmin:
* Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yasminknouri/
* Website: https://www.behindherempire.com/

Follow Mally:
* Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mallyroncal/
* QVC: https://www.qvc.com/catalog/psearch.html?keyword=Mally
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today I’m sharing the conversation my co-founder Kaya and I had on Be Well by Kelly, our dear friend Kelly LeVeque’s show. Since Kelly is a nutritionist, bestselling author, and founder herself, it was fun to have her turn the questions on us.

I wanted to share this conversation here because we really get into what it actually looks like to build a business from the beginning.

We get into questions like: How do you take an idea and make it real when you have no experience creating the product? How do you know if anyone even wants it? When do you hire? Where do you spend your money when you're self-funded? And what do you do when the thing that helped you grow in the beginning stops working?

Kaya and I share how we tested our first product, which was inspired by seed cycling, a simple food-based approach that had made such a big difference in my own PMS. I was literally grinding seeds in my apartment and sending them to women before we ever found a manufacturer.

We also get into how we built the company through content before we had much of a business, why we've chosen to stay self-funded, some of the very unglamorous moments that told us it was finally time to ask for help, and the science and personal story behind why Beeya exists in the first place.

So if you're thinking about starting something, or you're already in the messy middle of building it, I think you'll get a lot out of this conversation.

In this episode, we’ll talk to about:
* How Yasmin’s experience with painful periods and birth control inspired Beeya. [02:10]
* How seed cycling helped improve Yasmin’s period symptoms. [04:14]
* Why women deserve more education and options for supporting their menstrual health. [05:19]
* How Yasmin and Kaya turned a homemade seed-cycling routine into Beeya. [06:36]
* What healthy periods look like—and which symptoms may signal an underlying issue. [09:21]
* How seed cycling uses different seeds during each half of the menstrual cycle. [13:19]
* The benefits of flax, pumpkin, sesame, and sunflower seeds. [13:58]
* What Beeya’s Citrus Labs trial found about seed cycling and common PMS symptoms. [16:29]
* What to know about seeds, anti-nutrients, and individual gut-health needs. [19:27]
* How Beeya makes seed cycling easier with freshly ground seeds and simple daily routines. [22:43]
* The challenges of building and growing a self-funded wellness brand. [28:13]
* Learning to delegate, build a team, and ask for support as the business grows. [31:33]
* How Yasmin and Kaya balance entrepreneurship, motherhood, and personal wellbeing. [38:41]
* How motherhood shaped Beeya’s mission to empower women and girls. [41:03]
* Building trust through founder-led content, education, and authentic connection. [48:11]
* Why balanced meals, nourishment, and nervous system support are foundational to wellness. [49:26]
* Moving away from restrictive wellness trends and embracing a more realistic approach. [49:59]
* Why wellness should support your life—not become another source of stress. [51:41]
* Beeya’s vision for supporting women through every stage of hormonal health. [52:47]

This episode is brought to you by Beeya:
* If you or anyone you know have been struggling with hormonal imbalances and bad periods, go to https://beeyawellness.com/free to download the free guide to tackling hormonal imbalances
* Plus, get $10 off your order by using promo code BEHINDHEREMPIRE10

Follow Yasmin:
* Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yasminknouri/
* Stay updated & subscribe to our newsletter: https://www.behindherempire.com/

Follow Kaya:
* Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kayapurohit/

Follow Beeya:
* Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/beeyawellness/
* Website: https://beeyawellness.com/

Follow Kelly:
* Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bewellbykelly/
* The Be Well Podcast: https://bewellbykelly.com/pages/be-well-by-kelly-podcast
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Lauren Kleinman is the founder of Dreamday and co-founder of Quality Media and The Quality Edit. She coined the term "performance PR," built two agencies without raising a dollar, and today leads more than a hundred people.

Before any of this, Lauren spent almost a decade as an employee. First employee at StartEngine. Sixteenth at Scopely, which sold for billions. Then first employee at Ritual. She knew she wanted to build something of her own, she just didn't know what yet. When she finally left, she named her company Dreamday, because she'd pictured the day she actually wanted. A hike, a swim, a couple of client calls, and time with her kids. Seven years later, she'll tell you it has never happened. What happened instead was having two young kids during COVID, no maternity leave, and burning herself out so badly she had panic attacks for the first time in her life.

In this episode, Lauren gives you the actual playbook, from how to know when you're ready to leave your job, to how to line up your first client before you even quit. She breaks down how to get press when you can't afford PR, and what makes an editor open your email out of the four hundred sitting in her inbox that day. And she's just as honest about the rest of it, from what burnout really looked like for her, to what she'd tell you to watch out for, to how she finally stopped believing she had to carry all of it alone. If you want to build something of your own one day, and you also want to still like your life while you build it, this one is for you.

In this episode, we’ll talk to Lauren about:
* Why overworking became tied to worthiness and success. [02:20]
* Learning to shift from constant doing toward simply being. [03:16]
* Unlearning the hustle mentality after years of proving her worth through work. [04:38]
* Why perfect balance is unrealistic—and one ball will always drop. [09:20]
* Why profitability and sustainable margins matter from day one. [14:11]
* Knowing when the entrepreneurial itch is strong enough to make the leap. [16:08]
* Spotting gaps in PR and coining the idea of performance PR. [18:00]
* How whitelisting gives brands the credibility of creators and publishers. [19:35]
* Turning real brand pain points into The Quality Edit and Quality Media. [20:00]
* Using a network and early clients to validate the leap into entrepreneurship. [21:00]
* Recognizing when business momentum starts looking dangerously like burnout. [23:20]
* The burnout breaking point and learning to build boundaries around work. [24:59]
* Why public speaking is a muscle for founders. [30:16]
* How smaller brands can build PR relationships and use AI to pitch smarter. [35:02]
* What makes a pitch cut through: cultural relevance, strong numbers, and making the editor's job easier. [36:58]
* Why affiliate links matter—and when publications actually use them. [42:58]
* Learning to delegate, release perfectionism, and decide which fires can burn. [47:18]
* The reminder that even successful leaders are still figuring it out. [50:28]

This episode is brought to you by Beeya:
* If you or anyone you know have been struggling with hormonal imbalances and bad periods, go to https://beeyawellness.com/free to download the free guide to tackling hormonal imbalances
* Plus, get $10 off your order by using promo code BEHINDHEREMPIRE10

Follow Yasmin:
* Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yasminknouri/
* Website: https://www.behindherempire.com/

Follow Lauren:
* Website: https://www.dreamday.la/
* Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dreamday.la/
* Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lauren.kleinman/
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Amber Venz Box is the co-founder and president of LTK, the multi-billion-dollar business that turned influence into a global economy. She built the creator economy before anyone had a name for it, and today LTK drives $6 billion in annual retail sales and reaches more than 44 million monthly users.

But here's what you might not know. When Amber started in 2010, the word "blogger" wasn't even in the dictionary yet, and the people who did use it meant it as an insult. Vogue didn't have a website, most retailers didn't either, and Amber knew of just two other bloggers in her entire city. So when she built a way for creators to get paid on what they recommended, there was almost no one to sell it to. A small handful of retailers were online at all, and she needed one of them to say yes. There was no plan B.

In this episode, Amber takes us back to the early days, when she was living at her dad's house, working out of her childhood bedroom, in debt on a website nobody understood. She talks about the cold call that landed her first retail partner when almost no one was selling online yet, and how she convinced bloggers one call at a time that the thing they did for fun could actually pay them. She's honest about the months she couldn't pay herself, when she secretly lived in the office and cleared out every morning before the team arrived. She gets candid about building a business with her husband, becoming a mother of four, and the advice about delegating that finally unlocked everything for her. She opens up about the funding round that collapsed the day it was supposed to close, why staying privately controlled became one of LTK's biggest advantages, and why real business success looks nothing like the headlines, and so much more.

In this episode, we’ll talk to Amber about:
* How the entrepreneurial instinct to make things started in childhood. [02:18]
* Turning a teenage jewelry obsession into a legitimate business. [04:06]
* Why working every side of an industry can make you a better entrepreneur. [06:45]
* Finding her path through fashion, retail, styling, and PR. [09:21]
* What Amber looks for in people who are truly all-in. [14:36]
* How a casual suggestion to start a blog changed everything. [16:26]
* Getting in early on blogging, YouTube, and the emerging digital landscape. [18:57]
* Realizing her blog could become a business and finding a way to monetize it. [20:19]
* How Amber landed LTK’s first major retail partners. [21:21]
* Building a new category before the creator economy even existed. [23:09]
* How her husband helped turn an idea into a real business. [25:31]
* Personal sacrifices and relationship challenges of building a company together. [29:25]
* Creating boundaries between work and marriage. [32:22]
* Why becoming a mother became one of the biggest blessings in her career. [34:00]
* The delegation lesson that gave her wings as an entrepreneur. [35:07]
* Learning to let go of perfection and embrace “good enough.” [37:04]
* How LTK grew from two retailers into a creator economy powerhouse. [40:40]
* The challenges of fundraising after years of building independently. [45:55]
* The funding deal that nearly fell apart at the finish line. [49:10]
* How staying privately controlled became a long-term advantage. [50:19]
* Why business success matters more than the headline. [51:35]
* Building a business with integrity, long-term thinking, and a strong reputation. [53:28]

This episode is brought to you by Beeya:
* If you or anyone you know have been struggling with hormonal imbalances and bad periods, go to https://beeyawellness.com/free to download the free guide to tackling hormonal imbalances
* Plus, get $10 off your order by using promo code BEHINDHEREMPIRE10

Follow Yasmin:
* Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yasminknouri/
* Website: https://www.behindherempire.com/

Follow Amber:
* Website: https://www.shopltk.com/
* Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shop.ltk/
* Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ambervenzbox/
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.