Ep 130 | Lisa Odenweller

Written By Yasmin Nouri

How to Rebuild After Failure, Breaking into the Wellness Industry & Getting Celebrity Endorsements

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Lisa Odenweller is the Founder and CEO of Kroma Wellness, a functional superfood nutrition company.

Lisa entered the wellness space in 2011 upon founding Beaming Wellness, an organic superfood café concept with locations throughout Southern California. The brand quickly attracted a cult following and was a leader in the healthy grab-&-go food category. After exiting Beaming in 2018, Lisa had a bigger vision with a more ambitious reach: a direct-to-consumer brand that could simplify people’s lives by offering a wide variety of delicious on-the-go functional foods and beverages that easily fit into your everyday life. Out of this vision, Kroma Wellness was born.

However, despite all the success that Lisa has seen with her businesses, it definitely didn’t come easy.

We talk to Lisa about how she launched her first business, Beaming while going through a divorce and being a single mom to three young kids, how she used her scrappiness to get the business off the ground with very little money, and why leaving Beaming was one of the hardest decisions she’s ever made in her life. We unpack the handful of lessons she learned with her first business venture and the work she did to rebuild herself and gain the courage to create her newest business, Kroma.

Lisa shares her multi-year journey of testing different products in her kitchen, the steps she took to launch her second business, and the massive pivot she did that changed the entire trajectory of the company. We also discuss how she went from getting many rejections when it came to fundraising during the pandemic to ultimately raising $5.5 million from well-known founders and A-list celebrities like Gwyneth Paltrow and Amy Schumer, and so much more.

Show Notes:

  • Introducing today’s guest, the founder of Kroma Wellness, Lisa Odenweller. [00:48]

  • The challenges of entrepreneurship and Lisa’s advice on how to get through the tough times. [03:34]

  • Positive and negative impacts of Lisa’s upbringing. [06:07]

  • The personal growth journey that Lisa embarked upon when her life began to fall apart. [10:45]

  • Lisa’s first job out of college and the origins of her entrepreneurial journey. [19:48]

  • Factors that drew Lisa to the health and wellness space. [23:54]

  • The founding story and evolution of Beaming Wellness (Lisa’s previous business). [32:45]

  • On-the-go learning that Lisa did during her journey with Beaming Wellness. [37:12]

  • Mistakes that Lisa made that ended up costing her company. [39:36]

  • The difference between running a business with an abundance mindset and a scarcity mindset. [41:45]

  • The importance of carefully considering who sits on the board of your company (if you need to have a board). [44:15]

  • Realizations that Lisa came to as a result of the devastating process of losing Beaming Wellness. [46:34]

  • The motivation behind the founding of Kroma Wellness. [50:23]

  • Why Lisa recreated Kroma Wellness after its initial launch. [52:37]

  • The value of test marketing. [56:17]

  • A story that highlights the importance of trusting your instincts and not giving up when things don’t go to plan. [59:32]

  • Factors that have contributed to the success of Kroma Wellness. [1:04:34]

  • What Lisa is most proud of. [1:09:05]

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 and to learn more about Beeya’s seed cycling bundle.

  • Plus, get $10 off your order by using promo code BEHINDHEREMPIRE10.

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Yasmin Nouri
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Ep 129 | Karen Young