A Reflection on Childhood and Upbringing

The speaker reflects on their diverse upbringing, born to Colombian parents in Florida but raised in Wisconsin by their American mother after their parents' divorce. They highlight the strong familial bonds and simple yet fulfilling life they experienced in a small Wisconsin town, expressing gratitude for the values instilled in them.

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Episode notes

Cassandra Thurswell is the founder of KITSCH, a global brand that creates eco-friendly hair care and beauty accessories for women.

Cassandra came from a small town in Wisconsin to Los Angeles with the hopes of creating something meaningful in her life. But before launching her own business, she did whatever it took to make ends meet from working at a cupcake shop to crafting jewelry and babysitting. After seven failed attempts at various businesses, the idea for Kitsch was born. She started by hand-making her first product which was a basic but innovative knotted hair-tie in her tiny LA apartment. She was making cold calls, doing door to door sales, and whatever she could to get the brand out there all without any outside funding. Fast forward to today, the company has evolved into a multi-million dollar brand that’s sold in over 27 countries and across 20,000 retail locations worldwide. You can find them at Ulta, Sephora, Whole Foods, Urban Outfitters, to name a few.

In this week’s episode, Cassandra walks us through how following her gut over the years has truly been the key to her success – from couch-surfing to saving money for her business to working different jobs to learn the industry. She also talks about how every single job she’s had in the past has helped her become a stronger business person and was the "mini MBA" she needed. She then dives into the challenges of the early days of fulfilling orders in her one-bedroom apartment and the creative tactics she used to get into retailers without any connections. We also talk about the biggest learnings she's had over 14 years of running Kitsch, the power of micro-intentions and micro-habits when creating your dream life, & so much more.

In this episode, we’ll talk to Cassandra about:

* Her thoughts on manifestation and its role in creating success. [05:05]

* The power of visualization. [13:06]

* Moving to Los Angeles, being broke, living on people’s couches & hustling in life. [17:12]

* Kitsch creation journey and inspiration. [29:28]

* Having various jobs to make ends meet and how she self-funded Kitsch. [33:17]

* Retailer entry without connections. [37:07]

* Getting her first large purchase order. [39:30]

* The power of vision boards and future journaling. [43:30]

* Her unique partnership approach [51:04]

* Experiencing postpartum anxiety. [58:35]

* Establishing boundaries and leaning into change & personal growth. [01:00:58]