Karissa Bodnar once got advice from a peer – she needed real friends, not just “deal” friends. It wasn’t a dig. Entrepreneurship is lonely. And if Karissa was going to make it as a founder, she’d need friends who cared about her and not the number of zeros in her bank account. Karissa sits down with us to share how she found those kinds of friends, the time she got ghosted out of a big investment, and what she really thinks about those beauty influencer trips.
In this episode of 9 to 5ish, Karissa also shares:
Why she affectionately refers to herself a “dirt road diva”
How growing up in a small Washington town shaped her entrepreneurship
How the passing of her friend, Kristy, inspired her to start Thrive Causemetics
The lesson she learned from being ghosted by a potential investor
On the Worst Advice She’s Ever Gotten
Karissa: Raise more than you think. I didn't do that, and I'm so glad that I didn't. I feel like in 2016, that was all the rage. The message was “raise more money than what you think you need.” Every dollar I ever raised just sat on the balance sheet.
On Why She’s Never Sold Her Company
Karissa: I get to wake up and say, you know what? I really wanna support domestic violence [survivors] and I don't have to ask anybody about that. Or if I'm like, you know what would be really cool? A plum mascara. Then I get to go sit in the lab and make 11 rounds. Those are all things I love doing. Do I wanna work as hard as I am now – which is 24/7 – for the rest of my life? No, I don't. Hindsight is such a powerful motivator for me in the sense of like, we've only had employees for eight years. I was doing order fulfillment and literally palletizing trucks seven years ago. So my life now is easy. Today, I just get to be present with you instead of doing customer service while we're doing a podcast.
On the Mark Her Friend Kristy Made on Her Life
Karissa: Kristy gave me so much when she was here on Earth, and she continues to give me so much. Until Kristy passed, I didn't realize that friendships continued on even after someone was gone. Kristy was magnetic. She was so inviting and fun and had that unconditional love for people, meaning that she didn't care where you came from. I was pretty insecure because I went to community college and then went to University of Washington. She always made me feel so welcome. She came from a really great family in a fancy town, and I was like a dirt road diva from northern Washington.That didn't matter and she made me feel so loved. The way that she lived her life with so much agency and purpose was something that we ultimately connected on because I wanted to live my life that way too.
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