The Kara Goldin Show

Sometimes the biggest opportunities are hiding in the most familiar categories. On The Kara Goldin Show, I sit down with Elisabeth Galvin, Co-Founder of Stellar Snacks, the mother-daughter-owned company reinventing one of America's most classic snacks: the pretzel. We talk about how Elisabeth and her daughter Gina built Stellar from scratch, why they chose to take on the complexity of manufacturin...

What happens when you make it to the top of your industry—and decide to start over? On The Kara Goldin Show, I sit down with Chris Salgardo, Founder and CEO of ATWATER, and former President of Kiehl’s. After more than 40 years in beauty, Chris left the corporate world to build a skincare and grooming brand of his own. We talk about what nearly two decades at Kiehl’s taught him about building brand...

Luxury is hard to break into. Building a new luxury brand from scratch—and aiming for $100 million—is an entirely different challenge. ✨ On The Kara Goldin Show, I sit down with Lola Banjo, Founder and Chief Executive of Silver & Riley, the luxury fashion and travel accessories brand she launched in 2019. Lola built Silver & Riley while balancing a demanding corporate career, investing he...

What does it take to turn one big idea into a $100M+ brand that lasts? On The Kara Goldin Show, I sit down with Matt Scanlan, Co-Founder and CEO of NAADAM—the cashmere brand that started with a trip to Mongolia and a plan to rethink the industry. We talk about the $98 sweater that helped put NAADAM on the map, what consumers get wrong about cashmere, and what Matt has learned about growth, profita...

What if one of the biggest opportunities in consumer products is hiding in a category most people don’t even want to talk about? On today’s episode, we welcome Sam Nebel, Co-Founder, Chief Commercial Officer — and King of All Wipes — at goodwipes, the bold personal hygiene brand changing the way people think about one of the most basic routines in our lives. Sam and his team have taken flushable w...

What happens when a doctor and surgeon with millions of followers decides the gut-health industry still isn’t getting one of the basics right? On today’s episode, we welcome Dr. Karan Rajan, Founder and CEO of LOAM — a science-backed, doctor-formulated prebiotic fiber brand rethinking how we support the gut microbiome. After more than a decade as a doctor and surgeon, Karan became one of the world...

What if managing everyday pain didn’t have to mean pills, creams, or simply living with it? On today’s episode, we welcome Heather Sloan, Co-Founder of Heali Medical — a wellness company creating wearable, drug-free products designed to help people manage pain, recover, and keep moving. A trained chiropractor with more than a decade of experience in medical sales, Heather saw firsthand how many pa...

What does it take to turn a beloved local food brand into a franchise without losing what made it special in the first place? On The Kara Goldin Show, I sit down with Dinah Bengur, Co-Founder and CEO of Pitango Gelato Franchise Co. — the artisanal gelato brand known for authentic Italian gelato and sorbet made from scratch with high-quality ingredients. We talk about why Pitango decided to franchi...

What if everything we’ve been taught about anti-aging skincare is focused on the wrong thing? What if the future isn’t about temporarily fixing what we see on the surface — but understanding how to help our skin function, repair, and regenerate differently as we age? On today’s episode, we welcome Dr. Ivona Igerc, better known as Dr. Ivy, an internationally recognized aesthetic doctor and regenera...

What happens when you see millions of consumers being overlooked—and realize that isn't just a problem, it's a massive business opportunity? On The Kara Goldin Show, I sit down with KJ Miller, Co-Founder and President of Mented Cosmetics and President of Elevated Beauty Group. Mented launched in 2017 with six nude lipsticks created with deeper skin tones in mind, helping prove that inclusive beaut...

What does it take to build companies across three completely different eras of the internet — and then start all over again with AI? On today’s episode, we welcome Jessica Herrin, Founder and CEO of Marklo, the AI revenue planning platform helping direct-to-consumer brands understand what actually drove revenue, decide what to do next, and execute smarter. A serial entrepreneur, Jessica previously...

When did taking care of ourselves become another job? On today’s episode, we welcome Danielle DuBoise, Co-Founder and Executive Chair of Sakara — one of the pioneering companies behind the modern food-as-medicine movement. Danielle and her childhood friend and Co-Founder Whitney Tingle launched Sakara in 2012, building it from a small meal-delivery startup into one of the most recognizable names i...

On today’s episode, we welcome Olowo-n’djo “Olo” Tchala, Founder and CEO of Alaffia — a clean beauty brand rooted in West African traditions and built around fair trade, ethical sourcing, and creating economic opportunity. Alaffia is what happens when purpose isn’t added to a brand — it is the reason the brand exists. In 2004, he co-founded Alaffia with a mission to create sustainable economic opp...

How do you take a place, a memory, and a feeling—and turn them into a fragrance brand that stands out in one of the most crowded categories in luxury? On The Kara Goldin Show, I sit down with Andrew Rose, Founder of Montauk Man—a new fragrance house inspired by the raw beauty, contrasts, and character of Montauk. We talk about Andrew’s lifelong fascination with fragrance, why experiencing Montauk...

Pet food needed a reality check. Open Farm gave it one. ✨ On The Kara Goldin Show, I sit down with Jacqueline Prehogan, Co-Founder and Chief Brand Officer of Open Farm — one of the fastest-growing premium pet food brands in North America. This is a brand built on a simple but powerful idea: if pets are family, then we should know what we’re feeding them. We talk about how Jacqueline helped build...

Retail is not dead. Bad retail is. ✨ On The Kara Goldin Show, I sit down with Ron Johnson, the creator of the Apple Store and author of Shop Different: How Retail Revealed Apple’s Genius. Ron worked directly with Steve Jobs and helped build one of the most successful retail concepts in history — not by making stores look cooler, but by rethinking what a store was actually for. The Apple Store was...

Rethinking the cocktail — without the alcohol. That's the opportunity. ✨ On this episode of The Kara Goldin Show, I sit down with Milan Martin, Founder and CEO of Free Spirits — one of the fastest-growing independent non-alcoholic spirits brands in North America. We talk about how Milan went from a 20-year career in advertising—leading Grey San Francisco to Global Agency of the Year three years r...

What does it take to enter a crowded category like sunscreen and build something that actually stands out? Malachy Mitchnick is the Co-Founder and CEO of burnd, a science-driven sun and skincare brand focused on high-performance products for protecting, repairing, and restoring skin. He is building burnd alongside his father, Dr. Mark Mitchnick, the inventor of transparent zinc oxide—the breakthro...

What happens when you stop accepting the status quo and build the solution you wish existed? Lauren Schulte Wang is the Founder and CEO of The Flex Company, North America's leading menstrual disc and cup brand. After years of believing her discomfort was simply part of having a period, Lauren realized the products—not her body—were the problem. That insight led her to build a company focused on re...

On today’s episode, we welcome Ann Williams, Founder and Creative Director of Yearly Co. — a Nashville-based fine jewelry brand built around celebrating life’s milestones with timeless, solid 14k gold jewelry. Yearly Co. started with a family tradition. Inspired by receiving gold bangles to mark meaningful moments, Ann took a metalsmithing class and began making jewelry by hand in her garage durin...

Can a startup really take on Aperol and Campari—and win? Ana Rosenstein is the Founder and CEO of Amante 1530, a modern Italian aperitivo that is less sweet than Aperol, less bitter than Campari, and made with 25% less sugar than Aperol. In this episode, Ana shares how she saw an opening in a category dominated by legacy brands and built Amante as a modern alternative. We talk about challenger-bra...

Tolerate discomfort? Not today. ✨ On The Kara Goldin Show, I sit down with Bree McKeen, Founder and CEO of Evelyn & Bobbie — the intimates brand reimagining what women should expect from their bras. Bree’s own experience as a 34G woman dealing with tension headaches, shoulder pain, and posture issues led her to question one of the most worn — and least questioned — items in a woman’s wardrobe...

On today’s episode, we welcome Lauren Kleban, Founder and CEO of LEKFIT — the luxury fitness brand known for its signature rebounder-based workouts, devoted community, and intentional approach to movement and wellness. Lauren started teaching her method out of her garage in 2014. Within a year, classes were selling out, celebrities like Busy Philipps were showing up, and LEKFIT was becoming more t...

On today’s episode, we welcome Erica Small, Co-Founder of Yes Way Rosé — a brand that proves some of the best consumer companies don’t start with a product. They start with a point of view. What began as a social media movement between two lifelong friends became one of the leading rosé brands in the U.S., with more than 13 million bottles sold and nationwide distribution. Not bad for two founders...

On today’s episode, we welcome Laura Geller, Founder of Laura Geller Beauty — a brand built around a customer the beauty industry spent years overlooking. Long before inclusivity became a marketing buzzword, Laura was focused on a simple idea: makeup should work for real women living real lives. What started with her career as a makeup artist backstage on Broadway and working with celebrities evol...