Professional Jealousy Podcast: Founder Stories, Brands and Business Innovation

How do you turn a traditional tile game into a $40,000,000 business without taking a single dollar of venture capital? In this episode of Professional Jealousy, Natasha Jakubowski (Chief Innovation Officer at Anomaly) chats with Megan Trottier, the entrepreneurial force behind Oh My Mahjong (OMM). Megan shares her blueprint for scaling an ultra-fast-growing consumer brand. From realizing a product...

If you are completely exhausted by national political noise and panic-driven fundraising spam, you are looking at the wrong political map. On this episode of Professional Jealousy, Anomaly’s Chief Innovation Officer Natasha Jakubowski sits down with Daniel Squadron (former NY State Senator, Co-founder and Executive Director of The States Project, and author of the new book The Fourth Branch) and M...

Six months into launching her clean luxury fragrance brand, NETTE, Sephora slid into Carol Han Pyle's DMs. In this episode of Professional Jealousy, host Natasha Jakubowski (Chief Innovation Officer at Anomaly) sits down with Carol to discuss her wild journey from fashion editor at Elle to beauty mogul. Carol shares the raw reality of building a physical product business, the supply chain nigh...

In this episode of Professional Jealousy, Natasha Jakubowski chats with Richard Mumby, CEO of Wip, to discuss the birth of the next generation energy pouch. Richard shares his journey from DTC pioneers like Gilt and Bonobos to the front lines of category disruption at Juul, and how those experiences informed the launch of Wip. We dive into why liquid caffeine is failing specific consumer groups—fr...

In this episode of Professional Jealousy, Natasha Jakubowski chats with Rachel Liverman, founder of Glowbar to peel back the curtain on how she turned a 2017 manifestation email into a multi-city skincare empire. Rachel shares why she stripped away the "fluff" of 90-minute massages to focus on 30-minute clinical results, and how she maintains a high-performance culture with over 400 empl...

In this deep dive, Natasha Jakubowski chats with Monica Molenaar, serial entrepreneur and the co-founder and co-CEO of Alloy Health, a digital health platform revolutionizing how women navigate perimenopause and menopause. Monica shares her powerful personal journey—from a BRCA gene discovery and preventive surgery to the "aha moment" that led her to solve the menopause care crisis. We d...

On this episode, I chat with Dejan Rankovic, co-founder of Man Cereal, a creatine-infused functional food that is low carb, high protein and features this trending ingredient that isn't as ubiquitous as fiber or protein yet. He describes it as "Serious Nutrition" with an "Unserious Name", offering benefits designed to bring health conscious adults back to the cereal aisle....

On this episode of Professional Jealousy, I sit down with Pam Weekes and Connie McDonald, the legendary duo behind Levain Bakery. Over the course of 30 years, they have grown from one tiny shop on New York’s Upper West Side to a globally recognized brand famous for its six-ounce cookies (and coincidentally, my son’s favorite treats). Unlike many modern startups focused on rapid growth, Pam and Con...

Liv Schreiber is an entrepreneur, influencer, and the founder of Camp Social, a unique sleep away camp for adult women designed to help forge new friendships and combat loneliness. Liv shares her entrepreneurial journey that started in college and also includes starting a marketing agency as well as community-focused businesses like Hot & Social events in NYC, all before she turned 30! This co...

In this episode I chat with Rob Wade, CEO of Fox Entertainment, one of the world’s most recognizable media brands and a prolific content producer including everything from the Simpsons to Gordon Ramsay's Hells Kitchen, The Masked Singer, Bob's Burgers among other blockbuster titles. I’ve known Rob since University, and remember when he started in media as a runner at Virgin Radio in the UK. As I t...

In this episode, I chat with Annie Jackson, the Co-Founder & CEO of Credo Beauty, a trailblazing retailer that helped pioneer the clean beauty category offering the largest clean beauty assortment in skincare and makeup. Credo is a trusted voice in an under-regulated beauty industry, known for its deep commitment to healthy beauty, challenging conventional ingredient standard, and helping cons...

In this episode I chat with Ben Bashein is CEO of The Skatepark Project, the nonprofit founded by legendary skater Tony Hawk, where he leads the mission to create safe, accessible, and inclusive public skateparks for youth in underserved communities across the U.S. and internationally. We talked about Ben’s journey from college to world of non-profits including Planned Parenthood and CORE (Communi...

Anam Lakhani and Eve Halimi are co-founders of Alinea Invest, an AI-powered investing app revolutionizing how the next generation builds wealth by transforming investing into an accessible, community-driven experience. These two women met at Barnard College after interning at major financial institutions like Citigroup and Goldman Sachs, where they both realized how confusing and intimidating the...

Jake Bullock is the Co-Founder & CEO of Cann, the THC-infused social beverage company revolutionizing the way people socialize by providing a range of microdosed beverages that serve as alcohol alternatives made with simple, all-natural ingredients. Before taking his entrepreneurial leap, Jake was an associate at Bain Capital’s North American Private Equity fund evaluating potential investment...

Dee Poku is the Founder and CEO of The WIE Suite - a private membership community for women leaders, innovators, creators. Its mission is to redefine the way women leaders achieve success for themselves and for their companies by providing the community and tools for them to thrive at the highest levels. I love that her career has evolved from brand marketing to senior roles at Paramount Pictures...

In this episode with serial entrepreneur Craig Dubitsky, co-founder of EOS, Hello Oral Care and Happy Coffee we talk about so many topics including what makes a good brand; the importance of design, but also for products to be good above and beyond how they look; the importance of creating relevance; story doing vs story being; and many more insights into creating iconic, unique brands. Craig has...

Designing a better approach to life: Melissa Shin Mash, co-founder of Dagne Dover came up with the idea for Dagne Dover while leading the turn-around at Coach's first UK/EU location in 2009, where she saw the opportunity for a culturally-relevant, digitally-native bag brand that paired performance materials with smart design. Today, Melissa is always thinking about ways to live smarter and better...

Arthur Soroken, Co-founder of the AI Futures Fund @ Google - which was created to invest in and collaborate with start-ups by giving early access to Google DeepMind’s latest AI models as well as resources, technical expertise, and equity funding to accelerate their progress. This conversation included:- How the AI Futures Fund is different from other Google units like Google Ventures, Capital G, a...

Ana is a global brand executive, author of “ ⁠Hitmakers: How Brands Influence Culture⁠ ,” and “ ⁠The Business of Aspiration⁠ ” and has been recognized three times by Forbes for her CMO work. She earned her doctorate in sociology, and is a widely read writer of  ⁠The Sociology of Business⁠ , speaker and advisor. Ana is known for her strong strategic POV within fashion, lifestyle and luxury, and she...

The benefit of going with your gut: Shannon Race is the Co-founder and CEO of Bio.me, a groundbreaking line of clean, fiber-rich gut health supplements designed to optimize and restore the microbiome, inspired by her own battle with IBS. She is also a Principle at Starshot Ventures, where she leads investment strategy and advises portfolio brands. Additionally she sits on the board of Koia, a lead...

Building Community to Do Good for the Community: Asmeret Behr-Lumax is a force for positive change, with a deep commitment to social justice and giving back. She’s the founder and CEO of One Love Community Fridge, a Brooklyn-based nonprofit organization dedicated to addressing food insecurity and increasing access to healthy foods. She is also a passionate advocate for girls empowerment as board c...

Bringing a Unique Flavor of Entrepreneurialism: Clara is an entrepreneur and founder of Unite Food, the world’s first globally inspired protein bar brand. With a mission to bring unique flavors from around the world to your pantry, Unite Food celebrates global tastes and wholesome nutrition. Before starting Unite Food, she spent 17 years as the Managing Director of EZ-FLO International, developing...

Creating a brand world of desire: Jennifer Zuccarini is a fashion designer and entrepreneur, known for her work in the lingerie space. She co-founded Kiki de Montparnasse, the first luxury brand surrounding intimacy in 2005, and went on to found the premium lingerie, ready-to-wear and swim brand Fleur du Mal in 2012. Jennifer’s ambition is to change the way women approach lingerie, understanding t...

Pioneering the Quest for Longevity: Dr. Roizen is certified in Internal Medicine and Anesthesiology, and a self confessed science nerd. He served as Cleveland Clinic’s first Chief Wellness Officer, and founding Chair of its Wellness Institute. Dr. Roizen is devoted to helping people live younger, and he developed the RealAge Test as well as helping start 13 companies, and co-invented a drug approv...

p> Transforming the way we approach death: Adelle is the CEO & Co-Founder of Eterneva, a celebration of life brand that reimagines the experience around loss by making diamonds from ashes or hair. Eterneva was named Consumer Startup of the Year by the Stevie Awards and was featured on Shark Tank, receiving investment from Mark Cuban. Adelle has been featured on both Inc and Forbes coveted ’...