Some founders chase scale. Lael AnnMarie chased meaning first. A bootstrapped founder building her fourth company, Lael created EcoLux Goods after spotting a broken consumer experience and choosing to fix it with a sustainable luxury product rooted in ethical sourcing and impact. Still working in her salon while growing a product based startup, her path reflects real founder resilience and focus. Her story cuts into the hard truths of manufacturing from scratch, selling into hospitality sales, and navigating vendor approval red tape inside big corporations. The lessons that follow speak to founders learning when to push, when to surrender, and how to stop chasing yes so real progress can begin.
Key Takeaways:
1️⃣ Build Values In, Not Later
Bootstrapping a product based startup forces clarity fast. When values like ethical sourcing and sustainability are baked in from day one, they guide manufacturing decisions, wholesale sales strategy, and who you say no to. The right constraints protect your energy and your brand as you scale.
2️⃣ Stop Chasing Yes and Get to No
Selling into hospitality sales and big corporations is not about one decision maker. It is about navigating red tape, vendor approvals, and slow timelines without burning out. Design your conversations to reach a clear no faster so you can focus on real opportunities that actually move revenue.
3️⃣ Let the Process Work on You
Building a sustainable luxury product will surface every fear you have around worthiness, money, and success. Resilience is not forcing outcomes but surrendering to the long game while staying consistent. When you trust the process, confidence follows and momentum compounds.
Timestamps
00:14 Meet Lael AnnMarie and Hello Chaos
01:22 The paper straw problem that sparked EcoLux Goods
02:28 Designing a luxury reusable product
04:30 Manufacturing chaos and early prototypes
06:48 Ethical sourcing and recycled materials
08:24 Losing a business during COVID
11:34 Shifting from DTC to wholesale
13:21 The reality of selling to big corporations
17:29 Stop chasing yes and get to no faster
22:24 Surrendering to the founder process
26:33 Worthiness healing and impact driven business
32:15 Resilience and defining the next chapter
Want to keep up with Lael and what she’s building next? Here’s where to connect.
Website: https://ecoluxgoods.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/laelbarry/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ecoluxgoods/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lael.ecolux/
Jennifer Sutton (00:14)
Well, hello and welcome to Hello Chaos, the unfiltered podcast for founders kind of in the messy middle here. We have no fairy tales here, just the real grind, the grit and chaos of what it takes to start and build a business. Today I'm excited to have on the show, we've got Lael AnnMarie. AnnMarie, by the way, that's my sister's name, so I love it. You are.
Lael AnnMarie (00:37)
Fast one.
Jennifer Sutton (00:40)
So, Lael, she comes to us, she's the founder of EcoLooks Goods. Welcome to the show. Welcome to the chaos of our world, our messiness. Well, start us out and tell us what got you inspired, motivated to start your own company.
Lael AnnMarie (00:45)
Thank you. Thank you for having me.
Well, this is actually my fourth company. I've my first salon business at 20 years old. I'm almost 40. So that was a very long time ago. And I still work in this salon. I still, I'm self-funded. bootstrapped every venture. So yeah, I'm still in the salon three days a week. I love it. But this is my third business that I'm working on scaling my first.
Jennifer Sutton (01:00)
my goodness.
Wow.
The veteran.
Lael AnnMarie (01:22)
⁓ product based business. The others were SaaS. So yeah, I guess I was drinking a beautiful $30 cocktail out of a paper straw that was disintegrating in my mouth and my drink as I was drinking it. And I'm like, this is, there's gotta be something better than this. And at the time California had banned single use plastics, which I'm totally on board for. I'm an ocean lover. I'm a conservative.
Jennifer Sutton (01:24)
Yeah.
Lael AnnMarie (01:47)
or conservationist, I guess you should say. And so I'm on board with that, but I was like, this paper straw is not it.
Jennifer Sutton (01:54)
There's gotta
be a better consumer experience than the... Yeah.
Lael AnnMarie (01:58)
Exactly, especially for an elevated experience. know, when you're
drinking, it's one thing if you're drinking a $5 happy hour from a dive bar. But if you're, you know, having a beautiful drink, you want something that's not disintegrating in your mouth.
Jennifer Sutton (02:15)
Yeah.
So what was that shift? mean, here you're like, okay, there's gotta be a process. So what was the moment where you're like, all right, I think there's a better way, how do I create a product? I mean, you're literally like making something. What was that process like?
Lael AnnMarie (02:28)
Yes.
Well, in my head, I'm, you I'm a visionary. have a list of, I call it my bucket list in my notes app. And it's like all the things and these things just kind of come to me. So in that moment, within five minutes, I was like, all right, if you want something and you expect someone to reuse it, carry it around with them, bring it out in front of their friends at a bar, it's got to be beautiful. It's got to be special and it's got to be like a statement, right?
And I'm like, okay, what can that be? And also if you're carrying it around in your bag or your, know, purse, you want it to not have germs and be collecting bacteria, especially if you're going to put your mouth on it. and I don't know what I third, fourth grade chemistry tells you that gold and silver are naturally antimicrobial, ⁓ antibacterial fungus molds don't grow on it. And I was like, aha, that's it. And like,
Jennifer Sutton (03:05)
Right.
That's right.
Lael AnnMarie (03:21)
how bougie is that to pull out a gold straw and be like, I don't use paper straws. ⁓ So that's really where it came from. And then from there, I really was working the business model. with all my past businesses and the experience, I really wanted to create something that was around my values and that had an impact.
Jennifer Sutton (03:25)
That's right.
Lael AnnMarie (03:41)
⁓ So we are a California social purpose corporation and I have committed 10 % of our profits to ocean conservation as well as communities that support women in business and survivors of abuse.
Jennifer Sutton (03:45)
Okay.
⁓ nice. So.
how did you figure out who to go to to help design, manufacture, produce your product? Did you already have those connections from your other companies? The ecosystem in California, did you like, was it easy to make those connections? Like how did that, I'm always fascinated with that, because it's a, just a different, a whole different beast when you deal with.
tangible manufacturing of a product like creation of a product versus SAS or service and dealing with a whole different supply chain. So talk to me about that chaos.
Lael AnnMarie (04:30)
Yeah, chaos it is. Because this is my third scaled startup, I did have a business network, but they were mostly in tech. So I had never done manufacturing. I've never produced a product. I had no idea what I was doing. While I have the business background, zero manufacturing, zero connections. And I was a member at the university club in San Diego and met a jeweler who
Jennifer Sutton (04:55)
life.
Lael AnnMarie (04:57)
makes jewelry and manufacturers out of the country. So I talked to him and told him my idea and he's like, let's see what we can do, you know? ⁓ And exactly, he was like, why? And I'm like, why not? But he did, I mean, he was really kind and we did probably, ⁓ my gosh, probably 12 different prototypes.
Jennifer Sutton (05:05)
Alright, I would like a gold straw please.
We're ahead.
Lael AnnMarie (05:20)
We did handmade and you know, for me, bootstrapping budgets was a thing and you're looking at minimum order quantities. And so my first like hundred, they were all handmade and it was, you know, I went, he connected me with his manufacturing partner in India. I went out there, met with them, did the whole thing. And then when I was like, okay, we're gonna really scale this and I'm gonna double down. You know, I had to.
Jennifer Sutton (05:25)
Yeah.
Okay.
Right.
Lael AnnMarie (05:45)
they they made jewelry and they're really good at that. But, you know, I needed to find a process that was more consistent and get the gold thickness correct and all those things. So, yeah, it's it was a journey. And if it wasn't for that jeweler, I don't know where I would be. I don't know how I would even found connections.
Jennifer Sutton (05:49)
You
Are you using a different manufacturer that's more like a straw manufacturer now and just going, let me bring the right materials? Or did you help expand that manufacturer to do something in a little bit different?
Lael AnnMarie (06:27)
We are still using jewelers. ⁓ There are artisanal jewelers that have been doing jewelry for a very, very long time. And it's the first time they've been making straws. They do jewelry. But because of the quality of the metals, we needed people who had access as well as knew how to work with them and knew about microns and.
Jennifer Sutton (06:30)
Nice. Okay.
Bye.
Right.
Lael AnnMarie (06:48)
you know, all of those things. So, sourcing, ethical sourcing was a big one for me, which when you're talking about mining and all of that, it can be a challenge. But we are using 70 % recycled materials. And yeah, they've been great.
Jennifer Sutton (06:58)
Right?
Did you have to learn all of that or were you already kind of, you had to learn all that, like the whole ethical sourcing, like did you even realize that was a thing and go, okay, wait a minute, let me take a step back, I wanna make sure that we stay true to the values, what I stand for, you know, these are some boundaries that ⁓ I wanna adhere to. Was that like a whole new process?
Lael AnnMarie (07:05)
I had to learn everything.
Well, luckily I knew what I wanted going in. And so I was pretty firm about that. Sustainability and ethics have always been part of my ethos and every part of my business. My salon is a luxury, sustainable salon. only use sustainable products. And so again, leading with my values made it a little bit more challenging to find the right fit for a manufacturing partner.
Jennifer Sutton (07:32)
Yeah.
Right.
Lael AnnMarie (07:52)
It also made it really easy to say no to certain ones. ⁓ So yeah, we are certified recycled materials and ethical manufacturing as well.
Jennifer Sutton (07:55)
Yeah. Yeah.
What was the biggest aha moment that you've had? Whether it's in this business or maybe a previous one, but any good like, whoa, that's a zinger piece of information.
Lael AnnMarie (08:14)
Gosh, how do I even start?
Yes, I'll help.
I'm going to have to think about this one a little bit.
Jennifer Sutton (08:18)
No, or
or or whether a bit whether it was there a big like ⁓ shit moment that might have turned into an aha moment.
Lael AnnMarie (08:24)
my God, shit moments are yes, every day. I would probably say the most impactful shit moment for me was when I was building and scaling my first business, which was a fast platform that connected beauty professionals with advanced beauty education globally. ⁓ And so the whole model hinged on gathering in groups and travel and then COVID hit.
Jennifer Sutton (08:26)
Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha
Wow.
Yeah.
Lael AnnMarie (08:51)
And I was in
my first round of funding. had a verbal commitment for a lead. ⁓ had taken me forever to get there. Cause this is my first, I didn't even know I was a tech founder until my mentor was like, you got to apply for this pitch. He's like, you got to apply for this pitch competition. I'm like, no, that's tech. He's like, you have a tech company. like, no, don't. I have an education company. So that's how like.
Jennifer Sutton (09:00)
You're in tech. You're a SaaS company. Welcome.
I'm a community company.
Lael AnnMarie (09:16)
That's how green
and raw I was. But yeah, so I was like finally gaining some real momentum. I was bootstrapping, going for funding, and then COVID hit and the whole world stopped. And my model was cut at the throat in overnight. And our industry was just rottled by COVID.
Jennifer Sutton (09:23)
Yeah.
⁓
yeah. Yeah.
Lael AnnMarie (09:38)
So it was brutal.
I had the choice to pivot to online, but I, I'm a values driven person and founder and my heart says skills-based education needs to be in person, not just you're building relationships here. And a lot of what we do, we're working with our hands and it's ergonomics and it's body position. And so to me, it was so important to keep that in person. ⁓ and I just.
Jennifer Sutton (10:03)
Yeah.
Lael AnnMarie (10:04)
You know, everybody was pivoting to digital and my heart just wasn't in that space.
Jennifer Sutton (10:08)
Are
you going to revisit it or have you revisited that? Because the world's now changing back to, yes, there's now more hybrid, but I think there's a ⁓ thirst for that more human authentic connection, especially when it comes to like skill-based training, that in-person desire is there. Are you going to take it off the shelf or are you still shelving it?
Lael AnnMarie (10:31)
I've shelved it. I think for me, I'm already spread so thin. I'm a single woman running a business, right? And I have my salon business still and I'm bootstrapping this business. So I really just need to stay focused where I'm at. Hairdressing is my first love, my first passion, my first business. It will always have a big piece of my heart. But COVID shifted our industry in a massive way.
Jennifer Sutton (10:37)
You're like, let's work on the straws.
Yeah.
Lael AnnMarie (10:56)
social media shifted our industry in a massive way. And I won't say it's bad or good, it's just different. ⁓ And so for me, it, exactly. And so really, I'm really loving what I'm doing. My whole heart is into it. you know, people still are like, you sell what? A gold straw? And I'm like, well, yes.
Jennifer Sutton (10:56)
⁓ yeah.
Yeah, the landscape changes. Yeah. How do we and how do we deal with it? Yeah.
Lael AnnMarie (11:20)
Yes, that's a gold straw. It's beautiful. It's, you know, all these things, but for me, it's about values and impact and what that gold straw represents and what I can do with the resource that comes in with that. And that's making real change in my community.
Jennifer Sutton (11:34)
Right.
Are you selling direct to consumers or are you looking for like a pipeline to sell into like a reseller distributor that goes into like bars and and grocery stores and you know high end I caught like the bar boutiques.
Lael AnnMarie (11:51)
Yeah, well, we started DTC e-commerce and kind of proved our concept that way. And then I quickly realized that I want I need quantity. ⁓ And so I had an opportunity in the luxury hospitality sector. And so I've been pushing that really hard. We dabbled in retail, we got an offer to sell an anthropology marketplace. ⁓
Jennifer Sutton (12:02)
Yeah.
Wow.
Lael AnnMarie (12:16)
but
just due to resources, I am like, have to be very tunnel vision. So yeah, I would love to be in retail stores, but that's gonna have to be down the road when we actually have the resource to invest in massive inventory. ⁓ So right now we are highly focused on wholesale accounts and corporate gifting. So we're looking at high-end hospitality,
Jennifer Sutton (12:26)
Yeah.
and do that.
Lael AnnMarie (12:39)
corporate business gifting, whether it's holiday or convention and things like that. ⁓ Private jet companies, yachts, that's where we're focused on.
Jennifer Sutton (12:41)
Yeah
Gotcha.
Low hanging fruit where that aligns. Yeah.
Lael AnnMarie (12:52)
You would think it's
low hanging fruit, but man, I'm going after mammoths and it is like, there's a lot of red tape, but we're doing it. We're in the rooms. We're having the conversations and you know, it just takes a really long time.
Jennifer Sutton (12:58)
Ugh.
I think it takes
longer than most people realize, especially with goods. CPG, it's not a let's start it and then six months we're everywhere. mean, there is a, it's dealing with people, dealing with, yeah, red tape.
Lael AnnMarie (13:21)
And when you're ducking with big corporations, exactly.
Jennifer Sutton (13:23)
And multiple people. I think that is
a, I think people think, oh, I'm targeting that one company. It's like, yeah, but it's 20 people that you need to convince at that one company. It's not one person. You gotta convince the purchasing. You gotta get a champion. You gotta deal with, and it's a group of, yes.
Lael AnnMarie (13:33)
Exactly.
and then it's accounting and budget approval, and then it's back to
the table for quantity negotiations. And I mean, you get it. And when we're talking with one organization, there's multiple departments within that organization, which are all separate entities that don't talk to each other.
Jennifer Sutton (13:52)
Yeah.
Yeah. And no one wants to own it. You've got to
find an owner. You've got to find a champion. And just keep at it. I think that because I think that's a myth that might be boiling out there of like, ⁓ that should be really easy if you only target 10 companies or you only target 100 companies. It might be a small list, but it's ⁓ sometimes a just nuanced sale.
Lael AnnMarie (14:04)
Exactly.
Jennifer Sutton (14:24)
that takes different little messages to convince each of those players.
Lael AnnMarie (14:30)
Exactly
in each one you have to like hit the nail and you know we've been in conversations with one organization in particular we're now with in five departments which is incredible. But you know it's been five six months and I'm like where's that PL but there it's budget approvals and exactly and in particular I'm working with a casino so that's gaming commissioners that's.
Jennifer Sutton (14:43)
Yeah. Right now it's, let's go people. Yeah.
⁓
Lael AnnMarie (14:56)
vendor approvals, you know, it's just the list goes on and on like right when I'm like, okay, I did it. They're like, we need this. And you know, some of these gaming commissions, it can take a year and a half to get approval and then they're ranked and that, know, so it's just, it's a beast. ⁓
Jennifer Sutton (15:12)
Wow, so
even the gaming commission has to get involved for like what goes into a drink for any vendor. Wow.
Lael AnnMarie (15:18)
It's for any vendor, any vendor to any casino,
the gaming commission gets involved. And I actually got a lucky bypass by partnering with a distributor who is already registered out as a vendor. He's ranked number one in all of Las Vegas. He's incredible. And so we kind of, I'm selling to him.
Jennifer Sutton (15:24)
has to
Nice.
Lael AnnMarie (15:41)
and he's selling to them. we bypassed. So I'm like, I have to remind myself all the time I am in like the Autobahn fast lane. But even with that, it's, it just is a lot of red tape.
Jennifer Sutton (15:42)
Okay. Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah, but it's the reality, you know, that is. Were there any other big myths that you, that's like, you know, ⁓ it should be easy, it shouldn't be this, were there any other kind of myths, even not just with this company, but you know, with your others, that you were like, that is not, that was not how it was supposed to be.
Lael AnnMarie (15:57)
Yeah. Yep.
I mean, yeah, I think it's really just the timing. like, I think as a founder, you hear a yes and you're like, all right, we're going to do this. And by next week, we're going to have this, you know, and then all of a sudden it's like, you have to follow up a hundred times. You have to like really stay on people. And a lot of times the yes is like a lip service and then, you know, so.
Jennifer Sutton (16:24)
When?
Yeah.
Yeah.
Lael AnnMarie (16:39)
I think that's been a challenge for me because when I say yes to something, I'm going to do it and it's going to be done within 24 hours because I like to just check things off my box. But not everybody's like that and I'm not anyone's priority. And so you really have to be the bug in the ear. There's a lot of follow-up. And I don't think people mean to do that. I think they're just busy and have their own things going on.
Jennifer Sutton (16:44)
I'm gonna do it. Yeah. Right.
Knock it out.
Right?
No.
But I think you're right. think there's a decade or so ago, you could probably do follow ups once a month or whatever. But I think now with our attention span, you really do. We've had to change kind of our cadence for follow up. And sometimes it might make people uncomfortable to go, I just sent a reminder two days ago. And it's like, you need to send another reminder. Until we get the yes or the no.
till we get closure.
Lael AnnMarie (17:29)
Exactly. that's, that's something. Yeah. And I think that's the most important thing is like a yes or a no. You have to like bother these people until they tell you to go away. And the hard part is, like, I get those emails all the time. I get those DMS and you're like, my God, this is annoying. But it's like, you got to do it.
Jennifer Sutton (17:30)
We're following up.
Yeah.
Like give me an answer. It was one of the best, like an aha moment for me was the best piece of advice I got from, I was in an accelerator back in 2018 and I felt like I had my pitch, had my sales kind of cadence and rhythm and I said, but
I said, what frustrates me is that sometimes I have to do six to 20 follow-up and coffee meetings, or I'm sitting with somebody and I feel like I'm giving free advice, free, and he kind of stopped me said, you're chasing the yes. He was like, you need to re-shift everything and chase, and.
get to the no as fast as possible. And I was like, what? And he said, you're, he goes, you're ⁓ a pleaser. He said, you're, and it's gonna, it will burn your business. Like you, will burn you out in business development. And I thought about my, that's like genius. This is like, so in your first meeting, you need to design your questions, like whatever that is to get to the no faster. And, and he said, sometimes you need to say, you know, you'll get through the maybe.
Like if you're not getting a yes, it's a maybe. And then the maybe becomes the conversation around, okay, not yet, when. So I don't wanna waste either one of our time. So yeah, to redesign kind of the, my follow ups or even just design that first initial kind of discovery meeting was like a 180 from what I was doing.
It was, it saved so much more time because also it's like trying to find the right fit and being very upfront of, maybe we're not the right, we're not right for you, you're not right for us. And kind of putting it in that was just such a good lesson learned for me on sales of, I never thought of it that way of get to the know faster.
Lael AnnMarie (19:44)
Yeah, I mean, that's great advice, especially because...
Jennifer Sutton (19:45)
Yeah.
We all do it, we all wanna get the yes. We all want the, cause it's a win. ⁓ And it feels good, but yeah, that was my, so now that's how I walk into it. like, you're right, I gotta, it might not work out. I not, I, cause the other thing I was doing was like, I was writing proposals and estimates and all this stuff and I'd get ghosted. So I was doing all the work and that was like, that's the first meeting is, should I even bother?
Lael AnnMarie (19:49)
Ev.
Exactly.
Jennifer Sutton (20:14)
sending you a proposal or here's just kind of our price sheet as a first shot and then we put them in our nurture kind of cadence and sequence but it takes the load off of me of scheduling meeting dates all the time for people who then you know it's just wasted time so that's helped.
Lael AnnMarie (20:34)
Yeah.
It's interesting because even in fundraising, right? They say you have to have like a hundred nos before you get a yes. And it's like, if you, if you knew that, if you knew that then every no would be more exciting. Every time you hear no, you're like, awesome. I'm that much closer to a yes. And so really when you are like, get to the no. And yeah, then nobody's wasting time and it's closer to the yes. And you can actually focus on real opportunity.
Jennifer Sutton (20:56)
That's it.
Right. On who you need
to, right. And it was interesting, because when you design and think of it that way, you also approach those meetings much differently because then it becomes the level playing field of, okay, I'm not selling to you. I'm really trying to discover if this is a relationship that needs to pursue any further than this meeting. So it was a completely different mindset change for me.
Lael AnnMarie (21:26)
Exactly.
Yeah, and you show
up in different energy. It's not this desperation. It's like, have this great opportunity. It may or may not be a fit for you, but also are you a fit for the opportunity that I have? And that it does, it shifts.
Jennifer Sutton (21:32)
And yeah.
Right.
Right. If our
value, it shifts it completely. And then also when you do the follow up, hey, if it's not a yes, it's either a maybe or just tell me no so I can move on. you know, no hard feelings. We're not a fit for everybody.
Lael AnnMarie (21:54)
Exactly. Exactly.
Jennifer Sutton (21:55)
And it's
interesting how much it also changes the psychology of like, whoa, wait. Well, maybe I can't either, because then you learn they don't really have the authority that they have posed themselves to say they have the authority. So you really get out to like, so who should I really be talking to at your organization? You might be a champion or maybe an influencer, but you're not the decision maker. So who do I need to talk to? Is what usually, yeah.
Lael AnnMarie (22:05)
Mm-hmm.
And that is, yes,
Jennifer Sutton (22:22)
So it just
Lael AnnMarie (22:23)
that is the biggest.
Jennifer Sutton (22:24)
changed, like I said, it just changed the entire like my flow and kind of like my confidence of, because it just changes the psychology of what's the purpose of that meeting and how are we gonna walk away from it. So, okay, so what have you discovered about yourself in this new endeavor, a industry, in a landscape that was foreign to you?
What did you learn about yourself?
Lael AnnMarie (22:48)
How did I learn about myself? That I'm insane, that I love chasing. There's something about building something and learning and growing that it's like an addiction. There are worse things to be addicted to than the thrill of building a company. But really, I would say the biggest thing that this business has taught me, and this may sound cheesy, but the full on surrender to the process.
Jennifer Sutton (22:58)
Yeah.
Lael AnnMarie (23:13)
⁓ I am a person, I'm a get shit done person. And so I really can force and push my way through things. and with this, especially again, I'm going after these mammoth companies. and there is a point where pushing and forcing is not the way to be. It's got to be a full blown, just full bodied energetic surrender.
Jennifer Sutton (23:27)
Right.
Lael AnnMarie (23:40)
the process and knowing that, you know, we're in the right rooms, we're talking to the right people, but these things don't happen overnight. You know, they don't shift the Titanic in a second. It takes time.
Jennifer Sutton (23:51)
No. Well, you're
dealing with people that are imperfect.
Lael AnnMarie (23:54)
Exactly. Well, and people that, you know, they may be the VP of North America for the company, but they don't write the POs and they don't
Jennifer Sutton (24:04)
They don't have
that full authority. Yeah. Yeah.
Lael AnnMarie (24:06)
Exactly, exactly. They're not
the person. They have to take it to their team and then their team has to meet about it and Bob and you know, meanwhile they're running a organization where like gold straws just don't happen to be their priority. ⁓ So yeah, I think. I think it is just that full surrender to the process and really learning to enjoy the process along with it because.
Jennifer Sutton (24:11)
Right.
Right.
Lael AnnMarie (24:30)
something, you know, I always thought I'm building a business, I'm building an empire, all of these things, like this building something will work on you and you will, and you can resist it, or you just have to surrender to that, to the process that's also a building yourself. Cause if you will face yourself in a way that I don't know of any other thing that.
Jennifer Sutton (24:50)
Yeah.
Lael AnnMarie (24:58)
forces you to see humbling every insecurity, every fear, it highlights it, imposter syndrome. I mean, the list goes on and on and on. And so it's like, I think that's the biggest thing is, yeah, just surrender to the process wholly ⁓ and don't, yeah, whether you want to or not.
Jennifer Sutton (25:00)
It is humbling, like a thousand percent.
Yeah, and you're gonna learn like, you're
gonna learn not just like where you're, but I think you'll learn so much about yourself because of that humbling of, you know, your boundaries or you start setting them or you truly get faced with, I really suck at this and I need to work on it.
Lael AnnMarie (25:27)
Mm-hmm.
Well, it's that and it's and it's your
your relationship to money. It's your relationship to success. I mean, it's I if you would have told me you're afraid of success, I'd be like, what? No, that's what I'm after. But there is there's these, ⁓ you know, underlying subconscious fears that until you're put in a position where you're constantly facing yourself and like, OK, what is
Jennifer Sutton (25:43)
Wow, yeah.
Lael AnnMarie (26:05)
really going on here, what is the root here? ⁓ And you better be ready to face those things or you're gonna hold yourself back. And so that's been a big lesson for me.
Jennifer Sutton (26:07)
Right.
If, try and think of, what is the most surprising, like if our listeners, this is not anything that's like on resume or LinkedIn, but what would be something that we'd be really surprised or I'd be surprised to learn about you?
Lael AnnMarie (26:27)
Like personally or as it relates to business ⁓
Jennifer Sutton (26:29)
Yeah, either one.
Yeah.
Lael AnnMarie (26:33)
Well, I think it's out there on my LinkedIn and stuff, but I am a survivor of abuse. All of the above, mental, physical, emotional, physical, sexual, all of the things.
Jennifer Sutton (26:38)
Okay.
Bye.
All of that.
that's why part of your proceeds go to help. Full circle. Okay.
Lael AnnMarie (26:50)
Exactly,
exactly. Because I have been in the position of needing support. And luckily, there are organizations and people that have been incredible. And so that is a big part of where my impact is. So I think it's interesting because a lot of people meeting me, I give off like strong
strong independent energy, but I had to fight for that. so I had to really do a lot of work around worthiness, enoughness, which is actually a very common wound in a lot of humans.
Jennifer Sutton (27:12)
Yeah.
Yeah, you had to grow into that, into that skin, okay?
Yeah.
Lael AnnMarie (27:29)
And so in, in working on healing with myself, what I really learned is so much of us are have so much more in common than we don't. You know, my story might be really obvious what the trauma is. But trauma is trauma is trauma. And, at the root of humanity, there's these core wounds that there's common threads. And so that is something that
I've been really invested on is healing. so plant medicine is an like big part of that journey. So that would be possibly a surprise as well. I guess on the business side of things, I was nominated for a global award as a hairdresser and the category of precision. Back into, thank you, thank you.
Jennifer Sutton (27:57)
Nice.
Nice. Congratulations. That's fantastic.
Lael AnnMarie (28:11)
It was a long time ago. It was a huge
Jennifer Sutton (28:11)
That's a win.
Lael AnnMarie (28:13)
win. mean, even just, and I was like so green at that stage of my career. So it was shocking to be included in that category because it is one of the most technically advanced categories in hairdressing. And really I was so battling with the enoughness worthiness and like being in the room with these heavy hitters. was like, who am I even being in this room?
Jennifer Sutton (28:39)
Yeah. How did you show up differently? I mean, just all the healing and going, I'm just going to bring it full. Yeah.
Lael AnnMarie (28:39)
but that was every little win.
Well, and honestly,
was one of my hair heroes that was in the award. It was like the pre-party to the award show. And he came over and was like, I don't think I know you. And I was like, that's because I'm nobody. And he just was like, who hurt you? He's like, you are more than worthy. You're here. You're in this room. And I just started sobbing because no one had ever told me that I was worthy before. And so it was just like this moment of like, wow.
this stranger, I know who he is. He doesn't know who I am. I've been like, he's an amazing hairdresser and one of, he's an icon and he's here telling me I'm worthy. And that was a pivotal moment for me. And it's when like that belief in myself really started. And it's like, you know, I, do deserve to be in these rooms. I may not be the best hairdresser in the world, but I'm here. And that wasn't an accident.
Jennifer Sutton (29:33)
Yeah.
Right.
Lael AnnMarie (29:37)
⁓ and so those, each one of those little wins that I've had has kind of fueled that fire and kind of healed the wound of around worthiness and enoughness. And until I started believing in.
Jennifer Sutton (29:49)
Who is your favorite cheerleader now?
Lael AnnMarie (29:51)
I have to say Jules and Stace, they rally, they are dynamic and they rally and they, I mean, they beat down doors arm in arm with you. I have never come across people, much less women, that will just join arms and just believe. And there are days where I'm in tears and falling apart and they're like, you got this. And I'm like, okay.
Jennifer Sutton (29:54)
yeah. They are dynamic, right? Ugh.
Lael AnnMarie (30:18)
As long as you ladies are by my side, can do this. I can do that. Exactly. And support, especially from women. Absolutely.
Jennifer Sutton (30:21)
Right, I can do anything, yeah. ⁓ that's so good. Shout out to Jules and Stace for being great cheerleaders.
So what's been the most rewarding aspect?
Lael AnnMarie (30:34)
think the most rewarding is of course when you get that like, yes, that validation, that like,
Jennifer Sutton (30:41)
Other people want this too?
Lael AnnMarie (30:42)
Yeah, but I'm not crazy. mean, again, I look at people look at me like I have seven heads when I tell them what my product is, they're like, what? And, you know, there's been negative comments and all this, but the people that get it, it, it's just very validating that like, okay, there, there's something to this. ⁓ And I'm, and I, it's the fuel to keep going.
Jennifer Sutton (31:03)
Yeah.
Love it. was like, what was the feeling when you got your either prototype or you saw the product for the first time and your and felt it in your hands? What was that emotion? What was going through your mind?
Lael AnnMarie (31:18)
There's
nothing like it. I mean, designing something from nothing and then holding it in your hand. And our first one was so ugly. It was so bad. But still it was like, my God. I still have it. Absolutely. I've kept every single, I have kept every single one and I still use every single one. But yeah, I mean just.
Jennifer Sutton (31:31)
Did you keep it? Did you keep? Okay, I was like, you need to do like the iteration.
Lael AnnMarie (31:43)
I, you know, I've, I'm designing another product and it's again, working when you, I'm a, I'm a visual person. I close my eyes and there's a lot going on visually. And so to take something from my brain and see it in the tangible 3d is just unreal. And I do that with hairdressing all the time, but it's just, it's just different. It's just different when it's your product. And then to see your product.
Jennifer Sutton (32:04)
was different, yeah.
Lael AnnMarie (32:08)
you know, on its way to a dream partnership, you know, it's like, wow, this is really, really happening. Yeah, it's really, it's really awesome.
Jennifer Sutton (32:15)
Right. I did it. Yeah. It's so exciting. Yeah.
Okay, so if you had to sum up your journey in one word, what would the word be to describe it?
Lael AnnMarie (32:30)
think the word would be resilience. I, again, I started my first business at 20. I have bootstrapped every business I've had. I have not had financial support really since I was 15. So it's, it's resilience. It's that getting back up, especially after failure, you know, when I lost my business during COVID, that was a blow.
Jennifer Sutton (32:32)
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah. ⁓
Lael AnnMarie (32:56)
And I had lost friends
Jennifer Sutton (32:57)
yeah, yeah.
Lael AnnMarie (32:57)
and family. I had raised money from friends and family and to face them and tell them I lost their money was humbling to say the least. So yeah, resilience, getting back up, starting over and knowing when to quit. But yeah, that resilience of just like, can't keep me down. I'm always gonna land on my knee. Exactly, exactly.
Jennifer Sutton (33:07)
Yeah.
Just keep going. That's right, determination. Yeah.
Okay, so if you face next chapter, what word do you want to define the next chapter?
Lael AnnMarie (33:27)
I would say impact. I want to leave a legacy. I want to create impact in my community and really create impact for our planet. ⁓ I think it's so important to me to really, really create an impact around conservation and sustainability and really a push for
Jennifer Sutton (33:34)
Yeah.
Yeah.
Lael AnnMarie (33:51)
all things reusable. think it's just so, you know, you look at microplastic, all the damage that we've done to our earth and our bodies and our societies, I think it would be really incredible to have a piece of impact in there.
Jennifer Sutton (33:57)
All of that.
Yeah.
Is that the vision for ecolux goods is to be more than just draws? Okay, yeah.
Lael AnnMarie (34:12)
absolutely.
We are an impact driven company. And that's what I want it to be a symbol of sustainability, a symbol of solidarity, a symbol of your ethics and where you're choosing to spend your money. yeah, it's a. Right, exactly. Yes, exactly.
Jennifer Sutton (34:29)
Right. Reflection on your values. Right. I mean self reflection. Yeah.
So nice. All right, so if we met a year from now, what will we be celebrating? What's the win?
Lael AnnMarie (34:41)
The win. We, wow, I think we'd be celebrating the launch of my second product. The launch of that and I think seeing my products in these massive hospitality people that we're going after.
Jennifer Sutton (34:59)
videos.
Lael AnnMarie (35:02)
That will be a huge win for sure.
Jennifer Sutton (35:05)
All right,
well we will, we're gonna manifest it.
Lael AnnMarie (35:08)
Yes, please. Yes.
Jennifer Sutton (35:09)
celebrate it. ⁓
And then like what's the best piece of advice that either you've kind of created yourself or what other you know people like a Jules or Stace have given you that you really take into heart that you can share with our listeners.
Lael AnnMarie (35:24)
I would, you know, it's pretty cliche, but it's just believe in yourself. If you don't believe in yourself, no one else is going to. and you have to believe in yourself even when everyone is doubting you. And that's, it's not easy to do. ⁓ but you just have to find that unshakable belief in yourself and your product and your values in everything that you're doing.
Jennifer Sutton (35:30)
Yeah.
Mm-mm.
Lael AnnMarie (35:47)
So when people look at you like you have seven heads, you just like, okay, you don't live in my reality. My reality is this is a thing and we're pushing for it.
Jennifer Sutton (35:51)
Yeah, that's right.
That's right. well, this was fantastic. I love talking to you today. This was wonderful. Before we go, there where can people support you, connect with you, find more about Ecolux goods, find a straw to help? What do we need to do?
Lael AnnMarie (36:00)
Yeah, thank you.
Yeah.
Well, I'm most active on Instagram and LinkedIn. So on LinkedIn, it's Lael Berry, B-A-R-R-Y. And you spell my name, L-A-E-L. And then on Instagram, we're at Ecolux Goods, at Ecolux Goods. And then it's also Lael .Ecolux. And so those are the two Instagrams. you can find us on our website. But again, we are
Jennifer Sutton (36:17)
Okay.
Lael AnnMarie (36:39)
solely wholesale at this point.
Jennifer Sutton (36:40)
Right, well very good, well we are gonna champion. Put it out there. Gold straws for everybody.
Lael AnnMarie (36:44)
Thank you, thank you. I know. Hey, you
never know. I see a future where everyone has a gold straw.
Jennifer Sutton (36:51)
That's right. That's right. Well, thank you. I appreciate this was such a good I just I love the conversation. And that's a wrap on today's chaos. But the journey doesn't stop here. If you found yourself nodding along, laughing and agreeing with Lael going same, same, make sure to subscribe, share, leave us that five star review on Spotify. Or you can dig deeper into our founder resources, our tools.
or more episodes over at orangewip.com and that's orangewip.com for work in progress, because that's what we all are. Until next time, stay curious, stay scrappy, and we will see you again next week.