Karen Frame is CEO and founder of Makeena, a boulder based startup offers a smartphone app that allows shoppers to receive rebates and offers for organic, natural, and cruelty-free products.
That fact of the matter is anyone can be a great entrepreneur and successful. Karen Frame succinctly describes what it takes to be a successful women entrepreneur. What I really love about her answer is it is the same for everyone!
“It is tough, first of all, just to be a founder, no question! You have to have a lot of grit [and] tenacity. You have to be able to problem-solve day in and day out. It does not matter if you are a woman, a person of color, someone that is a little bit older that is doing this. You have got to stick to it. You have to have your vision. You have to have your why.“
Karen certainly has what it takes, and her story is personal.
“I grew up in central Illinois on a lake across the street from a cornfield that was sprayed with pesticides every year. As a result, everyone in my family is either is sick or dead. I personally have experience with cancer. I want people to be able to buy better and take the sticker shock out of buying these better for them products.
Technology can improve lives, but it is tough to get people to change their habits. Makeena has proven that shoppers will buy healthier products if they are incentivized. Makeena is a B-Corp. which means the company has met the standards to be a “better for you” company.
“We are a social impact company too. When I launched Makeena It was really important to me to have that baked into our DNA. That is part of who we are.” Finally, Karen says that Makeena is a better company because it has a social impact mission. "I believe if you are more transparent with your vendors, customers, consumers your investors, the other people you work within the company you will have a much better well-oiled machine and fewer things to kind of grit it up."
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