Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Alisha Stephens. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Alright, Alisha thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. We’d love to hear how you think where to draw the line in terms of asking friends and family to support your business – what’s okay and what’s over the line?

In the many years that I have done entrepreneurial work, whether it be for grassroots nonprofit work or new business ventures, I have always received tremendous support from friends and family (and friends of friends and family).

Actually, a story that ties into this nicely is the Kickstarter campaign I recently launched for my new company, Umanos. We used the campaign to secure pre-orders and help get the brand out into the world. Through the enormous help of friends and family, we reached half our goal in 24 hours, and our total goal within the first two weeks! This absolutely would not have been possible without the support of friends and family. They helped us get those crucial first orders in and spread the word about the launch of the company.

In my experience, friends and family are often our biggest fans. It’s always been scary for me to ask for help. There’s something so hard about this, even from people you know. But when I receive an outpouring of support, it makes me feel like I can really do it even when self-doubt creeps in.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

When I was little, my mother always said you could do anything you put your mind to. These little words of wisdom have encouraged me to pursue dreams I never thought possible.

As an undergrad, I studied International Business where I spent a fair amount of my time thinking about how to use business to do good things in the world. This fed my desire to explore the world and learn more about how using grassroots efforts and business can drive positive change. So in my 30s, I ‌quit my job and sold everything to follow this curiosity and enthusiasm. I worked with forward-thinking NGOs and small businesses on the ground across 7 countries and 4 continents in the areas of education, poverty alleviation, and with microfinance programs that helped women start and grow their small businesses.

Through this experience, my passion for people became clear. From this moment forward, I began dreaming about merging my business background and philanthropic background to build a kind of business that puts people first and creates with a focus on quality, sustainability, and positive social impact.

I didn’t ‌know at the time this would manifest itself through a natural bodycare company (I’m an outsider in this industry), but when I struggled to find products I loved with quality, efficacy and sustainability at the forefront, my wheels started spinning.

I saw the potential to create higher quality, lower-impact products that stood for something far greater. Inspired, I rolled up my sleeves, sought experts, and committed to this idea of creating a company that is driven by purpose.

This led to Umanos, our small sustainable bodycare company rooted in quality, sustainability, and positive impact. We make clean hair and body care essentials and focus on doing business in ethically and environmentally conscious ways. Our products are perfect for people wanting quality options that are healthy, high performing and free of single-use plastics. We produce everything locally in the US in a family-run, solar-powered facility and have a refill program coming later this year.

Our products also allow you to do good through your everyday routine. With our Wash to Water program, we created a model that supports happier, healthier communities by donating 1% of sales to clean water projects for kids and communities who don’t have access. This mission is dear to me, as I’ve been part of poverty alleviation efforts in some of these communities for almost a decade.

After 20 years of working at the intersection of business and philanthropy, it felt like the right time to pursue this lifelong dream of building a purpose-driven company. Inspired by some of the greats: Patagonia, TOMS, Chobani, just to name a few, I’m here to take good care of people and create products I believe in.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

It seems everyone has received a lesson in resilience over the course of these last few years!
I am no different. When I first began working on umanos, it was the beginning of 2020. I’d planned for this moment, left my job, and went full-force into focusing on this vision. Then the pandemic hit. The world spun into uncertainty and it was terrifying, both personally and from a business perspective. It seemed like overnight I had to decide what to do. Do I keep going, or let go of the dream?

I kept going. It was far from easy and many times I wondered if I’d made the wrong choice. Our family was down to a single income (which was also disrupted), I was new to the industry, there were supply chain challenges, and I failed multiple times to find the right development partners. There for a while, I felt like I was going backward a lot more than I was going forward.

But I knew if I didn’t keep going, seeing this vision through would probably be a fleeting dream for me. So I hunkered down, found a supportive social entrepreneurship group, leaned on my partner for support, and tackled each hurdle one at a time.

It’s taken much longer to get to market, but it’s made the business more thoughtful, resourceful, and ultimately more resilient. They say constraints make you interesting. Even though the beginning was extra tough, it’s strengthened our foundation!

Can you open up about how you funded your business?

I was raised by a single mom and growing up, money was always a struggle. This made‌ me very conservative with how I spend my money and created an obsession with saving. Of course, saving is good, but when framed from a place of scarcity, it cripples your ability to take risks. Money was a huge reason I didn’t pursue starting a business earlier in life. I just didn’t think it was possible without a huge amount of investment.
But the more I read about starting a business and the more I worked on my limiting beliefs surrounding money, the more I realized what was possible.

Launching a product based business (with 3 initial SKUs), I used most startup capital for research, development and manufacturing. We extensively researched and sustainably sourced our ingredients, created our formulas from scratch with natural and organic formulators, and found a manufacturing partner that would accommodate a smaller production run. Which still required us to produce 3,000 initial units.

This needed upfront capital investment. So I used a mixed approach: 10% personal investment, 80% SBA small business loan, and 10% from a crowdfunding Kickstarter campaign.

Choosing to take on a small business loan and using money I had saved was scary. It was an emotional journey that required trust. Trust that investing in myself and my purpose was worth the risk. There’s an inspiring quote that says, “trust breeds magic,” and I choose to invest in the magic.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.heyumanos.com
• Instagram: instagram.com/heyumanos
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/heyumanos
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/umanos-bodycare
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/heyumanos

Image Credits
All images by Stanton J Stephens @stantonjstephens