We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Becca Millstein. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Becca below.

Becca, appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.

Fishwife was born out of a desire to reinvigorate tinned seafood’s reputation. It was the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic when inspiration struck. Me and my then-roommate and co-founder, Caroline Goldfarb, found ourselves eating copious amounts of tinned fish because it was consistent with our quarantine lifestyle, eating, and shopping habits. We were trying to limit grocery visits, looking for food products that were shelf-stable but also satiating and nutritious. Turns out, only tinned fish and canned beans fit the bill. It was at this time that I saw a glaring gap in the canned food space in the U.S., and despite the rich culinary cultures surrounding tinned fish and conservas around the world, that space remained barren and stale in American grocery stores. I took the opportunity to innovate in the space and put sustainability and the forefront, and the result was Fishwife!

Becca, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

Fishwife Tinned Seafood Co. is a Los-Angeles based tinned fish company that strives to make ethically sourced, premium, and delicious tinned seafood a staple in every American cupboard. We source from well-managed fisheries and responsible aquaculture farms to bring the vibrance of conservas culture to the North American table, and have led the growing tinned fish movement in the U.S. since launching in December 2020.

The quality of the Fishwife company that I’m most proud of is our drive to create constantly and always be evolving. Every team member at Fishwife is intensely creative – whether they are on the ops, sales, or marketing team – each Fishwife team member has brought ideas for innovation to the table, most of which we’ve seen to fruition. And while we have extremely high standards across all arenas, we aren’t perfectionists, which allows to continually experiment, put new products out into the world, and see how they’re received.

Alright – let’s talk about marketing or sales – do you have any fun stories about a risk you’ve taken or something else exciting on the sales and marketing side?

For the first year of the business, we did very small batch collaborations with about 40 independent female-identifying artists. I would say this was a risk because it was extremely time-intensive without demonstrating a clear ROI (this was the era in which I didn’t know what an ROI was). That being said, it set this foundation of Fishwife pursuing these deeply special, rarified partnerships, of putting so much time and energy into creating beautiful, joy-giving things. And that’s a spirit that informs everything we create and put into the world to this day.

How did you build your audience on social media?

When you’re a small business (or in many cases, like ours, just one person running the whole business), act like one! Talk like a real person, like a friend, and followers will connect with you like a friend. That’s the foundation we set at Fishwife, and I think it has led to a deeply engaged community that thinks of Fishwife as a dear friend. Don’t feel like you need to speak in formal marketing language when you’re an itty-bitty business.

For those just starting to build a social media presence, I’d say that the tone of voice you use on social media is hugely important. For Fishwife’s channels, it’s really just an extension of myself. From the beginning, the goal was always to speak to our audience like I’d speak to my best friend. So while the content plans have become more robust, the way we communicate has remained much the same. If I had to distill it all down, I’d say a few goals to keep in mind are: to spark conversation, not just talk at people. To use your social channels to educate your audience on the key differentiators of your brand, and of course, to bond over a shared interest!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://eatfishwife.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fishwife/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/becca-millstein-98595989/