Hello there! I am coming to you today with some very exciting info….to introduce our first ever “Funded By LIY” winners!! Now you may be wondering a few things: 1.) Waittttt, didn’t you already announce these winners?! Yes! We announced the 3 winners back in June, but recently hosted a retreat with all of them and would like to take a deeper dive into who they are! 2.) What the heck is “Funded By LIY?!”
Well, glad you asked 😉 The vision statement of Living In Yellow is, “To be the best resource to women in the most fun way possible.” This community is filled with amazing and unique women with so many talents and we thought there would be no better way to live out our mission statement than to pour into the dreams and visions of those in this beautiful community! Think of “Funded By LIY” as our own little Shark Tank (BIG Shark Tank fans here). You can learn more about the program here! There were SO many incredible women owned businesses that applied…we truly wish we could have picked them all [very tough decisions!]. We narrowed down the finalists and from there the LIY community voted to help choose the winners! You’ve already shown an outpouring of love an support not only to these 3 winners, but to the other finalists and small businesses within this community as well; so THANK YOU for being you and supporting small businesses!
As I mentioned, we like to have fun here. We hosted our “Funded By LIY” retreat recently and truly put the “fun in Funded” 😆! There were so many great moments of connection, learning, growing, and maybeeee some dance parties + games involved 🤣. These women blew us away with their innovative businesses, hard work, and perseverance! So, let’s get to know them a bit more, shall we?
p.s. If you want to see these ladies with their product in action, we did a facebook live together here!
Founder & Owner: Sara
What is Green Girl Goods?
Green Girl Goods is the first clean beauty and self care box just for tweens and teens! We offer seasonal subscriptions, one time orders, sleepover boxes, birthday boxes and more. Not only do we offer a fun, age appropriate curated collection of products but we are working to educate the next generation of female consumers to give them the tools needed to make choices to support their health and wellness with products, not work against it. This is such a fun gift to give, as it beautifully packaged and ready to go when it arrives. So easy!
When and why did you start Green Girl Goods?
As a mom of three and someone working in the natural health space, I was frustrated to find that it was so difficult to find the right cosmetics, skincare and personal care products for my daughter. There are so many beauty boxes and brands out there, but there was nothing for girls ages 8-16 that contained clean products I could feel good about her using. I wanted to create Green Girl Goods for all the moms (and aunts, step moms, dads, etc…) who felt the same disappointment and frustration with how unnecessarily hard this process of finding basic products for girls was. Additionally, anyone who has ever tried to read labels on products and cross reference that with the marketing that is out there regarding “clean” knows that it can be totally overwhelming. We screen the products ingredients to fit in with our standards which include (but are not limited to) no parabens, no sulfates, no undisclosed synthetic fragrances. I want to take that off your plate and offer an easy solution! We deliver the boxes right to your doorstep, giving your tween/teen a chance to really use and experience the 6-8 products in the box before the next season’s collection arrives.
Our boxes contain a mix of skincare, age appropriate cosmetics and some type of self care items. We utilize a teen focus group to make sure that the girls will love the products! We love including other small, women owned brands in the box as well as large national brands that you can easily find in stores. Our commitment to being eco-friendly includes recyclable packaging and responsible mailing materials.
The journey of exploring makeup, skincare and products is such a fun time in a young girl’s life! With the curated Green Girl Goods boxes, we hope to make it even more exciting for the girls. Additionally, it gives the gift giver the credit for knowing just what she wants without having to do all the work of putting it all together.
What’s your favorite part of being a “Funded By LIY” winner?
Winning the Funded by LIY contest has been a total game changer for my small business. The first thing that it offered was the chance to get eyes on my small business and really help me grow. Our biggest challenge has been getting the word out about our brand and LIY has done that! Another invaluable outcome of the win was the retreat with the winners and the LIY team. We had a weekend of dedicated business focus and what I learned from the relationships with the winners (and LIY team) has been amazing. Running a small business is tough and finding other women who are in it daily and really can relate is invaluable. I feel like I came away from that weekend with a new group of friends. I am SO excited to see where this journey leads next.
Tell us about any upcoming launches or new products!
Our boxes are seasonal so they ship Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter (Holiday). Our Fall box subscription [or one time box] is available until early November and the Holiday Box will begin to ship late November and is on presale now [which makes the perfect gift!]. For the subscription, your tween/teen will receive her first box in time for the holidays and the next box will be in March. Subscriptions ship free and are discounted from the one time order boxes! Don’t forget, you can use code YELLOW10 for 10% off + free shipping on a new subscription!
Founders & Owners: Shelley & Christa
What is My Classroom Party?
We sell Party Boxes for classroom parties [holidays or any time of year!]. Our boxes come with all the games, decorations, and activities needed for a complete classroom party. We save parents, room parents, and teachers hours of time when it comes to classroom party planning.
When and why did you start My Classroom Party?
We started our business two and a half years ago. We were both room parents with very little time on our plates. Back when our kids were younger we had more time and loved to do all the planning. As they got older and more involved we had less time and the task of throwing the party that year felt overwhelming. We were looking for an easy party in a box we could just order instead of planning everything. After scouring the internet we realized that there was no easy product for class parties that existed so we decided to make our own.
What’s your favorite part of being a “Funded By LIY” winner?
There are so many awesome parts of Funded by LIY, but our favorite part would have to be the retreat. It was an amazing experience to get to know everyone and get so much helpful feedback and advice for our company. We left that weekend so excited to implement all the suggestions we received. It was also incredible to meet the other winners and become friends with them. We now feel like we have people who we can turn to with questions that are in a similar stage of business as we are. Both the LIY family and the winners are amazing women that we’re grateful to have connected with.
Tell us about any upcoming launches or new products!
Winter and Christmas Party Boxes! The games are interactive and fun and we know the kids will have an absolute blast! We have been testing and fine-tuning games for months on countless kids. We’re so excited for your kid’s class to play these exciting and unique games that they haven’t played before.
We all know the Holidays are a crazy time for parents so we look forward to helping busy parents check one thing off their to-do list.
Founder & Owner: Jenna [with her sweet Mama]
What is Posh Pickler?
Pickleball has taken over America’s courts yet the lack of the well designed, functional & fashionable Pickleball gear was seriously lacking. Mother & daughter duo Jenna Pugh and Caren Schweitzer couldn’t sit back and let that happen without doing something about it, so Posh Pickler was born. Posh Pickler designed and created quality, fashion forward and innovative pickleball accessories for player of all levels so you can show up to the court in style!
When and why did you start Posh Pickler?
Last fall, Jenna was on the hunt for a gift for her pickleball (and fashion) loving mom and couldn’t believe the lack of accessories with any sort of elevated design. After some initial discussion, there was no hesitation for either of them they had to create the products themselves. We launched the company in April 2023, started shipping in May & haven’t looked back!
What’s your favorite part of being a “Funded By LIY” winner?
The entire team!!! The LIY’s energy, drive, work ethic, creativity and love for one another is incredible. I have learned so much through every conversation with every team member.
From what started as winning money to help fund my professional brand photography & a 1 hour call (that would have been more than enough) has turned into multiple calls, a LIY weekend retreat that I will never forget, mentors that are beyond supportive & peers in the other winning companies that continue to inspire and build each other up!
Tell us about any upcoming launches or new products!
Since we launched less than 6 months ago, we don’t have a new product launching but are so excited about this upcoming holiday season since we have gifts for everyone’s moms/dads, sisters/brothers, aunts/uncles (you get the point 😀)haha!
