The Failure Factor

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Now displaying: 2026

Mielle Organics Founder Monique Rodriguez on Losing Her Son and Making History as a Black Woman with a 9-Figure Exit 0

Feb 11, 2026

Monique Rodriguez, Founder & CEO of Mielle Organics, shares how a hobby in her kitchen became a global haircare brand and the highest exit of any Black woman in history.

After the devastating loss of her son, Monique turned to social media and haircare as an outlet for grief. What began as sharing homemade recipes online evolved into a business built on real connection that took over the natural hair space. Within months of launching, she left her nursing career. Within five years, she faced a $2M financial hole that nearly cost her everything.

In this conversation, Monique opens up about betting on herself before she felt ready, building without mentors, mismanaging early capital, walking away from a 40% investment deal, and ultimately securing the right partner. Her story is a grounded look at what it really takes to scale through pain, risk, faith, and battle-tested business lessons.

Key Takeaways and Topics

Turning personal grief into creative purpose
Building community before building product
Leaving nursing to go all in on a kitchen hobby
$300K in year one with no business background
Skipping the playbook and trusting her gut
Bootstrapping for six years before raising capital
The $2M accounting mistake that almost ended everything
Walking away from a 40% equity deal
Finding the right investor (and why it's like dating)
The P&G acquisition and the backlash that followed
Why she reframes "selling out" as building Black wealth

Links

The Failure Factor Podcast was brought to you by Off The Field Coaching. Explore working with one of our coaches at http://offthefieldcoaching.com

Hosted by Megan Bruneau: therapist, executive coach, speaker, Forbes contributor, and host of The Failure Factor. For more info, visit https://meganbruneau.com

Follow Monique
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/exquisitemo

Follow Mielle
https://www.instagram.com/mielleorganics
https://mielleorganics.com/

Follow Megan
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/meganjbruneau/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/megan-j-bruneau-m-a-rcc

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O Positiv Co-Founders Bobby & Brianna Bitton on Getting Banned for Saying “Vagina” and Scaling to a Rumored Ten-Figure Valuation 0

Jan 28, 2026

Brianna Bitton was calling out of work because of her period, and lying about why. Doctors told her to "deal with it." So she and her brother Bobby maxed out every credit card they had to create the first PMS gummy vitamin. Two years and 20+ manufacturer rejections later, they launched FLO. Now O Positiv does nine figures in annual revenue; sits in Target, Walmart, and CVS; and is approaching a rumored billion-dollar valuation.

In this episode, they discuss the COVID-era product that tanked, fighting Meta to say the word "vagina," the most telling question they ask when hiring, and why slow and steady (while bootstrapping) won the race.