What Happens When You Stop Drinking and Start Building

Summary

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Podcast Summary

She's So Lucky

Episode: What Happens When You Stop Drinking and Start Building

Host: Les Alfred
Guests: Shanna (CEO/Founder, Sensory), Darian (COO, Sensory), Ashlyn (CMO/Co-Founder, Sensory)
Date: March 17, 2026

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Episode Overview

This episode dives into the journey of Sensory, a Black women-led startup making waves in the non-alcoholic functional beverage space. Les Alfred hosts Sensory’s three founders—best friends Shanna, Darian, and Ashlyn—as they candidly discuss what happens when sober curiosity, groupchat chemistry, and an entrepreneurial spirit converge to build a business. The candid conversation covers the leap from drinking to wellness, practical challenges in CPG (consumer packaged goods), friendship as a business foundation, fundraising, scaling issues, lessons from their first explosive year, and the audacity required to break through barriers as women of color in business.

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Meet the Founders (02:00 – 02:40)

• Darian: COO—Handles strategy, operations, and major tactical project management.
• Shanna: CEO/Founder—Guides strategic growth and vision for Sensory.
• Ashlyn: CMO/Co-Founder—Oversees consumer-facing communications and brand consistency, especially through social and digital channels.

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From Friendship to Foundership (03:00 – 05:05)

• The trio met in middle school in a predominantly white suburb near Dallas, Texas, connecting as the only Black girls able to comfortably navigate diverse social circles.
• Shared wellness interests and church discussions deepened their bond over the years, even as they attended different universities.
• Their long-standing friendship brought the trust, transparency, and complementary skills needed to launch a business together.
• Quote:
  • “We were always the three Black girls that could navigate any friend group.” —Shanna (04:00)

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Becoming Sober Curious & The Idea for Sensory (05:36 – 09:07)

• Wellness routines clashed with drinking habits: “It didn’t make sense; we’d do all this wellness, then go home and crack open two bottles of wine.” —Darian (05:43)
• Dry January experiences revealed how much better they felt without alcohol, but old habits came back quickly.
• Shanna’s husband prompted her to create a product herself after she struggled to find a non-alcoholic beverage that checked every box (taste, effect, health).
• The idea for Sensory stemmed from her kitchen experiments during Dry January; it combined wellness ingredients and a “feel something” promise.
• Quote:
  • “I had journal entries of asking God for a product that solves a problem, has emotional resonance, and when it comes, I'm going all in.” —Shanna (09:08)

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Building a CPG Startup as Best Friends (09:43 – 13:12)

• The founders naturally fell into business roles reflecting their existing strengths and past collaborations in PR, content, and ops.
• Their go-to-market approach hinged on moving extremely fast—“blitzscaling”—inspired by the book Blitzscaling.
• Initial execution: whiteboard roadmaps, cross-functional lists, rapidly launching and learning.
• Quote:
  • “Every single day I was like, blitzscale. As long as we have an undeniably great product, then we'll win.” —Darian (11:08)

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Year 1: Brand, Community, and Product Focus (13:15 – 14:46)

• Sensory’s first year prioritized community building and brand—using Poppy’s playbook for beverage brands: focus on cult-like following before scaling distribution.
• They saw immediate product-market fit—selling out, high reorder demand, and customers asking for restocks.
• Quote:
  • “We turned one! The first year, it was about building this, like, cult community around the brand.” —Shanna (13:42)

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The Reality of Selling Out (19:49 – 24:23)

• Selling out sounds good externally but reveals backend challenges—cash flow, supply chain bottlenecks, and lost revenue.
• Manufacturing constraints (e.g., can supply) and payment structures (no more credit cards, upfront cash) make reorders complex.
• Sensory is preparing for a risky but necessary leap—ordering 100,000 cans (up from 20,000) to catch up with growing demand and reduce costs.
• Quote:
  • “It sounds like a flex to say we sold out, but it really just means you kind of have some holes in here.” —Shanna (23:30)

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Fundraising Realities (26:26 – 31:12)

• Sensory was self-funded at first—using Shanna’s credit and jobs for capital.
• After initial traction (selling 5,000 cans and making $25k), they raised ~$140,000 via friends and family, spurred by authentic outreach on social.
• Their advice: Don’t wait for permission or resources; bootstrap creatively and ask for help.
• Quote:
  • “Take what you have and make something shake.” —Shanna (26:27)
  • “Six figures isn’t anything... now. Being very, like, transparent, we're almost check to check for the business, but... it works for us because our product moves.” —Shanna & Darian (31:11)

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Scaling, Distribution, and Operations (35:25 – 37:42)

• D2C is still their core, but scaling means learning new skills (taking courses, hiring advisors).
• Inventory management is a stress point—retailers and wholesalers are unforgiving if you can’t keep up supply.
• Entry into traditional and non-traditional retail is near; they’re hiring, raising, and investing in learning the sector’s nuances.

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The “Act Like a White Man” Audacity, Ownership, and Business Mindset (47:32 – 50:01)

• The founders discuss the importance of audacity and confidence, noting that many white men historically succeed on little more than these (and access to capital).
• They stress the power of “bullshitting with confidence”—faking it till you make it—and not letting lack of experience or funds be a mental barrier.
• Quote:
  • “Audacity and confidence gets you a lot further... Right now I’m like, I’m just in the era of we need to get our way. And how we get our way is a little bit of bullshitting, bullshit with confidence.” —Darian (47:52)
  • “Act like a white man.” —Shanna (48:31)

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Realities of Building While Under-Resourced and While Working Corporate Jobs (57:29 – 58:13)

• Ashlyn still works her corporate job and notes the mental and physical toll of balancing both worlds, highlighting the strength she finds in partnership and community.
• They’re open about the hardships of founder life and push against glamorized narratives.

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Business Crash-out Moments & Persistence (50:19 – 54:08)

• The founders candidly describe supply chain nightmares—crashed product trucks, lost ingredients, last-minute shipping snarls—and their solution-oriented, assertive but kind approach.
• Founders advise: have solutions, not just problems; combine kindness with firmness.
• Quote:
  • “Don’t come to me with a problem without a solution.” —Darian (52:06)

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The Power of Energy, Kindness, and Community Support (54:26 – 56:59)

• Luck, alignment, and “good energy” brought opportunities—from CultureCon comped opportunities to a personal connection with a sales advisor from Poppy.
• The Shark Tank process began when a casting director connected with their vibe and story on social.
• Quote:
  • “While it is important to be stern... there’s this really natural balance of warm and energy that speaks louder than anything.” —Shanna (56:47)

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Key Lessons from Year One (57:02 – 61:55)

Ashlyn’s Reflection (57:31):

• The journey is hard; she wouldn’t do it solo. Having partners makes the impossible possible, and accountability supports joy and endurance.

Shanna’s Reflection (59:25):

• Spiritual grounding and personal confidence are essential; act and “put yourself out there” instead of waiting for permission or perfect circumstances.

Darian’s Reflection (60:35):

• Don't build a "nice to have." Create a must-have solution and root yourself in your end vision to weather daily chaos.

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Powerful Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “I'm never going to align myself to what doesn’t feel good just because it's what's happening. I'm going to think like a white man who just does what he wants and then he gets what he wants.” —Shanna, 49:36
• “If you can get your hands on a million dollars to fortify your business, get it.” —Advice relayed from Ryan Wilson via Shanna, 45:30
• “There’s no doubt you’re not going to want to cry every single day. But if you can root yourself in that end feeling, then you’ll absolutely be OK.” —Darian, 61:55

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• Founders’ Backstory: 03:00 – 05:05
• Why Non-Alc & Product Genesis: 05:36 – 09:07
• Early Execution & Go-to-Market: 09:43 – 13:12
• Brand First, Product Experience: 13:15 – 14:46
• Selling Out & Scaling Pains: 19:49 – 24:23
• Fundraising Journey: 26:26 – 31:12
• Distribution & Scaling Lessons: 35:25 – 37:42
• On Audacity & Confidence: 47:32 – 50:01
• Crash-Out Moments & Problem-Solving: 50:19 – 54:08
• Luck/Alignment in Biz: 54:26 – 56:59
• Year 1 Lessons/Advice: 57:02 – 61:55

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Tone & Language

• Down-to-earth, transparent, and witty (“We’re just girls... No, we’re not just girls. This is business.”)
• Real talk about money, risk, problem-solving, and race/gender dynamics.
• Encouraging, with practical and spiritual advice for aspiring founders.

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Closing Thoughts

This episode offers an honest, timely look at what it means to build—financially, emotionally, and operationally—at the intersection of friendship, identity, and entrepreneurship. Whether it’s the reality of launching with a credit limit, learning to negotiate under pressure, or manifesting business blessings with audacity, the Sensory founders prove that making your own luck is equal parts intention, grit, and community.

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Transcript

[Progressive Insurance Announcer]

This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Do you ever find yourself playing the budgeting game? Well, with a name your price tool from Progressive, you can find options that fit your budget and potentially lower your bills. Try [e-mail], progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates. Price and coverage match limited by state law. Not available in all states with VRBoCare.

[Les (Host of She's So Lucky)]

Help is always ready before, during and after your stay.

[Darian (COO of Sensory)]

We've planned for the plot twists, so support is always available because a great trip starts with peace of mind.

[Les (Host of She's So Lucky)]

The following podcast is a Dear Media production. You know I love a good founder

[Ad Read Announcer / Show Closer]

story, but I really love a founder

[Les (Host of She's So Lucky)]

story that starts in the group chat today. We're talking about what happens when sober curiosity meets best friend chemistry and turns into a real business with real traction. This is the business of you and what it looks like. Looks like when you decide to build it with the people who already know you best. Welcome back to she's so Lucky. My name is Les. I am your host. If you listen to last week's episode then you know that this month on the show we're talking about the business of you. We're talking to black women who are building real businesses and we're also talking about what it means to be the

[Ad Read Announcer / Show Closer]

CEO of your life.

[Les (Host of She's So Lucky)]

So I'm very excited. We have a special episode today actually where I'm joined by three amazing guests. So I will say while I think all of our episodes are amazing on audio and video, if you're an audio girly you'll still love it. But I actually think this is going to be an episode that's best on YouTube so that you can see all of their beautiful faces. Just putting that out there. So I'm so excited to welcome the co founders of Sensory, which is the functional beverage that is making big waves in the non alcoholic space. I'm going to give these ladies a chance to introduce themselves. Darian, can we start with you and what you do?

[Darian (COO of Sensory)]

Yes. Les, thank you so much for having us. So I'm Darian. I'm the Chief Operating Officer handling strategy from the top to the bottom.

[Les (Host of She's So Lucky)]

Amazing.

[Shanna (CEO and Founder of Sensory)]

And I am Shanna, CEO and founder of Sensory. My role encompasses really like the strategic growth efforts and really supporting across the business to make sure that we're actually moving towards the vision. Amazing.

[Ashlyn (CMO and Co-founder of Sensory)]

And I'm Ashlyn. I am the cmo, one of the co founders as well. I handle all things that I feel like the consumers see. So emails, our sms social is obviously a big thing that I'm sure we'll talk about, but just making sure our strategy and the feeling that people see when they see Sensory is always consistent as a business scales.

[Les (Host of She's So Lucky)]

Amazing. I definitely want to get more into how you all decided who was going to do what. I'm sure that there also was, like, a lot of leaning into your experiences and strengths and deciding that. But before we get into that, can you tell us a little bit more about how you all came together? How did you meet? How did you become friends? How did you decide that Sensory was something you wanted to create?

[Ashlyn (CMO and Co-founder of Sensory)]

That's a pretty funny story, actually.

[Les (Host of She's So Lucky)]

We love a funny story.

[Ashlyn (CMO and Co-founder of Sensory)]

Shannon and Darian were, like, a couple years older than me when I was in middle school. The tea is I dated Shanna's husband's younger brother, and so I just got really close to Shanna. My best friend group was also, like, there was like, an older friend group and then there was, like, a younger friend group. And because they were all related, I was like, in the younger friend group. So, like, I was not only, like, dating, like, Shanna's husband's little brother, but, like, daring. It was friends with my best friend's, like, older sister. So, like, I was always, like, in the mix with the older kids. Like, I was like, yeah, she was the cool kid. I was like, yeah, I was like a cool, like, middle school, like, high school schooler. So I think I met you guys when I was in middle school. When I first moved to McKen, which is like a suburb of Dallas, which is where we grew up. And we. That's where we honestly became friends and we stayed in touch. I don't really know, like, what the through line of was keeping us together.

[Shanna (CEO and Founder of Sensory)]

I feel like one through line, and this is just being really, really transparent, is like, McKin is a predominantly white environment. And we were always the three black girls that could a navigate, like, any friend group. So, like, we had our, like, all black friend group and then we had the white friend group. And I feel like us three were always the one, like, in all of them. And like, honestly, this sounds bad to say, but a lot of our other friends, like, didn't do that. Like, they either stuck to, like, this side or this side. And all three of us navigated all ethnicities and groups really well. And so I feel like that was one consistent through line that kept us together. And then I feel like as we've gotten older, it was actually, like, our passion for wellness. We were always, like, jumping on after church on Sunday, especially during, like, the Mike Todd Covid era. Like, we'd all jump on after and like unpack, like what resonated as we got into like adaptogens. We'd be like, oh my gosh, have you been trying lion's mane? Like, it's so good. I feel like it's like helping me to focus more or just like any little trend that was a trend. Like us three would usually just have a group chat where we were talking about it.

[Ashlyn (CMO and Co-founder of Sensory)]

We just like always stayed in touch somehow, I feel like.

[Shanna (CEO and Founder of Sensory)]

And then they went to UT Austin and I went to Texas State, which is like 30 minutes from Austin. So whenever I would come to Austin, like, we all hung out and so, yeah, we just remained best friends since middle school, which is, I think, special for sure.

[Les (Host of She's So Lucky)]

I don't think a lot of people can say that anymore.

[Ashlyn (CMO and Co-founder of Sensory)]

Yeah, I know when I tell people I have best friends from middle school, they're like, you still talk to people from middle school. I'm like, oh my gosh. You don't?

[Darian (COO of Sensory)]

Like, almost two days.

[Ashlyn (CMO and Co-founder of Sensory)]

People know my core.

[Darian (COO of Sensory)]

Yeah. Honestly, I know my true self. One of the most beautiful things is like we've seen each other in every stage.

[Les (Host of She's So Lucky)]

Yeah.

[Shanna (CEO and Founder of Sensory)]

Crash out stages.

[Ashlyn (CMO and Co-founder of Sensory)]

Many of stages. Scary stages.

[Shanna (CEO and Founder of Sensory)]

Yeah, the scary stages. Like, I hate some of the memories that you guys have, but.

[Ashlyn (CMO and Co-founder of Sensory)]

And a lot of them tied to alcohol.

[Darian (COO of Sensory)]

We don't talk about them. I mean, we actually do talk about them all the time.

[Les (Host of She's So Lucky)]

That's a good segue that. Well, I think business will bring a lot of crash out stages.

[Ashlyn (CMO and Co-founder of Sensory)]

We can talk about that.

[Les (Host of She's So Lucky)]

But can we talk more about alcohol? And what led you guys to be interested in the non alcoholic space?

[Darian (COO of Sensory)]

Like Shanna said, we were so into wellness, but it didn't always make sense that like we were taking cmos Lion's Mane. We were working out every day, but then we would still come home and have like two bottles of wine. We'd wake up feeling horrible. Then we're like doing all of these wellness things to get back to our best self and our highest self. And then that night, repeating it and it just started to not make sense. Eventually we all started to do Dry January and we were realizing, like, you know, this really does make us feel our best selves. Then the moment February 1st hit, we'd get back to it.

[Shanna (CEO and Founder of Sensory)]

Truly not real.

[Darian (COO of Sensory)]

Truly. It was crazy. But then Shanna's husband, she did Dry January one year, and she was really wanting to still feel like a sensation. And we call her our chemist. She was dibbling, dabbling, having us try all these things. We're not even asking, we're not even questioning. Her and it's like putting us to sleep. It's making us euphoric, it's giving us energy. We're like, this is great. And then her husband was like, she'd been looking for a product and funny story, because we had a, we had a PR company together and when we sunsetted it, she was like, I want a product. I just told her, you know, call me when you have it. Like, I trust you. And then a year, two years later, she calls me after. Like, she's experimenting on all of us without us knowing that Julianne had told her, her husband, like, why don't y' all just make this into a product?

[Shanna (CEO and Founder of Sensory)]

Yeah, no, it was, it truly was just like a in the kitchen moment. And what's wild is I had been asking God for a product for probably, I guess it probably had been a year since we had let go of our PR agency that we were running, which was doing really well, honestly. But I think it was just one of those things where, like, I didn't feel aligned with it. Like, a service based business is different than a product based business. Like, they both obviously take a lot of time and a lot of effort, but a service based business, it's always proportionate. Like, the more clients you get, great. The more time and effort, like, you're literally signing over. I'm going to service your company for 20 hours a week. And so when you start to get more and more clients, it actually just gets more overwhelming. And so I was just like, you know what? Like, let me take a step back because I know this is not what I want. I know that I want a product business because I had worked as a PR person for so many successful product businesses and just seen how much fun it can be to like, have this vehicle that you can like really tie a message to. I pause. I was like, let me just take a step back. Went and got a corporate girl job literally every day. I was just like, I know one's coming. And I, I would tell my co workers, like, I'm just here until my business idea comes. They all knew. Like, they all were like, oh, you're funny. And I was like, I'm just here to get this check until my don't get fine, until I don't get fined. And then when the idea comes, like, it's game over. And so again, it was dry January of 2024 when I was trying a bunch of them. And I was in an era where, like, I hate to say this, but, like, I had drank so much that I did look for that, like, take the edge off sort of beverage at nighttime. And so I was trying all these different brands on the market, which there weren't as many as there are now. There was, like, maybe four or five, and just all of them had something that was missing. Like, I was like, this doesn't really taste good. This tastes good, but I don't really feel much. Or I was like, this is too much. Like, this is thc. And, like, I don't really want that. And then my husband was like, girl, you've been searching for this product, and you have this five checklists that you. It needs to be. And think about it. This checks every single box. And I was like, oh, my gosh. Like, why had I not thought about this? Like, I was almost mad that God didn't give me the thought and it came from him. But I was like, but let me just accept that this is. He still did.

[Les (Host of She's So Lucky)]

He was just the messenger, right?

[Shanna (CEO and Founder of Sensory)]

He was the messenger. But it was crazy because I was like, so I've been asking all day. I literally had journal entries and journal entries of like, I know it's going to be a wellness product. It's going to be reoccurring in nature. It's going to solve a problem. It's going to have emotional resonance, and when it comes, I'm going all in. And then he said it, and I was like, yes. And from the moment he said that, like, by the next week, I was like, hey, I found a formulator. And he was like, what? And I was like, yeah, I found a formulator. And I was like, it's $8,000, but I'm out to just get a credit card and do it. And then I called Darian. I was like, I got the product. And then Darian was like, okay, cool.

[Darian (COO of Sensory)]

Let's do it.

[Shanna (CEO and Founder of Sensory)]

And then shortly after, she was like, okay, we need to bring Ashlyn in. Because one thing to know is we've always kind of worked together in our respective fields. So again, my background was PR and marketing. Darian also studied pr, and she always served as, like, a COO with me. I would get the clients. She would help us create process and strategies to, like, you know, see the processes through. And then we'd work with Ashlyn when we need a content strategy, because she always did content. We had already been working in these fields together for other clients. And so then it was just like, now we get to do it for our own product. And then that's how Century was birthed.

[Ad Read Announcer / Show Closer]

Yeah.

[Les (Host of She's So Lucky)]

So the roles naturally define themselves based off of your strengths that you already

[Shanna (CEO and Founder of Sensory)]

knew you had, right?

[Les (Host of She's So Lucky)]

Yeah.

[Ashlyn (CMO and Co-founder of Sensory)]

Yeah. It was funny because I feel like I actually. I remember coming to New York. It was October of 2024. Cause I remember I was just like, down bad. And I was like, honestly, what will heal me is, like, going to, like, stay at Darian's apartment in New York for a week. Darian was like, I won't really, like, be there that much. Like, I'm, like, working. And I was like, I'm literally just going to come and vibe and. And I guess, like, Darian had already told Shanna, we need to bring Ashlyn in on this. And Shanna was like, okay, are you gonna bring it up there? And Darian's like, I don't know. She's kind of like, down bad. And I think Darian brought it up. I was. I was there. And I was there because I was down bad. And Darian was like, okay, so we're like doing this thing. And I feel like I was immediately like, yes. And then like within like four weeks, we were having our tasting party. We had the formula, we had picked the packaging. It was like foot on the gas, like, as soon as once we had

[Darian (COO of Sensory)]

the roadmap built out and it gave us, like, a vision of everything that we needed to work on. I was obsessed with this term blitzkaling, which is essentially, you move extremely fast and you don't focus on things being perfect, you just focus on the momentum. And I was like, y', all, we don't need everything to be perfect. We actually just have to beat the market right now because with our two, like, proprietary ingredients, Blue Lotus and Kanna, no one else has them. And then no one else has three black women, three best friends with our story. Four, focusing on a non alcoholic beverage, but nonetheless a functional beverage that actually gives you a sensation. So every single day I was like, blitzscale. And as long as we have an undeniably great product, then we'll win. And so, yeah, I feel like that really set us up.

[Ad Read Announcer / Show Closer]

Yeah.

[Les (Host of She's So Lucky)]

What was on that initial roadmap that you created?

[Darian (COO of Sensory)]

Oh, my gosh. It was Ashton shaking your head. I would make them read it every day. It was a whiteboard. And honestly, I set it up as a trickle down effect. It started with the CEO, coo, cmo, and then I went through every category from front end, back end web design, what we would need from accounting, from email marketing, sms, from campaigns, from sales, because I knew it was just us three. We all have our specialties, but we have to focus on these Other areas too. I needed us to see, like, where can we still bring our specialties into these other areas? And then that kind of helped me create our campaign strategy of, like, how are we gonna move quarter after quarter so that we can see how all of these efforts have to trickle into the visions that Shanna wants to come to life so that then we can Blitzscale.

[Les (Host of She's So Lucky)]

I love it.

[Ashlyn (CMO and Co-founder of Sensory)]

It's a great. There's also a book and there's like a. Who. Who wrote Blitzkill? Isn't it like the co founder of like LinkedIn or something like that? It's really iterated.

[Les (Host of She's So Lucky)]

Okay. We'll put it in the description.

[Ashlyn (CMO and Co-founder of Sensory)]

We'll link it in. Because the principle is truly just not spending too much time on a decision. Like even like big, I feel like big decision. Sometimes we don't even give ourselves the time to sleep on them. If it's like a huge thing, like, okay, like a production thing, we're like, okay, we'll sleep on it. But like, we have to come back to this in the morning because you have to be able to move fast. Like the consumer spaces.

[Les (Host of She's So Lucky)]

You can't meander.

[Ashlyn (CMO and Co-founder of Sensory)]

No, you can't.

[Les (Host of She's So Lucky)]

No.

[Darian (COO of Sensory)]

And I like to always say, like, especially this is our year where I'm like, I feel like I kind of stopped saying blitzkale for a little bit once we were up and running. But I've been back, like, we have to blitzkill this year. This is our year we prove ourselves. Last year was. What'd you say, Shannon? Last year was our.

[Shanna (CEO and Founder of Sensory)]

I feel like last year we focused a lot on like building the brand and building like sensationalism around the brand. And I think that strategy works.

[Les (Host of She's So Lucky)]

It's the first year. So first year brand just turned one. Like as you sit here, like right now.

[Shanna (CEO and Founder of Sensory)]

Truly, we turned one.

[Ashlyn (CMO and Co-founder of Sensory)]

Yeah.

[Shanna (CEO and Founder of Sensory)]

And the first year the focus was like, build a brand and build this like, cult, like community around the brand and get people really into it. You'll hear us reference. Poppy is like our playbook all the time. Because they really did like, pave the way for like leaning more in for not just like CPG brands, but like beverage specifically to like focus more on like brand. Because a lot of beverages don't they just focus more on the product and like distribution. We went the opposite. We focus more on brand. And again, I think the strategy worked. And this year, as we come into year two now we're going to double down on distribution, on sales, on like really creating like a. A sales engine from this brand and product that people are like, really Loving, which is really cool. Every day we're like, you know, this

[Les (Host of She's So Lucky)]

idea that you had one day is now like a physical thing that people

[Ashlyn (CMO and Co-founder of Sensory)]

and it's a part of their day.

[Shanna (CEO and Founder of Sensory)]

Yeah. And people like all the time are like, I can't live without my Kinect or without my play. We were sold out for two weeks in February and so many people were DMing us every day, like, hey, when is the restock? Like, hey, I need my, I need my, like, connect back. And we're like, damn, even we're down

[Darian (COO of Sensory)]

bad when we don't have product. We'll have to give up our last product.

[Ashlyn (CMO and Co-founder of Sensory)]

And I'm like, no, truly, I want

[Darian (COO of Sensory)]

to be selfish and keep it.

[Ad Read Announcer / Show Closer]

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[Les (Host of She's So Lucky)]

Can we talk more about selling out and how on the surface it might be like, that's great. Which it's good because it means that people want the product. But can we talk more about the behind the scenes of selling out and how of a challenge that is?

[Darian (COO of Sensory)]

It's rough because many people don't know that the hardest part is creating the cans. It takes four weeks minimum for you to get more cans. And so if you aren't preparing for that, then you essentially can't start your production run.

[Les (Host of She's So Lucky)]

And do you mean like the actual features without anything in it?

[Darian (COO of Sensory)]

So anything in it cannot arrive to our production company without a four week notice. So even though we're like forecasting and we're preparing for all of this, it honestly comes down to revenue and a lot. I think people assume that you can just like place these orders. A lot of them require achievements. They are not taking credit cards anymore. People want their money today, which I respect. And that's probably one of the number one reasons why we're selling out. Because revenue has to go into marketing budget. It has to go to our contractors, it has to go to all of these areas first before we can just go and dump it into like our cans. Selling out looks good on the outside, but on like on the back end, we're also like, now how do we keep the momentum going with our brand, which Ashlyn does a beautiful job at doing. But we also realize at some point it's going to get tiring hearing that like, we're selling out. So even this last time, we really didn't announce it. We let people DM us, email us and kept it kind of quiet. And then we announced it maybe a day before we had all of our product back pre sale and then we were like, oh, sold out. And then immediately we're like, we're back in stock.

[Ashlyn (CMO and Co-founder of Sensory)]

Yeah.

[Darian (COO of Sensory)]

So it was a really quick transition versus before we'd have that two week gap where we're like trying to make hilarious TikToks. We're like, trying to educate people, fill things in with, like, podcasts and so forth. We're not going to sell it again. We're actually soon going to do 100k can order to avoid this.

[Les (Host of She's So Lucky)]

So that is okay, because that was going to be my next question was, how do you prevent selling out more cans at once?

[Darian (COO of Sensory)]

Yeah.

[Shanna (CEO and Founder of Sensory)]

So that was like, a bigger order, a bigger bet. Yeah, it'll be, like, a huge risk.

[Ad Read Announcer / Show Closer]

Yeah.

[Shanna (CEO and Founder of Sensory)]

The biggest risk we've ever taken thus far. We typically order batches of, like, 20,000 at a time. And that usually will last us, like, at this point, because our velocity keeps increasing. That lasts us, like, four to six weeks. So we're already having to, like, start to plan for this next one, which we're like, okay, velocity is up. We have this proven demand. Let's just, like, roll the dice and let's go by a hundred thousand. Not only does that bulletproof us from selling out so quickly, it also literally cuts your cogs in half, which is, like, for anyone who doesn't know what that is, it's the cost of goods that go into your product. Literally, the. With the CPG space, it kind of sucks. It's like, the smaller quantity you order, it's, like, so expensive. And that's why, like, people don't understand sometime why new brands are so expensive. Like, they, like, have a lot of, like, why are you so pricey? This is too expensive. Why are you not making it accessible? But a lot of times you have to price it there in order to even just, like, make your profit. But as you scale and as you grow and you can produce those higher quantities, your cost literally is cut in half. So us doing this, a hundred thousand run a little bit of, like, a teaser. We're currently in a mild celebrity fundraise, which is kind of exciting. That's what we're going to use the money for is to go and, like, buy a huge amount of product up front, which will, again, make us more profitable and just solidify us to not run out within a month. Because that's embarrassing. Like, it sounds like a flex to be like, oh, we sold out, but it's actually not. It really just means you kind of have some, like, holes in here.

[Darian (COO of Sensory)]

Yeah.

[Les (Host of She's So Lucky)]

And it also, if you're sold out, that's also revenue that you're not bringing in.

[Ashlyn (CMO and Co-founder of Sensory)]

The biggest thing is you're not making money.

[Darian (COO of Sensory)]

Yeah.

[Shanna (CEO and Founder of Sensory)]

You're not making money. Like, it. And then, like, to Darian's point, it's so hard to keep momentum alive. And, like, if you don't have a product to sell. Like, what. What the are you doing? Like, you're just like, talking.

[Les (Host of She's So Lucky)]

Yeah.

[Shanna (CEO and Founder of Sensory)]

And so, yeah, it's really not a flex, but I think we've learned it. And then this year too, like, that's one of the biggest investments we're gonna make is like, okay, we're done ordering 20,000. Like, we're out of the little small leagues. Let's go to the big leagues.

[Les (Host of She's So Lucky)]

It's time to step it up.

[Shanna (CEO and Founder of Sensory)]

It's time to step it up. Like, let's get a hundred thousand. And we hired some sales girls and they're going to be like, literally building out our distribution across, like, small to medium sized businesses. We're bringing on an advisor who's a former sales and distribution VP at Poppy, which is like, crazy. Yeah. This advisor, she took poppy from 20 million to 400 million in two years.

[Les (Host of She's So Lucky)]

Wild.

[Shanna (CEO and Founder of Sensory)]

A moment of alignment. I met her at UPS dropping off orders for Sensory. And she was like, what is this? And I was like, it's a. She was like, is this candles? And I was like, no, it's a beverage. And she was like, a beverage? And I was like, yeah, like, I know. Beverage.

[Ashlyn (CMO and Co-founder of Sensory)]

Yeah.

[Shanna (CEO and Founder of Sensory)]

She was like, she was like a beverage. She literally, like, was like thrown back. And I was like, yeah, it's a. She's like, what kind of beverage? And I was like, it's a non alcoholic functional beverage. She was like, wow, that's crazy. She's like, I actually was the VP of sales and distribution for Poppy, and when we got acquired, I've just since been like, chilling. And I got married and my husband makes good money. So she's like, I'm just chilling at home and I've been looking for a new, like, thing. And I was like, well, look at

[Ashlyn (CMO and Co-founder of Sensory)]

God, because there we go.

[Ad Read Announcer / Show Closer]

Alignment.

[Les (Host of She's So Lucky)]

That's the lucky.

[Shanna (CEO and Founder of Sensory)]

And literally the week before that, I randomly joined a webinar with Allison Ellsworth, the founder of Poppy. And I asked her, like, what's your recommendation to me right now? Was like, all this momentum. How do we take it and transition it into, like, true revenue? And she was like, find someone who understands sales and distribution. She literally told me that, like, Allison Ellsworth told me that on a webinar. And then that next week, the person who did it for her, the person

[Les (Host of She's So Lucky)]

who did it falls into your lap.

[Shanna (CEO and Founder of Sensory)]

Literally falls into my lap. Like, I just so happen to be at the right ups that I never go to. And so, yeah, it was meant to happen.

[Les (Host of She's So Lucky)]

Okay. I want to, like, really get into Yalls Business for a second. No pun intended. I want to talk more about the money aspect, because I think when we look at our businesses, we look at a lot of businesses that are happening in our community where people get stuck, whether when it comes to scaling or even being able to keep the doors open is, like, the money aspect. You talked a little bit about $8,000 on the credit card to get the first formulation, which is, like, also a big way to bet on yourselves. That's not an insignificant amount of money for anybody. What has money looked like for y' all since that first batch of product? Was it fully bootstrapped? What has fundraising looked like since? Please get as specific and as granular as you're comfortable. We want to know all about the money.

[Shanna (CEO and Founder of Sensory)]

We're always really open to sharing this because I think it's funny, because we've been talking about it a lot over the last couple of days, especially what I will say in terms of raising money for a business. My biggest recommendation is to not, as women of color, to not sit in a place feeling like you don't have the resources. The best way to move forward is to, like, take what you have and make something shake. So, no, we didn't have an investor at first, but I had good credit, and we had jobs. Yeah, jobs. And so I was like, okay, cool. I'm gonna just, like, go take out another credit card that is specifically for sensory and, like, get a pretty good limit. So I think I got a limit of, like, 20,000. And every single, like, first purchase we had to make was on that credit card up until launch. We were able to start paying some of that credit card down. We would incrementally pay it down because we maxed it, like, it got to 20,000, like, straight up maxed it to

[Darian (COO of Sensory)]

the point where we were putting in our own money. I was like, okay, we have to all send a thousand dollars to work. And then we would just write.

[Ashlyn (CMO and Co-founder of Sensory)]

And then we wrap it back up

[Shanna (CEO and Founder of Sensory)]

and cycle it around and cycle it around, and then we launched within our first three months of business, we sold out of our first 5,000 cans and made $25,000. When we sold out that time, we obviously knew that we needed some more capital to, like, really take this to the next level. So at that point in time, we just paused, and we're like, okay, let's go raise some money. And what worked out well is the contract I had with my job was ending, and I was like, I'm just gonna let it end. Like, I'm not gonna renew it. And so I let it end and I went all in, like immediately to fundraising. And we all just so happened to be at my house. We was like a compound.

[Ashlyn (CMO and Co-founder of Sensory)]

My house had literally like flooded. And I, like, Shannon was like, oh my gosh, come stay with me. We can just like do like pitch all. And that's literally what we did for like two weeks straight. Darian was in town because I think we were like doing a pitch competition for like an accelerator.

[Ad Read Announcer / Show Closer]

We were in.

[Ashlyn (CMO and Co-founder of Sensory)]

And so we were literally just in the house. Like, we were pitching all day, like, refining the deck, like, in which it was crazy.

[Shanna (CEO and Founder of Sensory)]

I think what was really special though, that I think most people probably don't realize for us is we knew we needed to raise some money at that time. And so I just so happened to see a post. Patrick Mahomes had started some like, coffee brand. And so I reposted and I was like, look, like there's money in the, in the beverage space if you find the right thing. And I was like, we're actually looking for investors now. So, like, if you are looking to make some small angel investments or, you know, someone like, let us know. And like, I put that up very, like, willy nilly, like, non strategic whatsoever. Like, it wasn't any. I didn't put much thought behind that. I just put it up on, like my story. The very next day, I had like 10 people who DM me. They were like, hey, let's jump on a call tomorrow. And then Darian. Then like, after I did that, Darian was like, well, let me go put this. Put the word out with like my community of people. And then she had like 10 people hit her back up. And then from there we were like, oh, wow, okay. We already had a pitch deck that we'd been working on because we were in an accelerator program, but we needed to like, refine it and make it stronger. So again, we spent like a week in my house every day, waking up, refining the pitch deck. And then we just started scheduling calls, like, with. I mean, I would say we had a plan, but not really. We were kind of just like, no,

[Darian (COO of Sensory)]

we didn't know what we were doing.

[Ashlyn (CMO and Co-founder of Sensory)]

No, had no idea.

[Darian (COO of Sensory)]

And then like, after every pitch, because it was family and friends, they'd be like, okay, we're in, but let us give you some critical feedback.

[Ashlyn (CMO and Co-founder of Sensory)]

And we're like, please, actually we need it because we've literally never done this before. Because it was friends and family. It did make it even more special because everyone was like, like, you know, like most of our, like, Our family members, like Darian's mom and, like, her stepdaughter, like, one of our investors, and they're just like. They've never seen, like, anyone do anything like this. So, like, our families and friends are just like, y' all are so cool. So, yeah, it was great to get the feedback from them, but also they're just like, we're in because we believe in you guys. Like, you guys can make whatever, and we would invest in it.

[Darian (COO of Sensory)]

Yeah.

[Les (Host of She's So Lucky)]

Have that kind of support is really special.

[Shanna (CEO and Founder of Sensory)]

No, it is special. So after all of that, we raised a total of, like, 140,000. We obviously took that, invested in more product. We started investing in paid marketing. So, like, now you see Sensory ads, like, everywhere. Then we hired a couple more contractors to help us on the design side of things. And then we relaunched in October as well. Now we have, like, so many people that are like, hey, I want Sensory in my restaurant. Coffee shop, bar.

[Les (Host of She's So Lucky)]

Yeah. What does distribution look like for you guys now? Because it's been.

[Shanna (CEO and Founder of Sensory)]

Yeah, it's been D.C. and I guess just to, like, go back to what I was saying, too, with in October, we relaunched, and since then, we will forever credit CultureCon to being a huge, explosive moment for us, because, again, we did sell out, and then we came back to market like, like two weeks before CultureCon. Since then, it's been this, like, snowball of, like, it gets bigger and bigger and better and the product improves and more people know about it. So if we fast forward to where we are now at the start of 2026, we're needing to fundraise again, because one thing we have learned about money is it moves quickly in business.

[Darian (COO of Sensory)]

Six figures isn't anything.

[Shanna (CEO and Founder of Sensory)]

Like, now we're like, six figures is absolutely nothing. Being very, like, transparent, we're almost check to check for the business, but, like, in a way that, like, it works for us because we. We do. Our product moves. As product moves, all that money gets reinvested back into the business. But we obviously know that in order for us to, like, get that a hundred thousand can run and whatnot, we have to fundraise. The good thing is it always happens naturally for us because you can tell that story just randomly.

[Darian (COO of Sensory)]

Every morning, I always make a joke. I'm like, wake up, pray, meditate, check the business bank account.

[Shanna (CEO and Founder of Sensory)]

Yep.

[Darian (COO of Sensory)]

And I'll just send them a screenshot. I'm like, this is where we're at today. And they're like, oh, no, Darian. I'm like, no, I'm swear if I was fearful of our Business account. Like, I would let y' all know I have full faith. I'm looking at all elements of where money is trickling in and we will be fine. We can pay off down this card, then we can reuse this card, we can pay down this card, then we can put some on here and we'll have cash flow here. I feel like we have so much inspired action. I have no nerves ever when it comes to Sensory. I have no nerves when our bank account's almost at zero. Like the next day, literally the other day I woke up, I said, oh, look, TikTok paid us our 4K. You're like, wait.

[Shanna (CEO and Founder of Sensory)]

And then the next day I was like, shopify paid us another 8k.

[Darian (COO of Sensory)]

I said, see?

[Shanna (CEO and Founder of Sensory)]

I'm like, look at those platforms hold money. Like they have weird payouts. Like, the payouts are very, very weird and it can make it uncomfortable. When you own a business and have to make a two week TikTok, they will pretty much not pay you your money until the customer receives like X

[Ashlyn (CMO and Co-founder of Sensory)]

amount of days after it like hits like the customer's doorstep. So, like, you don't get that money. Like you, you get the notification, you're like, oh my gosh, sales, you made this much today. But we probably won't see that all that money for 14 days. Yeah, yeah.

[Darian (COO of Sensory)]

But you make a shake.

[Ashlyn (CMO and Co-founder of Sensory)]

You do, you make it shake.

[Les (Host of She's So Lucky)]

How has TikTok shop been as a channel for you guys?

[Ashlyn (CMO and Co-founder of Sensory)]

It's honestly been great. It's funny because my jobs before I've worked cpg, Beauty Wellness brand and where when we first started Sensory, I think that at my full time job we had like just launched on Tick Tock Shop. So I was like absorbing like all this information. Like I was really like an organic social manager at the time and I was like, okay, like this is finally an unlock for me to not only like do something for myself, but if I wanted to stay at that company to elevate myself and really impact the bottom line. Because you know, people are always like, oh, like, can't get promoted, like in like a regular brand marketing role. Because they're like, how are you impacting revenue? And I was like, I'm about to make some revenue. Whenever I came onto the century team, I was like, we're gonna launch on Tick Tock Shock at the same time. Like, I'm gonna figure out the back end, whatever. And the platform has honestly like grown. I feel like at the same time in which we started, so now there's like so many tools. At first it was just Great for awareness and people can purchase within the channel, which is what I think is different than like an Amazon, for example. They can see the content and purchase right then and there. It does cause a little bit more challenges, though, because it doesn't give you as much data. TikTok doesn't give you as much customer data as like your website and Shopify does, for example. And so it's great because we get so much sales from it, but we can't add these people to our email list. Like, how do we keep these people in community? But as the platform has grown, like now you can do that. Like, they have CRM tools. And so I think some months like TikTok, it's like a good amount of our order. Our largest order month, it was like 40% of our orders. So we really lean into that. And a lot of that comes from like organic marketing. Like, oh, that's not even from our ad. Yeah, it's been great.

[Darian (COO of Sensory)]

You recently launched. What was it like that? The coupons and.

[Ashlyn (CMO and Co-founder of Sensory)]

Yeah, so now you can set up to where I'm like, if you have had something in your car, like, I can make sure you get like a targeted coupon. It's great. It gets a lot of hate. And I'm like, they'll never hear that from me.

[Darian (COO of Sensory)]

No, Yeah.

[Shanna (CEO and Founder of Sensory)]

I think on it, if you have a product business. We know another girl that we met just like through building business, she launched, I think, like maybe two or three months after us, and I caught up with her recently and she was like, girl, I went viral on TikTok and I sold like $40,000 worth of product, like overnight. TikTok shop is like such an unlock for businesses where it's not as overwhelming and scary as, like, getting on, like, Amazon, for example, like, that can feel very difficult and just like, oof, that's a large undertaking to get on Amazon. But TikTok shop is like, go, set up an account, put your product in and get approved. And like, you also have to have

[Darian (COO of Sensory)]

like a certain amount of quantity, I think, to even qualify to be on Amazon.

[Shanna (CEO and Founder of Sensory)]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Darian (COO of Sensory)]

Which is just another hit because now you're sitting on product and it has to go to Amazon vs you. Controlling how much product goes to TikTok vs D2C vs Amazon. They won't allow you to do that.

[Les (Host of She's So Lucky)]

Inventory is a really tricky place for a lot of businesses, especially if they rely on specific retailers and stuff like that. The amount of product you have to be able to have to even stay in a retailer can be such a big Undertaking. As you all think about scaling and moving from D2C to potentially being in retailers or being served in bars at the seven and everywhere else, what does that look like for you?

[Shanna (CEO and Founder of Sensory)]

We have to go scale up and get a hundred thousand, because at this point, 20,000 cans won't cut it. We're seeing how quickly product runs now. Like, we just got a new shipment in a week ago, and we're already, like, two pallets down. And that's 5,000 cans that are, like, just like that within a week gone. And so it's overwhelming to think about how you keep that going. You have to double down and invest in the product and figure out where that capital comes from. Distribution, that's another channel that I think is like, I won't act like I know anything, because I actually know nothing.

[Ashlyn (CMO and Co-founder of Sensory)]

But.

[Shanna (CEO and Founder of Sensory)]

But I'm, like, eagerly learning. So I went and bought into this woman's, like, cohort. It's called Food Biz Whiz. She's honestly amazing. Like, I've learned so much in her course, even just, like, two weeks in, and she teaches you exactly how to build your distribution. She's like, don't think just whole. Whole Foods, Target. Like, she's like, think the studio up the street. Think, like, the boutique. Like, bodega on the corner. Like, she's like, you don't need to think so big. Start small. Distribution is new to us, but one thing we will do is invest in the learning and the ways to unlock how we make it happen. And so in 2026, like, I think people will start to see sensory across shelves, just like, across the country, which is really cool.

[Les (Host of She's So Lucky)]

Super exciting.

[Shanna (CEO and Founder of Sensory)]

Very exciting. It's scary because you have to have quant. You have to keep inventory on hand. And we've already had some wholesalers that, like, when we sell out, they can't get their product. And it is.

[Darian (COO of Sensory)]

Oh, they're less. They're actually pissed off at us.

[Ashlyn (CMO and Co-founder of Sensory)]

Yeah. You think they're gonna be like, oh, it's fine. And you're like, oh. I remember the first time somebody messages back, and they were like, it's actually not fine. I was like, like, oh, wait, no.

[Shanna (CEO and Founder of Sensory)]

Like, we didn't expect that response. Like, we thought they were going to keep it cute with us since we're like.

[Ashlyn (CMO and Co-founder of Sensory)]

I was like, so sorry. We can have it next week. And they were like, really? Well, no. I. I got this long email, but I literally had to, like, sit down. I think I was like, in Dallas at the time. I was like, with my parents, and I was like, Wait, hold on. I need to call Shanna real quick because I have to figure out how to respond to this and be like, oh, my gosh, I'm so sorry.

[Darian (COO of Sensory)]

Like, you do a little white lie.

[Ashlyn (CMO and Co-founder of Sensory)]

Yeah. I forgot what I said.

[Darian (COO of Sensory)]

We said that there was a. A rainstorm because it rained the night before.

[Ashlyn (CMO and Co-founder of Sensory)]

I don't know what we said, but I remember. I was like, I need to say something.

[Les (Host of She's So Lucky)]

Yeah.

[Ashlyn (CMO and Co-founder of Sensory)]

My parents were like, are you okay? And I was like, no, but I do get it.

[Darian (COO of Sensory)]

Like, at the end of the day, it's business and it's revenue. And if they see a product doing well, they're making a great profit off sensory. Like, run me my product.

[Ashlyn (CMO and Co-founder of Sensory)]

Yeah. I mean, it makes sense.

[Les (Host of She's So Lucky)]

No effect.

[Shanna (CEO and Founder of Sensory)]

No.

[Ashlyn (CMO and Co-founder of Sensory)]

Sometimes I'm like, oh, like, we're just girls. And then, like, sometimes I'm reminded. I'm like, no, we are not just girls. This is business.

[Ad Read Announcer / Show Closer]

Yeah.

[Shanna (CEO and Founder of Sensory)]

Fun thing anymore. Especially now that we have investors. Like, it's definitely gone from. At first, it was always just like, a fun thing. And then that's the thing about bringing on investors is it's no longer just, like, a little fun thing. It's someone's money at stake, and you have to treat it as such.

[Darian (COO of Sensory)]

And so, like, no, it gets serious. The KPIs are serious.

[Ashlyn (CMO and Co-founder of Sensory)]

I feel like, no, it got serious.

[Darian (COO of Sensory)]

We are team meetings, and I feel like they call me the tough cookie. I'm like, we're gonna get to business and we're gonna beat these KPIs.

[Les (Host of She's So Lucky)]

I also think, and this shows how good of an employee I was when I worked in corporate. Because when I had corporate jobs, KPIs were so fake to me because it's like, company is so big. It's all very fake. But then when you have your own business, those KPIs are very real. And when the smaller the business is, the realer the KPIs are.

[Progressive Insurance Announcer]

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[Les (Host of She's So Lucky)]

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[Ad Read Announcer / Show Closer]

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[Les (Host of She's So Lucky)]

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[Les (Host of She's So Lucky)]

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[Les (Host of She's So Lucky)]

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[Les (Host of She's So Lucky)]

As you have that goal to purchase the 100, 000 cans. How much do you guys need to raise to be able to do that? Or how much are you looking to raise next?

[Shanna (CEO and Founder of Sensory)]

So I've been crunching the numbers, reaching out to all of our suppliers, and, like, trying to negotiate. Sweet little Shanna. Trying to be tough with these people is not like I've gotten tougher. Like, Darian's like, you know what?

[Ashlyn (CMO and Co-founder of Sensory)]

You got more of a bark than

[Shanna (CEO and Founder of Sensory)]

people think you do. Because I really. I've had to reach out and try and negotiate pricing. Yesterday, we finally got in touch with our co packer, which is co packer terminology for, like, your manufacturer. And we're like, hey, guys, like, we're gonna go from 20,000 to a hundred thousand. What's that pricing gonna look like? And they hit us back yesterday with 66 cents per can. And I said, which was hilarious because

[Darian (COO of Sensory)]

Shannon said, what's the math on that?

[Les (Host of She's So Lucky)]

I said, 66,000.

[Shanna (CEO and Founder of Sensory)]

I said, I need to get to 55,000.

[Ashlyn (CMO and Co-founder of Sensory)]

That's literally what she texted back. She was like, how can we get it to 55?

[Shanna (CEO and Founder of Sensory)]

And he said. He said, make 200, 000 cans. I said, well, Rick, that's not happening. Come on, Rick. Like, I'm already going from twenty thousand to a hundred thousand. So I'm 5xing my typical order quantity here. And I would think as our supplier, the more I ordered, the, like, substantially it goes down. But he didn't budge. So it's going to be 64,000 roughly. It's going to be 64,000. But that's just for. Just for the hacker.

[Darian (COO of Sensory)]

Yeah, that's not even the cans.

[Shanna (CEO and Founder of Sensory)]

No, that.

[Darian (COO of Sensory)]

You're right.

[Shanna (CEO and Founder of Sensory)]

But that does not include any of the products that go in it. Like, any of the juices, the flavors, the active ingredients. And that's the priciest part of this kind of business is the active ingredient. Like, Kana.

[Ashlyn (CMO and Co-founder of Sensory)]

Yeah.

[Shanna (CEO and Founder of Sensory)]

Khan is expensive. Khan is like, the next big thing, though, honestly, for, like, mental health. Like, people are really, really like, let me leaning in On. No, it really is.

[Ashlyn (CMO and Co-founder of Sensory)]

Let me sit.

[Shanna (CEO and Founder of Sensory)]

It's pretty cool because it acts on your brain. It acts on your brain similar to, like, antidepressants, where it, like, stimulates your serotonin flow. It's a South African plant that has been around for centuries, but it's really kind of hitting the Western world. Khan as one, Blue Lotus is the other. Both very expensive. Like, very, very, very expensive. So, yeah, the 64,000 is just to make the beverage in the can, and

[Darian (COO of Sensory)]

we have to pay for those with.

[Shanna (CEO and Founder of Sensory)]

Yeah. And everyone's cash now. No one is accepting a credit card anymore. We're like, damn, we can't use that.

[Ashlyn (CMO and Co-founder of Sensory)]

Is there other forms of payment? They're like, no. Like, will you see what's on the invoice? The Ach number's on there.

[Darian (COO of Sensory)]

Yeah.

[Shanna (CEO and Founder of Sensory)]

Ach.

[Ashlyn (CMO and Co-founder of Sensory)]

Okay.

[Shanna (CEO and Founder of Sensory)]

So how much it takes to create that amount?

[Ad Read Announcer / Show Closer]

Yeah.

[Shanna (CEO and Founder of Sensory)]

This next fundraise, one of our advisors is like, don't think small anymore. You're thinking too small. Because we went into one pitch that he coordinated, and they were like, what's the number y' all are asking for? They were like, we love this. Yes. And this included a celebrity, by the way. Great. What's the number? Yeah, me and Darian, we did crunch our numbers.

[Darian (COO of Sensory)]

We did. We.

[Shanna (CEO and Founder of Sensory)]

We did a middle ground number. And we were like, okay, like, we want to overrate. So we said 300. And after they called us, and they were like, what the hell did you just say? 300,000 to these people that are willing to give you millions? And we were like. And then we happen to get on a call right after with the founder of the Gathering spot, Ryan Wilson. And we were like, ryan, what are your thoughts? And Ryan was like, girl, if they don't give you a million, take a million. Your strong suit in business is capital. He's like, capital is everything. It either kills the business or it empowers the business. Yes. And he was like, I'm never saying to, like, take this, like, you know, amount that you can't make sense of, but he's like, if you can get your hands on a million dollars to, like, fortify your business, get it. So now we're raising a million dollars. Yes. Which sounds crazy to say.

[Ashlyn (CMO and Co-founder of Sensory)]

No, I mean, like, in the world of, like, raising money, like, even when we raised our money and, like, we had, like, the Afro Tech, and people were like, oh, my gosh, like, like $150,000.

[Darian (COO of Sensory)]

My mom, we call her our momager, she helps us with, like, all things money, funding, telling us to negotiate, telling Us, basically. She's like, be a big boss or step to the back. She will really just check us. And I called her and I was like, yeah, we're going to raise a million dollars. And she said, yep, I know. That's right. Period. Exactly.

[Ashlyn (CMO and Co-founder of Sensory)]

Period.

[Darian (COO of Sensory)]

So if she doesn't hesitate, if she doesn't blink, we're all like, oh, okay, okay. We were thinking small, and lately we've been saying, I'm like, think big, bitch. Think big. Think big, think small.

[Shanna (CEO and Founder of Sensory)]

I think it's funny because people think we're like, like, little sweet. We are little sweet girls. But, like, in the morning, you handle business, but we handle business. And, like, honestly, like, I've been, like, stepping into my, like, you are CEO acts like it. So, like, when I have to get a little, like, spicy with some people, I'm like, absolutely. Like, this is what I said.

[Ashlyn (CMO and Co-founder of Sensory)]

Yeah.

[Shanna (CEO and Founder of Sensory)]

But also, our motivation is young Dolph, like, in the morning, every morning. Immediately, we're like, young doll or a key Glock. They just really inspire me to like.

[Ashlyn (CMO and Co-founder of Sensory)]

And then it's also like, like, Abraham Hicks. Yeah, it's like. Like, it is.

[Darian (COO of Sensory)]

The other day, I was like, you know, 50 of what I intake is Neville and Abraham. That just gets me centered. And then I turn on young Dolph and key Glock because that reminds me to get in my bag, be a hustler. Like, money is the name of the game. And then I was like, then the other half of the day, I be listening to motherfuckers talk.

[Ashlyn (CMO and Co-founder of Sensory)]

I'm like, damn.

[Darian (COO of Sensory)]

And then we've also been talking a lot about, which I think this is really important for people to, like, understand is that, like, audacity and confidence gets you a lot further. Yes. And when you really look around at the businesses that are thriving right now, they're one ran and owned by, like, white men. And when you look at the history of it, they did not have anything. They didn't even have a physical product. They had an idea. They had audacity, they had confidence, and they had good words. And they were able to raise millions, multi millions. And right now I'm like, I'm just in the era of we need to get our way. And how we get our way is a little bit of bullshitting, bullshit with confidence. And it gets you so far.

[Shanna (CEO and Founder of Sensory)]

And act like a white man. We've been saying like a white man. I gotta say it, but we've been like, okay, so there's a time and a place when you. There's a time and a place, like, act like a white man. Like, I'm going to be audacious and be like, no, actually, that's not how this works for me. I'm going to go get a million. And I just think, like. Like having that audacious attitude, like, you fake it till you make it, and then suddenly you're like, wow, I made it. Like, we got a million dollars in the account. Sometimes you.

[Les (Host of She's So Lucky)]

You have to fake it to make it.

[Darian (COO of Sensory)]

Yeah, yeah.

[Ashlyn (CMO and Co-founder of Sensory)]

And I feel like faking it so you make it. But also I feel like what we realize a lot is, like, in the current day and age, like, we also have so many resources. Thinking back to, like, even, like, when Allison started Poppy, like, she probably couldn't go listen to 30 podcasts about fundraising or about, like, how to start a business. Whatever. We have that. We have AI tools that, like, if we got the confidence, we got the confidence. So everything else can be figured out. We can look that up.

[Les (Host of She's So Lucky)]

And nobody knows what they're doing until they do it.

[Ashlyn (CMO and Co-founder of Sensory)]

Nobody knows what they're doing. And even when you are listening to this podcast, those people just figured it out barely, and are probably then still figuring out.

[Darian (COO of Sensory)]

Yeah.

[Ashlyn (CMO and Co-founder of Sensory)]

So I just, like, there's also so many resources, and we don't like to put ourselves in that box of, like, we can't, because we truly do feel like we can figure out anything.

[Shanna (CEO and Founder of Sensory)]

Because, yeah, I refuse to subscribe to the mindset of, like, woe is me. We lack this. And I. I admit, totally understand that that is the reality for a lot of people, but we're also believers that we create our reality. And so given that I create my reality, I'm never going to align myself to what doesn't feel good just because it's what's happening. I'm going to think like a white man who just does what he wants and says what he wants, and then he gets what he wants.

[Darian (COO of Sensory)]

So it works every time.

[Les (Host of She's So Lucky)]

I would love to talk maybe about a moment you guys had that was really challenging. Maybe, like, on the brink of a business crash out where you had to, like, tap into that and be like, okay, we're gonna resource up, put our minds together, and, like, figure out what to do, what to do next.

[Shanna (CEO and Founder of Sensory)]

Happens all the time. I'm like, which one do we start with?

[Les (Host of She's So Lucky)]

I mean, I have heard the story about your very first shipment in the truck. Yes, the truck crashed.

[Shanna (CEO and Founder of Sensory)]

I feel like the more recent one, though, our ingredients. Our ingredients.

[Darian (COO of Sensory)]

And I had.

[Shanna (CEO and Founder of Sensory)]

Go ahead, tell them self.

[Ashlyn (CMO and Co-founder of Sensory)]

Go ahead. Honestly, the truck.

[Darian (COO of Sensory)]

No. They'll be like, hold on. And My number one thing is I'm gonna call you. There's no point in us emailing back and forth. That's a waste of time. I'm gonna call you, and you're gonna hear my voice and hear how serious I am. Because also, as a black woman, you think you can get over on us. And I'm always very, very kind, which is the funny thing. But I'm like, you have to just have this sternness. And recently, our ingredients were stuck in Italy, and we needed them in two days. And I was like, you know, I have followed your instructions. I reached out way in advance. You told me to reach out a month in advance. I did all of that. The PO order. I talked to you, I spoke with you. I handled everything correctly. And she kept responding to me, you know, for the next order. And I was like, we're focused on what we're going to handle today, President.

[Les (Host of She's So Lucky)]

I need this order.

[Darian (COO of Sensory)]

I don't. I said, I hear you. I truly do. For the next run, we will work as a team and partner. But today, when I hang up this phone, you are going to send emails. You are going to call. You're going to either find that ingredient in the US or you're going to somehow get our ingredient on a flight from Italy to. Where's South Carolina?

[Shanna (CEO and Founder of Sensory)]

South Carolina.

[Darian (COO of Sensory)]

And I was like, okay. I was like, have a really great day. You really appreciate talking to you. I appreciate all your help. All right, queen.

[Ashlyn (CMO and Co-founder of Sensory)]

Bye.

[Les (Host of She's So Lucky)]

I'm not asking you.

[Shanna (CEO and Founder of Sensory)]

No.

[Les (Host of She's So Lucky)]

But what's hard to know here is

[Shanna (CEO and Founder of Sensory)]

that she was telling us without that arriving, she was like, you guys will be able to get it in March.

[Darian (COO of Sensory)]

And I said, absolutely not.

[Ashlyn (CMO and Co-founder of Sensory)]

We're like, the date is February 16th.

[Shanna (CEO and Founder of Sensory)]

Production.

[Ashlyn (CMO and Co-founder of Sensory)]

Is he literally saying March?

[Shanna (CEO and Founder of Sensory)]

That is when she can get it

[Darian (COO of Sensory)]

to us, but by the next day. Because I told her, I'm gonna call you the next day at lunch, and I'm gonna see what your answers are. Like, I'm really big on. Don't come to me with a problem without a solution. You can tell me there's a problem. That's no issue at all, but you need to have a solution before you get on the phone with me. And for you to call me and tell me what we're gonna do next time and not what we're gonna do today when the issue is today. And then so I called her the next day, and the issue was solved. I was like, I don't.

[Shanna (CEO and Founder of Sensory)]

I bet it was that shit two days later.

[Ashlyn (CMO and Co-founder of Sensory)]

Yeah, now we're drinking it right now. I'm like to say to that lady on the phone, because when I got the email in the morning, she said

[Les (Host of She's So Lucky)]

what needed to be said.

[Ashlyn (CMO and Co-founder of Sensory)]

It was like. It was like, here's the tracking number. It'll be there on this day. I was like, okay.

[Les (Host of She's So Lucky)]

Period.

[Shanna (CEO and Founder of Sensory)]

Period.

[Les (Host of She's So Lucky)]

Did what needed to be done.

[Shanna (CEO and Founder of Sensory)]

We've had to, like, operate with that mindset. Now, our CO packers, they're white men in South Carolina. And I think they get really surprised at us because we're three black girls building a beverage business, and we come back to them every single month with orders of 20,000 cans or more. And I think they at first used to kind of play us.

[Darian (COO of Sensory)]

Us.

[Shanna (CEO and Founder of Sensory)]

And now, remember when I called Rick? Oh, they would play us.

[Darian (COO of Sensory)]

Hannah was like, no, Darian, I don't think we have to ask for this. I said, that's our thing.

[Shanna (CEO and Founder of Sensory)]

They would lose our products. Like, we would. So we shipped things. They would lose ingredients that cost thousands of dollars. They'd be like, sorry, we lost it. Like, we don't know what happened to this $2,000 bag of mushrooms. We're like, you better go find that Right. Thousand dollar bag of mushrooms.

[Ashlyn (CMO and Co-founder of Sensory)]

Yeah.

[Shanna (CEO and Founder of Sensory)]

They didn't find it. And Darian was like, let me call them up. And we got credit.

[Darian (COO of Sensory)]

Take it off the invoice. Every single cent. Take it off the invoice. But it's funny because I always. I'll talk a lot of shit with Shannon. I'm like, in Ashton, I'm like, no, run me my money. And then I get on the phone and I'm like, rick, how are you?

[Ashlyn (CMO and Co-founder of Sensory)]

No. One time, my boyfriend was literally like. It was when we were, like, doing the compound, and we were, like, staying at Shannon's house. And I don't know, like, Matthew, I guess you were. He was like, in the room with you or y' all doing finances or something. She was like, I need to call Rick. And then Matthew was like, is that how you talk to the phone with Rick? He was like. He was like, could y' all be over here? So nice. Somehow Darian got what she wanted by the end of the call. And I was like, it just has to be done. We all like, it has to be done. He was like. And I was like, hey, flirting is

[Darian (COO of Sensory)]

a part of sales and business, like, being really kind, which in general, we are just really kind people. But I think the way you speak to people in general, it just really matters. You can be stern and not an. I just take pride in being able to communicate that way. And it. It's worked in our favor Yeah, I

[Shanna (CEO and Founder of Sensory)]

think having good energy, honestly, really goes a long way. Like, most people that we meet, they're like, wow, I just love you guys energy. And we have gotten so many blessings. Even Imani, for CultureCon. Like, what a queen. Just so this can be said very publicly, she didn't charge us a dime to activate at CultureCon, yet treated us like we were a sponsor, like Chase Bank. And again, she said that she just felt a good energy from us when we reached out. And we were just like, what a queen. Like, we owe her the biggest bag.

[Ashlyn (CMO and Co-founder of Sensory)]

Like, as we continue to grow, when we make it, like, we can't wait. Coming.

[Darian (COO of Sensory)]

Yes. Even I would say with, like, Shark Tank. And though we can't really speak on it anymore, like the producer, you can't

[Les (Host of She's So Lucky)]

give us a little bit of.

[Darian (COO of Sensory)]

Well, we are allowed to say is what we kind of posted, which was we had a call, our initial call with the producer.

[Shanna (CEO and Founder of Sensory)]

Yeah.

[Darian (COO of Sensory)]

And she ran us down. Just like the timeline of everything. It is an extensive timeline, but we are starting the process.

[Les (Host of She's So Lucky)]

So starting the process to audition, or have you already auditioned? And starting the process to, like, proceed with what happens after that.

[Darian (COO of Sensory)]

Starting the process of auditioning and proceed. What happens after that?

[Ashlyn (CMO and Co-founder of Sensory)]

Like, it's gonna take, like, yeah, it's kind of crazy.

[Les (Host of She's So Lucky)]

Yeah.

[Darian (COO of Sensory)]

But the producer said that it was our energy.

[Shanna (CEO and Founder of Sensory)]

Basically, what happens is there's a casting producer who, like, goes out and finds a bunch of, like, brands or applications come in, and they vet through them and see who they want to put forth in front of the producer. We got DMed by the head of casting who was like, hey, I like you guys content. Are you guys interested in Shark Tank? We're like, duh. Like, what kind of question is that? What a dumb question. And so we have our first call with her, and she's like, y' all are so silly.

[Darian (COO of Sensory)]

She was amazing.

[Ashlyn (CMO and Co-founder of Sensory)]

For, like, 30 minutes extra on the call, she was like, I feel like we would just be friends. And I'm like, yeah, girl.

[Shanna (CEO and Founder of Sensory)]

And she was telling us stories. She was like, we told her our drunk stories. Because one thing we have a part of what made Sensory come about is, like, the embarrassing ass drunk stories. I'm the blackout girl. And so she related. She's like, like, I am too. And so we just, like, had this whole moment of, like, being the blackout girl. You guys are on the next round. Here's the application. Your video is due, like, X date. But again, going back to energy, like, that is what she said stood out for her, this warmth you guys offer. And so To Darian's point, I do think, like, while it is important to be, like, stern and know who you are and speak with confidence and, like, assurance, I do think there's this really natural balance of warm and energy that. That speaks louder than, like, anything. Yeah. While we're thugging it out, we're also,

[Les (Host of She's So Lucky)]

like, you have to have both.

[Darian (COO of Sensory)]

We're never rude. I think I just don't like people who are rude to people. We're not rude. We don't use a tone. Like, you can just accomplish so much more with kindness.

[Shanna (CEO and Founder of Sensory)]

Yeah.

[Darian (COO of Sensory)]

And being stern.

[Ashlyn (CMO and Co-founder of Sensory)]

Yeah.

[Les (Host of She's So Lucky)]

This is such an exciting time for you guys because you just wrapped your first year in business. You're going into year two. You're on the cusp of all these really amazing things, audacious goals. I would love to hear maybe from each of you one thing that being on this journey for the past year, which I know it's been longer than a year, but years since it's been public facing and launched. Either what it's taught you or maybe one takeaway that you think would be helpful for everybody listening that you've learned for this experience so far.

[Ad Read Announcer / Show Closer]

Ashlynn, do you want to start us off?

[Ashlyn (CMO and Co-founder of Sensory)]

Yeah. I feel like I have, like, recently been reflecting on how much of a personal journey this has been, and we talk about it a lot. It's a like, oh, like all the things we've learned in business, but I feel like we truly have all individually grown so much, and our relationship is also strengthened. Something that I have really taken away is it's going to be hard. It gets really hard. My biggest lesson in any even future venture that I would do is that I wouldn't do it by myself. Honestly, I think that we live in such, like a me, me, me kind of time, and you kind of want to get it, get it on your own. I don't even know if I could have kept going if I didn't have the support of them as my best friends and know that I had other people to lean on, because many times I'm like, y', all, I'm down. I'm down bad. Between balancing this and, like, work, it's. It's a lot.

[Les (Host of She's So Lucky)]

And you. Do you still have your corporate.

[Ashlyn (CMO and Co-founder of Sensory)]

Yeah, so I still have a corporate job. So we. You guys don't even want to know how we be balancing the corporate and the.

[Les (Host of She's So Lucky)]

We'll have to do a part two.

[Ashlyn (CMO and Co-founder of Sensory)]

Yeah. Like, sometimes at work, I'm like, y' all don't even know what is really going on in here. Like, I'm, I'm, y'.

[Shanna (CEO and Founder of Sensory)]

All.

[Ashlyn (CMO and Co-founder of Sensory)]

Yo, we're wearing spreadsheets here. I'm like, I'm thinking you got the real KPIs. Yeah. I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I found a CMO up here. Like, I'm here right now, but like, I'm CMO in the fear. That is just something that I wasn't necessarily prepared for. Like, we had done like the service based businesses before and we knew we wanted to do a product. We had supported founders and I never got to see behind the curtain of like, what it's actually like. And I feel like, I wish that. I feel like now we're seeing more female founders come forward and be like, this shit is hard. Like, this is it. This, this is not for everyone. This is not for the week. I think that when we first started, there wasn't really as much of that. So it was like, oh, this is going to be this glamorous thing. Like I'm going to be this co founder, etc. Etc. I'm like another girl. This shit is. It's hard, but it's a choice. And I think that having people that you can lean on, like, whether it is like partners or whether you like bring on a team, I think that's really important for accountability, but also just for being able to enjoy it, because I think that's also a big part

[Darian (COO of Sensory)]

of it for sure.

[Ad Read Announcer / Show Closer]

Thank you.

[Shanna (CEO and Founder of Sensory)]

That was beautiful.

[Ad Read Announcer / Show Closer]

What about you?

[Shanna (CEO and Founder of Sensory)]

I would say my biggest learning lesson that I think anyone else can take away is this is like, like the cliche thing to say, but like leaning into like your spiritual practices as you build a business has been like, crucial for me because it will test and try every part of you, to Ashlyn's point, lean into those like, manifestation practices, those like, practices you use to calm your central nervous system down. Like, those have been crucial for me to sustain myself because it's easy to tap out for that very reason of like. Like, it's a lot. And it tries you emotionally, physically, financially, like, mentally. Every part of you is stretched. It's really important to double down in whatever your faith is, whatever it may be, because you'll need it as like your tool to get through it. The other thing I would say for anyone that's looking to build a business is don't wait for anyone to like, give you something to like, start, like just start, start moving. And for us, we've always seen growth and just like, like getting out there and doing it, putting Our story out there and feeling that confidence, just put yourself out there, I think is my biggest recommendation.

[Ad Read Announcer / Show Closer]

I love it. Thank you.

[Shanna (CEO and Founder of Sensory)]

Thank you.

[Les (Host of She's So Lucky)]

Darian, what about you?

[Darian (COO of Sensory)]

I've been thinking a lot about how when you create a product or you're bringing something to life, I think it's important to not just to create a nice to have, but creating something that people have to have. And I think we've done a great job with Sensory where we're filling a market where there are a lot of non alcoholic beverages, but they're either, we love to say, like glorified grape juice, organic juice. People are still looking to absolutely feel something and for a sensation, but they also want it to taste good and they want it to truly replace either their wine or their liquor. And so when I think about what we've done with Sensory, I think it's important for other people to just think about what they're creating. Make it a must have whatever you do. And then I would say live in the end feeling because you are going to have so much chaos on the day to day. But you need to root yourself in what that end feels like and that is what the ultimate goal is anyways. So you might as well hold on to that feeling every single day and find stillness when everything is chaotic because there's no doubt that you're not going to want to probably cry every single day. But if you can find stillness and if you can root yourself in that infilling, then you will absolutely be okay.

[Ad Read Announcer / Show Closer]

I love it.

[Les (Host of She's So Lucky)]

That is. That is like the business of you. The theme.

[Ad Read Announcer / Show Closer]

All wrapped up, ladies. Thank you so much for being here.

[Darian (COO of Sensory)]

Thank you.

[Ad Read Announcer / Show Closer]

Love chatting.

[Les (Host of She's So Lucky)]

We'll have to do a part 2 once you like get through the next round of things to share when we

[Ashlyn (CMO and Co-founder of Sensory)]

hit a million to savor. Exactly. We'll have other things.

[Ad Read Announcer / Show Closer]

Yes.

[Shanna (CEO and Founder of Sensory)]

New celebrity invited.

[Darian (COO of Sensory)]

Yes.

[Les (Host of She's So Lucky)]

And thank you all for tuning in to this week's installment of the Business of you series.

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If you're not already subscribed to she's so Lucky on YouTube, on Apple, on Spotify, make sure you're subscribed.

[Les (Host of She's So Lucky)]

I drop conversations like this every single week. Thank you for tuning in and I'll see you next week.

[Ad Read Announcer / Show Closer]

Thank you for tuning into this week's episode of she's so Lucky. If you're ready to create your own luck, hit that subscribe button wherever you get your podcasts or on YouTube so you don't miss an episode and head to the show. Notes for resources, links and discount codes. And if you are really feeling lucky, we would appreciate your rating and your review. It really helps us be able to improve the show to get great guests and to understand what you want to hear more of. Thank you for tuning in and I'll see you. See you next week.

[Kenzie (Host of Houseguests Podcast)]

Hi y', all, I'm Kenzie and I'm the host of Houseguests podcast. I am a Gen Z wannabe Martha Stewart meets Dolly Parton trying to live in a Nancy Myers movie. We talk all about life, relationships and navigating your 20s. I'd like to say I'm multifaceted. I'm either waking up a 4am in the SAA, attending to my garden, or closing out the bars until 2am you just never know what you're going to get. It's either me at home in my house in Texas that I spend way too much time in, or in the studio with some pretty cool guests. You can follow us at thehouseguest Pod and listen or watch all new episodes every Thursday wherever you get your podcast or on YouTube.

[Les (Host of She's So Lucky)]

Please note that this episode may contain

[Ad Read Announcer / Show Closer]

paid endorsements and advertisements for products and services.

[Les (Host of She's So Lucky)]

Individuals on the show may have a

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direct or indirect financial interest in products or services referred to in this episode.