Recently, social entrepreneur Miki Agrawal was the guest of honor on the Reset, Renew, Revive podcast. Hosted by Dr. Bindiya, the podcast celebrates inspiring and motivating stories from some of the world’s most forward-thinking entrepreneurs, innovators, and thought leaders.
Experienced entrepreneur Miki Agrawal is the brains behind some of the most boundary-pushing brands, including Wild (NYC’s premier gluten-free farm-to-table pizza concept), Thinx (period-proof panties), and her newest venture, TUSHY (modern bidet attachments for every toilet). In addition to running these successful brands, Miki Agrawal is the author of best-selling “Do Cool Sh*t” and “Disrupt-Her”.
Below, read on for excerpts from the conversation between the two:
Miki Agrawal On The Importance of Givebacks
Miki Agrawal: I think it’s hard to make something out of nothing. It’s hard for people to get people to try your thing or check your thing out. And if they’ve never seen it or heard it or whatever, or even know what it is, it’s like… There’s a lot of education or just like constant like “Hey…”, you know? That just breaks people down a lot; and I think for me, it’s like “How badly do I believe in this and how much do I want to see it in the world?” Like how much do I truly want to see it in the world?
Every one of my businesses has givebacks – and I think that’s supercritical in the longevity of an entrepreneur; of someone creating – because otherwise, it’s just a grind.
Dr. Bindiya: Yeah. I agree.
Miki Agrawal: For its own sake versus — For Thinx, we’ve helped hundreds of thousands of girls go back to school —
Dr. Bindiya: Exactly.
Miki Agrawal: — by funding a business to create menstrual products to then sell them at an affordable price. We then funded just hundreds and hundreds of fistula operations for women who tore after they gave birth.
You know, these women go back to their lives and their families; and now with TUSHY, we have helped 60,000 families gain access to clean toilets. In India, we have helped several million trees be saved and we have helped resoiling projects using pig poop to resoil places that really need resoiling, in South America specifically. You know, we have helped with tree planting.
We have done tons and tons of giving back and I think that also keeps the engine running for us and for me. It’s not just building the business, but it’s actually solving pain points for myself and for the world at the same time.
Dr. Bindiya: I know. I know. I think that’s honestly why I think Thinx and TUSHY are so amazing because there is a bigger purpose. It’s not just underwear. It’s not just a bidet. Like there is a bigger purpose – and I think so many people sometimes forget that message and just focus on the dollars or focus on just the immediate gratification that their business may bring. But I love that your companies, both of them, have much greater humanitarian purposes. So, thank you for that, seriously.
Miki Agrawal: I mean, I thank these causes only because otherwise, it’s like sometimes just like “Ugh, it’s too much” and it’s like “Do it where the journey is. Do it for the girl!” Are you understand what I’m saying?
Dr. Bindiya: Yeah! Yeah!
Miki Agrawal: Then it’s just like you’re going through the hits of entrepreneurship and it’s just like “Man… Fuck, this hard!”
Business Doesn’t Happen Overnight
Dr. Bindiya: I’m so glad you brought that up because that’s something I think I’d love for you to share. I want you to tell people like “This didn’t happen overnight”. You know, when I am reading your bio, I’m like “Oh my god, she’s got three amazing companies and accomplished all of this stuff”, but it didn’t happen overnight. It happened over years of grinding and years of tears and rejection and hardship.
Yeah, when you’re reading this it’s like; oh my goodness. You’ve accomplished so much. But you definitely paid your dues.
Miki Agrawal: Yeah. I think most people, as I said, kind of assume and expect that it’ll just drop in their laps and that it should be an expectation. But I’ve dealt with entitled people like that a ton and it’s just so like “Oh, honey. Please. Just go into the world.
It’s not for me to teach you anymore. You can see for yourself”. It’s not for the faint of heart. Things don’t just fall in your lap. It’s painful. It’s amazing. It’s exciting! It’s scary.
Dr. Bindiya: Yeah.
Miki Agrawal: It’s hurtful. It’s painful. It’s magnificent. It’s magical. It’s expanding. It’s miraculous. It’s all of it… And I think that sort of range is scary for a lot of people. I think it kind of mirrors an emotional range. I think — Like I truly learned, from the experience that I have had of hardship and challenge and pain — Ugh!
Miki Agrawal On Growing Emotionally
Miki Agrawal: So like (woah!) kind of experiences where it’s like… I didn’t have that emotional range before. I couldn’t even access feelings to feel the pain, the sadness, and the anger; because I was just focusing on the positive and looking at the glass half full and trying to, you know, focus there.
But I think when we accept the full range; like when I accepted the full range of my own emotional capacity, it actually created a lot more tolerance for the ups and downs of entrepreneurship, because it’s like “Oh, that’s not” —
Like being in that state of fear or anger or sadness is no longer scary because I have experienced it before. So I can get there and know that I am going to come out of it. Like I know that it’s not going to be the end of my life, even if in the moment it felt like that, I learned that it’s just these things come and go… like a fart in the wind.
To read more entrepreneurial stories, visit Miki Agrawal’s Medium page. To book Miki Agrawal for a speaking engagement, please visit the Miki Agrawal SpeakersNetworkWorldwide page.