By Alice Holding
Badasses don’t need business school is a story about female empowerment and inspiration within the Chapel Hill community. Natalie and Elizabeth share their entrepreneurial endeavors and experience in the food industry.
Photo by Natalie Hushcle
When I was little, I believed in Once Upon a Time.
Myself and millions of other little girls were raised with fairytales. At the end of each of these stories, the prince saves the princess, they marry and then live happily ever after.
However, boys are raised on superheroes. Those stories go like this.
One man in tight pants has superpowers. One man saves the world. And likely a girl.
Of course, there are counterarguments:
What about Wonder Woman? What about Ana in Frozen?
Those storybook characters are avant-garde. They are not normal.
Beginning in elementary school, I started to notice the superpowers that it seemed like only boys had.
The boys were faster runners, while the girls sat in the grass. Boys were better at math, while girls wrote stories. The boys acted out in class, while the girls stayed quiet.
Of course there are counterarguments, like that one girl who was sometimes picked first on the playground, or that other girl who was a class clown.
I remember those girls as avant-garde. They were not normal.
For this story, I searched for avant-garde women. Natalie and Elizabeth are both local entrepreneurs, who embody female strength through their entrepreneurial spirit.
For the women of the world on the edge of entrepreneurship, these stories are for you. To show you that you,too, can have superpowers.
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Natalie, a senior at UNC-Chapel Hill, began Nush Gourmet Dips after spending the summer at Le Cordon Bleu in London.
“Cooking has always been a passion of mine, and I wanted to get out of North Carolina for the summer so it seemed like a great option,” Natalie said.
Le Cordon Bleu was out of Natalie's comfort zone. At first, she intended to spend the summer interning at Chapel Hill Magazine.
“As a woman newly out of a relationship, I wanted to have an experience that was unique and different to me. Chapel Hill has not been a place where I felt like I have grown independently and cooking school pushed me out of my comfort zone.”
With a new tool kit of culinary skills, Natalie came back to Chapel Hill ready to put what she had learned to practice. Natalie also faced the challenge of how to reclaim Chapel Hill as her college town.
“I wanted to start something different. As a vegan in Chapel Hill, I feel like there are a limited variety of options for protein. Hummus has always been a favorite of mine, but I get tired of the same two flavors over and over again.”
Within three weeks of the first day of class, Nush was born.
Nush Gourmet Dips is a handmade hummus company that sells unconventional flavors, ranging from barbeque, pickle, sriracha, and even cookie dough for those who prefer a sweet option.
To launch the brand, Natalie leaned into a guerilla marketing tactic. She produced around fifty containers of hummus and left them on the doorsteps of houses in Chapel Hill. Each Nush container had a note scrawled across it, reading “Get Nushed.”
The “Nush bombs” generated free user content, with individuals posting about the exquisite flavor and smooth texture.“After that night, the orders just started flowing. Honestly, I’m having trouble keeping up with it these days.”
The name “Nush” was inspired by Natalies nickname, a combination of her first and last name. As an Advertising and Public Relations major, Natalie knew it was important for her brand to tell a story, one that begins with her.
Incorporating her graphic design skills, Natalie creates a character to pair with each flavor. These characters include Hunky Chocolate Chunk, a suave cookie man with a quaffed comb-over, and The Gib, a cheery chickpea with bright blue eyes.
Natalie hopes to grow her consumer base by entering the farmer’s market space.
“I’m excited to continue to grow the business and scale my products to a larger network of customers.”
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The avant-garde women in fairy tales and comic books are just as rare as the avant-garde women of the world. Storybooks aside, let’s look at statistics.
It doesn’t matter how hard she works, that little girl will be paid 20% less in the same role that a man holds. She has a 77% chance of experiencing discrimination in the workplace if she’s ever pregnant and a 46% chance of experiencing discrimination solely on account of her gender.
She may get lucky and be a part of the 27% managers who are women, and if she’s really lucky she could be one of the 8.8% who break the glass ceiling.
What is the glass ceiling?
The glass ceiling is an invisible barrier that prevents a given demographic from rising beyond a certain promotion level in the workplace. 8.8% of Fortune 500 CEOs are females, two of which are Mary Barra, the CEO of General Motors, and Rosalind Brewer, the CEO of Walgreens.
At the core of most CEOs is an entrepreneur. Globally, 39% of businesses are female-owned. Within that 39% falls Elizabeth, CEO of Bib’s Bites.
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"Badasses don't need business school," said Elizabeth, a UNC-Chapel Hill sophomore student. In addition to her psychology major and neuroscience minor, Elizabeth is an entrepreneur, launching her cookie business Bib’s Bites during the pandemic.
"It originally started as just an Instagram page to show people what I was baking in quarantine. Then one day, I made this giant chocolate chip cookie, and someone was like, 'Wait, can I buy this?' and I was like, 'hmm, maybe you can,’" said Elizabeth.
Elizabeth began the Bib’s Bites in the summer in Wilmington, but the business took off in Chapel Hill when classes began. Through word of mouth and Instagram, orders started to come in like a rolling snowball.
"I could only bake in my apartment for less than a month. So, in September, I started baking out of my friend's condo. I was there for about two months because the quantity I produced was too much for a single oven taking up 8-10 hours of my day."
Unsure of what to do, Elizabeth reached out to Alex Brandwein, owner of Braindwein's Bagels in Chapel Hill. Brandwein, now Elizabeth’'s small business mentor, was able to direct Elizabeth to a commercial kitchen twenty minutes away from her apartment. With a new space capable of mass production, the door opened for Elizabeth to make pop-up stands in addition to just custom orders. On February 20, "Bibs Bites" had their first pop-up located outside "Brandwein's Bagels."
Due to the consumer demand Elizabeth expected, the pop-up's preparatory work began several days before. "On Wednesday of that week, I woke up at 5 am to go to the kitchen. My mom drove from Winston -Salem to help me stock inventory for four hours," said Elizabeth. In the days leading up to the pop-up, Elizabeth enlisted about ten friends to save time.
"On Friday night, ten of us went to bake all the cookies. We turned on music and danced around while everyone was at their stations. Three girls were making new dough, two girls doing packaging, four girls monitoring the ovens, and a couple of others counting," says Elizabeth.
Within two hours of the pop-up on Saturday morning, Elizabeth had sold all her inventory.
Running a business is no piece of cake, or in this case, part of a cookie. In addition to the rapid expansion, Elizabeth faced other personal challenges as a businesswoman. "Being able to ask for help and being able to say no are two things I always knew I needed to work on but didn't know how to do. This was my way of breaking that personal barrier, which I'm so grateful for," said Elizabeth.
Although Elizabeth has persevered through many business challenges, she has also experienced great rewards. In addition to monetary success, Elizabeth gets to share her love of baking with people every day.
"The excitement and the love behind the product are my favorite part. It gives me so much energy. The excitement that other people get from the cookies makes me so happy because this business is like my baby," said Elizabeth.
Elizabeth plans on continuing Bib’s Bites but knows that she will need more help to tackle any more growth.
"Someone once asked me where I see the business in five years, but I don't even know where I see it in five days. I have ambitions and visions, but I'm not stuck to them. I want to continue it, but that's all I know. I love baking, and I love cookies," said Elizabeth.
As a young female in the business world, Elizabeth serves as an inspiration for aspiring entrepreneurs. But what inspires Elizabeth isn't monetary success or attention. It's the words of her mom.
"My mom always tells me, 'It's not that complicated, just love the person in front of you.' With Bibs Bites, that's what I want to do: spread as much light and love as I can through cookies," said Elizabeth.
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I still believe in Once Upon a Time. However, those four words hold a new meaning to me.
Once upon a time, there was a world where girls weren’t raised to be good, and boys weren't raised to be boys. A world where girls weren’t raised to be polite princesses, and a world where opportunity for success is equalized regardless of gender.
Girls were raised to run fast. Girls were raised to solve math problems, and start businesses. Girls were raised to run board rooms and break glass ceilings. Girls were raised to be strong women because strength is at the core of femininity. As girls, we can fight harder, be stronger, and collectively change the female future.
Photo by Elizabeth Orr