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In This Episode You’ll Hear About:

•   [02:26] Cedar’s rustic upbringing and the leadership qualities she displayed early on.

•   [05:23] An overview of Cedar’s career journey, from gymnastics coach to CEO.

•   [16:03] The importance of thinking about the big picture and taking a long-term approach.

•   [19:13] What prompted Cedar to make the move from apparel to CPG at The Good Patch.

•   [22:09] The story of how she became CEO of The Good Patch in under a year.

•   [27:58] How her expectations of what it means to be CEO have been challenged.

•   [29:47] Things that have influenced Cedar’s empowering leadership style along the way.

•   [33:47] What growth looks like at The Good Patch (and some insight into the product).

•   [38:23] Inspiring lessons from Cedar’s first fundraising experience.

•   [44:44] What’s next for The Good Patch and Cedar’s advice for aspiring leaders.

To Find Out More:

The Good Patch

Cedar Carter on LinkedIn

The Artemis Fund

Lee Greene on LinkedIn

Stairway to CEO

Stairway to CEO on Instagram

Awesome CX

Quotes:

“We were very close to nature [as children] and it grounded me from the start.” [0:03:00]

“Coaching gymnastics was a very simple job, but it led to many other career opportunities along the way for me. The value of networking!”  [0:06:03]

“It’s important to work hard in any job that you have, regardless of how important or unimportant it seems at the time because you learn something from every experience, but also, you never know who you’ll meet along the way.” [0:07:01]

“When you’re young, it’s hard to know what you want to do until you try it.” [0:12:07]

“As a marketer, I’d always had an eye on the big picture, as you should.” [0:16:04]

“Because I knew how the wholesale, retail, apparel worlds worked so intimately and also knew how to build and scale a D2C business, The Good Patch approached me thinking that my background made sense for them.” [0:19:58] 

“A lot of founders are very creative. They have this amazing out-of-the-box idea, then it comes to actually operating a business, and that’s not always that fun!” [0:25:23] 

“The CEO role is a lot of pressure. That’s the biggest thing [that I didn’t expect or realize]. I’d always been working for somebody else. While I still work for somebody else, it is ultimately my responsibility to make sure that this business is successful.” [0:28:34]

“I’ve seen incredibly intelligent people become so disheartened because they feel like they cannot make a single decision on their own without running it by somebody.” [0:31:15]

“Once I met one person in [the female venture capital world in LA], they introduced me to two more, and then they introduced me to two more. It was such a supportive, wonderful group of women that I’m still very much in touch with.” [0:39:46]

“If you believe in your idea and you believe you’re going to be successful (which you should; that’s why you’re an entrepreneur, that’s why you started this brand), you’re giving investors the opportunity to be a part of it.” [0:42:48]

“It’s really about working hard to differentiate yourself as far as work ethic. It’s hard work. You can’t just sit back and work your 9-to-5 and have it fall in your lap. You’ve got to put some effort into your network.” [0:45:46]

“How does my piece of the puzzle fit into the entire puzzle? – How can I think bigger picture? How can I affect change for the whole organization?” [0:46:35]