We sat down with WIN Lab entrepreneur Nicole Tirado to learn more about her innovative tea brewing product and company, TeaRado Tech.

Q. Tell us what prompted you to start your venture, TeaRado Tech?

I was giving myself my regular, you got this, speak slowly and limit the number of times you say awesome right before going on stage pep talk before going on stage to talk Cloud Best Practices, when I removed my tea infuser from the cup and tea spilled on my pants. It was hot, so it obviously burned and left a huge awkward looking wet mark. I went on stage with my hand over the mark and the presentation clicker in the other hand. It was super frustrating because I normally speak with my hands but I had to keep one hand over the wet spot on my pants. Needless to say I was embarrassed, frustrated, and annoyed because I didn't even get to drink my tea which normally energized me before a big talk. From that day forward, I started searching for a tea cup that would allow me to infuse and drink without removing the infuser or tea bag. I came up short after traveling to 46 international cities, and that's when I decided to come back home and start building the Infused. The tea brewing cup that allows you to infuse and then drink loose leaf tea on the go. It's the only cup that heats the water to the right temperature that won't burn the tea leaves, causing a bitter astringent taste and depleting the intended health benefits. It also provides all of the conveniences of a tea bag without any potential toxins. The infused is the ultimate tea brewing device for healthier and more productive living.

We sat down with Ashley Sebok, Founder of Sayblee a haircare company to learn more about her inspiration and story. 

Q. Tell us what prompted you to start your venture, Sayblee?

Sayblee was originally created by my mom, Sayblee Darsale. As a hair stylist, she met client after client seeking refuge from damaged hair and hair loss. Frustrated with the products on the market filled with harmful chemicals and false promises, she decided to formulate her own solution. So, she created a completely natural and organic hair care system and sold the products to her clients at her hair salon at the time. In 2016, my mom had an injury and we had to close the shop we had for 17 years. This is when I came onboard full time with Sayblee. Seeing the potential and results of the products, I wanted to help take these products to the next level and make it a fully sustainable business.

We sat down with Jennifer Hardcastle, Founder of MADSTUDIOS and WIN Lab entrepreneur to learn more about her company which allows creative professionals to access unique spaces in which to create their art and to hear her advice for fellow entrepreneurs.

Q. Tell us what prompted you to start your venture, MADSTUDIOS?

I was a signed recording artist here in Miami a few years ago. As a creative, I found it extremely difficult to find spaces to record in, create creative content, and at times rehearse. There was nothing that existed to help equip me with the tools I needed to succeed in the industry. The entertainment industry is hard enough as it is. The last thing you want to worry about is finding spaces to book to create the content you need to get yourself out there. It would take weeks on end to get a response from studio owners or managers regarding availability and pricing. It was also a huge challenge to find them in the first place.  Naturally I wanted to do something about it… so I did. We created MADSTUDIOS in hopes of equipping people with the necessary tools they need to create. We are an online booking platform for all types of Creative Spaces. You can search for recording studios, dance studios, art & production studios, and venues to book by the hour. We’re giving people access to a wide variety of spaces and direct contact to the amazing studio and venue owners that run them.

Each year the WIN Lab brings together, on average, 20 female founded startups who join the program for a variety of reasons. From world-renowned Babson pedagogy, to access to a larger stakeholder network, to peer support and learning, each startup can benefit to build their businesses. We asked our WIN Lab 2017-2018 Cohort to name some of the overarching things that they have experienced during their time in the accelerator to date. Here's what they said:

We sat down with WIN Lab Miami entrepreneur, Leana Loh, to learn more about her advice for fellow founders and what inspired her company, Ginger Straps.

Q. Tell us what prompted you to start your venture, Ginger Straps?

Growing up, I always wanted to create a product. I wouldn’t necessarily say that I’ve always felt like [it would be] a creative product, but I had the desire to make a tangible item straight from my imagination. Out of pure necessity, Ginger Straps was born. I was borrowing a pair of high heels during a snow storm in New York and they wouldn’t stay on. I asked a girlfriend to borrow a pair of detachable bra straps and I strapped on the shoes. Developing the product didn’t begin for another year after that when I said to myself “why is it that women cannot attach a cute ankle strap to their existing shoes?” I went through a few prototype and product testing phases and now have a tangible product that attaches to heels, flats and wedges for comfort and accessorizing purposes. 

Many of the best women founders created products that were solutions to common problems. It takes a truly entrepreneurial mind to utilize resources around her to create these solutions instead of just put up with the issues at hand. Enter Mary Anderson, the inventor of windshield wipers!

We sat down with Founder Jessica Coane to learn more about what prompted her to start her travel venture PEX+ and her advice for globe-trotters and entrepreneurs.

Q. Tell us what prompted you to start your venture, PEX+?

PEX+ is the travel search technology helping consumers and corporations maximize their miles and points. Through our unique model, we equally help loyalty programs tap into a new multi-billion dollar market. I quickly discovered the value of loyalty programs growing up in a single-parent household. They weren’t merely a gateway to occasional vacations, but helped enhance reality as well. Loyalty programs helped provide gas for the car, extra food for the fridge, and well-needed buying power. I always desired to bring this knowledge back to the community to help others benefit from the value of loyalty programs, but wouldn’t figure out the best course of action until later in life.

Did you know March is Women’s History Month? In 1987, Congress declared the very first “Women’s History Month,” and ever since each President has issued an annual proclamation so designating each March in order to celebrate the vital role of women in American history. This March, the WIN Lab is highlighting on our blog some incredible historical women founders.

C++, SAS, HTML, Java, Python….Lovelace? Did you know that the world’s first computer programmer was a woman? Ada Lovelace was born in London in 1852 and was the only legitimate child of Lord Byron, the famous English poet. 

We sat down with Anastasia Mikhalochkina, Founder of Lean Orb, the company that designs plant-based and biodegradable catering supplies to learn more about her inspiration and advice for like-minded entrepreneurs. 

Q. What prompted you to start Lean Orb?

As an environmentalist at heart and a designer by trade, I was always passionate about sustainability, energy optimization, and social equality. Being extremely close with my grandmother gave me an opportunity to learn about resource-based economy at an early age. My happiest childhood moments as I remember them were spent listening to her stories,  in the country house where the nearby lake has been a source of our drinking water through the present. She taught me to understand that everything is interconnected. We are the water we drink, and the waste we create today is a health condition we deal with tomorrow.

Guest Blog Feature by Scarlet Batchelor, Babson MBA’06, Co-Founder and CEO of COEO

In the six months since I launched full-time into Coeo, my friends, colleagues, and new contacts have been most interested in hearing about how I just one day decided to quit my corporate job and start this fitness/tech startup.

It really wasn’t just a one-day decision. The concept of doing my own thing started during my sophomore year of college. I remember standing in my then boyfriend’s, now husband’s, kitchen saying I wanted to sell something and build something. At the time, all I could get to was widgets, but as a natural visual storyteller and lover of products and community, I yearned to create something that brought people together, had a deeper meaning, and was frankly… just cool.

I didn’t act right away, but 10 years later I found myself at Babson College starting my MBA with the intention of launching my own company. But the right idea didn’t come at that moment either.

Did you know March is Women’s History Month? In 1987, Congress declared the very first “Women’s History Month,” and ever since each President has issued an annual proclamation so designating each March in order to celebrate the vital role of women in American history. This March, the WIN Lab is highlighting on our blog some incredible historical women founders including Mary Beatrice Davidson Kenner.

On today's blog, we feature Karley Chynces, Founder of Etc.App, to learn more about her motivations and successes as she begins to launch the all-in-one savings platform for college students this Spring.

Q. What prompted you to start your venture, Etc.App?

As a college student, the conversations with my friends are always the same: books are too expensive, going out is too expensive, living on campus is too expensive, etc. The additional costs of going to college hinder not only students’ education, but their overall college experience. This ongoing problem led me to build Etc.App, the app for students to buy and sell everything they use for college hyper locally. Etc.App is the all-in-one savings platform for college students. 

Q. Tell us what prompted you to start your venture, Smart Straws?

We have co-founded Smart Straws, a plastic straw that detects the most common date-rape drugs: GHB and Ketamine. We collectively converted Susana's original idea of having a pendant change color when detected of a date-rape drug to a straw. We are all beginning college soon and are aware of the date-rape culture, so we wanted to bring a discrete tool to the market. 

International Women's Day (March 8) is a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women. The day also marks a call to action for accelerating gender parity. The WIN Lab sat down with WIN Lab alumna Prabha Dublish, Founder of Womentum to learn more about how the online nonprofit platform allows anyone to invest in global women entrepreneurs living in poverty.

Most women founders dream of making a difference in the world, but becoming a self-made millionaire is still an enormous accomplishment that few achieve. This week, we are highlighting Sarah Breedlove, who achieved success under her brand name Madam C.J. Walker and is one of the first American women to become a self-made millionaire.