892 Lauren Schulte Wang: Founder & CEO of The Flex Company

Luxury is hard to break into. Building a new luxury brand from scratch—and aiming for $100 million—is an entirely different challenge. ✨ On The Kara Goldin Show, I sit down with Lola Banjo, Founder and Chief Executive of Silver & Riley, the luxury fashion and travel accessories brand she launched in 2019. Lola built Silver & Riley while balancing a demanding corporate career, investing her own capital and learning firsthand that understanding business and actually building one are two very different things. Today, Silver & Riley is a multimillion-dollar business with an incredibly loyal customer base and a hero product—the New Yorker Bag—that has repeatedly sold out. But Lola isn’t thinking small. Her goal is to reach $100 million in annual sales by year ten and ultimately build a billion-dollar global luxury house. We talk about what happens after you’ve proven product-market fit, why finding your next customer can be harder than keeping the ones you already have, and what really changes as you try to go from millions to $100 million. Lola also gets candid about putting her own money into the business, the hidden cost of being undercapitalized, scaling manufacturing without sacrificing quality, and why some founders seem to get funded on potential while others are expected to show up with proof. If you’re interested in luxury, consumer brands, capital, entrepreneurship, or what it really takes to turn a successful company into a much bigger one—this is a conversation you’ll want to hear. You can find it here or anywhere you listen to podcasts. 🎧

What does it take to turn one big idea into a $100M+ brand that lasts? On The Kara Goldin Show, I sit down with Matt Scanlan, Co-Founder and CEO of NAADAM—the cashmere brand that started with a trip to Mongolia and a plan to rethink the industry. We talk about the $98 sweater that helped put NAADAM on the map, what consumers get wrong about cashmere, and what Matt has learned about growth, profitability, failure, and knowing when to double down—or walk away. After more than a decade of building, Matt has plenty to say about what it really takes to create a brand with staying power. This is a great conversation for anyone building something of their own. Listen here or anywhere you get your podcasts. 🎧

What if one of the biggest opportunities in consumer products is hiding in a category most people don’t even want to talk about? On today’s episode, we welcome Sam Nebel, Co-Founder, Chief Commercial Officer — and King of All Wipes — at goodwipes, the bold personal hygiene brand changing the way people think about one of the most basic routines in our lives. Sam and his team have taken flushable wipes from an overlooked category and made them fun, culturally relevant, and increasingly mainstream, with goodwipes now sold at major retailers including Target, Walmart, and Kroger. In this episode, Sam shares how goodwipes is challenging the status quo in personal hygiene, what makes a wipe actually flushable, and why “butt health” may be the next frontier of wellness. We also get into what it really takes to win in CPG — from retail velocity, category analytics, manufacturing, and supply chain to building a company in the field instead of behind a laptop. Plus, Sam shares why “team > founder,” how his philosophy of “have fun and get sh*t done” shapes the culture, and what brands can learn from goodwipes’ unexpected collaborations with OLIPOP and Liquid Death. If you’re interested in entrepreneurship, CPG, retail, brand building, consumer behavior, or how to turn an overlooked category into a brand people actually want to talk about — this one’s for you. Tune in now on The Kara Goldin Show. 🎧

What happens when a doctor and surgeon with millions of followers decides the gut-health industry still isn’t getting one of the basics right? On today’s episode, we welcome Dr. Karan Rajan, Founder and CEO of LOAM — a science-backed, doctor-formulated prebiotic fiber brand rethinking how we support the gut microbiome. After more than a decade as a doctor and surgeon, Karan became one of the world’s most recognized health educators, building an audience of more than 12 million followers by making complex medical science understandable and useful. In 2025, he launched LOAM after recognizing a major gap: an estimated 95% of adults aren’t getting enough fiber. In this episode, Karan breaks down what fiber actually does for the microbiome, what most of us misunderstand about gut health, and how to separate legitimate science from wellness hype. He also shares what it’s been like going from doctor and health educator to entrepreneur — and the responsibility that comes with putting his name and medical credibility behind a product. If you’re interested in gut health, wellness, science, entrepreneurship, or what it takes to turn expertise into a company built around solving a real problem — this one’s for you. Tune in now on The Kara Goldin Show. 🎧

What if managing everyday pain didn’t have to mean pills, creams, or simply living with it? On today’s episode, we welcome Heather Sloan, Co-Founder of Heali Medical — a wellness company creating wearable, drug-free products designed to help people manage pain, recover, and keep moving. A trained chiropractor with more than a decade of experience in medical sales, Heather saw firsthand how many patients and athletes were looking for better ways to manage pain and recovery in their everyday lives. Together with Co-Founder Enwei Li, a Traditional Chinese Medicine practitioner, Heather built Heali around a different approach. Starting with kinesiology tape incorporating magnesium and menthol, Heali has expanded into products addressing muscle recovery, headaches, period pain, pelvic discomfort, and more. In this episode, Heather shares how they turned that idea into a profitable, largely self-funded business, scaled into more than 26,000 retail doors, and what she’s learned about building and selling physical products along the way. We also get into some incredible founder stories — from Dragon’s Den and Floyd Mayweather to the lengths you sometimes have to go to simply get the job done. If you’re interested in wellness, consumer products, retail growth, entrepreneurship, or what it really takes to build and scale a brand without relying heavily on outside capital — this one’s for you. Tune in now on The Kara Goldin Show. 🎧