Marketing Happy Hour - Breaking Into Entrepreneurship: Tips for Young Founders

Episode Date: June 10, 2025

Bonus: If you’ve ever dreamed of turning a personal story into a product — this episode is for you. I’m joined by Kristan Kelly, CEO and founder of Shade Rayz Sunscreen: a mission-driven brand born from her journey as a breast cancer survivor and Latina entrepreneur. In this mentorship-focused conversation, Kristan shares the real story of building her company from the ground up, how she tapped into her local community for early support, the marketing strategies that have worked, and the mindset shifts that help first-time founders succeed. Key Takeaways:// How to turn a personal journey into a product and brand with purpose// The early decisions that shaped Shade Rayz Sunscreen’s success// How Kristan approached building brand identity and messaging (luxury + water safety + everyday use)// The power of leveraging your school and local community for support and connections// Tips for how to make the ask when building your network// Encouragement for women and young entrepreneurs breaking into wellness and consumer productsLearn more about Shade Rayz: Website | Instagram____Say hi! DM me on Instagram and let us know what content you want to hear on the show - I can't wait to hear from you! Please also consider rating the show and leaving a review, as that helps us tremendously as we move forward in this Marketing Happy Hour journey and create more content for all of you. ⁠Join our FREE Open Jobs group on LinkedIn: ⁠Join now⁠Get the latest from MHH, straight to your inbox: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Join our email list!⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Follow MHH on Social: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ | ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ |⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ | ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Facebook⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

It's so important to believe in your brand, believe in yourself, and no is a no is a no all day. It takes one yes. And that one yes can take you so far. And for me, it was truly reaching out and having the community of my friends, finding those outlets and those people and learning from them and sharing all of your information because we all want to succeed. and those people and learning from them and sharing all of your information because we all want to succeed.

Like I want the next girl to succeed as much as I'm succeeding and to have that community and that sisterhood. It's important. Welcome to Marketing Happy Hour. I'm Cassie, consultant, podcaster, and your host. Every Thursday, you'll hear episodes packed with insights from brand leaders on an array of topics from crafting effective marketing strategies and hitting career goals to building

leadership skills and launching your own business. Inspired by those unfiltered happy hour combos with peers, this show is all about practical, empowering chats to support your professional journey. So grab your favorite drink and let's get to the episode. Today I'm joined by Kristen Kelly of ShadeRays. We're going to talk all things building brands, uh, brand messaging, differentiation, and then also just mentorship for professionals out there looking to potentially launch their own thing, build powerful, amazing brands in general. And so super stoked about today's conversation. Kristen, welcome to the show.

Thank you so much for having me. I'm excited to be here. Absolutely. I love having these founder conversations. I am an entrepreneur as well. And so just love learning from other entrepreneurs what it took to build brands. And there's always a really amazing stories behind that and just a purpose and reasoning as to why you go out and launch your own thing. And I know you have a really amazing story, which we'll get into here in a minute, but first I have to ask you what's been in your glass lately. So definitely a hurricane.

It is tropical. It's part of my brand and it has a lot of things coming at you, which when you're a small business owner, that's always happening, but it always tastes delicious. Absolutely. You can't go wrong with a hurricane. And I got to say, we are, we are filming this in the heat of summer. I know I, I'm in Florida and it is very hot down here. The sun is piping. And so, um, just from a tactical standpoint, the brand that you're providing is obviously very needed this time of year, but all

year round too. So, um, want to mention that, but on that Kristen, if you don't mind, tell us a little bit about the inspiration behind building this brand. Uh, take us back to the beginning. Why'd you build it in the first place? I started shade rays because I was diagnosed with breast cancer and I heal outdoors. So the second I was diagnosed, I went outside and I went hiking. I am always near water, walking the dog, having lunch with my friends, and I just need to peel with some type of sun and vitamin D.

So I was using sunscreen, I've been using sunscreen for years, and I just didn't find any product to be very luxurious and clean at the same time. So when I was diagnosed all of a sudden I started really to start to pay attention to what I was putting on my skin and all the products that I was using and I just wasn't finding a product that I really loved to use outside that was clean and safe while I was going through my journey.

And I just had this idea that I'm just gonna start my own brand. And I know it sounds crazy, but that's literally how it just formed in my mind. I was like, I'm gonna start a sunscreen brand that is clean, that feels luxurious, that smells amazing. And I just want to have this product that brings me comfort. Yeah and chances are too, you know I mention this with founders all the time is if you

felt like there was a need for something in the marketplace there's probably a lot of other people out there with a similar need too and so it's just identifying what that need is and providing some sort of identifying what that need is and, and providing some sort of solution to that, which is awesome. Um, I'm curious to, you know, even prior to your journey of launching out with this brand, what was your background prior? Did you build brands in the past? Did you market, you know, what, what did that look like prior to this journey? So it's a great question because I grew up in a very like safe family.

My dad was a psychologist. My mom was an interior decorator. My brother's a doctor. So it was always very safe. And I was kind of felt like an outsider because I always have these ideas. I always would look at something and say, I can change this. I can make this tweak and it could be better. I always had this brain that just needed to create

and it wasn't really in my household to even talk about building a type of a brand. And I ended up dating a guy who, his father started Fox Racing, which is the mountain bike and motor cross clothing. And we were dating for a very long time. And I all of a sudden, I was around this family that created products and that could look at something, even something like clothing or protection for, you

know, mountain biking, and they could create this amazing product to make a change in the marketplace. And that's really where I started to realize that all of these creative ideas I have are worth something. They're valuable. And to watch a project start from the beginning and go to fruition and hold it in your hand is just the best feeling. And I really got that side of letting out that creative part from the Fox family for sure, to where I felt I was as a woman, I could create whatever I wanted. And that's where that entrepreneurial part started for me.

Oh, I love that. That's that's so awesome. And that's really a testament to the fact that, you know, there's a lot of, again, aspiring business builders and entrepreneurs out there who feel like they have to have all of the right pieces in place prior. And you know, our families should have been building brands and that's where we got the spark from, but it really can come from anywhere. And I think that's so awesome and exciting and just shows that we all have potential to build something

if we have the right pieces. Absolutely. And knowing that there's not a bad idea if you really believe in it and attach to it, that's a home run. You can't go wrong if you really believe in your product and you have this passion of why you need attached to it. That's a home run. You can't go wrong. If you really believe in your product and you have this passion of why you need to create it and why you need to bring it out to other people. That's number one.

Absolutely. So going back to the early days, you know, again, as we discussed, you identified this need, you concepted what you wanted to eventually launch here. So what were some of those early decisions that you made that really shaped the brand? And what advice would you give to someone maybe going back to that place that you were in, in the very early days of shade rays of just starting out to formulate that product idea and just taking the first step to get something tangibly out in the marketplace? That's a great question. When I first thought of creating a sunscreen, I just, it was just an idea. taking the first step to get something tangibly out in the marketplace? That's a great question. When I first thought of creating a sunscreen, I just, it was just an idea.

And then to actually make it come to fruition, I am like, my gosh, I need a chemist, I need to know a really, I have to be schooled on sunscreen. I understand that there's mineral and there's zinc, and then there's something called a clean sunscreen that removes bad products. And it was during COVID and I literally picked up the phone and I called UC Berkeley's chemistry department and there was a recording and I left a message and I said, hi I'm Kristen Kelly, you know I'm going through breast cancer treatment, I heal outdoors, I heal in the sun, I want to learn about sunscreen, I want to learn about sunscreen, I

want to learn about the components of sunscreen. Could anyone call me back?" And two months later I get a phone call and it was a professor from Berkeley and he said, let's talk sunscreen. He gave me a schooling on what sunscreen should contain, what it shouldn't contain, the difference between a clean sunscreen and a mineral or a zinc sunscreen. And he said, what the most important thing if you're gonna have a chemical type sunscreen is that you have to remove the parabens, the oxytenates, and the oxybenzones. And that affects your hormonal balance in your body. And so

that was huge for me going through breast cancer, going I wanna make sure that my hormones are as safe as possible. And then also what a mineral and organic sunscreen, meaning that it doesn't contain anything because it's natural and it comes from the earth. But he really guided me through becoming schooled on sunscreen and then what my product was

going to be. And then from that step, that's when I went and found my manufacturer. And they were able to then take my formula and say, yes, we can create this for you. And it's actually made in Florida. When I was going through that process, that's a whole learning process because my sunscreen, it's a pump and bag spray spray so it doesn't put any floors into the environment so that's also very safe because it's not an aerosol. So the way my sunscreen when it goes onto your skin which was the most important of feeling like safe and luxurious is

that it goes on but it's so moistures and it almost feels like an oil because your skin absorbs it so quickly and so being able to have a manufacturer say, okay, we can do this, we can build this, we can make this happen. I was just so lucky and blessed to have these people say yes to me. And you know, if there was a no or if I wanted to change something, explain why. But they were support for me the whole way through. Karly Sautner Oh, my goodness. And that's really, again, just another lesson and example of just going for it

and shooting your shot and making the ask. And to your point, worse, they could say is no, but I love to, I mean, it's just sounds like you really led with again, your personal story and why, and I feel like just even the emotion and that story behind what you're doing connects with people, even on the business side. And so really honing that I'm sure has been important for you. But I really love hearing about that. It's important to use your community. It really has made a difference in my entrepreneurship. Yeah. And finding those people too early on in the stage who really buy into what you're

building and keeping them along for the ride too. I mean, I think there's so much power of having those people to back you every step of the way and encourage you and be a resource to you. And so a lot of times that's hard to find, but once you find those people, really keep them close because it's such a huge asset in that journey. So I would love to hear as well, just about on the branding and marketing side. So let's talk through messaging and identity first. So again, you have this concept formulas there. Now you're going into this phase of developing what that identity logo look, feel you mentioned

luxury and just the different benefits of the product, water safety and natural elements and things like that. But so how taking that and turning it into this tangible or visible message and look, what was the process like for you there too? The first thing for me on my marketing and my branding and what was important to me is that two things that was available for anyone that was very important to me. for anyone. That was very important to me. And it was also that it's okay to use on every skin type. So my mom's Latin, she's very dark hair, dark skin and my dad's very light hair, blonde hair, blue eyes. So people don't mix me as being Latina, but I am. And so it's very important because my sister, my brother

have a little darker skin than I do, that I wanted to make sure my product did not have a white cast. So whatever skin color you are, that was easy to use, it was safe to use, and that it felt luxurious. It didn't feel like you were covered in white cast or it didn't fit with you.

So that was so important on my branding and marketing to make sure that it was for every skin tone and that it was make sure it's for every family. So I didn't want it to you know even though I have very luxurious ingredients in my product I was willing to say hey I don't care that I have to hit this crazy high price point to fit in with someone else I want to make sure it's for everyone and that is where I started that's what believe in, and that's where I'm gonna start this brand front. And then with that, it grew to where I can have a luxury sunscreen,

and I wanted the label, which was also very important to me, to have water. And I know when I was in the market, and I was starting to get the branding, people were like, oh, people want really clean. If it's luxurious, they want really just sterile kind of look in the branding. People were like, oh, people want really clean. If it's luxurious, they want really just sterile kind of look in the market. Just it's very two colors, very simple.

And that was like a non-negotiable for me. I heal with water. Water is so important for me to be outside, to be at the beach, to be next to a pool, to be hiking along a river. I had to have that water logo and I was discouraged to have the water logo. And I just said, I'm gonna try it.

And this is what, when I see my product every day, I feel it. I feel it in my gut that this is my product. This is what's gonna make me stand out from the market. And this is what I want people to see. I connect with it so much because I heal outdoors is that I want people to feel that when they wear it that they're outdoors and whatever they love is and that's why it's part of my logo is we've got you covered but it's for whatever

you love whether you love lunching with your friends whether you love going to beach whether you play pickleball whether you love going to the beach, whether you play pickleball, whether you love hiking, whether you're walking your dog. At every moment you step outside and you put this product on, you feel fantastic. You know that you're protected and you can go do everything you love outside. Yeah, I love it. And so from a distinction standpoint as well, so you're creating this identity. Obviously the product itself is distinct too, but how did you go about positioning the product in a distinct way in the marketplace, just to

communicate to others and, or to customers, I should say as to why this product is different from others on the marketplace. I think my product stands out for a few reasons with the hyaluronic acid because it's infused with hyaluronic acid. It's super moisturizing. Most times when you go outside and you put on sunscreen and you come home and you shower, you're very dry. And this is the complete opposite. You can be in the sun all day, you can come and shower, and you actually feel like you already put lotion on

after your shower. So that was so important for me to say, this is my standout, this is something, it's anti-aging. Obviously I'm a little bit older, but hyaluronic acid is in every product today and kids starting from 16 understand that their brand awareness with hyaluronic acid surprised me I really thought that my market would be somewhere between like 22 to 60 on people understanding how beneficial hyaluronic acid is for your skin.

But these kids today with TikTok and Instagram and seeing all these products all day, they identify it with it just as much as I do. That was very important to me. Then also making sure that there was no harmful chemicals was like the no parabens, no oxy tenates, oxybenzones. And then for it to be reef safe was very important to me and environmentally friendly. So that's why it's a pump and bag spray. It's not an aerosol. So people think when they go to purchase and buy any product today, people look at what your company stands for, what you stand for,

what your product, what good it's doing for the environment, and especially in beauty. It's so important. So I think that's what differentiates me is that I have hyaluronic acid. I'm making sure that I'm putting out clean products or 100% organic products, that it's reef safe and you're being friendly to your environment. So I would love to hear too, kind of on the community standpoint, again, as we already touched on a little bit, it's just getting people to have hands on the product and to try the product and put it on their skin. How important is that actual tangible experience that people are having with your brand?

How important is that to you? I mean, we talk about this all the time, even with clothing brands or beauty brands or beverage brands is you can communicate about the value of the product online, but actually having people to touch and feel your product is so huge. And that's why those community events are important and things like that. So how impactful has that been for shade raised? It's the most impactful, so important for someone to feel what a product feels like, to smell what it feels like and what memory it brings back to you because sunscreen for some reason is very connected to your childhood and to

today. It's very nostalgic. It takes you to memories immediately. It takes you to that vacation with your family, you know, at the beach or it takes you to spring break with your friends. It takes you somewhere. So when people try any product why you can go into Ulta Beauty or Sephora or Nordstroms and there's testers because people want to know what it feels like. So having that tangible experience is so important to any buyer. So when you spray it, you know, you could say, oh, hi, you want to try my sunscreen? And they're not really connected. But second I say it's infused with hyaluronic acid,

someone's stopping. And then they feel it and I'll say, you know what? Just go about your day or go do whatever you're doing at this event and come back and tell me how it feels after an hour. And I will tell you 80% of the people would come back and tell me how it feels after an hour. And I will tell you, 80% of the people would come back and go, this is the most moisturizing sunscreen I've ever put on.

It took me to this vacation. It smells amazing. Tell me more about it. Because at first they might not really wanna hear everything about your product. But the second you give them something and they love it, they come back and then you can tell them about your product and the second you give them something and they love it they come back and then you can tell them about your product and then they believe in you and it's important

it's the best feeling to have someone believe in the product that you created that you took the time in your heart and your soul and they then become your buyers and they support you and they reorder. And then you start to build your actual product in the space. And it's so important to have that connection in person, if you can, obviously, but at these events, because you can try to sell your product, but the second they experience it, it's a whole different ballgame. And so too, you already mentioned some of the things that are coming up.

The chase accelerator program is amazing. So congrats on that. Just as something that you guys are able to tap into, but what else is on the horizon? What are your current focuses going into the second half of 2025? Just anything you want to share in terms of what's next for ShadeRays? the second half of 2025, just anything you want to share in terms of what's next for shade rays? Well, we just finished doing 40 boxes with good morning America. So that was a really big moment for us. And that and then they also because I'm a woman owned business featured me on their socials for Mother's Day. And then with thati put us into one of her favorite products for the beauty market that day.

So little things like that were so exciting and those little momentums, so you have this great huge moment. And then like we said, we're doing the Accelerate program. Then we have our summer events that are coming up where we're doing a lot of outdoor festivals, exciting fun things to market, sunscreen. I'm working on our face lotion right now and that is coming. I'm very excited about that. And then also a bug spray. So because I am the chosen one when mosquitoes want to find somebody, I really wanted to

create a natural bug spray that is also moisturizing and that elevates your experience of being outdoors. And whether you're camping or you're at the beach or anywhere where you might have some kind of bugs that want to join your party, that it doesn't ruin your party. Yes. From a Floridian over here, that is definitely a need. So I will stay tuned for that. Very exciting. Just stoked for you all and everything coming up. We'll get to your channels, which I'll have linked below. We'll, we'll shout those out too at

the end of the episode, but I want to ask you just before we close out here, you know, again, there's a lot of professionals who are interested in starting their own thing, becoming entrepreneurs. They have this idea or this personal story that they want to leverage to launch their own brands and especially young women too. A lot of women are aspiring to create their own things. So do you have any encouragement to those looking to do that, to break into the entrepreneurship space or even just a word of advice as they think about doing that for the first time. Think finding support from other women.

There's a lot of online women's groups. There's a mommypreneur group. There's young entrepreneurs. Once again, I can't tell you how important community is because that's where you're going to make your relationships and it's so important to believe in your brand Believe in yourself and I know I sound repetitive but a no is a no is a no all day It takes one yes, and that one yes can take you so far and for me

It was truly reaching out and having the community of my friends once again using colleges for me, it was truly reaching out and having the community of my friends. Once again, using colleges for me was saved me because I could have had this product, but if I couldn't have branded or have it because that wasn't my strong suit of learning how to do the social media aspect of it. But especially if you're young, creating your brand, knowing who you want to reach, you know, I thought mine was just going to be moms, but it really has because of social media and younger women understanding products connecting to a brand and what their identity is, is so important. And I think also finding other people. I started off with other moms who were creating

their products and we became friends and they have been my outlet of who I can contact and say, listen, I'm having a really bum day or this is hard today or this is a fantastic day to have their support. My connection into reaching out to Good Morning America was through another mom, you know, mom and another connection of understanding how far your brand can go. I started, you know, out when Bokkebags was starting out and she blew up and we've remained

friends. So you have all these setbacks, but there's other people who are having setbacks as well and to keep going and you can't do it on your own. And so finding those outlets and those people and just remaining friends with them and learning from them and sharing all of your information because we all want to succeed. Like I want the next girl to succeed as much as I'm succeeding and to have that community and that sisterhood. It's important. Something that kind of sparked from that, I think, you know, as you mentioned, the power of just speaking up and sharing your story too, and sharing what you're building. I think a lot of times, especially we as women, we feel afraid to talk about what we're working

on and to just promote something of ours and stuff, but it's just finding the right people again who are encouraging and supportive and sharing that with them. And then word starts to spread from there. And you never know what opportunities can spark just from sharing and speaking up about what you're creating. So I think that's so powerful. I think that's so important because you need to be present and there is someone that will say yes to you. Whether it's someone that's going to help you create a formula for sunscreen, whether it's a manufacturer who there's not a lot of women in the sunscreen business and going what you want to do what on a smaller scale how can I help you do this because they usually mass produce things but not taking no for an

answer and saying I I think there's a way you can help me and I can help you and just them to say yes and then for to say, I'm not great at social media, can you help me? And then there's a yes there. And just to be present and to ask for help and then to always pay it forward and give back help. I think the greatest thing for me being able to use San Jose State and all of these girls is that I learned so much from them and they learned so much from me and it's become a sisterhood and then now I get to hire these girls out of college and they know my brand instantly. It's not me having to find someone straight out of

college who needs to learn my brand. They're already part of it. They're already part of what we've created. We've created this together and it's just such an easy transition and they need a job and I need help and I think you have to think outside of the box because this just is a pay it forward moment and you want them to succeed and possibly they move on or possibly they stay forever, but those connections will always carry. Yes, absolutely Yeah, Kristen again, just thank you so much for sharing your story and just passing along your tips and insights and even Encouragement to us today. Of course, I want to know again I'll have them linked below but please let us know how we can find out more about

Shade rays and just stay in touch with you all as you go through these new launches and everything that you're working on. Yes, you can reach us at ShadeRays.com for our website. We are on Instagram. Once again it's ShadeRays but it's spelled differently. It's S-H-A-D-E-R-A-Y-Z. We're also on LinkedIn. we're on TikTok. So just look up ShadeRays and follow us and reach out if you have any questions, if you want to try a product. I'd love to hear from you as well. I'm excited that people want to come on podcasts and learn and reach out anytime if there's

any advice you'd like to ask or try a product. I'm here for you. Amazing. Thank you so much for being here today and just sharing everything again. Really appreciate it. Thank you so much for having us. Thank you so much for tuning into this week's episode. If you enjoyed this conversation, I would love your feedback. And if you're ready to take things to the next level, sign up for my weekly newsletter in the show notes. You'll get weekly career and marketing insights straight to your

inbox. And if you have an idea for a future marketing happy hour episode, shoot me an email. Hello at marketing happy HR.com. Thank you again, and I'll see you next Thursday.