On the show, Jess catches up with her dear friend Afenya Montgomery, founder and CEO of The iCAN Collective, which is a creative space in Chicago designed for coworking, community and content creation for black women. Afenya and Jess giggle and laugh a lot in this episode just catching up and sharing stories about how they feel like lifetimes have gone by since they first met in 2019. Spoiler alert, they do talk about how they've never actually met in person yet they've been each other's Instagram hype girls for years. Afenya shares her story of how she made the leap into entrepreneurship after making the hard decision to leave a career that she really loved. They talk about having faith that you always land on your feet, Afenya’s failing forward moments and a lot more in between. As you listen we hope it sparks joyful moments as you think about catching up with your old friend and reminiscing on how far you both have come.

Welcome to our first double date! This episode is very serendipitous on many levels. Mari and Jess chat with Nell and Stephanie, co-founders of Kibou, a fanny pack designed to be the deliberately minimal diaper bag. Hear from two co-founders living on different continents having not been in business together before, creating products specifically designed with their unique problems of their customers in mind. In this episode, Nell and Stephanie share their story of why they started Kibou and the challenges that Nell personally faced when wearing her baby and managing all of the things you need when you have a little kids. We talk a lot about simply not knowing what you don't know and how being open and honest with your knowledge gaps are truly the best way to grow forward. We also get into how they surpassed their crowdfunding goal and some tactics that they use to successfully fund their campaign, which in turn solidify their product market fit and viability for their bag. We talk about being afraid to not share your idea so that others don't steal it out from underneath you, something we know many of our founders here at HB&C struggle with. Don't worry, if you're not a mom to a human child, but have a fur baby, this episode is for you too. Tune in and come along on our female founder double date!