If you’re looking for a killer female founder who truly does it all, then you’re in the right place! Sarah Moret is a #BOSSWoman and shows us what it looks like to live your best life while doing so. Sarah’s unique idea of success is being able to work on things she’s passionate about.
She was raised in San Diego and was in college at Boston University studying Business Administration at the time of the infamous stock market crash. Being the prudent woman she is, Sarah had a plan to become an accountant after graduation because it was the most “recession-proof” job. After realizing that she hated accounting because of all of the senseless rules, she switched over to M&A consulting and found a better fit in that role. Although better than accounting, consulting still didn’t ignite that fire she had burning within her to build something from the ground up and impact the world.
Joining the world of venture capital became a pivotal moment is Sarah’s life as it was the foundation for her interest in startups. She joined Formation8 and was working on the finance and operational side of the firm but was intrigued by the investing side. So, Sarah barged her way into investment meetings and made herself a seat at the table! As she found comfort in the VC jargon and mindset, she started speaking up in meetings and within no time was an associate at another leading early-stage firm called Crosscut Ventures as their first female investor. There she found her love for working closely with founders on pitch decks, strategy, pivots, the whole nine yards. After doing some soul searching, Sarah realized she wanted to try her hand at operating a business and the idea for Curie quickly fell into her lap.
Sarah has always prioritized her health and wellness, and was surprised that she could find an all-natural deodorant that smelled good, worked well and didn’t have harmful chemicals. She decided to create her own. Creating Curie has been one of the greatest risks and rewards that Sarah has done and she’s been enjoying every step of the journey. It took Sarah nine months to develop the formula for her all-natural deodorant and she iterated the product over 20 times to get the right formula.
Sarah’s main goal with Curie is to build a clean and natural brand that inspires people and makes them happy. I’m glad to report that Sarah is doing just that! Most of her sales have been through word of mouth or referrals and her customer base continues to grow organically, no pun intended. She has big plans to launch a new product line and expand into retail in the upcoming years.
Now we all know the life of a founder is never peaches and cream, and Sarah was not immune to any of the hardships that a founder might face. The typical anxiety, self-doubt, and fear crept up on her as it would any person launching a product for the world to critique. But Sarah says that “This is what it means to have a startup, it’s to risk failing.” She didn’t sleep one minute the night before the product launched and it was well worth the sleepless nights.
Curie’s customers are hard-working, go-getter, unstoppable women who want to live healthy lifestyles. Sarah is no stranger to this demographic as she is a world-traveler, a family woman, an adventurer, and a super fit queen! (If you don’t believe me, check out her Instagram @thats_a_moret). When I asked Sarah how she does it all, she responded that you must make non-negotiable time slots every day when you can practice your own version of self-care. For Sarah, that means exercising at least 20 minutes every day, so you can always catch her with a pair of running shoes nearby. She also spends her free time with family. She moved to LA to be closer to her family when starting Curie, and, her sister now works full time on Curie creating one dynamic duo!
When asked what was the most valuable advice she has received as a founder, Sarah reflected on a conversation that she had with the founder of Soma, Mike Del Ponte. He told her, “Treat the first six months of your business as an experiment and expect to want to change everything.” This advice helped Sarah not sweat the small stuff, take more risks, and iterate her product multiple times until she found the perfect formula. The most rewarding part of being the founder and CEO of Curie is being able to talk to her customers and hear how Curie has changed their lives. She gets the most joy out of empowering women and hearing their feedback.