810 Krissy Cela: Co-Founder of Oner Active

0:00Kara Goldin:I am unwilling to give up, but I will start over from scratch as many times as it takes to get where I want to be. You just want to make sure you will get knocked down, but just make sure you don't get knocked out. So your only choice should be, go focus on what you can control. Hi everyone and welcome to the Kara Goldin Show. Join me each week for inspiring conversations with some of the world's greatest leaders. We'll talk with founders, entrepreneurs, CEOs, and really some of the most interesting people of our time. Can't wait to get started. Let's go. Today's episode is brought to you by Quo, formerly Open Phone.

0:45Kara Goldin:When you're in that level up mindset for your business, it's wild how much the basic stuff matters, like how you talk to customers and keep your team on the same page, a cleaner, more modern setup can make everything feel smoother. And who doesn't want that? And here's why I want to tell you all about Quo. Quo helps you and your team share one business number, reply faster, and stay on top of every customer conversation so you never miss an opportunity to connect with your customers. And did I mention that today's episode is brought to you by Quo? spelled Q-U-O, the smarter way to run your business communications.

1:27Kara Goldin:Streamlining your communications is one of the quickest and easiest upgrades you can make. That's why today's episode is brought to you by Quo, spelled Q-U-O, the smarter way to run your business communications. Quo is the number one rated business phone system on G2 with over 3 ,000 reviews built for how modern teams work. That's why more than 90 ,000 businesses from solo operators to growing teams rely on Quo to stay connected, professional, and consistently reachable. And Quo works wherever you are, right from an app on your phone or computer, and it lets you keep your existing number, add new numbers or teammates in minutes, sync your CRM, and rely on seamless routing and call flows as your business scales.

2:18Kara Goldin:Plus, your entire team can handle calls and texts from one shared number. No more missed messages or disconnected conversations, and everyone sees the full thread, making replies even faster. And it can even qualify leads or respond after hours, ensuring your business stays responsive even when you're finally offline. What are you waiting for? Make this the year where no opportunity and no customer slips away. Try Quo for free. Plus, get 20 % off your first six months when you go to quo.com slash Kara Golden. That's Q-U-O dot com slash Kara Golden. Quo. No missed calls. No missed customers. Today's episode is brought to you by Warby Parker.

3:08Kara Goldin:I have to say, buying glasses used to feel way more complicated than it should have been. Prices all over the place, tons of frames that looked outdated, and somehow you still weren't totally sure you picked the right pair. It shouldn't feel like you need a spreadsheet just to buy glasses. That's honestly why I'm such a fan of Warby Parker. I'm actually wearing my Warby Parker glasses right now. These are the pair I picked. Oh, I wish you could see them. And what I love is how lightweight and well-made they feel. The style is modern, the materials feel premium, and I've gotten a lot of compliments on them.

3:49Kara Goldin:They're so comfortable, I sometimes forget I'm even wearing them. One of the coolest features is their virtual try-on. You can literally use your phone, point the camera at your face, and see how different frames look on you in real time. It actually works. you can really tell how the frames are going to fit before you buy. And if you ever want to go in person, they've got 300 plus stores across the US, which is great to have as an option. Warby Parker designs their frames in-house, which helps keep the quality high and the prices reasonable. Prescription glasses start at just$95 and they also offer sunglasses, contacts, and eye exams.

4:32Kara Goldin:So everything you need for your eyes is in one place. Warby Parker gives you quality and better looking prescription eyewear at a fraction of the going price. Our listeners get 15 % off and free shipping when they buy two or more pairs of prescription glasses at warbyparker.com slash Kara Golden. That's 15 % off when you buy two pairs of glasses at warbyparker.com slash Kara Golden. After you purchase, they will ask where you heard about them. Please support our show and tell them our show sent you. Hi, everyone, and welcome back to the Kara Golden Show. What happens when a personal frustration turns into a global movement?

5:19Kara Goldin:When one woman looks at an industry and says, this doesn't work for me or for women like me and decides to build something better, our next guest did exactly that. What began as a mission to help women feel powerful, confident, and supported in the gym has grown into one of the fastest-growing global fitness brands today, built entirely from the ground up, fueled by community and grounded in purpose. Today, we'll hear how listening deeply to your audience, designing for real needs, and staying relentlessly authentic can scale not just a brand, but a movement. I'm excited to be joined by Chrissy Chela, co-founder and creative director of Honor Active and founder of another incredible, incredible brand, EvolveU.

6:10Kara Goldin:She's a certified personal trainer turned entrepreneur who has redefined strength, leadership, and what it means to build by women for women. So Chrissy, so nice to meet you and welcome to the show. First of all, that's the most incredible introduction I've ever had in my entire career. I feel like I need to have you with me everywhere I go in case I have imposter syndrome. So thank you so much. I feel absolutely honored to be here and just speak to you. Today's episode is brought to you by Quo, formerly Open Phone. When you're in that level up mindset for your business, it's wild how much the basic stuff matters, like how you talk to customers and keep your team on the same page.

6:56Kara Goldin:A cleaner, more modern setup can make everything feel smoother. And who doesn't want that? And here's why I want to tell you all about Quo. Quo helps you and your team share one business number, reply faster, and stay on top of every customer conversation so you never miss an opportunity to connect with your customers. And did I mention that today's episode is brought to you by Quo? Spelled Q-U-O, the smarter way to run your business communications. Streamlining your communications is one of the quickest and easiest upgrades you can make. That's why today's episode is brought to you by Quo, spelled Q-U-O, the smarter way to run your business communications.

7:41Kara Goldin:Quo is the number one rated business phone system on G2 with over 3 ,000 reviews built for how modern teams work. That's why more than 90 ,000 businesses from solo operators to growing teams rely on Quo to stay connected, professional, and consistently reachable. And Quo works wherever you are, right from an app on your phone or computer, and it lets you keep your existing number, Add new numbers or teammates in minutes. Sync your CRM and rely on seamless routing and call flows as your business scales. Plus, your entire team can handle calls and texts from one shared number. No more missed messages or disconnected conversations, and everyone sees the full thread, making replies even faster.

8:32Kara Goldin:and it can even qualify leads or respond after hours, ensuring your business stays responsive even when you're finally offline. What are you waiting for? Make this the year where no opportunity and no customer slips away. Try Quo for free, plus get 20 % off your first six months when you go to quo.com slash Kara Golden. That's Q-U-O.com slash Kara Golden. Quo, no missed calls, no missed customers. Today's episode is brought to you by Warby Parker. I have to say, buying glasses used to feel way more complicated than it should have been. Prices all over the place, tons of frames that looked outdated, and somehow you still weren't totally sure you picked the right pair.

9:22Kara Goldin:It shouldn't feel like you need a spreadsheet just to buy glasses. That's honestly why I'm such a fan of Warby Parker. I'm actually wearing my Warby Parker glasses right now. These are the pair I picked. Oh, I wish you could see them. And what I love is how lightweight and well-made they feel. The style is modern, the materials feel premium, and I've gotten a lot of compliments on them. They're so comfortable, I sometimes forget I'm even wearing them. One of the coolest features is their virtual try-on. You can literally use your phone, point the camera at your face, and see how different frames look on you in real time.

10:04Kara Goldin:It actually works. You can really tell how the frames are going to fit before you buy. And if you ever want to go in person, they've got 300 plus stores across the U.S., which is great to have as an option. Warby Parker designs their frames in-house, which helps keep the quality high and the prices reasonable. Prescription glasses start at just$95, and they also offer sunglasses, contacts, and eye exams. So everything you need for your eyes is in one place. Warby Parker gives you quality and better-looking prescription eyewear at a fraction of the going price. Our listeners get 15 % off and free shipping when they buy two or more pairs of prescription glasses at warbyparker.com slash karagolden.

10:53Kara Goldin:That's 15 % off when you buy two pairs of glasses at warbyparker.com slash Karagolden. After you purchase, they will ask where you heard about them. Please support our show and tell them our show sent you. Absolutely. Well, I am so excited and I'm obsessed with Honor Active. So I'm so thrilled that you're here. So for listeners just discovering Honor Active, how do you describe the brand and what you set out to build from the beginning? Love this. It's my elevator pitch. So you should always have your elevator pitch ready to go. So Honor Active is an activewear brand designed for women by women.

11:38We specialize actually in strength training above anything else. in a world where we tell women to be skinny, we tell women to be strong, which is very powerful. As you said, my background is personal training and I spent a good 10 years of my career really trying to help as many women lift and work out and know the benefits of working out before I founded Honor Active. And essentially, I always ask the question of why is every billion dollar activewear brand founded by men? There's never been a unicorn status activewear brand founded by women, even though women are the highest buyers of activewear to men.

12:25So not to make this a man v. woman kind of situation, but I just felt like someone who had the credentials of what was needed in the gym, I felt like I could do it better for women. So we focus on silhouette, color, and performance above everything else.

12:40Kara Goldin:Well, you've done an incredible job, for sure. When you decided to launch Honor Active in 2020, what did you think was the most important piece to get right? For me, it was definitely silhouette. So whenever I would buy other activewear brands, I always felt like I had to tailor it, cut it, dye it, fit it around me. And because for strength training, you tend to have a bit more glutes or like bigger thighs, which is something that, again, notoriously women have been told not to have. They've been told to be more heroin chic. So I always had to tailor product around me. So I always felt like there was nothing that actually fitted me when I wanted to lift, perform, actually do these intense workouts.

13:33So honor has come at a perfect stage for women who were, was lacking that, especially for women who have curves or have a bit more muscle. Um, so that's what I felt was definitely lacking in the industry. And that's when honor came into fruition. And that's when I realized I could do it better. Without being arrogant, it was more of a confident status.

13:56Kara Goldin:Today's episode is brought to you by Warby Parker. I have to say buying glasses used to feel way more complicated than it should have been. Prices all over the place, tons of frames that looked outdated, and somehow you still weren't totally sure you picked the right pair. It shouldn't feel like you need a spreadsheet just to buy glasses. That's honestly why I'm such a fan of Warby Parker. I'm actually wearing my Warby Parker glasses right now. These are the pair I picked. Oh, I wish you could see them. And what I love is how lightweight and well-made they feel. The style is modern, the materials feel premium, and I've gotten a lot of compliments on them.

14:40Kara Goldin:They're so comfortable, I sometimes forget I'm even wearing them. One of the coolest features is their virtual try-on. You can literally use your phone, point the camera at your face, and see how different frames look on you in real time. It actually works. You can really tell how the frames are going to fit before you buy. And if you ever want to go in person, they've got 300 plus stores across the U.S., which is great to have as an option. Warby Parker designs their frames in-house, which helps keep the quality high and the prices reasonable. Prescription glasses start at just$95 and they also offer sunglasses, contacts, and eye exams.

15:23Kara Goldin:So everything you need for your eyes is in one place. Warby Parker gives you quality and better looking prescription eyewear at a fraction of the going price. Our listeners get 15 % off and free shipping when they buy two or more pairs of prescription glasses at warbyparker.com slash karagolden. That's 15 % off when you buy two pairs of glasses at warbyparker.com slash karagolden. After you purchase, they will ask where you heard about them. Please support our show and tell them our show sent you. Today's episode is brought to you by Quo, formerly Open Phone. When you're in that level up mindset for your business, it's wild how much the basic stuff matters, like how you talk to customers and keep your team on the same page.

16:17Kara Goldin:A cleaner, more modern setup can make everything feel smoother. And who doesn't want that? And here's why I want to tell you all about Quo. Quo helps you and your team share one business number, reply faster and stay on top of every customer conversation. So you never miss an opportunity to connect with your customers. And did I mention that today's episode is brought to you by Quo spelled Q-U-O, the smarter way to run your business communications. Streamlining your communications is one of the quickest and easiest upgrades you can make. That's why today's episode is brought to you by Quo, spelled Q-U-O, the smarter way to run your business communications.

17:02Kara Goldin:Quo is the number one rated business phone system on G2 with over 3 ,000 reviews built for how modern teams work. That's why more than 90 ,000 businesses from solo operators to growing teams rely on Quo to stay connected, professional, and consistently reachable. And Quo works wherever you are, right from an app on your phone or computer, and it lets you keep your existing number. Add new numbers or teammates in minutes. Sync your CRM and rely on seamless routing and call flows as your business scales. Plus, your entire team can handle calls and texts from one shared number. No more missed messages or disconnected conversations, and everyone sees the full thread, making replies even faster.

17:53Kara Goldin:And it can even qualify leads or respond after hours, ensuring your business stays responsive even when you're finally offline. What are you waiting for? Make this the year where no opportunity and no customer slips away. Try Quo for free, plus get 20 % off your first six months when you go to Quo.com slash Kara Golden. That's Q-U-O.com slash Kara Golden. Quo. No missed calls, no missed customers. Where did the name come from, Honor Active? So it means to be remarkable in Latin. And I just fell in love with the fact that it had this interpretation of it being like the word honor yourself. And then honor is you can pronounce it in your own way some people say on her such as like on her other people say wanna other other people say on reactive um and I just think the best names in the world are ones that are open for interpretation so if you look at some of the most global names in the world they don't actually mean much but you give it meaning so I wanted to have a word that didn't have much meaning but you gave it the meaning but also in Latin it meant something powerful and to be remarkable is exactly how every woman should feel so I just thought it was a good good little storytelling piece for my marketing brain yes definitely I love I love it you did it's uh such a great such a great name so you built the brand uh I think at least initially without outside funding.

19:34Kara Goldin:Can you talk to me about the funding trajectory to date? Yeah, I mean, it still hasn't had any funding. It's all bootstrapped still till this day. I did use a lot of the money that I had built as an influencer. So I worked with a lot of other brands before I started my own brand, which was great research and, you know, absorbing all of that learning from them, building my community leveraging those brands with the knowledge and also the funds because I would get paid to wear their product or take their product basically and so I don't know if this is like the immigrant mentality in me or what it is but my mom always told me to save every penny so I would always just save as much money as possible for a rainy day and then I ended up using a lot of those savings to start honor active um and to this day we've never taken a loan or external investment um but we are very much very much so looking forward to the next chapter of the business and getting the right next partner in um to take it to the next level so you talked about community and you had built a following amongst people who were interested interested in what you were speaking about.

20:59How important was that prior to actually starting a

21:03Kara Goldin:brand? Because a lot of people have an idea for a brand, but don't necessarily have a following. It's interesting. When I started the company that I started Hint, there really wasn't social to speak of. But when I launched a book almost five years ago now, it was incredibly important prior to actually getting a book out that I actually had a decent following because that actually helped people to know who I was and ultimately sell more books. But I'm so curious, like, how important do you think it is today, especially if somebody's got an idea? Should they be going and trying to build up their influence and following first?

21:48I had this conversation recently actually at Harvard I was asked to come in as one of the speakers and I had the privilege of meeting some incredible other founders of different businesses to mine and we spoke about this notion of is it easier to sell when you have a platform or is it better when you don't have a platform and I think the the natural response would be you need a platform but I have seen people with bigger followers and so much numbers behind their name and they can't convert because honor works with a lot of influencers and a lot of talent and we have seen some of the biggest names in the industry not convert for us but we've seen people with like two to three thousand followers have an exceptional 90 retention and conversion rate so I think the notion of thinking that people who have a large platform can convert and make loads of money is completely wrong it's about how you speak to your community and the small network that you have that's like the first thing the second thing I would say is that if you are starting a business after you've created a platform which was my personal story it comes are the double-ended sword meaning you are very accessible people build a hyper-pyrosocial relationship with you if there's any mistakes in the business you are the easiest access point and the business also lives and dies with you meaning that if you as an individual i.e.

23:26me if i mess up along the way my business will take a hit so i think there's like multiple ways of seeing it and especially if there's a faceless brand but it's much more product driven the founders can get away with a lot more things I would say than rather than someone who's very exposed and very easily accessed meaning you anyone can just send me a dm or a comment when things go wrong whereas with a faceless brand you don't even know who this person is most of the time they don't have social media so I think there's a notion of that but I don't think just anyone with a platform can create a business.

24:05To go from an influencer to an entrepreneur is a completely different ballgame. You need grit. It's a different work ethic. It's a different way of operating. It's a different level of like the way your left and your right brain works. And I've worked with exceptional creators that just don't have a business mindset. And I've had to guide them through even getting an accountant and the importance of that. So I don't think everyone can run a business and I don't think you necessarily need a platform. I think you need fantastic product and I think that you need to have exceptional word of mouth.

24:42That's what I would say is more important.

24:46Kara Goldin:When you were launching your first product, SKUs, how did you decide which to create first? I think that especially, well, I guess it doesn't matter if you had funding or not, you never want to have too much inventory left, which has not been much of a problem for you, but uh or for honor active i should say but how do you decide which products to launch first and next i think when it comes to knowing what to launch one of the i guess the one of the superpowers honor has is the fact that its founder is a woman in sports and so it inherently makes it so much easier to know what I need. And so a lot of the business model has strictly been, I guess, the decisions and product has strictly been based on my needs and just speaking to women in my community and their needs.

25:54And naturally we've adopted that model of using that gut instinct that I have as a founder who's in the industry and then also supporting it by the data. so not everything I create hits and is amazing and not everything that I make people love but the things that I'm like really confident in we push a lot and then naturally my merch team my commercial team will come in and go right now we need five colors of this what are the seasonal colors that we're going to hit and when when are we going to be able to get that stock in and what are the colors during that time that we might need so again it really helps when a founder creates a product that they actually use and they believe in nothing is worse than people just putting their name on something and put an hour into the world because it's a trend everything's cyclical so eventually that's going to die down but movement is not cyclical it's quite sustainable and everyone should be doing it for the rest of their lives so with honor a lot of the of the products that we make are with that mentality rather than the

27:06Kara Goldin:trend mentality so you're a co-founder how did you pick your your co-founder yeah i mean this is a fantastic story i actually was working for their business as a ambassador for eight years so I grew that relationship they saw you know they saw how much I was passionate about active where they had the infrastructure which again everyone always says oh I have to do it alone and that's why it took me longer and I always go but that was your decision you could have picked a partner like picking the right partner and picking a partner that can like push your vision to the next level quicker with an abundant amount of experience.

27:53I would rather that because my shares are going to be worth way more than doing it alone and just for the sake of being egotistical and saying I did it alone. I don't want to do it alone. You can't do it alone. That's why I have over 100 employees. If I could do it alone, I would just be picking and packing the orders myself. so picking a partner that had the infrastructure had the prior experience with different type of product which in this case it was supplements um having like the warehouse experience and logistics experience and skews and kind of mitigating any um cash flow issues that was like my biggest superpower at the start um we we still work together exceptionally well and i focus so much on the product the brand the partnerships and now since then we've built an incredible director team that focus on all the things they used to focus on so now on it really is an entity completely separate on its own, which is beautiful.

29:02But I would advise a lot of founders to pick a very good partner to do their business with.

29:08Kara Goldin:Yeah, definitely. As the brand grew quickly, what parts of the business were you, I guess, were more challenging? You had mentioned actually before we hit a record that you brought in a CEO to help you really grow the company, which I think is really wise. And especially knowing early on which parts you really wanted to focus on, you're not only the co-founder, but also the creative director. I think sometimes founders think that they have to do it all. What have you learned about that? I mean, look, I very much am in everything still now. There's no decision that gets made in the business without my yes and I think any founder who thinks that after five years they're just going to step back and enjoy the Caribbean sea it's just a bit delusional um so as founders you've got to be willing to be everywhere and anywhere you are the jack of all trades and probably the master of none I would say because you just have to be I would say 70 % good at everything, but you're never really going to be 100 % good at one thing because it's not feasible for a founder to be good at just one thing.

30:28That's why then you bring people in that are good at one thing and you have that tunnel vision focus with your directors. So my first hire was actually a ops director. And I think hiring the unsexy roles first, quote unquote, is probably the most important thing. So a logistics chief, an ops manager, a CEO, a financial director, so you don't run out of cash. Those things are probably the most critical, and it's only been now that we've hired a brand director. It's taken us five years. So now we're hiring more of the glossier roles. Still very challenging, not dismissing that, but I think when you objectively look at it, handling finances is arguably a little bit less sexy than handling brand.

31:18Definitely. So I would say try the less sexy things first.