The PD Women In Business Series is an interview-style blog series on the Pangea Dreams blog that highlights female entrepreneurs who have joined us on Retreats over the past several years. In this series, we will get to know these Alumni better and learn about the incredible businesses that they are running.
LINDA BOGDANOV
- Current Position: Founder of Tayvada
- Currently Living: Slightly outside of NYC (in New Jersey)
- Hometown: Minnesota
Hey Linda! We are so excited to have you featured on this series! Can you tell our community a little background about you and your brand, Tayvada?
I am a self-care junkie, travel lover and data nerd. I spent 8 years in the digital/analytics space. Over the last several years, I went on a serious self-love/self-care journey, constantly looking for ways to improve my mind and body. I also started learning about our impact on the environment and trying to take little steps in my daily life to be more intentional about my consumption.
This ultimately led me to create a brand that would encompass these important aspects. Tayvada is a self-care brand that places importance on taking care of ourselves while we take steps to reduce our impact on the environment. The goal is to have products that you can use in your everyday routine as well as while you travel (at least when we can again).
At what point did you decide to start Tayvada?
I started Tayvada a little over a year ago. I left the corporate world to pursue a path where I could apply my passions and build and grow something that was mine. I also love to travel and have always wanted to become location independent so starting my own ecommerce brand would bring all of these aspects together.
Have you always been entrepreneurial? What led you to taking that first step and setting up your own business?
As a little girl, I watched family members care for their stores and restaurants with so much pride. I loved that it was theirs and they had the freedom to build it in the way they saw fit.
I always dreamed of having a business of my own but ultimately started off on the traditional career route. Throughout my career journey, I never stopped imagining and thinking about new ideas. I gained so much knowledge in my career in digital marketing and analytics and loved learning.
Ultimately this desire to build something grew bigger so I decided to take action. I did research and came across a course to understand how to build an e-commerce brand. I decided to be open-minded and came up with a game plan.
If any, what challenges have you experienced as a woman in business during your overall career?
Recently, there have been a lot of initiatives to support women owned business, more than there ever has been before. I feel lucky that there’s been an overwhelming amount of support so far.
Where would you say your business was at before the Pangea Dreams Greece Retreat 2019 and where would you say your business was after? Did the Palm Springs, CA 2020 Alumni Retreat have any effect on your business?
Before the Greece retreat, I was in the ideation stage of the brand. I had come up with the brand identity and knew I wanted to blend together wellness, travel and being eco-conscious. I had some initial product ideas and a rough timeline of when I wanted to leave my corporate job.
During the retreat, I met incredible women that were brave, empowering and pursuing their passions, some were living the digital nomad lifestyle. This was the first time I had met anyone that was actually living this lifestyle and it was incredibly inspiring. In meeting these women, I was moved and wanted to take action even more than before.
A few months after going back home, I found myself needing to make this change. I ended up leaving my corporate job much sooner than expected because I knew in my heart that it was the right call and I wanted to focus on it. I placed an order for my first product a couple of months after leaving my job.
The Palm Springs Alumni Retreat was incredibly valuable. At this stage, I was going to start with selling on Amazon which meant that having an external presence wasn’t necessary.
Part of me wanted to test the sales and collect more feedback before fully putting myself out there since it was my first time. I was waiting for Amazon to receive my product into their warehouse so I was set to launch any day.
There were about 30 of us on the retreat and I had decided prior to going on the trip, that I would gift each of the women my product. I didn’t expect anything back but what I got in return was beyond me, I felt so supported. All of them had shared my product to their Instagram stories and at this point, I had a handle but literally 0 posts.
In that week, I decided I was going to leverage the channel as part of the Amazon launch. Throughout the week, we also had workshops and content creation opportunities that I’ve been able to use in my social media. I’m beyond grateful and have built relationships since.
How important has community been in your success as an entrepreneur?
Community is EVERYTHING for an entrepreneur. I had heard it before and also experienced moments of this early on but the solo journey can be a lonely one especially if you are part of being part of a team. Being part of a community allows you to stay connected with like-minded individuals, share ideas, resources and support one another. I made sure community was a big part of my journey and am lucky to be part of a few including Pangea Dreams.
Any updates you’d like to share or new products in the works for Tayvada?
I am currently doing testing and further research but know that it will be in the area of self-care! Feel free to follow our journey to learn more!
How can someone get in touch with you?
Email: linda.bogdanov@tayvada.com
Personal IG: @linda.bogdanov
Business IG: @tayvada.life
Website: www.tayvada.com
Thank you, Linda!
Linda is a Greece Retreat Alumna and also joined us in Palm Springs, California on the second-annual Alumni Retreat in 2020!
