Well Made
Aishwarya Iyer, Brightland: Chasing the Sun – Well Made E86
June 26, 2019 · RSS · Apple Podcasts
Most people don’t understand the muddy manufacturing process of olive oil. Aishwarya Iyer is changing that. She is the founder of Brightland, a new olive oil brand that’s grounded in honest, conscious production and local sourcing of olives. After working in public relations and marketing for startup and technology companies in New York, Aishwarya switched coasts and careers. Now, she makes fresh, traceable olive oils with farms she trusts in California. The hand-harvested oils are meant to make you feel alive, awake and nourished from deep within.
“I wanted to bring emotion and intention and mood into a category that had never seen that.”
On this episode of Well Made, Aishwarya talks about building a traceable olive oil supply chain (7:14). She reveals moments of self-doubt before taking the leap of faith into entrepreneurship (8:21). A particularly warm harvest led to a switch in olive varietals. Aishwarya talks about how sharing that openly with their customers led to one of their largest sale days (12:40). She unveils how she vets her partners (15:35) and the practicalities of launching a brand (27:17). She describes the inspirations for Brightland’s photography, color palette, and white powder-coated glass bottles (29:22). Finally, Aishwarya shares her favorite ways to use Brightland (36:52) and the lasting influence of her mother’s cooking (46:13).
Keep up with Aishwarya on Twitter and dig into Brightland's Instagram.
Also mentioned on the show:
- Blue ocean strategy
- Well Made Episode 72 with Backdrop Home: Connecting with Color
- Brightland's Spotify
Header image by Julia Stotz. Images via Brightland.
You can find this and all future episodes on iTunes, Google Play, and here on the Lumi blog. This episode was edited by Evan Goodchild.
