Meet Daisy Peña | Founder, Ysiad.co LLC, & Director of Sales – Mid Market Retail at Twilio.com
We had the good fortune of connecting with Daisy Peña and we’ve shared our conversation below.
Hi Daisy, how did you come up with the idea for your business?
The idea for Ysiad Beauty Water came from brainstorming ways to simplify beauty rituals. We believe beauty, at its core, comes from within. For many humans, healthy hair, skin and nails may be hard to maintain without taking certain vitamins and supplements daily or consuming the right foods, not to mention enough water for proper hydration. Stress, anxiety and poor digestion may also wreck havoc on our beauty goals. As we get busy with life, that ritual of taking the right vitamins and fibers is often disrupted, inconsistency leads to poor results. I live in Manhattan during the week and as mother, an entrepreneur with a demanding day job, a board advisor to a mission driven cause, a social life, it gets insanely busy. The busier my life gets, the more I want to simplify it and focus on streamlining routines and rituals to the most essential that lead to optimal results. The more people I talked with, the more I knew that I was not alone on this.
Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
Ysiad (Ea-SEE-AD) Beauty Water sits under Ysiad, co. I’ll provide more insight into our long term vision, how I think and my background, as these are the things I believe set us apart. Once our beauty water has reached our brand and sales goals, we plan to introduce apparel pieces that can be recycled and repurposed with our brand. Our goal from the start had little to do with being pioneers at something and more to do with solving everyday problems by making already in market ideas better and simpler. Simplicity often requires more work on the backend, yet the end result is a beauty. User experience guides all that I build. A touch screen phone and streaming programming are both simple concepts in theory, yet require powerful algorithms, reliable operating systems and delightful user experience. Think about the iPhone and Netflix. My undergrad is in International Business with an immersive in User Experience post grad. I have over 20 years experience in executing go to market strategies for companies in tech and an entrepreneurial venture.
I knew we were entering a saturated beverage space and in the years to come will enter an even more saturated apparel space, yet already our brand aesthetic and story is setting us apart. For Ysiad Body, the vision is one or two multipurpose and low maintenance pieces which can be worn 3 ways. This helps maximize your closet and simplifies life. We want to address overconsumption and sustainability in beauty and fashion, allow humans to recycle with Ysiad each season and receive a discount toward the next purchase. If you are loyal to a brand, previous purchases should carry value when you are ready to upgrade. Apple does this with its products. Each product we aim to create could be repurposed and recycled with our brand.
Our Ysiad Beauty Water was born to provide vital beauty vitamins and accelerate hydration in one functional beverage, hence the slogan Drink Beauty. It may sound simple, but the beverage industry is complex to navigate and success rates are low. I’m also a Latinx, woman founder in the beverage industry, a mostly male dominated space. An article written by Food & Beverage industry in collaboration with McKinsey partners stated that only 16% of women have c-level roles at Food & Bev manufacturing companies, the % of those women being of color is even more minuscule yet it’s growing !
One of the many challenges we have faced includes the MOQs (or minimum order quantities) required by many necessary partners, some start in the millions. Beverage industry partners are needed for everything. This puts most start up brands in a difficult place as without enough capital it is not possible to launch. This hinders early stage startups, it limits their potential and ability to test the market early on. Competition is a beast, most beverages consumed today are manufactured by celebrity backed brands or CPG giants, Pepsi, Coca-Cola and Nestle.
Despite the above challenges as an early stage brand, we are very much ahead and have managed our starting capital well. We hired a reputable lab (ocean blue innovation) that has developed beverages for CPG giants, Nestle, Starbucks, to develop two ready for market beverages for Ysiad Beauty Water. Our lemon beauty water (beauty +enhanced hydration) and Lavender beauty water (Prebiotics + Digestive enzymes) are both currently available for pre orders on our web site. In addition to the lab, we hired a firm to do thorough market research with enterprise grade tools and build our business plan with financial projections to prepare us for fund raising in the near future. We secured a legal team to work on our trademark submission for Ysiad Beauty Water and disclaimer. We hired a business accounting firm to submit our LLC in New York State and guide us. We are a 3 person operation therefore accomplishing all of this in a matter of months required a ton of research, focus and hard work.
Lessons learned include building a board of advisors early and a network of similar minded, in your industry entrepreneurs to lean on when you reach challenges and roadblocks. Constantly feed your curiosity, ask questions and remind potential business partners that you are female founded and bootstrapping the brand. Own and accept that while you may be well educated in some areas, others you will have to learn as you go. We’re ambitious and excited about the future of Ysiad. It is only the beginning.
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Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I love this question because I really love to host. I would totally pack our week long agenda with a city and countryside experience.
I’m a self proclaimed foodie who also loves a fun atmosphere in a restaurant that creates a prelude to a fun night.
We would start in Manhattan and go for cocktails and amazing Peruvian cuisine at Mission Ceviche (restaurant link: https://missionceviche.com). MC is a Michelin guide restaurant with an amazing Chef. Carlos is the experience manager and I know he would take such good care of us. I hosted my 40th birthday celebration at Mission Ceviche with several friends. We’d kick off dinner with some amazing Pisco Sours and do the Chef’s tasting which includes the decadent Ceviche.
Following Mission Ceviche we’d go for civilized dancing at The Jewel Thief (https://www.jewelthiefnomad.com). I love it for its opulent and posh decor and the fact the word isn’t out on this place yet makes it a great destination for showing off to out of town guests.
I’m an art aficionado and NYC is a playground for art fanatics. During the week we’d explore exhibits at the Met Museum, I’ve been a member at the Met for years which means we’d go during member only hours with less tourists (for $90 a year). ‘In America, Anthology of Fashion’ is an ultra hot exhibit following the Met Gala (https://www.metmuseum.org/exhibitions/listings/2022/in-america-anthology). We’d also check out the Whitney Biennial exhibits. (https://whitney.org).
A week in the city is not complete without some shopping and I’m a fashionista at my core. All of my girlfriends always trust me for fashion advice and jump at the idea of getting to do any shopping with me. I love to mix high and low fashion so we’d start high at Versace in Soho or Balmain in upper east side and then experience city staples like Bergdorfs and Saks Fifth Avenue. As our wallets stop us, and as NYC has some of the best second hand designer fashion, we’d come down to reality and go low to What Goes Around Comes Around, the RealReal boutique and Ina Designer Consignment.
Should read: “As our wallets stop us, and as NYC has some of the best second hand designer fashion, we’d come down to reality and go low to What Goes Around Comes Around, the RealReal boutique and Ina Designer Consignment.
The end of the week will take us to the Hudson Valley, where we can save some money and enjoy the outdoors. The HQ for Ysiad co, LLC; is in the Mid-Hudson Valley, an hour and a half away from the city. This is what I call my oasis away from the chaos and the beautiful New York State countryside. I have a guest ready suite at my house where she can also tour the Ysiad offices. We’d explore art at the Dia museum in Beacon NY followed by a meal at The RoundHouse in Beacon NY ( (https://roundhousebeacon.com)
If more shopping is needed, we will end up at Woodbury Commons the next day in Woodbury, NY (https://www.premiumoutlets.com/outlet/woodbury-common), where outlets by Versace, Balmain, Chloe, Prada and Saint Laurent will feed any fashion addict’s craving!
Without question, my besties will leave exhausted and fulfilled.
The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
One of my great friends, Gloria Duque, (@malpaso_fun_design) who is a fellow entrepreneur and Latinx woman, referred me to Shoutout Miami. We have known each other for over a decade and have always supported each other in our entrepreneurial ventures, and fun adventures involving fashion photoshoots. I also would shoutout my 7 year old, Ethan Alexander, who is an incredible little human and my reason for wanting to create a brand that is impactful in communities, one that perhaps leaves behind a slightly better world for him! Lastly I’ll shout my boyfriend, Laurent Lisimachio, who has been incredibly supportive and my biggest fan as I build this brand.
Website: https://www.ysiad.co
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ysiad.co/
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/daisykpena/
Image Credits
Photo credits: @Mozipictures Mozipictures.com
Nominate Someone: ShoutoutMiami is built on recommendations and shoutouts from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
