In celebration of International Women’s Day and Women’s History Month, LIVELY, the famed women-led leisurée brand, announces the launch of their Pay It Forward Mentorship Program.
The Pay It Forward Mentorship Program is an “ongoing community-driven program that will connect aspiring entrepreneurs with established female founders for 1:1 mentoring sessions to help take their businesses and ideas to the next level,” the release states.
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LIVELY CEO Michelle Cordeiro Grant will be leading the campaign and has enlisted some of her closest friends from across industries to kick off the initiative, including Chillhouse Founder & CEO Cyndi Ramirez-Fulton, Co-Founder & CEO of Wander Beauty, Divya Gugnani, Love Wellness Founder & CEO of, Lauren Bosworth, Dianna Cohen, Founder & CEO of Crown Affair, and The Clear Cut founder, Olivia Landau.
Michelle Cordeiro Grant launched LIVELY, a community and brand that inspires women to live life passionately, purposefully, and confidently, by way of products and experiences. Early on, Michelle coined the term “Leisurée,” a new category that blurs the aesthetic lines of lingerie, active, and swim, taking the best elements of high-style and ultimate comfort from each category. She grew LIVELY from its concept stage, raising $15 million in funding to fuel its growth, all the way to a $105M acquisition by intimates leader Wacoal in just three years, beating the odds of POC female-founded companies.
“At LIVELY, our core mission is to help lift women up and give them the resources they need to succeed,” said Michelle Cordiero Grant, Founder, and CEO of LIVELY. “We want to turn dreams into realities, and with these love and learn sessions, we’re pledging to open up opportunities for our badass crew of entrepreneurs.”
Born and raised in New York City, Cyndi Ramirez-Fulton is the founder & CEO of the self-care brand, Chillhouse, and an entrepreneur with a creative vision who has made a name for herself in the lifestyle, fashion, and hospitality industries. The idea for her latest endeavor, Chillhouse, was born when Ramirez-Fulton and her husband realized the city didn’t offer an aspirational massage place that was affordable. Their desire to create a place with something for everyone led to the creation of Chillhouse -- the authority of modern self-care.
A self-proclaimed ‘accidental entrepreneur,’ Divya Gugnani left the finance world after selling her first business, and, bitten by the startup bug, went on to become a serial entrepreneur. After co-founding multiple companies and having children, she found her former beauty rituals tossed to the wayside as she became more time-starved than ever. Thus, Wander Beauty was born. Launched in 2015, Wander Beauty creates effortless essentials you reach for every day, wherever you wander. Each essential is co-created with their community and enriched with clean, globally sourced ingredients that work with your skin, not against it.
With a passion for functional medicine, holistic wellness practices, and biohacking, Bosworth Lo Bosworth founded Love Wellness in 2016 after experiencing chronic health issues that she couldn’t fix with traditional drugstore offerings or prescriptions. After seeing legacy women’s health brands fail her, she saw the opportunity to build a total body care brand for women by creating a range of supplements, multivitamins, and personal care products driven by body positivity, clean ingredients, and expert formulations. Today, Bosworth is seeking to change the narrative around self-care culture and empower others to feel supported, welcomed, and safe during their wellness journeys.
Dianna Cohen is the Founder & CEO of Crown Affair, a modern haircare brand rooted in ritual. Crown Affair creates handcrafted tools and clean, effective formulas to transform the health of your hair and your relationship to it. Prior to Crown Affair, Dianna founded Levitate, a brand marketing agency, where she led initiatives for brands including Harry’s, Outdoor Voices, Yumi, The Wing, and more. Dianna is also part of Forbes’ 30 Under 30 for the Class of 2019.
Olivia Landau launched The Clear Cut as an educational blog for friends and family. When she met her husband, Kyle, in G.I.A. school, they turned the blog into a multi-million dollar direct-to-consumer diamond jewelry company revolutionizing the way millennials and Gen-Z purchase engagement rings. Aimed at dismantling the brick and mortar diamond industry, The Clear Cut provides accessibility and transparency to a traditionally opaque and male-dominated industry.
As a way to gift memorable moments back to their community, the brand will choose 3 lucky winners in this first round of the Pay It Forward Mentorship Program to be paired with one of these founders.
With new founders participating in each round, the program will continue on an ongoing basis, helping emerging entrepreneurs create goals and actionable next steps from women founders who have been in their shoes, according to the release.
Throughout the month of March, LIVELY is asking aspiring female founders everywhere to share their stories and passion for building their business in order to win a coveted spot in the first sequence of mentorship sessions.
To enter, participants must create an Instagram post or reel sharing the story of their business, side hustle, vision, and/or founder journey.
Posts can be in video or image format but must tag @wearlively #LIVELYPayItForward and #LivingLIVELY to be eligible.
The release states, “LIVELY is in the business of raising women up, and the Pay It Forward Mentorship Program is an extension of the way the brand already helps its community turn dreams into actions.”
Photography by: Courtesy Lively
