Brittany Ryden is the founder and CEO of La Chispa, a social impact business incubator. She helps aspiring entrepreneurs in Mexico and Kenya develop companies that better their communities.
Prior to La Chispa, Brittany spent 6 years at Bridgewater Associates. She managed their Trading Strategy and Analytics team, as well as worked alongside the CEOs to systematize management.
Her international and cross-industry experience enables her to bring an out-of-the-box perspective to business strategy and implementation.
The incubator La Chispa is based in Mexico City, their mission is to enable talented entrepreneurs in underserved areas to develop businesses that have a positive impact on their communities. La Chispa provides training, financing, and access to sales channels.
What do you do?
I´m the founder and CEO of a social impact business incubator in Mexico City called, La Chispa. We find talented, aspiring entrepreneurs who want to improve their communities. Then, we partner with them to make it happen. This includes providing business training, financial support and collaborative sales channels.
What is your favorite part about your job?
I love seeing the personal evolution of our entrepreneurs. We work with a lot of formerly incarcerated youth. My favorite part is seeing their self-identities switch from ¨I’m a former convict¨ to ¨I’m an entrepreneur who is making a difference in my community¨. Once you switch how you see yourself, everything in your life changes.
You’re a busy woman, Do you practice self-care at all?
Yes! 100%! My philosophy is that self-care is a time saver. It puts you in a state of flow so you can do what you want faster. If I take the time to meditate, do yoga or go for a walk, afterward I see my priorities clearer. I also discover solutions to obstacles versus grinding through the fog.
Do you have any daily rituals that you practice to help foster your creativity?
I’m a huge fan of Dr. Joe Dispenza´s method. Almost every morning I do a meditation exercise from his book ¨Breaking the habit of being yourself¨.
Where do you see yourself in 10 years?
At the heart of my mission, I want to help shape capitalism to be human-focused. La Chispa is helping me learn how to create grassroots socially-responsible businesses. I plan to take those learnings, combine it with my macroeconomic experience from working at an investment firm and come up with policies or initiatives. In 10 years I hope these policies have started to make a difference in people’s lives at scale.
What does designing your own life mean to you after you have decided to work for yourself?
It took me a few years to answer this question well, with a lot of bumps along the way. I used to believe that if I am not struggling, not working harder than my limits, or not in back to back meetings all day, I will not succeed. It’s been a process of shedding that belief, and learning to design my life based on what brings me the most joy in any moment. My ¨check list¨ is now not framed by what I need to do, or should do, but what I want to do. At first that was scary. I felt guilty not grinding through something I didn´t want to do. Then I learned that if I don´t want to do something, it is usually my intuition telling me it shouldn´t be done or there are more important things to do. Now I trust my intuition and get to do a lot more with a lot less.
Advice for other entrepreneurs who want to get started or are just starting out?
Close your computer and go talk to customers. The biggest hurdle I see entrepreneurs face is getting stuck in a PowerPoint or planning mode. Your business can start today with 1 customer and 1 slimmed down version of your product or service. Just start, learn and grow one step at a time.
What methods have you used to effectively encourage innovation within the company you lead?
Experiment, Experiment, Experiment. If you have an idea you are passionate about, try it. Don´t waste time theorizing whether it will work. Find the simplest prototype and test it with a customer. If it goes well, keep moving in that direction. If it doesn’t, there is no harm done given the minimal amount of time that went into it. Plus, learning often sparks new ideas and helps you understand your customers better.
Share some tips from your past work experience that has helped you where you are right now.
One of the best principles I learned is that you don´t need to be good at everything to achieve your goal. You need to know what is needed, what you are good at, and find others to fill the gap. As entrepreneurs, we seem to have the tendency to want to master everything. The trick is realizing that to succeed on what matters most, you can´t spend time trying to be good at everything.
What have been some of your failures, and what have you learned from them?
I tried to build myself a house and farm in rural Kenya using the most ¨innovative¨ products designed for the Base of the Pyramid. Let’s just say the walls of the house fell and nothing grew. It was a huge ah-ha moment for me. It helps me see first hand why many foreign-made designs don’t work in local contexts and the importance of enabling people to design for their own context. It was the seed lesson behind La Chispa. The incubator enables entrepreneurs from underserved areas to design their own solutions.
![From Music to Perfume: How did your background as a music teacher influence your transition into perfumery, and how do you incorporate your musical sensibilities into creating fragrances? I’ve always thought in terms of metaphors, and music has many that can be related to perfumery! Beyond just thinking in terms of top, middle and base notes [soprano/alto/tenor in choir], I approach each fragrant idea as a composition. When documenting my ideas, song structures often come to mind. As the scent brief is visited, I meditate on what the fragrance should convey - do I want to create an accord or a “chord” of fragrance note combinations? Do I want an a capella soloist (a particular ingredient to stand out more than others?) Many of my thoughts regarding song composition transfers to my scent formulation process, with me treating each note as an intentional soliloquy at some point.
Brand Origin: What inspired you to start Pink MahogHany in 2005, and how has your vision for the brand evolved since its inception?
An avid lover of all things pleasantly scented (with slight modesty), looking back in retrospect, it’s no huge surprise that I’ve created an indie perfume house with just an idea to provide unique options for those who may be sensitive to unnecessary pungency. Initially, I just wanted to evaluate various blends to note their aroma profiles when “played” together…it wasn’t until I had friends and family asking if I knew of brands that catered to those who may be on the more olfactory sensitive side, that I really began to take my research more seriously. In the almost 20 years that Pink MahogHany has been in existence, our micro visions for the brand have evolved to larger territory. Where Pink MahogHany used to only be a personal brand, we are now also a bespoke formulation service provider to other indie brands seeking unique fragrance offerings for their products. These products range from (but are not limited to) perfumes, candles, body butters and lip balms. Ingredient Transparency: You emphasize transparency and the use of desirable ingredients in your products. How do you select your ingredients, and what challenges have you faced in maintaining this standard?
Being an indie brand often comes with a set of assumptions and misconceptions - one of them being more negative than positive as it relates to ingredients used. There is a lot of “fluff” in the industry with labeling falsification. Because fragrance formulas are a trade secret, not every molecular breakdown of a material has to be noted on the ingredient label (it would be incredibly long), but we at Pink MahogHany™️ adhere strongly to the IFRA [International Fragrance Regulatory Association] regulations that state for common and potential allergens to be listed on our ingredient label. We’ve taken this a step further to also include these ingredients listed on our website to promote further transparency, all while protecting our intellectual property. Unfortunately, we’ve had companies to unethically sell lesser expensive “dupes” of our artisan perfumes, so as a way to create a better authenticity stamp, we make it our duty to be honest about our claims. If our perfume says “Rose Bulgaria”, it is in fact just that and not a component of rose being passed off as the source material. Collaborations and Custom Scents: Can you share more about your work with private label clients? What excites you most about creating custom scent solutions for other indie brands? I could easily sum this up in one word and say “Funding.” True, there is money out there, but I’m always thinking outside the box. Having a program that has an “Each One Fund One” mentality doesn’t exist (that I’ve been made aware of). Bootstrapping can be quite the challenge, even when you’ve reached the 6-figure mark annually. Competition to be seen and set apart is extremely high, so having quality packaging and branding is a must. There are lots of factors to consider, though when desiring to make upgrades. If there were a unique, tier-geared funding operation available, it would help perfume brands offset packaging and bulk material costs in the beginning stages.
Industry Challenges: What are some of the biggest challenges you've faced as an independent fragrance house, and how have you overcome them to grow your brand? As the brand continues on the path of organic growth, I would like to expand our reach into schools, offering perfumery as an arts elective for middle and high school. I’d love to partner with botanists, farmers and horticulturists directly to grow and source raw materials for the students to work with in the creation of tinctures. My passion is getting back to nature as best as possible, as nature was my first “scent experience” as a child. We would also love to witness our fragrance creations being used to scent model homes, our focus diffuser blends being used in automobile dealerships as well as partner with Air Bnb and boutique hotels that specialize in highlighting minority, indie brands. Personal Journey: How has your personal experience, particularly as a divorced mother and someone who has experienced the loss of a child, shaped your approach to life and your work in perfumery?
Because I homeschool my twin sons, we are together a lot more than most, so one thing we all do is have moments of sharing where a neutral “floor” is laid to converse about anything. Though they are quite communicative by nature, I realize that sometimes I can be in work mode so much that it spills over into what should be our quality time. My sons see the authentic me and learn how to communicate through seeing authenticity. I’ve learned not to feel as if I have to be the epitome of perfection but allow them to see my imperfections vulnerably but with discernment. Having had two traumatic experiences pretty close together has taught me how to truly slow down and enjoy the simplicities of life - igniting a spiritual aspect that I’ve always carried but never fully explored…until Kenji’s sudden passing (2018.) Grief has a way of catapulting us into a quest for more meaningfulness in both life and business. After Kenji’s passing and my processing through the initial stages of grief, I was able to incorporate our spiritual bond into Pink MahogHany by way of essential oil diffuser blends for both focus and sleep and most recently aromatic perfume elixirs. It’s been quite the process channeling the void of his physical presence, but I also have peace knowing he can be honored in a great way through scent. I noticed once I began to be more open and receptive to spiritual signs, synchs and “winks”, more ideas began to flow. It’s been this way since his transition. Emotional Expression: Fragrance is often tied to memories and emotions. How does your personal life influence the fragrances you create, and do you have a particular scent that holds special meaning to you? My creative process is much more alchemic now, and I include Kenji by talking out loud to him, believe it or not. I’m a firm believer that when our loved ones transition from the physical plane, they are still present - just in another form. I choose to keep his memory alive by not pretending he never existed (even if for a brief period of time). I am working (slowly) on a book and accompanying fragrance, but I know it will require me to revisit some memories I’m not quite ready for, so until then, his big brothers will launch their debut fragrance, The Peaceful Tiger (they chose the name.) I’ve learned that even in what we consider “small things”, our transitioned loved ones want to be recognized and acknowledged. When the twins and I designed their fragrance label (with a designer out of the country that didn’t know anything about me personally), we had issues with the graphic - so much so that the designer asked if they could rework the design. When they sent the proof for approval, the Tiger was not only younger but sleeping, with an uncanny, angelic resemblance to baby Kenji! Becoming more aware and being more sensitive to my intention for launching a fragrance has definitely made room for more divine situations like these to occur. Healing Through Scent: In what ways has creating fragrances been a form of healing or expression for you, especially after the loss of your son, Kenji Mwamba? I know my sons may not necessarily want to be perfumers, but they definitely have an entrepreneurial heart. My desire is that whatever they decide to pursue (acting, script-writing, music or architecture), they know that anything is possible with the right amount of determination, grit, belief and immersion. One reason I chose to homeschool is so they could enjoy learning without restraint and have ample time to devote to their own separate passions and it still be fun. They know Pink MahogHany is theirs if they want it (many, many years from now - lol), and we are already discussing business structures for whatever they choose their role to be once I retire. Work-Life Balance: How do you find balance between your professional responsibilities and personal well-being, and what self-care practices do you prioritize? I’m not just a perfumer; I’m also a consumer, and self-care is huge for me. I often take salt baths to reset my energy and clear my mind after being around large groups of people or free a long day. I’m a habitual perfume sampler, and I have so many to choose from to wear as my “nightcap.” Even if just for 10-15 minutes, I cherish each moment I’m able to have some “me-time.” When time and co-parenting schedules permit, I’m definitely on a flight somewhere to indulge in some delicious food and mouth-watering mocktails!](https://www.womenontopp.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/IMG_3812-1200x720.jpeg)
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