Sarah Dorsett is CEO of Nanit, a high-growth technology start-up improving the sleep and lives of babies and parents. An e-commerce leader with more than two decades of experience scaling retail businesses, Dorsett previously served as Vice President of Ecommerce at Bed Bath & Beyond, where her site merchandising and marketing strategy drove double-digit retail revenue growth. From spearheading e-marketing initiatives in the burgeoning digital industry at Coty in 2004, to her executive roles at Bloomingdales.com and Century 21 Department Stores, Dorsett has developed a highly effective approach to channel strategies that are reflected in Nanit’s leadership in the competitive baby tech category.
Since her time as CEO of Nanit, the company has been named to CNBC’s Upstart 100 list of most promising startups, Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies, and most recently received NPD’s Consumer Electronic Industry Performance Award for the top increase in the North American market share in the smart baby monitor category. Aside from her corporate responsibilities, Sarah loves art, dancing, spending time with friends and family, and lives with her husband and three children in Summit, New Jersey.
Like many leaders, Sarah has been CEO-ing from home. She has experienced so much since the start of 2020, like engaging with investors virtually, helping her team feel seen and engaged all while growing the brand to the #1 seat in its category in a global pandemic. Today we are sharing an exclusive interview with Sarah Dorsett about how she’s leading Nanit and more.
How did you lead Nanit to wild success and exceptional growth, even through the challenges of COVID-19 (sales growth 130% year over year, all during COVID!)
Our success comes from listening to our parents – they are the ones who wanted to see us succeed. In the last year, we launched a new version of our camera that enhanced some of the features our families love most, expanded our line of wearables that can monitor breathing motion and introduced Smart Sheets that can track your baby’s growth. We also launched our Nanit Community. During a time where so many parents lost their support systems, we created a space where any parent can come and learn and discuss the parenting issues that concern them and also celebrate the milestones. I think we continued to see growth because expecting and new parents are recognizing that Nanit is much more than a baby monitor. It’s a resource to keep them connected to their baby’s well-being and a support system to help make their job as a parent easier.
How did you learn to fundraise millions (virtually!)? Please share a few great tips.
I was hired by the early investors of Nanit and I learned from them. I was very lucky that they believed in me enough to take the time to do that because it did take time. I knew how to build an incredibly successful business but I knew nothing about the start-up investing world. One of my investors actually spent two hours in a New York restaurant teaching me the fundamentals of Venture versus PE investing. As for tips, since I’m not an expert, what’s served me well is extremely strong listening skills, almost to a fault, then quickly proving that I’m coachable. I ignore the label that usually gets me of “people pleaser” because if I wasn’t coachable that label might be “lost cause.” So I listen to a piece of advice, and sometimes what’s asked of me is terrifying to even think about trying it but I always force myself to jump right in and give it a go so at the very least I can have the “I tried it and here’s what I learned” conversation.
In your own words what do you do?
I become what it takes to successfully build the first and most iconic family brand, at scale.
Do you have anything exciting on the horizon with the brand that you can tell us about?
Everything about this brand excites me. I think you’ll see us doing much more for our parents in a much shorter span of time. Our product launches and partnerships are going to surprise and delight in new ways and our community is going to continue to become the only network with families at the center of the conversation.
Any mistakes you see people make while running a business?
I often see two very common ones and it all ties back to the motivation for why the individual chose to run the business in the first place. First, running a business is not a new frontier or a DIY effort. Understanding what you don’t know and finding and or hiring people whose experience you can trust is absolutely a must. Once you do, it’s not time to become a dictator or to take what you hear and actively choose to ignore it. I’ve watched founders do this and erode the essential trust they need from their team, advisors and investors.
Second, while building a business is truly an art, it’s not a blank canvas. There are some powerful rules that are there for a reason. Breaking all of them is a very cavalier approach with a 1-in-a-million shot at success. So spend a little time choosing which ones you want to put to the test before you blow up the kingdom.
Do you have any special advice for other women out there who might be interested in going into the tech industry?
I would say don’t be intimidated by the industry. You don’t have to be an engineer or have years of experience with consumer electronics. I do however advocate for having a solid understanding of how tech works and how it can solve a problem and from there, learning the right communication skills to effectively present that problem to a technical team. With the right team, and the right mindset, you can accomplish anything.
Do you work with influencers? Do you think this is a great marketing method? Why yes/no
Absolutely a yes BUT I’ve found that the best ones are content creators. If you make a smart and reasonable investment in influencer content creators and then have an amplification strategy there are a lot of opportunities for a successful outcome.
What are your strengths?
My superpowers are strategic vision, creative problem-solving. Those coupled with a healthy dose of grit and a ton of leadership training opportunities are my personal version of success.
When you suffer a setback, how does that emotionally affect you and your work? How do you bounce back from it?
I almost always only look forward. Setbacks and failures are just opportunities to try something new or tell a different story. Rather than bouncing around, my career has evolved steadily over the last 20 years and that build of experience has given me a leg-up when it comes to being able to predict where the next problem might be so I push my teams to get ahead of problems before they actually become insurmountable. For example, we felt the effects of Covid three months before anyone in the US was even talking about it. So by the time it hit the US market, we were prepared. We felt supply chain issues back then too so we put contingency plans in place very early.
Share two pieces of advice for female entrepreneurs/leaders.
Lean into your strengths as a woman. Emotional intelligence supports self-awareness and if used wisely can help you avoid so many of the things that may manifest as fears. If you have a family, you’ll struggle with “mom guilt” but forget about trying to achieve personal and professional balance. Instead, strive for harmony between the two, then you’ll always be in the driver’s seat and you’ll get to define what’s right for you.
![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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