admin “As a leader, discovering your management style takes years. In the beginning, it really was a case of faking it until I made it. Confidence is everything — even if you don’t always know what you’re doing, being bold and self-assured will help you become the type of leader you aspire to be. That’s not to say that you’ll always get it right. Having the humility to admit and learn from your mistakes will get you a long way,” says Natasha Case, CEO & Co-Founder of Coolhaus Ice Cream.
Being a woman, Natasha and her cofounder Freya Estreller want to be the household brand of their generation. Specifically, there’s incredible opportunity do that as a culture of women leadership. That’s going to be very meaningful for their generation, to be a powerhouse of women who are behind that brand, who created and are very involved in that thought process.
“On a whim, in 2009 my partner and co-founder, Freya Estreller, and I decided to convert an old postal truck into a food truck and drive out to a desert music festival outside of Los Angeles. Our handcrafted ice cream sandwiches were an instant hit among festival-goers, and we knew we had to continue selling them after the event ended.” Today, Coolhaus is the leading women founded and led ice cream brand on the shelves.
As a CEO, Natasha’s day to day is overseeing the business for their LA-based brick and mortar scoop shop in Culver City, as well as leading expansions outside of LA. Currently, Coolhaus two trucks and one cart in New York City, and 4 trucks in Dallas, as well as distribution in over 7,500 supermarkets nationwide. Natasha also oversees their branding and innovation.
Ice Cream Sandwiches behind the Scenes
“I majored in architecture in college at UC Berkeley and then began to explore the intersection of food and architecture (I call it “Farchitecture”) and how design could enhance your eating experience while in grad school at UCLA. After graduating, I was an architectural intern at Walt Disney’s hotel division, and around that time I started baking cookies and making ice cream and naming the ice cream sandwich combinations after famous architects and architectural movements for some comic relief among our staff since there were a bunch of layoffs happening while I was there. During that period I met Freya Estreller, who’s now my wife, and she helped me make those ice cream sandwiches behind the scenes while also crunching the numbers to turn our hobby into an actual business,” added Natasha.
‘Consumers are Special Inspiration’
Taking something all the way from an idea to a product is so gratifying and inspiring. Seeing how others connect to them and the joy our products bring to consumers is really special. And of course Freya and Remy our son inspire me daily!
Strategies to Achieve Success in Industry
According to Natasha, Get Scrappy – Whether you’re running your own business or not, success in any capacity requires a bit of scrappiness. Being willing to roll up your sleeves, problem solve on your own, and ask for help are all necessary attributes to get anywhere in life.
Find the Right Partners to Have by Your Side -Running a successful business is all about surrounding yourself with the right people. It’s important to build a team that motivates and inspires you on a daily basis, and to work with partners that support your journey from day one.
Learn to Overcome Setbacks
The best way to manage fear is to learn how to expect roadblocks, no matter how well you plan. The nature of running a startup is that you’re going to have obstacles — whether it’s a broken-down truck or getting turned down by investors. By embracing challenges and taking setbacks in stride, you’ll realize just how capable you are — whether in the workplace or outside of it.
Fail Forward, Fail Fast, and See Positive Outcome
It’s so hard to think of going back and changing anything – because what’s most important is what you do with the mistakes/failures/set back.
The learning lessons were some of the biggest building blocks to the success we have now – what’s most essential is to fail forward, fail fast, and see what the positives are out of any difficult experience – and apply those to the future.
‘Your Brand need to be Transparent with Customers’
Natasha believes that there are two major pillars to creating long-term customers: firstly, you must continuously honor their loyalty with incentives and reasons to continuously enjoy your product and brand. It’s not about a one-time offer that gets a customer to bite. Secondly, you must honor their loyalty with transparency, friendship, and intriguing storytelling; today’s customer wants and expects to know who is behind the brand, and you must continuously share inside content and evolve what aspects they can come to know about your brand.
Natasha’s Success Tips for Young Entrepreneurs
In the early years of Coolhaus, Natasha had to put other elements of her life on hold — in order to devote 100% of her time and energy to her business to make it as wonderful as she knew it could be. Now, with an excellent team around her, she has been able to take a step back and focus on her family. “Although you may come across a few chaotic moments, you have to learn to accept that life is never going to be in perfect equilibrium and you just have to enjoy the ride,” says Natasha.
Visioning is really important. It could be a journal or it could be a Pinterest board, but map out what the two, five and ten year mark looks like to your business and looks like for you. I think women don’t factor ourselves into the equation enough, often thinking about everybody else. So you need to know: at the two, five and ten year mark, are you going to be making enough money from this business? Are you going feel burned out? What’s your role going to be? Take the time to think really, really big.
At the end of the day, if your side-hustle or passion keeps you up at night, if you have a compelling story, and if others believe in what you’re doing, it’s worth pursuing. Whatever you’re doing in life, trust your gut — there will always be discouraging people you come across, but with a little grit, self-confidence and the right team, you can succeed.
‘Be helpful, be positive and be encouraging’
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