Q&A with Rebecca Lima of The Lieu
Rebecca Lima is a serial entrepreneur, most recently, she founded The Lieu, a modern and accessible feminine-care solution for women, aiming to bring curated beauty and wellness products to restrooms within offices and workspaces. Rebecca’s mission is to change the way people interact with the bathroom. She sees The Lieu becoming a staple of convenience for people and a safe space for people to recharge and refresh.
Let’s get to know Rebecca…
Tell us a little bit about your career journey. From mechanical engineer to The Lieu?
Prior to becoming an entrepreneur, I graduated from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University with a Mechanical Engineering degree in Robotics. I’m such a nerd and had dreams of becoming the female “Ironman,” actually let’s be real that’s still my dream.
After college I worked in the oil and gas industry as a Field/Sales Engineer for Schlumberger, an oil and gas service company. I worked on offshore and onshore rigs in Alaska, Abu Dhabi, California, Texas and Oklahoma. After my stint in oil and gas, I left the industry due to terrible health issues. I had a lot of soul searching to do after that.
My first company, Ment, ended up failing after 3 long years. Ment was an airport app that helped travelers navigate the airport in real-time, think “Waze for Airports.” Long story short, we didn’t have the right product, I lost my passion and vigor for it and we were way too early for the market. Around the same time as Ment was shutting down, I had the idea for The Lieu.
2. When you decided to start The Lieu, what were your first steps?
I started The Lieu officially in Feb 2018 but the idea for The Lieu came in Aug 2017. My first steps were market research. I had the idea for what the product would look like, but I didn’t know how people, more specifically women, would react. I spoke to hundreds of women, on the train, at Sephora, you name it I was speaking to whoever who gave me eye contact. After that, I knew I had to set up a test, so I started doing pop-ups inside of companies around Manhattan. I would set up mirrors, styling tools and products to help women freshen up throughout the day. The feedback I received in these rooms helped us get to where we are today. The “idea” of The Lieu has taken on many forms and it’s about testing the market.
3. Do you ever feel burnt out? What do you do to stay inspired?
There are definitely days/weeks that I feel more burnt out than others. Especially when I’m on the road for work. I’m a highly sensitive person, I have a heightened sense of emotions and environmental changes. It means I’m very in tune with my emotions and my feelings, so I know when I’m feeling overwhelmed, stressed or uninspired. I hit the reset on my body which could look a few different ways, maybe I sleep earlier or sleep more. I am an avid intermittent faster, that typically resets me mentally and physically. I pray and meditate every day, it’s a part of my morning and evening practices. Lastly, I remember why I do what I do and remind myself that I ultimately made this decision. It’s my choice so complaining about it does me no good.
4. What advice would you have for a female entrepreneur looking to start her own business?
Most likely you are way too early for your market, but you’ve identified a problem worth solving. It takes a lot of grit, tears, heartache and failure, so don’t give up. This is a long game so buckle in it’s about to get bumpy. I promise you whatever happens, you will be so grateful you went on this journey.
5. What are the biggest challenges you’ve come across? How did you overcome them? Are there some you think or women specific?
My biggest opponent or challenge has been myself. Standing in my own way because of fear. Whether it was not sending that cold email or following up with someone because I was too scared of the result. As women, we often are our own worst enemy.
I’ve learned to not only give myself grace but to act on that feeling of fear. Whenever fear creeps in, instead of hiding from it, I’ve started stepping into it. As a result, some magical things have happened in my life. I’ve landed client contracts, investment, mentorship, partnerships. You name it, it’s probably happened but it only happens when you get out of your own way.
6. How has your experience been with crowdfunding?
We’ve been raising through an equity crowdfunding campaign. We are about 275% oversubscribed and that has been incredible to see. We still have about 50 days left on our campaign and we’re excited to see what the results will be. You can check out our campaign here: https://republic.co/the-lieu
We’ve really enjoyed the process because as female and minority founders we have found backers that truly care about us and the company.
7. What did you learn from you first experience as an entrepreneur that has helped you this time around?
Failure is inevitable so learn from your mistakes and don’t let your failures become you. What I mean by that is that many founders correlate their failures to their identity and that’s not healthy. You are not your company or more than that, you are not your failure.
