About this episode

Brandi Leifso shares her journey from living in a shelter to becoming the CEO of Evio Beauty, discussing resilience, decision-making, and the beauty industry's evolution.

At 21 years old, Brandi Leifso was living in a women’s shelter in Vancouver with $15 and a laptop. Today, she is the founder and CEO of Evio Beauty and the author of Fearless Choices . In this episode of Mission Critical , Brandi shares the unfiltered story behind building Evio Beauty from a shelter safe house to building a booming beauty empire. But this conversation goes deeper than entrepreneurship. Together, Lance and Brandi explore the psychology of decision-making, the myth of fearless leadership, and why power is something you practice through choice. From "cringe" bootstrapping moments to landing a 215,000-unit purchase order she nearly fumbled, Brandi reflects on the messy reality behind resilience, and why rewriting your personal narrative can be more powerful than rewriting your résumé. She also opens up about: The stigma surrounding domestic violence shelters. How the beauty industry has evolved from rigid standards to inclusive innovation. Why resilience is romanticized, and why we’re collectively burnt out from it. The 35,000 decisions we make daily, and how that realization reframed her life This is a conversation about agency, leadership, trauma, capitalism…

People in this episode

Host: Lance Chung

Guest: Brandi Leifso

Topics covered

• entrepreneurship
• resilience
• decision-making
• beauty industry
• personal narrative
• leadership
• trauma

Keywords

• Brandi Leifso
• Evio Beauty
• entrepreneurship
• resilience
• decision-making
• beauty industry
• trauma
• leadership
• Fearless Choices

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Evio Beauty, GLORY Podcast Network

Books & works: Fearless Choices

Places: Vancouver

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