Gabriela Miraglia: How to Build a Manufacturing Business Around People and Innovation

Welcome to the manufacturer's mindset podcast featuring casual conversations with manufacturing professionals about their journeys lessons learned and more. Your host is Ryan Cote from Valentine Digital. Thanks for tuning in. Let's get started. Hey Gabriella, welcome to the show. How are you? I'm good. Thank you. Thank you for having me. Yeah, let's introduce you. So what should we know about you personally, professionally, wherever you want to share floor as yours? So again, my name is Gabriella. I currently live in a village or Joe where I own my own company. So it's a cosmetic manufacturing company. We do contract manufacturing for a lot of e-commerce spring. And I currently lead product development as well as operations in the company. And my background has almost always been in manufacturing. So my family has always worked in manufacturing. I studied engineering by chemical engineering and right out of college, I went to work for a brewery in manufacturing. And I've been on and off about with manufacturing and R&D for a few years until I decided to build my own company. And that's what I've been doing for a couple of years now where I built my own cosmetic manufacturing company. And I started really small with our goal being more targeting small brands and making small batches, mainly allowing small brands to have and be able to launch their product without having to commit to thousands of units to go to market. And I have a world from that concept over the past couple of years, but really with a focus on really innovative products of element, which is what I love, as well as very modular manufacturing processes. So this is what actually allows us to do small batches, which is our ultimate goal here. So yeah, I think that's it. And yeah, I think that mainly because our customers right there e-commerce brands mostly that's an area that we tend to study a lot too. I worked with it with marketing for e-commerce brands for about six months, which was good for me to learn about it and also be able to understand what my customers are saying. So even though I'm definitely not a marketer and I do not intend on becoming one, it's important to understand the link and understand what my customers are looking for. I love this story of you starting your own business, the family, work with the family and then starting your own thing. I always like to ask the cat is something getting to the manufacturing or industrial world. And you can start your own business two years ago. So what was the catalyst for that? Yeah, so that's a very good question. I thought a lot about it. And the main reason has always been, well, when you work in manufacturing, right? I always say the main, the most important thing is that you work with people at the end of the day, right? We have machines, we have products, but at the end of the day it's totally focused on people. And one of the things that kind of frustrated me in working for other companies is that I was never able to set up truly what I wanted for people development. So I was kind of tied to what the company told me I could do both in terms of like small disciplinary actions, right? As well as how we help people develop and how we help them evolve and how we help them grow in the company. So it was always tied to what is the company policy and that right? And especially when you're talking about manufacturing, the company sent to have a lot of people and large teams, you're always bound by the company policy. And that's what made me think I want to write my own policies. I want to be able to write what I believe is the best way to help people evolve and grow. And that was a catalyst for me to create my own company. So obviously it's been a while journey. You kind of have to learn a little bit about everything and you're never off, right? You're a company and obviously we have to be doing a little bit of everything, but I am very happy that I've been able to do this to be able to write my own company policies and to be able to help lots of people to grow inside the company. So do you have a see you say you do operations in R&D? Do you have an official like CEO, president person or is that your hat is to wear as well? No, so basically me and my partner, we share all the responsibilities. So he leads the commercial side of the business as well as small things like insurance and all these bureaucratic things that nobody likes to do while I lead product development HR and operation. So we kind of share all the big responsibility. And you, your family was in manufacturing too. Do they have their own company as well or do they work for someone? No, both of my parents had their own companies as well. My dad worked in manufacturing and my mom she owned a school, actually, the grandma school and she became the owner of the president after a while. So I've always been surrounded by entrepreneurs, right, which is again, it's a challenge by itself regardless of the industry or end, but specifically in manufacturing that was in my dad's side. That's kind of what I fell in love with. Did you work for your dad at all? I did and he didn't let me. He didn't let you. Why not? He didn't let me. He was very adamant that I should go and build my own path. If I ever wanted to go back and work with him, I would be welcome to, but first I had to forge my own path, which I'm very grateful for. I think it was the right decision. I learned so much outside of the family, right, just being in larger companies, being in the corporate world, which is a learning by itself. So I think that was extremely valuable. And at the end, again, when I decided to forge my own path and do my own thing, it wasn't on his business. I actually ended up creating my own. So, yeah, I'm grateful he did that. I was able to learn a lot from being in the outside world versus being just in our family company. Is he still alive as a weird question, but is he still alive your father? Yes, he is and he still has his company. He's not as active as he used to be, but that's only because he built a great team that can now handle the company on his behalf, which is again, back to me was very interesting to see like his transition, right from when I was a kid and he was working 21st and he was always even when we were at home, right, he was thinking about the company, he was talking about the company and transitioning to a point where he built such a strong team that was able to take the company to a different level and start managing the company with him having to be there, right, and micromanaging everything. So, to me, that was a great learning. It was seeing what, how, like, where can you get, right, from an entrepreneurial standpoint, you can either be your whole life drowned in things to do and doing everything by yourself, or you can, you can be very conscious about delegating and building a team that will take it to the next level without you having to be there all the time. Would you say that was the biggest lesson you've learned from your dad watching him run his own manufacturing business? Yeah, I think so that is one and I think the second one definitely is just having good people around you and managing them well, right, I think that that was, and that from my mom as well having, having her business. At the end of the day, the company is the people, right, I know if this is very like easy to say, it's very hard to put in practice, but that is what it is. And I think from both of them I learned if people are not at their best, that was always a huge lesson. I grew up around the people who worked with my parents for me to see them at their best doing what they liked. And sometimes moving to different things with my parents blessing, right, saying, look, this is what that's for this person, let's help her get there. This is a huge lesson to me. We work with the people who are at the company and they are the ones who make the company what it is. Your dad must be very excited and your mom says to see who start your own business, you know, he said go out in your own, he made it happen so he's got to be a pretty cool moment for him. Oh yeah, and he helped me a lot. He still does. Because again, like when you're starting a business, right, I think right now it's been a few years, but it's still very hard, but in the beginning, it's just scary. Suddenly you need all sorts of skills that you don't think you would ever need. You need to learn accounting, you need to learn who to contact for a permit with the county. Again, things that you never even knew existed. So he helped me a lot with that. Mainly just the mental state of this, the feeling home and not trying to be perfect. I think that's one thing that in the corporate world, we kind of have everything under control, right, like we have our lane, we know what our job is and we know what we have to do. So we kind of have a little bit more control when you're an entrepreneur, you kind of have to be comfortable with not being perfect because you're never going to be there's so much to do. There's so many things happening at the same time and you have to pick your battle. So he was very instrumental over the beginning and so is of my business on teaching me that like what are the battles that are going to pick and what are the things that we may not be perfect at and that's fine, right. You know, we have to live with it. It sounds like a good mentor and you you mentioned something that being calm. I think that's a really strong skill for a leader. I think a Bob Eiger who was running Disney. And then he was now he's not, but he's like that guy, the matter of pressure and stuff in his plate. I'm assuming I don't know, but I'm assuming it's got to be so intense yet if you look at that, the guy is always seems like a cool cat. He's always calm. I don't know what he's like inside, but he seems like he's calm and I feel like that's a super power, you know? Absolutely actually you mentioned him that's interesting because I read I don't remember which book it was now Don't call me on that but it was basically the moment in which he learned that there had been an accident It does me when the crocodile ate like actually attacked the kid and the kids have great I Cannot even imagine right going through that but how he described it right? It's amazing and it's like exactly that it's I mean the company is at its worst moment right? Everybody who's involved with that is that it's worse and everybody will be working at him the leader to say okay How do we how we move on from that right? But it's very interesting to kind of see how do you how do you even go about it? And what was going through his mind at the moment? So yeah, that's very impressive right like a leader that can do that and can keep the calm in a moment like that Again, I hope another coach or anything even remotely similar to that. It's just yeah, it's just impressive You started to come be two years ago. I definitely want to learn about a challenge You've had to overcome obviously it's been a lot, but I'm sure being so new But is there any one particular challenge that you've had to overcome like what was it? How did you do it? I'm trying to see if you could pull pull lessons from that for those listening Real quick at Valentine Digital we help manufacturing and industrial companies get found online and generate more leads If you want a fresh set of eyes on your marketing visit Valentine digital calm and schedule a free strategy call now back to the show Yeah, absolutely. I think that it's starting our my own business. I think the biggest challenge was really managing finances right because When again, you're working for a larger company. That's not something that you're not necessarily keeping a post at every single day And when you're managing your own business, that's something that you have to watch out all the time But at the same time, it cannot continue right and I think that's kind of the biggest challenge that we've had me and my partner is At which point you need to trust your skills and the business and the idea you came up with And not be obsessed by how much money you have in the bank It's definitely important right that there's no reason run without you doing that and without you watching and being super careful Especially in the beginning right that when you're still not profitable However, you need to have that level of trust that what you're doing will you will get there right and it will yield the results that you're hoping for otherwise we tend to Course correct at all times just based on how much money you think of the bank. So if today wake up and I actually paid a large supplier And I have less money in the bank. I started doubting myself and thinking this is never going to work Maybe I have to change the way I approach my customers Maybe I have to change the like even the business model that I have And that cannot happen right like we've went to a few of those situations and I think that it was very difficult to learn you know We have to be mindful of our finances obviously But at the same time we cannot let it consumers and change the direction of the business so quickly We have to be able to decide on what we're going to do and follow through and obviously have some check-blowing since the How things are going but not let that change the direction of the business Which is very easy to deal with here the owner right like you can easily change the direction of the business And that can be a blessing or a curse You also have to be able to stick to something at some point It's like you have to be comfortable with you have to get comfortable with being uncomfortable You know a lot of uncertainty a lot of things influx And there's a level of discomfort that creeps in Naturally And so you have to just get comfortable with that all those feelings is that what you're experiencing Yeah, absolutely. I think that I've I've experienced that Always right throughout my career and I think that the best thing it means you're you're challenging yourself right I think that if we are not Uncomfortable at some level that means there's a lot for us. There's a lot more room for us to grow right and I think that that's something I've always kind of thought in my career is Where else can I be challenged so I can feel this the sense of being uncomfortable because that's what that is what ultimately makes you grow when you're in your own business So you don't need to see fit Just by the nature of being an entrepreneur you don't need to speak anything the challenges will find you And you're gonna have to deal with them and again like there's not really a way out unless you close the business So that forces you into situations which again, you cannot really get out of but at the end of it if you Okay, I've learned from it and I'm better at it. We have to go to the next step now and see what all How is gonna show up and what's the next challenge that is gonna come at me So what's that missly? You know a day a day in life, you know, you're gonna handling problems things come up What does a typical day look like for you like we're recording this? It is 11 almost 11 30 on Friday So what's gonna happen for you today after we hang up? I'm trying to get a sense. It's like what a typical day looks like for a owner at a new manufacturing Company what does it look like for you? Yeah, absolutely so My day changes a lot especially depending on Howard scheduled right and health facilities scheduled because we do a lot of innovative products often we're making products for the first time in production right So either it's a new packaging where it's a new formulation or it's a new process. We're trying for example today I have to basically commission the new machine that we're using for a new process So that's what I'll be doing right after lunch testing it out seeing how it compares to the current state the current machine we're using and Trying to just trying to figure out whether it's worth continuing that path or going back to our status quo So we have a lot of that and those are the things that I tend to be very involved with Just because again those are game changers for business. This is what allows us To be able to introduce new products in the market that other brands and other manufacturers are not doing right so this is kind of the core of our business Other than that I also work with product development right so I work very closely with our laboratory developing products So I do spend at least an hour to two hours of the day reviewing which for me what have we tested what worked what did in which ingredients do we want to bring on I also do a lot of work with our ingredients suppliers. They're super important in the line of business because they are the ones developing a lot of the innovative concepts We've seen the cosmetic industry and I have to be able to implement those and use them in formulas So I do spend some time with them Talking to see what is new what they're developing how can I incorporate in a formula So we can then bring it to the market and bring it to our ultimate clients which are which are the brand owners And also one of the things that is extremely important right is just checking in with my team. So I work with right now we have about 40 people on my team And I try to be very close to them again. We are small So which is what I want and I want to be able to be in touch with them right and and check in with them all the time So I'll spend at least 30 to 30 minutes to an hour every day walking through the facility checking on the line seeing what everybody's doing Checking in on people asking how are you doing? What what do you struggle with yesterday? Because again, that's to me that's always been the best way in many facturing to learn what what's working and what's not right If you wait for again a formal checking with your team or a formal meeting with your team you might have some information It's never the same as if you're talking to the person who is Working with a machine eight hours a day and can tell you you know what I've noticed one thing And it's weird, but I've noticed that maybe if we do it this way it's going to be better This is price list right and I'd always believe in that I know this is very very important manufacturing I like to make time for that as well You know, I was gonna ask you How you know how to do all this but then I remember you looking at your LinkedIn Yeah, you started out doing consulting you've got these heavier dad and your mom but their business is Um, then you're at evolving brands for four years doing you know the R&D work operations So it's kind of like all those steps was leading you you know for me know of a here your company Was it always the plan to start your own business? I don't think so because when I when I graduated actually I think that was the last thing I wanted because I tell my parents doing it and I saw Hard to do So like I don't want to follow that path, you know I don't want to have to work that many hours and be constantly stressed but after like Through out my career I think I understood the benefit of having your own business right and again It's more than the financial reward that obviously we all hope to get to but mostly what I said about being able to set up Your policies and take care of people the way we think it should be done That's kind of what really led me to this point But I think again like in terms of manufacturing specifically the time I spend at unhazurish the brewery That was very valuable just to learn the basics of manufacturing, right? Like those processes that are important later at evolving brands as well, like working in the manufacturing floor that just that experience alone will teach you what works and what doesn't. - Makes sense. I don't know if you have kids or not, but do you envision this becoming a family business? - I don't know, that's a very good question. My partner always asks me that, like what is your vision for the business? And I have to say that's something that's trouble with a lot. I do not tend to think that far out. This is definitely something I have to get better at, but I don't know. I think there are so many challenges still to come that it kind of prevents me from thinking that far far along in time. So yeah, I really don't know. - Yeah, I mean, the company started two years ago and so you're probably not thinking that far out yet 'cause you're trying to get to the foundation strong and all that, but yeah, I'm just curious. A lot of, I find a lot of manufacturing companies like all of our clients, they're, I would say half of them are family businesses, you know, some more than others, like she's not a client, but I had this one guest in the podcast, Valerie, who she's fourth generation, I'm third generation, she's fourth generation and say he's got layers and layers of family members that have been the business. And it's really cool, you know, to think about that. You know, keep in the company live, legacy, keeping it going for longer or longer. - Yeah, I don't know, just stick around. - Yeah, absolutely, I think that's impressive. Those first generation that takes a lot of work. I think that for me, like I don't have kids, but I would totally envision, for example, like one, my production manager, she's been with me for so long throughout many companies. She moves to Georgia with me. I would be so happy to see her take over the company at some point, you know, if it doesn't necessarily have to be your blood family, but your work family, definitely, I would hope to see that. - Yeah, that's true. And that speaks a lot about what you built or what, or, you know, that's the fact that she was willing to move to follow you, you know, as you build this business. That's a, that's really cool. It's two years young so far, but I didn't know if you're doing anything with AI for the business, you know, obviously it's a hot topic. So I'd figure out how to ask, "Rez, are any way you're using AI in the business that maybe we can borrow?" We have been using it a lot actually, especially in two departments right now, and we have more to come. In the commercial side of the business, we've been doing a lot of it, just in terms of organizing and just prepping for our interactions with our clients, right? Sorting out to leads that come in, all of that is obviously done by a sales rep, but helped by with AI. And in the product development side, we use a lot of it as well, just in terms of, I think it's about feeding up the process, right? So we still obviously need people and we need people who have good ideas, but if you have a good idea, and AI can help you evolve that idea faster, we are all up for it, right? And we're trying to do a lot of that. And finally, one third area that I've mentioned, but it's equally important is our colleague department, so because we are an FDA registered, we are audited by NFS every year. We have a lot of processes that we try to just check, right? So we have to check if our product matches with specifications. We need to check if a material that arrives matches specifications. All of that we're building and using AI tools to do, because again, those are things that are extremely easy to build parameters around. So very easy to implement AI tools for. So I would say this is kind of the easiest path and the one we started with, and we're evolving towards formulation development as well as on our commercial side to how poor sales wrap, be more efficient in terms of how they filter and react to lead. - Yeah, I was gonna ask you if you can use AI to help with the formulas. I don't know anything about your business, but uploading what formulas worked, and then using the AI to generate recognized patterns and make recommendations, is that something you're using it for or no? - We do, you know, it's interesting, because it doesn't work by itself, right? I believe that happens across all areas, but you have to be really good at prompting it correctly, right? But if you are, it definitely helps. So let me just give you one example. I was having an issue with a formula where it couldn't get the right texture that I was looking for. So I started prompting the AI and working with it to say what I tried this ingredient, and I tried that ingredient, but I'm looking for the specific texture. What are all the options we recommend? And it will give me a bunch of options. And then from there, I can filter it out, right? It's kind of like unfeasible to think it will give you the one right answer, that's not doable. However, it is very good at giving you multiple options. From there, with the knowledge that I have, with the knowledge that my team has, we are able to narrow it down. I think what's really nice about it is that it prevents you from not thinking of an option. You know what I'm saying? Usually when we are working in a formula, sometimes we tend to have tunnel vision, and we are like, okay, I have to try this way. I think the AI helps to kind of broaden the horizon and help you see different options and then go from there. So that, in that side, it has been very helpful in product development. - It's like the ultimate brainstorming tool. I'll give you an example of that. - Exactly. - That happened actually last night. It's not business related, it's more personal related, but we got to go a new water cooler at our house and the water just would not come out cold. I was like, what is going on with this thing? My wife was like, you know, can you look at it? I was like, I'll try and I couldn't figure it out. So I went to Chad JVT and I took a picture of it and the multiple pictures and it was like, it might be this, it might be that. And then it said, you know, sometimes there's, you know, on-off buttons in the back of the cooler, check to see if there's one. And I was like, I didn't even know that was a thing. So I turned the thing around and there was a tape over the back of it like, you know, small piece of tape. I removed the piece of tape and there was the dam on button for the cold. So I turned that on and I heard it go on and I was so proud of myself. I was like, I was like, Jill, my wife, I was like, do I fix the water cooler? She got, it's great. What was it? I was like, I said, I had to turn the on button. I had to turn the on button on and she was holding eyes. I was like, why was it so bad? Yes. Yeah. I could figure it out. But what do you say to that? Absolutely right. It's the ultimate brainstorming tool. Like, that's perfect. I love that definition. That's exactly it. I mean, you cannot. I wouldn't rely on it to give me the ultimate answer. But it gives you options, right? And it gives you ideas. And I try to give you the questions. You take it from there, right? Yeah, exactly. Well, this was great, Gabriella. Thanks for everything you shared. Really fascinating story. I love hearing about the journey and that you're on. And if people want to follow you or connect with you, where should we send them? Yeah, so probably my LinkedIn, they can connect with me. You can put a link to that. And also through our social media and our website. So again, we target mostly brand owner who are looking for their next product, right? So we focus on building very innovative products, small batches, so we can support the launches or the extension of existing e-commerce brand for website at tworminova.com as well as our social media. You can look for Tworminova. Yeah, I like that name. For me, you know, if I like that. I'll link up that up. Yeah, it's very catchy. We link up that on the show notes. You're LinkedIn. Yeah, thanks for everything you shared. I appreciate it. Thank you. Thanks for having me. It was great. Thanks for listening to the manufacturer's mindset podcast with Ryan Cote from Valentine Digital. If you're finding value in the content we're producing, please help other manufacturing professionals find our show by sharing, subscribing, and reviewing our podcast.