Trinity Mouzon Wofford, co-founder of Golde, is making wellness accessible
As a young consumer, the beauty and wellness industry can seem overwhelming, confusing, and expensive. Trinity Mouzon Wofford saw that issue at the young age of 23, when she co-founded Golde, a straightforward beauty and wellness brand, with her now-fiance. Growing up in upstate New York, Trinity was used to seeing a lot of “granola” wellness products. She wanted to strike a balance between the products she grew up seeing around her hometown, and the modern, luxe brands that were inaccessible to her.
Golde helps it’s consumer’s build their self-care routines, with nutrient rich face-masks and superfood latte and smoothie starters. As the business grew, so did the dedicated community surrounding it. Now Trinity, who employs a small team and runs the company’s social media accounts mainly on her own, is able to communicate directly with a dedicated group of people who love her products.
“I never really considered or could of even fathomed the extent to which people would fall in love with Golde,” she said. “It’s very interesting to see now that we are 3 years in that this business has evolved from being primarily a business that sells products to being a community that’s powered by it’s suite of products.”
Golde products are available at major retailers like Sephora and Urban Outfitters, and Trinity’s success has been widely highlighted. What makes it truly inspiring is the hard work she continues to pour into Golde each day. She is not just pushing products, but forming connections and taking care of her customers, who reach out to Trinity to express their thankfulness for the community they have found through Golde. During this period of social distancing, the company has taken to doing Instagram Lives and Q&A sessions that have allowed consumers to be even more involved.
While Trinity did start Golde young, she spent a couple years working full time marketing jobs prior to launching her business, gaining the knowledge of how businesses should be run.
“I don’t regret starting my business so young but I truly can't imagine trying to start it any younger than that,” she said. “It was very good to have a couple of years of real world work experience under our belts before we dove in head first.”
Youth was on her side as she launched Golde, as traditional responsibilities, such as children and mortgages, could not distract her from her long term goal. Toward the beginning of the business, she quit her full time job to focus solely on Golde, moving back to her hometown to cut costs and help the business grow.
Modern entrepreneurship is lush, and Trinity recognizes the fact that some may feel a need for validating their hobbies and talents. Female entrepreneurship, especially, is sometimes idolized as a sexy definition of success.
To other young people considering starting a business, Trinity suggests truly taking the time to consider your wants and needs. So often, entrepreneurs growing their passion projects find themselves in a series of questions such as ‘What am I trying to do here?’ and ‘What should I do next?’
“I think that the more clear you can be on that from the very beginning, the more easily you’ll be able to make all sorts of decisions going forward,” she said.
But if your passion project is baking cookies, you can just bake cookies! While all forms of entrepreneurship are valid, it isnt the next necessary step on your path to success.
“Think about whether you even want to start a business or if it just seems like the thing to do to achieve this sort of nebulous concept of personal success.”
Youth is a good thing, and the entrepreneurial spirit of the younger generations is ever inspiring. But starting a business is hard, scary, and sometimes risky, so being prepared and having a well-thought out outline of a plan will help set you up for success.