Digioh is proud to nominate Michelle Ranavat, the Founder and CEO of RANAVAT, for Yotpo’s 2024 Amazing Women in Ecommerce. RANAVAT creates luxurious skin and hair treatments inspired by Indian beauty traditions, a testament to Michelle’s efforts to celebrate cultural heritage. As a female and minority founder, Michelle has broken barriers and achieved remarkable success with her award-winning brand, RANAVAT, available at the world’s top retailers such as Sephora and Harrods.
Michelle embodies the spirit of AWIE through her passion, humility, and focus on community. Her six years as the CEO of RANAVAT have taught her valuable lessons, emphasizing the importance of honesty, customer-centricity, teamwork, continuous improvement, staying true to one's purpose, and fostering a culture of acceptance and care. Michelle's dedication to her customers and vision for her brand extends beyond skincare; it is about creating a community where every soul feels valued and loved. Michelle Ranavat is truly exemplary of women's empowerment in the e-commerce industry.
Join us September 6th at 12PM ET / 9AM PT to hear from incredible women founders and leaders in eCommerce, and to nominate an amazing woman who deserves recognition — Yotpo donates $5 to Girls Inc. for every nomination.
RSVP here
As we prepare to attend the AWIE Nominations Kickoff event, we'd like to share some of our thoughts. Michelle Ranavat (CEO at RANAVAT), Allison Kelly (CRO at Digioh), and Elianna Quiroz (Customer Success at Digioh) discuss the significance of being a woman in the industry and why communities like Amazing Women of eCommerce hold such importance for us.
The Importance of Empowering Women
Michelle: Every Soul Needs Acceptance. This is our mantra at RANAVAT. No matter if it is an internal company issue or a customer experience matter—every soul needs to feel accepted, loved, and cared for. More than a beauty company—this is what we do.
Eli: Digioh has been one of the rare opportunities for me to see women in C-level positions really driving change in a company. That representation and presence are more important than most would think! I’m hopeful that our industry will produce and empower more women in those roles.
Allison: Empowering women and the next generation of women has always been something incredibly important to me in my career overall. “How can I set an example for other women in my company, industry, and at home?” is always consciously or subconsciously on my mind. I have three daughters at home, so I have three great reasons to work hard to set an example for the next generation of female leaders!
Overcoming Imposter Syndrome
Michelle: In these 6 years [as RANAVAT’S CEO] I've realized the words “I don't know” are just as powerful as knowing the answer. It's OK not to know. Pretending to know it all is what we should be afraid of.
Don't compare and keep an abundant mindset. Focus on doing better and improving every day.
Eli: I’ve held a bunch of different roles, over the last 8 years from experiential, brand, paid, email, etc. A commonality that I’ve seen in the marketing industry for women, is a looming sense of imposter syndrome as you rise in your career. There can be a real fear of putting your ideas, constructive feedback, and solutions out there to your leadership, just to not ‘be heard or valued as an asset to the team’. When signs point to a need to improve in the business, there’s definitely been pressure in the past to be agreeable to leadership requests to not be labeled “difficult” or “negative.”
Allison: Twelve years ago, I started my journey in eCommerce and SaaS technology - and felt really alone. The industry was male-dominated, or at least it seemed that way, especially in leadership roles. I also suffered from imposter syndrome off and on for years (even if it didn’t seem that way for those of you who may know me). I always felt like I was about to get fired, wasn’t good enough, and was often told I was intimidating or “too much”—merely for being intelligent and vocal.
Commitment to Authentic Engagement
Michelle: Team is everything. Work with people you love and inspire them to grow professionally and personally. It's not about what they can do for you, but what you can do for them. With this mindset growth is inevitable.
Bosses and CEOs often say "I love it because I don't work for anyone". I say: I work for you. You are the customer, and I'm here to help. It does not matter how big or small your issue is, I'm grateful to take care of you
Eli: In my role at Digioh, I identify each client’s business objectives and goals. A lot of things are shared across different verticals. Sure, it’s mostly driving sales and building brand loyalty through leads & their nurturing, etc. However, there’s often a real need for visitor engagement and a duty to truly educate and help people looking to fill a need in their lives.
As an empathetic, help-first, let’s fix-it personality - I connect most with the brands that genuinely care about the end result, footprint, and needs of their customers. As a consumer myself in the industry, I pay attention to that when making my own decisions on who to choose from the long list of eCommerce vendors.
Allison: Community groups, such as Women in Retail, Women in Email, Women in Technology, etc. began popping up, and I eagerly joined in—connecting with other women, hearing their stories, etc. It was amazing to not feel so different for the very first time in my eCommerce technology career. Those communities flourished my network and helped grow me.
Finding Community and Connection
Michelle: Remember your WHY. I've always been proud to be Indian—but when I shared things like putting oil in my hair or eating different food- it wasn't met with acceptance. Instead of being upset, I wanted to prove these rituals could be helpful to EVERYONE and they can bring us together. This WHY has resulted in an invitation to the White House, the Today Show, and so many amazing moments. Most importantly though, it has led me to meet and connect with you :)
Eli: I wholeheartedly believe in the relevance of this event. As a Latina Woman in Tech representation is everything! We should celebrate what we've accomplished, empower each other to improve every day, and continue to evolve as people.
Personally, I’ve found a support system of intelligent and strong women in the workplace as well as my personal life—we build each other up! As women, we should empower each other to speak up and do the best we can!
Allison: Today, I have told many people if I could make “community in eCommerce” a full-time job - I totally would! These female-only communities pushed me to accelerate my own career and become the example that I perhaps didn’t have when I started out in my eCommerce journey.
So, if you’re a woman in eCommerce, eCommerce SaaS, at an agency, or really anywhere - become the example you wish you’d had. You don’t have to wait for anyone else to set that for you!
We hope to see you Wednesday, September 6th at the AWIE Online 2024 Nominations Kickoff! Grab your spot here.
