In this second Rarity Brands podcast episode, Aleesha interviews Visha Vijayanand, NEXT Canada Alumnus & Co-Founder of Poche Posh, an inclusive and innovative fashion e-commerce brand.

We discuss Visha’s brand building and startup consulting evolution in the heart of Canada’s startup and tech ecosystem, particularly throughout the past 2 years’ pandemic.

Additional episode discussion topics & gems:

- Canadian startup pivots amid COVID-19

- Healthcare startup habits during the COVID-19 pandemic

- How brands successfully survive the unforeseen, including COVID-19

- Elements of brand rarity

- How brands can be nimble

- User-driven innovation

- UWaterloo startup success DNA

- Sustaining, in order to be sustainable

- Posh Poche, a fashion start-up for women’s clothes with pockets: historic launch and learnings

- Canadian diversity reflected in Canadian business branding

- Diverse market segmentation for Canadian fashion e-commerce

- Reflectivity and representation: an era of reckoning

- Defying historically “safe” conventions

- Honouring inclusive instincts

- How to mitigate risk aversion towards diverse branding and business culture building

- Turnkey operational overhaul for brand rarity: authentic diversity, unwavering innovation, and tech-driven

- Carrying the torch: sparking minds that will change the world

- Transparent leadership and encouraging employee ownership

- Avoiding box-ticking exercises for diversity in business

- How to avoid performative allyship/inclusivity/diversity

- Embedding inclusivity and belonging across every operational segment of your business

- Avoiding making a case for diversity by simply quantifying its profitable merits 

- Equipping yourself for authentic allyship

- How to avoid treating diversity as an addendum/nice-to-have

- How to avoid performative optics for the sake of brand competitiveness

- How to avoid burdening or offloading diversity to junior diverse staff

- The specificity of Black experiences and how one-size-fits-all approaches help no one truly

- The onus of authenticity in rarity branding

- Positive feedback mechanisms for constructive comments and suggestions

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