Dana Kaye, Founder of Devotion Nutrition
Name: Dana Kaye
Founder: Devotion Nutrition
Who is Dana Kaye?
Dana Lynn Kaye is the Founder and CEO of Devotion Nutrition. Dana created the perfect storm for a business when she brought together her passion for fitness, her life long struggle with weight loss and her family business of flavors together to create Devotion Nutrition. Finding a massive void in the market place for high quality delicious and versatile protein powders, Dana created a protein that can truly do it all. Not only does her protein taste incredible as a shake, it also makes pudding with just water, bakes in pancakes and protein treats without becoming dry, fluffs into protein ice cream and even makes protein coffee creamer! This mother of 3 prides herself on hacking the fitness and diet game which helps her stay devoted to a healthy lifestyle! She has recently expanded her brand further into the wellness category to continue to bring to market the highest quality products to help others achieve their healthy lifestyle goals
In less than three sentences tell us about your company and what you do.
Devotion Nutrition is a Jewish woman owned and operated business. It was developed to help people stay “devoted to their healthy lifestyles.” We take delicious recipes and hack them with our incredible protein powder to make them lower in sugar and calories and higher in protein! The entire brand is sugar free, gluten free and kosher certified.
What does BEING a FoundHer mean to you?
I consider myself a pioneer in a very male dominated industry. Not only do I run my home and business but I’m inspiring other people to live their best lives.
How do you support other female founders and women in business?
I constantly align and promote other women owned brands. I invite them onto my podcast and collaborate with their products on my platforms for giveaways and spotlights.
At what point did you make your company a full time gig? How did you know the time was right?
My company has been my full time gig from day 1. I knew I had to give it my all if it was going to thrive and survive in a very saturated industry.
What lesson or skill did you take with you from a prior job to help you succeed in your role today?
I worked in the flavor industry for years, I worked in hospitality and had to deal with customers. I had to combine the skills I learned from owning a restaurant and working for others in order to manage run and promote my brand. I had to not only be a great boss to my employees, but also know how to relate and connect to my customers.
Let’s talk social media—who handles it for your company (you, an internal team member, an outsourced solution?) and what is the secret to making it successful? What is the biggest challenge?
For a very long time, I managed all of my social media platforms myself. I am the face of my brand and I enjoy connecting with my followers and customers. Recently, the brand has grown so I do have a social media manager, who helps to answer questions and post content to keep our platforms, fresh and relevant.
How did you land your first client?
My customers have come through social media, and they started with my small amount of followers who followed me, loved my story and believed in my product. The brand started to snowball as people got my products into their hands.
What is something you do differently from the industry standard?
I am the owner and I am constantly available and interacting with my customers. I even make customer service phone calls, and the customers are thrilled to hear from me. They recognize my voice from social media and that is always thrilling to them. I also show behind the scenes of my life and my family and what a workday looks like for us and people really connect and enjoy that. I also have shared my struggles through the years and that’s something else people Appreciate.
Did you raise capital? What was the process and avenue you chose to take?
Fortunately, I have not had to raise any capital for my company. I have kept a very tight budget and was able to invest my own money and grow the company with limited funds.
Have you sold a business? If so, how did you know when it was time to sell? What were the steps you took to make it happen? What advice would you give to someone looking to sell?
When I was 25 I sold my restaurant. After being hit by two hurricanes and losing a lot of money, I knew it was time to sell the restaurant and move onto another career. I didn’t love the restaurant business because I didn’t see it being some thing I could scale, and I also did not want to be in a cash business.
What would you do differently if you were starting your business today?
I don’t know that I would do anything differently if I was starting a business today. It’s been a very long, hard road of planting seeds and making a lot of connections but I truly love the path that I took and how I grew my Customer base.
What are three strategies you use to market your business, grow brand awareness and generate bottom line growth?
Telling my story has been one of the greatest strategies I’ve used to market my business. I have used social media to share my story and show my life and how I use the products I developed to enhance my lifestyle. Connecting with other influencers, who share common interest has been huge for my brand.
When they truly love the products, people see that and it’s genuine, and we see tremendous sales and growth with a brand.
What was an obstacle you overcame to get your business where it is today? Please share the story behind it.
The biggest obstacle I have had in my business was having a very expensive product. I struggled with not having the best margins, but I also refused to change the high-quality formula I developed. I’ve had to stay true to the product I developed and understand that I won’t be a perfect fit for everyone.
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