#167 - Starting A Business & Exploring Entrepreneurship with Sajani Amarasiri (Kola Goodies)

First of All

If you've dreamt of starting a business, you may have stumbled across a roadblock or fifty to get off the ground or even take the leap to pursue it... Should I quit a secure thing? What if I fail? How do I prepare financially? How do I break this to my parents/significant other/industry? How do I get started or even get my foot through the door? Do I need to go back to school? How long will it take to be "successful"? In this episode, Minji sits down with Sajani Amarasiri, founder of Kola Goodies, a superfood and wellness goodies brand with beautiful, authentic South Asian roots. Together they unpack Sajani's journey going from a highly favored Amazon then Microsoft employee with terrific benefits to a globetrotting entrepreneur learning the very basics of creating a business from the ground up. As an immigrant from Sri Lanka, Sajani's story has universal lessons for anyone who aspires to step off their beaten path - learning how to bet on yourself, overcoming microaggressions and daunting setbacks, taking many bites of humble pie, cultivating unbeatable determination and patience, identifying driving values and a unique mission, staying curious, and the importance of support from others.

Links: Spotify - Featured Music Playlist

Follow Minji on:

• Instagram (@minjeezy)
• Instagram (@firstofallpod)

Follow our guest Sajani Amarasiri on:

• Instagram (@sajaniamarasiri)
• Instagram (@kolagoodies)
• Website: Kola Goodies

▫️ Music featured in this episode include "Uzutrap" by Uzuhan and “Butterfly (222)” by Maijah. Get her single here!
▫️ Follow the show on Instagram and Twitter and support our Patreon
▫️ This podcast is part of Potluck: An Asian American Podcast Collective

Produced by @marvinyueh & @AnnaSun
Supported by @JulianaDeer

Mentioned in this episode:

Listen to Inheriting from LAist & NPR

"Inheriting" is a show about Asian American and Pacific Islander families, which explores how one event in history can ripple through generations. In doing so, the show seeks to break apart the AAPI monolith and tell a fuller story of these communities. In each episode, NPR’s Emily Kwong sits down with one family and facilitates deeply emotional conversations between their loved ones, exploring how their most personal, private moments are an integral part of history. Through these stories, we show how the past is personal and how to live with the legacies we’re constantly inheriting. New episodes premiere every Thursday. Subscribe to “Inheriting” on your app of choice

Listen to Inheriting now!