Natasha Brao is on a mission to share the deeper meaning behind the classic Mediterranean and Middle Eastern one-pan dish, Shakshuka. Shooka celebrates mixing and melding different cultural flavors leading to new recipes, ideas, and conversations.
Originally from Los Angeles, she got her start in Upstate NY. Coming from the design industry, she found her way into CPG by stepping out of her comfort zone and entering many business pitch competitions during grad school. She went on to create Shooka, a thick, chunky, tomato-based sauce meant to be served with poached eggs in a skillet with crusty bread — but you can add anything you want!
Here's Natasha's story of fundraising during college to launch her brand.
Why Natasha wanted to create a shakshuka inspired tomato sauce
The original brand concept for Shooka and why it shifted
Strategy for fundraising
Advice for an emerging brand founder starting to pitch for funding
Hummingbirds is a platform that connects everyday, smaller creators with brands to share in-store user-generated content, drive brand awareness in specific retailers, and capture competitive market share. They're an awesome platform that I recommend to all my clients that you should absolutely check out. Go to hummingbirds.com for all the details.
