The Kush Report

The Founder, CEO and Inventor of the Kush Support, Cathinka Chandler, has been recognized by The Mecklenburg Times as one of their 50 Most Influential Women! The award is to recognize the role that women play in the local economy.

From the Times web site, “The honorees represent the most influential women in business, government, education, and the not-for-profit fields, and are selected by a panel of business leaders based on professional accomplishment and community involvement.”

Previous winners include Frances Queen, Integra Staffing founder Michelle Fish, Asterisk Creative Partner Wendy Shanahan, and VisionCor CEO Sherry Barretta.

Congratulations to Cathinka, she is a fine addition to this list of influential women!

Intimate Apparel Industry Insights [ 21:24 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Today we are joined by journalist, graphic designer and marketer Luis Paredes from Seven Hills Graphic Design.  Cathinka met Luis during the Lingerie Americas Show in New York City and built up an excellent rapport as they discussed the challenges of growing a market for Kush Supports.

Recently, Luis was communicating with Cathinka as he was researching an article regarding the process of filing patent applications (Scroll down on the mcpetesez.com page for the article).  As Cathinka can attest, the process of navigating the intricacies of a patent application can be quite daunting.  It takes stamina, diligence and as Luis found out through his research, a valuable member of the team .. a good patent attorney. Cathinka points out that many have attempted to achieve a patent on their own but without a thorough knowledge of the system, opportunities can be overlooked and time can be wasted.

For some background on Luis, Seven Hills Graphic design is a full service agency focusing on the intimate apparel industry offering graphics and logo design, advertising creative, video services and web development work.  His niche specifically allows him to fully understand the market and to use his knowledge to help clients focus their marketing efforts. His background working in the production area of a trade publication in the lingerie industry, kick started his career in this market.

Luis had a great recommendation for future editions of The Kush Report, suggesting that we include intimate apparel retailers and discuss how they converse directly with customers and obtain feedback about Kush Supports.

Luis and Cathinka shared another product that has simultaneously gone through the patent process during the same time period as Kush Support called The Bra Bag. Both of these products will benefit from the protection afforded by successfully receiving a patent, along with generating marketing buzz and reaching the marketplace, calling attention to the unique attributes of the product.

Finally, Luis is really promoting the use of video to demonstrate unique products in the marketplace and reaching audiences through all web 2.0 tools.

Luis can be reached at 646.416.2425 or via email at info@sevenhillshome.com.

Thanks Luis for being a guest on this edition of The Kush Report

Entrepreneurial Confidence [ 9:34 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Kush Co. CEO, Founder and Inventor of The Kush Support, Cathinka Chandler was fortunate in the initial stages of bringing the product to market. We address the issue of being a female entrepreneur and inventor versus a male entrepreneur and inventor.

Cathinka believes that she did not have to face any hurdles in the process simply because she is a female.  Although there were issues to be overcome, she got the same respect from the engineers and partners because she ensured that there was a personal, trusting relationship established in the early stages.

One potential factor that she brings up is the fact that she is six feet tall, and when wearing heels tends to be much taller than many people in the room .. as some studies have shown, people of authority who are taller tend to be perceived differently than shorter people.

In the end, Cathinka’s philosophy is that the most important element for success is the establishment of goals and measuring them along the way, have confidence in your idea and direction, and in the end the hurdles will be able to be overcome by sheer determination.

You can follow Cathinka on Twitter

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