Michelle Cordeiro Grant is currently building the fastest-growing better-for-you energy brand in the country. Her company, GORGIE, is in 15,000 stores nationwide, boasting 600% year-over-year retail growth with backing from investors like Jon Bon Jovi and Alix Earle.
It’s a massive hit, but it’s not her first. Michelle previously built and sold the lingerie brand Lively for over $100 million - just four years after starting it.
The foundation for that ambition was laid early. As part of the only Indian family in rural New Smithville, Pennsylvania, Michelle spent her childhood surrounded by cornfields, dreaming bigger. By seventh grade, she was trading her lunch money for bus fare into Manhattan. Later, she chose the University of Pittsburgh simply because the application was one page with no essay, allowing her to speed toward her real goal: moving back to New York.
After honing her craft in corporate retail, studying merchandising at Federated and VF Corporation, and brand-building at Victoria’s Secret under Les Wexner, she spent three years inside a startup to master the operational side.
When she secured $1.5 million in seed funding for Lively on her 35th birthday, the magnitude hit her. She sat in her new office, looked out the window, and cried. Then, she got to work: writing down her top seven fears and immediately hiring an advisor to solve each one.
That same tactical clarity launched GORGIE. After moving to South Florida following her exit, Michelle saw energy drinks being consumed by everyone from landscapers to dentists. Yet when she looked for a cleaner alternative, she hit a wall: Whole Foods literally had no options that passed their standards.
Spotting an untouched $25 billion market, Michelle stepped back into the arena with nothing more than a PowerPoint deck and a sample in a glass jar.
