Can I Laugh On Your Shoulder?: Pivoting in the Pandemic | EP 225: Marissa Goldstein, Rafi Nova (2024)

Dec 23, 2020

The word for 2020 has been PIVOT. Especially when itcomes to sustaining a business during an economy in the middle of aglobal pandemic. My guest today is living this idea of pivotingout. Her story about launching a business at the beginning of apandemic and them completely pivoting is incredibly inspiring andyou are going to love this conversation. Marissa Goldstein is aproud mother of two sets of twins. Yes, you heard that right – twosets of twins. She’s also the CEO of the leading sustainable travelaccessory brand Rafi Nova. As an avid traveler, Marissa foundedRafi Nova to encourage families to travel while creating meaningfulconnections with global communities. While the pandemic shifted hercompany’s production to face masks, it expanded the company’sability to connect and protect communities and support socialcauses committed to inclusivity. Under Marissa’s leadership, RafiNova will have donated more than 150,000 masks to organizations inneed and workers on the front lines by the end of the year. Thiswas such an incredible conversation and Marissa is such a leader inthis area. Grab a warm, cozy, festive drink and Join me as I chatwith Marissa.

4:42 - The Marissa 101

Marissa is the co-founder and CEO of Rafi Nova.Rafi Nova is a social enterprise on a mission to create greatproducts that meet the ever-changing needs of families andcommunities, and serves to connect, inspire, and encourage othersto get out there and go. She and her husband are parents to TWOsets of twins.
Marissa’s family lives life on the go (or certainlybefore the pandemic). For the last 3-4 years, they spent half theyear living in Vietnam, and the other half living right outside ofBoston, MA.
After Marissa finished her MBA in 2015, she joinedher husband working at his manufacturing business helping consumerproducts companies in the US make products overseas in Vietnam.They’ve always had a wanderlust, and quickly fell in love withSoutheast Asia on an around the world trip.
They settled in Vietnam, creating their own supplychain and amazing community of friends. Their niche was bags,backpacks, duffel bags, luggage, etc. Every weekend they traveledto other Southeast Asia countries to meet with different ethnicwomen and tribes.
In Northern Vietnam four years ago, they met womentrying to sell their trinkets with a colorful textile wrappedaround then. They discovered the women’s stories as well as thestory behind the artform that has been passed down from generationto generation. It started to disappear because of technology andyounger generations choosing different career paths in cities.
Marissa and her husband wanted to find a way to usethat textile traditional art form and put them on meaningfulproducts in the US while also supporting the women, telling theirstories, and preserving the art form. They started their own brand,Rafi Nova, which is named after their two sets of twins. They goalwas to create useful products and accessories that people can wearwhen they’re on the go.
All of the Rafi Nova products use upcycled textilesthat have a story. Marissa and her husband spent a year buildingthe company in Vietnam and came back to Boston to officially startthe company. It was right as Covid-19 started spreading in the US,before anyone knew what was coming. They launched the day after theproduct arrived on February 16^thand two weeks later received their town’s stay-at-home ordersbefore Rafi Nova even had a shot at thriving.
They knew they needed to put their factory to gooduse to help during the pandemic as well as keep their factoryopening as product orders began plummeting. It was actually theirfour-year-old who suggested they start making masks. In Vietnam,people wear masks every day because of the air pollution, whichgave Marissa and her family a unique perspective on masks that mostAmericans don’t have.
They know what it takes to make a comfortable,safe, and effective mask. They called up their factory and decidedthey were going to make 10,000 makes to donate to front-lineworkers. Word caught on quickly and people were asking if Rafi Novawould sell the masks for their own personal use. It was in March,when there was a lot of dialogue about masks but nowhere to buythem.
They put the masks on their website, and 24 hourslater they’d done over $25,000 in sales with a gratitude for theopportunity and the need for a plan to fulfill the orders! Sincethat day, Rafi Nova has sold over 2 million masks, and donated over125,000 masks and have more than 30 employees in a 7500 sq ftfulfillment center.
Marissa credits her experience as a mom of twotwins for preparing her for this endeavor.

19:22 – Empowering Artisans Through Partnership

After discovering the traditional handicrafts inNorthern Vietnam, Rafi Nova wanted to find a way to connect withlocal communities and communities around the world. They would stayin the communities in a very different environment than what theywere used to and believe that exploring these differences is abeautiful part of life.
They found that we all have commonalities. Marissasaw that the communities in Vietnam had children whose parentswanted them to thrive, just like Marissa wanted for her children.They were able to connect through their roles as mothers. Eventhrough language barriers, the language of motherhood rose up toconnect them.
Rafi Nova fell in love with the traditional artform and after learning more about the tribes who made them, theywanted to bring the art to the US, not to profit of the artisans,but to tell the story of the textiles and purchase them at fairtrade rates to help families profit and preserve the art in variousforms.

22:07 – Seeking Adventure (in 2020 and beyond).

Rafi Nova has a vision to connect the globalcommunity of families to seek adventure. 2020 was a heck of a year,and it also gave Rafi Nova an opportunity to begin. They sold a lotof masks and created a loyal customer base while also giving backduring a tumultuous time in our history, fulfilling their corevalues.
While masks are not the product they intended tosell originally, they are a part of Rafi Nova’s story and fit theirmission to connect people, keep them safe, and giving back to thecommunity. In 2021, they want Rafi Nova to be a lifestyle branddestination of ethically-sourced products that encourage familiesto get out, connect, and give back.
Even though adventure looks different in 2020, itis still relevant to Rafi Nova’s mission, just with an evolveddefinition. Most of us have an ideal vision of adventure thatinvolves hoping on a plane and exploring a place we’ve never beento. These days, it could be a family bike ride, RV trip, a campingtrip, or just a walk exploring the woods behind your housetogether. Adventure can also mean finding new and better systemsfor you and your family to slow down and spend more quality timetogether.
Rafi Nova will continue to sell masks and are alsoadding a new line of products to accompany us on our new adventuresand journeys.

24:37 – The Ethical Piece

Marissa was raised with a sense of community andgiving back. It’s so important to know where our products comefrom, how it’s made, and who made it. When finishing her MBA,Marissa was the cofounder of a solar startup based in Indiacreating solar energy machines that provided fans, cell phonecharging and light to rural communities.
Rafi Nova spends time in their factories with thefactory owners every day. They are like second family and it hasbeen eye opening to have the opportunity to join communities inunderstanding the lifecycle of a product. There are so many piecesof the production line and every step holds the story of aperson.

27:42 – Connecting

You can find more about Rafi Nova at www.rafinova.com and on all the social channels. Ifyou want to follow Marissa and her family’s adventures, follow@twinsonthegox2 on Instagram!

28:13 – Getting to Know Our Guest

Find out what song Marissa has to sing along towhen it comes on the radio, a person who has influenced her themost, what she would eat if she had to eat the same meal everynight for the rest of her life, her favorite TV show to watchgrowing up, and of course, stay tuned to hear what it means toMarissa to run a business with purpose.

14:41 - “We started this pivot out of a sense ofservice, not out of a sense of business.”

Thank you to our partners of the show:

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