How Cassandra Thurswell turned a side hustle into the global brand Kitsch

“I realized with every business that I've ever had, that is my strength, being of service. I'm an excellent waitress. I am an excellent people pleaser. I will serve until the day I die because I genuinely love doing it so much.”

For many entrepreneurs, the path to building something meaningful is paved with side hustles, experiments, and opportunities that don't seem connected until years later. What looks messy in the moment often becomes the foundation for lasting success. The founders who create enduring brands are often the ones who stay close to their customers, remain open to feedback, and are willing to evolve as their business grows.

Building a company also requires constantly reinventing yourself. The skills needed to launch a business are very different from the skills needed to lead a team, develop products at scale, and guide an organization through its next stage of growth. Cassandra Thurswell's journey is a powerful reminder that persistence, customer obsession, and a willingness to keep learning can transform a simple idea into a global brand.

In this episode of Entreprenista Podcast, we sat down with Cassandra Thurswell, Founder and CEO of Kitsch, an international brand focused on sustainable hair care and beauty accessories for women. A self-described born-entrepreneur, Cassandra always knew that one day she wanted to own her own business. This wasn’t an easy feat for Cassandra, but, at the age of 25, she started Kitsch and with a lot of hard work expanded the company into over 25 countries and across 20,000 retail locations all over the world. Tune in to hear Cassandra break down how she started her business, what her favorite thing about Kitsch is, how she knows she’s doing the right thing as a CEO, and so much more!

You can listen to the podcast here on Spotify and Apple Podcast.

Here are a few moments from the podcast:

Before Kitsch became a global beauty brand, Cassandra spent years experimenting, learning, and building businesses wherever she could:

"It's funny because I feel like all of my little businesses were the preparation to launch... Kitsch... Every business that I launched, it was, I was just fearless with it. 'Oh, I think I'll start a jewelry company. Oh, I think I'll start a spray tan business. Oh, I'll clean people's houses. I'll do this.' And it was just like I was doing all these different types of, um, you know, odd jobs, and I was making money doing it. None of it was very thought out or planned or whatever. It was just of the moment."

When she finally decided to start Kitsch, she relied on her savings, resourcefulness, and experience from private label manufacturing:

"But yeah, at 25 I was like, 'Okay, I saved up $30,000. I am so rich.' I really thought that it was just, you know, I would be fine for years. And, um, so I, I started Kitsch out of my apartment... I started doing private label jewelry manufacturing with the intention to start a brand... Then I would take the money that I would make from that, and I would invest it into Kitsch."

Rather than waiting for customers to come to her, Cassandra personally took her products into stores and built relationships one conversation at a time:

"And then I'm making, like, 100 of these hair ties, and I'd get in my car, and I'd drive down Ventura Boulevard in Los Angeles, and I'd be going into boutiques and hair salons and doing door-to-door sales. And so it was a really fun time in my life. Sometimes I'd be getting more, uh, parking tickets than I would get... in purchase orders for my... the hair accessory piece of the business. But the nice part was is I, I could hand-make it. I didn't have to hold inventory."

One customer insight completely changed how she viewed the future of Kitsch:

"Sometimes they would say, 'I love these hair ties. They're so much better for my hair.' And that was an adjacent comment to me that really sparked this idea of, 'Wait a second. We've all been talking about shampoo and conditioner as the most important thing for a healthy haircare routine? What about the pillowcase you sleep on, the hair towel you use, the shower cap, your spa, how you wash your hair? How do you wear your hair when you run at the gym? Like, this is all haircare.'"

One of the biggest lessons she's learned is that leadership starts with self-awareness and communication:

"He's really helped me with feedback. Learning how to give proper feedback... and how to receive feedback. And most of the time when you have issues with giving feedback or receiving feedback... it's usually because you don't wanna hurt someone's feelings or you, you know, like, you're afraid that they won't like you... you have to do that inner work, otherwise you can't get to that place of being really clear with your team."

After more than a decade of building Kitsch, Cassandra's biggest business secret is defining success on your own terms:

"I think you have to be really clear what success means. Because if you're not clear on what success means to you, you're going to constantly be chasing some abstract idea and be very unsatisfied. And for me, I was n- when I started Kitsch, I wasn't chasing fame or fortune, and I genuinely loved what I did every single day. Still today, I genuinely love what I do. I will do it for the next 50 years if, you know, um, given the opportunity to."

You may also like:

• How to Get Funding for a Business as a Woman Entrepreneur Before Profitability 
• Using Customer Feedback To Fuel Product Innovation with Jordan Engelhardt 
• The Leadership Playbook: 6 Steps to Coaching Yourself to the Next Level 

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Connect with Cassandra:

• Instagram: Cassandra Thurswell (@cassandrathurswell)‍
• LinkedIn: Cassandra Thurswell - CEO & Founder at Kitsch

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Updated on: June 1, 2026