In an episode of I Want Her Shoes, host Anna Anisin talks with entrepreneur and investor Divya Gugnani about building brands from personal experience, evaluating business opportunities, and how work and style intersect.
Gugnani describes a career that began in Springfield, Illinois, and developed through New York, Menlo Park, and Boston. After years in finance and venture work, she relocated to Miami during the pandemic.
โThe moment I land in Miami… the stress of New York melts off my body pretty much instantlyโ she says. The move, she says, provided a practical environment for both work and family.
Solving Personal Problems as a Business Model
Her approach to entrepreneurship is consistent: identify problems that are personal and solve them directly. โI see problems that are very personal to my life, and I solve them in my unique wayโ she says.
With Wander Beauty, the idea came from daily routines that demanded simplicity and portability.
โSo many women were living their lives in motion and they needed fuss-free, foolproof, do-it-yourself skincare and makeup essentials that they could take wherever they wanderโ she says. Five Sense, her fragrance brand, grew from her own experience of wearing perfume from an early age and later facing health restrictions. โFragrance became my DNA, my form of expressionโ she comments.
Becoming an โAccidental Entrepreneurโ
โI never thought I would be an entrepreneurโ she says. Her first venture came from a collaborative project that turned into a business and was later sold. โWhen you taste a little bit of success, you just keep goingโ she adds.
Selling a company, she explains, brings mixed feelings. โItโs incredibly bittersweetโ she says. โYou feel validation… relief… and a little bit of grief.โ
She prefers the building phase but recognizes the operational challenges of scaling.
Style and Work as the Same Practice
Gagnaniโs personal style aligns with how she builds brands: simple, practical, and repeatable.
โMy style and image mirrors my actual life… Thereโs nothing fussyโ. She identifies one โpower pieceโ that she wears often – her Valentino shoes. For her, clothing and beauty products serve the same purpose โ they must fit multiple roles in daily life.
Investing with a Framework
Gagnani outlines a straightforward method for evaluating businesses.
- Early stage – People, idea, opportunity
- Later stage – People, product or service, and distribution
She notes a recurring pattern among strong founders.
โSome of my best founders… are athletes… team players… leaders… and coachableโ she shares.
Before advising any founder, she applies what she calls the โNew York to Tokyo test.โ
โDo I want to sit on a plane from New York to Tokyo with this person?โ
Blending Work and Family
Her work and personal life overlap, though she reserves focused time for each child.
โMy life is entirely blended… I do try and compartmentalize time with my family.โ She refers to family travel as โtripsโ rather than vacations, acknowledging that work continues wherever she is.
Gagnaniโs message to new founders is direct.
โNike said it best. Just do itโ she says. She recommends breaking complex goals into smaller steps. โBreak it down to a series of lots smaller problems and tasks and then just start solving them.โ
She views adaptability as essential. โThe only constant is changeโ she concludes.
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