Hi everyone, I'm Hilary Kerr, the co-founder and chief contact officer of Who What Wear,

and this is Second Life, a podcast spotlighting women who have truly inspiring careers.

We're talking about their work journeys, what they've learned from the process of setting

aside their doubts or fears, and what happens when they embark on their second life.

Today, I'm speaking with the founder and CEO of Ceremonia, Baba Rivera.

In 2020, Baba created Ceremonia, which is a line of clean haircare products that are rooted in Latinx heritage.

The initial launch included a single product, a scalp oil, inspired by personal childhood rituals,

and her father's early career as a hairdresser in Chile.

Since then, Ceremonia has grown to include 20 products and opened a brick-and-mortar store in New York City.

Within the last year, Ceremonia became the first Latinx founded haircare brand sold at Sephora,

and the product line can now be found in over 500 Sephora locations.

Baba also recently raised $10 million in a Series A round, making her one of only 58 Latinas

to raise over $1 million in VC funding.

But before she was building a haircare empire, Baba was actually spearheading marketing teams at unicorns like Uber and Away.

And in between her time working at startups and founding Ceremonia, she even created her own brand marketing agency called By Baba,

where she worked with clients like Glossier, Bumble, and Ritual.

Baba's story is beyond inspiring, but I'll let her tell you the rest herself.

Now, on Second Life, it's Baba Rivera.

Baba, thank you so much for doing this. I'm really, really excited.

I am so excited. This has been like a bucket list thing for me. I love your podcast.

Oh my gosh, that's so nice to hear. So let's just dive in.

We like to start at the beginning on this podcast.

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