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The Startup CPG Podcast

Founder Feature: Suzannah Raff of Cleo+Coco

The Startup CPG Podcast

Startup CPG

Startup, Food, Business, Beverage, Cpg, Entrepreneurship

4.9 • 642 Ratings

🗓️ 31 October 2025

⏱️ 30 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In this episode of the Startup CPG Podcast, Editor Caitlin Bricker sits down with Suzannah Raff, the founder of Cleo+Coco, a clean personal care brand that's thinking about what it means to be truly "natural." 


Suzannah shares her journey from frustrated deodorant shopper to launching a brand that prioritizes ingredient efficacy, transparency, and eliminating synthetic fragrances—often overlooked but potentially harmful components in personal care products.


Suzannah opens up about the early days of building Cleo+Coco, her unique background in business strategy, and how she created a super-effective formula that leverages ingredients like charcoal, magnesium, and pre/probiotics to balance the skin microbiome. She also details how joining the Startup CPG community and showcasing at Expo West helped lead to a major national rollout in Whole Foods Market with nine SKUs.


Plus, hear how Cleo+Coco’s innovative magnesium spray is filling a white space in wellness, and why Suzannah believes we're on the cusp of a consumer awakening 

around synthetic fragrances.


Want to learn how to build a purpose-driven CPG brand and land national retail distribution the clean way? Tune in now!

Listen in as they share about:

  • Cleo+Coco Overview
  • Brand Philosophy & Vision
  • Product Innovation & Formulation
  • Retail & Growth Journey
  • Marketing & Branding
  • Industry Challenges
  • Startup Lessons & Founder Advice

Episode Links:

Website: https://cleoandcoco.com/ 

Instagram: @cleoandcoconatural

Don't forget to leave a five-star review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify if you enjoyed this episode. For potential sponsorship opportunities or to join the Startup CPG community, visit http://www.startupcpg.com.




Show Links:

  • Transcripts of each episode are available on the Transistor platform that hosts our podcast here (click on the episode and toggle to “Transcript” at the top)
  • Join the Startup CPG Slack community (20K+ members and growing!)
  • Follow @startupcpg
  • Visit host Caitlin's Linkedin 
  • Questions or comments about the episode? Email Daniel at podcast@startupcpg.com
  • Episode music by Super Fantastics

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

I was just very frustrated with what was out there because I didn't want to wear the perfume disguised as deodorant under my arms, and it's just nothing working.

0:19.2

And I kind of took a look, and I actually have a background in business.

0:22.3

I have a master's in business and I worked in strategy and consulting for many years.

0:26.4

And I kind of just strategically looked at the category and I said, so many people are really,

0:32.4

really want a natural deodorant and that's why they're doing so well.

0:36.7

But nobody's getting it right.

0:38.1

Imagine if we get it right. Imagine if we really put ingredients first and we make super formula

0:45.3

that is truly, truly effective for everybody. And we leave out the perfume. We leave out the

0:50.5

synthetic fragrance. I knew I could make some things that smell's incredible because I knew I had a good nose.

0:56.3

And so I really just jumped in.

0:58.0

I do not come from a CPG background, but five years in, I hope I'm a CPG expert by now.

1:05.8

Hey, everybody.

1:07.0

This is Caitlin Brooker, editor at Startup CPG.

1:09.9

We are back with another founder feature.

1:12.2

Ever wonder what deodorant would be like if someone actually figured out the formula

1:15.9

instead of just slapping perfume into a stick? Today we're talking with Susanna Raff,

1:20.8

founder of Cleo and Coco, a clean personal care brand that eliminates synthetic fragrance entirely.

1:26.8

After getting frustrated with natural

1:28.5

deodorants that didn't work, Susanna spent two years developing a super formula that actually

1:33.7

keeps you fresh all day. She went from working in complete isolation as a first-hand founder

1:38.5

to landing a nine skew nationwide Whole Foods launch. As someone who had a fragrance-free

1:43.6

wedding and used to be a

...

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