How Do Queer Founders Build Brands That Last? | #26

When every other brand raised prices and chased scale, Ingrid Nilsen and Erica Anderson did the opposite. They listened to their community and lowered theirs. That's not a marketing strategy. That's a values decision, and it changed everything.

Ingrid Nilsen and Erica Anderson are back. Co-founders of New Savant, a Brooklyn-born fragrance brand known for its deeply personal, story-driven scents, they joined Ask for an Answer in Season One, and the response was so strong they're back for Pride 2026 with a full-year update. This episode is an honest conversation about what building a real business actually looks like.

Since their last conversation, a lot has shifted at New Savant. They brought on angel investors, overhauled their manufacturing and fulfillment, and made the counterintuitive call to lower their prices after finding new operational efficiencies. They're in the middle of a complete repackaging: new vessel, new mist bottle, new cohesion across the product line. And through all of it, they've stayed focused on the one thing they won't outsource: the soul behind the scent.

One of the most honest stretches of this conversation is about the pressure points inside a co-founder relationship. Ingrid and Erica talk openly about a significant setback right before the holiday season, a missed detail that derailed a collaboration they'd both been counting on. What could have become a blame spiral didn't, because they've both put serious work into emotional maturity and communication. Their "annual fight in the woods" ritual, spontaneous walks in nature where the real conversations happen, is one of the most quietly wise leadership frameworks you'll hear on this show.

Jim and Ingrid and Erica also dig into the new American dream for small business founders, the anti-commodification movement driving consumers toward indie brands, and why authenticity isn't just a brand value. It's a survival strategy in 2026. The episode closes on Pride, with each of them sharing one word that captures what this season means: fun, risk and courage, and resilience.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

1. How listening to customer data, not just requests, can lead to a pricing decision that builds more loyalty than any campaign.
2. Why co-founders who invest in their personal relationship first tend to make better business decisions under pressure.
3. How to use AI tools for complex operational work while protecting the creative core of your brand from automation.
4. What "brand flywheel" thinking looks like for an early-stage CPG company navigating e-commerce and growing retail presence.
5. Why the founders who survive long enough to matter are the ones who can separate disappointment in a situation from disappointment in a person.
6. How walking side by side, literally outside, can lower the emotional stakes of a hard conversation between co-founders.
7. What the transition from hand-produced to outsourced manufacturing actually costs a founder emotionally, and how to stay connected to your brand's origin story through it.
8. Why 600 customers who've bought 11 or more times are worth more strategic attention than any new customer acquisition campaign.
9. How to evaluate a packaging change using both financial data and community feedback without compromising your brand identity.
10. What queer-founded brands have in common with the Gen Z creators currently outperforming legacy studios, and why authenticity is the through-line.

00:00 Introduction: Pride 2026 & Returning Guests

01:30 New Savant Update: What's Changed in a Year

04:00 The Decision to Lower Prices (And Why It Worked)

07:00 Angel Investors, Capital, and the CPG Flywheel

09:30 Ingrid Goes to Perfumery School in Paris

13:00 Building Scent From Scratch: Molecules, Memory & Story

17:00 The New Vessel: How Customer Feedback Drove a Hard Decision

24:30 Storytelling as Brand Strategy for an Indie Founder

28:00 The Real Work of a Co-Founder Relationship

33:30 The "Annual Fight in the Woods" and Conflict With Grace

39:00 Loyalty, Community Building, and the 600 Repeat Customers

42:30 The New American Dream: Building a Business on Your Own Terms

45:00 What Makes a Scent Soulful vs. Commodified

49:00 Anti-Commodification and the Return of Authentic Indie Brands

51:00 Pride 2026: Fun, Risk, Courage, and Resilience

54:30 Closing: What's Coming Next for New Savant

Meet Ingrid Nilsen and Erica Anderson

Ingrid Nilsen is a creator, community builder, and co-founder with a background in digital storytelling and a newly minted certificate from Givaudan's perfumery school in Paris.

Erica Anderson is a CPG operator, startup builder, and co-founder with deep experience in brand strategy and business scaling. Together, they run New Savant, an independent fragrance brand built around queer identity, personal story, and uncommonly differentiated scent.

✨ Connect with Ingrid and Erica

• Website: newsavant.com
• 💼Instagram: @newsavant
• 💼Ingrid Nilsen: @ingridnilsen

✨ Follow Jim Fielding & Ask For An Answer:

• Website: hijimfielding.com
• 💼 Instagram: https://instagram.com/hijimfielding/
• 🌐 Podcast: Ask For An Answer, available on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify

Subscribe to Ask for an Answer on your platform of choice, and leave a review if you want more of this kind of honest, unscripted conversation.

#LeadershipPodcast #QueerFounders #IndieFounder #SmallBusinessLeadership #Pride2026

YouTube Tags: queer founders podcast · indie brand building · CPG startup leadership · co-founder relationship advice · Pride 2026 business · authentic brand storytelling · small business leadership · Ingrid Nilsen podcast · Ask for an Answer podcast · fragrance brand founders

Apple Podcasts / Spotify Keywords: queer entrepreneurship, indie CPG brand, co-founder dynamics, small business leadership, community-driven brand, fragrance startup, Pride 2026, authentic leadership, loyal customer community, Ask for an Answer Jim Fielding