The founder of olive oil brand Brightland’s first career in communications taught her an essential lesson for every CEO

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- Comms to CEO. Before starting an olive oil company, Aishwarya Iyer didn't have the typical startup founder resume. Rather than taking the leap after an MBA or consulting gig—or even as a college dropout—she started Brightland following a career in communications.

"I went through a lot of impostor syndrome—an inner critic," Iyer says now. "I was very much like, 'I'm not smart enough for this.' The people I know who are starting companies have fancy MBAs, they have worked in consulting or banking. I used to wonder, how can my comms background serve me as a CEO?"

Over the past six years expanding Brightland from a Los Angeles-based brand selling two types of olive oil to a premium pantry staples business carrying about 10 different olive oils plus vinegars and honey, Iyer has answered that question.

During her career in public relations and communications for brands including Lancôme and the tech and media business Whisper, Iyer "got comfortable with discomfort, the gray, and the unknown." "I got used to two truths being true at the same time—you can have an amazing story you're pitching, and it can be true that the timing is off," she says. "I see that all the time as CEO—that I hold two things to be true."

Today, Brightland sells its $40 olive oils to a core customer base of 30-to-60-year-old women, a customer who loves wine, reading, and gardening and is looking for an easy way to liven up dinners. Alongside the brand Graza, it's part of a new generation of Instagram-friendly olive oils. As CEO, Iyer leads 15 employees and navigates relationships with California's olive growers.

After working at venture-backed businesses, Iyer didn't want to launch Brightland as a venture-backed startup in 2018 and instead put $30,000 of her own savings into the company. (She raised $6.83 million in venture funding for the first time in 2022.) And she credits her comms career for making it through the ups and downs of growing that business. "From a mental strength and fortitude perspective, comms was incredibly effective preparation," she says.

Emma Hinchliffe
emma.hinchliffe@fortune.com

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