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Kara Goldin

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Kara Goldin
Born
Kara Ellen Keenan

1967 or 1968 (age 56–57)[1]
Minneapolis, Minnesota, US
Alma materArizona State University
OccupationBusinesswoman
Known forFounder and former CEO, Hint Water
SpouseTheo Goldin
Children4

Kara Ellen Goldin (nee Keenan; born 1967/68) is an American businesswoman. She is the founder and former CEO of Hint Water, a flavored water brand founded in 2005.[2][3][4]

Early life

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She was born Kara Ellen Keenan, a daughter of William and Kay Keenan of Tempe, Arizona.[5] Her father worked for Con-Agra, and then for Armour & Company in Phoenix, where he retired as the general manager for distribution, and her mother worked at a local department store.[5][6] She is the youngest of five children.[7] Goldin grew up in Scottsdale, Arizona, after moving there from Minneapolis when she was three years of age.[7]

Goldin majored in communications and minored in finance at Arizona State University, graduating in 1989.[8]

Career

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After graduating in 1989 from ASU, she moved to New York City, after accepting her first job out of college at Time Inc.[9] Goldin worked in circulation at Time Inc. for three years.[10] She started out as an executive assistant and worked her way up to managing the airline circulation for the Time Inc. publications.[7] She then moved on to work in advertising sales at CNN.[3]

Following her move to San Francisco, Goldin began working for a start-up called 2Market, a spin-out of Apple pursuing a computer-based shopping idea that Steve Jobs developed.[10] She was given the position of National Sales Manager for two years until the company was bought out by AOL.[10] Goldin then began working in e-commerce for AOL as the Vice President of Shopping and E-commerce Partnerships while her husband worked for Netscape.[11] In this position she grew AOL’s e-commerce and shopping business to about a billion dollars in revenue.[12] When AOL acquired Netscape in 2001, Kara decided to take a step back from this field of work and focus on raising her family.[12] After having three children, Goldin realized that she wanted to spend her time creating and living a healthy lifestyle.[13] She had trouble losing the additional baby weight and came to the realization that her main problem was that she was addicted to diet-sweetened beverages, which were reinforcing her craving for high-calorie sugary foods.[14]

Goldin then took this idea and launched Hint in 2005 in San Francisco [15] as a healthy alternative to the sugary, diet-sweetened drinks she had been consuming.[16] Hint Water is flavored solely with natural fruit.[17] In the 12 years since its creation, Hint Water has become an asset of the break rooms of some of Silicon Valley’s highest-profile companies, including Google, Facebook and LinkedIn.[3][18] Hint Fizz carbonated beverage was launched in 2011 and in 2017, Hint began to market sunscreen.[13][19]

Following her work and creation of Hint, Goldin wanted to share her experiences as an entrepreneur with the world. She created The Kara Network as a place for fellow entrepreneurs to reach out and tell their stories as well as provide some helpful insight to those who were interested in following a similar path.[3][20]

Kara’s first job was at age 14 working for a local toy store, Alphabet Toys in Scottsdale where after a few weeks, she was asked to help with buying for the entire store.[21] Kara credits this experience with launching her on the path to entrepreneurship.[citation needed]

Personal life

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Right before she began working with CNN, Goldin met her husband, Theo Goldin, who at the time was in law school at New York University.[22] They married in 1995 at the Wrigley Mansion in Phoenix, Arizona.[5]

They moved to San Francisco when Theo graduated and they were married shortly after.[22] They have four children together.[23]

Awards and recognition

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  • Fortune's Most Powerful Women Entrepreneurs (2011)[24]
  • Ernst & Young's Entrepreneurial Winning Women (2012)[25]
  • Gold Stevie Award Winner for Female Entrepreneur of the Year (2013)[26]
  • Forbes' 40 Women to Watch Over 40 (2013)[27][28]
  • EY Entrepreneur of the Year, Northern California (2017)[27]
  • Fast Company's'Most Creative People in Business (one of) (2017) [29]

References

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  1. ^ Armstrong, Natalie (7 June 2011). "Mother creates unsweetened solution to". Reuters. Retrieved 6 June 2018.
  2. ^ "How This Entrepreneur Turned Her Diet Coke Addiction Into a Company". Fortune. Retrieved 2018-01-17.
  3. ^ a b c d Zipkin, Nina (2017-08-03). "The Entrepreneur Behind a $90 Million Company Shares How You Can Get Past the Naysayers to Build a Successful Business". Entrepreneur. Retrieved 2018-01-17.
  4. ^ "Kara Goldin | Accompany". Accompany. 2017-01-11. Retrieved 2018-01-17.
  5. ^ a b c "WEDDINGS; Kara E. Keenan, Theodore Goldin". The New York Times. 19 March 1995. Retrieved 6 June 2018.
  6. ^ Olson, Elizabeth (28 May 2011). "Kara Goldin of Hint, Quenching a Thirst - The Boss". The New York Times. Retrieved 6 June 2018 – via NYTimes.com.
  7. ^ a b c Olson, Elizabeth (2011-05-28). "Kara Goldin of Hint, Quenching a Thirst - The Boss". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2018-01-17.
  8. ^ "ASU alumna changing the beverage game with 'Hint' water". ASU Now: Access, Excellence, Impact. 2017-11-20. Retrieved 2018-01-17.
  9. ^ "Listen to your gut — it could make you CEO one day". Fortune. Retrieved 2018-01-17.
  10. ^ a b c Simon, Dan. "Liquid Courage: Hint Water CEO Kara Goldin Takes On The World". Forbes. Retrieved 2018-01-17.
  11. ^ Wilson, Joanne (17 December 2012). "Kara Goldin, Hint, Woman Entrepreneur – Gotham Gal". gothamgal.com. Retrieved 6 June 2018.
  12. ^ a b Valley, Women of Silicon (2017-06-04). "7 Questions with Kara Goldin". Women of Silicon Valley. Retrieved 2018-01-17.
  13. ^ a b "How the founder of Hint Water says she proved naysayers wrong". ABC News. 2017-04-29. Retrieved 2018-01-17.
  14. ^ Galbraith, Sasha. "For A Hint On How To Be Healthy, Just Ask Kara Goldin". Forbes. Retrieved 2018-01-17.
  15. ^ Silver, Curtis. "How Hint Water Has Become The De Facto Official Drink Of Silicon Valley". Forbes. Retrieved 6 June 2018.
  16. ^ "Kara Goldin Hint Water". Haute Living. 2017-01-05. Retrieved 2018-01-17.
  17. ^ "Propylene glycol in the spotlight as Hint Water is targeted in 'all-natural' lawsuit with a new twist". foodnavigator-usa.com. Retrieved 2018-01-17.
  18. ^ "Hint Water CEO Kara Goldin on Being an "Accidental Entrepreneur"". 14 August 2017. Retrieved 6 June 2018.
  19. ^ Belanger, Lydia (3 May 2017). "Why One Founder Says It's Crucial to Question Assumptions and Constantly Improve". Retrieved 6 June 2018.
  20. ^ Goldin, Kara. "How One Entrepreneur Is Changing The Face Of Angel Investing". Forbes. Retrieved 2018-01-17.
  21. ^ "How She Got Whole Foods to Carry Her Product". www.bizjournals.com. Retrieved 2018-01-17.
  22. ^ a b "WEDDINGS; Kara E. Keenan, Theodore Goldin". The New York Times. 1995-03-19. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2018-01-17.
  23. ^ "Hint Water's Kara Goldin Is A Flavored-Water Magnate. Just Don't Call Her "Sweetie"". Fastcompany. 22 May 2014. Retrieved 6 May 2019.
  24. ^ "Hint CEO named one of Fortune's Most Powerful Women Entrepreneurs". Retrieved 2018-02-17.
  25. ^ "Kara Goldin Hint Water". Haute Living. 2017-01-05. Retrieved 2018-02-17.
  26. ^ Wickman, Andi (2016-09-12). "Connections: An Interview Series with Entrepreneurs". Huffington Post. Retrieved 2018-02-17.
  27. ^ a b Hammer, Carrie. "Kara Goldin Finds Sweet Success With Hint". Forbes. Retrieved 2018-02-17.
  28. ^ Sugar, Lisa (11 August 2017). "How hint Water Founder Kara Goldin Bottles Her Happiness". Retrieved 6 June 2018.
  29. ^ "Fast Company's Most Creative People". Retrieved 6 May 2019.
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