What do I do? I've retired to the farm! Growing organic lavender and trying to run our business with integrity.

My motto: Live responsibly, respect others, respect the environment.

The talent I wish I had: I wish I were better at knowing how to have fun. Playing piano by ear would be nice, too.

My best leadership advice: Keep your ego in check.

The reason I get up in the morning: Waldo, our dog, insists on breakfast at 6:00 a.m.

Nancy Boy sprouted to life in a San Francisco lavender garden. Its owners spent their days as executives in advertising and finance but always dreamed of starting their own gig. While toiling for the man, they learned how good companies prospered and bad ones self-destructed. Jack became a community development banker, then grew wary of corporate self-interest. Eric worked at big agencies on international assignments including Levi's, L'Oreal, Clorox and Estee Lauder and discovered that high-end beauty brands spend 95% on marketing and pennies on the the actual product. Why, they wondered, had no one ever done the opposite? Why not spend all the marketing money on the products to make them more effective than even the most expensive brands?

That was the risky, heretical idea that fueled Nancy Boy. The brand never advertised. What would otherwise be spent on marketing and fancy packaging was redeployed into hyper-premium product ingredients, including natural essential plant oils. Early users noticed the difference and recommended the brand which grew only by word-of-mouth and through product donations to worthy causes. That was more than 14 years ago, when Nancy Boy launched in 2001 with 5 products. Today Nancy Boy sells 100 products across an array of consumer categories, including personal care, home cleaning and organic beverages, to customers on every continent. Find Nancy Boy’s products on the KFLA Marketplace>>