# Mrs. Meyer's Clean Day: Monica Nassif

- Show: [How I Built This](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this)
- Published: 2025-02-17
- Length: 1h 21m
- Page: https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2025-02-17-mrs-meyers-clean-day-monica-nassif

## Summary

Monica Nassif, founder of Caldria and Mrs. Meyer's Clean Day, explains how she launched an upscale cleaning brand before 'knocking herself off' to create a mass-market competitor, Mrs. Meyer's, to secure her place in big-box retailers like Target. She details the painful process of raising capital, the strategic decision to name the brand after her mother Thelma Meyer, and the eventual acquisition by S.C. Johnson. Nassif also discusses her failed attempt to start a luxury sleepwear company, Sophia Graden, and her lessons on when to stop building.

## Chapters

- [0:00](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2025-02-17-mrs-meyers-clean-day-monica-nassif#t=0) Introduction: Monica Nassif and the Mrs. Meyer's Story
- [4:28](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2025-02-17-mrs-meyers-clean-day-monica-nassif#t=268) Early Life, Nursing, and Corporate Communications at Target
- [13:50](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2025-02-17-mrs-meyers-clean-day-monica-nassif#t=830) Personal Tragedy and the Failure of the Licori Watch Company
- [23:55](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2025-02-17-mrs-meyers-clean-day-monica-nassif#t=1435) Launching Caldria: Upscale Cleaning and White Labeling with William Sonoma
- [48:49](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2025-02-17-mrs-meyers-clean-day-monica-nassif#t=2929) Creating Mrs. Meyer's: Knocking Off Herself for Mass Market
- [56:18](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2025-02-17-mrs-meyers-clean-day-monica-nassif#t=3378) Retail Strategy: Whole Foods, Target, and the QVC Disaster
- [1:07:41](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2025-02-17-mrs-meyers-clean-day-monica-nassif#t=4061) Acquisition by S.C. Johnson and the Sophia Graden Failure

## Topics

- [Starting a product company](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/starting-a-company)
- [Pricing, margins & unit economics](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/pricing-and-unit-economics)
- [Retail, wholesale & distribution](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/retail-and-distribution)
- [Growth, exits & acquisitions](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/growth-exits-and-acquisitions)
- [Marketing & brand](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/marketing-and-brand)
- [Fundraising & investors](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/fundraising)

## Most relevant to

early-stage companies, companies scaling up, large enterprises

## Mentioned

- Mrs. Meyer's Clean Day (product)
- Caldria (product)
- S.C. Johnson (company)
- William Sonoma (company)
- Whole Foods (company)
- Target (company)
- QVC (company)
- Restoration Hardware (company)
- Method (product)
- Aveda (product)
- Boomerang (company)
- Sophia Graden (product)
- Licori (product)
- Dayton Hudson (company)
- Medtronic (company)
- Rainforest Cafe (company)
- Proctor and Gamble (company)
- 7th Generation (product)
- Burt's Bees (product)
- U.S. Bank (company)

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- [Founder Feature: Suzannah Raff of Cleo+Coco](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-startup-cpg-podcast/2025-10-31-founder-feature-suzannah-raff-of-cleo-coco) (The Startup CPG Podcast)
- [Founder Feature: Lindsay Hancock of My Better Batch](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-startup-cpg-podcast/2024-11-29-founder-feature-lindsay-hancock-of-my-better-batch) (The Startup CPG Podcast)
- [From turning down Shark Tank offers to raising $2.7 million for Nopalera with Sandra Velasquez (2023)](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-startup-cpg-podcast/2023-10-17-from-turning-down-shark-tank-offers-to-raising-2-7-million-for-nopalera-with-san) (The Startup CPG Podcast)
- [Founder Feature: Veena Krishnan and Whitney McElwain of Daybird](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-startup-cpg-podcast/2024-08-10-founder-feature-veena-krishnan-and-whitney-mcelwain-of-daybird) (The Startup CPG Podcast)

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