Jun 6, 2020
Travel Gluten Free Podcast
S04 Episode 16
Makeena App with Karen Frame
In this episode, we get into the development of Karen Frame’s Makeena app, the only app that offers rebates online for gluten-free and specialty diet foods! “Makeena is a free, easy to use loyalty app that earns you cashback and rewards after you purchase healthy & eco-friendly products at any retailer.”
How Makeena Started
Karen’s dad was a science professor at the University of Illinois. Through her dad, she learned science, mathematics, social studies, and English on a device that was a touchscreen back in the ’60s and ’70s.
After she married, she and her husband went to a small natural foods and products store in Urbana, Illinois, called Strawberry Fields. “ Their team was helpful and would always point you in the right direction.” Moving to Boulder in 1993, Karen and her husband shopped at Alfalfa’s and Wild Oats. These were much bigger stores compared to their old hometown store, Strawberry Fields. That was the “aha” moment where she realized she should build touchscreen kiosk systems that allow the consumer to navigate the retail environment.
Karen tells the story of how her journey culminated in blazing the path of the Makeena app. “I felt like I had all these different roads, and they all led to Makeena. It was an intersection of what I should be doing. I am really passionate about the idea that if we could make better-for-you products more affordable and accessible for everyone anywhere they need to shop, then we’re going to have a cleaner planet and a healthier population. This is the bigger vision that I have as the founder. That’s what keeps me going because it is tough to be a founder.”
How Karen Decided on a Name for Makeena
“Keena” means ‘happiness’ in Swahili, ‘‘abundance’ in Hawaiin and ‘machine’ in Arabic. The name was also available as a website and was available for national trademark. She likes that her platform gives brands a “stamp of approval for curation.” Because Makeena stands for ‘happiness’, she wants to make sure that both the shopper and the brand are happy. Karen also wants to make the world “a cleaner place” and that there is abundance for everybody - for consumers and brands. Technology comes in on the app side of her business, making this information available through her app on the world wide web.
Guest Bio
Karen is passionate about being an entrepreneur and making the world a better place. She firmly believes that building a technology company in the natural products space will encourage people to shop healthier because Makeena will make it easy for them to make smarter choices. Karen became an entrepreneur in the early 1990s when she moved to Boulder, Colorado, and built and operated two interactive touchscreen kiosk companies, one for the real estate industry and one for the natural products industry.
Since then, Karen has been general counsel for several emerging growth and publicly-held software and data analytics companies. Karen earned her degree in accounting and business from Indiana University and a CPA and a law degree from the University of Illinois. She also attended Oxford University, focusing on international business transactions, and taught Principles of Business for Entrepreneurs in the Cross Campus Entrepreneurship Certificate Program at the University of Colorado.
Special Offer from Makeena!
Earn a $4 bonus after getting your first brand-ed product purchase approved using Makeena's cash back and rewards app. Use Code paxpdn
Links and Resources Mentioned
Grab the Guide to Traveling Gluten Free
Get the BEST all-natural gluten-free travel cosmetics at Lemongrass Spa!
Visit my Travel Deals page on my website
Support Travel Gluten Free on Patreon
Connect with KaPop!
Download Makeena on Apple
Download Makeena on Google Play
Makeena on Instagram
Visit Makeena On the Web
Find Makeena on Twitter
Watch Makeena on YouTube
Connect with Makeena on Facebook
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