It started with a midnight epiphany. After 27 years in the fashion magazine world, Larissa Thomson found herself shopping online for clean beauty products and hitting a wall. That's when lightning struck.

Join Bora Celik as he chats with Larissa Thomson, Founder/CEO of ONDA.

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"I had this lightning bolt moment that really came in a nanosecond," Larissa tells me. "I knew what I wanted it to look like, feel like, smell like, sound like. It was strange. I mean, it was a little bit odd and I didn't have any doubts. I felt like it was really needed."

The vision that downloaded into her consciousness that night was ONDA Beauty—a physical space where people could shop for vetted, safe personal care products in an environment designed to engage all the senses.

Following Her Gut

The morning after her revelation, Larissa told her husband, "I really want to do this. I feel like I'm supposed to do this," and immediately started working on it. What's remarkable is that she never wavered from her initial vision, even when faced with skepticism.

"In the beginning a lot of people said to me, 'brick and mortar is dead. This was 2015. What are you crazy? What if it doesn't work?' And I didn't care. I really didn't care," she recalls.

When I asked what gave her such unwavering confidence, Larissa credits her intuition: "I'm a really intuitive person. It doesn't mean I'm always right, but I tend to be more of a feeler than a thinker when I'm making decisions, and I follow my gut a lot."

Building From Scratch

Larissa didn't try to do everything herself. She reached out to her community for help with aspects outside her expertise—creating a pitch deck, running financials, and digital strategy.

"I really believe that especially if you're an entrepreneur and you're going to start something, you have to understand and recognize what your strong points are and what your weak points are," she explains. "I never have a problem asking people for help and I'm always so happy to offer anything I have to other people."

Initially, investors were hesitant. They loved the concept but wanted hard proof. So Larissa and her first partner launched ONDA online in December 2016 using Larissa's own money. They worked out of her partner's apartment, shipped products themselves, and held pop-ups at friends' homes, restaurants, and offices.

"We wound up creating a community through our online audience and through our physical pop-ups before we even opened our first store," she says. "I don't think I realized that was happening. We were just trying to have a business that was flowing."

Following Her Instincts

When it came time to open their first physical store, Larissa chose Tribeca—not because of foot traffic data or real estate values, but because it was her community.

"Tribeca for me is a small town. I can't walk one block without bumping into somebody I know," she says.

Less than a year later, they opened a second location in Sag Harbor. The decision came from observing that their Tribeca customers all migrated to the Hamptons during summer. But Larissa was particular about the location.

"I felt really strongly I wanted to be in Sag Harbor because East Hampton is kind of crazy," she explains. "Sag Harbor is the only one in my opinion that still holds onto some integrity. It's an old fishing town or whaling town. You can still see the water from town."

The Curator's Eye

With her background as a fashion editor, Larissa brings a sharp curatorial eye to ONDA's product selection. She personally tests everything that hits the shelves.

"The process for me starts with the outside. It shows up and I look at the packaging," she explains. "The next level is, let's open it up. What is the experience of opening this product? And also the eco factor of it, like how much packaging? Is it recycled?"

After examining the packaging, she evaluates the scent, texture, and effectiveness. "I don't ever take on a whole line unless I'm in love with it," she says. "I cherry pick because I don't want to be forced into taking these three things because I have to because I like these two things."

This selective approach extends to maintaining balance in the store's inventory: "I don't want 10 different vitamin Cs. I want three really good ones that maybe do slightly different things."

Growth and Future Challenges

Today, Larissa faces two main challenges: maintaining ONDA's integrity while expanding, and connecting with younger customers authentically.

"As I know from prior days, we had five stores at one point and five shops globally. I can only be in so many places," she notes. "The challenge is, how do we really keep that personal connection, that integrity, that incredible staff communication that we have with our community?"

For the future, she's exploring ONDA collaborations with hotels and developing her own line of body products. "I'm not interested in rolling out a giant line, at least not to start," she says. "I'm focusing more on body because I think there's still room to grow there."

Throughout our conversation, Larissa returns to the importance of following intuition and maintaining authenticity—the very qualities that sparked ONDA's creation in that midnight moment seven years ago.

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