Best friends since college, Leah and Yasaman used their social media skills to pinpoint an opportunity in the food industry. Ever curious, they routinely tracked online trends, noticing that Gen Z girls were posting munching on pickles or making pickle-forward dishes. Despite limited resources and zero experience in food and beverage, the two 23-year-olds left their jobs, put their digital marketing talents to work, and set out to disrupt an established food segment that had been “sleepy” for years.
They founded Good Girl Snacks in summer 2023, and launched Hot Girl Pickles in February 2024. The pair redesigned the snack staple to appeal to their peers, and drew on their shared Middle Eastern upbringing (where pickles are a mainstay at most meals). Hot Girl Pickles are crunchy, organic, and available in two flavorful varieties: Original Dill with Turmeric and Honey Harissa. Their creative marketing continues to excite an engaged and loyal community, while eye-catching branding makes the jars stand out on the shelf. The duo hopes that their fearlessness and determination will inspire other young women to chart their own path.
Recently, we caught up with Leah and Yasaman to learn more about their journey and hear their advice for fellow entrepreneurs.
1. Why did you start Good Girl Snacks?
We have been best friends for 7 years, deeply bonded by our shared love of food. We always joked about starting a business together (as many best friends do), but nothing felt quite right until we started feeling extremely unfulfilled and started doomscrolling on social media at our regular corporate jobs.
Suddenly, we noticed every other video on TikTok was pickle-related. Girls were raving about them, making pickle-inspired recipes, and proudly declaring, “Hot girls eat pickles.” It felt like pickles were Gen Z’s avocados—what avocados were to millennials, pickles had become to our generation.
As lifelong pickle lovers, we realized the category was ripe for disruption. The shelf felt outdated, the options lacked flavor and personality, and no one was speaking directly to the moment. So we decided to change that.
We created our own pickles, infused with bold flavors from our Middle Eastern heritage and wrapped in fun, personality-packed branding. And just like that, Hot Girl Pickles was born.
Before we even launched the brand, we started building in public—knowing it had massive viral potential with Gen Z and millennial audiences. We were right. The response was immediate, and now we’re sprinting to keep up with the momentum.
2. What obstacles did you face along the way?
When we launched, there wasn’t a single organic pickle brand on the market—and only a handful were free of dyes, refined sugars, or artificial additives. From day one, we were committed to making Hot Girl Pickles with certified organic ingredients. That’s where things got tricky.
Organic pickling cucumbers are incredibly hard to source—especially when you’re a tiny, scrappy startup. We ran into a series of cucumber catastrophes (which we now lovingly refer to as Cucumber-Gate): one shipment got accidentally frozen, another was hit with a worm infestation… the list goes on.
But we pushed through. Despite the setbacks, we stayed committed to our vision and found a way to make the organic, better-for-you pickle we knew deserved a spot on the shelf.
3. What lessons do you have for other entrepreneurs?
One of the biggest lessons we’ve learned is to trust our gut. As two young women, new to the food industry and doing things a little differently—especially when it came to marketing and sales—we had plenty of people question our approach. But we stayed true to ourselves and our vision and ultimately found a community who resonated with what we were building.
That said, another critical lesson is knowing when to pivot. Founders tend to get attached to their ideas—but in this business, being able to adapt is everything. Whether it’s changing a strategy, reworking a product, or shifting a timeline, we’ve learned that flexibility is just as important as conviction.
At the end of the day, it’s about striking a balance between staying authentic and not letting your ego block your business from evolving.
4. What’s on the horizon for Good Girl Snacks?
We’re gearing up to launch bold new pickle flavors that haven’t been done before—adding to our current lineup of Original Dill with Turmeric, Honey Harissa, and Bread & Butter Chips sweetened with dates.
While our hero product is Hot Girl Pickles, our brand name is Good Girl Snacks for a reason. Our mission is to build a household snack brand that centers women’s needs—offering clean, better-for-you ingredients, unexpected flavor innovation, and fun, scroll-stopping packaging.
We’re just getting started.
5. How do you keep work/life balance? What drives/inspires you?
Being co-founders and best friends makes a huge difference—we’re able to lean on each other and keep perspective, even in the chaos of building a business. Work/life balance isn’t always perfect (especially in the early years), but we try to be intentional: when we’re working, we’re all in. When we’re not, we make space to fully unplug and be present with each other and the people we love.
Weekends are for recharging—long walks, trying new recipes, discovering restaurants, and just experiencing the real world again. And honestly, building something with your best friend makes it all feel more full. We get to share the highs, survive the lows, and celebrate every win together.
We’re deeply inspired by the women around us—the ones who give so much to everyone else and often forget to prioritize themselves. Good Girl Snacks is for them.
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