#141: How to Ask for Help Without Apologizing
with Neeshi's Gita Vellanki
If you’ve ever wondered, “Is it too late for me to...” the answer’s NO—and The Uplifters is about to show you why. This space is for purpose-driven women who want to do big, brave things in the second half of their lives. I’m your host, Aransas Savas, and I’ve spent the last 20 years at the intersection of behavior change research and coaching.
This month, we’re spotlighting midlife female founders. We kicked off with Rachel Giordano talking about becoming a creator in midlife. Then, Tara Miko Ballentine shared what it takes to build mission-driven business Bright Littles. Last week, we talked to Bake Me Healthy Founder Kimberle Lau about how to keep going when progress feels slow. This week, you’ll meet Gita Vellanki, founder of Neeshi. Stay tuned for next week’s episode as we round out the year with the inspiring story of Celine McGee and The Compliment Squad. Welcome to the Uplifters!
Listen to this episode if...
You need permission to stop apologizing every time you ask for help
You’ve been wondering whether you’re ready to start something big in midlife
You’ve been waiting for all your skills to feel “relevant” before taking the leap
You’re building something that matters while everyone questions whether it’s worth it
You’re learning a completely new skill set and wondering if it’s even possible at this age
TMI or context? I hadn’t had a period in a month and a half. And then minutes before my call with Gita Vellanki, it started. Yay! Well, not really, but it did really make me appreciate what Gita is doing with her midlife courage capital.
Gita is the founder of Neeshi. Inspired by her daughter’s struggle with long and painful periods, she makes functional and delicious foods specifically for women navigating periods, perimenopause, and menopause.
Gita spent decades in high tech, working in M&A and global sales operations. She had the network, the business acumen, the strategic thinking. What she didn’t have was any background in consumer packaged goods. Or marketing. Or the food industry at all, really.
But she had something else: a mother’s refusal to accept that there weren’t better options for her daughter.
Gita saw herself in her daughter’s struggle. She’d lived through the exact same thing as a teenager, and wanted something better for her daughter. And when her own perimenopause hit hard, she went to her grandmother’s wisdom. Growing up, she’d watched her grandmother in rural India treat ailments with food first, often hiding medicine in something delicious. That belief in functional food became the foundation for Neeshi.
The changes started quietly. Gita’s hot flashes stopped. The night sweats that had kept her soaking through sheets disappeared. Her periods calmed down.
That kitchen table experiment became Neeshi. But turning a mother’s mission into an actual business? That meant learning an entirely new industry from scratch, at an age when most people assume you should already have all the answers.
Listen to this episode if...
You’ve been wondering whether you’re ready to start something big in midlife
You’ve been waiting for all your skills to feel “relevant” before taking the leap
You’re building something that matters while everyone questions whether it’s worth it
You’re learning a completely new skill set and wondering if it’s even possible at this age
You need permission to stop apologizing every time you ask for help
Gita’s Courage Practice
Gita’s most powerful courage practice doesn’t look particularly dramatic. She asks for help. Directly. Specifically. Without apologizing.
Early on, she’d reach out to someone and wait. No response? She’d assume that meant no. They weren’t interested. She was bothering them. Better to figure it out herself.
Then she heard another founder say something that shifted everything: “Don’t assume something’s a no because you haven’t heard back. People are just busy.”
That permission to follow up, to not read silence as rejection, changed how she built her business. She started reaching out again. She kept showing up. She learned that most of the time, that silence had nothing to do with her or her mission. People have full inboxes, overflowing calendars, and busy lives. Our needs are more important to us than they are to anyone else.
She also stopped caring quite so much about what people thought. A friend recently told her she seemed less stressed. Gita laughed: “Because I don’t care anymore. I’m going to ask. I’m not letting these things hold me back.”
This practice ripples through everything. It’s helped her find manufacturers, connect with retailers, build partnerships. Most importantly, it keeps her in motion even when the path forward isn’t clear.
Because the stress of not asking? Of holding back, of assuming the answer is no? That only hurts one person. Her. And her business. And ultimately, all the women who need what she’s creating.
Ways Gita Shows Us How to Build Our Courage Capital:
Use what you have, even when it feels irrelevant - Gita’s high-tech background didn’t directly translate to CPG. But her work ethic did. Her ability to build systems did. Instead of starting from zero, she inventoried what she actually had (even if it wasn’t what she thought she needed) and figured out how to make it count.
Get granular about your gaps - When Gita identified marketing as her weakness, she didn’t just wave her hands and declare herself “bad at it.” She got specific. What kind of marketing? Which platforms? What skills exactly? That specificity transformed an overwhelming obstacle into a series of learnable things. (Even if finding the right help took multiple tries.)
Pivot without judgment - When her chilled products weren’t working (shipping was a disaster, customers had mental blocks about eating “cake” daily), Gita didn’t dig in her heels. She listened and created the chocolate spread that became her hero product. Sometimes the thing you think you’re supposed to make isn’t the thing that will actually help people.
Lift Her Up
Visit Neeshi to try Gita’s products, and use discount code UPLIFTERS for 20% off your order. You can also find Neeshi on Amazon. And if you love what you try, leave a review. It’s one of the most powerful ways to support a small business, and it’s free.
If you loved this story...
Gita was nominated by Kimberle Lau, whose episode you heard last week about building Bake Me Healthy. Then explore our conversations with other midlife founders building mission-driven businesses: Konika Ray Wong’s episode about creating Girl Power Science, Kerry Brodie’s episode about founding Emma’s Torch to train refugees, and Taylor Scott’s episode about establishing RVA Community Fridges.
What skill feels impossibly out of reach right now? What would it look like to get really specific about just one gap you could start filling this week? Share in the comments. Your first step might be exactly what another founder needs to hear.