Who knew that the coolest voice on the internet would belong to a cheeky, well rested lamb?

Persephone—the sassy, we-won’t-say-make-believe mascot behind Vancouver’s Sleep or Die—has quickly become a cult favourite for her relatable tone and sly quick quips.  

Behind the lamb is brand founder Lauren Sudeyko, a seasoned marketer who cut her teeth at companies like Google and PepsiCo. She’s also the founder of Seray, an ethical sleepwear brand that she closed down in order to focus on Sleep or Die. The cherry-red brand launched at the end of January with just one product: sleep tape. Said to improve your quality of sleep because it forces you to breathe through your nose instead of your mouth, sleep tape is one of sleep hygiene’s fastest-growing hacks. Here, Sudeyko dishes on the start of the brand, the creation of Persephone, and so much more. The moral of this story? You snooze, you win.

Why sleep tape? What brought you here?

I’ve struggled with sleep my whole life, and I’ve had loved ones struggle with sleep, and I’ve really seen how people can truly become zombies around you when they haven’t had a good night’s sleep. I picture it as a video game where you get the superpower, and that’s our modern-day superpower: being able to get a good night’s sleep. Sleep tape was something that I tried a few years ago. I started using Hostage Tape, which is a big US brand; they partnered with UFC and are super beard-focused and man-focused. My partner bought it and then I started using it, and I really, really liked it, but it struggled to stay on with my skincare. So I started buying a few other brands, but none of them would stay on with my skincare, so I found I was either mouth taping and doing no skincare, or not using the mouth tape and doing my skincare before bed. I started experimenting and looking into what was on the market, and I realized most of them were also polyester-based or nylon-based. So I developed one that was skincare first and cotton-based, so that it’s also better for sensitive skin, and you can still do your whole skincare regimen.

A great book is called Breath by James Nestor; he really goes into why nose breathing is so important. It filters the oxygen, relaxing your body. It’s also better for your oral health, because it prevents cavities when you have your mouth closed all night instead of open and drying out. So for all those reasons, I was like, “This is a product I love. I think there’s some white space to really improve it.” And from a personal level, I was like, “There’s so much to do on the creative and branding side to really reposition how the world looks at sleep.” 

The brand identity is very fun, very cheeky. How did you develop that?

I literally took a sheet of paper one day, this was over a year ago, and I was like, “What would a brand look like if it played really differently within sleep?” Sleep or Die was born on that page. I kept going back to, “If you don’t sleep enough, you’re gonna die younger.” It just felt so clear to me. It was developed in a lot of ways to be the opposite of what the sleep industry looks like today: it’s very lavender and navy blue, and it’s soft, wispy tones. 

I was like, “Okay, how can we do this in a really fun, creative brand way and truly just do the opposite?” The colour was immediately red, the name was so clear from the beginning, and then within the deeper architecture, I wanted to have a leader of the brand, like a Duolingo vibe, which is where Persephone was born. I remember coming up with her name: Persephone in Greek mythology is the Goddess of the Underworld. I called her “the sheep you’ll never have to count” and I created this personality around her that was so fun, because it allowed me to take some creative risk, because she’s not…she’s real. It’s like Santa Claus: I won’t ever say she’s not real.

She’s a very sassy, almost conceited, well slept baby lamb. And that really allowed me to take things to a whole other level. People order the stickers of her all the time now, and not something that I ever thought would happen, but people feel that affinity to her, which is such a special part of it.

How do you strike that balance between being a fun brand but also educating people about your product?

There’s no doubt about it, it’s been a challenge to strike that balance. But what I have really found works is keeping it so simple. If there’s something I can take out, I will take it out.

Brands sometimes also feel so nonhuman, so robotic, so explanatory. I always want the voice to be as if a friend is telling you about it. Like when you text a friend, “Yo, u need this.”

You have such a fun approach to brands and business. How do you keep that mindset when so many other founders take themselves so seriously? 

When I was younger, I watched a Steve Jobs commencement speech and he said, “You have to remember: you’re gonna die one day.” The irony of that now being in the brand name is crazy to me! But “remember, you’re gonna die” really keeps me doing cool stuff. At the end of the day, I’ve got to enjoy this. And if I don’t enjoy it, if I’m not laughing at the stuff we’re making, then what’s the point of it?

What brought you to Pavilion Beatty?

I was working out of a warehouse previously in Vancouver with three other small businesses, and we were all going our own directions. It was one of those moments of, “I don’t know where I will go next,” definitely that panicky feeling, because I knew I didn’t want to be at home.

Someone told me about Pavilion’s Residency, so I applied for it, really not knowing what would happen. Pavilion has such an amazing brand name and identity in Vancouver, and has huge, cool startups in it, so I wasn’t sure if I would fit the bill. But it worked out: we had the interview, and then moved in here in July. It’s been incredible to have my own office. Like, I would take the stool in the corner, so to be in my own office, to have meetings with people here, to have Anna being so incredible with people who have come in for meetings—it really elevated our presence and our opportunities, and feels like a whole new level of company.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.