Cat Meyer, Founder & CEO Head South

Pianta began in 2018 in Francesca’s kitchen with her husband, Joanas Riccardi in their Brooklyn, NY home. They wanted to create nutritious, beautiful and vibrant food. What’s cool about their plant-based cheese is that it’s made with fermented & activated cashews, packed with enzymes, vitamins, adaptogenic herbs and live cultures.

Francesca shares their brand story, how they leveraged their career backgrounds (from culinary, cpg, to yoga), to launching Pianta in New York City. Such an inspiring story!

Combining Mike's background of working for leading publications to growing early-stage startups and Nick's background in BioChemical and Environmental Engineering to sustainability in real estate private equity, the two friends launched Blobs. Blobs is a candy company that evokes the best of childhood, while just happening to be better for you.

We talk about their strategy of early retail testing, collecting customer data, and the power of old school cold outreach. Mike shares the vision of building the next leading brand in candy (that happens to have cleaner ingredients) and Nick shares advice about their launch in Sprouts.

Come behind the scenes of Dripspoon - a mini loaf with drip. Founded by Crystal Hale who found her signature recipe seeking a creative outlet in her LA kitchen and came up with mini loaf that wasn’t loaded with sugary frosting. Crystal uses fresh flavors in her drips like salted tahini caramel, ube, lemon ricotta and thyme, to chocolate olive oil. Crystal launched her brand at Creative Communal curated market and sold out within the first couple of hours (so cool!). I worked with Crystal on her brand strategy and super proud of how she’s building the brand. She shares her strategies in this episode!

Hannah Bae, founder of Halmi is bringing real, good-for-you ingredients rooted in history and culture to market. Inspired by her Korean grandmother's recipe, Hannah created a brand of light sparkling beverages inspired by traditional Korean flavors. Beverages that aid digestion and delicious. Hannah shares how she launched her brand in New York City, brought her drink to market, landed inside some of our favorite retailers (like Big Night) and what she’s cooking up this year. Such an inspiring episode!

Rachel Krupa, Founder The Goods Mart & Krupa Consulting brings us behind the scenes of how she built a powerhouse PR agency and better-for-you convenience store in New York City.

She was recently featured on the TODAY Show talking about smart snacks along with having an incredible roster of clients improving the food ecosystem and wellness brands. Both of Rachel's brands each make their own impact.

On this episode, we talk about the story behind launching The Goods Mart and Krupa Consulting. Speaking to how her background in PR for food and wellness brands led to opening a shop. She shares about curating emerging food and beverage brands, the power of discovery, how the two brands work together, and trends in better-for-you cpg.

Personally I admire Rachel is a founder and stoked for you to listen to this episode!

What started as hosting pizza parties for friends, mother daughter team, Bianca Kenworthy & Martina Kenworthy, co-foundered La Rossi Pizza. We talk about the importance of local sourcing ingredients, product testing, social listening, and recipes rooted in heritage. With a background in hospitality pr and marketing, Bianca shares how they are differentiating themselves in the market, omnichannel marketing, and landing retail partnerships. Martina talks about her background of growing up in Italy, experience building food brands, and how she developed relationships with customers by hand delivering pizzas. Martina and Bianca bring us behind the brand and share lessons learned. This is a must listen!

Curious how to fundraise capital for your brand? Meet Annie Evans. She is the founder of Dream Ventures, a female-focused fund and incubator. Their mission is to connect female-owned businesses to awesome investors and land that dream deal you’ve always dreamed about. Annie and her team has worked with female founders for the past 2 years helping them raise $5 million+ and land deals with Amex, P&G, Sephora, and many more. On this episode, Annie generously brings us behind the scenes of fundraising, investing, and why this is so damn important for female founded brands. This is a must listen!

Aaron Luo, Co-Founder & CEO Mercado Famous is bringing Spanish charcuterie to the states. Mercado Famous encourages you to sit with friends over plates of jamon and glasses of vermouth and just talking, laughing, and slowing down (perfect holiday vibes). Aaron brings us behind the brand on how his Chinese heritage and upbringing in Spain brought him and his co-founder to launch Mercado Famous. We talk about entrepreneurship, the food industry, and culture.

Mayssa Chehata, Founder & CEO BEHAVE Candy has a sweet tooth. Growing up with a diabetic father, she grew up with no sweets and would binge sugar as an adult. Through her journey of wanting to find a low-sugar candy that would satisfy her sweet tooth and safe for her dad to enjoy, she create BEHAVE. Mayssa brings us behind the brand and shares how she partnered with world-renowned chefs and food scientists to develop her signature candy line (which is one of my personal favorites).

Fun fact! Behave is the only female-owned and led company in the candy industry, with 100% of leadership and R&D teams comprised of women.

Lana Van Brunt, Co-Founder Sackville & Co who create smoking accessories that look as good as they make you feel. Lana and her team disrupted the cannabis space with her design and lifestyle company, especially was female founders. She brings us behind the brand and how she cultivates community off social media and leverages partnerships to scale the business. Such an insightful episode!