Emerging Brands Podcast with Kelly Bennett

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!

Crystal Vilkaitis, Founder Crystal Media and Host of Rooted in Retail Podcast, helping independent retailers grow through social media. Her team combines strategy, creativity, data and marketing to help clients sell more and drive more traffic to their websites and physical locations, generating millions of dollars. Crystal brings us behind the brand and how she's built Crystal Media since 2012. Such a great episode! 

With close to a decade of experience in PR, Tori brough her passion for women's health to craft a career building wellness brands.

Tori shares her personal story of finding her balance of wellness, mental health, and how that shifted her career. Today she's the VP Beauty & Wellness KCSA Strategic Communications, taking on brands that she's passionate about.

In this episode, Tori shares about what she looks for in a brand to pitch to press, what brands are cutting through the noise, and the future of women's wellness brands.

After searching for more higher-protein plant-based options, Isabelle Steichen co-founded Lupii. Going back to her roots, Isabelle re-discovered the Lupini bean, is a little legume that has 2x more protein than chickpeas, 3x more protein than eggs, 3x more dietary fiber than rolled oats, jam-packed with vitamins and all 9 essential amino acids. Isabelle started creating products and launched Lupii with a protein bar. However during the lock-down she started experimenting with other product categories to disrupt, Lupii launched their best-selling pasta (yum!).

Isabelle takes us behind the scenes of the brand.

Starting in January, you can shop Lupii pasta at 26 Costco clubs across the PNW region!

Cory Sargent is a mult-hyphanent creative. With a background in PR, Cory launched Lady Sargeant as a creative marketplace with playful products for conscious consumers. Cory brings us behind the scenes of her lastest product, SAY IT DO IT which was developed during the pandemic and stems from the desire to connect more deeply with friends and families after a year of social isolation. We talk about how she's building the brand, reaching out to retailers, and impact of deeper connections.

Frankly Good Coffee was co-founded by husband and wife team Glenn and Stefanie Frank, out of their search for fresh coffee in 2010. They were the first coffee roaster in Las Vegas to roast and sell at farmers markets in 2011 known for their air roasted, small batch flagship blends. Over the past decade, they've organically grown working with local restaurants, bakeries, and cafes and online. Stefanie has been working on scaling the brand the past year and takes us behind the brand. 

Lisa Juarez, Founder Palm & Palma Design Studio helps emerging brand land on retail shelves with eye-catching packaging. She talks about how packaging increases customer loyalty, increase sales, and the ROI on good packaging. Lisa also shares her story behind launching her own studio, building her business, and the impact of doing what she loves.

Lisa also shares a downloadable list of places to print packaging (super helpful resource!).

Learn how Cat Meyer turned her (literal) dream for a product line into launching her brand ‘Head South’ within two years - setting out to disrupt the sigmas in sexual health and pleasure. Cat is an advocate for sex education and stepping into a new role as founder and podcast host to add her voice to the conversation.

On this episode, Cat shares more of her founder and brand story (which involves a pretty epic pivot in product categories), why she’s so passionate about sex education, and how she wants to help people have less friction in her encounters.

Cat also shares about her brand strategy, packaging design, and steps to building a sustainable brand.

This is a must listen!

Christina Dorr Drake, Co-Founder & CEO Willa's Oat Milk shares how she and her sister started the brand inspired by their grandmother's oat milk recipe. After observing a gap in the plant-based milk market, Christina, her sister, and husband set out to bring a cleaner oat milk (think no gums and lower sugar) to consumers. Christina took her experience working with brands at agencies along with her sister's background in food & beverage manufacturing, to launch a better for you oat milk (that was formulated in their grandmother’s kitchen!).

Now you can shop their best-selling oat milks online and select retailers. You'll also learn how Christina needed to change their launch strategy in 2020.

Such a great lesson in small bets, local activations, social listening, and trusting your gut!

Whether you're a corporate go-getter, an entrepreneur, or someone exploring the intersection of both, Janel's wisdom and experiences will guide you towards creating a fulfilling and diverse career path that aligns with your passions and aspirations. Tune in, be inspired, and embark on your own journey to building a multi-hyphenate career!

Emily Schildt, Founder Pop Up Grocer shares how she created a destination to discover new grocery items and emerging brands. Emily shares why they focus on better-for-you products, packaging design, and rotating features. And the backstory of their first ever pop up. Pop Up Grocer is one of my favorite shops in New York City, and it was cool to learn how Emily built the brand and gives opportunity for new brands to emerge.