14. From Retro to Relevant– How Jennifer Jorgensen Rebuilt Back to Nature

Jennifer Jorgensen, CEO of Back to Nature Foods, shares how she went from leading billion-dollar brands at General Mills to becoming the sole employee tasked with turning around a legacy snack company.

In this episode, Jennifer breaks down what it really takes to rebuild a brand—from creating a high-performance culture and redefining strategy to taking bold creative risks that reignited growth. She also shares powerful insights on leadership, work-life boundaries, and why joy—not perfection—should be at the center of how we think about food.

If you’re navigating change, building a team, or trying to stand out in a crowded market, this conversation is packed with practical lessons and honest perspective.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

I've developed this thing that I always say with my team like, if you're not happy at home, you won't be happy at work.

SPEAKER_00 0:07

Welcome to Women Who Make It. Real conversations with women in the food and beverage industry who are building careers, leading teams, and figuring it all out. After years of building females on food, I've had conversations with some of the most brilliant women in the industry. And they shared the real stuff. The pivots, the boundaries, the burnouts, and the moments of is this even working before it finally clicked? So I hit record, and now you get to hear it too. We're women who make it. So let's dig in. Welcome back to Women Who Make It. I'm your host, Angela Dodd, and today's guest is someone who has built her career at the highest level of brand leadership. And then she chose to step into one of the most complex challenges in our industry: turning around a legacy brand. I'm joined by Jennifer Jorgensen, CEO of Back to Nature Foods, an independently operated subsidiary of Barilla Group. Jennifer is known for accelerating growth and leading transformation across some of the most recognized brands in food, including Haganda's, Yoplay, Pillsbury, Larabar, and Cinnamon Toast Crunch. Most recently, she led a$1.3 billion cereal portfolio at General Mills, where she delivered 32 consecutive months of share growth, drove growth across kids' cereal portfolio, and significantly increased innovation. She then made the leap into her current role, stepping into Back to Nature following an acquisition, where she started as the only employee and built an entire team and culture from the ground up while leading a full-scale brand reinvention and business model turnaround. Back to Nature is now one of the fastest growing brands within the cookie cracker category. Jennifer, I could not be more excited for this conversation today. Welcome to the podcast. There is so much to unpack here. I'm so happy to be here. Thank you. Yeah, so let's get straight into it. As I mentioned in the intro, you've had some really big shifts in your career. And coming into this role as CEO of Back to Nature, let's start with what the decision that you took to take this role and take us back to that time at that point in your career. What made you know that that opportunity was right for you?

SPEAKER_01 2:27

I think probably it starts a few years before I took this role. I had been at General Mills a very long time. And later in my time at Mills, I moved to London and lived in London with my daughters for six years while working abroad. And it was such a pivotal experience for me. And I found that I really enjoyed kind of that scrappy, entrepreneurial, smaller team, less resources, getting closer to the consumers and the market. I really liked that experience. And I missed it when I moved back home and was back on, you know, huge billion-dollar businesses. And that really lit a spark for me that I wanted to move into private equity. And that's really hard to do, especially coming from a big company. So I was not successful at getting a private equity role. But when this role at Barilla came across, I was like, it's a close approximation to private equity. It's kind of a startup with an established business, and I don't have to deal with cash flow or financing because I'm backed by this multi-billion dollar family company.

SPEAKER_00 3:35

That's kind of the best of both worlds there, right? Like you have that cash security. Exactly. You get to wear all these hats that you would as an entrepreneur. And I really love that tie back to your international experience because I don't know how many experiences there are in a career that truly make you wear so many hats as you do as an expat, right? You're not only learning to do the job, but learning to do it in an international environment while also transitioning your family. Like it's it's a big uh it's a big undertaking for any family and any professional to do that.

SPEAKER_01 4:09

Yes, it is. And you should always do it if you're asked, I would say. Never say no to them.

SPEAKER_00 4:14

It is on my bucket list. That's been something for me that I've wanted from my family for a long time. So we'll uh we'll continue to to push for that. But, you know, as we think about back to nature, a lot of people may not be super familiar with kind of the story of, you know, right now they they may have been introduced to the brand as this amazing, fast-growing brand, beautiful packaging on the grocery store shelves with great tasting products. But that's not always what the brand was from the very beginning, right? Take us back to, for those listeners who maybe don't know that journey of back to nature, what were some of your first impressions or what stood out about the business and brand as you came into the business, right? It's it's been just acquired from Berilla was just acquiring it. You were hired on as employee number one, the only employee to kind of turn this brand around. Talk us through that.

SPEAKER_01 5:09

It sounds crazy in retrospect. I don't know what I was thinking at the time, but the thing that really like stood out to me as I was thinking about this opportunity was this is a business that's been around for a long time and it had been passed around a lot of the big CPGs, craft Mondeleys, you know, it was in private equity for a while and you know, kind of made the rounds. But it had the product quality, like the actual food, the cookies and crackers were great. And I learned that Barilla had done in due diligence some blind taste tests, back to nature products versus some of the big global brands, and back to nature tasted blind, equal or better than the conventional analog brand. And I was like, that is actually really, really interesting to have taste that's you know, such strong taste in a brand that's in the natural set or, you know, better-for-you set. Yeah. Um and the packaging was a little dusty. And I was like, geez, it's like I would never pick this up in the store. But if I did, I would love them and I would repeat. And um, that was another thing they learned on due diligence was that the the funnel of, you know, they're not bringing a lot of people into the brand, but man, are they holding on to them once consumers um are in? It's it was, you know, one of the strongest funnels in the category. So I felt like there was something to work with. And um, in addition to that, I loved the family-owned part of it. You know, Barilla is a family-owned business. The family is still actively involved in the company. And they were passionate about getting into the US business and in cookies and crackers. And it's different than looking at a you know public company that's like, this acquisition has to, you know, hit its model in the first 12 months, or we're gonna kill it, or they start, you know, pulling back investment. I liked that this this was emotional and legacy building for the family. And so they were committed and they wanted to build a model that allowed us to do what was right to launch this business successfully, not just like launch it and immediately bleed it, like we've all seen done.

SPEAKER_00 7:27

Yeah, that's really powerful. And it yeah, it allows you as a leader to even have a runway, right? To to turn something around because turnarounds aren't aren't done overnight. And and I think having that patience and not being forced to, you know, or being scared, you know, you need you need that backing and that time and that patience to do it right and not make maybe decisions in the short term that will sacrifice something in the long term for that brand. Exactly. So as you as you came into this role, um, and I our listeners knowing a little bit more of that backstory and it being, you know, you know that you have a product that where taste is key, you have a very loyal customer base, but just getting more more people into that funnel. I'm curious about those first impressions. Like this feels like a daunting. I'm thinking of coming in as a CEO to this brand, this turnaround effort. Where did you decide to spend? Clearly, there's a marketing play here that, and this is your strong suit come being in previous roles, but you know, where did you spend your time in those first days and weeks? And what were you listening for? What were some of those first steps? And how did you not get overwhelmed by it all?

SPEAKER_01 8:40

I've ever time to not be overwhelmed. So that is not true, but um, you know, it is actually a really unique situation. I came in two weeks before the deal closed and I was the only employee. And I was kind of like, well, that sounds fun. I get to build a team and a culture from scratch. And then the day the deal closed, that kind of optimistic point of view changed to like, holy shit, like I'm the only employee. What have what have I done? And not only that, but like we had no data. We had no team, we had no reporting. I had nothing, but it was a$50 million business. And we had paid the seller to um, it's called a TSA, a transition services agreement. So we paid them to run the business on the day-to-day um for a year to allow time because this was kind of a unique situation. But, you know, they weren't up and running with getting us all the reports and that sort of thing either. Um, so that took some time to build that. And so part of those early days were like, I gotta get my arms around this business really, really fast, but I don't have any people and I don't have any data. And if I did have data, I still have people. And so it was really a big challenge to kind of not get sucked into that whirlwind of chaos because it was a challenging situation. And I had to kind of be laser focused on what do I need to do to be successful? Because I can't do everything, and I need to release myself from the expectation to do everything, because that's not humanly possible. So, what do I gotta do? You know, knowing I had to build a team, I had to get reporting up and running, I had to transition the data. Like I kind of broke it down into the big things I needed to do. And I was like, the seller's running the business. They're probably not putting their best employees on it, but at least it's like keeping it alive, and I need to trust that that's being kept alive so I can focus on doing my job, which is a little unique at this moment.

SPEAKER_00 10:59

Yeah. Yeah, that is that's hard to step into it and not wanting to get into those day-to-day tactical things. Um to feel like to immediately feel like you're making an impact and like getting into the business and keeping yourself strategic and high level of like what what needs to be done here. And and, you know, how did you how did you prioritize that? You know, as you as you think back to that time, you know, and what to focus on first or even how to build that team, was there anything that you kept coming back to from, you know, I'm gonna build a team and I'm gonna my North Star is creating this type of culture, or this is, you know, I'm gonna really lean on on agencies and start building the the tone of this brand and what it's gonna become. I'm curious, like, how did you prioritize given all the things that needed to be done?

SPEAKER_01 11:54

Maybe you take that in in two sections. I'll talk about the team first and then we can talk about the brand. But, you know, I prioritized networking was part of my job. I really wanted to network, and I honestly had more confidence in my ability to network and find really, really strong talent, mainly here in Minneapolis, but we've got about half our team outside of Minneapolis, than kind of enlisting recruiters all the way through from the top to the bottom. And I was pretty clear, you know, I spent some time thinking it through, but I really wanted a culture that really felt like a startup. I wanted it to be high trust, I wanted there to be like a huge willingness to take a risk because this was not a stellar brand when we took it on. And so if people weren't open to taking risk or doing things differently and driving change, you know, they were we were just gonna be headed down. Like there was no way out of it. So I needed people to want to take risk. It had to be fun, collaborative, entrepreneurial. And really, I wanted like I called it no assholes. Sorry if you're swearing on your podcast, but like really in a small team, it takes one person to ruin it for everyone. And I couldn't afford that. So no politics, no assholes, and and very clear on this vibe that I that I wanted. And so many times as I was networking, and I'm like, who do you know that would be you know describing the role? And I would hear someone say, This person, you know, XYZ was the best I've ever worked with. And like I was like sold. And then I would find that person and I'd convince them to come. And we have a we are stacked with those type of people on our team because I think it is such a unique opportunity here in Minneapolis for it. So that's really the piece of the networking, but you asked for the brand too.

SPEAKER_00 13:54

Yeah, we're I want to dive, I want to dive deep into the brand side, but I think there's something really cool about the people side for all your employees listening. Know that you are the best. Um I think uh I think that's really fun for people to to hear and to know, but how powerful it is as well. And I was just listening to uh a TED talk the other day about givers and takers, and they were saying it only takes one taker to to ruin the workplace, right? It only takes one taker to make all the givers stop giving. Yeah. Uh and it just really resonated with what you just said. Like you really have to be very mindful when you're building that team and that culture and in such a tight-knit entrepreneurial type environment and really protecting that culture because you get one one bad lemon and the ship can go sideways really fast.

SPEAKER_01 14:47

It's really important, especially when you want to encourage, you know, on the marketing side and the commercial side, risk and ideas and growth. Yeah, it really goes hand in hand with culture. You won't get it if you don't have a good culture. So you'd asked about the branding as well, because we've obviously I wouldn't even say we did a like a tweak on the branding. We reinvented the entire brand. But I think, you know, in this case, I was I was able to take a lot of risk on that for a couple of reasons. The first is the seller had just repositioned the brand a couple years before the sale of it to plant-based snacking. So it was plant-based cookies, plant-based crackers, and then a couple other categories as well. And they weren't performing well in market. Velocities were declining, they were actually losing quite a bit of distribution. It was fairly concerning, not even just SKUs, but actually customers as well. And you could tell they had a commercial execution, and I quickly learned they had some supply chain issues. You know, we were not our customers' favorite brand to work with. But I suspected we also had a branding issue related to this plant-based snacking. It was kind of in vogue with like Beyond Meat and Impossible Burger, but maybe for things that were what year, what year was this in? This was um, oh, don't ask me that, 2022, I think. 23, 2023. Yeah, 2023. So that was still kind of cool at that time, but like we all know it maybe works in categories that are made of animal products, but like cookies and crackers aren't necessarily so it's weird.

SPEAKER_00 16:29

Um inherently they are plant-based, typically with flour grain.

SPEAKER_01 16:33

I mean, right, I mean butter for cookies, but still it was weird. But I knew we didn't have a product issue because of all that testing that had been done earlier. Um, and I knew we just needed to get consumers into the brand. But as we learned about the brand, we were actively turning off consumers and telling them the product would taste bad. Um with with our with our you know, the plant-based positioning and the way that the brand presented at the shelf.

SPEAKER_00 17:03

So um people wanted that indulgence or like that cool, you know, the They want joy. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Kind of if they're gonna go for the health halo and indulgence, you know. That's a that's an interesting intersection to meet the consumer at and and how to really play to both the better for you, but the cool factor and an indulgence factor.

SPEAKER_01 17:26

Yeah, and and we uncovered this insight actually about um snack shaming. And it was really about parents packing their kids' lunchbox or bringing snacks to a party or a game or whatever, and how other parents will judge parents for the types of snacks or the brands of snacks that they're feeding to their family. And there was this like compelling need to have like cookies with a health benefit and crackers with and you know, stop snack shaming everybody. Like we got enough things to worry about in our lives. Yeah, the cookie, please. And so we've attached all these rules to it, and we've walked away from just it's just a snack. And, you know, we're gonna make it as good for you as we can by limiting all the bad stuff that's in it, but it's just a snack. It's a snack that brings you a little joy. This is not, you know, where you're gonna get your nutrition. And um, you know, starting from that insight was pretty powerful, but the real aha for me was I was talking to the head of an agency that I really, really like. And I was describing the brand, and I said, you know, it was founded in 1960 in Southern California, and I was like, we've learned about the history, and this was one of the founding fathers of the natural foods movement. Um, this is not a new brand. This is a 1960s brand that was doing all this stuff before it was cool because they were so committed to the cause. And, you know, we talked about that for a bit, and then he said, hmm, he goes, 1960s California. That's about the coolest time and place that there's ever been in the history of the world. And for me, I was like, that light bulb went off, and I can see it, let's go. And that's, I mean, we wrote a real brief, but that was basically the brief is 1960s California. And um, it was funny because, you know, this was not a tweak. And and all marketers remember Tropicana and how they went too far on their package redesign and they almost lost their business. And you know, it'll forever be the story to watch out for with packaging changes. But I felt confident because this plant-based stacking was so new and consumers weren't remembering it. It had no no real brand assets associated with it. So we weren't walking away from anything that was distinctive in market or had a lot of equity. So I felt comfortable taking a risk and just saying we're gonna reinvent from the ground up.

SPEAKER_00 20:06

Yeah. Wow. It and how full circle of a moment is that, right? If this founder, um, I don't know if the founder's still around, but to be able to see like that full circle moment of bringing that brand back to exactly where it started and and really you know, leaning into to that time and legacy and where where the brand was created. I think that's super powerful. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I love that so much. And yeah, to go back to the whole snack shaming thing, by the way, I my my the last uh the last snack argument that my husband and I got in was over your uh chocolate like mint cookies. And uh and I I saw him pull out like very top shelf. Like I was saving the last two for like my midnight snack, like my quiet moment before I go to bed, and he took the last two. And so I meant to I meant to even have the packaging here for the podcast because I was like gonna save the packaging, have my last two cookies, and so I'll be going back to the store. Um, those are my uh at least to know someone who can hook you up with some cookies.

unknown 21:16

Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 21:18

I'm waiting for that care package to arrive. Um the uh yes, one of the favorites in our house household for sure. Um, I think I could eat a whole package of those.

SPEAKER_01 21:27

Yes, those are those are dangerous. They are delicious. They're so good.

SPEAKER_00 21:31

They are so good. If you're listening and you're gonna try the chocolate mint, please all the all the I don't care who you are, but if you're a if you're a busy mom like me, yeah, it tastes really good at midnight when you're just having that quiet moment. Anyways, um, okay, let's keep going. So we talked about, you know, you've taken this legacy brand, you've come in brand new CEO, you're building that team, you're now kind of have that. That clarity on the brand and where you're going to take it, when you start thinking about all the things that started to take shape in that execution and momentum moment, you know, it's one thing to come out with new packaging, right? But like it's a whole nother thing to build momentum. And there's this whole consumer engagement moment that still had to happen. Walk us through that moment and that momentum and when you were starting to gain that traction and what signals you were really looking for from the consumer.

SPEAKER_01 22:30

Yeah. Early on, we said the things we need to focus on were velocities and margin. And like anyone who was on the team at that time will tell you, I hammered that into everybody's, everybody's head. And we knew velocity, velocity, velocity. We were tracking velocity by skew, by customer. I mean, we were on it because you have to be that granular with this type of a business. A trick, especially when you're doing a turnaround like this and you don't have long to prove it out. And we started to see, especially on cookies, I'd say cookies turned on faster than crackers. Um, probably because it's more impulse and people are more just like willing to be interrupted for a high taste, then crackers are a little bit more functional. But we started to see those velocities turn. And Whole Foods, you know, got on shelf the fastest. They're they're our biggest customer. They take every skew that we have. And starting to look at Whole Foods, it was like, oh my God, oh my God, it's coming, it's coming. And then we had our first off-shelf display. And that week, you know, the the charts were like literally off the charts in terms of velocity. And it was really, really rewarding to be on the team at that time because we were just this was a big swing that we took and it paid off. The other things that we really wanted to do, you know, we felt like we had a product, but we didn't really have a brand, you know, it didn't have an identity or a world, or no one would say, like, oh, I love Back to Nature, back in the old world. And I really focused with the team on building a distinctive brand. Like we need, we need this brand to be distinctive, to stand out, to have assets that the consumer is attached to emotionally and hopefully be bigger than just cookies or crackers, be something that they want to, be a world that they want to buy into. And that has started as well. It didn't start right away, but as consumers come in and they start to explore the products and they see the stickers and the fun social and you know, all the cool activations we do, you know, we are creating brand love and bringing joy back to snacking and community. And we're collaborating with all the I guess that's the other thing that changed was you said, what were the early signs? We couldn't get any brands to talk to us three years ago. You know, we would want to do collabs, and they were like, no, no, thank you. We will call you, don't call us. And all the cool kids want to play with us. And it has been really fun to be a part of various collaborations with a lot of amazing, natural, fast-growing, disruptive brands in this space. And I'd say we're right there with the rest of them in terms of the things we're trying to do as a brand and as a business and the way we treat our consumers. But that has been really fun to see like the tides have really, really turned. It's like the like a 1980s uh John Hughes movie where all of a sudden we become cool finally.

SPEAKER_00 25:45

Yeah, I'm thinking, I mean, there's a few, I'm thinking back to NBA school, a few of the case studies of like, is it the hush puppies or like the the thing that nobody knew about, and then all of a sudden it goes viral. And um is it the hush puppies? Is that right? Is like the shoes, right? Am I getting that?

SPEAKER_01 26:01

I don't know. I grew up in the 80s too, and there were a lot of rules that you had to give yourself. Hush puppies were one of them.

SPEAKER_00 26:08

I feel like I feel like I'm quoting that right. Somebody listening is gonna know what I'm talking about. But I I as we're talking about these collabs, I'm a big believer of like manifesting the next greatest thing. If you could choose one celebrity to pick your product off the shelf and to have it go viral, who would that celebrity be? Oh I know. This is an extra question for you. Yeah, maybe we could say Jennifer's pick, not necessarily back to nature's pick. This is Jennifer's pick.

SPEAKER_01 26:39

Okay, for my pick, it'd be Taylor Swift, because I'm a huge Swifty. But if Taylor and Sabrina did it together, that would be maybe even cooler.

SPEAKER_00 26:48

Um, we're calling you up, Taylor. We're calling you up, Taylor. And um, and the Kelsey brothers, and I feel like and Sabrina, and this is uh, I'm envisioning a back to nature cookie tower at Taylor's wedding. It's gonna happen. She's definitely gonna have your cookies at her wedding.

SPEAKER_01 27:07

I like this vision. I think this should manifest. Let's burn something.

SPEAKER_00 27:13

I love it. I love it. It's gonna, it's gonna happen. She's probably gonna listen to this podcast, like one podcaster to another. Yeah. You know, Kelsey brothers, let's um let's make this happen. So we can I feel like we can do this. Um a lot of some fun, some fun to be had there. I could I could keep going down that for a while here. Um, I'm gonna sharply pivot my brain back to back to brand and marketing. It's really hard for me to get get off Taylor Swift, so um okay. So I really love chatting with market. Like it, this is such a fun conversation. And I also want to get your perspective on just marketing in today's world, because I think you probably have a really sharp lens about what is changing and evolving as it relates to marketing more broadly. And we're thinking about brands getting through all the noise of AI, but you have influencer, you have authenticity, you have community. Like, what's your lens on what's happening in marketing today? Or as marketers look at it's also a very hard job landscape right now. We'd love to pick your brain on that for a minute.

SPEAKER_01 28:20

The marketing job has changed so much and it's become so broad, and you have to be an expert in so many things. It's a really different role than it was when I started in this business, and we had an annual TV plan we'd approve here in advance, and we have big debates about which week we're gonna drop the coupon. Like that used to be the marketing plan. I think now it is the ability to keep like eyes on the prize. Like, what am I trying to do? Where am I trying to go? And dig into the depth of the execution, but pull yourself back up so that you can always maintain that you're strategically aligned, despite these million, you know, millions of data points and chaos happening on every execution point. You know, it's so fragmented in terms of the execution now. And I think if you can be clear, really clear with your strategy and clear with where you want to go and what it what you need to see to know that you're getting there, I think that's really the magic trick. It's a very different skill set than it used to be.

SPEAKER_00 29:26

I do see, I do see that skill set need needing to shift and shifting and you know, from where people are getting it right right now, or you know, as you think about this need for human intuition, any additional thoughts or recommendations for those marketing leaders out there and and what great looks like right now?

SPEAKER_01 29:48

To me, great is really driven by creativity. Like, you know, of course, internally there's a strategy, there's, you know, all this strategic rationale, but if you can't package that up in a way that is interesting and creative for consumers, recognizable, distinctive enough that it attaches to your brand and drives interest and or purchase, you know, and and that is where creativity comes into play. Yeah. And so, you know, there's all this talk about, you know, using AI or data or, you know, and all of that's great. It's all great. However, I would be very cautious that it doesn't impact the quality of your execution when it comes to attracting consumers or creating a brand world. Because you can also sniff it out from a mile away generally. And that's not who people want to be friends with and hang out with. They want to hang out with people that have personalities, know who they are, show up consistently, and they're fun and easy to hang out with. And so I think finding ways to unleash that creativity, whether it's big-scale creativity or if it's even in the day-to-day execution, but that really um is something we try to do that that I think is hugely important on the team.

SPEAKER_00 31:09

Yeah, I think so too. And especially in this world of trying to understand what is human right now. And I think there's a greater need than ever for that sense of community and authenticity, but also seeing what brands are doing from you know, using their employees to also help tell that story, like that creativity on the team and letting that really shine through to their end consumer, right? Um Exactly. When I first started working, it was, you know, the the people in the business were hidden. And now I feel like the people in the business are some of your greatest marketing assets. Exactly. Yes.

SPEAKER_01 31:43

And I think it ties back to what we talked about in the beginning with culture, that if you have a culture where people feel safe and can take risks and you know, are are proud of where they work, they're gonna want to show it off and they're gonna be willing to take a risk creatively. If you don't have that culture, no way. It's not gonna happen.

SPEAKER_00 32:05

Yeah. And I I hear that I guess that it's such a timely transition into even talking about your own leadership and hearing you talk about creating environments where people can take these risks and and having the ability to create that team and culture yourself. You know, how would you describe your leadership style today? And, you know, I think we'll go down that that journey here in a moment as you moved, you know, from the head of marketing roles into that CEO role and what what were some of those main shifts that needed to happen in your own headset, but in your own head. But as we move into that, we'd love to, we'd love to chat more about just your own leadership style as it's evolved and as it is today, and how you would describe it.

SPEAKER_01 32:45

Yeah, I think it has evolved quite a bit over over my career, and and some of that comes as you just spend more time learning about yourself. There's not a personality test that I haven't taken. I love a good personality test. And you know, every time you learn about yourself, it shines a little light too on how do others experience you? Uh it may not be what you're intending it to be, or not even what you think. And I've had some learning and growth along those lines as well. But, you know, I as a leader, I try to be really, really focused on a few things. The first is being really clear on the vision and the strategy. Like, where are we going? Why, and how are we going to get there? And like I said early on, how I handled it, it's velocities and margin, velocities and margin. Everyone needs to know that. Um, the top of their head, or they're not using that as a filter to make day-to-day decisions. But I'd say a lot of companies, you could walk around and employees don't know what the strategy is. Like they couldn't articulate it. And that's yeah.

SPEAKER_00 33:54

I think that's one of the biggest gaps for leaders today is they aren't sure what that true strategy is. Uh, you know, they and the team members can't reiterate, you know, say it out loud.

SPEAKER_01 34:05

Yeah, if they don't know, the team members don't know. And, you know, so you don't know how decisions are getting made all the way down. Yeah. So I spent a lot of time there, and I spent a lot of time on just reinforcing culture and setting the tone and making sure, you know, there is that psychological safety for people on the team. That's something I talk about a lot. And so, you know, spent a lot of time investing on that. And then I like to be a cheerleader for, you know, when we get it right, or if someone did something above and beyond, or, you know, if someone's traveling three weeks out of four, like I'm gonna acknowledge it and say thank you and and just spend time reinforcing and cheerleading the team for big things and for small things, especially when they reinforce the values we're trying to set and the culture.

SPEAKER_00 34:53

I love that. As we're getting back the results from the second annual State of Women in the Industry Survey, yeah, there's so much power that's coming through in the very simple, you know, it's very clear a lot of women in this industry are feeling a lot of tension, a lot of burnout, a lot of challenges in the climate that we've experienced in the past year. And I think going back to those very simple rules of like, how are you showing appreciation? How are you showing recognition? Um, a spoiler alert on some of the data, but we're seeing that, you know, visibility and recognition is being named as one of the biggest barriers to advancing careers, right? And and a lot of times it just starts with the leaders of like, how are we recognizing and giving visibility to those people on our teams? And I think it's one of the simplest things you can do as a senior leadership team that really starts moving the needle to the culture that you want to be building.

SPEAKER_01 35:48

Totally agree. Superpower because like work is changing. Yeah. My parents' generation, they started at one company and worked there their entire career and never considered leaving, and that was what you did. And now it's like, you know, every two to three years, people are switching companies. And you have to really be focused on retention and culture and the experience of what it's like to be an employee at this company, because they don't have to stay. And so thanking them is just a simple thing, but it's one of many things we should be doing to make sure, you know, it's a two-way street. It is not, it is not a one-way relationship like both people need to want to stay.

SPEAKER_00 36:31

From a personal standpoint, as we as we close out, you know, I think one of the most powerful things of doing these podcast episodes and being able to hear from senior executive leaders like yourself is really being able to pass on those those true experiences and perspectives and personal career journeys. What was that shift like going from CMO to CEO? And where was that biggest stretch for you in growing into that leadership role and kind of knowing that, you know, in in this space, I know it it required wearing different hats at different stages, but I'm I'm curious as you've made that transition, is there is there certain areas that you've really had to push your mind and self out of to really step into that CEO role? And then the second part of that question, I got lots of two-part questions here, is how do you ground yourself, right? It's a big role, you got a lot of responsibility, you have a family. How do you ground yourself day to day and and staying present?

SPEAKER_01 37:28

I think that way first, because I'm super passionate about it. I am a huge believer in flexibility and work-life balance, which sound like everyone talks about them, but like I have been on that train for 20 years, and it's I feel like the world is finally catching up. My kids are 25 and 22 now, but I became a single mom when they were four and two. And I have navigated this career and moving abroad and all of it with you know being a single mom and was only successful because I was able to carve boundaries, like firm boundaries to protect my personal priorities. And I've developed this um thing that I always say with my team, like, if you're not happy at home, you won't be happy at work. Like if you're walking around all day feeling like I'm the worst mom in the world, or I'm a terrible spouse, or I'm a failure because I can't go to the gym more than once a week. Like, if you're getting that negative self-talk because work is taking so much from you, you're not going to be productive at work. You can't expect someone that feels that way about themselves to come and deliver their all. So I just think we got to reset that relationship. And that has worked for me. I kind of did it myself. And luckily, I had um, I worked for people that were open to it and supported me and were great partners in that, but I would not have been able to survive without it. So it really forced the decision for me. And that was important. It was important to me to like have a relationship that I wanted to have with my kids. Like I didn't want to farm it out to other people or not be the parent. You know, I wanted to coach the soccer team and I wanted to show up at school. And and now I'm like so close with my daughters that it's it's been really fun and I'm reaping the rewards of it. But I think that is the most important, and it might be a little bit easier now, but I know it's still hard. Um so I just, you know, encourage people to think about not in a moment of crisis. This is not a crisis at work, but in a moment of calm. Think about what are my priorities as a person, as a human, you know, and and figure out kind of how how you want to spend your time as a person and then really try to live that. And um, don't hold yourself to living to it within every 24-hour cycle because it's too hard. But over the course of a month, if you're like, geez, I'm I said whatever was a priority and I'm not getting to it, I can't find time for it. You might want to, of course, correct your boundaries and make different choices. And if work doesn't like it, they can tell you that. But they never told me that. So it all worked out. And it it will likely work out for you too, because you'll be more invested than you're there at work.

SPEAKER_00 40:26

Yeah. And ultimately being more clear on that, we had a whole workshop recently on productivity and setting those time boundaries. Like not only are you more clear, your head's more clear, it delivers higher productivity for work. Yeah. And so often we tell ourselves, to your point, the story as to what why we can't do those things and what the result will be. But oftentimes it's it's just that a story that we tell ourselves and not the reality on the other side. And uh it's uh that self-talk is is oh, it's a mean, it's a mean girl. That's self-scalking. It's a mean girl for for everybody, and I think that's the point, right? Everybody's everybody's dealing with their own story, their own journey, their own self-talk. And always can be much harder on ourselves than anybody else around us. And so I think this uh this conversation, um, man, I'm I can't even believe like we're at time. Um, I'm like, there's so much more here that we could unpack. And there's I've always been very inspired by your career journey and everything that you're always willing to show up and share and offer to to others. That's to me how how as an industry we we get better. It's inspiring to see you step in and be in this position and continue to get back in the ways that you have. So with our listeners, tell them how one they can reach out um or connect with you, follow with you, where, and then two, what should they uh what should they be looking for next from back to nature? What should they be seeking out over the summer months?

SPEAKER_01 41:57

Well, reach out, um, follow us on Snack Back to Nature. You can reach out to me on LinkedIn. And we just launched, I think the most incredible, and one of my daughters and her best friend shout out to Estie and Sadie. Um, we'll agree. The white cheddar cheesy crackers are at Sprouts now, but we'll be launching nationally. Uh, and we're also launched Hot and Spicy Cheesy. Those two cheesy crackers are going to light the world on fire. And we're so excited about those coming. And tons more in the pipeline, but those are probably the ones I'm willing to share right now.

SPEAKER_00 42:35

I love that. That uh it should be in everybody's summer picnic baskets. Go find yourself those items.

SPEAKER_01 42:41

That uh are they gonna be out, they're out now or out this are out now in Sprouts and they will be launching um everywhere very soon.

SPEAKER_00 42:48

Awesome. So exciting. Well, Jennifer, thank you so much for the thoughtful conversation. As I said, I could uh go on all day. The next episode, we're gonna have a glass of wine and uh and some crackers and cheese in front of us and and make it a real party. But really, really appreciate you sharing your your journey with us, the turnaround that you had at Back to Nature, and all the incredible work that you guys are doing today. And to everybody listening, would love for you to share this conversation, follow women who make it. It is you, the listeners, the audience that are the ones helping us get the word out and sharing Jennifer's story and everybody else's story that we have on here. Um, by sharing it, liking, commenting, it is truly what makes these conversations move forward. Um, and we really appreciate your support. Because at the end of the day, we're not just making food, we're making moves. We're women who make it. Thanks for joining us. Thank you for listening to Women Who Make It. If today's episode inspired you, please follow the podcast so you never miss one of these powerful conversations. And we would also love your help in growing this community by sharing the show with friends and colleagues, because together, our stories can create change. For even more connection and inspiration, follow us on Instagram and LinkedIn at femalesinfood.community. Or join our global community of women by visiting the website femalesinfood.community. We're not just making food, we're making moves. We're women who make it.