21. Leading Dairy Through Change - A Conversation with Organic Valley CEO Shawna Nelson

How do you go from HR intern to CEO?

In this episode of Women Who Make It, Angela Dodd sits down with Shawna Nelson, CEO of Organic Valley, to explore the career journey that took her from an internship to leading America's largest organic farmer-owned cooperative.

Shawna shares the pivotal moments that shaped her leadership, why taking risks outside your comfort zone can transform your career, and how sponsors helped open doors she never imagined. She also discusses interviewing for the CEO role twice, balancing executive leadership with motherhood, and leading through change in today's evolving dairy industry.

Whether you're aspiring to leadership or simply navigating your next career move, this conversation is filled with practical insights on growth, resilience, and leading with purpose.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Wait for the time that we think is perfect instead of just figuring out what are those boundaries and what are those pieces to make it work perfectly for us.

SPEAKER_00 0:12

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 and 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 we're talking about what happens between the first job and the top job and all the experiences along the way that prepare you to lead when the decisions are ultimately yours. My guest today is Shauna Nelson, CEO of Organic Valley, which is America's largest organic farmer-owned cooperative. Shauna joined Organic Valley more than 20 years ago as an HR intern, and since then, her career has taken her across the organization from HR to field operations, dairy pool management, and farmer membership before ultimately stepping into the CEO role. Today we're going to be talking about all the things from the people that helped shaped her path to what she's learned by moving across the different parts of the business and what changed when she became the person ultimately accountable for the organization and where it goes next. We're also going to talk about what it means to lead a farmer-owned cooperative through a period of significant change in dairy from shifting consumer expectations and the protein movement to innovation, affordability, and the future of family farming. And because this is Women Who Make It, we're going to get into all the parts of leadership that don't always make it into the polished career stories from sponsorship, ambition, hard decisions, and what you continue to figure out even after reaching the CEO seat. Shauna, welcome to Women Who Make It. I am so excited to have you on the podcast. We we're going to have a lot of fun here in this next uh 30, 40 minutes. I can't wait. So, as a lot of our listeners heard from your intro, man, I I've been wanting to unpack your career journey for for quite some time. And so I feel like the lucky person to be sitting here on the other side of this mic. But for our listeners who maybe don't know you very well, right? And maybe don't even know the dairy industry very well, given that we spann the entire FB industry, I'd love to spend a few minutes just grounding everybody in a bit of your beginning. Uh, because it's it's not a story that we hear every single day of an individual walking in as an HR intern and 20 years later than being the CEO. And so walk us through a little bit, share a little bit about yourself, your background, and and what was that like for the version of Shauna that walked into Organic Valley 20 years ago as an intern?

SPEAKER_01 3:06

Absolutely. Uh it's so great to be here. And I love telling this story because if I would have told 21-year-old myself this story, I would have never guessed the where I would have ended. Um, because when I started as an intern at Organic Valley, I aspired to growing in my career, but I never thought it would be C-suite, and I never thought it would be being CEO of this organization. Um, I was lucky, I felt, to get to be in the co-op. So I remember my first interview of there's this cooperative that's working on food and with agriculture right in the community I grew up in. And so this idea of being able to lead an ag and be in rural Wisconsin was like I would consider myself lucky if I got the interview. And then I got the job. And so started as an intern doing anything that anybody would ask me to do and really intern through the whole summer. And I thought that that would be the end of my story with Organic Valley, actually. I figured when I went back to school, I would be done with my opportunity. And uh they asked me to stay on. So I was pretty excited about that. And then one opportunity led to another uh and a career journey that when you look back on it, you're like, that was brilliant. But when you're sitting in that seat, I never had any idea that it would lead through the different paths that it did.

SPEAKER_00 4:27

Yeah, I mean, let's let's go into some of that path because to your point, walking through, you know, getting that first opportunity. And I know, man, I hope a lot of Gen Z is listening right now because, you know, I think there's such ample opportunity to pass along some of these learnings to the generation now that I that I feel like isn't getting as much as we did to like career visibility, career progression, kind of what that mapped out looked like. And I I even look back on my own career journey and I'm like, you take the pieces that you get as you go and you learn as you go, but I feel like there's so much more access to information now and the power that we have to like give give to Gen Z of like what this could look like. And yours is such a powerful example of that because it's not one of which you left and jumped to five different companies, right? And you did have that longevity within Organic Valley. So as you finished that internship, walk us through what some of these different roles looked like. Um, you moved into HR first, and I'm curious if there's one role that really stood out to you as you progressed through. I'll let you unpack that. That's a lot there. But I'm like, let's how do we cover 20 years in a few in a few minutes?

SPEAKER_01 5:42

Well, the fun thing is you think, you know, you see that um that uh meme that they talk about career, and it shows this like trajectory where you think it goes from here to here, and then it really does a whole bunch of this in the middle of it. And so my first opportunity went from HR intern when I graduated from college. I applied to be in marketing and sales analysis and planning. I thought it was exactly what I wanted to do with my career. I had a business administration degree, and so I was like marketing and accounting and all of it coming together. And so I was working behind the scenes, writing our price lists for our customers, broker commissions, all of the technical stuff. And what was interesting for me, as much as I love the cooperative and my internship experience and what I was doing, it was so much computer screen. And so at that point, like I was a year in, and I was like, I don't think I want to stare at the computer screen 10 hours a day. And so I stepped back. And what's really cool with our cooperative, and I think that this is true of many employers, is I was able to have a career conversation really early on. So think about that. I was 22 years old and I was like, I love here, and I know that I have skills to offer. I just don't know if I'm putting my skills to something that's like feeling right for me. And so I explored different job opportunities. I explored, should I go to an IT role? Like, would be really technical be fun? I explored what does growing and marketing look like? I also explored what is looking, going back to HR look like. And ultimately at that point in my career, I decided to go back to HR. And I went over as a recruiter. And I thought HR was really fascinating. And for anybody who hasn't considered HR as an experience along their career journey, like I recommend it because you're working with people and strategy that drive the business. And so, as a 20-something year old, uh, fresh with my college degree and a little bit of experience, I was working on filling key roles within our organization and talking about people strategy that was going to allow us to amplify what we were doing for farmers and food. And so I loved it, and I was able to like take on more every year. And it felt like I was always learning something new. But that was the moment because in 2016, which would have been about 11 years into my career journey, I could have very much become an HR person.

SPEAKER_00 8:08

Yeah. Yeah, 11 years in, right?

SPEAKER_01 8:11

Right. She she does HR. She's really good at it. And I had a leader at that point in my career say, What about you for a different job? Director of field operations, leading on the farmer side of our business. Arguably something that I wasn't probably qualified for. And so in that conversation, I remember it vividly. It was a Friday afternoon, and I'm sitting in his office, and he's like, What about you for this job? And I think through all of the things that were going on in my life at that moment. I was a new mom, young, young mom. I also was working on some really cool stuff. So I was evolving some of our HR stuff within the business where I was like, I'm doing really fun and cool stuff. And so I actually on that Friday afternoon said, no, I'm I'm I'm really good. Right. And so I passed up potentially a really, really interesting opportunity. And I thought about it through the weekend and talked to my husband. And I was like, they they suggested this job overseeing milk hauling uh and our farmers across the country. And like, I don't think that that's right. But I got myself by that Sunday saying, what about me? Yeah. And so I went back on Monday and I said, is that offer still there that we could talk about this? And so that was like the moment that I went from being kind of in this path of being an HR professional to opening my eyes to like organizational leadership.

SPEAKER_00 9:44

Into the broader org management perspective, I think there's so much power there, but also like can relate so heavily to like being in that new mom spot and how much, and I hear this from a lot of other women, you're a few years into motherhood, like you're not looking for stretch roles. I can't speak for every woman, but I can speak for myself. Like in the midst of like those first couple years of parenthood, like stretching. I think I actually said when I first gave birth to my manager at the time, I was like, she's like, what do you want to do in five years? And I'm like, exactly what I'm doing now. Like, don't stretch me right now. Like I am stretched, stretched to the max, right? And so, and and she sometimes you need people to know you better than yourself in that moment to say, you know, we can stretch you here, but we can also shift something here to make that feel, you know, doable. But I think what you did in this moment, you know, of saying, why not me and the org and your manager at the time seeing your potential in that is I mean, those those elements speak so strongly for themselves. But I also think what it does for your personal brand, right? Because when you think about this evolution of you could have been known for this HR role, but stepping over here now expanded your personal brand within this organization of you can do so much more than just HR. But I also think the other element, and if I'm putting myself in the chair of somebody, we are told to niche down and to focus in something and to excel in it, right? And now you're putting yourself in the position that you may not excel in this new job. You know, you're doing some really fun, cool things. And there's always the what up, what if in people's heads, what if I'm not good at it?

SPEAKER_01 11:34

So interestingly, the what if was there, it was absolutely there. And so the conversation that I had on that Monday morning was what if we outlined an 18-month developmental opportunity where I could go over and lead this team and bring the skills that they were seeing in me. And that there was an opportunity for both ends to say, after 12 to 18 months, is this working? Yeah. And if it's working, let's just continue. And if it's not, I had been a high performer in HR and we'd talk about what it would look like to go back to HR. And so lucky to ask that question and think about like, that's what was going through my head of what if this doesn't work? Because I knew I wanted to be here and I knew I wanted to be a part of the team that was doing, we were doing at the cooperative. And so if it was in that seat, like, yes, excited. And if it was in a different seat, was willing to do that too, right? Kind of didn't matter which level and role. But I'll tell you, I went over there and like the okay, the first month, if you'd asked me if I wanted to come back, I'd have probably said yes, because there were people that were like, you what are you doing? Right. And I had those moments myself that it was really hard. And so there was moments where I was like, oh, I would have taken the get out of get out of this really easy path. After a few months, this team works directly with what we're all about here. I got to work directly with our farmers and sit across those tables with farmers understanding the impact that we were making through our cooperative. And so at the one year point, I was like, this is this is what I was meant to do. I love my job. And so I'm glad I took the risk. And um, you know, for anybody who's listening, um, that's like in their career at that spot, yeah, like take those risks because it's so easy to talk ourselves out of why we shouldn't do things. But like I don't know what my life would have been like if I wouldn't have. Um, but I am so thankful. Like that is the pivotal moment in my career that allowed everything that's happened since then to happen.

SPEAKER_00 13:45

I love that. Uh, because I do think we when we look back over the span of our careers, you know, being able to look at those, what were those defining pivotal moments that really shaped the rest of I know what mine are. And I actually want to come uh segue us into you know, some of the sponsors that you had along for that journey that helped you move and progress into them. But before I do that, what was one thing that working so closely with the farmers taught you? I'm curious what was what was that hard lesson? And like, give us the tea of like young Shauna sitting across from Midwest farmers.

SPEAKER_01 14:24

Uh, farmers from across the country. So um one of my favorite things about farmers is they tell you exactly what's on their mind. And so I love that though, because it helps me hone my communication skills to be a little bit more direct. Because a farmer can suss out when you're telling them what they want to hear. And so it taught me early in my career like, just say it, right? And say why uh and get to the point because our farmers really appreciate that. And it's okay to disagree. Um, and it's really about what we're working on and working to build together that's really impactful. Yeah. Um, my team taught me a very different message at that time. So if you don't mind, I my team taught me ask whatever question comes to your mind. Because I was coming at it with them all being subject matter experts. They had been in the industry for so long and they knew everything about what they were doing. It was it was really remarkable. But I would ask questions. And at first I was actually hesitant to ask them because I was like, clearly, everybody else knows the answer to the question I'm about to ask. And so I was hesitant to be like, I don't want to make them repeated or think that I don't know the answer. But what I learned through asking questions, even the simple ones, was it drove clarity and alignment through the whole room. And so what I might have thought that some people held, what I quickly learned was there were several different versions of the answer to that question. And so by asking questions, it really drove for better conversation amongst the team. And so, yeah, farmers taught me to like get with it and communicate straight. My team taught me ask whatever questions are coming to your mind because it's likely to provide clarity of alignment.

SPEAKER_00 16:09

Yeah, I think all too often, I mean, across or across orgs, right? We all function within kind of a known set of rules and we don't back into the basics. And I think when you start asking some of those more basic questions as you're learning, it does force everybody else at the table to get really clear and to explain why it is we're doing things in a certain way. And I think it sharpens everybody for the better through those moments. So because the journey doesn't end there, right? You took on this director level role, like going from middle manager, director level into CEO is not like that. Is there's a lot of steps still in between and a lot of things that have to be proven. And something that is particularly near and dear to my heart and FIF, we're about to put out the next date of women in the industry report, and sponsorship is at the top of what women need, right? And we talk about sponsorship and mentorship, mentorship people will give you the, you know, we'll give you advice. Mentors are saying your name in the room that you're not in. And it's not something you can just like apply for a sponsor, right? A lot of this has to be very organic. Um, I think there's programs that can be in place to intentionally pair executive leaders with individuals to help bring them up, but you know, that culture really has to be there. And I'm curious if you could share with us a bit more about what that journey into, you know, the CEO chair looked like from that director level. And were there people along the way that were advocating for you in rooms that you weren't in?

SPEAKER_01 17:56

Absolutely. So the path went director of field operations, vice president of Dairypool, then executive vice president of membership, and then CEO. And uh that was in 10 years, which is interesting is I went from being uh executive vice president of membership to CEO in like a year and a half. So I was at the executive table for about a year and a half before I became CEO. And so absolutely. Um, I think at each pivot moment in my career, there was the person that you described. Um, and so I shared that story right about um in 2016, and that leader that was like seeing it in me before I saw it myself. That also happened as I moved from executive to CEO. I had a leader at that time who, and it I'm jumping a little bit ahead here, but he he worked with me on a development plan. His name was Jeff, he was our CEO right before me. Uh, he worked with me on a development plan. And interestingly enough, when I came time to transition into this role, the transition was seamless. Like you couldn't have asked for a better experience. And certainly that's how I show up. And I recognize that I have a role to play in that, but it was also how he showed up and bringing me into rooms that maybe my role didn't indicate that I should be in, giving me opportunities to see the organization more broadly, like really his guidance through that process made a remarkable transition. And I think we all should be thinking about that. How do we think about, you know, when I moved from HR to membership, somebody got to step into that space after me. And how do I make sure that that person's prepared to not only be able to step into that, but to really thrive and enjoy what they get to do, right? I think sometimes we forget the joy that should come in the roles that we get to do and like the fulfillment that comes in the roles that we get to do. And so how do we make sure that we're we're helping people through those steps so that what might seem like a leap, yeah, when we look back, we're like, that was actually really smooth.

SPEAKER_00 20:14

Are there specific things that you look for in somebody to say, you know, when you're deciding if they might be ready for that stretch? Because I think all too often, as women, as professionals, we we to your point, we don't see it in ourselves. I'm curious, what are the if there's triggers that you specifically look for now?

SPEAKER_01 20:33

I watch how somebody shows up, uh, how they present themselves, how they represent their team and the work that they're doing. Um, there's a lot of soft cues that somebody is working really hard, that they care for and about people. Because I think sometimes there's there's the what we get to do in our jobs, and that's really important because that propels our mission and our purpose and our values, right? But how you do it to me is incredibly impactful. And so I'm watching for how folks show up in a room that's always on for me. It's is how are people presenting umselves and their work and their teams and and all of those pieces.

SPEAKER_00 21:13

Yeah, that's that's super insightful. I think all too often we we focus on the what and it's the how, but also in typically there the why is set if there's a strategy or vision, but you know, staying grounded in the why and the how is is really what shows character integrity and um all the uh all the really important traits that we're looking for in our next leaders as they're stepping up. Okay, so we can't we can't side brush a really important part of this story, and that's moving into that CEO chair and knowing that you had people pulling you up along the way. But I'm I'm curious, what was the what was the conversation of Shauna? We need a CEO. What did that look like?

SPEAKER_01 21:58

Um Yeah. So the I um was at Anaheim uh at Expo West. So I was in California, flying home on a Thursday night, taking a red eye home, because that's that's how moms operate sometimes, right? Is you want to get home and see your people. Um and so the first moment that you get a chance to get on a plane, you do. Um and so I'm flying home and our head of HR put a meeting on my calendar, or maybe it was our our board chair, I can't remember, uh, put a meeting on my calendar for Friday morning at like 8 30 or 9 in the morning that said discussion.

SPEAKER_00 22:31

And it was those are the most terrifying cases. I've been an HR.

SPEAKER_01 22:36

It was an HR, it was our CEO, and it was our board chair. And so I was like, those three people with a discussion and a first thing on a Friday, it could be really good or really bad. I was like, I didn't get a lot of sleep that night, and I was I had all of the feelings of everything from this is gonna be a really great discussion to really terrible. I wasn't anticipating that Jeff, our CEO, was leaving. And so that was something that had surprised me. I hoped that he was gonna be around for a long time. Uh, he had brought so much to our cooperative, and I enjoyed working with him and learning with him and like leading things together. And so that was not on my short list of what could this be about, but they shared that with me in that in that conversation. And then they went to, I was set up to be the interim CEO. So I knew if something happened to our CEO, uh, we have uh an emergency succession plan, and I knew that I was gonna be the person potentially asked to do that. And so I went to, will you be interim CEO? And our board chair and I have different versions of how the story went next. And we didn't tape it, so we can both tell our own versions, right? Um, but my version went something like I said, yes, uh, I'm more than willing to be interim CEO, but how do I be CEO? Because like an interim is just trying to not screw things up until the organization determines who who's gonna be that role. Um, and I wanted the role, and so I said, I asked him that question. I'm like, absolutely willing to do whatever it takes. And how do I get that role? And he's like, let me check back with you. Because like he was just worried that I was gonna say yes to be in an interim and that we'd have a plan to go on. And so later that day on Friday, he said the board would like to interview with you. And so he said, Well, can you make Saturday work or can you make Monday work? And I said, I will make whatever work that works for you guys, right? Like at this, I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna choose the time I'll do either. And uh so he said Saturday at noon. At this point, remember, I hadn't slept, took a red eye home, found out our CEO was sleeping, and the rest of the organization didn't know other than the board and our head of HR. And I just agreed with no sleep to to interview on Saturday at noon. So I went home and went to sleep at like four o'clock in the afternoon and woke up at midnight, prepped to interview for CEO. Oh my word. Went back to sleep, came in and interviewed at noon. There's a part of the story that I think is important, um, before I cut it, say what happened after that, that I think is important. I don't tell this very often, which is this is actually the second time I interviewed to be CEO at Nana Valley. So when Jeff was hired, I was encouraged to put my name in. And so I went through uh in 2022 to three the interview process to be CEO and was not selected and celebrated with Jeff that he was because I enjoyed working with him tremendously. So I had gone through that experience. I was totally fine that I wasn't selected because I didn't feel like I was the person at that point in time, and I learned a ton. And then, you know, a couple of years later, here's my moment to interview. I kept for the interview. It was like a two and a half hour long, full interview to be a CEO interview. And I left it and I remember I came into our building. I live in Lafarge, um, where our headquarters is. And so I came into the building to interview on a Saturday afternoon virtually, right? Um, and I remember leaving the building and I called my husband and I said, I put it all out there. Like I literally said what I felt and how I felt this organization needed to continue forward. And I said, I can accept no matter what the decision is. If it's it's not me, if it's interim, if it's CEO, like I accept it. Like I felt very, very good about it. The cool piece of the story is the board president called me an hour later on a Saturday afternoon and offered me a job. And then we started communicating to our employees on Monday. So really cool ending. But like I think the in-between chapters that we often don't talk about of like the fact that I actually had applied and was told that it wasn't needed that time. That's important to know.

SPEAKER_00 27:02

That is important. I didn't know that. That is that is super important, and I hope people are listening because it's not easy to interview and be told no, and then to show up and to celebrate with that other person, welcome them in, train them up in a lot of cases, um, and to and to feel excited to learn from them, but also some cool things about timing there, but knowing and then stepping back in and saying, and stepping back up, you know, and in and not in a resentful way, yeah, but in a like, this is my time to really shine, and I I feel more prepared than ever to know that this is my spot to take this time.

SPEAKER_01 27:48

And boy, can I tell the difference between first interview through and second, right? And so, like just recognizing how much I had learned and how much I had grown in that period of time, I think it's really, really important. And so, like if somebody's out there and listening to us and having this wonderful conversation and they've gone through that of like that wasn't the goal, and you're second guessing like, is this for me? Yeah, maybe it is. Maybe you're maybe that was intended to be a learning, or maybe it's next time. Um, so like keep developing and things will evolve and work out. They have a wonderful way of working out as they should.

SPEAKER_00 28:27

Yeah, I think that's a really beautiful story. I I I didn't know that coming into this, and I'm just like, wow, what a what an even more powerful story and lessons within that, because it is really easy right now to be in the world of instant gratification and looking to move on after that. Nope, it wasn't mine. I'm not gonna show up, I'm gonna leave. And so, some really, some really cool things to take away from that. Uh thing, if I may.

SPEAKER_01 28:53

Um, so when you get offered to be a CEO, you also start thinking about when in life is the right time. Like, when is it right in my life to be a CEO? And so I am a mom uh with a high school age son. And so if you ask me, I'd be like, well, once my son's graduated, would be the perfect time because I'd have, you know, all of this time that would be added back. Uh nope. Uh my son was going from freshman to sophomore year. He's gonna be a junior this upcoming year, uh, when I got the opportunity. And so I called my husband and I was like, I don't know how I'm gonna do all of this. I really think it's important. And my husband agreed to retire and ensure that life at home was gonna be the balance that we hoped it to be.

SPEAKER_00 29:43

I love that.

SPEAKER_01 29:44

So I get to be the mom that makes it to all the football games, all the basketball games, all the baseball games, and we have the balance that we were hoping for while I'm able to do it. So, like that. That's the other thing that I think is hard is like we wait for the time that we think is perfect instead of just figuring out what are those boundaries and what are those pieces to make it work perfectly for us.

SPEAKER_00 30:09

In all the different spaces in our life. Because I I do there's actually a really interesting stat about, you know, as women move into executive level roles and it goes back to sponsorship, you know, do they have the capacity to fully invest in the people below them to bring them up because they're typically holding space not just for that executive role, but for all these other pieces in their life, right? And so a lot of times it's not it's it's really hard to be in an executive chair and hold space for all the development and all the individuals to bring up with you. And so I I think it's a really strong example of how you how you how you've done that and how you've done that in a really beautiful way to also make it work for your family to be able to show up in all those different ways.

SPEAKER_01 31:02

I think we all feel like we're not showing up sometimes, if we're gonna be honest with ourselves, right? You can think of any given week where things go really well or really bad uh from a balanced perspective, right? And so I'm I am probably the biggest critic to myself, as many people are. As we all are, yeah. Um, but I think the the the people that you surround yourself with, um, and being able to be vulnerable and really like own where you're showing up and where you're not, and like how to work through it. So like being able to be comfortable enough with my husband to say, I don't think I can balance everything and still achieve what I'm hoping to. Like, how do we make that work versus how do I make that work? I'm glad I learned that someplace along the line. I I don't know how, or it was probably a lot of bumps and bruises to get to that point.

SPEAKER_00 31:53

But we all, I mean, to your point, you have to be very selective about who you surround yourself with and who you listen to, because there's a lot of noise out there, and I I do think that we're our own worst critic. Our our own criticism tends to be the loudest and at the forefront. So typically it's find those people that can be real with you, but also, you know, shine some light and into your own space, make you the best leader that you can be. Okay. There's this whole other aspect of be that I I want to touch on. I don't want to skim over. Um there's a lot to unpack in this second part, but like as you're sitting in this seat, and I I also heard you say, man, let me go back real quick because I I think I could spend an hour asking you about how that interview went and and all the different pieces of that interview. But I heard you say one thing, and that's I was able to share with them where I want this organization to go and what I believe needed to happen to do that, which leads us into the hard decisions of a CEO. I mean, ultimately the decision stops with you, right? And how the reality of leadership and thinking about your farmers, your employees, your consumers, and customers. And we could take this into another 20 minutes, but walk us through what it means for you stepping into that chair and now having the decision end with you, but also thinking about the evolving dairy space and what organic valley needs to be sustainable into the future.

SPEAKER_01 33:22

Absolutely. So it was interesting for me because I know the decision stops with me now. But I approached decision making before from an organizational perspective that was ingrained on me early on, is like we all have the interest in the function that we're doing. But you have to think about it from the mission and from the farmer and from the brand perspective. And so while now, yes, it does stop with me, it didn't feel so like that's one of the things that I find fascinating about my transition is it changed, and I recognize that from a role in authority and all of the set that goes with its standpoint. But like it was ingrained on me early in my career to always think like you're in that chair, to think about the different inputs of like I'm I'm in membership, but I have to think from the customer and consumer lens, even if you're in membership, or I need to think about it from the employee lens, even if I'm in membership. And so while the final say is there, yes, yeah. Um, and that was different, it didn't really change my decision-making process. And so the learning for that from me is like always think beyond the seat that you're in that day and the role that you're in that day, to what is the organization trying to accomplish? What's our mission? What's our vision? How do I play a role in that? And I think that that will help as you hone in. And if if your goals are advancement and to get that next title or role or whatever it is, I think thinking from the organizational perspective always is helpful when you're doing that.

unknown 34:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 34:58

Thinking like the owner, yeah. Every decision has a broader impact for sure. Okay, so being in the Sharna's, you think about Organic Valley, there's a lot happening in the dairy space. If if you didn't know, let me share. Yes. Um, you know, how do you balance what's a consumer trend versus what do you respond to? And I know you have some hot new products that have just come out. We'd love for you to share with us a little bit about how you make that balance and also maybe like tee up for our listeners what should they be looking for on the grocery store shelves?

SPEAKER_01 35:31

Oh, that's some fun stuff. Uh so let's go back into a little bit of history. So uh Crop Cooperative, which is the cooperative that has the organic valley brand, was founded in 1988. And it was a group of farmers that recognized that economic stability was going to be critical to allow for family farming to exist. And so in the 1980 farm crisis, right, it was very much needed. If we look at what's going on today, still very relevant in creating economic stability for the farm through the use of our organic valley brand. And so when I think about the decision making, when I think about uh the future, I'm thinking about how do we keep family farms? Last year, 15,000 farms went out of business. And so that is a statistic that we need to do something about. And that's so when I think at the core of everything, it's how do we continue to provide opportunity? How do we create independence? How do we ensure that the cooperative model is serving the owners? And then the brand allows us to take that premium product. So we were organic uh before the definition of organic existed and actually helped write the definition and how organic works today. And so a lot of where we're seeing food come at from today's perspective is what we've been talking about for uh 38 years now, right? Is how do we make sure that we're connecting that farmer with the consumer? How do we make sure that we're producing the food in a way a consumer would want to know about that whole path? How do we make sure that there's as few of ingredients as possible on that ingredient deck? How do we make sure that the dairy that you're purchasing you feel good about all the way back to the farmers that are the owners and the producers of it? And so what I love is that as we talk to consumers these days, uh they continue to want to learn and evolve as we're doing that with their brand. And so a lot of our innovation is coming in size and format and showing up in the way that a consumer is looking for, whether that's protein or butter fat or all of those elements of really good dairy.

SPEAKER_00 37:51

Share with our listeners, just because I I don't want to mess up the name of it, but share with them the newest product to launch.

SPEAKER_01 37:58

So we've had a few this year. Um pretty excited. Uh we have Organic Valley Protein Plus. Uh, so it's got 50% more protein, 50% less sugar. So if you're looking at the protein in your diet, take a look at that one. We've also had some snack sticks from a cheese perspective. So we have a cold jack and we have a medium cheddar that came out. Uh we have butter with olive oil, so a nice spread. The taste is wonderful. Try cooking with it. Uh, did some of that this weekend and it was a super fun. And then our string cheese took on a new look um last month. And so bluey is on our string cheese. So if you have uh young kids or even those that just love bluey, because there's a few of those in our building too, they even have the little characters on the individual string cheese. Do they packing your lunchbox and being able to take like Bluey or Muffin or bingo to school?

SPEAKER_00 38:50

Oh, I'm so excited. So we we have the the last version, just the original string cheese in our fridge right now. For those listeners, I have two little ones. And I am like heading to the grocery store after this. And so I'm gonna be looking, we're heading for a camping trip this weekend, and um, I'm gonna look for the bluey ones.

SPEAKER_01 39:09

You have to let me know. I'm kind of keeping on an unofficial tab of which characters uh get consumed first. So you'll have to go.

SPEAKER_00 39:17

Oh this is good feedback. All right, even for our listeners, a good challenge. Which uh which characters do the kids like the most and uh go for?

SPEAKER_01 39:26

I my son's a little past the the bluey time period, and so we haven't watched that quite as much as as some of the things, you know, when he was a kid 10, 15 years ago.

SPEAKER_00 39:38

There's plenty of little ones out there. I'm sure you guys will be getting the feedback, but I'll I'll for sure offer that to you. Okay, so as before we close up though, there is, I don't, this is I don't want this to be like a the I want this to end on a very optimistic note, but like you mentioned the stat of so many family farms closing. And I, you know, I would be remiss if I didn't ask, like, what has to be true for the next generation to want to say yes? And as you look through it as through your lens of the cooperative, the sons and daughters of the farms right now and deciding whether they're gonna take over the family business, what I think a lot of people don't know is that dairy farms are still very much family-owned. Like, I don't know if people know how dairy comes to the market, but it is very much still a family business. And as you said, those numbers, protecting those numbers from your chair, what has to be true for the next generation of dairy farmers to want to say yes.

SPEAKER_01 40:38

So the first thing to me is how do we create economic stability for farmers? And so that was at the core of our mission statement. Uh, like I said, it's still relevant today. Uh, they often say that the hardest walk for a farmer is to the mailbox because they don't know what that number is gonna be. And so one of our core founding principles was we put out our price sheet to our farmers at the beginning of the year so that they can plan what those expenditures are and that they can understand how they're gonna cash flow. I think we need to celebrate when farmers make money and are able to reinvest into the infrastructure of their farms. I think it goes beyond that, though, and this is what we've created here at Organic Valley, where the farmers are the owners of the cooperative, of course, and they create the governance and the direction of the Organic Valley brand. And so it's it's an independent brand that supports the goals of the farmers who own the cooperative. And so to me, keeping the farmer's voice at the forefront so that they're shaping what their cooperative looks like and it serves their needs. And so, pretty cool, actually, today, a little later today, we have our under 40 farmers that are coming into the building for a summit. And so we're gonna bring them in, we're gonna go through our strategic plan, we're gonna go through our long-range planning with them, and we're gonna get their feedback. And so, how to stay relevant means getting the right people in the room and getting and making sure that we don't lose touch with who we are and why we do it. So it should be a really fun packed week uh with that group this week.

SPEAKER_00 42:15

I love that. I I selfishly would love to be in that room just to see, just to chat with like the farmers under 40 and and getting their perspective. I I love that. The you know, two final questions as we wrap up. The first one being, what are you still figuring out? So as you've reached, you know, do you sit there saying I've reached the pinnacle of my career? Like this is, you know, I'm cashing out after not, that's a bad way of saying it, but you know, I'm laying to rest after this and going cruising on my sunset of retirement. You know, but what are what are you still figuring out and what are you looking forward to?

SPEAKER_01 42:50

I am still learning a lot. Um, and it's interesting to me because even being asked to do this podcast, I was like, I don't know that I've quite got this figure out yet, right? I've had a lot of experiences that I think are helpful along the way. But I think there's like this this old saying of the older you get, the more you know, and the more you know you don't know, right? And so like I'm still figuring out a ton of stuff right now. Um, what's really coming to my mind is so 38 years, right? Co-op was born in 1988, and we've had four CEOs. However, our founding CEO, George Seaman, who started the cooperative, uh, was here until like seven years ago. And so, in a period of six years, we went through four CEOs, founder all the way to me. And so, what I've been spending a lot of time on are topics that help integrate. Like, how do you integrate that founder mindset? How do you integrate the cultural pieces with the realities of today? Because I, if you're like, if you own your own business, um, there's the own unique, you know, family business things, but with the Cooperative, you're bringing, I'm bringing 1,500 farmer voices, I'm bringing 800 employee voices, I'm bringing millions of consumer voices together. And so how do you how do you weave those things together when the mission and the vision is absolutely the same thing? But what the realities of doing so are vastly different, though the same kind of general things are causing. So I think about culture, business culture a lot. I think about change. I think about cascading through an organization, and how do we do that more effectively so that we're all making sure that we're growing in the same direction? And then I would be remiss if I didn't say I always look at uh personal big ones. Like how do I make sure that I'm managing my energy in the best way so that I show up in the best way possible too.

SPEAKER_00 44:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 44:53

And you have to.

SPEAKER_00 44:54

You know, you have to. I mean, I think it's really important to voice that out loud because I don't think a lot of people realize as a CEO of a large organization, what you have to have hold space for, right? It's not just executing on the bottom line and the numbers. And it's and especially in your you're in a highly kind of unique and matrix environment that you're having to look at all these different pieces of the co-op to your employees, to the consumers, that it's a lot of it's a lot of different you're all working towards one thing, but sometimes there's different lenses to look through it to make it all grow in the same direction. 100%. And so I do think it's underestimated and not talked about enough as a senior leader, how much you have to hold space while also protecting your own energy so that you can show up for everybody else and at the end of the day, deliver on the bottom line that you're owning.

SPEAKER_01 45:50

Exactly. I think the moment though that we start feeling like we've made it and there's nothing else to do is the time that we probably are looking at retirement. Right. And if we're because it's the energy in recognizing that this is always evolving and changing and that we're we're continuing to shape, whether that's feedback for ourselves and things that we can learn, how we show up in different audiences and different spaces. And so to me, that's a little bit of the fun part is it's never complete. We're continuing to be on that mission and on that path.

SPEAKER_00 46:22

Yeah. If we, to your point, yeah, evolving and growing. And when we're not, it's time to, it's time to go sailing. Man, I said we weren't gonna use a full hour here, and here we are at the end. Um, two rapid fire questions. What should women stop apologizing for? Women of food.

SPEAKER_01 46:40

Do you have an answer for this? Yes, feeling guilty for being not enough. And enough, like we can all define enough for ourselves.

SPEAKER_00 46:50

Yeah, when is enough enough?

SPEAKER_01 46:52

But but we are enough, and we need to give ourselves that grace sometimes.

SPEAKER_00 46:58

I love that. And then is there one other woman in the F and B industry you think our listeners should know?

SPEAKER_01 47:05

I think your listeners should tune into things like this right here, because it's not just one. I pick from different people all the time. And so make sure that you're putting yourself in a position to hear from many. And so I'll be with you at Females in the in Food Summit this fall. And so, like, those are the sorts of things. Be in those rooms, experience those things, and like you might not resonate with everybody, and everybody might not give you the piece of insight you need, but I'm often surprised at how much time you hear the right thing at the right time.

SPEAKER_00 47:40

Yeah, right, right when we need it. Yeah, I am so grateful for everything you shared with us, Day. We went down quite the journey in in 48 minutes here of your personal career to the career transitions, the pivots, uh, moving into that CEO role and the decisions and the weight that it carries, but also looking forward into the dairy space. If individuals want to connect with you offline, where should they connect with you or learn more about Organic Valley? We'll also add it to the show notes, whatever you wherever you want people to connect LinkedIn.

SPEAKER_01 48:14

So, me personally, uh, you can find me under my name, Shauna Nelson, or Organic Valley. We'll have amazing information. Send me an email and connect that way if you'd like.

SPEAKER_00 48:25

Or come see her on the stage at the FIF Summit in November.

unknown 48:28

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 48:29

I love it. Well, Shauna, thank you so much again uh for sharing your insights, your energy with us today. Like I said, I feel humbly grateful to have been able to share, share this space with you today, but also feel really excited for our listeners to be listening in and learning from you. Because at the end of the day, we're not just making food, we're making moves. We're women who make it. Thank you so much. 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 femalesandfood.community. We're not just making food, we're making moves. We're women who make it.