Emerging Brands Podcast

As a third generation farmer and VP of Agriculture, Bryce Lundberg continues a legacy that began in 1937: a promise to leave the land better than he found it. Alongside him, CEO Suzanne Sengelmann leverages 30 years of brand building expertise, including leadership roles at Clorox and Angie's Boomchickapop, to transform this nearly 100 year old family farm into a consumer relevant powerhouse. Toge...

Co-founders Oliver Sindlev and Frederic Naayem are longtime food and beverage entrepreneurs who noticed a persistent problem in the confection aisle. For too long, "healthier" candy felt like a compromise in flavor, while legacy brands remained stuck in a cycle of artificial ingredients and refined sugars. To bridge this gap, they launched Smood Sweets, a modern brand that uses real fruit as the h...

When Ani Widham founded Nurtured with Nature in 2023, she set out to solve a problem every busy parent faces: the difficulty of finding quick, stress-free meals that are actually healthy. Frustrated by the "scary," unrecognizable ingredients found in most packaged foods, Ani created a brand rooted in radical simplicity. Its flagship frozen pancakes are made with just four unprocessed organic ingre...

When Pooja Bavishi founded Malai in 2015, she set out to do more than just make dessert; she wanted to be in the business of delivering happiness. Inspired by the aromatic spices of her first-generation Indian-American upbringing—like ginger, saffron, and cardamom—Pooja has built a Brooklyn-based brand that is revolutionizing the frozen treat category. By blending rich cultural heritage with innov...

For husband-and-wife team Sarah and Brett Bowlin, years of long-distance hiking and remote travel led to a frustrating realization: the beauty of the landscape rarely matched the quality of the food in their packs. Tired of nutritionally empty, overly processed meals that felt disconnected from the joy of a shared table, they founded Bowl & Kettle. Based in Colorado, the company is redefining outd...

When Kimberle Lau became lactose and egg intolerant and faced a high risk for breast cancer, she didn't give up on her love for treats; she reinvented them. As an Asian American mom of two, Kimberle turned her personal health journey into a mission-driven business. Today, Bake Me Healthy is a leader in the allergy-friendly space, proving that indulgent baking can be both inclusive and sustainable....

In 2018, Kiernan Laughlin co-created Deep Indian Kitchen, scaling it into the #1 frozen Indian brand in the U.S. and reaching over 26,000 stores. Building on that success, he created and launched Deep Brands in 2026, a family of cuisine-focused brands dedicated to increasing accessibility for global flavors. As General Manager, Kiernan brings 20 years of CPG leadership from giants like Unilever an...

When Liz Zwillinger and her co-founder Joey Zwillinger looked at the supplement industry, they saw a glaring gap in how women's health was being addressed. Most products offered a one-size-fits-all approach, ignoring the profound ways a woman's nutritional needs shift across different life stages. This realization led to the birth of Biologica, a wellness brand dedicated to creating science-backed...

After moving to the U.S. from Lebanon in 2020, Karim Khalil noticed that labneh on American shelves didn't resemble the traditional version he grew up with. Drawing on his background in engineering and global operations, he founded Yaza to bring authentic, thoughtfully redefined Mediterranean foods to the market. Yaza provides the cleanest labneh by using centuries-old straining methods instead of...

When Esther Hallam couldn't find a clean, organic formula option for her own daughter, she didn't just settle for what was on the shelf; she used her decades of product management expertise to build a better one. With a career spanning giants like Google, Gilt, and Travelocity, Esther applied the same rigorous problem-solving approach to the nursery. Today, as the Founder and CEO of Nara Organics,...

Jessica Dimcevski didn't set out to build another bloated, political agency. As the Founder and Creative Director of Blurr Bureau, she created an independently owned global brand studio designed to move at the high-velocity speed modern founders actually need. Operating between New York and Australia, Jessica has pioneered a "venture partner" model that assembles world-class talent specifically fo...

Caroline Foulk didn't set out to join the beer industry. A graduate of USC's Narrative Writing program, her early career was spent on national tours with artists like The Isley Brothers and Marc E. Bassy. But when the pandemic paused the music industry in 2020, a "temporary" stint helping her family launch Wagon Wheel Brewing Company turned into a six-year obsession with the business of brewing. A...

For over 14 years, John Scheer has sat at the intersection of business strategy, culture, and creative systems. As the Co-founder and Chief Creative Officer of Herman-Scheer, he has become a trusted advisor to founders and CEOs looking to shape the future of health, wellness, and human performance. Based in Los Angeles, his strategic branding consultancy doesn't just build brands; it transforms th...

When best friends and sorority sisters Sydney Attis and Mikayla Garcia graduated from Arizona State University, they didn't just leave with degrees, they left with a creative partnership that would eventually disrupt the beverage industry. After cutting their teeth running a social media marketing agency, the duo realized they wanted to apply their storytelling expertise to a tangible product of t...

When Rebecca Schwartz Smith became a mother, she realized that while the world focuses on the baby, the mother's recovery is often an afterthought. Despite the significant nutrient depletion that follows childbirth, Rebecca found a market saturated with lactation-only products, leaving a massive gap for full-spectrum postpartum healing. Drawing on over a decade of brand-building experience, she fo...

In 2017, Veronica del Rosario and her co-founder Matt Michaelson started with a simple, high-stakes mission in a tiny NYC kitchen: to stop feeding cats "mystery meat." Today, Smalls has transformed from a home-cooked experiment into a full-scale movement, redefining what it means to care for a cat in the modern world. As Co-founder and Chief Brand Officer, Veronica has been the visionary behind a...

When Hailey Swartz co-founded Actual Veggies in 2020, she wasn't looking for a lab-grown "bleeding" burger. Instead, she and her co-founder, Jason, set out to solve a common frustration: a grocery aisle filled with highly processed, bland, and preservative-heavy imitation meats. Driven by a mission to make real food as craveable as it is nutritious, Hailey has led the brand from a kitchen-table id...

In Part 3 of this week's recap of Expo West, I'm joined one last time by Danielle Calabrese, founder of It's All Happening , to close out our coverage of the industry's biggest event. After diving into community and strategy, we're shifting our focus to the "what"—the actual products, ingredients, and innovations that defined the show floor in 2026. In this final episode, we break down the most im...

In Part 2 of this week's recap of Expo West, I'm back with Danielle Calabrese, founder of It's All Happening , to take you directly onto the show floor. While Part 1 was about the massive community events, this episode explores the strategic reality for early-stage brands navigating the world's largest natural products trade show. We're going behind the scenes of what it looks like when emerging b...

This week on Emerging Brands Podcast®, I am kicking off a high-energy, 3-part recap of Natural Products Expo West 2026. To dive into the highlights, I'm joined by my friend and co-host Danielle Calabrese, founder of It's All Happening , to pull back the curtain on the community moments that defined the show. In Part 1, we're recapping the activations we helped bring to life in Anaheim—from high-st...

From her early days as a pastry chef to her two decades at Whole Foods Market, Holly Long has spent her career championing the people behind the products. As the former Principal Forager for Whole Foods, Holly became a legendary advocate for local and emerging brands, guiding them through the complexities of market entry. Today, she brings that same passion for community to her role as the Directo...

After noticing the soft drink category had remained stagnant and uninspired for decades, Olly Dixon co-founded Something & Nothing to disrupt the status quo. He saw a landscape filled with sugar-heavy, over-processed options and realized people were craving something more elevated. By blending high-end design with cleaner ingredients, Olly set out to prove that a soda could be both a sophisticated...

I'm coming to you live from Natural Products Expo West with Chrissy Teigen, inside the Cravings by Chrissy Teigen booth! Over the past year, Cravings has become one of the fastest-growing pantry brands in the category. Its non-GMO baking mixes have emerged as a major growth engine, expanding into national retailers like Kroger and Thrive Market, along with regional leaders including HEB and Raley'...

Sam Niemann has been a gardener for as long as he can remember. From sneaking out as a teenager to ride his bike to the local garden center to working in horticulture ever since, Sam's life has been defined by the joy of growing things. He founded Bleume with a singular, heartfelt goal: to inspire others to experience that same joy by making plant care simpler and more connected. Based in Chicago,...

After a career in the legal world, Emily Cole Groden set out to solve a common breakfast dilemma: the choice between a quick meal and a nutritious one. Driven by a desire for clean-label options for her own family, Emily launched Evergreen to prove that frozen convenience doesn't have to mean compromising on ingredients or flavor. Evergreen is a better-for-you frozen breakfast brand reimagining th...