NexxtLevel Brands Podcast

Lindsey Cunningham is the Co-founder and CEO of RollinGreens , a brand that offers tasty, plant-based, clean label food. She was born into an entrepreneurial family in Scarsdale, New York and grew up with the dream of having her own restaurant. She is persistent, passionate and a risk taker.  Lindsey graduated from the University of Colorado Boulder with a BS in Journalism Broadcast News. After tw...

Hema Reddy is the Founder and CEO of Crafty Counter, a food company that specializes in nutrient-dense food that also is pleasing to the taste buds. Their flagship product, Wunder Nuggets, provides a well-balanced meal contained in every serving. Crafty Counter is designed to help flexitarian families have better choices so that they can help long term health and still have a positive impact on ou...

Encore Presentation from 2020: Ryne O'Donnell is the Founder of Sol-ti, a living beverage company. Ryne’s personal obsession with health and well-being along with the undeniable benefits of good, organic food and juice had on his body made him realize that there was a lack of quality options for travelers. This, coupled with the incessant infiltration of plastic packaging got Ryne thinking that it...

Encore Presentation: Katherine Harvey is the Co-founder of Bare Bones , a San Diego based nutrition company offering a full menu of protein-infused products including ready to use bone broth, collagen protein powder, and instant bone broth beverage mixes. After three years as a business reporter at the San Diego Union Tribune, Kate left journalism and took the leap into the food industry to run Ba...

Encore from July 2020:  Marc Siden is the CEO of Cloud Water Brands. He is also a former Co-Founder and CEO of Onboard Informatics, a self-funded real estate technology company that pioneered the dissemination of online real estate data to businesses like Zillow, Trulia, and Chase Bank, among others. He was also an Advisory Board Member for NabeWise Media and Scout Ventures.  Marc Siden is a Found...

Elliot Begoun is a 30-year industry veteran. He's an author and Founder of TIG Brands, a practice focused on helping emerging natural product brands grow. TIG as a customized one-to-one accelerator that positions natural product brands to raise capital, prove velocity, gain distribution, and scale.  Elliot is a prolific speaker and writer in his industry. You can see and hear more of his works at...

Jamie Valenti-Jordan is the Founder and CEO of Catapult Commercialization Services, a one-stop shop for food startups. He founded the company in March of 2018 in response to the industry-wide trend of cutting the talent needed to bring new products to life.  Jamie has a passion for confronting unique food challenges that combine scientific tools, engineering and operations realities, and business...

Encore Presentation Brian Tate is the Founder and CEO of Oats Overnight. He studied at the Grande Valley University for two years before leaving to pursue professional poker. After more than a decade of playing high-stakes poker, he took his passion for risk, analytics, and game theory and applied that expertise where it was needed: the crowded breakfast foods industry. As a health and fitness ent...

Encore Presentation: In this episode, we’re welcoming back Alex Bayer, Co-Founder and CEO of Genius Juice for an update. Genius Juice was featured on Shark Tank, they received Bevnet Smoothie of the Year, and Alex is now the host of two podcasts –15 Minutes of Genius and Friday Vibes, and he’s here to tell us about the latest news and progress around Genius Juice. Genius Juice is the world's first...

Encore: Today I’m welcoming back Michael Movitz, of the Movitz group, and co- founding partner of Brandjectory, a one-of-a-kind relationship-building platform for early-stage CPG founders and investors to help discover each other. We last spoke in October of 2020, so we have plenty to hear about Brandjectory and its journey since then. Michael's career includes 16 years with SPINS at various senio...

Encore Presentation: Najwa Khan is the Founder of dalci, a line of gut-healthy brownies. Najwa started the company after struggling to find healthy snacks that could satisfy her craving for sweets. She has over 10 years of experience in the health and wellness space, having worked in various roles for nonprofits, market research firms, healthcare and technology startups, and DTC wellness brands. S...

Matt Weiss is the Founder and CEO of RIND Snacks, a better-for-you snack company focused on whole fruit nutrition. After a nearly two-decade career in finance, Matt launched RIND Snacks in 2017 and returned to his family's health food roots. His passion for whole foods snacking was inspired by lessons he learned from his great-grandmother, Helen Seitner, a health food pioneer who operated a well-k...

In this Encore  episode we are following up with one of our previous guests, Will Nitze, Founder and CEO of IQBar. We last spoke to Will before the pandemic, so our discussion will cover the last few years and what’s been happening at IQBar, the pandemic and how it affected the company, and future ideas for new product categories. IQBar’s mission is to empower doers with superior brain and body nu...

In this Encore Podcast episode, I speak with Dave Zilko , Co-Founder of Skinny Butcher.  You’ll hear the amazing origin story of the “plant poultry” brand that was founded after Dave and his partner Jack built and sold Garden Fresh salsa to Campbell Soups for $231M. Dave shares his passion for Skinny Butcher’s sustainability focus, hopes for a global flexitarian society, the fun marketing and bran...

Encore Presentation: My guest today is Austin Kelly, CEO at Willamette Valley Pie Company in Oregon. I speak with Austin about how Willamette is growing their business– carefully self-financing, planning their expansion slowly and naturally.  Their products occupy a premium, artisanal spot in the frozen pie category, and continue to be hand-crafted from berries grown and frozen in their family-own...

Today we’re speaking with David Cisneros, co-founder of WES and Origo Brands, and taking an enlightening journey through the world of Hispanic food brands.  David shares his transition from attorney to successful food brand entrepreneur. You’ll hear about David’s travels to Latin America and how he is shaking up the US market with new and authentic flavors. In the discussion, David imparts valuabl...

In this Encore episode we are following up with one of our previous guests, Stephen Caldwell. Stephen fell in love with Swiss Röstis in his travels and brought this delicious Bern tradition back home. He and his wife Lory have been perfecting the recipe and serving them to family and friends ever since. Rosti Stuft Spuds have been on a white-hot trajectory since the company started in 2019.  For 2...

Encore Presentation: Did you know that humans are hard-wired to crave calorie-dense foods at bedtime? This traces all the way back to prehistoric times.  Currently, over 80% of Americans snack regularly at night, and every week, over 700 million nighttime snacks are consumed resulting in a weekly spend of over $1B. The most popular nighttime snack choices are known to be unhealthy and also disrupt...

Caroline MacDougall is the Founder and CEO of Teeccino Caffe, a unique line of herbal roasted coffees and teas with several wellness benefits. She is also a natural products industry pioneer with over 40 years of entrepreneurial experience in developing herbal teas for top companies such as Yogi, The Republic of Tea, and Organic India.  Caroline began her career with Celestial Seasonings, sourcing...

Encore Presentation from early 2020 - Amy Lacey is the Owner and Founder of Cali’flour. Amy set out to re-imagine her favorite foods and created a no-mess no-stress, cauliflower pizza crust to satisfy her cravings without sacrificing her health. No longer able to enjoy pizza night with her family, Amy set out to re-imagine her favorite foods and created a no-mess no-stress, cauliflower pizza crust...

Encore Presentation - Kelly Egan is the Co-founder of True Salt, an all-natural, unprocessed sea salt serving hospitality and grocery accounts nationwide. He is a marketing and venture development veteran with experience in Fortune 100 companies as well as high-growth startups.  Brian Pierce is the Co-founder of True Salt. He has decades of expertise in hospitality, owning his own restaurants, and...

Encore Presentation ‘Get Your Brand PR Started!! – Gloria Chou on the NexxtLevel Brands Podcast! Steve’s guest this week is Gloria Chou , Consumer Products PR expert, mentor and pitch expert.  Gloria talks today about how important Public Relations is; how it is different than advertising and also, how Founders and small team members can actually do their own PR.   Steve starts off by making the c...

Encore Presentation: Daniel Smith enjoyed healthy snacks while studying at school.  He loved flavored almonds - but what a mess! I’m sure you are familiar with that salty, greasy hand scenario when you finish off a package of Blue Diamond nuts, for instance. That’s how his idea for infused almonds came about.  As founder and CEO of Recipe 33, Daniel set out to innovate a largely stagnant category....

Encore Presentation - My guest today is Chris Smith, Co-Founder of Humblemaker Coffee.  Its mission is not just to create craft premium coffee, but to shape an incredible future for children living with autism through opportunities to experience surfing, music, and the great outdoors. Humblemaker is on a journey to create coffee products and beverages for wellness-minded people who share a passion...

Encore Presentation. Is there a food or product that you wish you could find in the grocery store or your local health food market? Why not try creating it yourself? Juan and David, the co-founders of ChipMonk Baking, did just that.  ChipMonk is a specialty baking business that focuses on creating low-carb, no added sugar desserts. Their mission, which originated from Juan’s experiences reversing...