Owning Your Legacy

In this episode of Owning Your Legacy, Laurette is joined by Andrea Schwenk, the chief marketing officer of Egglife Foods, and Denise Senter, Edlong’s chief commercial officer. Both Andrea and Denise have extensive marketing experience, Andrea’s primarily in the food and beverage space with brands like SkinnyGirl Cocktails and Buffalo Wild Wings, while Denise cut her teeth with tech companies in S...

“Go look up ‘Desmond Clark combine stats,’ and as you scroll down, you're going to see a big fat ‘F.’ 37 out of 100 was my score. 36 out of 100…the thing is, is this: they can't measure heart.” — Desmond Clark In this episode of Owning Your Legacy,  Laurette has the privilege to sit down with former Chicago Bear turned-entrepreneur Desmond Clark and Mike Natale, the global platform leade...

You can’t be precious about ideas. You have to share them, express them, and get feedback from the start. In this episode of Owning Your Legacy , I sit down with David Jones, the co-founder and Chief Creative Officer of Third Street Attention Agency and one of Edlong’s creative partners, to discuss how to embrace criticism and learn from it. David has led his team to Addy and Clio award-winning wo...

Limiting beliefs keep us from achieving our own potential. In this episode of Owning Your Legacy , I sit down with my dear friend, Dr. Suzanne Johnson, who is the vice president of consumer R&D for the North American division of McCormick and Company. Suzanne and I have been each other’s advocates through many of life’s challenges: deaths, births, loves, kids, and career challenges. We talk ab...

Your vision and strategy will not serve you unless you can execute them the right way. In this episode of Owning Your Legacy, I'm excited to welcome Bobi Siembieda, the co-founder of The Traction Group, a team of certified EOS or Entrepreneurial Operating System Implementers, based on the best-selling book Traction by Gino Wickman. Bobi has worked directly with the Edlong executive team to he...

Kindness and its power cannot be underestimated. In this episode of Owning Your Legacy, Laurette sits down with Dr. Sarah Evans, who has a Ph. D. in industrial and organizational psychology, to talk about the misconceptions of kindness that are still persistent within organizations and why modeling kindness in the workplace is so critical for success. Sarah’s consulting firm provides executive ass...

There is nothing more beautiful than feeling happy, confident, and in harmony with your life—but it takes hard, consistent work to get there. In today’s episode of Owning Your Legacy, I welcome Amy Banas, founder of Just Amy (and my personal hair and makeup artist!), to discuss how we can find true happiness in our personal and professional lives. With nearly 30 years in the beauty world, Amy’s ow...

It’s no secret that company culture is everything, but how do you guarantee an incredible one? In today’s episode, Laurette sits down with Colleen Soukup, who recently retired from her role as chief procurement officer at General Mills, to discuss the driving force behind her commitment to empowering her staff and how to unlock the ultimate culture of excellence. Colleen has been recognized for he...

Owning your legacy starts with owning your narrative. In this episode, Laurette sits down with Tiffany Willis, who discusses her experience of being a single mom dealing with homelessness to becoming the current Vice President, Head of Investor Relations for Starbucks. When Tiffany shared her powerful story on LinkedIn, her post went viral . Today, she’s highlighting the importance of embracing ev...

Can your customers trust you? Can your people? In this episode of Owning Your Legacy, Laurette sits down to discuss the core importance of building a foundation of trust in business with Dan Callahan and Paul Masline. Dan’s decades-long background in IT has had a direct positive impact on Edlong’s evolution in customer engagement and technology implementation over the years, and his expertise cont...

Host Laurette Rondenet is back with Season 2 of Owning Your Legacy with even more amazing guests and important conversations. In the premiere episode of this season, Laurette sits down with Lena Lewis, a top marketing executive in the food industry who has worked at brands like Ferrara and Mars, to discuss how to create an environment of belonging in the workplace.  Lena shares her personal experi...

As leaders, our job is to create an environment where our great people can shine and prosper. In this episode of Owning Your Legacy, Laurette is joined by Jessica Zweig, co-founder and CEO of the personal branding agency SimplyBe. in Chicago, and Dale Wytiaz, chief commercial officer at Edlong. They discuss what it means to be a leader and what it looks like to cultivate a culture of excellence: B...

Opportunity. Possibility. Hope. This is what representation gives women. Young girls need female professionals and role models to light the way. In this episode of Owning Your Legacy, Laurette is joined by her guests, Emily Smith, co-founder and board president of Female Strong and senior vice president of Bespoke Commercial Real Estate, as well as Brenda Dehart, a Female Strong board member and t...

Is empathy a core leadership skill? We think so. In this episode of Owning Your Legacy, host Laurette Rondenet and her guests Pam Henderson, CEO and founder of NewEdge Consulting, and Sue Pils, chief people officer at Edlong, discuss the necessity of empathy in leadership. They touch on how leading with empathy can remove barriers, build trust, improve partnerships, and simply bring out the shine...

Laurette is joined by guest Michele Fite, Chief Commercial Officer at Motif FoodWorks, to discuss kicking doors open as a woman in the food and beverage industry. Michele has kicked a lot of doors open in her career, starting out as a marketer before getting recruited by Nestlé where her career in F&B took off. Currently, Michele leads a team as CCO at Motif FoodWorks, a food technology compan...

Laurette is joined by guest Brian Griffith, executive chairman at Griffith Foods, to discuss myths about family businesses. Both Laurette and Brian grew up witnessing their fathers lead and scale companies, and both felt called to join the family business. What a lot of people get wrong is that just because your father led the company, does not mean that he is going to hand it to you when you deci...

Laurette is joined by guests Nick Economos, co-founder, managing principle and chief retirement officer at Fiduciary Financial Partners, and Gail Scott, director of administration at Edlong, to discuss the topic of servant leadership. Their heartfelt conversation covers a lot of ground—from the importance of uplifting your team, to ensuring a mission is not just spoken but lived, to defining core...

Laurette Rondenet is joined by guest Nancy Gianni, chief belief officer and founder of Gigi's Playhouse, the only worldwide network of Down syndrome achievement centers. Together, they discuss the idea that "energy is everything." Energy is in us and all around us. We can choose the energy we wish to put out into the world and surround ourself with. And we must protect our energy in...

Host Laurette Rondenet and guests Charlie Saffro, president and founder of  CS Recruiting, and Sean Smith, president and co-founder of Third Street Attention Agency, discuss how to best navigate relationships in business and life. From working with your spouse to bringing vulnerability to leadership and the Circle of Trust, they cover a lot of ground in a short amount of time.  Plus, stay tuned af...

Join Laurette Rondenet, CEO and owner of Edlong Corporation, as she hosts intimate discussions with fellow leaders, visionaries, and trailblazers who are making an impact in their space. They go deep on topics like relationships, leadership, business growth. And, of course, what it means to own your legacy. Edlong is an innovative, globally-recognized food flavoring company. As a leader, Laurette’...