Episode 62: From Farmers’ Market to Manufacturing: Building Made with Local with Sheena Russell, Founder & CEO.

What does it look like to build a proudly Canadian snack brand from a farmers’ market table all the way to owning your own production facility?In this episode, we sit down with Sheena Russell, Founder & CEO of Made with Local, for a behind-the-scenes conversation on building a CPG brand rooted in real food, local sourcing, and a whole lot of persistence.Made with Local started at a farmers’ market in 2012, with Sheena selling bars made with simple ingredients that actually tasted good. People bought them, loved them, and kept coming back. In this episode, Sheena shares the journey from those early market days, to working with a contract manufacturer, to eventually building her own manufacturing facility just north of Halifax.As an East Coast–based brand with deep roots in locally sourced Canadian ingredients, Made with Local stands out for more than just its products. Sheena opens up about the realities of launching and scaling a food business, the challenges of manufacturing, and what it means to stay committed to your values while growing a brand in today’s CPG landscape.We get into:• Starting at the farmers’ market and learning directly from early customers• The transition from handmade production to working with a contract manufacturer.• What it took to build and operate a manufacturing facility in Nova ScotiaIt’s part founder story, part manufacturing journey, part CPG reality check, and fully grounded in what it takes to build a brand that’s made in Canada and made with purpose.MADE WITH LOCAL