PODCAST · business
Emerging Brands Podcast
by Kelly Bennett
Welcome to Emerging Brands Podcast® with Kelly BennettThis is the podcast where you'll discover the stories behind your new favorite CPG brands. Each episode dives into the brand and founder journey—how they launched, what sets them apart, and the strategy behind going to market. We talk plans for growth, practical advice for emerging founders, and where to shop the products making waves in food, beverage, wellness, and beyond.You'll also hear from industry experts—brand builders, investors, and operators—who should absolutely be on your radar if you're growing a CPG brand today.Whether you're building something of your own or love supporting what's next, you're in the right place.
Episodes
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NoBiggie
Kids already love the bubbles and brightness of sparkling drinks, the fizz, the cold can, the flavors, yet nothing had been made just for them. Ali Weiss is the Co-Founder and CEO of NoBiggie, and Aytunc Atabek is her Co-Founder; together they are building a kids' beverage brand reimagining...
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Biom
Rethinking daily household essentials took on a whole new urgency when Will Gahagan decided to confront a hidden environmental crisis: the billions of pesticide- and microplastic-laden wet wipes clogging oceans and landfills every year. As Co-Founder and CEO of Biom, Will is revolutionizing a...
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Pet Life Unlimited
Lindsay Joyce is the President of Brand & Innovation at Pet Life Unlimited, where she leads a consumer-first mission to make the experience of dog parenting as rewarding as possible. Inspired by dog parents themselves, Lindsay and her team respond to long-ignored needs in the market, designing...
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Amara
Bridging the gap between fresh homemade baby food and shelf-stable convenience requires a total rethink of standard processing. Jess Sturzenegger is the Founder and CEO of Amara, a food technology company redefining organic nutrition for modern families. Founded in 2016, Amara uses a proprietary...
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The Cumin Club
Authentic regional Indian cuisine received a massive upgrade when Harish Visweswaran joined forces with co-founders Ragoth and Kiru to solve a major everyday dining challenge: how to bring wholesome, traditional Indian meals to busy consumers in a fast, convenient format. As Co-Founder and Lead…
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WILDE
Jason Wright, Founder and CEO of WILDE Protein Snacks, has completely redefined what protein snacking can be by building an entirely new category from scratch. Driven by a mission to rethink food after growing up around carb-heavy cooking and family diabetes, Jason spent nearly a decade in trial...
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SIMPLi
Sarela Herrada, Co-Founder and CEO of SIMPLi, is leading a broader movement to bring nutrient-dense, purpose-led pantry staples into everyday kitchens without compromising on quality or values. Founded in 2020 alongside her husband and co-founder Matt Cohen, SIMPLi was born during the pandemic…
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Munchkin
Disrupting a category requires a relentless commitment to innovation and a deep understanding of your audience. For over 30 years, Munchkin Inc. has done exactly that, growing into a global baby lifestyle powerhouse with over 350 patents, 250 design awards, and products sold in more than 50...
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ESW Beauty
The clean beauty category is fiercely competitive, but Elina Wang, Founder and CEO of ESW Beauty, has navigated the noise by creating a brand that bridges food-derived ingredients with clinical performance. Inspired by her personal healing journey, Elina launched the brand with a signature...
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Little Latke
Taylor Blue, Founder and CEO of Little Latke, has introduced an entirely new category to the crowded snack aisle by taking inspiration from a beloved family recipe. Inspired by the coveted, golden crispy edges of a traditional family latke, Taylor created the world's first shelf-stable potato...
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CPG Founders & Fundraising: A Live Recording From NY Tech Week
The fundraising landscape for consumer brands has completely shifted, moving away from hyper-growth milestones and focusing heavily on sustainable scale, margin efficiency, and true omni-channel traction. This episode was recorded live during NY Tech Week, bringing together the leading investment...
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Scoops
The functional food space is booming, but many protein options on the shelf still rely on artificial ingredients, heavy sugars, or outdated branding. Liz Lane, Founder and CEO of Scoops, is changing that by unlocking an overlooked, high-performance ingredient: peanuts. Scoops uses a proprietary...
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Stone & Skillet
For decades, the English muffin category has been dominated by mass-produced, uniform options that lack character and texture. Cameron Meekins, Co-Founder and CEO of Stone & Skillet, set out to change that by proving this breakfast staple deserves the exact same care, craft, and premium…
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SURI
Gyve Safavi, Co-Founder and CEO of SURI, is tackling an industry-wide waste problem head-on with a mission to transform oral care for both people and the planet. SURI creates beautifully designed, elevated everyday essentials that shift the focus from cheap disposability to long-term...
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PACHA
It is rare to find a food brand founded by a climate scientist, but Maddie Hamann is using her scientific background to completely change how we think about a kitchen staple. As Co-Founder and Director of Marketing at PACHA Bread, Maddie transitioned from a career in Earth Science (holding a PhD...
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SFT Consulting
High-growth CPG brands often hit a wall when their sales velocity outpaces their financial infrastructure. Elena Minton, Fractional CFO at SFT Consulting, operates precisely at this high-stakes intersection of finance and operations. With over 20 years of experience, including more than a decade...
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Yes Way Rosé
Long before they ever bottled a drop of wine, Erica Small and Nikki Huganir built a rosé-first movement. What started in 2013 as a lifestyle brand fueled by humor, design, and a shared love for pink wine has evolved into a massive consumer favorite. Today, Yes Way Rosé is a category leader…
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Boarderie
Gourmet gifting received a massive upgrade when Rachel Solomon Fascitelli set out to solve a major logistical puzzle: how to ship a fully arranged, picture-perfect charcuterie board across the country. As Co-Founder and Co-CEO of Boarderie, Rachel has helped build the fastest-growing edible…
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Legally Addictive Foods
A truly great snack is hard to find, but Laura Shafferman has cracked the code with a combination that is exactly what the brand name implies. As the Founder of Legally Addictive Foods, Laura has turned a unique recipe of crackers, salted toffee, chocolate, and sea salt into an insanely delicious...
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Better Sour
The candy aisle is getting a much-needed jolt of tart, globally inspired flavor. Bella Hughes, Co-founder and Chief Revenue Officer of Better Sour, is the entrepreneurial force behind the award-winning gummies that are shaking up the snack world. Born and raised in Hawai'i, Bella and her lifelong...
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Faire
The landscape of local commerce is being revitalized through the world's largest online wholesale marketplace. Jennifer Burke, Chief Revenue Officer at Faire, has been a driving force behind the platform's mission to connect independent brands with the retailers that help them grow. Since joining...
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PlantPaper
Most people use toilet paper several times a day without a second thought, but the environmental cost of traditional tree-based paper is staggering. Deeva Green (Co-Founder and Head of Sustainability) and Lee Reitelman (Co-Founder and CEO) are the duo behind PlantPaper, a brand that spent three...
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Lunr Capital
Navigating the financial demands of a national retail launch is one of the most significant hurdles for any emerging brand. Sam Stutzman and Jackie Bae of Lunr Capital are helping founders solve this puzzle through commitment based, non-dilutive inventory financing. By providing the capital…
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Love&Cookies
When Ashley Cameron's son was diagnosed with Kawasaki Disease, baking cookies became more than just a kitchen activity; it became a vital source of comfort and connection during a difficult recovery. Those family moments and recipes eventually grew into Love&Cookies, which has quickly become one…
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GIR
The way we interact with our homes is changing, and Suze Dowling is at the forefront of that shift. As the Co-Founder and Chief Brand Officer of Pattern Brands, Suze is building a modern "house of brands" designed to help people enjoy daily life at home. One of the stars of this family is GIR…
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Lottie's Meats
Having grown up on a sixth generation pork farm, Cassie Maschhoff spent a decade building a career in tech strategy and marketing at Google and Waze before returning to her family roots. Alongside her sister Chelsey, a Culinary Institute of America graduate and professional chef, she co-founded...
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Mudita Earth
Building on a deep family history of farming in Punjab, India, co-founder Pooja Chopra is redefining what it means to lead a clean beauty brand. Alongside her mother and co-founder Jessica, Pooja launched Mudita Earth to combine farm grown ingredients with modern cosmetic science. While currently...
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Furthermore Ventures
Investor and certified integrative health coach Alaina Sparks is a systems thinker working at the intersection of health, capital, and everyday life. After a distinguished 15 year career at Deloitte, where she led global financial relationships, designed innovation strategies, and built the…
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Smood Sweets
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…
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Lundberg Family Farms
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...
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Yough!
When one of Yough!'s co-founders was diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis and told he would have to give up pizza, he knew there had to be a better way. This challenge led him to the viral two-ingredient dough trend, which sparked the creation of a brand that rethinks frozen favorites through the...
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Bowl & Kettle
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…
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Malai
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...
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Nurtured with Nature
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…
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Biologica
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…
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Deep Brands
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...
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Bake Me Healthy
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...
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Blurr Bureau
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...
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Nara Organics
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...
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Yaza
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…
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Just Call Me Shirley
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…
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Herman-Scheer
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…
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Beer Girl
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...
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Actual Veggies
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…
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Smalls
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…
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Mamala Organics
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...
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Expo West Recap: Part 1 - The Power of Community
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…
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Expo West Recap: Part 2 - Strategy on the Floor
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...
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Expo West Recap: Part 3 - Trends & Discoveries
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,...
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
Welcome to Emerging Brands Podcast® with Kelly BennettThis is the podcast where you'll discover the stories behind your new favorite CPG brands. Each episode dives into the brand and founder journey—how they launched, what sets them apart, and the strategy behind going to market. We talk plans for growth, practical advice for emerging founders, and where to shop the products making waves in food, beverage, wellness, and beyond.You'll also hear from industry experts—brand builders, investors, and operators—who should absolutely be on your radar if you're growing a CPG brand today.Whether you're building something of your own or love supporting what's next, you're in the right place.
HOSTED BY
Kelly Bennett
CATEGORIES
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does Emerging Brands Podcast have?
Emerging Brands Podcast currently has 300 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is Emerging Brands Podcast about?
Welcome to Emerging Brands Podcast® with Kelly BennettThis is the podcast where you'll discover the stories behind your new favorite CPG brands. Each episode dives into the brand and founder journey—how they launched, what sets them apart, and the strategy behind going to market. We talk plans for...
How often does Emerging Brands Podcast release new episodes?
Emerging Brands Podcast publishes regularly with 300 episodes available. Check the episode list for the typical release schedule.
Where can I listen to Emerging Brands Podcast?
You can listen to Emerging Brands Podcast on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts Emerging Brands Podcast?
Emerging Brands Podcast is created and hosted by Kelly Bennett.
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