May 26, 2022 • 48 mins
Bobbi and Anjali are joined by business powerhouse Kat Cole. We'll hear all about how Kat launched herself up the corporate ladder to become a business leader, and how she's used her experience to better her health and relationships at home.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Ye, how many things are different since we met, since
before the pandemic, how my life has changed, and how
a lot of people's life and how things that you
(00:20):
didn't realize were so important are really the important things. Right.
It's not just your career, and it's not just you know,
how you show up at work. It's just it's really
the words that come out of your mouth and how
you live your life. So you've heard me talk about
(00:41):
my athletic greens that now they call a g One
and I'm obsessed with it. I know you've talked about
it a lot. I'm excited to try it. I've never
tried it. I'm a big green juicer about i haven't
tried it. Yeah, these are the best tasting ones, and
they really they just make a big difference in how
you feel. But I'm really excited to talk to Cat Cole,
who is the president and CEO of A g One,
(01:06):
because not just because I love the greens, because she
has such a fascinating story. I did an Instagram live
with her on her channel and I was just so
impressed by what a powerhouse she is. Yeah, I've read
her bio and we have a couple of friends in
common And I didn't realize when you first suggested her
as a guess that it was the same woman, because
I know her in the context of Focus Brands, when
(01:28):
she was the president of Cinnabon, and I mean, I
just have a funny story about that, but she, you know,
said sent me a bunch of Cinnabons is really the
long and short of that story, And so I didn't
realize it was the same person. So it's just super
interesting to think of her as a brand builder of
this powerhouse of a woman and just kind of a
cool human And she seems like she's got a walk
going on and a lot to teach us. Yeah, she's
(01:51):
really cool. All right, Well, here's our conversation with Cat Cole. Hey, Cat,
how are you? I'm great? How are you good? Meet
my co host on, Julie Hi and Jelis Hi. How
are you excellent? How are you? Cat? We have actually
(02:16):
not met before, but we've sort of met. Do you
remember how I feel like we've sort of met. When
I saw your name, was like, did we meet through mos? Oh?
Maybe we did meet through moj okay, but we met.
I'm gonna tell the story really quick, which is or
my my fondest memory of you. I think we might
have met through like Summit moj you know, all those folks.
But then when you were at Focused Brands, there was
(02:38):
a day where I got a random email out of
the blue from you and Nicole are mutual friend Nicole
um saying semi or address, where will you be in
the next hour? We're sending you something from me and
Cat And I was like, who's Cat? Like, just trust
us wait home for this delivery. And the next thing
I knew my doorbell rings and it was piping hot cinnabons.
(03:00):
That's me, the whole thing, and it was like an
obnoxious amount of cinnamons. Like I was like, you guys
are saying it was so funny, and I was like,
who is this delightful woman? I need to know her,
And now here you are on our podcast. So thank
you for that unexpected delivery. And I love the complete
(03:21):
hard left you've made into podic Greens. Yeah, it was
a very funny day. I do remember that, yes, And
I also, you know, I love to start these chats
with either me talking about what our guest is doing,
or I've been just asking people to introduce themselves and
tell us what you're doing, because you have the most
eclectic resume I've seen in a long time. So tell
(03:44):
us right right now. You're You're the CEO of my
most favorite important you know, part of my health routine,
which is Athletic Greens, which not only has changed my life,
but everyone I talked to, you know, I couldn't believe it.
I went out with Caroline Evertson last night, who is
(04:04):
this powerhouse woman, and she's like, like, you look great.
Let's guess what I'm doing. And I'm like, this is
like ridiculous, So tell everyone who you are. So it's
not the Cinnabons, Yeah, no longer the Centa Bons, formerly
the Artists, formerly known as Cinnamon Lady. Um. I am
currently the president, CEO, and board member of Athletic Greens,
(04:28):
the company behind the Foundational Nutrition drink a g one
that you were just talking about that is literally comprehensive
foundational nutrition, nutrients and gut health and unbelievable combination of
seventy insanely high quality ingredients that work together to do
pretty awesome things for your gut and body. Um. And
(04:49):
I was advising that company, I guess starting April of
one and by December of twenty one I had joined formally.
I mean it was just that amazing of an opportunity
and company and products. So that's the main gig. I
sit on a handful of boards for venture backed and
(05:09):
private equity sponsored companies. I'm a mom of two toddlers.
I'm an angel investor in over seventy early stage companies
split pretty evenly between consumer tech SMB tech and consumer
products so food, beverage, wellness, etcetera. UM and I have
(05:33):
basically built a career out of building brands and teams
around the world, just in various industries. And so that's
that's the current jam. Put the first jam on your
on your amazing resume is you started your career as
a hostess for Hooters and then working your way up
to vice president. So you know, like someone like me
(05:55):
that kind of doesn't read every word because that's the
way I read. I'm like, Okay, we've got Hooters, We've
got Cinnabon, there's Burger came thrown in. Talk about now
where at Athletic Greens are a g one? So I'm like,
what is the red thread here? Take us on this journey?
I see no, but I see the thread. I see
the thread that it doesn't matter what the brand is,
(06:18):
it matters that you're an amazing leader and blah blah blah.
But talk about what it was like being a hostess
for Hooters and how you broke out of that to
become the vice president. It was so much fun. I
mean I I started working when I was fifteen in
malls because you couldn't even work legally in restaurants as
a fifteen year old. But I was the child of
(06:40):
a single parent, my mom and two sisters, and I
left my dad when I was nine years old. We
were incredibly poor. She had to work multiple jobs. She
fed us on a food budget of ten dollars a
week for three years and all that. All that was
such a gift in many ways, but it led to
me needing to have a job as soon as I
legally could. And so I worked in malls selling clothes
(07:03):
at an old store that is no longer around called
the body Shop, not the bath products company, but clothing company.
And I sold clothes and I set sales records as
a sixteen year old because I just loved helping people.
And so when I was working as a salesperson in
the malls at the body shop. Now sixteen years old
(07:26):
and just paying for my expenses, right car insurance, saving
up for college. No one on either side of my
family had ever gone to college. Um, and I intended
to be and became the first person to get into college.
So I had to save up for all these things.
There was no money, um, and debt for school didn't
even seem like an option. And and so I was
(07:49):
recruited to be a Hooters girl, but I was too young,
So I became a Hooters hostess. Literally, there were Hooters
girls who went into the mall, went to women's retail
stores with a card with an owl on it that
said official Hooters recruiter card. And they would come in
and UM say like, Wow, you're great at sales, and
you seem like you would fit with our concept. We'd
(08:11):
love for you to come in and have a meal
and apply. And I grew up in Jacksonville, Florida, where Hooters. Um,
it was the third city Hooters was ever in, and
it was just no big deal. I mean, it's it's
the beach, it's Florida. There's a lot of people that
don't wear very much in the summer. It was around.
Since I was little. We went there after football games
(08:31):
and baseball games on Saturdays and UM, so it didn't
have the controversy you know, to me inside the city
that I would later learn it did pretty much everywhere
else UM. And so it was really cool to be
recruited to go there, and so I went. I applied.
I was of age to be a hostess, So I
(08:51):
became a hostess. And so I had three jobs. I
still worked in the malls, I clean gym equipment, UM,
and I became a hostess. And the long story of
how I went from hostess to vice president was, I,
you know, essentially an intersection of curiosity. I wanted to
work every job in the business. I needed money, and
(09:13):
so the more positions I could work, the more shifts
I had access to. So I wasn't just a hostess.
As soon as I turned eighteen, I became a waitress.
Then I learned how to be a bartender and a
cook and a shift leader. There's always someone who wants
our needs to go home, and that gave me the
optimal number of shifts and the optimal amount of income potential,
(09:33):
and I just loved it. I thought it was cool
to fry chicken wings. I thought it was cool to
poor beer. I mean that it was I was young.
It was fun. It was helping me make all the
money that I needed for my living expenses. Of course,
I moved out on my own as soon as I
was eighteen and save for college all on my own,
and that felt fancy. It felt liberating to not need
(09:55):
to rely on anyone else. And then there was an
intersection of those experiences knowing how to essentially run a
restaurant because I've worked every job in the business, and
the growth trajectory of the company. Hooters was growing rapidly
at the time domestically and internationally, but it was relatively
nascent and its international expansion. And so when I was
(10:16):
nineteen now fully in college solely working at Hooters, no
more side jobs, because I was picking up so many
shifts there. It met all of my income needs. And
then some um the company called the corporate office and said,
we're opening restaurants around the world. The next one we're
opening is in Sydney, Australia. We're looking to put together
a team of employees who can go be trainers and
(10:38):
helped launch the franchise UH in Australia, and my general
manager recommended me, and so I said yes the opportunity.
I did not have a passport. I had never been
on a plane. I'd only been out of Florida twice
in my life for cheerleanding competitions. But I still said
yes on the phone and then hung up and was like, oh, ship,
I need a passport. And so I bought my first
(10:58):
plane ticket to Miami. It in line, got my passport expedited,
and then a few weeks later left for Sydney and
helped launch the franchise. And the short version of what
happened is it kept happening over and over, new country,
new opportunity. I was the person chosen to go. After
three openings and three different countries. I was then asked
to lead these teams. No longer beat on these teams
(11:21):
as you were mid twenties, right, You're you're nineteen doing
all that? Holy wo. I was still nineteen and I
had just turned I just turned twenty. I had just
turned twenty. UM when I did my second um NO,
my third global opening, and when I started leading, I
(11:43):
was nineteen when I opened Sydney, Australia, was nineteen when
I opened Mexico City, first one in Central America, and
I was nineteen, just about to turn twenty when I
opened the first one in South America, Buenos Aires and
UM in Argentina, and then started leading the openings from there.
And by that time I was failing college because I
was traveling for forty days at a time to each
(12:04):
country to launch these businesses UM and there weren't the
Internet options to make up classes and participate then, and
so I dropped out of college when I was twenty,
didn't even finish my second year, and about two months later,
I was offered a corporate job opportunity to move to
Atlanta and oversee all corporate employee training at the corporate
(12:28):
office and so for half the pay that I made
as a Hooters girl UH and no cash, learning how
to live off of paycheck with taxes fully taken out
in advance, which was an interesting transition for me as
an unsophisticated UH personal income manager. I thought it was
just an amazing opportunity to, you know, continue to break
(12:49):
out of my background and do something that was more
sophisticated and learning was my currency, and it was a
great opportunity to learn, So I moved to Atlanta, UH
led the emloyee training work at the parent company, and
then as the company grew, I grew. Every two years
I took on a larger job, and by the time
I was twenty six, I was one of the vice
(13:10):
presidents of the company when we were doing a hundred
million in revenue global business, fully vertically integrated. And I
remained an executive for six years growing that business and
had an amazing opportunities, And in total, it was around
fourteen and a half years that I was there. Wow,
that is mind boggling. What an incredible journey. Just if
(13:32):
that had been your entire career, that's an extraordinary story.
But then you went on to take your next opportunity
and tell us about that, and you were twenty six
at your next opportunities like you were right when you left,
you were twenty six because I was, so I stayed
as an executive for six years, just under from the
(13:54):
time I became a VP at Hooters. So I was
an executive at Hooters from to thirty one. I did
go back to school. I have Masters without a bachelor's um.
Nights and weekends and it's rare but possible. And I
was then recruited by private equity firms and other hospitality companies,
and I ended up taking an opportunity to become the
(14:16):
president of Cinnabon as a part of Focused Brands, a
parent company that at the time only had Shlatsky's Carvel, Cinnabon,
and Mos but would later after I joined a choir
many more and was owned by Rourke Capital, large private
equity firm out of Atlanta, and so I was already
in Atlanta because of Hooters, Focus Brands and Rourke were
(14:36):
in Atlanta. So I took this role and moved from
being VP at Hooters to president at Sentabon UH and
then work to turn that brand around out of the recession.
It was December. It was October of two thousand ten
when I started, December of two thousand ten when I
graduated with my m b A. And then January of
two thousand eleven um when I became presidents. I was
(15:00):
hired a CEO and then three months later became president
and then turned the business around and lead the business
and the team to really special industry leading outcomes, multi
channel growth, huge multi billion dollar CpG business growth for
the franchisees turning around the core business. And it was
such a powerful playbook that I then took on a
(15:21):
role at the parent company to be a group president
and launched the Licensing, Consumer Products, and e Commerce division
to help all of our brands enter non traditional revenue
channels and retail channels. Well, speaking of non traditional, I mean,
everything you've done is non traditional in this traditional world.
It's kind of amazing. And you know, this podcast is
(15:45):
so much about the important things, so I'm just trying
to follow. Like when you were like, did you eat cinnabonns?
I did? I did? I have? I have grown up.
I grew up with a series Suite two and working
in malls. Of course, I fell in love with mall brands,
so I loved anti Ans, which became one of our
(16:06):
portfolio companies on Monday. Um, don't don't Bobby, don't judge.
I know it was I don't even know what an
anti Ann's is. I know from my daughter and now
my daughter wanted when we were at the Rangers game
and Jersey and uh, they had an anti Ans and
(16:27):
that was the only thing that was really humpting. And
I took a few bites of her pretzels, like it
was worth every calorie. I was really happy with the decision.
It was so good. Um, you know, for for me
one all the the brands that I ran, eventually became
president CEO of the parent company, so it was Mos
and Sholotsky's and Carvel and Jomba, and helped acquire those
(16:50):
brands and leave those brands and um, even though it
seemed non traditional. And then and then my investing activity,
which many people are like, wait, where did that come from?
That doesn't make sense to come from someone who runs
these mass market commercial brands to be an early stage
venture investor. And then much of which in the early
(17:12):
days was in health and wellness which people didn't know.
That then made the connection. And eventual, you know, work
with athletic greens quite an obvious thing to me, but
maybe not to the outside. Um. My currency is learning,
that's it. Um. And even in focus brands, and in
(17:35):
looking back at Hooters, there were career paths I could
have taken that would have been far more comfortable, like
logical projection progression in a particular vertical and then I
would just hit a point where I thought one. I
don't want this to be my whole story. I want
to learn. I am comfortable being the least knowledgeable person
(17:59):
in a role or in a function, and that is
required for someone who says learning is my currency. By definition,
if something is going to provide learning, it is new.
By definition of being new, you ain't going to be
that good at it. By definition of not being very
good at it, You're gonna have a lot of embarrassing moments.
You're gonna have a lot of I had a lot
(18:19):
of moments where I needed help, um, but I got
used to it. I appreciated that it was just the
beginning of what learning feels like. And then once I
got to a point it changed. Yeah, I so resonated curtically.
I get it. No, I always say that I love
doing something I have no idea how to do, Like
that's what moves me. You know, I you know for sure.
(18:41):
But I just remember that. I once spent a weekend.
I was hired by Focused Groups to spend a weekend
with their female executives in a hotel in New York City,
and I remember spending most of my time trying to
change each of the brands into a more healthy version,
so it could help people. And I'm not sure what.
(19:01):
You know, they paid me a lot of money for it,
but I'm not sure if I was able to get,
you know, anything. But you know, most of most of
the women were talking about that they do believe in
a healthier way of living and that they were just
felt kind of stuck trying to change the culture where
they were. Yeah. I remember in all the roles, including Hooters,
(19:23):
there were moments where I had to decide what mattered
to me in terms of impact, and could I go
start my own thing that was perfectly healthy and the
future version, you know, something built for the future of
these industries and consumers. Sure, but at that point I
realized that doing that would impact two people, two hundred people,
(19:46):
And I decided that being inside a big machine and
having the courage to turn it ten degrees or fifteen
degrees in a more positive direction, impacting millions of people
and hundreds of thousands of them eployees, was the type
of impact I was excited about, because I thought, if
I'm not here someone who cares about the future, someone
(20:06):
who cares about better choices for people, for planet, for body,
what happens when someone who doesn't give a ship is
running these companies. And I won't be here forever because
eventually my definition of impact is going to move to
I want all the things. I want scale and what's best,
and that that is possible. But I remember decisions at
(20:28):
Sentibon where there were opportunities to use artificial sweetener instead
of real sugar, and I'm like, both are bad. One
is more bad. And so what we need to do
is just be honest about what we are so people
make more informed choices. We're gonna call ourselves an indulgence,
We're gonna launch smaller portions. We're going to protect actual,
(20:49):
real sugar um And and that was a choice and
honoring what that brand was about at the same time
acquiring John but taking a public company private, realizing it
had so missed the boat in terms of the evolution
of smoothies and bowls with less sugar, more greens, plant
(21:09):
based alternatives, and therein lie the opportunity. And so did
I desperately want to flip a switch and have it
turned into pressed juicery? Yes? Was that going to happen? No,
it's not right for that brand. It would break the
economic model, given where are the eight hundred or seven
hundred locations were. But could we radically reduce the sugar,
(21:32):
improve plant based alternatives, move it to a place that
was moving far faster toward where the world had moved,
but still being relevant, irrelevant price point for the average consumer.
That we could do, and that fired me up where
I'm like, I'm going to make what is drifted away
with an incredible team, we are going to make it
so much better in a way that the customers will believe.
(21:56):
Because if I had flipped a switch and made a
press juice right, nobody's gonna believe it anyway, right, and
the business would go down. And the business will go
down because the margins can't handle it. The franchise is
the locations weren't suitable for that price point. Right, You've
got to pivot something at a pace the business can
handle financially and culturally and at a rate that the
customer can believe. And money can help accelerate those two things,
(22:20):
but not on its own. And so I relished those challenges.
But at the same time was Angel investing in those
early stage true wellness companies, in those built for future companies,
And so I could kind of like feed my soul
in those areas in the background without completely leaving the
opportunity to make big things a little better at scale.
(22:42):
And eventually I was like, oh, I found this great
middle ground called growth stage, where it's big enough to
have scale and impact and be worth my capabilities and energy,
but early enough and square like dead center for what
I believe in from whether it's a wellness or ways
of working or cultural element where I don't have to
(23:04):
sacrifice one for the other. Someone that grew up eating
sugar and loving sinnabons. And now you're at this epic
(23:29):
you know, health company vitality like plus you could call
it what do you personally do? Like like what is
you know, what's your normal diet? Like what what do
you believe in? What works for you? So I I
have definitely been on a journey toward more healthful and
clean eating and options for many years, even when I
(23:52):
was at Focus Brands, And so that was driven by
a few things. One my own education of what goes
on in our bodies when we eat certain things, you know,
research being more abundant, great media coverage about research and options,
and so I was on my own journey, you know,
as a woman as a consumer, eventually as a mom.
I had my first child at thirty nine, my second
(24:13):
at forty one. UM, and and so, like many, I
started reducing sugar, paying attention to carbohydrates, especially non organic carbohydrates,
leaning more toward organic, focusing on pesticide free whether it
was named organic or not, and so just starting to
(24:34):
let what I learned not just color my thinking, but
affect my actions and what I purchased and what I
put in my body. And then noticing the difference over time,
and then I got just got curious and decided, I'm
not only going to leave my decision making to be
altered by what happens to make it to me in
(24:57):
terms of media, I am going to follow the rabbit
trail of research. And I started doing my own research
around sugar, around carbs, around plants versus read meat, around
you know, this journey that many people are on, and
I became obsessed with the consumer continuum, the continuum that
people are on. UM, no judgment of where you start
your journey, as long as we're on a journey. And UM,
(25:22):
what's beautiful is that when we can't unlearn important ship,
you don't unlearn it. Like you don't unlearn it. The
question is how quickly can we have it affect our
bodies and our choices. And so my diet changed and
I leaned more toward um, probably a sloppy version of
intermittent fasting, not an absolute version, but the I don't
(25:42):
really eat past seven or seven thirty PM, and I
don't have a meal until ten am. What do you
eat attend? Then what's the first thing you put in
your mouth? Well, first thing in the morning is a
g one And so that is not breaking my fast
unless you're an absolutist, and anything with one calorie breaks it,
but there aren't. But it is breaking for people that
(26:03):
intermittent fast. That's breaking your fats that truly do it.
But I'm not an intermittent faster. So call it calorie restriction,
calorie timing that community. And because it's fifty calories and
there are no fats and there's no insulin response, I'm
staying in a state of ketosis. And so by that definition,
(26:24):
it doesn't break that, it doesn't take me out of
a state of ketosis, and so I'm able to lean
into that. Then it around ten I'll do my bulletproof
coffee the you know the old school term, but essentially
butter and oil and collagen protein. You put butter in
your coffee. Yeah, and it's that good. Huh. I tried it.
(26:44):
I couldn't do it. I do um. I sometimes will
mix in GhIE if I'm looking to just overall continue
to reduce the dairy for the week, Like if I've
had a lot of cheese or yogurt or kind of
broken that staple that's the other thing I've leaned into overtime,
then I'll reduce that in every way that I can,
because I can feel it in my gut if I
if I break my rules, I can feel it in
(27:05):
my I can feel a little bit of bloating or
digestive changes. And so it's a g one possibly a
coffee before that, that one with fats and collagen protein
in it, eggs, avocado or um plant based protein, smoothing
with all kinds of good stuff in it. And so
(27:27):
that's it in that early morning. And then I'm eating
again sometime around too, like one or two, and that's
when it's going to be salmon chicken salad. You know,
that is my most colorful meal, is that two o'clock
sort of liner as we call it, part lunch and
part dinner. And you're at home right because you're you
(27:50):
are yes, which will get yeah. The whole company's remote
has been from day one. And then when I travel,
I do my best. We'll just say that I do
my best. Um. I keep an extra travel pack of
a g one if I feel like my best option
is going to be getting a grilled chicken breast somewhere
and I'm not going to be able to get in
other nutrients. Um, And I just do an extra one
(28:14):
when I'm traveling anyway for a little bit of nutritional insurance.
And then dinner, my husband typically makes dinner. I do
not cook. I am not a cook. I do not cook.
I scrambled eggs. I caught avocados. That is the extent
of my culinary excellence. Um. And the few times I've tried,
my husband's like, let me give me good at everything.
(28:37):
And and then he'll typically make a dinner like, um,
could be an all veggie dish a few nights a week.
It's a beautiful steak from a farm that we get
direct to consumer, and UM, some sweet potatoes or something
in that mean, very simple simple salt and pepper type meals,
but absolutely delicious, and the kids eat the same thing
(28:58):
as us. And dessert, yeah, let's talk to dessert. No dessert,
And what about alcohol? Barely? Barely? And that's been a
big shift over the years. Of course, in my twenties,
I loved a good time like anyone else. And in
my thirties, um loved a good time, loved glass of
wine to two glasses of wine. But as I've gotten older,
(29:20):
as I've learned more about alcohol's effect on the body,
it's been less and less and less and less. Um.
I mean, there will be weeks where there's zero alcohol.
It's great, Yeah, I go, I go days and then
sometimes there's a glass of wine, two glasses of wine.
Anything more than that, I actually just get full. Like
(29:42):
it's not even about getting like, oh I feel tipsy,
it's just like my stomach, my body, the sugar from alcohol,
that's what I feel more. And then I'm like, oh,
I can't MoMA needs to go to bed. And then
I have to take a cbdego me and some other
supplements to help offset the negative effects of alcohol so
I don't feel like absolute crap after two glasses of wine. Mhm. Okay,
(30:03):
I'm going to shift gearson, because you mentioned your husband
and I was reading somewhere that you have this really
interesting practice with him of a monthly check in which
I loved, love loved. Can you tell us more about that? Yes,
So when we first met, we met had a one
night stand, so we thought uh, and proposed each other
(30:25):
within two weeks. And interestingly, we had both been out
of long term relationships recently. I was out of an
eleven year relationship, not married, but might as well have been.
I was out of that relationship for six months when
I met my husband, and he was out of his
eight year relationship for about a year. Needless to say,
neither of us were looking for a long term relationship.
(30:47):
I thought I was going to have a lover on
every continent given my global business um, and that felt
very exciting to be um. My husband had his own
visions of what his next few years would look that
also did not include a steady, single partner, and but
that was all changed when we met. And so here
(31:09):
we are, we meet, we have one night standard, proposed
to each other within two weeks, and it became apparent
that this was it, Like you're my person. He's my person.
And so we had several conversations about what we learned
from our previous long term relationships, what our role was in,
what parts we didn't like, what we learned about ourselves,
and how we had changed over time, and we just said,
(31:32):
I want to We both realized now we want to
be better at home than we are at work. I
had never said that before. The thought had never entered
my mind. It's not that I didn't want to be
have a great relationship, but I had never consciously said
I actually want to be better at home than at work.
In fact, subconsciously, I likely believed very much the opposite.
(31:53):
And so we talked about it and we said, okay,
if we both naturally are coming to this place in
our lives, we want to be better at home and
at work. How does one do that? And we said, well,
what can we learn about what helps us be good
at work? In business? What are the practices? What are
the things that help you learn and develop and grow
(32:13):
and stay close as the business changes and as you change.
And so we realized that one of those practices was
some methodology of regularly checking in and giving feedback and
receiving feedback, so that little things didn't become big things,
so that what mattered to someone could be celebrated, and
not leaving it to the whims of a moment to
be addressed, but protecting a place. So he had heard
(32:36):
about a couple that UM celebrated their month a versary
for decades, no matter where they were in the world.
They had champagne or a cup of tea or a
cup of coffee, And so we agreed that we would
hold the space of a month a versary every month.
On the tenth of every month, which is the day
that we met. Tattooed on my arm and UM, that
would be our time to connect and check in. Then
(32:59):
we borrowed versions of questions we had used in different
leadership groups, but made them a bit more personal, and
we asked each other on the tenth of every month
these six questions. I asked him. He answers, then he
asked me the same question. I answer. It might take
three minutes. Well, probably the shortest one is ten minutes
(33:19):
because we're writing and we're taking notes in between, and
some have taken hours because it facilitated deeper discussions. But
typically it's around a twenty minute exercise, and the questions
are what's been the best part of the last month,
the worst part of the last month, and again related
to our relationship. Doesn't have to be something caused by
the relationship, but whatever most affects how we show up
(33:42):
for each other, best part, the worst part. What's one
thing I can do differently to be a better partner?
For you? What is worried you the most in the
last thirty days. What have you been most grateful for
in the last thirty days? And what have you been
most proud of? Again, something that is most related to
how we show up for each other. That's amazing. Wow, Well,
I that's it. That's intense, and that takes a major commitment.
(34:07):
And I've been married thirty three years, and I have learned,
you know, things work differently for different people. I have
learned not to, you know, to try not to let
the words come out of my mouth as I'm feeling something.
But you know, soon after, you know, when I can,
when I can phrase in a way that's not attacking
(34:27):
right then, but I mean a month later, I forget.
You know, how's your month good? How's your month good?
All right? What's for dinner? You know? What are the kids?
What are the kids? All we do is talk about
the kids, what are the kids doing? And now we
talk about the dogs. That's such a great call out.
What the check in doesn't do is remove the responsibility
to talk about something in the moment, and so it's
you don't hold it, you don't hold everything for the
(34:48):
check in. We have those conversations to your point as
soon as we've learned what is the most productive way, Yeah,
to have conversations. But the chicken is about what remains
like after a month. What are the highest highs and
the lowest lows, and what are the things that stick
with us? And the question there are two questions that
are most powerful. One is the what is one thing
(35:10):
I can do differently to be a better partner for you?
Every month? Every month, that's twelve different actions you have
to take this year. It's also it's a lot of feedback.
Cat I don't know if I can handle that much
feedback from anybody, including my partner. It is, but sometimes
we don't always get better, and so sometimes it's not
a unique thing every twelve months. Sometimes it's a hey,
(35:33):
here's what we talked about last month that you could
do differently to be a better partner. And it is
my answer again this month. But differently doesn't mean stop.
Differently could mean something you you did that I really
hope you do more of UM. So it stops, start, continue,
and that's what the differently about. So that's one question
(35:53):
that's particularly illuminating and actionable UM and we act on it.
I mean, that's the point of the discussion. And it's
not just to be heard, right, It's this is literally
like feedback. It's like all of the hr like anything
I've done on the CPO side of my career. It's
like direct feedback in the moment, real time feedback. It's
(36:15):
a monthly check ins, you know, to make sure that
everything's going as plans, stop to start, continue. That's a
big one for sure. But the idea of applying it
to your personal relationship, I think it's so interesting because
I've never heard anyone say to do it. And I
have to admit, I'm I'm good at giving feedback, I
am not great at receiving feedback, and it's something I've
(36:37):
had to work on throughout my career to be like
open to it and try not to be defensive. I
cannot imagine how difficult it would be if I was
getting feedback from my husband of twenty seven years every month,
Like I feel like it's mutual that helps, right, you
don't get down, you don't ask all the questions and
the other persons in the hot seat, you're really sharing this.
(37:00):
And that's that other question that's so illuminating is when
you look back on the last thirty days, what stands
out that has worried you the most? That is a
really it is always a powerful question. And I remember
when I had my second miscarriage and we did our
check in, and my husband's answer blew my mind because
(37:27):
I I suppose that I believed that there was no
way it could be as hard on him as it
was on me. And his answer to that question this
was a couple of years ago, and I don't remember
exactly what it was, but it made it very clear
that he was devastated, grieving, feeling a degree of um
(37:54):
immobility through this moment that our day to day interactions
had not revealed. And it forced me to honor that
in that moment. And and of course he didn't want
to his words, I didn't want to bug you with
my extra feelings while you're grieving too, like while you're
(38:16):
dealing with this and so this like back to this
podcast the important things, you know what matters. We made
the choice that we matter most, and therefore only actions
will truly make that and honest statement. And those actions
(38:36):
are staying close to each other as we evolve like
vines creating. Yes we're individuals. Yes we're going to grow
in different directions. We're both on a journey. We're discoverers,
were learners, but we have to create forcing moments to
come back together and really get the most out of
those moments. And that question of what's worried you the most,
um because you just don't go around talking about that
(38:58):
every day. It's eap cad. I feel like you've just
changed the course of my relationship for the next twenty
years by giving this very generous exercise. I'm going to
make my husband do this, not mine, and I'm not
doing this but now I'm not doing this. No, no, no,
I'm not doing now now. And I'm very close to
(39:19):
my husb. No, I know you are. I'm gonna but
I know just what you're talking about, like even the miscarriage,
but we went through that too, and we didn't talk
about it in the same way because I think my
husband was so focused on holding space for me and
my grieving, and it wasn't until I got pregnant held
it had our daughter who's now twelve. But after that
then it sort of came out in time of how
(39:41):
hard it was for him to go through that. And
I never allowed that conversation because it just didn't even
occur to me. I mean, similar to what you're describing,
And I think an exercise like this would have saved
both of us a lot of pain in that moment
of realization so late that he had suffered so much
and didn't feel like you could talk about it or whatever.
But I think on an ongoing basis, in a future
(40:02):
looking basis, I'm going to try to maybe not every month.
I feel like that, maybe like quarterly. Maybe we started
like trying. Why don't you try it one? Yeah? It does.
I know I might need some alcohol, but but I
want to. I want to switch gears to your kids
because working at home when you know, when you have
young kids, because I always worked at home a couple
(40:24):
of days a week, you know what, even when my
kids were young. But they're always breaking in, like how
do you maintain your professionalism or do you not? Or
do you let them break in? Like how you know
it's not easy, No, I mean during the peak peak lockdowns, um,
(40:45):
and even parts of one. You know, even our nanny
couldn't be here. I couldn't have any help. And so
that was yet was running the business. In fact, at
the very beginning, was still running Focus Brands restaurants around
the world, which were radically affected. I mean, and they're right.
As COVID was hitting, my daughter got incredibly ill and
(41:06):
wasn't the I c U for twelve days and not
with COVID, but just unbelievable timing, and so I remember
having my air pods in, needing to literally lead the
company through crisis and manage my daughters wellness and care.
And then I ended up getting sick for it was
(41:27):
like respiratory viruses that were going around that were not
COVID but that we're horrible um. And it was just crazy.
I mean, I can look back and see my true
woman power, mom energy um at its peak navigating all
of that, and it was just I think I was
(41:47):
able to draw in a lot of my experiences as
a young leader opening franchises around the world where you
just recognize the condition of newness and unfamiliarity. And eOne
was in this condition of newness and unfamiliarity, so I
did not experience the feeling of worry or shame or
(42:09):
what's going to happen if they hear my daughter crying,
or what's going to happen. I was just kind of like,
f you, if you don't get it, I've got I
know what really matters, and um, I'm somehow finding a
way to not totally drop the things that don't matter,
and it's going to be okay. Now. Some of that
was it's my personality, it's my focus on my daughter
(42:32):
who was ill. And also I moved up into a
key right senior executive position, so it's easier to have
that mindset when you're in charge. And I never um
forgot that and did everything that I could to make
sure that that was um extended and believed and felt
by every individual on our teams, regardless of how new
(42:54):
they were with the company or how much formal authority
or whatever, you know, people management responsibility they had. I
think what you and Bobby both said as an example,
certainly for me just I mean, Bobby and I have
had these conversations, and hearing you speak at it's really empowering,
I think to that next generation of worker and leader
to see women in your positions and our positions saying
(43:17):
these things and really living it and showing it to
be true, that they are balancing many different things. That
it's not a perfect science, that it's a pie not
you know, not. It's like the different pieces of the
pie are different sizes at different times, UM, and that
we are all kind of fumbling as we go to
but making the best of it and supporting each other
in it. And I think it's so important for UM
(43:40):
for us to talk openly about this stuff. It's super helpful,
I know for me to hear it. One of the
first conversations Bobby and I ever had UMS when I
asked her to mentor me, was about how to balance
it all and like I was starting a new job,
and um, could I ask for a flexibility and that
kind of thing? And She's like, you have to ask
the question, and I don't. I don't think if she
hadn't prompted me, I never would have done it. And
(44:02):
like hearing you, hopefully somebody is listening to this podcast,
hearing what you're saying, hearing how you prioritize your time,
and now feels like, oh, I can do that. I
can ask for that time and for that flexibility or
not to have that call early morning, late at night
when I have to put my kid to bed. Here's
my wine around that. And I use it for myself
(44:23):
and I ask it as a question of others. I say,
this is what I need to be successful. This is
what I need, the time, the flexibility. And that's not
just honoring time in the morning. That is my sacred
time with after my a g one and my coffee,
but with my kids and my husband because we are
morning people and my kids grew up with the smell
(44:44):
of coffee and a French press pouring the kettle like
that is our time. And yes I make rare exceptions,
but they are that is what I need to be successful.
I am not asking for someone to bend themselves into
a hutzel. I am saying this is what I need.
This is how you get the best of me. And
(45:05):
then when I'm working with others, whether it's a new
hire or appear or even an advisory role um or
an interview, I ask what do you need to be successful?
You just answered the last question that we ask everyone,
and honestly, uh, it was. It's basically and I ask everyone.
According to you cat call, what is the one piece
(45:28):
of advice you can give anyone that's listening today that's
going to change the course of their life. So that
could be your answer, or you can give them something else.
But that is like how I like to close these conversations. Yeah,
certainly having that is a statement and a question or
(45:49):
a statement that you deserve to ask and answer over
time because it changes, and you should ask it of
yourself before you of anyone else. The thing I would
I would leave folks with is a version of what
my mom wrote on my birthday card, and it kind
of sums up all this. We're all on a journey.
(46:10):
We have different life needs. We learn over time what
matters to us most the most important things, and hopefully
we line up actions that back up what we say
are the most important things with where we spend our
time and who uh is number one and number two
and number three in our world. But that's a journey,
and it's okay if you look back and go I
(46:32):
didn't get that exactly right then, and I want to
get it more right now like I did with my relationships.
And the phrase, the version of a phrase that she
always wrote was don't forget where you came from, but
don't you dare let it solely define you. And my
ad is our truth is in our roots, like that's
our story, that's who we are. But our past shouldn't
(46:52):
be our anchor. Like you have permission to change, I
have permission to change, and as long as we stay
rooted in the most important things, that change is likely
to be incredibly positive over time. How proud of you
is your mom? She is very proud. She Um, you know,
stayed with our dad. It was an alcoholic for for
many years before she finally decided to leave. And she
(47:15):
told me then and has reiterated to me over the years,
that her mission. All she wanted once she left UM,
which was very difficult on her, All she wanted was
three independent girls. That was it. She just didn't want
us to have to need any one or anything, no more,
(47:36):
no less. That's the bar, UM, and she achieved that.
And UM feels incredibly, incredibly proud to see where we is.
You know, three girls have all landed and um, it
is my life's mission to continue to make her proud. Well,
I'm sure you are. You are incredibly inspiring. It's this
(47:59):
is been such a fun conversation and I've learned so much.
Thank you so much. Likewise, thank you guys. Mm hmmm
(48:21):
mm
Ye, how many things are different since we met, since
before the pandemic, how my life has changed, and how
a lot of people's life and how things that you
(00:20):
didn't realize were so important are really the important things. Right.
It's not just your career, and it's not just you know,
how you show up at work. It's just it's really
the words that come out of your mouth and how
you live your life. So you've heard me talk about
(00:41):
my athletic greens that now they call a g One
and I'm obsessed with it. I know you've talked about
it a lot. I'm excited to try it. I've never
tried it. I'm a big green juicer about i haven't
tried it. Yeah, these are the best tasting ones, and
they really they just make a big difference in how
you feel. But I'm really excited to talk to Cat Cole,
who is the president and CEO of A g One,
(01:06):
because not just because I love the greens, because she
has such a fascinating story. I did an Instagram live
with her on her channel and I was just so
impressed by what a powerhouse she is. Yeah, I've read
her bio and we have a couple of friends in
common And I didn't realize when you first suggested her
as a guess that it was the same woman, because
I know her in the context of Focus Brands, when
(01:28):
she was the president of Cinnabon, and I mean, I
just have a funny story about that, but she, you know,
said sent me a bunch of Cinnabons is really the
long and short of that story, And so I didn't
realize it was the same person. So it's just super
interesting to think of her as a brand builder of
this powerhouse of a woman and just kind of a
cool human And she seems like she's got a walk
going on and a lot to teach us. Yeah, she's
(01:51):
really cool. All right, Well, here's our conversation with Cat Cole. Hey, Cat,
how are you? I'm great? How are you good? Meet
my co host on, Julie Hi and Jelis Hi. How
are you excellent? How are you? Cat? We have actually
(02:16):
not met before, but we've sort of met. Do you
remember how I feel like we've sort of met. When
I saw your name, was like, did we meet through mos? Oh?
Maybe we did meet through moj okay, but we met.
I'm gonna tell the story really quick, which is or
my my fondest memory of you. I think we might
have met through like Summit moj you know, all those folks.
But then when you were at Focused Brands, there was
(02:38):
a day where I got a random email out of
the blue from you and Nicole are mutual friend Nicole
um saying semi or address, where will you be in
the next hour? We're sending you something from me and
Cat And I was like, who's Cat? Like, just trust
us wait home for this delivery. And the next thing
I knew my doorbell rings and it was piping hot cinnabons.
(03:00):
That's me, the whole thing, and it was like an
obnoxious amount of cinnamons. Like I was like, you guys
are saying it was so funny, and I was like,
who is this delightful woman? I need to know her,
And now here you are on our podcast. So thank
you for that unexpected delivery. And I love the complete
(03:21):
hard left you've made into podic Greens. Yeah, it was
a very funny day. I do remember that, yes, And
I also, you know, I love to start these chats
with either me talking about what our guest is doing,
or I've been just asking people to introduce themselves and
tell us what you're doing, because you have the most
eclectic resume I've seen in a long time. So tell
(03:44):
us right right now. You're You're the CEO of my
most favorite important you know, part of my health routine,
which is Athletic Greens, which not only has changed my life,
but everyone I talked to, you know, I couldn't believe it.
I went out with Caroline Evertson last night, who is
(04:04):
this powerhouse woman, and she's like, like, you look great.
Let's guess what I'm doing. And I'm like, this is
like ridiculous, So tell everyone who you are. So it's
not the Cinnabons, Yeah, no longer the Centa Bons, formerly
the Artists, formerly known as Cinnamon Lady. Um. I am
currently the president, CEO, and board member of Athletic Greens,
(04:28):
the company behind the Foundational Nutrition drink a g one
that you were just talking about that is literally comprehensive
foundational nutrition, nutrients and gut health and unbelievable combination of
seventy insanely high quality ingredients that work together to do
pretty awesome things for your gut and body. Um. And
(04:49):
I was advising that company, I guess starting April of
one and by December of twenty one I had joined formally.
I mean it was just that amazing of an opportunity
and company and products. So that's the main gig. I
sit on a handful of boards for venture backed and
(05:09):
private equity sponsored companies. I'm a mom of two toddlers.
I'm an angel investor in over seventy early stage companies
split pretty evenly between consumer tech SMB tech and consumer
products so food, beverage, wellness, etcetera. UM and I have
(05:33):
basically built a career out of building brands and teams
around the world, just in various industries. And so that's
that's the current jam. Put the first jam on your
on your amazing resume is you started your career as
a hostess for Hooters and then working your way up
to vice president. So you know, like someone like me
(05:55):
that kind of doesn't read every word because that's the
way I read. I'm like, Okay, we've got Hooters, We've
got Cinnabon, there's Burger came thrown in. Talk about now
where at Athletic Greens are a g one? So I'm like,
what is the red thread here? Take us on this journey?
I see no, but I see the thread. I see
the thread that it doesn't matter what the brand is,
(06:18):
it matters that you're an amazing leader and blah blah blah.
But talk about what it was like being a hostess
for Hooters and how you broke out of that to
become the vice president. It was so much fun. I
mean I I started working when I was fifteen in
malls because you couldn't even work legally in restaurants as
a fifteen year old. But I was the child of
(06:40):
a single parent, my mom and two sisters, and I
left my dad when I was nine years old. We
were incredibly poor. She had to work multiple jobs. She
fed us on a food budget of ten dollars a
week for three years and all that. All that was
such a gift in many ways, but it led to
me needing to have a job as soon as I
legally could. And so I worked in malls selling clothes
(07:03):
at an old store that is no longer around called
the body Shop, not the bath products company, but clothing company.
And I sold clothes and I set sales records as
a sixteen year old because I just loved helping people.
And so when I was working as a salesperson in
the malls at the body shop. Now sixteen years old
(07:26):
and just paying for my expenses, right car insurance, saving
up for college. No one on either side of my
family had ever gone to college. Um, and I intended
to be and became the first person to get into college.
So I had to save up for all these things.
There was no money, um, and debt for school didn't
even seem like an option. And and so I was
(07:49):
recruited to be a Hooters girl, but I was too young,
So I became a Hooters hostess. Literally, there were Hooters
girls who went into the mall, went to women's retail
stores with a card with an owl on it that
said official Hooters recruiter card. And they would come in
and UM say like, Wow, you're great at sales, and
you seem like you would fit with our concept. We'd
(08:11):
love for you to come in and have a meal
and apply. And I grew up in Jacksonville, Florida, where Hooters. Um,
it was the third city Hooters was ever in, and
it was just no big deal. I mean, it's it's
the beach, it's Florida. There's a lot of people that
don't wear very much in the summer. It was around.
Since I was little. We went there after football games
(08:31):
and baseball games on Saturdays and UM, so it didn't
have the controversy you know, to me inside the city
that I would later learn it did pretty much everywhere
else UM. And so it was really cool to be
recruited to go there, and so I went. I applied.
I was of age to be a hostess, So I
(08:51):
became a hostess. And so I had three jobs. I
still worked in the malls, I clean gym equipment, UM,
and I became a hostess. And the long story of
how I went from hostess to vice president was, I,
you know, essentially an intersection of curiosity. I wanted to
work every job in the business. I needed money, and
(09:13):
so the more positions I could work, the more shifts
I had access to. So I wasn't just a hostess.
As soon as I turned eighteen, I became a waitress.
Then I learned how to be a bartender and a
cook and a shift leader. There's always someone who wants
our needs to go home, and that gave me the
optimal number of shifts and the optimal amount of income potential,
(09:33):
and I just loved it. I thought it was cool
to fry chicken wings. I thought it was cool to
poor beer. I mean that it was I was young.
It was fun. It was helping me make all the
money that I needed for my living expenses. Of course,
I moved out on my own as soon as I
was eighteen and save for college all on my own,
and that felt fancy. It felt liberating to not need
(09:55):
to rely on anyone else. And then there was an
intersection of those experiences knowing how to essentially run a
restaurant because I've worked every job in the business, and
the growth trajectory of the company. Hooters was growing rapidly
at the time domestically and internationally, but it was relatively
nascent and its international expansion. And so when I was
(10:16):
nineteen now fully in college solely working at Hooters, no
more side jobs, because I was picking up so many
shifts there. It met all of my income needs. And
then some um the company called the corporate office and said,
we're opening restaurants around the world. The next one we're
opening is in Sydney, Australia. We're looking to put together
a team of employees who can go be trainers and
(10:38):
helped launch the franchise UH in Australia, and my general
manager recommended me, and so I said yes the opportunity.
I did not have a passport. I had never been
on a plane. I'd only been out of Florida twice
in my life for cheerleanding competitions. But I still said
yes on the phone and then hung up and was like, oh, ship,
I need a passport. And so I bought my first
(10:58):
plane ticket to Miami. It in line, got my passport expedited,
and then a few weeks later left for Sydney and
helped launch the franchise. And the short version of what
happened is it kept happening over and over, new country,
new opportunity. I was the person chosen to go. After
three openings and three different countries. I was then asked
to lead these teams. No longer beat on these teams
(11:21):
as you were mid twenties, right, You're you're nineteen doing
all that? Holy wo. I was still nineteen and I
had just turned I just turned twenty. I had just
turned twenty. UM when I did my second um NO,
my third global opening, and when I started leading, I
(11:43):
was nineteen when I opened Sydney, Australia, was nineteen when
I opened Mexico City, first one in Central America, and
I was nineteen, just about to turn twenty when I
opened the first one in South America, Buenos Aires and
UM in Argentina, and then started leading the openings from there.
And by that time I was failing college because I
was traveling for forty days at a time to each
(12:04):
country to launch these businesses UM and there weren't the
Internet options to make up classes and participate then, and
so I dropped out of college when I was twenty,
didn't even finish my second year, and about two months later,
I was offered a corporate job opportunity to move to
Atlanta and oversee all corporate employee training at the corporate
(12:28):
office and so for half the pay that I made
as a Hooters girl UH and no cash, learning how
to live off of paycheck with taxes fully taken out
in advance, which was an interesting transition for me as
an unsophisticated UH personal income manager. I thought it was
just an amazing opportunity to, you know, continue to break
(12:49):
out of my background and do something that was more
sophisticated and learning was my currency, and it was a
great opportunity to learn, So I moved to Atlanta, UH
led the emloyee training work at the parent company, and
then as the company grew, I grew. Every two years
I took on a larger job, and by the time
I was twenty six, I was one of the vice
(13:10):
presidents of the company when we were doing a hundred
million in revenue global business, fully vertically integrated. And I
remained an executive for six years growing that business and
had an amazing opportunities, And in total, it was around
fourteen and a half years that I was there. Wow,
that is mind boggling. What an incredible journey. Just if
(13:32):
that had been your entire career, that's an extraordinary story.
But then you went on to take your next opportunity
and tell us about that, and you were twenty six
at your next opportunities like you were right when you left,
you were twenty six because I was, so I stayed
as an executive for six years, just under from the
(13:54):
time I became a VP at Hooters. So I was
an executive at Hooters from to thirty one. I did
go back to school. I have Masters without a bachelor's um.
Nights and weekends and it's rare but possible. And I
was then recruited by private equity firms and other hospitality companies,
and I ended up taking an opportunity to become the
(14:16):
president of Cinnabon as a part of Focused Brands, a
parent company that at the time only had Shlatsky's Carvel, Cinnabon,
and Mos but would later after I joined a choir
many more and was owned by Rourke Capital, large private
equity firm out of Atlanta, and so I was already
in Atlanta because of Hooters, Focus Brands and Rourke were
(14:36):
in Atlanta. So I took this role and moved from
being VP at Hooters to president at Sentabon UH and
then work to turn that brand around out of the recession.
It was December. It was October of two thousand ten
when I started, December of two thousand ten when I
graduated with my m b A. And then January of
two thousand eleven um when I became presidents. I was
(15:00):
hired a CEO and then three months later became president
and then turned the business around and lead the business
and the team to really special industry leading outcomes, multi
channel growth, huge multi billion dollar CpG business growth for
the franchisees turning around the core business. And it was
such a powerful playbook that I then took on a
(15:21):
role at the parent company to be a group president
and launched the Licensing, Consumer Products, and e Commerce division
to help all of our brands enter non traditional revenue
channels and retail channels. Well, speaking of non traditional, I mean,
everything you've done is non traditional in this traditional world.
It's kind of amazing. And you know, this podcast is
(15:45):
so much about the important things, so I'm just trying
to follow. Like when you were like, did you eat cinnabonns?
I did? I did? I have? I have grown up.
I grew up with a series Suite two and working
in malls. Of course, I fell in love with mall brands,
so I loved anti Ans, which became one of our
(16:06):
portfolio companies on Monday. Um, don't don't Bobby, don't judge.
I know it was I don't even know what an
anti Ann's is. I know from my daughter and now
my daughter wanted when we were at the Rangers game
and Jersey and uh, they had an anti Ans and
(16:27):
that was the only thing that was really humpting. And
I took a few bites of her pretzels, like it
was worth every calorie. I was really happy with the decision.
It was so good. Um, you know, for for me
one all the the brands that I ran, eventually became
president CEO of the parent company, so it was Mos
and Sholotsky's and Carvel and Jomba, and helped acquire those
(16:50):
brands and leave those brands and um, even though it
seemed non traditional. And then and then my investing activity,
which many people are like, wait, where did that come from?
That doesn't make sense to come from someone who runs
these mass market commercial brands to be an early stage
venture investor. And then much of which in the early
(17:12):
days was in health and wellness which people didn't know.
That then made the connection. And eventual, you know, work
with athletic greens quite an obvious thing to me, but
maybe not to the outside. Um. My currency is learning,
that's it. Um. And even in focus brands, and in
(17:35):
looking back at Hooters, there were career paths I could
have taken that would have been far more comfortable, like
logical projection progression in a particular vertical and then I
would just hit a point where I thought one. I
don't want this to be my whole story. I want
to learn. I am comfortable being the least knowledgeable person
(17:59):
in a role or in a function, and that is
required for someone who says learning is my currency. By definition,
if something is going to provide learning, it is new.
By definition of being new, you ain't going to be
that good at it. By definition of not being very
good at it, You're gonna have a lot of embarrassing moments.
You're gonna have a lot of I had a lot
(18:19):
of moments where I needed help, um, but I got
used to it. I appreciated that it was just the
beginning of what learning feels like. And then once I
got to a point it changed. Yeah, I so resonated curtically.
I get it. No, I always say that I love
doing something I have no idea how to do, Like
that's what moves me. You know, I you know for sure.
(18:41):
But I just remember that. I once spent a weekend.
I was hired by Focused Groups to spend a weekend
with their female executives in a hotel in New York City,
and I remember spending most of my time trying to
change each of the brands into a more healthy version,
so it could help people. And I'm not sure what.
(19:01):
You know, they paid me a lot of money for it,
but I'm not sure if I was able to get,
you know, anything. But you know, most of most of
the women were talking about that they do believe in
a healthier way of living and that they were just
felt kind of stuck trying to change the culture where
they were. Yeah. I remember in all the roles, including Hooters,
(19:23):
there were moments where I had to decide what mattered
to me in terms of impact, and could I go
start my own thing that was perfectly healthy and the
future version, you know, something built for the future of
these industries and consumers. Sure, but at that point I
realized that doing that would impact two people, two hundred people,
(19:46):
And I decided that being inside a big machine and
having the courage to turn it ten degrees or fifteen
degrees in a more positive direction, impacting millions of people
and hundreds of thousands of them eployees, was the type
of impact I was excited about, because I thought, if
I'm not here someone who cares about the future, someone
(20:06):
who cares about better choices for people, for planet, for body,
what happens when someone who doesn't give a ship is
running these companies. And I won't be here forever because
eventually my definition of impact is going to move to
I want all the things. I want scale and what's best,
and that that is possible. But I remember decisions at
(20:28):
Sentibon where there were opportunities to use artificial sweetener instead
of real sugar, and I'm like, both are bad. One
is more bad. And so what we need to do
is just be honest about what we are so people
make more informed choices. We're gonna call ourselves an indulgence,
We're gonna launch smaller portions. We're going to protect actual,
(20:49):
real sugar um And and that was a choice and
honoring what that brand was about at the same time
acquiring John but taking a public company private, realizing it
had so missed the boat in terms of the evolution
of smoothies and bowls with less sugar, more greens, plant
(21:09):
based alternatives, and therein lie the opportunity. And so did
I desperately want to flip a switch and have it
turned into pressed juicery? Yes? Was that going to happen? No,
it's not right for that brand. It would break the
economic model, given where are the eight hundred or seven
hundred locations were. But could we radically reduce the sugar,
(21:32):
improve plant based alternatives, move it to a place that
was moving far faster toward where the world had moved,
but still being relevant, irrelevant price point for the average consumer.
That we could do, and that fired me up where
I'm like, I'm going to make what is drifted away
with an incredible team, we are going to make it
so much better in a way that the customers will believe.
(21:56):
Because if I had flipped a switch and made a
press juice right, nobody's gonna believe it anyway, right, and
the business would go down. And the business will go
down because the margins can't handle it. The franchise is
the locations weren't suitable for that price point. Right, You've
got to pivot something at a pace the business can
handle financially and culturally and at a rate that the
customer can believe. And money can help accelerate those two things,
(22:20):
but not on its own. And so I relished those challenges.
But at the same time was Angel investing in those
early stage true wellness companies, in those built for future companies,
And so I could kind of like feed my soul
in those areas in the background without completely leaving the
opportunity to make big things a little better at scale.
(22:42):
And eventually I was like, oh, I found this great
middle ground called growth stage, where it's big enough to
have scale and impact and be worth my capabilities and energy,
but early enough and square like dead center for what
I believe in from whether it's a wellness or ways
of working or cultural element where I don't have to
(23:04):
sacrifice one for the other. Someone that grew up eating
sugar and loving sinnabons. And now you're at this epic
(23:29):
you know, health company vitality like plus you could call
it what do you personally do? Like like what is
you know, what's your normal diet? Like what what do
you believe in? What works for you? So I I
have definitely been on a journey toward more healthful and
clean eating and options for many years, even when I
(23:52):
was at Focus Brands, And so that was driven by
a few things. One my own education of what goes
on in our bodies when we eat certain things, you know,
research being more abundant, great media coverage about research and options,
and so I was on my own journey, you know,
as a woman as a consumer, eventually as a mom.
I had my first child at thirty nine, my second
(24:13):
at forty one. UM, and and so, like many, I
started reducing sugar, paying attention to carbohydrates, especially non organic carbohydrates,
leaning more toward organic, focusing on pesticide free whether it
was named organic or not, and so just starting to
(24:34):
let what I learned not just color my thinking, but
affect my actions and what I purchased and what I
put in my body. And then noticing the difference over time,
and then I got just got curious and decided, I'm
not only going to leave my decision making to be
altered by what happens to make it to me in
(24:57):
terms of media, I am going to follow the rabbit
trail of research. And I started doing my own research
around sugar, around carbs, around plants versus read meat, around
you know, this journey that many people are on, and
I became obsessed with the consumer continuum, the continuum that
people are on. UM, no judgment of where you start
your journey, as long as we're on a journey. And UM,
(25:22):
what's beautiful is that when we can't unlearn important ship,
you don't unlearn it. Like you don't unlearn it. The
question is how quickly can we have it affect our
bodies and our choices. And so my diet changed and
I leaned more toward um, probably a sloppy version of
intermittent fasting, not an absolute version, but the I don't
(25:42):
really eat past seven or seven thirty PM, and I
don't have a meal until ten am. What do you
eat attend? Then what's the first thing you put in
your mouth? Well, first thing in the morning is a
g one And so that is not breaking my fast
unless you're an absolutist, and anything with one calorie breaks it,
but there aren't. But it is breaking for people that
(26:03):
intermittent fast. That's breaking your fats that truly do it.
But I'm not an intermittent faster. So call it calorie restriction,
calorie timing that community. And because it's fifty calories and
there are no fats and there's no insulin response, I'm
staying in a state of ketosis. And so by that definition,
(26:24):
it doesn't break that, it doesn't take me out of
a state of ketosis, and so I'm able to lean
into that. Then it around ten I'll do my bulletproof
coffee the you know the old school term, but essentially
butter and oil and collagen protein. You put butter in
your coffee. Yeah, and it's that good. Huh. I tried it.
(26:44):
I couldn't do it. I do um. I sometimes will
mix in GhIE if I'm looking to just overall continue
to reduce the dairy for the week, Like if I've
had a lot of cheese or yogurt or kind of
broken that staple that's the other thing I've leaned into overtime,
then I'll reduce that in every way that I can,
because I can feel it in my gut if I
if I break my rules, I can feel it in
(27:05):
my I can feel a little bit of bloating or
digestive changes. And so it's a g one possibly a
coffee before that, that one with fats and collagen protein
in it, eggs, avocado or um plant based protein, smoothing
with all kinds of good stuff in it. And so
(27:27):
that's it in that early morning. And then I'm eating
again sometime around too, like one or two, and that's
when it's going to be salmon chicken salad. You know,
that is my most colorful meal, is that two o'clock
sort of liner as we call it, part lunch and
part dinner. And you're at home right because you're you
(27:50):
are yes, which will get yeah. The whole company's remote
has been from day one. And then when I travel,
I do my best. We'll just say that I do
my best. Um. I keep an extra travel pack of
a g one if I feel like my best option
is going to be getting a grilled chicken breast somewhere
and I'm not going to be able to get in
other nutrients. Um, And I just do an extra one
(28:14):
when I'm traveling anyway for a little bit of nutritional insurance.
And then dinner, my husband typically makes dinner. I do
not cook. I am not a cook. I do not cook.
I scrambled eggs. I caught avocados. That is the extent
of my culinary excellence. Um. And the few times I've tried,
my husband's like, let me give me good at everything.
(28:37):
And and then he'll typically make a dinner like, um,
could be an all veggie dish a few nights a week.
It's a beautiful steak from a farm that we get
direct to consumer, and UM, some sweet potatoes or something
in that mean, very simple simple salt and pepper type meals,
but absolutely delicious, and the kids eat the same thing
(28:58):
as us. And dessert, yeah, let's talk to dessert. No dessert,
And what about alcohol? Barely? Barely? And that's been a
big shift over the years. Of course, in my twenties,
I loved a good time like anyone else. And in
my thirties, um loved a good time, loved glass of
wine to two glasses of wine. But as I've gotten older,
(29:20):
as I've learned more about alcohol's effect on the body,
it's been less and less and less and less. Um.
I mean, there will be weeks where there's zero alcohol.
It's great, Yeah, I go, I go days and then
sometimes there's a glass of wine, two glasses of wine.
Anything more than that, I actually just get full. Like
(29:42):
it's not even about getting like, oh I feel tipsy,
it's just like my stomach, my body, the sugar from alcohol,
that's what I feel more. And then I'm like, oh,
I can't MoMA needs to go to bed. And then
I have to take a cbdego me and some other
supplements to help offset the negative effects of alcohol so
I don't feel like absolute crap after two glasses of wine. Mhm. Okay,
(30:03):
I'm going to shift gearson, because you mentioned your husband
and I was reading somewhere that you have this really
interesting practice with him of a monthly check in which
I loved, love loved. Can you tell us more about that? Yes,
So when we first met, we met had a one
night stand, so we thought uh, and proposed each other
(30:25):
within two weeks. And interestingly, we had both been out
of long term relationships recently. I was out of an
eleven year relationship, not married, but might as well have been.
I was out of that relationship for six months when
I met my husband, and he was out of his
eight year relationship for about a year. Needless to say,
neither of us were looking for a long term relationship.
(30:47):
I thought I was going to have a lover on
every continent given my global business um, and that felt
very exciting to be um. My husband had his own
visions of what his next few years would look that
also did not include a steady, single partner, and but
that was all changed when we met. And so here
(31:09):
we are, we meet, we have one night standard, proposed
to each other within two weeks, and it became apparent
that this was it, Like you're my person. He's my person.
And so we had several conversations about what we learned
from our previous long term relationships, what our role was in,
what parts we didn't like, what we learned about ourselves,
and how we had changed over time, and we just said,
(31:32):
I want to We both realized now we want to
be better at home than we are at work. I
had never said that before. The thought had never entered
my mind. It's not that I didn't want to be
have a great relationship, but I had never consciously said
I actually want to be better at home than at work.
In fact, subconsciously, I likely believed very much the opposite.
(31:53):
And so we talked about it and we said, okay,
if we both naturally are coming to this place in
our lives, we want to be better at home and
at work. How does one do that? And we said, well,
what can we learn about what helps us be good
at work? In business? What are the practices? What are
the things that help you learn and develop and grow
(32:13):
and stay close as the business changes and as you change.
And so we realized that one of those practices was
some methodology of regularly checking in and giving feedback and
receiving feedback, so that little things didn't become big things,
so that what mattered to someone could be celebrated, and
not leaving it to the whims of a moment to
be addressed, but protecting a place. So he had heard
(32:36):
about a couple that UM celebrated their month a versary
for decades, no matter where they were in the world.
They had champagne or a cup of tea or a
cup of coffee, And so we agreed that we would
hold the space of a month a versary every month.
On the tenth of every month, which is the day
that we met. Tattooed on my arm and UM, that
would be our time to connect and check in. Then
(32:59):
we borrowed versions of questions we had used in different
leadership groups, but made them a bit more personal, and
we asked each other on the tenth of every month
these six questions. I asked him. He answers, then he
asked me the same question. I answer. It might take
three minutes. Well, probably the shortest one is ten minutes
(33:19):
because we're writing and we're taking notes in between, and
some have taken hours because it facilitated deeper discussions. But
typically it's around a twenty minute exercise, and the questions
are what's been the best part of the last month,
the worst part of the last month, and again related
to our relationship. Doesn't have to be something caused by
the relationship, but whatever most affects how we show up
(33:42):
for each other, best part, the worst part. What's one
thing I can do differently to be a better partner?
For you? What is worried you the most in the
last thirty days. What have you been most grateful for
in the last thirty days? And what have you been
most proud of? Again, something that is most related to
how we show up for each other. That's amazing. Wow, Well,
I that's it. That's intense, and that takes a major commitment.
(34:07):
And I've been married thirty three years, and I have learned,
you know, things work differently for different people. I have
learned not to, you know, to try not to let
the words come out of my mouth as I'm feeling something.
But you know, soon after, you know, when I can,
when I can phrase in a way that's not attacking
(34:27):
right then, but I mean a month later, I forget.
You know, how's your month good? How's your month good?
All right? What's for dinner? You know? What are the kids?
What are the kids? All we do is talk about
the kids, what are the kids doing? And now we
talk about the dogs. That's such a great call out.
What the check in doesn't do is remove the responsibility
to talk about something in the moment, and so it's
you don't hold it, you don't hold everything for the
(34:48):
check in. We have those conversations to your point as
soon as we've learned what is the most productive way, Yeah,
to have conversations. But the chicken is about what remains
like after a month. What are the highest highs and
the lowest lows, and what are the things that stick
with us? And the question there are two questions that
are most powerful. One is the what is one thing
(35:10):
I can do differently to be a better partner for you?
Every month? Every month, that's twelve different actions you have
to take this year. It's also it's a lot of feedback.
Cat I don't know if I can handle that much
feedback from anybody, including my partner. It is, but sometimes
we don't always get better, and so sometimes it's not
a unique thing every twelve months. Sometimes it's a hey,
(35:33):
here's what we talked about last month that you could
do differently to be a better partner. And it is
my answer again this month. But differently doesn't mean stop.
Differently could mean something you you did that I really
hope you do more of UM. So it stops, start, continue,
and that's what the differently about. So that's one question
(35:53):
that's particularly illuminating and actionable UM and we act on it.
I mean, that's the point of the discussion. And it's
not just to be heard, right, It's this is literally
like feedback. It's like all of the hr like anything
I've done on the CPO side of my career. It's
like direct feedback in the moment, real time feedback. It's
(36:15):
a monthly check ins, you know, to make sure that
everything's going as plans, stop to start, continue. That's a
big one for sure. But the idea of applying it
to your personal relationship, I think it's so interesting because
I've never heard anyone say to do it. And I
have to admit, I'm I'm good at giving feedback, I
am not great at receiving feedback, and it's something I've
(36:37):
had to work on throughout my career to be like
open to it and try not to be defensive. I
cannot imagine how difficult it would be if I was
getting feedback from my husband of twenty seven years every month,
Like I feel like it's mutual that helps, right, you
don't get down, you don't ask all the questions and
the other persons in the hot seat, you're really sharing this.
(37:00):
And that's that other question that's so illuminating is when
you look back on the last thirty days, what stands
out that has worried you the most? That is a
really it is always a powerful question. And I remember
when I had my second miscarriage and we did our
check in, and my husband's answer blew my mind because
(37:27):
I I suppose that I believed that there was no
way it could be as hard on him as it
was on me. And his answer to that question this
was a couple of years ago, and I don't remember
exactly what it was, but it made it very clear
that he was devastated, grieving, feeling a degree of um
(37:54):
immobility through this moment that our day to day interactions
had not revealed. And it forced me to honor that
in that moment. And and of course he didn't want
to his words, I didn't want to bug you with
my extra feelings while you're grieving too, like while you're
(38:16):
dealing with this and so this like back to this
podcast the important things, you know what matters. We made
the choice that we matter most, and therefore only actions
will truly make that and honest statement. And those actions
(38:36):
are staying close to each other as we evolve like
vines creating. Yes we're individuals. Yes we're going to grow
in different directions. We're both on a journey. We're discoverers,
were learners, but we have to create forcing moments to
come back together and really get the most out of
those moments. And that question of what's worried you the most,
um because you just don't go around talking about that
(38:58):
every day. It's eap cad. I feel like you've just
changed the course of my relationship for the next twenty
years by giving this very generous exercise. I'm going to
make my husband do this, not mine, and I'm not
doing this but now I'm not doing this. No, no, no,
I'm not doing now now. And I'm very close to
(39:19):
my husb. No, I know you are. I'm gonna but
I know just what you're talking about, like even the miscarriage,
but we went through that too, and we didn't talk
about it in the same way because I think my
husband was so focused on holding space for me and
my grieving, and it wasn't until I got pregnant held
it had our daughter who's now twelve. But after that
then it sort of came out in time of how
(39:41):
hard it was for him to go through that. And
I never allowed that conversation because it just didn't even
occur to me. I mean, similar to what you're describing,
And I think an exercise like this would have saved
both of us a lot of pain in that moment
of realization so late that he had suffered so much
and didn't feel like you could talk about it or whatever.
But I think on an ongoing basis, in a future
(40:02):
looking basis, I'm going to try to maybe not every month.
I feel like that, maybe like quarterly. Maybe we started
like trying. Why don't you try it one? Yeah? It does.
I know I might need some alcohol, but but I
want to. I want to switch gears to your kids
because working at home when you know, when you have
young kids, because I always worked at home a couple
(40:24):
of days a week, you know what, even when my
kids were young. But they're always breaking in, like how
do you maintain your professionalism or do you not? Or
do you let them break in? Like how you know
it's not easy, No, I mean during the peak peak lockdowns, um,
(40:45):
and even parts of one. You know, even our nanny
couldn't be here. I couldn't have any help. And so
that was yet was running the business. In fact, at
the very beginning, was still running Focus Brands restaurants around
the world, which were radically affected. I mean, and they're right.
As COVID was hitting, my daughter got incredibly ill and
(41:06):
wasn't the I c U for twelve days and not
with COVID, but just unbelievable timing, and so I remember
having my air pods in, needing to literally lead the
company through crisis and manage my daughters wellness and care.
And then I ended up getting sick for it was
(41:27):
like respiratory viruses that were going around that were not
COVID but that we're horrible um. And it was just crazy.
I mean, I can look back and see my true
woman power, mom energy um at its peak navigating all
of that, and it was just I think I was
(41:47):
able to draw in a lot of my experiences as
a young leader opening franchises around the world where you
just recognize the condition of newness and unfamiliarity. And eOne
was in this condition of newness and unfamiliarity, so I
did not experience the feeling of worry or shame or
(42:09):
what's going to happen if they hear my daughter crying,
or what's going to happen. I was just kind of like,
f you, if you don't get it, I've got I
know what really matters, and um, I'm somehow finding a
way to not totally drop the things that don't matter,
and it's going to be okay. Now. Some of that
was it's my personality, it's my focus on my daughter
(42:32):
who was ill. And also I moved up into a
key right senior executive position, so it's easier to have
that mindset when you're in charge. And I never um
forgot that and did everything that I could to make
sure that that was um extended and believed and felt
by every individual on our teams, regardless of how new
(42:54):
they were with the company or how much formal authority
or whatever, you know, people management responsibility they had. I
think what you and Bobby both said as an example,
certainly for me just I mean, Bobby and I have
had these conversations, and hearing you speak at it's really empowering,
I think to that next generation of worker and leader
to see women in your positions and our positions saying
(43:17):
these things and really living it and showing it to
be true, that they are balancing many different things. That
it's not a perfect science, that it's a pie not
you know, not. It's like the different pieces of the
pie are different sizes at different times, UM, and that
we are all kind of fumbling as we go to
but making the best of it and supporting each other
in it. And I think it's so important for UM
(43:40):
for us to talk openly about this stuff. It's super helpful,
I know for me to hear it. One of the
first conversations Bobby and I ever had UMS when I
asked her to mentor me, was about how to balance
it all and like I was starting a new job,
and um, could I ask for a flexibility and that
kind of thing? And She's like, you have to ask
the question, and I don't. I don't think if she
hadn't prompted me, I never would have done it. And
(44:02):
like hearing you, hopefully somebody is listening to this podcast,
hearing what you're saying, hearing how you prioritize your time,
and now feels like, oh, I can do that. I
can ask for that time and for that flexibility or
not to have that call early morning, late at night
when I have to put my kid to bed. Here's
my wine around that. And I use it for myself
(44:23):
and I ask it as a question of others. I say,
this is what I need to be successful. This is
what I need, the time, the flexibility. And that's not
just honoring time in the morning. That is my sacred
time with after my a g one and my coffee,
but with my kids and my husband because we are
morning people and my kids grew up with the smell
(44:44):
of coffee and a French press pouring the kettle like
that is our time. And yes I make rare exceptions,
but they are that is what I need to be successful.
I am not asking for someone to bend themselves into
a hutzel. I am saying this is what I need.
This is how you get the best of me. And
(45:05):
then when I'm working with others, whether it's a new
hire or appear or even an advisory role um or
an interview, I ask what do you need to be successful?
You just answered the last question that we ask everyone,
and honestly, uh, it was. It's basically and I ask everyone.
According to you cat call, what is the one piece
(45:28):
of advice you can give anyone that's listening today that's
going to change the course of their life. So that
could be your answer, or you can give them something else.
But that is like how I like to close these conversations. Yeah,
certainly having that is a statement and a question or
(45:49):
a statement that you deserve to ask and answer over
time because it changes, and you should ask it of
yourself before you of anyone else. The thing I would
I would leave folks with is a version of what
my mom wrote on my birthday card, and it kind
of sums up all this. We're all on a journey.
(46:10):
We have different life needs. We learn over time what
matters to us most the most important things, and hopefully
we line up actions that back up what we say
are the most important things with where we spend our
time and who uh is number one and number two
and number three in our world. But that's a journey,
and it's okay if you look back and go I
(46:32):
didn't get that exactly right then, and I want to
get it more right now like I did with my relationships.
And the phrase, the version of a phrase that she
always wrote was don't forget where you came from, but
don't you dare let it solely define you. And my
ad is our truth is in our roots, like that's
our story, that's who we are. But our past shouldn't
(46:52):
be our anchor. Like you have permission to change, I
have permission to change, and as long as we stay
rooted in the most important things, that change is likely
to be incredibly positive over time. How proud of you
is your mom? She is very proud. She Um, you know,
stayed with our dad. It was an alcoholic for for
many years before she finally decided to leave. And she
(47:15):
told me then and has reiterated to me over the years,
that her mission. All she wanted once she left UM,
which was very difficult on her, All she wanted was
three independent girls. That was it. She just didn't want
us to have to need any one or anything, no more,
(47:36):
no less. That's the bar, UM, and she achieved that.
And UM feels incredibly, incredibly proud to see where we is.
You know, three girls have all landed and um, it
is my life's mission to continue to make her proud. Well,
I'm sure you are. You are incredibly inspiring. It's this
(47:59):
is been such a fun conversation and I've learned so much.
Thank you so much. Likewise, thank you guys. Mm hmmm
(48:21):
mm
Popular Podcasts
United States of Kennedy
United States of Kennedy is a podcast about our cultural fascination with the Kennedy dynasty. Every week, hosts Lyra Smith and George Civeris go into one aspect of the Kennedy story.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.