The story that I tell everyone is not exactly the truth.

Yes, I knew Madeline from our parenting group with our first children, where we would sit around with other moms and dads and talk about sleeping and diapers and breast feeding.  And yes, I have a background in marketing, with 5 years of international food marketing under my belt by that time. But, as I normally tell it, it was not just a friendly phone call that day in 2014.

What I tell people is that “we were just talking about our kids and never had really gotten into a professional discussion, and when I mentioned that I was in marketing she started asking me more in-depth questions and I was thinking to myself ‘is this a friendly conversation or a job interview?’” That always gets a chuckle from whoever I’m talking to. Then I go on to say that it was at that point “Madeline asked me to come on board part time to drum up social media buzz before we even had a product.”

That’s the story I tell when people ask how I got involved as a founding team member of a now multi-million dollar brand that we created from nothing. 

The truth (and Madeline doesn’t even know this, not until she reads this) is that I called her with a motive: I wanted a job.  My self-diagnosed PPD following the birth of my second child was making me do funny things, namely launch a taste test website where I would go out with my limited time off to Whole Foods and Kroger and Target and buy a bunch of different brands of one thing or another and come home and taste test them all and record it in a blog. I tasted taco seasoning, salad dressings, and even vegetable oils. I wanted it to be a viable business idea, but I’m not a web developer. The foundation of a company like that is online usability to search and collate all of the different reviews. That, and I was spending my husband’s hard earned income on random food products. I knew I needed to go in a different direction.

I was into my second year as a stay-at-home mom to my 2-year old baby girl and 4 year old son.  I had reduced my hours at the international consulting firm I worked at after the birth of my son, and left when my second child was born.  One night in 2014 at the dinner table my husband said, ‘Hon, I’m not sure what is going on but you’re not you anymore. I need YOU back.’ At that moment the light bulb went off that being a full-time stay-at-home mom was not my thing.

At the same time, I couldn’t bear to go back to a demanding job with two young children. I didn’t want to miss anything, but I needed another outlet. I had found a part-time role at a local school doing PR, but it was unfulfilling and with no room to grow. So I called Madeline with the motive to see if something flexible and part-time was available. Fortunately there was, and since then, with several other founding members, we have built a beloved brand that has skyrocketed to the top of our category with a positive bottom line and a wide variety of delicious products.

That’s the truth.