SC20 Celebration Agenda

Thank you to our Sponsors for sparking change!

Sponsored by

Jane Miller CEO, Lily's Sweets

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It's Pitch Slam time! Watch as 11 brands take the stage for a shot to win over $40K in New Hope Network services! Hosted by Jane Miller, CEO of Lily’s Sweets, this exciting, fast-paced event features three-minute pitches from standout emerging brands, a five-person judging panel and an interview with past Pitch Slam winner, Goodwolf Water Kefir.

1:15 - 2:15 p.m. EST | 10:15 - 11:15 a.m. PST

2020 Spark Change Pitch Slam Finals – Part 1

Ryan Pintado-Vertner Principal & Founder, Smoketown, LLC

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Join us for a closing celebration keynote where we'll discuss the rich topics and insights we've uncovered throughout Spark Change and what they mean for the industry heading into 2021.

12:20 - 1:10 p.m. EST | 9:20 - 10:10 a.m. PST

Spark Change Celebration Keynote

Innovation for Good Title Sponsor

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Join the Spark Change community as we celebrate the inspiring changemakers who have used business and innovation for good in 2020. Plus, get a sneak peek of our live music sponsored by UNFI.

Noon - 12:15 p.m. EST | 9:00 - 9:15 a.m. PST

Welcome to the Spark Change Celebration!

Spark Change Celebration November 12 - Day 1

Join us as we continue on the Spark Change Journey with our Spark Change Celebration on November 12 and 13.

Spark Change

Jane Miller

CEO, Lily's Sweets

Jane Miller is a 30-year food industry executive with experience working with start-ups and Fortune 500 companies. She is also the founder of Janeknows.com, a career advice website geared towards young leaders starting their careers. Jane is currently the CEO of Lily’s Sweets and has held several other CEO roles in the natural and organic industry, including Rudi’s Bakery, ProYo High Protein Ice Cream and HannahMax Cookie Chips. Over the course of her career, Jane was part of an executive team that brought Hostess out of bankruptcy, worked for HJHeinz as the Chief Growth Officer and then the President of the UK & Ireland Division, and she ran the Western division of Bestfoods Baking. The first fourteen years of her career were at PepsiCo, where she rose to be the President of the Central division of Frito-Lay. Jane currently serves as a board member at the University of Colorado Leeds Business School and Eldorado Springs Artesian Water along with advisory roles with Alpine Start Foods and New Zealand Trade and Enterprise. Her involvement as a mentor for young professionals and start-ups resulted in her being named the Lifetime Achievement Award Winner for the Denver Business Journal in 2013, the Boulder Chamber of Commerce’s Women Who Light the Community in 2015 and the Naturally Boulder Industry Leader Award in 2016. In 2015, Jane established the Jane Knows Scholarship Fund at Leeds supporting students who are the first in their family to go to college and in 2018 received the Leeds’ Service Award. Jane has a Russian Studies degree from Knox College in Galesburg, IL, where she received a 2017 Alumni Achievement Award, and an MBA from Southern Methodist University in Dallas, TX.

Spark Change

That's a wrap for Day 1 of our Spark Change Celebration. See you tomorrow!

4:45 – 5:00 p.m. EST | 1:45 – 2:00 p.m. PST

Closing remarks

Arnulfo Ventura CEO, Beanfields

Ryan Pintado-Vertner

Principal & Founder, Smoketown, LLC

Ryan Pintado-Vertner is the Founder & Principal at Smoketown Consulting, a growth shop that helps visionaries build brands with more traction, fewer pivots, and stronger ROI. Smoketown combines strategy, design, storytelling and grit to give entrepreneurs and investors an end-to-end partner in category disruption. In addition to leading Smoketown, Ryan is a fifth generation innovator with a knack for uncovering extraordinary ideas. His 20-year track record spans the social impact and CPG sectors, including 12 years leading brands at Fortune 500 companies like The Clorox Company and Conagra Brands. Most recently, he was director of disruptive innovation for the Hillshire Farm portfolio at Tyson Foods.

Jessica Rubino Senior Director, Content Marketing, New Hope Network

Yoli Ouiya Founder, Yoli's Green Living Group; Co-Founder, Food & Wellness Equity Collective

Jessica Rubino

Senior Director, Content Marketing Informa Health & Nutrition

Jessica Rubino is a natural products industry expert and content strategist covering issues that are shaping today's health and wellness industry. As senior content marketing director at Informa Health & Nutrition, Jessica helps companies in the food and beverage, personal care and supplement industries tell their stories and strengthen their businesses through high-quality content, education, data and insights and events. Jessica is passionate about making healthy living a reality for all people and serves on the advisory board for Protect Our Breasts, a nonprofit that raises awareness about breast cancer prevention on high school and college campuses. She believes that a good meal, great conversation and meaningful connections are the ingredients for happiness. You can catch her running or making a mess in the kitchen.

Yoli Ouiya

Founder, Yoli's Green Living Group Co-Founder, Food & Wellness Equity Collective

Yoli Ouiya is a driving force in the Global Sustainability and Wellness movement. Yoli’s interest in sustainability and wellness began with her desire to improve her personal health and culminated in becoming certified in Plant-Based Nutrition through Cornell T. Colin Campbell Institute. She started to develop her brand as a digital creative and chef launching YolisGreenLiving.com an eco-lifestyle portal dedicated to providing digitally engaged consumers with insights into green and wellness data. Yoli was nationally recognized as the “Queen of Green” by Black Enterprise Magazine as a go-to social media presence for sustainability insights. In 2017, Yoli was selected for Yale’s inaugural Sustainability Leadership Summit. Yoli was commissioned as a national spokesperson and consultant for The Toyota Green Initiative from 2014-2019. As an independent brand, Yoli builds audiences as a media personality, consultant, and spokesperson. She covers thought leadership on subjects ranging from personal wellness to environmental sustainability, and its’ intersection with technology. She has collaborated with leading retailers, brands, and organizations. A passionate entrepreneur and visionary, Yoli’s next ventures are co-founder of the Food + Wellness Equity Collective, Next in Wellness and African Hippie. The Food + Wellness Equity Collective, which launched July 2020 with 20 founding members, is a diverse group of content creators and entrepreneurs committed to being change agents for equity, diversity and anti-racism in the food and wellness industry. Next in Wellness is a multi-platform marketing and media consultancy that seeks to promote wellness in underrepresented communities. African Hippie is an eco lifestyle brand that empowers previously unserved demographics with wellness focused resources and products.

Jane Miller CEO, Lily's Sweets

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Thank you for joining us on our Spark Change journey!

2:20 – 2:30 p.m. EST | 11:20 – 11:30 a.m. PST

Closing remarks

Spark Change Celebration is all about recognizing the people who make this community shine and those who ensure our collective work makes a difference in the world. During this session, we’ll ask the industry’s most inspiring leaders, from natural products pioneers to emerging changemakers: What is the one thing we can do as a community to spark change in the year ahead? Celebrate their voices and hear their calls to action during this dynamic discussion led by New Hope Network’s Carlotta Mast.

1:35 - 2:20 p.m. EST | 10:35 - 11:20 a.m. PST

A vision for the future: Natural products leaders share their calls to action for 2021

Jane Miller CEO, Lily's Sweets

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And the Pitch Slam winner is ... tune in to find out which company represents the future of the natural products industry!

1:00 - 1:30 p.m. EST | 10:00 - 10:30 a.m. PST

2020 Spark Change Pitch Slam Awards Announcement

Spark Change provides a platform for the products and innovations changing the world and how we live in it—but we all know it’s the people that make this possible. So how does the natural products industry express itself? From music to comedy and oh-so-much more, get to know industry friends and colleagues a little bit better as we celebrate the heart, soul and uniqueness of the natural products community. You. Better. Work!

12:05 - 12:45 p.m. EST | 9:05 - 9:45 a.m. PST

Natural Products Industry Expressions Talent Show!

Jessica Rubino Senior Director, Content Marketing, New Hope Network

Yoli Ouiya Founder, Yoli's Green Living Group; Co-Founder, Food & Wellness Equity Collective

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Welcome to day 2 of our Spark Change Culminating Event!

Noon - 12:05 p.m. EST | 9:00 - 9:05 a.m. PST

Welcome to Day 2 of our Spark Change Celebration!

Spark Change Celebration November 13 - Day 2

Carlotta Mast Market Leader, SVP of Content, New Hope Network

Carlotta Mast

Market Leader & SVP of Content, New Hope Network

As market leader, Carlotta Mast sets the strategy and guides the growth and impact for New Hope Network, the leading events and information services company for the natural & organic products industry. She also leads the content strategy and team for the Informa Markets Health & Nutrition group, which includes New Hope Network. Her team produces the content and conference programming for Natural Products Expos, NBJ Summit, Nutrition Capital Network, Esca Bona, Natural Foods Merchandiser, newhope.com, Nutrition Business Journal, NEXT Forecast, SupplySide, Natural Products Insider, Vitafoods and Vitafoods Insights. With 20 years of experience, Carlotta has her finger on the pulse of new health, wellness and natural product trends and the forces shaping consumer attitudes and behaviors. Carlotta is a frequent speaker at industry events and conferences and has been interviewed about the natural products industry, regulatory issues and market performance by media outlets including The New York Times, Cosmopolitan, NPR, ABC News, BusinessWeek and many others. Carlotta serves on the board and is the past board president of Naturally Boulder, a 1,600-member trade group with the mission of nurturing community, leadership and innovation in the Colorado natural products industry. As Naturally Boulder’s board president, Carlotta helped bring the Naturally Boulder model to other communities and establish Naturally Bay Area, Naturally Austin, Naturally Chicago, Naturally San Diego, Naturally Los Angeles and Naturally New York City; and she now serves on the board of directors for the new Naturally Network. In addition, Carlotta is a co-founder of the J.E.D.I Collaborative, which was created to foster justice, equity, diversity and inclusion within the natural & organic products industry, and she serves on the board of the Climate Collaborative, whose mission is to leverage the power of the natural products industry to reverse climate change. In 2013, Carlotta co-founded a paleo snack company called Wholly Bites, which hit the market well before Whole Foods Market and other retailers began adding paleo sections to their stores. Wholly Bites was sold to 1908 Brands in 2016.

Jessica Rubino

Senior Director, Content Marketing Informa Health & Nutrition

Yoli Ouiya

Founder, Yoli's Green Living Group Co-Founder, Food & Wellness Equity Collective

Jane Miller

CEO, Lily's Sweets

2:30 - 3:30 p.m. EST | 11:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. PST

Spark Change Celebration Concert with the band The Color of Red featuring members of The New Mastersounds & Thievery Corporation.

Sponsored by

November 12 Day 1

November 13 Day 2

Spark Change

Thank you to our Sponsors for sparking change!

Sponsored by

Jane Miller

CEO, Lily's Sweets

Sponsored by

Todd Runestad Senior Editor, Ingredients & Supplements, New Hope Network

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Kristina Cooke, RD Health and Wellness Program Manager, Zevia

Todd Runestad

Senior Editor, Ingredients & Supplements, New Hope Network

Todd Runestad is a senior editor covering supplements and ingredients for Informa's Global Health & Nutrition Network (includes New Hope Network and Natural Products Insider). He has been covering nutrition science news and ingredient innovations for nearly 20 years. Todd has also served as editor for various publications including Nutrition Science News, Health & Nutrition Breakthroughs, Functional Foods & Nutraceuticals, and Functional Ingredients magazine.

Todd Runestad

Senior Editor, Ingredients & Supplements, New Hope Network

Todd Runestad Senior Editor, Ingredients & Supplements, New Hope Network

Ayeshah Abuelhiga Founder & CEO, Mason Dixie Foods

Julia Collins Founder & CEO, Planet FWD

Elliot Begoun Founder & Brand Champion, TIG

Ibraheem Basir Founder & CEO, A Dozen Cousins

Arnulfo Ventura

CEO, Beanfields

Arnulfo Ventura has served as chief executive officer of Beanfields since 2018, charged with leading the Company’s turnaround. Originally founded in 2010, Beanfields is emerging as a leading brand in the healthy, plant-based food snack segment. Beanfields has demonstrated north of 60% growth while posting record sales. By the end of 2019, SPINS Natural Channel Total US reported Beanfields as a Top 5 brand in the Tortilla Chip category. Arnulfo leads the charge on Company innovation where Beanfields has launched a number of award-winning items, most recently the first-to-market line of Grain-Free Vegan Cracklins which debuted in January 2020.

Ayeshah Abuelhiga

Founder & CEO, Mason Dixie Foods

Ayeshah Abuelhiga is the Founder & CEO of Mason Dixie Foods. A graduate of George Washington University, she has always worked hard to be #1: 4.0 GPA, class president, varsity track and field team captain, editor of the paper, Ayeshah continues to strive to be the best she can be. Prior to founding Mason Dixie, she held executive positions at Fortune 500 companies including Toshiba and Audi and consulted at Microsoft, where she learned about leadership and acquired the skills to run a successful business.

Ibraheem Basir

Founder & CEO, A Dozen Cousins

As the driving force behind A Dozen Cousins, Ibraheem Basir’s commitment to leading and growing thebrand is inspired by his love of food, family, and culture. Launched in 2018 this mission-based natural foodcompany is dedicated to creating convenient, nutrient-dense products inspired by regional Creole,Caribbean, and Latin American recipes. Growing up in a big family with nine siblings, food was always a big deal to Basir. At dinner time, his familywould gather around to crack jokes, tell stories, and bond over a blend of traditional Black and Latinofoods. Their diverse menu was the by-product of his mother’s roots and their Brooklyn neighbors. Whethera routine weeknight meal or a special celebration, food has always been a source of joy for Basir and a wayto stay connected with his family and culture. The brand name, A Dozen Cousins, is inspired by Basir’sdaughter, her 11 cousins and all of the fun family meals they share together.

Elliot Begoun

Founder & Brand Champion, TIG

Elliot Begoun is the principal of TIG (The Intertwine Group), a practice focused on helping emerging food and beverage brands grow. He works with clients to design and execute customized route-to-market and go-to-market strategies that build velocity, gain distribution, and win share of stomach.

Julia Collins

Founder & CEO, Planet FWD

Julia Collins is a serial entrepreneur who spent her career building food companies, including Zume Pizza where she became the first Black woman to co-found a unicorn company. Today, Julia leads Planet FWD, a company on a mission to tackle climate change by expanding regenerative agriculture adoption through a sustainable ingredient platform alongside a climate-friendly snack brand. Julia serves on the board of Black Girls Code and the All Raise operating committee. She sits on the Launch with GS advisory council and is an EIR for Cleo Capital. Julia is an active angel investor focused on female and BIPOC founders.