We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Carlee Kelly. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Carlee below.

Hi Carlee, thanks for joining us today. Do you have any key partners or vendors – if so, how’d you find them and start working with them?

You can have a million great ideas, but if you are unable to bring them to life what good do they do?!

Finding the right collaborators makes all the difference in whether an innovation concept will materialize. I’ve seen too many projects fail because the wrong “inputs” were brought into the mix.

Whether I am seeking a new manufacturer, R&D team, designer, or core team member- Here are the top 5 characteristics I look for when choosing a collaborator:

1. Direct and clear communication- no gray area, wishy-washy responses, or changing of their story when difficult topics surface

2. Forthcoming about challenges- owning strengths and weaknesses in a levelheaded way

3. Responsiveness and attunement- are their responses consistently timely, and are they actually “hearing” what I am communicating

4. Proactive- they think ahead strategically rather than waiting for a problem to arise

5. Demonstration of integrity- this one can take a bit of reading between the lines, but what values are their behaviors and opinions conveying; are they showing respect and care towards their colleagues/employees/vendors, are they operating with transparency

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

First and foremost, what I do- I provide deeply attuned innovation strategy solutions for brands in the CPG industry. This ranges from product concept ideation and marketplace positioning, to the more complex like defining a brands product mix strategy, or organizational process change to enhance speed to market. I have helped brands start from the ground up, as well as to evolve and remain relevant in the marketplace.

What makes me a bit unique- I am a nutritionist! I began working in the CPG food industry to help communicate the health attributes of natural packaged foods, but I was never satisfied with what was actually going into these products, I knew they could be better! So began my journey into product development.

My mission is simple- meet people where they are by creating better-for-you versions of packaged foods. I believe packaged foods should be kept as close to the way nature intended, full of real food, made without fillers or artificial and synthetic ingredients.

I am proud to be an advocate for food industry change and helping healthy brands succeed in the marketplace.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

People pleasing & turning over my power! So many of us are programed (especially women) to not ruffle feathers, soothe egos, and go with the flow. For MANY years of my career this was me.

I wanted to be great at what I did, and I wanted people that I worked with to be happy with my work. So, I held back on controversial opinions, and I didn’t put forth ideas that would make me vulnerable to failure. I played it safe. I second guessed myself and didn’t own what I was capable of.

This ultimately led me to burnout and the realization that I wasn’t creating from a place of authenticity. So- I completely rewired my business, recalibrated what I would be dedicating my time and energy to, and chose to stop playing it small.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

Making it through the pandemic as a small business was an interesting journey for me. Networking opportunities ceased as I knew them- and brands were more focused on keeping their supply chain above water than innovating and bringing new products to market.

All of my efforts became focused on one client, I was operating more like an employee than a business owner, which felt, complex. I took on so many aspects of their business that were new to me- in the stratosphere of operations and supply chain, which didn’t “light me up”, but ended up being one of those great experiences that I never knew I needed.

What I learned in that chapter greatly strengthened my ability to lead effective innovation strategy, because I better understand more parts of the whole.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.lettuceeatreal.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lettuceeat_real/#
• Linkedin: https://linkedin.com/in/carlee-kelly-563876132