Sue Lyon didn’t follow a straight path to leadership—or out of addiction. Today, she’s the VP of Manufacturing at Lakanto, where she’s leading the charge to scale monk fruit sweetener production with discipline, empathy, and the kind of outside-the-box thinking that turns complexity into clarity.

In this episode, Sue opens up about what makes a great operator, how she builds trust with a team that doesn’t speak her language, and why she refuses to ask anyone to do a job she wouldn’t do herself. She shares the real-world lessons that shaped her management style—from team sports and early mentors to the mistakes that nearly derailed everything—and how her recovery from addiction fundamentally changed the way she leads.

We talk about manufacturing culture, second chances, and what it takes to turn personal growth into operational momentum.

From high school fields to high-stakes production floors, this one’s about resilience, reinvention, and building something that actually works—on the floor and beyond it.

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Sue’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sue-lyon-b91a3a5b/

Lakanto’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sue-lyon-b91a3a5b/

Lakanto’s X: https://x.com/Lakanto
Lakanto’s Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/lakanto/