Israel Santiesteban-Barrientos joins us in this episode of Owning Your Legacy to share his story of how he went from delivering milk at Dannon to becoming a leader in food and beverage with roles at prestigious companies like Kraft-Heinz and Schreiber Foods.

Israel’s journey is one of perseverance, from losing his mother at a young age and playing semi-professional soccer to keep food on the table to learning food science on the job and reading textbooks for classes he wasn’t officially enrolled in.  Israel put himself headfirst into every challenge and made lasting connections with his community, quickly learning about every aspect of his greatest passion—food production and nutrition.

In this episode of Owning Your Legacy:

• Israel’s incredible story, from farmer to executive through a language barrier
• What makes milk and dairy products more or less nutritious
• Kraft’s role as a power player in improving nutrition and wellness
• Improving supplier diversity and empowering smaller, disadvantaged groups
• Using your power and influence to be a force for good and move others

If you enjoyed the episode please share it with others, and rate, review, and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. To learn more about me and how I am Owning My Legacy, you can find me on Instagram @LauretteRondenet and online at lauretterondenet.com.

In this episode of Owning Your Legacy, Laurette speaks with Mar Soraparu, a former finance executive who went on to co-found BIÂN, a premier private social and health club for total well-being. She also serves as the club’s chief wellness officer. The transition from finance to wellness may not be a typical one, but the series of events makes perfect sense in her story—she simply met the challenges before her and followed what her intuition and heart told her.

Laurette and Mar discuss the intersection of wellness and business, both in terms of how corporations can be doing a better job of promoting wellness, and some ways in which holistic wellness has already influenced corporate life. Join us on Mar’s journey through the corporate finance world, the value of following her intuition, how she discovered her passion, and why she made the bold decision to pursue it.

In this episode of Owning Your Legacy:

• Mar’s career journey of finance to holistic and physical wellness
• How holistic wellness shapes the western corporate world
• The power of having a career mentor
• Owning and being empowered by your mindset
• What business can do better to promote total wellness

If you enjoyed the episode please share it with others, and rate, review, and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. To learn more about me and how I am Owning My Legacy, you can find me on Instagram @LauretteRondenet and online at lauretterondenet.com.

In this episode of Owning Your Legacy, Laurette is joined by Julia Stamberger, the president, founder, and director of The Planting Hope Company, Inc. The two begin by discussing Julia’s start at United Airlines where she pioneered the airline snackbox concept and set her career on a trajectory of food innovation. This led her to found Planting Hope, a company that reimagines the future of food to something more sustainable, healthy, and scalable for the future.

The road to making Planting Hope a success has not been without its challenges. Julia has grappled with the demands and expectations of venture capital funding, learning more about food science on the job, and identifying which healthy products can actually be commercially viable—wait until you hear what she says about almond and sesame milk!

In this episode of Owning Your Legacy:

• Improving airline food during an era of cost-cutting
• Reimagining sustainable food with Planting Hope Company
• The realities of working with VCs
• The challenges of scaling healthy products
• Empowering women and raising equity-focused men

If you enjoyed the episode please share it with others, and rate, review, and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. To learn more about me and how I am Owning My Legacy, you can find me on Instagram @LauretteRondenet and online at lauretterondenet.com.

In this episode of Owning Your Legacy, Laurette is joined by Brent Novoselsky, former NFL player and current VP of Wealth Services at Alera Group. The two discuss Brent’s experience playing for the Chicago Bears and Minnesota Vikings, his career-ending injury, and life after professional football. Fortunately for Brent, he had a business degree from Penn State to fall back on.

When it comes to professional football and business, according to Brent, it’s all about who you know. It was his connections that got him a call from the Bears. They also helped him build a successful career as a financial advisor, where he helps clients make savvy decisions based on their values. 

In this episode of Owning Your Legacy:

• Brent’s early football years
• The neck injury that changed Brent’s life
• Transitioning from the NFL to everyday life
• How values influence your financial decisions
• LinkedIn as an untapped resource

If you enjoyed the episode please share it with others, and rate, review, and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. To learn more about me and how I am Owning My Legacy, you can find me on Instagram @LauretteRondenet and online at lauretterondenet.com.

In this episode of Owning Your Legacy, Laurette is joined by Jennifer Convery, the former group president of Griffith Foods North America. Jennifer currently sits on three boards and is an advisor to CEOs. Together, Laurette and Jennifer discuss how women’s role in the workplace has evolved over the last 30 years and the importance of advocating for yourself to get what you want.

Jennifer created a successful career path by tuning into her needs, learning to balance motherhood with work responsibilities, and never being afraid to raise her hand when new opportunities emerged. Pulling from decades of leadership experience, Jennifer shares valuable insights and personal anecdotes that anyone can apply to get ahead at work.

In this episode of Owning Your Legacy:

• Jennifer’s way into the food and beverage industry
• Balancing personal and professional priorities
• Building a career without mom guilt
• How to communicate your value
• The importance of connections outside of your organization

If you enjoyed the episode please share it with others, and rate, review, and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. To learn more about me and how I am Owning My Legacy, you can find me on Instagram @LauretteRondenet and online at lauretterondenet.com.

In this episode of Owning Your Legacy, Laurette sits down with Tali Kogan, renowned Chicago stylist, founder of Tel Aviv Couture, and co-founder of Sweet Dome Chicago Foundation. Tali shares her inspiring story as a Ukrainian-born Israeli immigrant who came to America with little to her name and began her career as an accountant. Finding herself unhappy, she escaped an abusive relationship, eventually left her job, and turned her passion for Israeli-made fashion into a career as a personal stylist and empowerment coach. 

Tali is a bright light who works with women leaders around the world, using clothing as a way to transform not only their style but their self-confidence. Her styling process “Calling Forth the Queen” is a one-of-a-kind experience that brings out a woman’s true essence and creates an energetic shift that allows them to show up in a whole new and powerful way.

In this episode of Owning Your Legacy:

• Tali’s story from “frumpy” accountant to shining stylist
• The four style personas—which one are you?
• Top styling strategies anyone can use
• The importance of a spiritual practice
• The inspiration for Sweet Dome Chicago 

If you enjoyed the episode please share it with others, and rate, review, and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. To learn more about me and how I am Owning My Legacy, you can find me on Instagram @LauretteRondenet and online at lauretterondenet.com.

In this episode of Owning Your Legacy, Laurette sits down with Alex Johnston, the founder and president of Building Impact Partners, a philanthropy advising firm that works together with changemakers to help people, communities, and society move forward for good. Alex is also the author of Money With Meaning: How to Create Joy and Impact Through Philanthropy.

With over two decades of advising clients on how to give their money, Alex is a wealth of information when it comes to meaningful giving through philanthropy. In fact, Building Impact Partners has helped its clients give away over $1 billion since 2012. And still, with so much money sitting on the sidelines, there is ample opportunity for more. 

Alex breaks it all down for us, from the psychology of giving to why we tend to shy away from talking about money, and how to know your money is actually being used for good. He also shares the distinction between meaningful giving, selfish giving, spiritless giving, and senseless giving—a topic his book discusses in greater detail.

In this episode of Owning Your Legacy:

• The importance of philanthropy in politics
• Secrets of the ultra-wealthy
• How to talk about money with your kids
• Meaningful giving, selfish giving, spiritless giving, senseless giving
• Giving as an opportunity for transformation

If you enjoyed the episode please share it with others, and rate, review, and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. To learn more about me and how I am Owning My Legacy, you can find me on Instagram @LauretteRondenet and online at lauretterondenet.com.

In this episode of Owning Your Legacy, Laurette sits down with Lori Hilson Cioromski, founder & CEO of HC Strategic Advisors, president of Essential Water Technologies, and award-winning author of You Hold the Power: Igniting Your Fire for Success.

As the episode title suggests, Laurette and Lori discuss how to scale a company in the face of adversity, as well as the necessity for women leaders to step into their power to unlock growth and potential. 

Lori shares stories of her earliest entrepreneurial endeavors as a young girl motivated by a need for money, to working with her dad and receiving backlash from her male counterparts, to the most catalytic moment in her life: a near-death experience during the birth of her youngest daughter, and what would later become the impetus for her award-winning book.

In this episode of Owning Your Legacy:

• Anointed vs. appointed: proving your worth in a family-owned business
• Scaling a business against tough financial times
• The power of “catalytic moments”
• Supporting our next gen of female entrepreneurs with Female Strong
• Why it is absolutely necessary to step into your power

If you enjoyed the episode please share it with others, and rate, review, and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. To learn more about me and how I am Owning My Legacy, you can find me on Instagram @LauretteRondenet and online at lauretterondenet.com.

In this episode of Owning Your Legacy, Laurette sits down with Brandon Casteel, vice president of partnerships at SPINS, to discuss the leadership tenets that have allowed him to build a successful, multi-decade sales career. They also discuss how SPINS is leveraging point-of-sale data to unlock powerful consumer insights.

Brandon is a master of building authentic relationships through trust, vulnerability, and curiosity, artfully moving past the surface to get to the heart of any conversation, whether it be with a team member, sales partner, or one of his five kids. This gift along with his concept of an “emotional bank account”—the idea that he is giving as much as he is receiving—makes him a standout partner, leader, and father. 

Drawing from nearly 30 years of experience, Brandon now leads multiple teams at SPINS, a leading wellness-focused data technology company that provides retail consumer insights, analytics, and consulting for the natural, organic, and specialty products industry. 

In this episode of Owning Your Legacy:

• The importance of physical presence
• How to leverage curiosity as a leader
• Balancing your emotional bank account
• The value of performance improvement plans
• Using sales data to unlock powerful consumer insights

If you enjoyed the episode please share it with others, and rate, review, and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. To learn more about me and how I am Owning My Legacy, you can find me on Instagram @LauretteRondenet and online at lauretterondenet.com.

In this episode of Owning Your Legacy, Laurette sits down with Jennifer Bell, CMO of Lettuce Entertain You Restaurant Group, to talk about the importance of professional development, risk-centered leadership, and the invaluable benefits of betting on yourself.

Laurette and Jennifer walk through the various obstacles of a journey to the C-suite, leading by example to multiply your team’s enthusiasm and effort, and what she did to skyrocket the business’s revenue to $300 million after the pandemic demanded a pivot.

In this episode of Owning Your Legacy:

• Making a major career pivot based on passion & purpose
• Key factors in building & leading a diverse, talented team
• Being your own biggest cheerleader
• Where leaders should challenge themselves more for growth
• The best tools to leverage strengths & foster better feedback

If you enjoyed the episode please share it with others, and rate, review, and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. To learn more about me and how I am Owning My Legacy, you can find me on Instagram @LauretteRondenet and online at lauretterondenet.com.