Pitch Slam Finals - Part I

Jun. 14, 2022 at 12:04 PM

Carol Ortenberg, Editor of NOSH, hosts Part I of the Pitch Slam Finals.


Finalist:

Ibraheem Basir:
Ibraheem Basir is the founder and CEO of A Dozen Cousins, a natural food brand that makes convenient meals and side dishes inspired by traditional Creole, Caribbean and Latin American recipes. The brand is inspired by his childhood growing up in the culinary melting pot of Brooklyn and is named after his daughter and her 11 cousins. Prior to launching A Dozen Cousins, Ibraheem obtained his MBA from the Wharton School of Business and served as a Marketing Manager on a number of natural food brands including Larabar and Annie's Organic.

 
Holly Adrien:

Holly Adrien is the Natural and Organic Strategy and Innovation Manager for The Kroger Co, the nation’s largest traditional grocer. With a deep background in customer insights, analytics and merchandising, Holly leads development of The Kroger Co’s strategic focus for natural and organic, and is responsible for execution of top activations to meet customer’s needs in natural and organic across the total store. In her role, she has the privilege of collaborating with all Kroger banners and both established and emerging brands to continuously innovate in terms of new items, promotions, and communication to customers. Her passion for natural products started as an opportunity to improve health and performance in athletics, then blossomed when she was responsible for the Baby department for Kroger and recognized the opportunity that existed to provide the best to The Kroger Co. customers!

Mia Medina:

Growing up in Mill Valley, CA, where natural foods were a staple long before it was mainstream, I’ve always been drawn to natural products, local fresh foods, and exploring new and different flavors. I’m especially fortunate that my passion for clean healthy food has not only been a lifestyle, but also the core of my career in the Natural Products industry. While spending the last 20 years as a wife and a mother to our 5 amazing children, I have also had the opportunity to grow with and navigate through the CPG industry, with a primary focus on the Natural Channel. I’ve worked on the Broker side of the business with Acosta/NS Sales, the manufacturer side with Coca-Cola/Odwalla, and the distribution side where my husband and I expanded our local distribution company nationally, to become Whole Foods Market’s #1 DSD distributor in 8 of their 11 regions. It was here, I realized, that helping small businesses launch, grow, and expand into multiple regions and retailers was not only a career, but a calling. Weaving together the unique threads of my early exposure to clean and healthy food, my personal resonance with the natural products industry, and a passion for helping start up brands grow and flourish in this space, it seemed time to start a consulting company and take that approach one step further; to help women owned brands and women entrepreneurs succeed in this male dominated space. Thus, Gather Brands was born!