#104 How Project Potluck is Creating a More Inclusive, Equitable, and Colorful CPG Industry with Kathleen Casanova
The Startup CPG Podcast
Startup CPG
4.9 • 642 Ratings
🗓️ 22 August 2023
⏱️ 35 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
I’m so excited to introduce you to today’s guest and for the chance to feature an incredible organization everyone in CPG should know about, Project Potluck. Kathleen Casanova is the Founding Executive Director of Project Potluck, which is the largest professional community inclusively for People of Color (POC) in CPG. People of Color face systemic barriers to accessing social, human, and financial capital. As a result, today’s CPG industry is not representative of the US population or the consumers that support and purchase products, especially natural and organic products. Currently, 40% of the US population are POC but only 16% of leadership teams in CPG Natural Products are POC. Project Potluck is empowering People of Color to build successful companies and careers in the CPG Industry. If you are a Person of Color, this episode will introduce you to Project Potluck as a resource. If you are not, this episode will introduce you to how to support the Project Potluck community and contribute to serving 1,000 People of Color in CPG, creating a more colorful CPG industry, and a more equitable society.
Listen in as Kathleen shares about:
- How Project Potluck got started
- Resources and events available to members
- How people can support Project Potluck
- And more!
Get your ticket to the Expo East Mic Drop party for a chance to win a spot on the podcast: https://tinyurl.com/4nafz284
This episode was sponsored by Settle. Go to https://www.settle.com/startupcpg
This episode was sponsored by Graphite Financial. Go to graphitefinancial.com/cpg
Episode Links:
Mic Drop Party at Expo East Giveaway:
- Enter the giveaway to win a spot on this podcast and The Dish by buying your ticket to the Mic Drop party in Philadelphia on September 21, 2023 here
- Note: Giveaway only available to CPG brands and must be present at party in-person to win. If you already bought a ticket, you’ve automatically been entered!
Settle Links:
Graphite Financial Links
- Graphite Financial website
- Download a free financial model template, chart of accounts template, and more here
- Listen to our episode with Graphite founder, Paul Bianco, episode #96 here.
Show Links:
- Join the Startup CPG Slack community (14K+ members and growing!)
- Follow @startupcpg
- Visit host Jessi Freitag's Linkedin or website
- Questions or comments about the episode? Email Jessi at podcast@startupcpg.com
- Episode music by Super Fantastics
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Growing your brand to a new distribution channel? Need to maximize your purchasing power and scale |
| 0:05.5 | faster? Time to settle now, pay later. Settle is an all-in-one cash flow management solution |
| 0:12.1 | built for growing CPG brands. Settle working capital offers flexible short-term financing |
| 0:18.1 | with competitive rates and faster access to the financing you need |
| 0:22.1 | with credit eligibility reviews in just one to three days. The number one reason customers like |
| 0:28.3 | Branch, Dagnie Dover, and Starface love Settle, transparent terms. No surprises, just upfront |
| 0:34.6 | clarity on financing terms with a set pay schedule. Settle takes a |
| 0:39.1 | holistic approach to credit reviews because sales don't tell your whole story. Also, it's non-dilutive |
| 0:44.7 | capital. You built your brand. You keep ownership. Ready to scale to what's next? Get started for |
| 0:50.5 | free at Settle.com slash startup CPG. |
| 0:54.7 | That's settle s e t-t-t-l-e.com slash startup CPG. |
| 1:01.6 | Hey, listeners, would you like the chance to be featured on this podcast and on Startup |
| 1:05.8 | CPG's live LinkedIn show, The Dish? |
| 1:08.5 | If you buy a ticket for our mic drop party at Expo East by |
| 1:12.6 | August 31st, you'll automatically be entered for a chance to win a spot on both shows. |
| 1:18.7 | The Dish is our conversational LinkedIn live show hosted by Jenna Mopsvitz and I'll join as well |
| 1:24.1 | for a special episode that'll be featured on this podcast across all podcast players. |
| 1:29.5 | The mic drop party is the evening of Thursday, September 21st during Expo East in Philadelphia. |
| 1:34.9 | During the party, we'll be featuring backpack brands and some of the incredible party guests |
| 1:38.7 | signed up so far include retailers like Kroger, Whole Foods, Bristol Farms, media companies, and VCs. It's a karaoke venue, |
| 1:47.1 | so get ready to sing, or just come to network and sample the backpack brands, which will be announced |
| 1:51.6 | in Slack. We expect the mic drop party to sell out, so get your ticket today at the link in the |
... |
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