My parents and I were immigrants from the former Soviet Union.

We were refugees.

My parents talked about surviving famine.

And so these stories, they were part of my DNA.

When this coronavirus started to become a bigger chatter,

I did start thinking about what lifeways role was going to be.

We reacted really quickly to get the company ready to build out that inventory,

to make sure that our supply chain was strong,

to create and deploy the various emergency plans,

absorbing this data and understanding what you can do with it is really important.

I hope that we really take this moment and use it as a teachable moment for generations to come,

because this isn't the last global pandemic.

That's Julie Smolanski, CEO of Lifeways, which makes the dairy aisle probiotic drink

kefir. Brands like Lifeways have seen a boom in demand,

as food consumption in the US has shifted during the pandemic, from 50% restaurants and food services

to nearly 100% groceries. But filling those orders and managing the safety needs of food facilities

has been anything but simple. I'm Bob Safian, former editor of Fast Company,

founder of the Flux Group, and host of Masters of Scale Rapid Response.

I wanted to talk with Julie because in her business life and her family life,

she's had plenty of experience grappling with crisis.

A first-generation American, she both relishes the opportunities she's had and reflects on how hard

she's had to fight for them. She's an advocate for entrepreneurs, for global health readiness,

...