Networking Night: Meet the Brands Changing the World

Naturally Boulder’s Networking Nights are the place to meet, connect and collaborate with 80-180 of the most passionate, pioneering leaders and companies in the Colorado natural products community.

Meet the Brands Changing the World

When: November 11, 2019, 5:30-7:30 pm
Where: Danone North America (1900 Cherry Street, Louisville, CO 80027)
Subject Track: Innovation

We’re excited to welcome the Naturally Boulder community to Danone North America’s new innovation hub for the Boulder and Denver communities, the Treehouse! Join us to discover the new features of Danone’s top-notch facility, enjoy hors d’oeuvres, drinks and a lively panel discussion with change-makers who are using their businesses to accelerate positive social and environmental change.

Learn from the Experts

Takoua Debeche – SVP Research & Innovation, Danone North America
Linda Appel Lipsius – Co-Founder & CEO, Teatulia Organic Teas
Kyra Rehman – Brand Manager, Mindfull, LLC
Michael Crouch – CEO, Alpine Start

Meet the Panelists

Takoua Debeche
Takoua Debeche leads Research and Innovation for Danone North America, the largest Certified B Corporation® in the world. Takoua is a mindful executive and innovation catalyst with more than 20 years of experience in the food industry, growing local and global brands for CPG and startups. She is passionate about innovation and about the future of our food systems, which is at the center of the vision of Danone, who believes that the health of people and of the planet are interconnected. Formed when Danone acquired WhiteWave in 2017, Danone North America has a unique on-trend portfolio of plant-based and dairy products. Takoua works across internal product teams and external partners to drive sustainable growth in an ever-changing and competitive market. A key element of her vision for Danone North America is to nurture a strong innovation culture to empower and inspire people to collaborate in order to find unmet consumer needs and follow agile innovation models to bring ideas to life. This is part of the inspiration behind the Treehouse, Danone North America’s new innovation hub for the Boulder and Denver communities. Prior to joining Danone, Takoua had an international career with Nestle for 15 years, where she led R&D and Innovation organizations across a wide range of product categories in different countries.

Linda Appel Lipsius
Linda Appel Lipsius is the Co-Founder & CEO of Teatulia Organic Teas. Since 2006, she’s been working with her partners in Bangladesh to bring premium-quality, 100% Organic, direct-sourced teas from a previously-unknown growing region to the United States. She has built a brand known for doing things better – from the regenerative garden itself to the beautiful and sustainable packaging to the long list of awards Teatulia has received for quality. Named one of Food & Wine/ Fortune’s 20 Most Innovative Women in Food & Wine, Lipsius is a leading voice in topics ranging from entrepreneurship to women in business to sustainable business practices to clean food. Linda also started the mama ‘hood (a resource for new & expecting moms & their families) & Teatulia Tea Bar, next door to Teatulia’s Headquarters. Previously, Linda was VP International with Orange Glo International (OGI) – makers of OxiClean, Kaboom, Orange Glo and Orange Clean – and Account Manager for Young & Rubicam. A Denver Native, she earned her Bachelor’s Degree from Columbia University in New York City and her MBA in finance from New York University before moving to London, Los Angeles then back to Denver. She now lives in LoDo (Lower Downtown Denver) with her film maker husband Adam and her 11 & 9 year old Dorothy & Eli. In her spare time, Linda hangs with her kiddos, escapes to the mountains, devours movies & books and runs or practices yoga.

Kyra Rehman
For the past five years Kyra has worked in nearly every sphere of the digital advertising universe. From building out premium ad networks at an SSP, managing nation brands spending millions of dollars a year in media at an ad agency, to helping run all social and digital advertising efforts during the campaign of the current Attorney General of Colorado, Kyra has been fortunate enough to have a wealth of experiences in the world of AdTech and Advertising. She is thrilled to bring her years of experience to MindFull heading up all Digital, Social, PR, Amazon, and E-commerce efforts.

Michael Crouch
Michael Crouch is the CEO of Alpine Start, a Boulder based company that makes instant coffee products for people on the go. Alpine Start is sold throughout the country in stores like Whole Foods, Lucky’s, HEB, Kroger and REI. Beginning this year, the company has cemented its commitment to sustainability and protecting the wild places that Alpine Start’s employees love to play in by supporting 1% for the Planet through a partnership with Protect Our Winters. They’ve recently released a collaboration product with Protect Our Winters that is sold nationwide at REI and online through Alpinestartfoods.com. Prior to his role at Alpine Start, Michael Co-founded two pet food brands, BIXBI and Buckley Pet.

Registration

Members: FREE; Non-members $15.
Refund requests will be honored up to 48 hours before the event.