Modern marketing offers more tools than ever before. But Eleanor’s message is clear: growth doesn’t come from doing more, it comes from doing the right things well.

Eleanor is the founder and CEO of Verity, a shopper marketing and retail media agency helping up-and-coming brands grow in a world made for big-brand incumbents. After a career at PepsiCo and high growth challenger brands like Kodiak Cakes and Siete Foods, she saw brands often confuse access with traction and activity with progress.

Eleanor breaks down what actually drives brand growth today and what gets in the way when teams chase new tactics before the strategy fundamentals are in place.

✨What challenger brands can do that legacy brands can’t, and how to leverage it

✨Why in-store still matters, even as retail media and e-commerce grow

✨Where to focus when budgets are tight and velocity matters most

✨Why marketing can’t fix broken unit economics and what leaders should fix first

✨How to decide which growth levers are worth pulling now, and which to ignore

A practical conversation for brand leaders navigating modern marketing and shifting consumer expectations without losing sight of what actually moves their business.

Book: Pour Your Heart Into It by Howard Schultz

Song: “So Much Better” from Legally Blonde

This conversation is a rare treat.

Roxanne Quimby is co-founder and former CEO of Burt’s Bees, artist, conservationist, philanthropist, and one of the most influential brand builders of the last half-century.

Roxanne doesn’t seek the spotlight. She seldom gives interviews, doesn’t let anyone take her picture, and almost never appears on camera. In this episode, she generously shares the ideas, routines, and values that created one of the most trusted brands of our time, and how she stays creative to make historic and lasting impact.

Roxanne spent years living off the grid. This nature-led lifestyle became the foundation for Burt’s Bees, the iconic personal care brand that helped redefine the beauty category long before “clean,” “organic,” or “purpose-led” became industry buzzwords.

Under her leadership, Burt’s Bees scaled nationally and internationally, eventually selling in two landmark transactions that valued the company at more than $900 million. For Roxanne, the exit was not an ending, it was a beginning.

Using the proceeds from the sale, Roxanne donated more than 87,000 acres of land to help create Katahdin Woods & Waters National Monument, along with tens of millions of dollars to the National Park Service and other causes.

Today, Roxanne has come full circle, returning to art, conservation, and hands-on creativity. We talk about her latest projects, and how she continues to create, collaborate, and give in ways that will inspire brand leaders everywhere.

✨ How to build a brand people love by staying grounded in truth and simplicity

✨ Why humor and humanity help stories travel further than polished marketing

✨ How nature’s pace teaches patience and incremental change compounds

✨ Why choosing what not to do can be just as powerful as what to pursue

✨ What it looks like to turn success into true, lasting and shared, impact

A sweet reminder that the most enduring brands, and the most creative lives, are cultivated with integrity and courage to stay creative in every chapter.

Roxanne’s Creative Inspiration

Books: Food photography and cookbooks

Brands: Cheerios and Quaker Oats

Beverage: Espresso martini

Song: Call Me By Your Name

The best trends reflect deeper, lasting shifts in how we shop, eat, and behave. If you want to understand which trends are gaining real traction, and what they mean for your brand and business, this sneak preview of the year ahead is especially for you.

Megan Lynberg is Senior Vice President of Client Strategy at Datassential, the world’s leading intelligence platform tracking the most relevant trends. Her work predicts what will impact consumer categories from restaurants and CPG to personal care and beauty.

Megan shares how Datassential helps the best restaurant, retail, and CPG companies translate consumer insights into ideas, evaluate new concepts, and find white space earlier. And she explains how you can plan, prioritize, and innovate with confidence.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

✨ How Datassential uses AI (and has before it was cool) to forecast top trends with 98% accuracy to inform and inspire ideas across industries

✨ Why more approachable or incremental, brand-inspired innovation often outperforms chasing short-lived trends

✨ The biggest macro shifts shaping 2026 and how brands distinguish meaningful, lasting trends from fleeting fads

✨ How brand leaders vet new ideas and validate concepts before investing time, money or operational upgrades

✨ Why collaboration between operators, manufacturers, marketers and insights teams is the new superpower for innovation

A must-listen (or watch) for brand leaders who want to transform data into clearer brand direction to get ahead in the New Year.

Megan’s creative inspiration:

Book: Atomic Habits by James Clear

Brand: Buc-ee's

Beverage: Boulevard Beer

Songs: “Glorious” by Macklemore and “Rosalita” by Bruce Springsteen