Nicola Luce- Guillemette

I attribute my success to having the ability to work with some really amazing first-mover challenger brands like Sam Adams that were able to positively disrupt the landscape of the beer industry. That was really the most amazing journey, and it was a testament to pivoting from U.S. beers and imported beers to an all-American handcrafted approach. It set the stage for learning that anything's possible to shift the mindset. The speed to market of how we went with Sam Adams, Vita Coco, and Poppy allowed me to prioritize my time effectively, to be able to balance all the moving targets of KPIs, priorities, channels, and customers while maintaining solid relationships. I think the third part is being able to take a step back and look at challenger brands that really are ready to go into the food service space and be the navigator to them to help them not only succeed, but to be market leaders.

The best career advice I've received comes in different components. One is understanding that when you're building a brand into an away-from-home space, you need to build it from the top down because you don't have the full headcount. From the distribution arm, I learned the importance of understanding which distributors marry with which channels and chains of accounts. Culture and team leadership was vitally important - I learned that lesson very well at Vita Coco and also at Boston Beer Company Sam Adams. Being a collaborator and an integral part of the team has been crucial. These three lessons have stuck with me throughout my career and have been a major impact to my ambition and building the right team.

I think there's a few things. One is to surround yourself with the wisdom and expertise and experience of people who have been in similar situations. Everybody has some value to offer, whether it's somebody on the distribution arm in logistics, somebody on the brand building side, or just a great leader. You need to wire yourself accordingly with all different types in the channel you're going to, and not be scared to venture out and say, you know what, I don't know the answers, can you help me, because people will help those who want to be supported. I also believe that anything is possible with the right mindset, strategy, and priorities. Never feel that you have to hold back. If you have the work ethic and the strategy and model, and really importantly, as you're going into business, take a step back and think about whether there's a void in the marketplace. Work with the team to collectively uncover what that is and build a foundation to support the success of it. Take one step at a time and do it most effectively, and you'll succeed. You'll get the credibility, and then word of mouth is probably the best way of recommendation with a proven, successful model.

In the food and beverage industry, specifically the beverage industry, I think that women who come in and start their own company with the model that I'm doing face significant challenges. I found it wasn't quite rewarding at first because everybody challenged me left, right, and center, as it's very much male-dominated in this world. In the first 6-8 months, there was massive disruption, and people were very intimidated by what I did. It's really important to learn to take the difference of don't take this emotionally, it's business. You need to set yourself above what they're doing and don't take it to heart, just carry on keeping focused to your mission. That was a big learning because I'm very passionate about what I do, but I had to switch off that emotional side to continue to succeed. On the opportunity side, I found that the current landscape for tracking, tracing, and recording how well you're doing with brands was really not very fundamentally efficient. I was able to partner with a long-term friend who is out of India who designed a very unique model for me to be able to track, trace, and record where brands are selling, who they're selling to, and where the growth opportunities are coming from. It's a very efficient live model that no one else has got, and it continues to evolve in changing the landscape.

Balance is most important to me. I think it's very important to have a balance of both personal life and work, and to prioritize family members. It's very important to motivate and educate and keep ongoing training with your team. It's also very important to continue to propel the learnings of my industry to others who are looking to embark on it, and I think it's valuable to use resources like LinkedIn to be able to educate people on the learnings and challenges you've encountered and the solutions to overcome them. To restore myself and refill my cup, I'm a runner, so working out helps me a lot. At nighttime, I read a lot about how to propel yourself forward from a mental standpoint - I really enjoy a lot of leadership books. And then family time, to have that ability to shut down and focus on things that really are important in your personal life. The balance is always challenging, but I've gotten a lot better at it. I think those three things have been very important for me.