Back in 2024, a small team at a regional dairy cooperative started asking what nobody else in the fluid milk category seemed to be asking: if protein is everywhere, what comes next?
Rebecca (Bec) Pfeffer, Senior Brand Manager at Maola Local Dairies, a farmer-owned cooperative operating along the East Coast from New York to South Carolina, joined host Maureen Ballatori on the Spilled Salt podcast to share her story. Their conversation covered dairy industry trends, cooperative brand strategy, and the development of Maola’s newest product: Maola More.
What Is Maola More and Why It Matters
Maola More is a lactose-free, ultra-filtered milk with protein and prebiotic fiber. The product was conceived in fall 2024 when Bec and her team identified a gap in the growing value-added milk segment. While protein has dominated functional food marketing, fiber remained largely absent from the fluid milk category.
Bec described the product’s origins as a team-driven idea rooted in consumer insight: “What do we want? We want fiber… That’s the thing that, as we’re starting to have this overload of protein, it’s just protein everywhere. What is a complementary benefit to that? It’s fiber.”
Building a Business Case for Internal Buy-In
For food and beverage founders, the product development process at Maola offers a practical model. Bec’s team used consumer data, market trend analysis, and cross-functional collaboration to move the concept through a formal commercialization process. A recent capital investment in an ultra-pasteurized facility in Philadelphia also aligned with the product format, reducing barriers to production.
Dairy Industry Outlook for Founders and Investors
Bec noted that the dairy case has seen consistent growth over the past two to three years, driven largely by innovation in value-added categories including organic, A2, and ultra-filtered milk. And her hope is that it doesn’t stop growing: “I just hope, simply put, we just don’t stop being creative and bringing new innovations to market.”
What comes through in the conversation is that Bec is someone who does the unglamorous work: building the data story, finding the right internal champions, and staying close to the consumer. The launch of Maola More is as much a reflection of that approach as it is of the product itself. It illustrates how organizations can compete through differentiation, speed, and alignment between marketing and product development.
Transcript
This transcript has been edited from its original form to support readability.
Maureen Ballatori: I’m Maureen Ballatori and this is Spilled Salt, a podcast on the thrills and spills from the food, beverage and agriculture industries.
Today’s guest is Bec Pfeffer. She’s the senior brand manager at Maola Local Dairies, a farmer-owned cooperative sustainably producing a full suite of nutritious dairy products.
We’re here to talk about Bec and the dairy industry and Maola overall, but I specifically wanted to bring back on today to talk about the product they just launched, which is called Maola More. It’s a lactose-free, ultra-filtered milk with protein and fiber.
Protein is everywhere. We’ve been seeing it in every aisle of the grocery store and on restaurant menus, even at Starbucks. And word on the street is that Starbucks traffic is up drastically since they launched protein cold foam and protein beverages over there.
But the next big thing as we approach this mass saturation of protein, and Maola, in my opinion, was very ahead of the curve in seeing the wellness trends and the call for something more and launched Maola More with fiber in the fluid milk beverage.
So Bec talks about that, talks about how they were ahead of the curve on that, how they run it up the flagpole at Maola to get that launched and on shelves. Enjoy the conversation.
Maureen: Hey, Bec. Thanks so much for joining me.
Bec Pfeffer: Absolutely. Thanks for having me here.
Maureen: Yes, my pleasure. Let’s start with your background. I like to start way back at the beginning. So tell me about your early career.
Bec: Yes. So quite literally my background, as you can see it is fully in the dairy industry. So I grew up here in Pennsylvania on what my friends called a fluffy tail farm. So that means we did not necessarily milk cows, but we had show cows and we worked on our family farms.
And through that and all of the activities that come with that led me to Penn State where I continued learning about dairy and business management which kind of set me on the trajectory that I’ve been on through my career.
So I started fresh out of school at Cargill and was on the dairy marketing team there for about six years, which was a wonderful experience.
Since COVID, which was a big marker, I’ve really experienced new things. One was working at a marketing agency as an account manager. So on the opposite side of being a client, which was a really cool experience, I got some global and multi-species experience as a global content marketing manager.
And then most recently for about I’m coming up on three years here at Maola, which is a regional processor on the East Coast as a Senior Brand Manager managing milk and dairy products.
Maureen: When you went to school for dairy and business, what did you think you were going to end up doing? Like, little baby Bec walks in as a freshman to Penn State and said, my dream job is to be, fill in the blank. What was it?
Bec: Wow. Okay. Well, it was a journey of what that dream job would be. I went to school thinking I would be an ag teacher. I quickly realized I enjoyed volunteering with my 4-H Dairy Bull kids, but I couldn’t teach them all day long.
And then I thought I wanted to be the first female Secretary of Ag. Pennsylvania had some internships where I worked at the Capitol and I just realized politics and policy was not my strong suit.
And then after that, I started a blog in college and was like, I like writing. This is fun. I like the creative outlet. And so I kind of was led into marketing. I don’t know that marketing was ever my dream job, but it’s something that I realized I enjoyed and was good at after those first two dream jobs fell through. And I’ve been building on that ever since.
Maureen: Yes, I think that when you have a passion for an industry and a love for business and you’re a good communicator, marketing and communications is a natural fit, but I can see the parallel of education.
I originally went to school for art education too, and then, same thing, realized I actually don’t have the patience to be a teacher. I love teaching, I love educating, I love clear communication, but I always loved the business side of it. And so no surprise that we’ve both kind of landed here and been able to evolve into that.
So talk a little bit about Maola. What is it? You mentioned the East Coast, multi-state, but just give everybody a little bit of a foundation.
Bec: Yes, so Maola is a regional dairy cooperative. It is owned by our Maola dairy farmers.
For those who are unfamiliar with how a cooperative works, we are owned by our dairy farmers, which span from about locations in New York, south to about South Carolina. And what what that means is we are able to have a source of a fresh local sustainably produced dairy product, both from the time it starts at the Maola dairy farm, it makes its way to our Maola dairy processing plants, and then it makes its way out to retailers and then different places where consumers can find it. Whether that be purchasing it at your local retailer, like a Wegmans or a Food Lion or a Giant Food or a Weis.
It could be that we sell to schools, so school aged kids, nursing, nursing and healthcare facilities. We sell to restaurants where you might be getting a Dairy Queen Blizzard, that could be Maola milk. So it’s really cool that by being a part of Maola, this regionally owned, farmer owned dairy cooperative, that we get to be a part of milk, both from production of it to the time it lands in a consumer’s hands.
Maureen: And you mentioned schools. So there was recently the passage, just to nod into your politics a little bit, of the Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act. How do you think that that’s going to change the landscape of youth consumption and what milk looks like in schools?
Bec: Yes. I say that I wanted to be the Secretary of Ag and here I am selling milk, which is a highly regulated food product.
\It’s been a wonderful wonderful experience getting to learn and navigate this with the Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act. It’s huge. It was 15 years in the making of people all over the US, all dairy farmers, all dairy community members advocating for this.
I think that by passing it and allowing 2% in whole milk in schools will really increase consumption. What’s great about this is that we’ll still have a full portfolio of choices for these students, which is super important, right? I think that this allows a full suite of choices not only for white milk, I think it will also encourage schools to maybe increase fat levels of flavored milk as well.
I think that really starts to build a lifelong milk consumer, which is exciting and also provides options that kids might prefer from a taste perspective, but also gives kids who may not have liked those lower fat options milk, which helps keep them fuller for longer in learning.
So I’m excited. I think it’s going to be beneficial for everyone involved.
Maureen: And you just mentioned, I want to kind of highlight the “why” that’s important. And you just mentioned helping to keep kids fuller for longer, but it’s also, you mentioned taste as well. And that’s a big driver of why dairy farmers in the industry have been pushing for this for so long as well, right? Is that previously it was only skim milk that was allowed in schools, correct? Was it skim in 1% or just skim?
Bec: Yes, even 1%. It’s very different.
Maureen: Okay, which tastes very different from some other options. And so there’s some question or curiosity, perhaps I’ll say, just keep it neutral, right? That perhaps one of the reasons why or drivers of reduced consumption of dairy in young people is because for the last 15 plus years, they have been drinking the subpar flavor option. And we all know flavor taste is number one when it comes to consumption and repurchase.
Bec: Yes, 100%. So if you look at even just the consumer point of sales data, the number one and two products interchangeably are whole and 2%. So those are the most popular fat breaks across the board. I know, honestly, I’m a 2% girl. I’m probably not the best example. I like 2% on my cereal. I like the full percent in my coffee, right? So I like having all choices.
But even in the homes, I think kids are used to drinking 2% and not whole milk. So it’s going to also be a nice connection from home to school of what preference that these students have. They now have available to them at all times.
I’ll even say we’ve been testing out some differences between fat free and 1% in flavored school milks as well as we continue to build our portfolio. And even just that difference is, I think, astronomical in the flavor profile. And then even from one to the 2% or 2% to whole, is 3.25% fat.
So these little jumps do make a big difference in flavor while still maintaining the integrity and the nutritional value of that milk product.
Maureen: Such a great point. And you just started to get into some of the nutrition, which perhaps is an excellent segue to the containers that you have behind you, which is your new launch of Maola More. Talk about what that is.
Bec: So, Maola More is one of those back of a napkin type ideas. The team I’m on, it’s a really incredible team and we’re all very different, but we’re very cohesive and we like to riff a lot.
And so, we’ve always known that, at least recently in the last few years, the growth in our segment is in the value added space. So, the value added space could be lactose free, it could be organic, A2 milk or ultra-filtered milk, which is what you’re seeing explode in the market right now, which is often the high protein, low sugar, and lactose-free.
So we saw that, okay, we 100% want to get into the value-added market as Maola. But we know that by the time that we get to market, everyone else is going to be trying to do the same thing. So how can we differentiate?
You know, one big point of differentiation that we have with all of our products is that being a more regional cooperative, we have these huge opportunities for sustainability for our producers, which I think is something that we really use as a selling point for our product. But also from a benefits perspective, what does nobody else on the market have in the format that we want to do it?
It was the fall of 2024 that we started dreaming about this. We were like, well, what do we want? We want fiber. You know, that’s the thing that as we’re starting to have this overload of protein, it’s just protein everywhere. What is a complimentary benefit to that in its fiber?
And as we worked through the journey we said, okay, what types of protein do we want to have? Do we want it from ultra-filtered milk or milk protein concentrate, not to get in the nitty gritty of things. But we selected and waited for ultra-filtered milk knowing that that was really what tasted good and the texture was really what we preferred of this product. And then we also went with prebiotic fiber.
So the difference there is that it’s something that helps keep you fuller for longer or feeling more satiated.
One, I think that’s good for everybody, but especially with wellness trends around weight loss. Recently, that protein and fiber really fit in there as well. So we’re excited.
Maureen: So I’m very excited about it as well. I mean, I wanted to have Maola on the podcast and you in particular for a number of reasons, but this felt like the best natural fit of an opportunity.
Obviously we’ve all been seeing protein, protein, protein for many moons, right? This is not a new thing. It’s been around and dairy, fortunately, is very poised to continue to win there in high protein products.
What I am consistently hearing more and more often is exactly what you just explained, more of a demand for fiber coming down the pike.
So it’s interesting to me that you and your colleagues were so far ahead of the curve in that. And also that as the marketing people, that you were also very close in R &D and innovation development, which is just, for those two things, marketing and R &D and innovation to go hand in glove, is so beneficial when that can happen in an organization, but it’s also very rare in an organization.
Tell me a little bit about, you mentioned you’ve been working on this since the fall of 2024, and you talked a little bit about where that idea came from. You were seeing wellness trends and that sort of thing, but talk a little bit about how you run that up the flagpole? Like how did you convince the team that that was something that should actually go into development?
Bec: By being persistent.
So I would say that one thing about our company is that while we do have a lot of great employees in teams, we are smaller in the sense that we get a bit scrappy and we have to work very closely with other functions and also trusted outside partners, which honestly allows us, I think there’s not, while we brought cross-functional teams together, we are still smaller, which I think allowed us to really find the right people faster based on some other experiences that I’ve had at larger companies.
With that being said, I think data is number one. So we felt it in our guts, literally. This is something that we want. I think that was one of the most interesting things or is one of the most interesting things about getting to work on a team that plays so heavily in the product development space of, what can we bring to market and us leading those ideas as marketing?
But we knew, okay, this is just something we feel we have a hunch is right, just based on our own personal experiences as consumers. Let’s start building the story around that.
So it went through the formal commercialization process that we’ve developed at our company. And it was just a matter of, honestly, it was early in a lot of our team’s time at Maola.
As we went, I think we found the right people who then brought in more of the right people to help build the story of how we’re going to do this. So we have the data, we know the demand is there, we know the market opportunity is there and we know how we want it to taste, look and feel. Now, how do we get it done internally?
And honestly, that was just person by person until we had built the perfect cross-functional team that not only showed we can do this, but we can do this in a way that’s beneficial for moving more of our farmer owner’s milk and also in a profitable way.
Maureen: So you mentioned you had a hunch and that of course that hunch was backed up with demand and you saw from the consumer side and you had the market, you saw the market opportunity, you had done the research, you had personal experiences. I’m sure you were also talking to folks and sort of seeing the area develop all of those things that were your hunch, right?
Bec: Yes, fleeting thought. Fiber.
Maureen: So of course it was more than just like a, Let’s do it, why not? You know, it was certainly rooted, right? yes, yes, exactly. It was certainly rooted in that. But also this is again, and I don’t mean to keep belaboring this point, but it just shows that you would have done well in politics too, because you then went and whipped votes to get buy-in.
Bec: Maybe someday.
Maureen: But also the third cornerstone of success there is that it aligned with the values of the organization. And I want to talk about Maola here momentarily.
But also another reason why we love working with organizations like Maola where they own their own manufacturing is because you also had the equipment to get this done, right? That it just became another sku. It wasn’t like you were trying to convince someone to invest in something totally new and different. It was a formulation that was leveraging equipment that you already have that just allowed you to fit into consumer demand.
Bec: Yes, and we’ve recently invested in our plant in Philadelphia, which is the ultra pasteurized facility where the remainder of our consumer products plants are HTST.
So the primary difference there being, I think, the type of carton that you put the milk in. So the gable top cartons or the paper cartons versus plastic, if you’re not familiar with that language and the shelf life of the product.
So we know that that was something that our farmer owners made the decision to invest in this space as well. Maola More was also a way to not only innovate from a benefits perspective, and the packaging that we’re putting the product in, but it’s also helping to leverage that plant that we invested in, and bringing something new to market.
It really was just a win-win, win, win, win. And it came together. I mean, it was a bit of luck on the timing of whenever everything came together on that. And so it was a pretty easy sell once we figured out.
Maureen: Yes, innovation and leverage. That’s an incredible balance. How have the early responses to the launch been? Like what sort of reactions are you getting from folks?
Bec: It’s been amazing. I was laughing because, of course, we all as employees shared it, in addition to the Maola external communications on this.
I posted it on my Facebook and there was someone I have not talked to in forever. I played summer softball with her 25 years ago. And she messaged me and said, Hey, I know this is random, but where can I buy that milk? That is exactly what I’ve been looking for in my morning.
The consumer reaction has been absolutely positive. And I think that the challenge now is finding retailers to help us distribute it to all of these consumers that are interested. And then also we had a great industry response, which was really, really cool.
There’s different brands and different competitors out there, but at the end of the day, we’re all working together to sell more milk. Seeing different industry partners who wanted samples of the product and shared it on their LinkedIn’s or their pages as well, or their newsletters as well was really awesome. So we’re very thankful for that support as well.
Maureen: That’s great. You mentioned your goals as an organization to sell more milk and you recently in the last couple of years transitioned to what you’re calling a One Maola Initiative. Can you talk a little bit about that?
Bec: Yes, so, Maola is the brand owned by, this is a mouthful, the Maryland and Virginia Milk Producers Cooperative Association, Inc. And so that is the origin of our dairy cooperative.
And then right before my time, my teammates and leaders on our team, Amanda and Lindsay, had focused on one of our biggest differentiators: our farmers. Consumers want to be connected to their farmer. We know that. So how can we take, know, what is the one brand that we can go together as a unified front that makes the most sense?
They worked with partners to determine the acquisitions and the brands that we had in the market at the time, which made the most sense both to a consumer, to our employees and to our farmer owners because we were uniting as one front. And after certain responses and tests and surveys, Maola was where they landed.
Maureen: And how many brands were under the portfolio at the time? Like how many are we talking?
Bec: To my knowledge about two or three, there were two main brands in contention besides Maryland and Virginia. So there was Maryland and Virginia, the cooperative, and then there were two brands that were facing consumers. So it was really kind of between, I think, those three and how we move forward. Since we’ve made that decision, we’ve really made a lot of great progress.
Our past two annual meetings with our farmer owners have had a really positive reaction. And I can definitely tell there’s a lot of energy and pride in the brand that we’re bringing forward. So whether it’s a farm sign at the end of a driveway or in front of one of the barns or a newsletter that’s going out to our employees or a carton of mail no more that is going out to our consumers.
We are coming forward looking the same, but also sounding the same and stemming from the same values.
Maureen: Yes, that’s a critical thing to have consumers understand where their food is coming from and to be able to leverage the power of your organization, all bringing back to one brand is where that strength comes in.
So good for you. That’s because that’s also a scary thing. Especially to the farmers who don’t really understand in some cases I’m and I’m not saying that they’re unsophisticated.
Farmers are very, very smart and they’re not risk averse by any means when it comes to some things. But just like I don’t know how to run a farm operation, they’re not as well versed in brand building. so it’s a big thing to get a co-op on board with everybody singing the same tune altogether in one direction, but it’s been great to see that all unfurl.
I want to shift gears for a minute here, still in dairy, of course, where your heart lies and belongs, but to talk a little bit about Dairy Girl Network, which is where you and I originally met up at World Dairy Expo a couple of years ago. You’re the president of the board of directors. Talk a little bit about, what is the Dairy Girl Network and why is it special?
Bec: The Dairy Girl Network or what I affectionately call DGN. That’s the corporate in me with the acronyms. So I first got involved with DGN probably about 10 years ago. The organization recently had its 10 year anniversary and I was right there at the beginning.
While I was at my first job at Cargill, I want to get more involved with the industry and I wanted more leadership opportunities outside of Cargill. And so my boss there was actually the one who connected me with Laura Daniels, who is the founder of DGN. And I just started by maintaining the relationship with Cargill and DGN and it has exploded from there.
I’ll back up to share what is DGN. It’s a nonprofit organization that provides resources and connections and inspiration to dairy women all across the US and a few nationally, internationally as well, which is pretty cool that we can call ourselves an international organization. But it is made up of almost 50 dairy producers or traditional dairy producers.
And then what I like to call the dairy community. So that could be someone who works in a position like mine or like yours, or it is just someone who is a long time supporter of the dairy industry.
It’s a free membership, but with that membership, you get access to online and in-person networks, which is where a lot of women will just bounce ideas off of one another or offer each other encouragement and support depending on what they’re going through.
Then we also offer educational opportunities, whether that be courses or webinars or in-person events. And it’s just really been an amazing thing to be a part of.
It has always kept me very rooted and grounded to dairy farmers, even when my jobs took me to places that are very, let’s just say corporate or in the office and get pretty far removed from the farm itself.
I’ve always appreciated that the women have kept me grounded and reminded me of what matters to them right now? And I think I’m about year six of being on the board.
And so, I asked for another opportunity and leadership and wanted to get more involved with the organization. And it’s taken off from there. And they trust me to be the president of the board, but I’m surrounded by a great set of fellow board members and I’m heavily supported by the staff of DGN, which is just amazing.
Maureen: I love groups like that where you can find your people and it can be sticky regardless of where your career, like a traditional job may change. Whether that’s an evolution in terms of changing the role that you have or the organization where you work, a third party organization like that.
And this is not an industry association in particular, right? It’s a nonprofit group that’s there specifically for education and connection, as you mentioned, those in particular that can transcend roles to keep people connected regardless of where they move on to, I think are especially beneficial in my opinion.
I also think that it’s just great to convene women. Especially as the underdog in many areas of agriculture, it’s great to be able to find your people in that way as well.
Bec: And you’re right. It has been a constant throughout my career, both in something that I’ve stayed involved with, but also a constant source of connections. think. Maola and Agency 29 are a great example of that.
I had just started at Maola and I had no idea what I was doing with packaging regulations. I was like, I need somebody who can just tell me what to do.
And that was also on the wine and cheese pairing night. So I was feeling a little bit of an extra flair in how much I was struggling, I will say.
Maureen: I remember appreciating your openness about what was going on.
Bec: I have no idea what I’m doing. Do you know how to help me? And you know, it’s an environment that allows for that level of comfort in candid conversation. so I’m thankful to DGN. You know, this is a testimony to DGN as well of the type of connections and the quality and the caliber of connections that they help create.
Maureen: Yes, and when you convene a group of people who have shared values, I’m big on shared values, when you can do that and the comfort of the people who have been connected to that group for a long time and are open to letting new folks in and completely with open arms, that’s something that you can really feel too with certain groups. When that exists, you can feel it. And that also just helps people feel open and authentic.
I’ve always been a no bullshit kind of person. I also grew up on a farm and I think that that is something that you kind of have to, it’s just in your blood of that no bullshit sort of mentality. And so when I can find groups like that where people are open and welcoming is something that I in particular love.
A little bit of a curve ball for you here, but I feel like it always yields a really good discussion. Tell me about a high point and a low point from your career.
Bec: I have two high points that are tied and I think they’re very similar in that they have signified big shifts in myself and also the companies that I have worked for.
So the first one is from Cargill and it’s when we started I was on a team that was really the first to our knowledge or the first in a long time US dairy marketing team at Cargill and my boss then, Josh, really built this team around him and brought in an agency partner, a creative partner to come up with, okay, let’s just really shake things up and think about how do we market from a B2B perspective to farmers about why Cargill is different, right? At the end of the day, we sell feed, yes, but why is that something that’s unique or special or why should people work with us?
And from that was born the campaign Feed Your Dreams. And it was talking about how feeding cows is a blend of art and science. With that core truth of the campaign also came the really cool creative of creating images of a farmer and his barn or just these images of farming and feeding cows literally made from feed.
It was just this really cool and it had so many legs and it evolved in so many ways and it had a really great response and our customers felt really connected to it. And anytime you can make them feel special it’s a good campaign. It was amazing. And it won best of show at NAMA, right?
Maureen: Yes, and what a great hook. Feed your dreams. Wow.
Bec: That’s why I was like, okay, maybe I’m a part of a team that is full of brilliant minds and can teach me a lot. I’ve worked on a lot of great campaigns since then, right? Whether it be Born of the Bond, why I was at Bader Rutter supporting Zoetis, or the rebrand of Zinpro and the great content that that team puts out. But I mean, we’ve already talked about it a little bit, but Maola More, I would be remiss if I did not say that that is a career highlight.
It is the first time that I think I have been a part of a product that is truly groundbreaking and the definition of innovation, right?
I’ve always tried to figure out how I can find a problem that someone doesn’t know they have yet and then create something that fixes it and having that combination of protein and fiber delivered via nature’s most nearly perfect food, hopefully now even more near perfect, with the addition of fiber and Maola More.
And it’s just something that you could have never told me that this is something I would be working on. And honestly, getting to be the lead on it, right? Of an idea that while from our team that I was a core part of and getting to bring it to life is just, it’s kind of surreal. So that’s definitely why.
Maureen: Yes, I know the feeling and I’m glad, I’m so glad you mentioned that too, because I am also really excited about all of the boxes that Maola More checks.
I think it’s great for you to take a moment to recognize that accomplishment and reflect on everything that you were able to do and ideate that innovation and get it run up the flagpole and onto shelves and be able to kind of pause and take that moment to celebrate all of the effort and the things that had to line up to get there.
That’s something that, just like we tend to sometimes look at the low points and ruminate on those, well, let’s ruminate on the good ones as well.
So with that, give me your low point that was a challenging time?
Bec: Man, the low point is hard because I feel like I’ve been fortunate in my career to never have a point where I was feeling really down. I have had the normal challenges that people have had, whether it’s feeling burnt out or working through difficult relationships or difficult conversations or just going through the growing pains of early career to mid career. I’m kind of in charge of some big decisions now, right?
I guess if I could identify a really, really challenging part of my career that probably took the biggest toll was the first time that I left a job. It had been a team that just truly felt like family.
And I think because it was through my early career before I maybe started getting really settled in my personal life, my brand and personality revolved around work. And so the company had made some shifts in the structure, which just completely changed how we would operate as a team.
And with that, because of a great boss and great mentors that I had, that’s when I was honestly encouraged, okay, maybe this is the time where you take the next step and go learn a new skillset.
There’s nowhere better in my opinion as a marketer to get a crash course in marketing than at an agency. But taking the leap of leaving that job to just go and start something new was really, yes, that was challenging and scary.
It was hard at the time. But since then, taking that first leap then allowed me to realize, it’s really not that bad. You maintain the connections, you maintain the friendships. And then I’m like, okay, what can I learn next, right?
I have now ended up where I am today because of that first challenge and then also encouragement from my mentor to now land in a position where I really feel like it’s a good fit on my own.
Maureen: Yes, I hope I am a big fan of loving your work. I love my work. I know people know I love my work and I tell anyone who will listen that they can love their work, too.
I hope that anyone who’s listening to this just heard that and is maybe at a role in a company or a position that they don’t love or they’re in between roles right now, there’s a lot of that happening right now where companies are restructuring and people are looking for roles as well.
I hope that they hear what you just explained and take that as, been there, done that kind of, I went through it and I made out okay through those sorts of transitions that a positive attitude will get you far and be hopeful about.
What’s possible is a great perspective to have. Okay, last question for you.
Thoughts about the dairy landscape in general in terms of maybe what we need more of or less of or what’s next on the horizon? But just when you think about what’s coming next for the industry other than Maola taking over the world, what comes to mind?
Bec: I think it’s incredibly positive. We’ve seen, especially over the last two to three years, milk is making a comeback, right? And we’ve maintained that comeback over, I would say probably the last two to three years, there’s been this huge surge in popularity around milk and dairy in general.
I think that the outlook for milk, from a selling it and consumers buying it perspective is really positive. The dairy case is growing and that is thanks to innovation by all of these different brands and all of these different dairy cooperatives.
I just hope that none of us stop being creative and that there are many Maola Mores to come, both from ourselves and other brands so that we keep creating space for more ideas.
The better we do, the more space that people are willing to give us. There are people who have led the way and I’m happy to be a part of it. And I just hope that, simply put, we just don’t stop being creative and bringing new innovations to market.
Maureen: Yes, well said. I think a lot of that comes down to going back to the innovation of Maola More at its beginning is having wellness and function at the table for consumers in a way that meets them where they are.
That’s what it’s about as opposed to less options and folks having to make decisions because of what they can or can’t consume. Food is now doing more and more, Maola More, more for people across the board and I love to see it.
Thanks so much Bec for joining me today. This was great. I’d love to hear your story and I’m really excited about Maola More, as well. Thanks for taking the time.