Have you ever heard the saying, "If you're gonna talk the talk, you better walk the walk"?
The saying is both an invitation and a challenge. It's "put your money where your mouth is," but with less gambling and more rhyming. "Walking the talk" is how you back your words up with meaningful actions. It means authenticity and integrity.
For Women’s History Month, we're highlighting women-led brands that walk their talk, sharing what they love to eat and staying true to what they know is essential. These Non-GMO Project Verified products go above and beyond to help build an equitable and nourishing food system.
In the words of Nancy Sinatra, “Are you ready? Start walking.”
Daily Harvest creates nourishing frozen meals and food items with fruits, vegetables and other ingredients gathered from the road less traveled. Your selections are delivered directly to your door. Founder Rachel Dory turns the produce from small-scale organic and regenerative farmers into easy-to-prepare foods for a hungry populace. Daily Harvest's wide range of options satisfies nearly every craving from dawn to dinner — and beyond. How they walk the talk: Daily Harvest uses a portion of sales to provide grants to help underrepresented farmers transition their operations to organic. Their website also features farmer stories, introducing you to the folks who grow your food.
Darë (pronounced "dairy") vegan cheese was founded by expert cheese-maker and dedicated punster Gwendolyn Dare Hageman. Headquartered in Asheville, North Carolina, Darë's central mission is to make things better — a better life for their employees and a better outlook for the planet by minimizing animal-derived agriculture. They're doing that by creating mouth-watering, highly photogenic non-dairy wedges and spreads (check out their Instagram for proof). How they walk the talk: Darë pushes back against food industry norms of exploitation with their status as a certified living wage employer. That means this ambitious small business is committed to paying staff fairly to build security and prosperity in the local economy.
GoNanas banana bread mix is the brainchild of co-founders Annie Slabotsky and Morgan Lerner. Annie and Morgan bonded as University of Michigan students when they noticed the lack of healthful snacks on campus. They shared family recipes and a love of experimentation and created a vegan, gluten-free and allergen-friendly banana bread mix. Since then, they've been building out the banana-verse by adding new flavors. How they walk the talk: Because dreams aren't fed by banana bread alone, Annie and Morgan started the Bite Into Business podcast to inspire entrepreneurship and empower small businesses. The founders share their experience and hard-won wisdom, tackling a range of issues in the workplace, including how best to manage a side hustle, start your own business, build relationships through your work, and more.
Spicewell founder Raina Kumra Gardiner used the Ayurvedic wisdom her mother and grandmother passed down to bring the adage "food is medicine" to life. Raina reimagines innocuous staples such as salt and pepper as opportunities to get more of the nutrients we need — and too often don't find in today's nutrient-poor foods. How they walk the talk: Spicewell works with Desai Foundation to donate a portion of profits to small farms in South Asia, where many ingredients are sourced.
Frankie & Jo's vegan ice cream is a PNW powerhouse that eschews the pursuit of "fast and more" in favor of mindfulness and meaning (though, with three new vegan ice cream flavors every month, we'd argue they tick all of those boxes). Founder Autumn Martin and co-conspirator Kari Brunson help reduce our dependence on animal products with Frankie & Jo's coconut- and oat milk-based ice cream in popular flavors such as Mint Brownie and Chocolate Tahini Supercookie. How they walk the talk: Frankie & Jo's is a Certified B Corp that donates a portion of sales to nonprofit organizations that empower women and minorities and care for the earth. They also donate delicious vegan ice cream to support food-insecure and at-risk people in their community through local food banks and shelters. Raise your cone way, way up to vote for a better world!
The Non-GMO Project is lucky enough to work with a cornucopia of delicious products from great brands working to build a better food system. These five are just the tip of the awesome-berg. Follow our social media channels for more profiles of powerful women entrepreneurs in the coming weeks!