Fueling the Path To Feeling Better Featuring Tara Staten, Bulletproof

Intro 0:05 

Welcome to the Gooder Podcast where we talk with powerhouse women in CPG about their journeys to success. This episode is sponsored by Retail Voodoo, a brand development firm guiding mission-driven consumer brands to attract new and passionate consumer base, crush their categories through growth and innovation and magnify their social and environmental impact. If your brand is in need of brand positioning, package design or marketing activation, we are here to help. You can find more information at www.retail-voodoo.com.

Diana Fryc 0:43 

Hi, Diana Fryc. Here I am the host of the Gooder Podcast where I get to talk with the powerhouse women in the food, beverage and wellness categories about their journeys to success and their insights on the industry. This episode is brought to you by Retail Voodoo. Retail Voodoo as a brand development firm. Our clients include Starbucks, Kind, Rei, PepsiCo, Heike, and many other market leaders. We provide strategic brand and design services for food, wellness, beverage and fitness industries. If your goal is to increase market, share, drive growth, or disrupt the marketplace with new and innovative ideas, give us a call and let’s talk. You can find out more at retail-voodoo.com. Well, today we get to meet actually miss Tara Staten, who is a marketing and innovation director for Bulletproof 360, Tara’s passion for delighting customers with better free products led her to leave microbiology lab work to develop and market new products in the fast-paced CPG world at companies like Bulletproof. And the bonus for me, although not just today is that she’s here in Seattle. I love that. Okay, so before we get to meet her I do want to thank Karen Huh a former Gooder Podcast guest who right now is a fractional marketing and product strategist. For anyone who might need a whip-smart marketing leader with strong innovation tendencies check her out on LinkedIn. It’s Karen Huh, H-U-H is her last name. Okay. And I know that Tara, you and Karen worked together before and that’s kind of how we met each other. Hey,

Tara Staten 2:26 

Exactly. I love working with Karen, work together at Bulletproof.

Diana Fryc 2:30

Yes. Well, hi, Tara. How are you?

Tara Staten 2:33

Excellent. Having a great day so far.

Diana Fryc 2:35 

Oh, good. I think you were up the street for me. Are you working from your home today?

Tara Staten 2:39 

Yes, I live in Kirkland.

Diana Fryc 2:41

Oh, you’re in Kirkland. For some reason I say you live right up the street from me. You’re all the way across the lake for me. So no, okay, but you are in Kirkland, and you are close by so as you like that. Okay. So you have had a really amazing journey to the role that you’re in right now. But before we get into some of that meat, let’s talk about where you are. Now, if you wouldn’t mind. Tell us a little bit about Bulletproof 360. What is the brand? What do you guys do? And what does it stand for?

Tara Staten 3:13

Yeah. So bulletproof 360 is a CPG company, we make food beverages supplements, kind of across a wide spectrum of categories. And really, it’s about feeling better. And so all of these things are designed to help you improve your life, whether there’s a whole diet component of it, if you want to go that far, or maybe you just want to have a protein bar, or maybe you just want to take asleep me at night to help you sleep better. All of these things are things that can help you feel better improve your life on a micro or macro scale.

Diana Fryc 3:49

Very much a lifestyle brand. For those of you that might be using MCT oils. I want to say that it’s Bulletproof’s fault that that became a thing. Am I right?

Tara Staten 4:00

Well, we’ll take credit for that for sure. And MCT oils are amazing. And finally come into the forefront for the amazing energy source that they are yes, just directly by the liver for ketone energy, even if you’re not fully keto, still a great source of energy for your body. Yeah, we’ll take the blame for that one.

Diana Fryc 4:24 

I love it. Okay, so your role is director of marketing and innovation. Now I’m seeing a little bit more of those rules compressed together. But for bulletproof what does that mean you do for them? What’s your primary day-to-day look like?

Tara Staten 4:40

Yeah, it encompasses a lot, which I love. What I love about marketing and innovation, you get so many things, but it’s really a product from inception. So the ideation working with the r&d team to come up with the product itself, all the way through to in market and all the marketing communications on top of it. So that’s what I love about is you can just see things from end to end, everything from the baby stage of what is the consumer insight? How do we want to get the flavor? Should it be I love tasting things, of course, all the way through to one of the philosophies look like I’m a retailer like Whole Foods, and what can we do to support that. And it’s just so fun to be able to do everything end to end.

Diana Fryc 5:22 

I really love that we’re seeing innovative companies thinking a little bit more like that. The removal of the silos, I think, is really creating some fantastic innovation, marketers and r&d for the longest time, were kind of in separate worlds now have come together. And I think we’re getting some of the most amazing products in the market right now that we just simply couldn’t have operating in the silos of the past.

Tara Staten 5:54 

Absolutely. I think when you’re on the commercial end of it, you see a lot of insights from consumers that have translate back to the innovation. What are consumers asking for? Hey, let’s make that like, makes total sense. Because it just hasn’t happened as much as it should have in the past.

Diana Fryc 6:08 

Yeah. Well, so that’s awesome. Now, let’s talk a little bit about your background. I mentioned microbiology, that was how you started your professional path. Can you tell us a little bit more about how you got here in this moment from that point?

Tara Staten 6:25 

Yeah, I would. People are always surprised when I say that I have a microbiology degree. It’s like, what’s like you’re a marketer. I did it as a fun fact, actually, for some new team members a while ago, and people were like, what? And so yeah, I started in the food industry, but as quality assurance, so I would do like testing in the micro lab, a lot of like quality assurance type, testing and analysis. And so always have loved the food industry and been interested in it. But I started in a very different role. And I knew when my first role out of college, we were the QA team was really close with r&d team. And I was like, Oh my gosh, this product development is product relevant is so cool. This is amazing. And as a kind of progressed, in my career, I worked for a couple of biotech companies. And it was definitely heavily working in the lab. And I was like, this is great. And I’m pretty good microbiologist like not to pat myself on the back. But I’m pretty good at this. I love to talk to people. And I’d love to understand what makes them tick, I love to see a product on the shelf and have it interact with people. And that just wasn’t possible in lab life, in the lab, you’re doing an important role for sure. But you’re not like out communicating directly with consumers and with the public. And I just felt that need to transition over there. So I’m back to school in the evenings, which is an adventure to work full time.

Diana Fryc 7:48 

I know that.

Tara Staten 7:51

But it was worth it and then pivoted over to a brand management role in the middle of my MBA actually. And again, another huge adventure, but so worth it. And to take that learnings from the food industry and transfer it over.

Diana Fryc 8:06

Wow. So now when did you know that you’d made the right move, because that’s a big thing, too. Like I’m in school right now and people who’ve been listening right now already know this, right? I’m back at school, but I’m getting my MBA, that’s a natural extension or progression to kind of supplement what I already do. You just made a wholesale change. Kind of scary. At what point did you know that you had made the right choice and we’re going in the right direction? Do you remember?

Tara Staten 8:37

I think during that time when I was in the middle of my MBA and then applied for this associate brand manager job at a local food company. And I was like, okay, I mean, if I remember like the interviewer, they’re like, are you sure this is what you want to do? Like your resume doesn’t really match up. And once I started working on new products, and like when you see that first product show up on the shelf, really see someone in like Costco, grab that product, and like this is my favorite. Oh, have you had this before? I love this. And you’re like, I made that. Yes. And you have that like, moment of like, I made something that somebody else loves. That probably stems from, I love to like cook and bake and give people food and it’s like that same feeling of when you bake something and give it to somebody and they love it. Same thing when someone grabs it off the shelf and you’re like, mission accomplished.

Diana Fryc 9:31 

Yes. Oh my goodness. Yes. I know that feeling well, when you’re walking through the store. They’re all your babies right. I mean, even longing to your past, I just think of a lot of the brands that I’ve worked on over the years and I’ll walk into the store and I’ll see somebody geeking out over it and you’re just like I asked my little baby all growed up, however I was involved in it. That’s super fun. Now I wonder, during that transition, maybe it was beforehand, are there any kind of like learning experiences or lost opportunities that contributed to your success in this moment? I know it sounds like a weird question. But like, was there like a, oh, my goodness, I can’t believe that happened and I’m going to let it influence me and lead me in this way.

Tara Staten 10:24 

Good question. I feel like, it’s almost been the opposite, where like, the things that I had in my past that like, I thought would be lost, like, oh, those years I spent doing QA or like, years I’ve been at this job or that job, they always seem to come up in some way really, like there’s something will happen, and we’ll get a test results, even current day, we’ll get a test result. And I’m like, oh, I fully understand that from a QA perspective. like, wait, how do you know that? And I’m like, oh, that’s where my career started. And so I feel like things come full circle, even if we don’t realize it, and there’s like this, the universe has this beautiful way of weaving back together for you. Even at the time, it doesn’t seem like the right thing.

Diana Fryc 11:11

Well, let’s talk about leadership hear a little bit. Now, you’ve had kind of leadership roles for the last while and I think when you are a creative, regardless of where you are on your journey, and I call people who are in STEM creatives, because while you’re investigating, you’re also creating something new, particularly in the role that you’re in now. I wonder how your leadership style has changed, because there is a leadership that you must bring when you are a creator, you have to lead people to your way of thinking or at least to be able to see your way of thinking, can you talk a little bit about how things have changed for you by the way of communicating and then simply leading a team?

Tara Staten 11:59

Yeah, I think if I look back at early on in my career, and even when I was an individual contributor, microbiology type roles, it’s very individual, your performance is very, like, I did my job, I got these results, and you’re kind of done for the day. And that’s what drives you, you’re like, all right, I got my lab results, or I got my thing. Yeah. And there’s nothing wrong with that, by the way. But I think as I’ve developed in my career, had a larger team. There’s like this sense of like, it’s kind of like a mom sense a little bit. But it’s also like just like this deep sense of like, wanting my team to do well, not just myself, and the company and the team’s performance reflects on me and I on them. And we it’s like more, I don’t know, symbiotic thing is not the right word, but truly just working together. And I came from, like, a pretty individual place. And so it’s odd for me to be like, oh, I care so much about like, the relationships and all of this coming from like a very science, right. And now, I’m all like, the relationship is what matters most. And like, 10 years ago, me would have thrown up. So, I think now like, yeah, that’s what I’m like, all about. And I’m so like, what matters is how my team is doing and how emotionally and how they’re showing up and all of those things. And so it’s so funny, I think, like I said, 10 years ago, me would have been like, who is this person? And I just love that that’s how you can develop in your career and in your whole life. You can make those leaps forward, and have your profession help you do that, because it’s come, obviously, those things extend outside of work, to into your, like, personal life and your friendships and things where it’s like, it’s not about like, what somebody can give you always, it’s relationship you have.

Diana Fryc 13:53 

Right. Well, and then so speaking of that, now, this is you were coming from you as a leader. Do you have any people that you would consider either they were mentors, because they were officially mentors, or just people that you have watched and learn from over the years? And is there anybody that you would say that has helped you through this journey of transitioning into these kind of higher and higher levels and in bigger ways of thinking?

Tara Staten 14:25

Yeah, there’s two people that come immediately to mind. Karen Huh, who you mentioned at the beginning, is just a gem, of course, and we work together closely and she really taught me that it’s okay to be direct. Like, you don’t have to be a jerk. But you just be direct, especially as a woman, like sometimes that can come across a certain way. It’s okay to be direct. It’s okay to have your voice heard. And she was a good example of that, but also encouraged me to speak up, gave me a seat at the table on her team to have those conversations and to like be visible to our executive team and super grateful for that because it gave me the confidence to start speaking my mind a little more. So love her of course. And then prior to that I had someone who just was an excellent his name is Mark and he was just an excellent. Understood the dynamics of a corporation and then taught me how to present things and make things digestible. It’s not always about like looking good. It’s about making it digestible for your audience. When you walk into the CEOs office, he can hear what you’re saying by the facts that you’re telling them, right? Versus just, you know, what’s in your own head, you got to make it digestible for your audience?

Diana Fryc 15:40 

Well, being an expert means nothing, unless the people who are receiving your information understand it. And it’s got to mean something. I mean, it’s, it’s really brand strategy 101, this is human communication, 101. It doesn’t matter what you stand for who you are what you know, if people who are receiving information, either don’t like how it’s being delivered to them, or they don’t understand it, or it’s wrong time, all of those elements, then it doesn’t matter. So being the smartest person in the room is rad until nobody cares. Yeah. And then you’re just a talking head. And I’ve lived that a little bit. At one time in my life, but no longer I’m also learning lots of things. That’s really great. And I’m loving more and more, there are several women that I’ve interviewed in the last several weeks who’ve just really been talking about these male allies that are bringing this kind of the code of business, the communication, or the way men talk in business to women so that we can be brought to the table and not just visible but participate in a meaningful way. That’s really great. So now, I when you’re looking back at some of this work, and I know that you talked about being at Costco and somebody grabbing something that you’ve worked on, I wonder, are there any particular milestones that you’d like to highlight is something being particularly proud of it, whether product you were in or anything else, it doesn’t even have to be work-related?

Tara Staten 17:27 

Yeah, I think product-wise, had a couple of really interesting ones. One was, a long time ago, one of my first like, major product successes was, we did kind of like a skunkworks project. And it was at Monterey, gourmet foods and Amazon trade line for Costco. One buyer was asking for it. And so we’re kind of like, okay, we’ll develop it. We worked on it. And then it started to have success in that region. And then it goes to another region, and then another region sees the sales data. And pretty soon, this chicken enchilada bake is in all eight regions. And you’re like, Okay, that’s how this works. Like, you take one small nugget, you get someone to, to latch on to it, then consumers get it. And then pretty soon it snowballs. And I just always think about example, every time I think of an idea of like, okay, is there a way to do that same thing if I start small, and just test it and learn and keep rolling it out bigger and bigger? Because naturally a home run from the time?

Diana Fryc 18:29

Yeah. Love it. Is that the one that you think of? That’s the one that you kind of anchor yourself is like going, yep, that’s my proud one.

Tara Staten 18:41

That was a fun one. The other launch that I’ve loved at Bulletproof is we launched a product a few years ago called inner fuel. This great probiotic, of course, prebiotics are so important for gut health. And it’s fairly expensive compared to just a fiber powder. You can go buy like a pretty hardcore fiber powder, for a lot less money, but it really is gentle. It really does. Like I feel better when I take it. And the launch on that and of course, because I’m apparently a middle schooler, we start talking about digestive health and movement through the bowels and all these things. And then you can also have son as a marketer with these things. And so I’m sorry that I bought brought potty talk to your show.

Diana Fryc 19:34 

Don’t even worry about it. Don’t even.

Tara Staten 19:36 

But there’s a lot of fun to be had there and not taking things too seriously. Like consumers don’t like they know they need this but they also want to know how it’s going to impact their life. And your gut health matters. You feel that literally on a daily basis. And so if you can impact someone’s gut, it’s important and so having a lunch like that, where we approve it’ll be a little bit provocative. Not going too far with it, but still have people understand what we were doing.

Diana Fryc 20:06

Yeah, I think it’s really easy when you’re, especially with the types of products that Bulletproof creates. It’s really easy to be serious about yourself all the time. And we’re humans, we need a break, like not everything has to be so into. I mean, there are things that absolutely must be intense, but sometimes can have a little bit of fun. Oh, my goodness. So speaking of Bulletproof, maybe, I’m going to go a little bit out of order what I thought I would, but what’s coming up? What do we need to know about? Is there anything? Can you give us anything on the DL or something that just came out recently that you wished everybody on the planet knew about?

Tara Staten 20:58

Yeah, so we have some fun launches coming up. But a launch this year, launched about two months ago that I’m super proud of. And this is the product I would love for everyone to know about. We launched greens product. Yeah, so it’s like a full serving of vegetables. And it’s got nootropics in it, so it helps your mind and your body. So a lot of people take greens because they’re like, hey, I want to like kind of have an insurance policy of like, right? If I eat pizza for lunch, get some good stuff in my body, maybe for breakfast. That’s me. And so this really helps out like, okay, I got some vitamins in this also as nootropics you’re going to stay sharp during the day, and it tastes good. I think there’s a lot of products out there for in-all genres that probably work. But if they don’t taste good, you don’t want to take them every day. I’ve bought a lot of greens powders, when we were doing research on this project. It tasted them once and then didn’t want to taste them again. This I’m like, excited to drink every morning. And it just, yeah, I just love the product for its taste, but also for its benefits. So excited for other people to try it.

Diana Fryc 22:09

And what’s it called?

Tara Staten 22:10 

Greens.

Diana Fryc 22:11

Just Greens under the Bulletproof 360 name. Okay. Now I What’s interesting for me because my business partner is super fan of Bulletproof. I’m not joking, probably since the early days. In his life, in the office, it’s everywhere, but and we’ve been in this kind of naturals better for you journey for a really long time as an agency. And lots of greens have come through the studio, lots of powders, lots of beverages, lots of things. And the American palate is really, really tricky, because these greens can be bitter, and there’s a reason why they’re bitter. That’s part of the bitterness is the I mean, you would probably be able to talk about it in its most organic way, quite literally. But so Americans, making greens for the American diet has got to be a little tricky.

Tara Staten 23:16 

Yeah. It’s very tricky. There’s a fine balance between something that doesn’t taste like candy. Like right, it’s better for you. It’s green, but still wanting to drink it. And that’s what we found. It was even in some of the focus groups we did. Some people were like, no, I want it to taste like dirt. Like that’s what I expected product to taste like I watched I wanted to be like, I’m in a field of alfalfa, living my best life.

Diana Fryc 23:42 

It’s legit that way. Come on now.

Tara Staten 23:45

It gives you like a reason to think that it’s working when sometimes when it tastes a little bitter. But we found that most people were like, that was the main reason they didn’t want to drink. They’re like, I want the benefits, but I just can’t get it down. Yeah, so trying to make it that like a little bit sweet. Give it a little bit of a fruity taste but not too much. Like doesn’t have an identifiable oh, this is orange but or anything like that, but a little bit of taste. Yeah, that isn’t enjoyable. But it’s all soda at the same time.

Diana Fryc 24:15 

Yeah, it is so tricky, right? Because you have we’re our hardcore audience, which will eat anything regardless of palette and biodynamics call it you know what all of those things that happen to our body when we eat a really robust and diverse kind of diet. And then we’ve got everybody else which is a huge amount of people and we’re really where the market like if we’re going to grow we have to grow into this whole new space. And how do you take something that is good for you and not disturb it so much that you will lose the benefits from it, but have it start to be adaptable by other people in the marketplace. We cannot just have the most healthiest people on the planet, eating the healthiest food. We can’t like we’ve got to spread it, we got to spread the love. So I can bet that that is a lot of the tension that you guys play with in r&d.

Tara Staten 25:19

Absolutely. You hit the nail on the head, we sometimes you also don’t want to fall in the middle where like the people who are nobody likes me. Yeah. They’re like, No. And the people are like, No, this is disgusting. Because it’s not sweet enough. We have a lot of conversations about that and trying to strike that balance, because you’re right, like the people we need to reach to grow from like a company perspective, but also from a like, hey, health and wellness perspective, like, part of the goal is to reach new people. So they healthier, reach them with the message. You have to meet them a little bit where they are and so we have a line of creamers at Bulletproof. And definitely there’s like a fine balance there of like, how sweet should they be? We offer an original flavor that doesn’t have any sweetness, kind of for the people who are like no, no, thank you no sweetness for me. And then there’s ones that are lightly sweetened with stevia because most people put creamer in their coffee to alter the taste. Yes, that’s like trying to strike that right balance, super sugary like, yeah, coffee house.

Diana Fryc 26:22

Yeah. I bet those conversations are fierce. I’d love to be in one of those. I love it. Okay, all right. So kind of back to what we were talking about. All right. So when you are kind of thinking about your journey into growing into this leader, and as you move forward, people who kind of approach you and say, Tara, how do I transition out of this? Or how do I get into something highly technical? What advice do you find yourself giving on a regular basis right now? Maybe that’s a simple way of asking it.

Tara Staten 27:02

I love having these conversations. So if you people have reached out on LinkedIn, like how did you transition? Like, how did that even happen? And the advice that I love to give is just take that thread pick that one thing that you have in common for me, it was the food industry like, take that one thing, like I’ve worked in food, haven’t done marketing, but I’ve worked in food, take that one thread and just start pulling it and start going down that path of figuring out how that can transition over. I talked to someone the other day, who had a ton of business experience. They were an entrepreneur, they own their own business now, like, into CPG marketing, and it’s like, your skills as an entrepreneur are so valuable. You know a ton about purchasing, you know a ton of how to reach customers, I was like, those are hugely valuable, start pulling that thread, just keep tagging it, and keep going down that path. Sometimes education can help. But it doesn’t always mean you need to go get another degree, like, go start in, like, wherever that thread is, and then just keep going.

Diana Fryc 28:02 

Yeah, I’d like that approach because one of the things that we’re particularly in American culture is to identify those things that you don’t know, identify those things that aren’t broken, and work on them and get better. And I fundamentally belong to that school of thought, because I think I was raised with it. But I think in my mind, what you just said is those things that you’re already strong out, double down on that, that’s where your power is. There’s no love lost on the weakness, you can be taught that or you can hire somebody to do that. You don’t have to know those things. And those three things that you do need to know, there’s a little school that will call the school of Google that you can learn a lot from right. So I love what you’re saying is doubled down on what you know, don’t underestimate your value just because it doesn’t look exactly like this. So it’s so it’s a rectangle instead of a square. Let’s not get hung up over these things. Am I hearing you correctly?

Tara Staten 29:10

Exactly. It’s like the Strengths Finder approach where it’s like, get double down on your strengths, find what works. I’d rather have someone who has a couple of like, great strengths to work hard to figure the rest out than someone who has like the perfect on paper skills and abilities No, go hard after it. And just do that and I think that’s so much more valuable because I think they also like know the ins and outs deeply of the whatever those skills, what are the skill sets are. Just dive right in. And I found that to be true for myself too. Like I know my limitations. I know what I’m not good at. I’m able to like phone a friend in the situation. And it’s, that’s no problem.

Diana Fryc 29:53 

Yeah. Wonderful. I love that. Okay, so tell us I already asked what’s going on with Bulletproof but what’s next for you? What’s going on with Bulletproof that’s coming up that you can share?

Tara Staten 30:10

Like I said, we have a few fun launches coming up. Bulletproof heart will always be in coffee. I think that’s the recipe that made us famous if so a lot of fun there. And I think really just reinvigorating the brand and helping people understand what we’re about. Truly that like we want to bring that to everyone, everyone can feel better. Again, however you want to do that, whether it’s a bulletproof coffee in the morning, or taking a deep gummy, I love our gummies wine, by the way. Yeah, they’re amazing. I have them on my desk, and I’m just pointing throughout the day, we’ll just pop them in my mouth. They’re sugar free, so I don’t feel bad about eating them. And you get all the benefits. So I love that you can kind of customize your wellness to whatever you want to be. Rather than feeling like you have to fit some very specific diet.

Diana Fryc 31:04

Tell me more about the gummies what are they? They’re a supplement of some sort. But what are the functionalities? What are the needs that they meet? I’m curious.

Tara Staten 31:15 

Right now we have four so there’s me so it’s like a vitamin D with a and k. So all those fat-soluble vitamins that are amazing. We have an immune gummy, which, of course is amazing. And I take every day, we have a Tumeric gummy, which is amazing for inflammation support. And then we have a sleep gummies which, as you know, sleep really

Diana Fryc 31:37 

Big right now. Okay, good. I’m going to check out the Tumeric one. Those of you that listen to the show regular and can hear my congestion. I had a bad bout of COVID, I was on in bed literally for three days. One of them was questionable on whether or not I should actually go get some medical support. And everybody’s saying turmeric, turmeric, turmeric, turmeric, turmeric. So not a big fan of putting it in my beverages, but in my food. But then if I could just supplement that by wouldn’t I do it as a gummy? That I can do I love it.

Tara Staten 31:39 

Yeah, so easy. Peach ginger flavor.

Diana Fryc 31:48

Ooh, hey. Okay. Well, my gosh, Tara, going so quickly here. I’m enjoying our conversation. Our time is almost up. But I have a couple of questions that I like to ask everybody. So let’s get those on the table here. And the first one is, do you have a, I call it a happy hour fact or a tip, something that you’ve learned that you can share with everybody? Something that you’ve learned while working at Bulletproof that you could share with everybody that could share around the water cooler or beverage?

Tara Staten 32:53 

Absolutely. So I think that the one thing I learned at Bulletproof that it like was surprising to me. And maybe not everyone knows has to do with collagen. So I think everyone’s pretty aware that like your collagen production, your body starts to decline after age 20. Your 30s You’re like okay, collagen production is declining, and collagen has become big on the market. But it didn’t realize why. And I didn’t realize why collagen supplementation is so much more needed than it was in the past. People used to eat like organ meats, a lot more bone broth, which have clarity, kind of eating all parts of the animal, if you will like a lot of the current, a lot of boiled soups and stews. And now especially in America, it’s more of steaks, hamburgers, so you’re not getting the meeting meats. You’re not getting those amino acids that reside in the organ, in the bones. Like those aren’t my favorite foods. So I can supplement those amino acids through collagen. And I’m not getting them even though I’m getting plenty of steaks and hamburgers. Yeah, I’m not getting those amino acids there. And so supplementing them is actually what helps you spur that collagen production, excuse me in the body, because you’re not getting them from anywhere else.

Diana Fryc 34:08

Interesting. Oh, that is fascinating. Isn’t that fascinating? And so then my question for you. And this might be a dissertation. I don’t know. Those people that end up doing vegan collagen, do they have to take more of it? Or do they have to combine it differently because an animal collagen is so different, right?

Tara Staten 34:31

Yeah, I think like most of the vegan collisions also help your body. They give you some of the cofactors that your body needs like vitamin C and those things that your body needs. collagen, so it kind of helps hosts for your body on its own right. So yeah, like and it’s just about eating a really diverse diet so that you can get all those amino acids from different places.

Diana Fryc 34:53

Interesting. Okay. Ooh, that was super. I was taking collagen and then I stopped. And now I’m thinking I need to rethink that again. So I’ll have to check that out. Okay, very good. Thank you for that. Okay. Are there any other women leaders out there are rising stars in our industry or not that you would like to elevate or just simply admire for the work that they’re doing? And who are they? And why are they on your radar?

Tara Staten 35:20 

Yeah, so there’s someone who comes to mind, Serenity Carr over it, Serenity Kids, baby foods, they have baby toddler foods. She just is an amazing human being. But they really change the way baby food is thought about and could food. And it’s really like paleo-based. So a lot less sugary, a lot more like, healthy fats, proteins. And I just love that they like grain-free puffs to give to your kids. And I just love that someone has taken a pretty like, mature category. Yeah, shaking it up. And really for the benefit of kids who everyone, like knows that kids need, less sugar and all those things. So I just love what they’ve done reinvented that category a little bit.

Diana Fryc 36:10

I’m always curious and maybe odd is the word of people who decide to go into baby food production. It’s a tricky category, yes, it’s mature. But the safety issues around manufacturing are just off the grid. And the hurdles that you have to go through in order to become a legit CPG is not a joke. And so anybody that decides to go into that space, to me is, I think a little insane. Insane not as in like you shouldn’t do it. But just like, you have to be brave to do that, like so the work is a lot to do. And I think there’s so much room for growth opportunity there. I think we could be doing so much more, especially as we start to see what’s happening with baby. What do we call that? The baby powder.

Tara Staten 37:07

Yeah, the formula?

Diana Fryc 37:08 

Yeah, the formula showed it shortages. I think there’s so much more that we can be doing and not limiting and parents to just sow few options. So that’s cool. I have to go and check that. What’s the name of the company again? And the and the person that’s started that up?

Tara Staten 37:28 

Yeah, her name is Serenity Carr.

Diana Fryc 37:30 

Oh, of course. Okay. Cool. All right. We’ll check that out. Well, we have been talking with Tara Staten, director of marketing and innovation at Bulletproof 360. Tara, where can people learn about you and more about Bulletproof?

Tara Staten 37:46 

Yes, you can learn more about me on LinkedIn. So just Tara Staten on LinkedIn and then Bulletproof on our website. bulletproof.com.

Diana Fryc 37:54 

Oh, my goodness, thank you so much for your time today, Tara. I am so happy, first of all happy that we have met because I feel a little bit of a kindred spirit. So that’s been fun. And I look forward to watching what you and the team over at Bulletproof get into this year. And I want to thank all of you listeners for your time today. If you liked this episode, please share it with a friend. Otherwise, have a great rest of your day and we’ll catch you next time on The Gooder Podcast.

Outro 38:30

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