To loosely quote Liam Neeson, I have a very particular set of skills, skills I have acquired over a long career building purpose-led brands.
As of last week, an important chapter in that career came to an end as I was laid off in a larger re-org, and my skills are back on the market. This marks the end of working with some truly incredible people, and I'm forever grateful to my TEAm.
Just under 6 years ago I led the TAZO brand through its acquisition from Starbucks to Unilever, and 3 years after that I stayed with TAZO to lead it through its acquisition by private equity as Unilever sold off the tea business. Through these acquisitions and demergers, I grew the TAZO tea brand retail sales by 70% and doubled its household penetration in 3 years.
I did this while initiating a transition to fair trade, organic and regenerative business model to ensure that growth wasn't at odds with our SBTi target ambitions. This transition earned TAZO the #2 rank on Fast Company's Most Innovative Brands list for food and a spot on the #Time100 Most Influential Companies 2023 list.
Again, I can't emphasize enough how important it was, and how grateful I was, to have a deeply motivated, dedicated group of people working on this transformation with me!! I don't know what path TAZO will take moving forward, but I sincerely hope it continues to be an industry leader in regenerative agriculture and advancing fair trade practices.
I'm also grateful for the privilege to lead award-winning creative work with iconic talent, work that made a real impact in communities that are historically marginalized and/ or sacrificed by "business as usual".
If you are looking for my particular set of skills, message me:
- Full funnel marketer with deep expertise in driving responsible, sustainable brand growth and brand love
- Transformative leader capable of taking CSR goals from strategy to execution
- Polished spokesperson, effective communicator
- Development and management of corporate/ public/ private partnerships
Superstar Yentl Molenaar-Rintjema 😍