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Episodes
S4E6: Building Leaders in the Toughest Environments in Food
Meat and poultry is one of the most demanding environments in food — high pressure, high turnover, compliance-first by necessity. The leaders operating inside it are often asked to carry more than they were ever...
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S4E5: From Sensory Science to Baby Food Safety: What this Works Actually Requires of You
Sarah Smith Simpson did not take a straight line into food safety. She started in sensory science — the world of texture, taste, and consumer perception in baby food — and then made a deliberate choice to go deeper,...
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S4E4: Tired of Culture Initiatives That Go Nowhere? Here Is the Piece That Was Always Missing.
There is a real and growing frustration with culture work in organizations — and it is not because belonging and leadership development are bad ideas. It is because culture initiatives have almost always been designed...
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S4E3: She Didn't Wait for Permission: What the Next Generation of Food Safety Leaders Is Actually Thinking
Briana Lorenzo did not take the expected road into food safety. She came from clinical lab and biotech research, found her way into food, and has held Director-level roles across some of the most demanding food...
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S4E2: The Three Moments That Actually Reveal Your Culture
Culture surveys measure what people say. Culture plans document what organizations intend. Neither one tells you what actually happens when a leader is in a moment that counts. This episode is about the three...
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S4E1: When Good Programs Stop Growing: The Leadership Development Gap Nobody Talks About
Sharron Northern has spent her career building leadership capability inside some of the most recognized names in food and CPG — General Mills, Hershey, and now kdc/one. She joins Real Talk with Catalyst co-founders...
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S3E35: What It Costs When Leadership Culture Breaks Down in Food
On this episode of Real Talk, Catalyst Food Leaders cofounders Tia Glave and Jill Stuber are getting into something that most food companies know is true but rarely say in a budget meeting. Your culture might not be...
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S3E34 3 Ways to Lead Well When the Organization Around You Is a Hot Mess
You love what you do. You love the people around you. But the organization? Some days, it feels like it is actively working against you. The endless hours. The feeling of juggling fifty things while finishing none of...
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S3E33: What a Real Food Safety Foundation Looks Like for a Growing Small Business
In this episode of Real Talk, Catalyst Food Leaders co-founders Tia Glave and Jill Stuber sit down with someone we have worked with and genuinely love. Taylor Clarke founded Amborella Organics, a seed-bearing lollipop...
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S3E32 The Leadership Decision You Keep Putting Off Is Already Costing You
Every food leader has something they know they need to do. Develop themselves. Build their team. Fix their culture. And most of them have been meaning to do it for a while. In this episode of Real Talk, Catalyst Food...
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S3E31 From Burden to Solutions: What Food Safety Leadership Actually Requires
World Food Safety Day is June 7. But the conversation about what food safety leadership actually requires does not start on a single day. It starts when food safety professionals honestly ask themselves: Am I just the...
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S3E30: Why Small Food Businesses Struggle with Food Safety (And It's Not What You Think)
May is Small Business Month. And here's a number worth sitting with: small businesses were responsible for 88.9% of all private-sector job growth from 2023 to 2024. In food, those small businesses are also navigating...
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