VBT 168: Johanna Sophia of Johanna’s Raw Foods on Closing Down & Preparing to Relaunch Her Business at Scale

Podcast EpisodePodcast: Play in new window | Download | EmbedSubscribe: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify | RSSIn this episode I interview Professor Johanna Sophia, founder of Johanna’s Raw Foods in upstate New York.
After a music, film, and writing career that saw her travel the globe, Johanna – who was raised in Germany – settled down in the US and raised her children.
When her kids were barely in their teens and she was almost 50, Johanna found herself lying on the floor, paralyzed for what seemed an eternity experiencing a stroke.
She made the decision to change her life but the lack of available prepared vegan raw foods that fit her new strict but busy lifestyle forced her to make her own meals and in 2013 Johanna’s Raw Foods was born.
The company’s product line includes a range of organic, gluten-free grab and go, ready-to-eat, mix and match, raw, vegan snacks.
In this interview Johanna discusses:
• Why having a diverse career that included teaching stints at Yale and Columbia universities, rather than sticking to one professional area, has been an advantage to running her own business
• How she got her raw, vegan products into more than 200 health stores across the US
• Why, after this initial excitement of getting her products in stores, she made the decision to shut down her factory and focus on online, direct-to-consumer sales
• The relaunch of the company with a much bigger plan and why she believes every product business has to stop staying small and instead scale to succeed
• And more

Visit the Johanna’s Raw Foods website
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My Online PR Course for Vegan Business Owners & Entrepreneurs: Vegans in the Limelight
My book Vegan Ventures: Start and Grow an Ethical Business
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Podcast: Play in new window | Download | EmbedSubscribe: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify | RSSKatrina Fox is an award-winning vegan journalist, publisher, speaker, PR consultant and media trainer who teaches vegan business owners, entrepreneurs and change makers how to get free publicity by sharing their stories. Katrina was a regular contributor to Forbes for a year, writing about vegan and plant-based business. She is the founder and editor-in-chief of Vegan Business Media, the host of Vegan Business Talk podcast, and the author of Vegan Ventures: Start and Grow an Ethical Business. Katrina is also the creator of Vegans in the Limelight: Online PR course for Vegan Business Owners and Entrepreneurs. For more information and to hire Katrina, email her at katrina [at] veganbusinessmedia [dotcom]

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