This episode is for brand leaders who are ready to stop waiting and start creating.

Toni Ronayne is the founder of the C-Society and a fractional CEO, specializing in enterprise and brand transformation for growth-stage and scaling brands. She partners with founders, boards, and executive teams during moments of complexity, helping align brand, operations, people, and strategy to drive sustainable performance.

After years climbing the traditional corporate ladder at Starbucks, LIttle Caesars, Freshii, Perkins and more, Toni saw what many leaders are experiencing: fewer seats at the table, flatter org charts, and a leadership model that doesn't fit modern businesses or real life. Instead of forcing herself back into a shrinking mold, Toni built something new: an innovative, fractional leadership model that gives brands access to senior talent when they need it, and gives leaders a way to create true impact without burning out.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

A timely conversation for leaders who want more freedom, more creativity, and a clearer way to build what comes next.

Books: The Enneagram Test

Brand: Knix and Mandy’s Gourmet Salads

Beverage: Gin and tonic or spicy margarita mocktail

Song: “Unstoppable” by Sia

Modern marketing offers more tools than ever before. But Eleanor’s message is clear: growth doesn’t come from doing more, it comes from doing the right things well.

Eleanor is the founder and CEO of Verity, a shopper marketing and retail media agency helping up-and-coming brands grow in a world made for big-brand incumbents. After a career at PepsiCo and high growth challenger brands like Kodiak Cakes and Siete Foods, she saw brands often confuse access with traction and activity with progress.

Eleanor breaks down what actually drives brand growth today and what gets in the way when teams chase new tactics before the strategy fundamentals are in place.

✨What challenger brands can do that legacy brands can’t, and how to leverage it

✨Why in-store still matters, even as retail media and e-commerce grow

✨Where to focus when budgets are tight and velocity matters most

✨Why marketing can’t fix broken unit economics and what leaders should fix first

✨How to decide which growth levers are worth pulling now, and which to ignore

A practical conversation for brand leaders navigating modern marketing and shifting consumer expectations without losing sight of what actually moves their business.

Book: Pour Your Heart Into It by Howard Schultz

Song: “So Much Better” from Legally Blonde

This conversation is a rare treat.

Roxanne Quimby is co-founder and former CEO of Burt’s Bees, artist, conservationist, philanthropist, and one of the most influential brand builders of the last half-century.

Roxanne doesn’t seek the spotlight. She seldom gives interviews, doesn’t let anyone take her picture, and almost never appears on camera. In this episode, she generously shares the ideas, routines, and values that created one of the most trusted brands of our time, and how she stays creative to make historic and lasting impact.

Roxanne spent years living off the grid. This nature-led lifestyle became the foundation for Burt’s Bees, the iconic personal care brand that helped redefine the beauty category long before “clean,” “organic,” or “purpose-led” became industry buzzwords.

Under her leadership, Burt’s Bees scaled nationally and internationally, eventually selling in two landmark transactions that valued the company at more than $900 million. For Roxanne, the exit was not an ending, it was a beginning.

Using the proceeds from the sale, Roxanne donated more than 87,000 acres of land to help create Katahdin Woods & Waters National Monument, along with tens of millions of dollars to the National Park Service and other causes.

Today, Roxanne has come full circle, returning to art, conservation, and hands-on creativity. We talk about her latest projects, and how she continues to create, collaborate, and give in ways that will inspire brand leaders everywhere.

✨ How to build a brand people love by staying grounded in truth and simplicity

✨ Why humor and humanity help stories travel further than polished marketing

✨ How nature’s pace teaches patience and incremental change compounds

✨ Why choosing what not to do can be just as powerful as what to pursue

✨ What it looks like to turn success into true, lasting and shared, impact

A sweet reminder that the most enduring brands, and the most creative lives, are cultivated with integrity and courage to stay creative in every chapter.

Roxanne’s Creative Inspiration

Books: Food photography and cookbooks

Brands: Cheerios and Quaker Oats

Beverage: Espresso martini

Song: Call Me By Your Name