Today we’d like to introduce you to Lia Ballentine.
Lia, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
Yumday is a purpose-driven snack box subscription company that features and prioritizes women- and BIPOC-led food and beverage brands. I launched Yumday in January 2021 to empower conscious consumers (like me!) to shop their values and help them joyfully discover wholesome snacks and drinks from diverse makers and mission-driven companies.
I first had the idea to create a curated online snack chop in 2020 when my own snacking hit an all-time high. I was growing tired of the usual grocery store snacks, and I wanted to find more unique goods — with a preference for brands that were founded by women and minorities. Unfortunately, I had difficulty finding the snacks I wanted in the stores around me; so I took on the challenge of researching and sourcing these snacks myself. And in the process, I was able to learn so much about the ingredients, the people, and the missions behind these emerging snack brands.
I connected with women and BIPOC food founders who were producing some of the most innovative — and delicious! — snacks that I had never heard of or seen before. I discovered an entire world of specialty food producers, with so many of them coming from underrepresented communities. I began to curate snacks for myself and for friends, and I found that others wanted to learn more about these diverse brands as well. And that’s when I decided to launch Yumday’s online shop, featuring snack boxes and snack subscriptions curated by founder diversity.
Yumday just celebrated its first year in business. The shop opened with two curated boxes — a female-founded snack box and a BIPOC-founded snack box. Since its launch, I’ve added more curated collections and added a subscription program. I also launched a corporate program that helps companies gift snack boxes to employees and clients. Today, our curated snack boxes reach doorsteps nationwide; and we’re able to help introduce people to amazing women-BIPOC-led, mission-driven food brands.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
The road hasn’t been a smooth one. Before launching Yumday, I struggled with self-doubt. I knew it was something that I wanted to do, but impostor syndrome definitely got the better of me. One of the reasons why I felt unsure about moving forward with my idea was that I was entering an entirely new industry with Yumday. For the past 15 years, I had worked in corporate communications and investor relations. And the past decade was spent in the media and entertainment industry. So, to jump into entrepreneurship in the CPG and food and beverage space and to launch an e-commerce site and subscription box program was very scary for me. But I had to remind myself that I had built up tremendous leadership, business development, strategy, and finance skills over 15 years — and all of that experience, combined with my personal passion and grit, was exactly what I needed to launch Yumday.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about Yumday?
As I mentioned earlier, Yumday is a purpose-driven snack box subscription company that features and prioritizes women- and BIPOC-led food brands. My customers are conscious consumers who want to shop their values, and Yumday helps them do that in a unique and delicious way. We help our snackers joyfully discover wholesome snacks (and drinks) from diverse makers and mission-driven companies, many of which are independent producers who handcraft their specialty food products in small batches.
Yumday offers a variety of snack box subscription options, so customers can snack a little or snack a lot. In addition to joining our monthly and quarterly snack subscriptions, customers can also order curated snack boxes with handpicked snack selections based on founder values and even diet. (People love giving our curated snack boxes as gifts!) The snack products we feature in our collections change often as we continue to create new partnerships with emerging brands, so our subscription plan gives customers an excellent opportunity to enjoy new snacks and learn about up-and-coming food brands regularly.
Sure, there are other companies that offer snack boxes and snack subscriptions. But what makes Yumday different than the rest is how we select our snacks. We curate with intention. We look for diverse founders and seek to understand their brand values. As an immigrant and woman of color, it is so important for me to uplift and amplify other women and people of color in business. Yumday is truly a reflection of my passion for delicious and wholesome food and my desire for equity and inclusion in all spaces.
What does success mean to you?
For me, success is being able to live your purpose. It means doing work you’re passionate about and living according to your values and beliefs.
Contact Info:
- Email: lia@yumday.co
- Website: https://yumday.co
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yumdayco/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/yumdayco
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/yumdayco
