Jennifer Garner on What Only Time Can Teach You

25:25I mean, the problem is it's not just the public. I never blamed the public. They have been told, here are pictures. They don't know how the sausage is made. They don't know what that experience is. As a person that you suddenly feel like you're in trouble all the time, or you've been caught doing something, or you're about to be, or my gosh, what am I wearing? And it really does a number on your confidence, but it makes you feel so self-conscious. But to me, what it robbed me of were those smiles with other people. The thing my mom taught me to do, I suddenly couldn't do anymore because there were so many cameras in front of me.

26:01I was so, I wasn't a real person anymore. I was just like, what is the character in the Charlie Brown story that has the big mess pig pen? I was pig pen. I was pig pen with a big mess around me all the time. And it just was so humiliating and embarrassing, not to mention what was happening to my children. And I will say, you know, we tried to move. We looked at schools. I applied at schools. People across this country would be like, Like, yeah, actually, they came in tour and she applied. They did the whole thing. But we realized that, you know, the pictures of us at the time were so valuable.

26:37People would, if we were on location somewhere, if we were trying living somewhere, they would just buy a big camera and get in their minivan and follow us. So it didn't, and that wasn't any safer. So it was just like, oh my gosh, we might as well be with our own, you know, we might as well mess up the city. We're already messing up. Like they don't know what to do with us in Boston when we do this. So anyway, it's been talked about so much and it's such a, it's a very specific problem and not one the world really needs to focus on. But it was something that I was grateful to be part of tackling and standing up for.

27:14I want to switch gears a little bit because I want to talk about your incredible business because it really is incredible. It is incredible. I really want to understand because I'm sure that you have been in a position for so long where you could have done so many things. And when you speak about Once Upon a Farm, you are so knowledgeable and so passionate about it. But why did you actually choose this space and to use your influence in, you know, children's food specifically? Okay. I have to back up and I have to talk about a person that I've spoken about before. Listen, I'm not going to name them.

27:45Let's go. I am. Let's talk about her. Let's talk about it. So when I was little, first of all, I always had businesses going. I had a babysitting business. I had an ice cream business where I would crank the ice cream on the street and sell my homemade ice cream. And I would pay my mom. My mom was like, you didn't really pay me, but I'd pay her for the sugar and the eggs. I think I did in my mind. I'm sorry, mom, if that's a lie. But in my mind, I was paying my supply chain. So I always had an entrepreneurial mind. I think it took me having a friend who was like, you have more of a business mind than you think you do.

28:20And we're actually going to tap into that now. I really do believe that that's a big thing. So my manager, bestie, Nicole King, Linden Entertainment, just for the record, she and I've worked together from the beginning of our careers. And we knew that I was reaching women and that I was reaching consumers because of the longstanding relationship I had with Neutrogena, with Capital One, with different things. And she was just like, you know, there's no reason you can't be on the inside of this as a founder. And I kind of didn't really, I was a little like, okay, I kind of do what she says. She's younger than I am, but I do what she says.

28:59I always have. She's making some good decisions. She's one of those people. It's just easier to agree with her. So the next thing you know, we start trying and we had some flops. We had, um, we had one big play that we were making that was like a content play that I suddenly, I was pregnant with my third. And right before I had him, I was like, this is too much. It's going to have to be personal. I can't talk about my kids in that way. Wow. And we had done all of this work and she was like, okay. I love that you talk about the flops because nobody talks about the flops. And everybody just imagines that like the first thing you do manages to IPO, but that's kind of amazing.

29:38No, it was so painful. It was painful and she handled it so well because she was my partner in it. And it was like, we were down the line. We had beautiful branding and low, you know, we were really in it. But you didn't let it deter you. No. You didn't let it say to you, I'm not supposed to be doing this business thing. I better stick to the day job. No, no, no, I didn't. Or she didn't, or we didn't. So it was that. Then we had something with Joanne Fabrics, which was crafts, fun things to do with your kids, called, my kids always say it like this. We made it with Jennifer Garner. That's how my kids say that.

30:10Okay, that didn't work. we had a food our first food brand which made the most sense to me and that I was I was joining in didn't even I don't even remember what happened to it it was such a crash and burn we had a couple of things okay so there was there was also some beauty thing in there somewhere but you spent money you spent time you spent energy on these other projects I did photo shoots I did content days I did meetings I did flew around I did oh my gosh so much what was it that ideating I did Everything. I mean, so many things weren't clicking, whether it was the leadership, whether it was me understanding how I could be helpful, what my role was, because they were all great ideas.

30:48They all had, but a lot of great ideas happen and very few of them actually turn into something. There's no shame in the game. They just didn't work. Do you know how few people say that specifically women, that there's no shame in the game? Some shit just doesn't work. I added the shit because that's me. But so few women actually think like that. And I hear so many men that test and try things and it doesn't work and they waste a bit of money, they waste a bit of time and yet they still go on. They shrug it up. And for some reason, women are far less likely to just move on. They take those losses personally, even if they're not a big financial loss.

31:25And I understand you might've been in a okay position to make some losses, but they take the losses so personally that it stops them from doing the next thing. And I want to understand why you could just do the next thing. Because I'm an actor. And so do you know how many auditions or meetings I've gone on that I've gotten down to here, to here and not gotten? And then you do get one and you take it and it's like this big thing and you think, oh, great, this is going to be amazing. You get it and you sell it with everything you have. And it just lies there on the floor. and you just think, oh, I loved you.

31:59I thought you were great. But you had collected resilience. Oh yeah. I'm built with a good bounce. You know, I've got a good bounce back. And thank goodness, because none of this is nice. None of it's easy or pleasant. But yeah, I just was used to that. I had built that, that muscle. Did you ever take it personally? Did you ever go like, all the big things are me? Oh yeah, of course, sometimes. But then you have to shake it off. I mean, there were auditions that I always think back to this, this audition for West Wing. It was for a new role. And I was like, God, I wanted it so badly. And I got down and I tested for it.

32:36And when I didn't get it, I had to like go to the desert. My first time in Palm Springs by myself and just sit there for a couple of days. And then like two weeks later, Alias came to me. So what is it? God's rejection is divine, divine, wait, rejection is God's protection, whatever that is. I'm all for that. Let's believe that. You know, let's go with that. I'm right. Absolutely. So Once Upon a Farm came along and it was very small. It was in some stores in San Diego and it was also in some Whole Foods in New England and the Northeast. And I heard about it. And the second I heard about it, I was like, wait, I would have used that.

33:17That's different. I would have killed to have this brand available because fresh baby food. Why is that not a thing? Why are we making baby food at home? Because we don't want to, it's such a hassle and you don't know if you're doing it right nutritionally. And meanwhile, your dogs and cats have fresh organic food in the grocery store, in the aisle right there. So it just, it made sense to me. And I met Cassandra Curtis and Ari Ross, who was her co-founder at the time and was just like, tell me everything. How does this work? Why hasn't it been done before? And the difference was this food technology called high pressure pasteurization, HPP, which is our food safety step.

33:57Instead of cooking down until it's like got lost its nutrition, flavor, texture, color, it keeps it bright as if it's just out of your blender and keeps the nutrition intact, all of the vitamins, you know, micronutrients intact, the texture, flavor, color, and it keeps it safe. And it gives it just enough of a shelf life to get it to grocery stores and get it into people's homes and then into their fridge. And you knew instinctively as a mother, you were like, there's a white space here because of what I've been doing and the brand deals that I have. I know that I can influence this demographic of predominantly moms who are buying this stuff and making the purchase.

34:38And what did you have to do to get into the business? Well, so I saw, I didn't see Nicole King. Nicole saw that John Foraker, who had, is so respected. He's your CEO, right? He's our CEO. He was the first angel investor for Once Upon a Farm. And he was still running Annie's, which he built, took public, sold. He's like king of organic CPG for kids, right? We love Annie's. We love a little. I know, cheddar bunny. I was like rabbits, no, cheddar bunnies. My house is made of cheddar bunnies. Of course it is. Of course it is. John was still running Annie's at General Mills where he had sold it, to whom he had sold it.

35:21Nicole arranged for us to meet. He flew to LA, had a flat tire in his Uber, like he was late, which now that I know him so well, I know that that must have killed him. And our conversation instantly turned to service, to how could I be part of this company? How could you be part of this company? It started as what drew you to the brand? Do you believe in it? How do you think it would work? And I didn't know that we were interviewing each other to work together. Only Nicole knew that. John might have known that. But we were having this conversation and I said, you know, I can't help but really have this vivid memory in my mind of with Save the children shopping with women who are dealing with food insecurity and they're putting together their WIC food and their, there's, you know, um, snap benefits and what's in the food pantry.

36:11What do they have in their freezer? What venison do they have at home? Because they've, they were able to kill something. So all of those things that they are putting together, how does this food fit into that puzzle for them? And John and I kind of went down this rabbit hole. What if we could build this into a purpose-driven brand? What if it could be an answer in a small way, but taking on a leadership role for parents in America, which is a big fat country. And there's a lot of America that is growing up without enough food in their cupboards. And so you immediately felt moved by the promise of this mission, like what this company could do.

36:53But at that time, it was small. And it was a couple hundred thousand dollars. I mean, really, that's how I can start up. Right. Crazy. So he and I shook hands at the end of that meeting. He said, look, I'll leave Annie's. If you want to do this, I'll leave General Mills and I'm in if you're in. And I said, I'm in if you're in. And we shook hands. And that, that was it. Did you know what that meant for you? Like, because again, that's a long time ago. And I'm envisaging that. No, of course not. No, absolutely not. I didn't know what I was saying yes to you. I didn't know what I was doing. I just knew that I believed in what Cassandra was building.

37:27And I believed in John as a leader. Yeah. And as a man, as a, just like with it, you know. As a good person. As a good person. This is a good human. As a man, sounds like. Like as a man, but no, as a good person. And that that handshake still holds. Well, first of all, I feel like that is one of the single best ways to make a judgment call about being in a business. because at the end of the day, it comes down to the team that you're building with and the fundamentals are like, are these good people? Like, is there a great idea? Brilliant, tick. And do I have the right set of people to do it with?

37:59And so to me, it's like, yeah, there was a good man and there were two good women and you were able to kind of go, you know, one and one is going to equal five.

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40:48I was reading that like you had said somewhere that you couldn't even read a spreadsheet in the beginning. Oh, still struggle. I mean, facts. I'm very distracted. I didn't, it wasn't until not that long ago that I knew that if it's in parentheses, that means minus. So that's a good one. That's a good one. I was always like, these numbers don't add up. How's something wrong with your formulas? Yeah. Okay. Can you put it in red? That's what I remember having. First of all, that's such a great thing because I remember in the very, very beginning of ITB, one of my first companies, I had exactly the same thing.

41:24And I was like, could you now do those in red so that I don't need to look for anything? Because again, Thank you. You don't know what you don't know. Which I've known to do that. Yeah, I didn't know what a KPY I was or an ROI or ROAS or an EBITDA, which is still sketchy on that. Yeah. Well, in CPG, which is consumer packaged goods, but there are about a billion of them. I want to understand what you've learned about your contribution, because it's very, very clear to me that you go above and beyond that of a celebrity endorser. It's not just about leveraging your fame. No, I'm not endorsing. No, you are very much a part of this business.

41:58But again, I do think that as women, sometimes the default is to undervalue our contribution. And I'd love to know what that looks like then and how you think about it now and how you've learned to think about yourself as a business person. Well, John and I did not sit down and write out a job description for me. It was kind of on me to figure out where and how I could add value. They really are nice people. I might have had a job description. I might have had that, but we didn't, we didn't lean on it. If we did, it was like this many posts, like I had to join Instagram. That was the one thing I really had to do.

42:35And didn't have an Instagram. I didn't have an Instagram. Oh, I love you. I know. So I said to Mo, you're so good now. Well, I said to Mo, who was my assistant at the time, I was like, guess what you do now? You are social media manager. You are social media. So, um, so we've done it together. Yeah. that I mean she does a really great job but again in a way that makes a lot of sense for you because it feels like when you jumped on I feel like you were immediately like a thing on social media or did that take a while like you were I don't remember I mean I feel like you were we were talking about you you didn't know but we were yeah we kind of just jumped on and and I knew that I couldn't do what was being done at the time which was so many posts a day so many I just knew and always selling, always, always.

43:21I just, that was like, argh. So Mo and I just devised, we just, she was a film major at Northwestern. She knows what she's doing. And she is very funny, has great music taste and knows how to make fun of me. And that's kind of what it is. She's always, really what she's doing constantly is making fun of me. And you're just allowed in to watch with her. So, okay. So that was the one thing I had to do. So what I realized now that I did is I adopted my Save the Children playbook taught to me by Mark Shriver, who's my mentor there and has been forever. With Mark, the things that I've done there have been a bunch of site visits all over the country, like for 18 years, tons of them, so many.

44:00And we have advocated on the state level and on, you know, in the federal government and then fundraising, of course, but it's the advocacy. Mark's family is political and he has kind of taught me that it is relationships and it's time and it's knowing what you're talking about. And it is, for me, with Save, it's been collecting the stories, going to people's homes, going to the schools, meeting the teachers who are receiving kids who have had our programs in these communities and kids who haven't, just collecting all of this kind of, not scientific data, just stories, heart stories. And then going and talking about it and adding some statistics in, right?

44:41What great advice though for somebody to say to you, it's about both relationships and time because I think all of business is, when you look at your vendor relationships or your retailer relationships, and then the time that you have to put into those. And, you know, inevitably when you're in business, you have amazing times and you have not so amazing times in terms of your sales period. It's your relationships and the amount of time that you spent with those people that enables you to weather through the storm. Yes, and our sales team is amazing at these relationships. So I just kind of took that model and plopped it onto Once Upon a Farm so that when I went to Minneapolis to meet with Target, they said, oh yeah, you know, a lot of celebrities come through here and they have their brands and whatever.

45:24And then what I heard was, and we never see them again. And that never, that's so far from my mind. I mean, I'm going to go to all of our major retailers in the next few months just to check back in because I was working and hadn't been there for a while, but they all have my email. They have no problem reaching out to me. and, you know, saying, and, and, and I know all of them personally, I've been to their homes. They've been to mine. We have done plant tours together. Why is that important to you with all that you have going on? Why is it that part, that relationship part that you've really kind of honed into?

45:58Well, it's a way that I can be helpful. It connects me to the sales team, the marketing team, all the, the brand team, the people that are with us, the ops team in these, in these meetings. And so I get to have a cross-functional meeting whenever I'm along on those trips. And that's really important, you know, to me, it makes a difference. But in order to be helpful in those meetings, you actually have to know what you're talking about. Because I have sat through those meetings before and just thought, I don't know what anyone is talking about because I wasn't in the, the, all of the, you know, not just the planning for the meeting, but I didn't know the nuts and bolts.

46:36That's uncomfortable for me. So I'm in the leadership team meetings all the time. I'm in the company meetings. I'm in, you know, am I in hair and makeup, in the hair and makeup chair on Zoom? Yes. Am I catching up or reading notes after or giving a call to someone after? And I'm constantly circling things in my notebook that I don't know and reaching out to team members on Slack at the time or later, can you explain this to me? Can I grab you on the phone? Can you talk me through this? But we did have that moment. So we had a real inflection point in the beginning where, you know, I'm like thinking, oh, I've got this beginner's luck, right?

47:09So John and I joined Cassandra and Ari at the time, although he's gone on to run Coconut Cult. But John and I and the sales team, whomever, we start going to meet all the major retailers around the country. And it's like, we're here. We're entering a new category. We're giving you a new category. Welcome to Once Upon a Farm. You're so welcome. Yeah. Here we go. But because I was going to be so loud about it, we had to go into all the retailers all at once. So we got 10 ,000 doors right off the bat. And we have to then figure out very quickly, what's our supply chain going to be like? How is ops going to do this?

47:45How are we going to service all the country from this tiny little company to all of a sudden, boom, we have to go everywhere. So we go everywhere. We have this big coming out party. People are like, oh, great. Five minutes later, we go back out. And John and I remember so well, this next kind of run around where we were at Publix and we were at Target and they said, we're not going to take you off the shelves yet. I was like, I was so big. The person never, the buyer never looked me in the eye. I was like, so then it was like, oh, back up. We have to educate. These people don't know who we are, what we are, where we are.

48:23People aren't used to just because fresh baby food seems like a no brainer to us. this is not the norm. It's not what anyone's used to. So we had to back up to go forward. And it's so hard. It was so painful. Getting on the shelf is one thing. Staying on the shelf is something totally different. And if your business isn't set up for that, you're in real trouble. I'm interested, like why you feel the need to be so precise about your contribution? Because again, you're always giving everybody their props, but also it feels to me like you're very clear about what it is that you do and you bring. I don't know why it's just very interesting because again I feel like I don't know maybe people feel more at ease taking credit when something's like really good and it's working and yet you feel very self-depreciating and like it's like no I do this bit and then I have these incredible people that do yeah because that's true what do you want me to do just sit there and be like well then I made this decision and I bought pineapples I said we'll get them from Malaysia.

49:23No problem. That's not what I'm doing, folks. I'm an actor. I don't know what you're talking about, but I do know how to do what I know how to do. And I think there's value in that. I think there's value in knowing your particular skillset and how you can help and when fame is helpful and when it isn't. And when, you know, when I, and I do have opinions, of course I do, you know, I get to try the innovation. I get to weigh in and say, oh, I think this one is a little on the sweet side. But Cassandra's got that handled. She's still running R &D for us and she's amazing. What actually changes when you take a company public, like not just for the founders, but for the way that the business actually operates?

50:02Because I'm imagining that's a pretty steep learning curve wherever you sit in the business. Well, lucky for us, John had done it before and Larry Waldman, our CFO and COO. And so they had done it with Annie's as had a bunch of the team under John or in different companies. So he had learned a lot and he's always very happy to apply his key learning. So we had been set up. He really set us up as a public company a couple of years before we actually had our, our, we came on to the market. Yeah. Had our IPO. You have to, right? So we did. So we were already SOX compliant, whatever the heck that means.

50:39We were already really reporting, you know, we were, we're a public benefit corporation. So that means that this mission that we talk about, you know, is inscribed in our charter and is something that we have to report on. There are very few public companies that are public benefit corporations, right? So the fact that we were taking that step meant that we had to be very serious about, are we doing what we're saying we're doing? Are we actually doing everything that we can to perform as a public benefit corporation? Anyway, all of this was going on for a while before the IPO. And then once that happened, John said to the whole company again and again, this is really exciting.

51:22Take a minute, take it in, enjoy the day, feel it. You know, it was a great day. And then I'm going to go back to work tomorrow and it's another day at work. And we're just going to get up and do the whole thing because now it is truly all about executing what we know how to do. We just have to execute against our plan and we have to keep it rolling. I've read that prior to the IPO, you were the single biggest shareholder of Once Upon a Farm. Has that changed the way that you think about your own financial agency? Something that I think about all the time is women owning the value that they create and you were able to put yourself in that position.

51:58Has your relationship to what it is that you own or the money that you've been able to create or the wealth that you've been able to create for you and your family, has that changed you in any way and changed how you think about money in any way? I don't think you're going to like my answer, but you'll have to forgive this part of my brain, but it doesn't hold onto it. I, I have had the same business manager for 30 years. Sorry. What's his name? Tell me where he works. Howard Altman. I adore him. He's one of my besties. And Howard is, you know, all he has to do is look at me funny and I convince myself that I am broke.

52:44My problem is I just, I don't know. It sounds like, but I give a lot of money away. So every now and then he's like, can you pump the brakes? So that is something that I had to cool my jets on for a minute. Was money ever important to you? Was that ever a deciding factor in taking the company public? Is it something that you have been like, I actually need to realize this value in this company? I think I would have been thrilled a few years ago to have been acquired. Until I, for the company to be acquired, not me. But until I realized that, oh, the first thing a big company would do would be to scrape off all the stuff I really care about, which is that we are the first fresh organic baby food to be WIC certified.

53:31We're now WIC certified in 22 states. We just added Ohio this week. Our whole company like cheered. We're so happy to be able to feed more kids. We want to get this food in as many hands as possible. And that's up and down the wealth spectrum of our country. And that matters to me. That's what I care about the number one most. It's the thing that I'm always the pesky one at the end of the board meeting when they're like, okay. And I'm like, can we talk mission just for a second? Because you know why? I get to go to the places because we give food to Save the Children and I work for Save the Children.

54:05I get to go to these places where our food is the only fresh food these kids have ever had. And that could be America's salad bowl in Central Valley, California. It could be in, you know, Diné Nation in New Mexico. It could be Mountaineer Food Bank in West Virginia, where I'm from. It's kind of dotting the country. And I just, I see, I actually get to see the impact. So it matters to me. It matters to me that we keep that up and that we are, that we continue to have that as our, as our, at our forefront, which we do. We have a very heart driven company. But you can only do that and you can only be that philanthropic, both within your business and personally, if you're making money.

54:53If you've got the profit margin to be able to give a lot away. So at some point, I mean, I just wonder if you ever sit there and be like, no, this is the most important thing. Like this has to make money or whatever. You don't even think about it. I actually, yes, I do think about it. I do. I do think about that. I do think about like, I just think like, oh my gosh, if this worked, I could, I have my own dreams of what I could do in my home state or somewhere else. But yes, I do have those thoughts.

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57:51You know, it doesn't need to be the driver into a traditional way. Like, you know, I want more for myself, but I do always think that it's such an important part of business. And it's something that we're not always trained as women to think about, like, what is the financial outcome for me? And yet you've created an enormous financial outcome for yourself. I think Nicole and I panicked when I, I panicked when I was first out of my marriage and realized I had taken such a step back in my work. Suddenly I realized like, I don't know how long I'll be able to work. It's not, this isn't a career that's like, Hey, you're 60, you're 55, you're 43.

58:29Come on, let's, let's pay you more than you've ever made. You know what I mean? that's not been traditionally the role. And I was suddenly like, wait a minute, I have to take care of myself. I have to take care of these kids. So what is it going to be? And so we just got very calculated and still, and she was like, how can you work? And I said, I can work in Los Angeles. I can't leave these kids for six months at a time. I would love to, I love going on location. That is not this time in my career. And so it's like, okay, what can we make happen? How can we do it. And we just got really targeted and still about it.

59:05And Once Upon a Farm was very much a part of that play. It's just the crazy thing is it's working. And maybe not that crazy because you were planful about it. You had the conversation knowing that your circumstances had changed. You were wholly responsible for three children and this life and career that you've built. And yet you could sit down and say, I need a plan for this thing. I'm not just going to sit back and passively cross my fingers and hope for the best. Yeah. Because it's not like you can just unfamous yourself. Life is expensive and you still have to kind of figure out how you're going to live.

59:40And just because you're well-known by people does not mean that there is some great living being provided for you. And it became very serious to me really quickly as someone who had never given a lot of thought to money. Like, oh, I need to be an earner here. Is there anything about you that wished that had happened earlier in your life and career that you'd thought about it earlier? No, because I was so lucky to be able to luxuriate in working some and being home and being a mom a lot of the time. I was, I was really grateful for that opportunity. I got to kind of have the best of both worlds.

1:00:15So I can't really look back and complain about any of it. It just, it is what it is. It is what it is. And it all worked out. So far. So far, so good. I, um, you said that you never look at the share price day to day. And it felt to me like that was so much more about self-preservation and you not like living with the ebbs and flows of your company day to day, which just feels like such a... It's a distraction. It's a distraction from what you need to do, which is focus on what is, how are we doing today? What are we doing as a company? How are we, how's our culture? How are our people? Are we reaching families?

1:00:52Are we, are we growing? Are we, you know, we're our household penetration as of last quarter was 6.2%. So we're growing. It's grown. That's great. It's great. It's insane. And yet there's a lot of room for growth. There's a long way to go, but even the fact that a young company like that can have that type of recognition and that, you know, that, that to me is part of a parenting the ethos. Yes. I mean, look, we're here to shape the future of food, period. We are here to reshape the future of your children's food and to make it easier for parents to be a parent's ally that they don't have to choose between healthy and easy.

1:01:31They don't have to choose between fresh, organic, non-GMO, no sugar added and convenience. Here you go. Here you go. You can actually have it or it's really, it's really amazing. You started once upon a farm when you were 45. And I feel like that is an age specifically in Hollywood where so many women are seeing their, like their window of opportunity narrow in. What did you have at the age of 45 that you didn't have at 25? Oh my gosh, so much. First of all, I had more of a range because I was a mom. And because I, and not that being a mom, like suddenly turned you into a different person, but it's so hard that I think it builds your empathy.

1:02:13I think it's easy to judge your characters when you're younger. And I think the more you grow as a person, the more you experience, the more heartbreak you have, the more you go through, the more you can connect with the hurt in the characters or the joy in the characters. I had that. I had more of a steeliness to me, I think. I had less of a, oh gosh, golly gee shucks, you know, and more of a, all right, what do we need to do? Let's get this done. No doubt. What's something that only time could have taught you that no one could have told you? How you do anything is how you do everything. That's a good line, isn't it?

1:02:53And it's so true. So true. How do you do anything and everything? You just show up and you keep showing up. Don't say you're going to be, you know, an ambassador for a big NGO if you are not planning to show up consistently. And you've done that for 18 years. Not all the time. Look, when I'm working, I'm like, how's it going over there? But now that I'm taking this fall, this summer and fall, and I'm going again, again, again, again. And that's just for me because how you do anything is how you do everything. While I can, I am there. What do you need me to do? How can I help? Tell me, point me in the direction.

1:03:34Tell me how I can help. That's kind of just the basis of the ethos that I have grown into. Well, and it's bloody impressive to me how you've been able to thread the needle between your career and the fame that you've built for yourself, your business life and your philanthropic work, because it all is sort of one and it's beautiful because it's so clear who you are, what you care about, how you spend your time and beautiful that it all works as one because what you're doing in your business impacts your philanthropic work, which is only made better by the fact that you are who you are and you've built this incredible professional career.

1:04:11And I just feel like you can't do that when you're 25. You can only do that when you've earned the right and you've put the time in, as you say, and you've made the visits and you've built the relationships. And that's something that we all can look forward to because I think about my life and I'm like, I'm just getting so much better. And typically that's not really what we're told and what we're taught. And I look at you and I'm like, you could never have done this. I could not. Oh my gosh, not even at all. I wouldn't have given myself the, I wouldn't have believed that I could, but also I think I have, I benefit now from years of just basic goodwill that if you show up on time and you know your lines and you don't cause problems for people, I am sure there are times where my career has been plucked out of, you know, work because people can know they can count on me.

1:05:03And I'm not going to show up on set and be fussy. Like people say, oh, you know, life is short. It's long. It's long. Yeah. And people's memories are really long. People's memories are long. Yes. And thankfully our reputations, you know, I always say this, you know, when you don't think you've got anything, you have your reputation. Yeah. And if you keep that intact, if you do what you say, you're going to do. If you're truthful and you're kind, good stuff just tends to happen. Yeah. Just us. If you, and I don't want you to choose, but if you had to say what you would rather, like build and continue to build your traditional acting career or see Once Upon a Farm become like this multi-billion dollar thing.

1:05:43Oh, kill your babies. Okay, wow. What would you choose? Well, an acting career is so selfish. It's really just about you. Just personally, I love it. I love to do what I do. I feel really lucky. And I feel like I have so much more to learn. There's so much more to learn and to explore and do. So if I'm lucky enough to keep doing that, wow. Wow. But I'm not going to say that I don't want O-Farm to succeed. I don't know that it, you know, billions and billions. I don't know what it's meant to be, but I want it to be the fullest extent of what it's meant to be. and we are on a growth trajectory. We have parents' trust.

1:06:23We have parents' trust. We have, there's a lot of room in that lunchbox for us to fill. Cassandra is in her magic kitchen with her team, cooking up all kinds of things. The innovation is happening. The bread and butter of what we do is serving babies to big kids. There are a lot of babies and big kids in this world and we are very, very lucky and happy to be able to serve them. Well, and we have that other 94 % market share to go after. Yeah, we do. You got some work to do. 93.8. She knows exactly. Oh yeah. Specificity in the numbers. I love that. Before I let you go, I want to ask you, what do you still aspire to do or to become?

1:07:06I kind of aspire just personally to continue to make choices that guide me to a more, to a wiser place, to a more spiritual place, to a place where I can spread love. And I don't mean that like in a, but in more like love thy neighbor. It's that basic. And we have an opportunity to remind each other of that all the time, smiling at each other on the street, you know holding the door for someone small and big I actually have a big opportunity to do that and I feel like I haven't tapped into that part of my story yet and so I don't know what that'll look like or if that's meant to be but I think that that is something that deserves my focus.

1:08:01Why does that make you a little emotional when you think about that? Because it's true and I think saying true things makes one emotional. Yeah, I think that you're right. And I love, love that you say love because that's the most important thing. And actually I think about it as the single biggest thing that we're missing sometimes in society, like just the basic of love thy neighbor. I was raised to just love everybody, like to love everybody around me and be respectful to everybody around me. You exude love. That's who you are. It's what you are. It's why you've built what you've built. That's why we're all attracted to you.

1:08:42So, and you're brilliant. All those things, beautiful, all those things. But it comes, it ultimately comes down to, to love and be loved. And so, and how are we doing that? And you're doing that by offering this, these conversations with people. I've learned so much from hearing you have these conversations with people. And it's so important to think about that as a, you know, it's not enough to say it. It's something that you have to practice doing every day. But what's beautiful is when you behave that way, it does come back to you. And just to the point that your mother said, like, you will have the best day when you find the most people to smile at because they feel it and it just is cyclical.

1:09:22It comes back to you and it's quick. But if you're on the subway or the tube. She's like, hold it in. Just think it to yourself. Think it. Pick one person and otherwise you might get you might somebody might beat you up. It is absolutely brilliant. Okay, rapid fire. We're going to go to rapid fire. Okay, what is the one place everybody needs to visit? Charleston, West Virginia. What is an unpopular opinion you have? An unpopular opinion I have? Do you have one? I don't even know what it would be. I mean, I don't like, I don't, I have food that I don't like that everyone else loves. Like what? Onions and pickles and olives.

1:10:04Oh, that's really weird. That's like my free favorite foods. I know, well. Weirdo. there you have it you're welcome best sorry i'm like laughing at this time this is not my question bring it sneak them in every now and again okay best hug on a film set no diplomacy allowed best hug on a film set are you hugging it up on a film set yeah you actually do hug a lot on a film set so what's the best one um i mean i just had these incredible group hugs at the ends of big scenes with Five Star Weekend to have five women together. Oh, I like that. Who love each other and are all great huggers. Beautiful.

1:10:44Them. I mean, that's a good show. Yeah. It's such a good show. Oh, thank you. Oh, thank you. You are so good in it. It's like so crazy. What is the one thing that you are weirdly competitive about? Games. Really? Like board games? Yeah. Mo got ahead of me by one point yesterday and I was like, I don't like it. I'm not happy about it. Yeah. She's competitive. Oh, I love that about you. What's a book that changed your life? Oh, lots of books changed my life. I mean, I wanted to be a writer when I was little. So a book that changed my life. I mean, recently I loved Whistler so, so, so much. The love story of that and the recognition that love stories can look different in all different ways.

1:11:26Oh my gosh. I don't know. You're a big reader, aren't you? You read a lot. I try to really focus on reading. Yeah, I do read a lot. Like my favorite pastime in the whole world. That's why I ask everybody that question. So I'm just trying to figure out my own reading list. What are you reading right now? So I just read five books on my vacation, which was so like, it was, you know, like so wonderful. And the last book that I read was that new Arthur Brooks, The Meaning of Life. And I was like, why didn't I read this? The first book that I read on the vacation, because it was really one of those ones.

1:11:55So you read nonfiction? I do. I always nonfiction. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm like reading, you know, like either some psychology or like a business biography, like very, very. Unless Oprah's like, you have to read this book. Then I'm like, what Oprah said. What Oprah said. Exactly. Whatever she said, I'll do it. Yes, you did it. Yes, you got it. Okay, we're going to add that one to Alice. Okay. Jennifer, thank you so much for coming on Aspire. Thank you so much. I love speaking to you. You too. I really enjoyed this. Thank you. Thank you, my love. Thank you, guys.

1:12:28If you're loving this podcast, be sure to click follow on your favorite listening platform. While you're there, give us a review and a five-star rating and share an episode you loved with a friend. We'll be so grateful. A Spy with Emma Greed is presented by Odyssey. I'm your host, Emma Greed. Our executive producers are Ashley McShan, Derek Brown, and me. Executive producers from Odyssey are Asha Saluja and Leah Rees-Dennis. Producer, KK Sublime. Stephen Key is our senior producer. Sound design and engineering by Bill Schultz. Angela Peluso is our booker. Original music by Charles Black. Video production by Phil Sweetek and Carlos Delgado.

1:13:07Social media by Olivia Homan, Catherine Bale. Special thanks to Brittany Smith, Sydney Ford, my teams at The Lead Company and WME. Josefina Francis, Hilary Schuff, Eric Donnelly, Kate Hutchinson-Rose, Tim Meekle, Evan Cox,

1:13:26If you have questions for me, you can DM me at aspirewithemagreed. Greed is spelled G-R-E-D-E. That's aspire, A-S-P-I-R-E, with Emma Greed. Or you can submit a question to me on my website, emagreed.me.