Vanessa Phillips, co-founder and CEO of Feel Good Foods, joins Professional Jealousy to share how a celiac disease diagnosis in college — and a doctor's advice to give up on food entirely — became the origin story for one of the fastest-growing gluten-free frozen food brands in the country. Vanessa walks through her path from growing up in her family's New York bagel and Chinese restaurant business, to opening the gluten-free café Friedman's in Chelsea Market, to mailing homemade gluten-free pot stickers to Whole Foods in a Ziploc bag and landing a regional launch just months later.

In this conversation, Vanessa gets candid about the early bootstrapped years demoing product in Whole Foods aisles for months on end, the manufacturing mistake that nearly derailed the brand's first production run, and how she built a company culture around grit, generalist skill-building, and staying close to the consumer. She also opens up about the mentor who shaped her mindset, the tools she uses to stay grounded as a founder, and who she's most professionally jealous of today.

Whether you're building a CPG brand, working in food and beverage, or just love a founder story rooted in personal struggle turned purpose, this episode is packed with real, tactical lessons on category creation, scaling from founder to CEO, and building a brand that can grow with you instead of boxing you in.

In this episode I chat with Richard Christiansen, the founder of Flamingo Estate. Richard shares his journey from running Chandelier, a high-end fashion and luxury advertising agency in New York City, to building a global lifestyle brand almost by accident. After facing severe burnout, Richard escaped to Los Angeles just as COVID-19 hit. What started as a chaotic effort to help a local farmer sell her vegetables out of his bookstore quickly transformed into a thriving bath, body, and agricultural empire.

What happens when you mix an ancient Chinese tile game with high-end design, a relentless wholesale strategy, and a zero-outside-capital mentality? You get Oh My Mahjong (OMM).

In this episode of Professional Jealousy, host Natasha Jakubowski chats with OMM founder and CEO Megan Trottier to dissect how she scaled a pandemic-era creative outlet out of her garage into a staggering $40 million business in 2025. Megan opens up about the power of the business pivot, using grass roots community building and education as a marketing vehicle, and navigating the roller coaster of rapid growth alongside her husband.

National politics gets all the glamour, but state legislatures hold all the power. In this episode of Professional Jealousy, host Natasha Jakubowski breaks down the mechanics of movement-building with Daniel Squadron (former NY State Senator and author of The Fourth Branch) and Melissa Walker (former young adult author turned activist). Together, they pull back the curtain on The States Project, an organization that inverted traditional top-down political structures into a hyper-effective grassroots engine. Discover how they use the "Giving Circle" model to turn fundraising from an intimidating chore into a simple, community-driven math problem, and how narrative-first communication can explain complex political infrastructure to spark real, systemic change.

In this episode of Professional Jealousy, host Natasha Jakubowski sits down with Carol Han Pyle, the founder of NETTE, a clean luxury fragrance and candle line that is taking the beauty world by storm. Carol shares her fascinating trajectory from fashion editor at Elle to running a social media powerhouse, and ultimately, launching a completely bootstrapped brand that caught the eye of Sephora just six months in.

In this episode of Professional Jealousy, Natasha Jakubowski chats with Richard Mumby, CEO of Wip, to discuss the birth of the next generation energy pouch. Richard shares his journey from DTC pioneers like Gilt and Bonobos to the front lines of category disruption at Juul, and how those experiences informed the launch of Wip.

In this episode of Professional Jealousy, Natasha Jakubowski chats with Rachel Liverman, founder of Glowbar to peel back the curtain on how she turned a 2017 manifestation email into a multi-city skincare empire. Rachel shares why she stripped away the "fluff" of 90-minute massages to focus on 30-minute clinical results, and how she maintains a high-performance culture with over 400 employees.

In this deep dive, Natasha Jakubowski sits down with Monica Molenaar, the co-founder and co-CEO of Alloy Health, a digital health platform revolutionizing how women navigate perimenopause and menopause. Monica shares her powerful personal journey—from a BRCA gene discovery and preventive surgery to the "aha moment" that led her to solve the menopause care crisis.

On this episode I talk with Dejan Rankovic, co-founder of Man Cereal, creatine-infused food that is low carb, high protein with a trending functional ingredient that isn’t as maxed out in the food aisles as fiber and protein. He describes it as "Serious Nutrition" with an "Unserious Name", offering benefits that have led to health conscious adults leaving the cereal aisle.

On this episode I sit down with Pam Weekes and Connie McDonald, the legendary founders of Levain Bakery. Over the course of 30 years, they have grown from one tiny shop on New York’s Upper West Side to a globally recognized brand famous for its six-ounce cookies (and coincidentally, my son’s favorite treats). Unlike many modern startups focused on rapid growth, Pam and Connie prioritized a "lifestyle" approach for the first two decades that was all about locale and community. They said that “We grew the business the way that we wanted to live our lives”.

Liv Schreiber is an entrepreneur, influencer, and the founder of Camp Social, a unique sleep away camp for adult women designed to help forge new friendships and combat loneliness. Liv shares her entrepreneurial journey that started in college and also includes starting a marketing agency as well as community-focused businesses like Hot & Social events in NYC, all before she turned 30!

Rob Wade is the CEO of Fox Entertainment, a Brit now in Los Angeles running one of the most famed media businesses in the world. He started out as a runner, and has scaled the industry because of his strategic thinking, ability to deal with large personalities, calm and savvy.

EP.17 with Jake Bullock, Co-Founder of Cann, the leading THC beverage. Cann is a trailblazer on a mission to change how we socialize with natural and delicious cannabis infused drinks that can help you feel social without alcohol.

Craig Dubitsky is a serial entrepreneur, having blazed a trail within CPG with disruptive, design-led brands like EOS, Hello Oral Care which he sold to Colgate, and most recently Happy Coffee co-founded with Robert Downey Jr.

Melissa Shin Mash is co-founder of Dagne Dover, the fashion and lifestyle brand.

Ana Andjelic Shares The Secrets Behind the World’s Most Desirable Brands

Shannon Race, co-founder and CEO of Bio.me talks about her personal story dealing with IBS as the spark to start this new company with breakthrough supplements designed to optimize and restore the microbiome.

Shannon is also a Principle at Starshot Ventures, where she leads investment strategy and advises portfolio brands. Additionally she sits on the board of Koia, a leading plant-based protein drink. She’s a seasoned marketer having helped transform Vital Proteins from a product-based business into a global lifestyle powerhouse.

This conversation includes:

- The importance of fiber and gut health - Learnings and growth from her time at Vital Proteins

- Moving from marketing to VC

- Advice for new founders - Insights from Bio.me brand and product development

- What makes a good brand

- Advice and insights for entrepreneurs Shannon is professionally jealous of Francois Demachy, renowned French perfumer and ‘nose’ of The House of Dior.

Asmeret Behr-Lumax is a force for positive change, with a deep commitment to social justice and giving back. She’s the founder and CEO of One Love Community Fridge, a Brooklyn-based nonprofit organization dedicated to addressing food insecurity and increasing access to healthy foods. She is also a passionate advocate for girls empowerment as board chair of Dream Maker and its Phenomenal Girls Club, and she’s been recognized as a UN Women Champion of Change.

I’ve known Asmeret quite a long time, and always admired her style, coolness, ability to effortlessly balance work and being a mom - but I am also incredibly impressed by the her life story as an immigrant from East Africa to Sweden, and then the US, and the fact that over the years she has found her ‘why’ after a successful career in fashion and beauty.

Clara is entrepreneur and founder of Unite Food, the world’s first globally inspired protein bar brand and great business growth story. With a mission to bring unique flavors from around the world to your pantry, Unite Food celebrates global tastes and wholesome nutrition.

Before starting Unite Food, she spent 17 years as the Managing Director of EZ-FLO International, developing expertise in marketing, operations, and leadership. She is also the founder of (Included), a non-profit supporting founders in CPG; a mentor at SKU, a leading CPG accelerator; and an active member of NextUp and YPO

Jennifer Zuccarini is a fashion designer and entrepreneur, known for her work in the lingerie space. She co-founded Kiki de Montparnasse, the first luxury brand surrounding intimacy in 2005, and went on to found the premium lingerie, ready-to-wear and swim brand Fleur du Mal in 2012.

Jennifer’s ambition is to change the way women approach lingerie, understanding the power and emotion that it holds. Feminine, chic, and slightly subversive, the Fleur du Mal brand explores the notion of desire and artful provocation, while maintaining style and wearability. Zuccarini's designs have been featured in top fashion publications around the world, and her brand has been worn by everyone from Rihanna to Gigi Hadid.