A bit more detail about us

LOUISE (SUSTAINABILITY)

Career highlights

Fellow of the Institute of Environmental Management (FIEMA), 2019-ongoing

Thrilled to bits to have been invited to join IEMA as a Fellow, in recognition of my contribution to the sustainability sector. I promise to do you proud guys.

Head of Sustainability (+other sustainability roles), innocent drinks 2008-2020

In 2009 I completed my MSc in Sustainable Environmental Management and shifted in to the growing sustainability function at innocent, which I later headed up for a few years. In this time I pioneered an award winning water stewardship project, galvanised innocent's commitment to recycled & sustainable plastics and step-changed sustainability engagement across the organisation.

Head of Logistics (+other roles), innocent drinks 2001-2008

Following my Natural Sciences BSC Hons degree at Durham University, I joined innocent drinks in 2001, during their early start-up days. This exposed me to every aspect of building a successful, sustainable household brand. Initially setting up the logistics & customer supply function, co-founding the innocent foundation then helping one of the founders launch the brand in continental Europe.

Things that I am good at

Sustainability vision, strategy & communications which are ambitious, on-brand and linked directly to business purpose. Speciality subject areas: sustainable packaging, plastics and Climate change.

I love nothing more than meeting a new business and taking a swift, effective appraisal of their key impacts and identifying their sustainability priorities. The most important thing for all businesses right now is to just get cracking.

CONTACT

email: louise@stevens.earth
linkedin: louise-stevens-earth

“I've had the pleasure of working with Lou over many years. She brings immense energy, boundless passion and deep expertise to every aspect of sustainability that a consumer/FMCG business needs to face into. Her super-power is rapidly getting under the skin of a brand or a group of people and working out how best to unite them and engage them in the mildly important task of saving the world.”

Adam Balon
Co-founder
innocent and JamJar investments

Mike (GROWTH and CHANNEL STRATEGIES)

Career highlights

Co-Founder and MD of Peppersmith 2009 – 2019

Along with my co-founder, Dan, we created Peppersmith with a mission to modernise the confectionery industry. After creating a string of award-winning products, getting listings with some of the UK’s biggest retailers, including Sainsbury, Waitrose, Morrisons, Boots and Holland and Barret, and also establishing a significant direct-to-consumer channel, it was sold to one of our biggest customers in 2018.

Head of Supply and Country Manager at innocent drinks 2001 – 2009.

When I joined innocent, it was just starting out—just a handful of people with some great ideas and lots of energy. My unfair advantage is that I got to witness and participate in its growth from a good idea to an industry-defining corporation. My main roles in the business were 6 years running the supply chain and then 2 very fun years launching the brand in Scandinavia.

Best Selling Author of the Direct-To-Consumer-Playbook

Published by Kogan Page in 2022. The Direct-To-Consumer Playbook follows my quest to discover the stories and strategies of today’s DTC icons, including Huel, Bloom & Wild, Casper, allplants, Lick, Graze, Heights and many more.

It has been an Amazon bestseller and was shortlisted in 2023 for the UK Business Book of the Year.

Things that I am good at

Go-to-market strategies, growth strategy/scaling, fundraising (angel and venture), brand building, marketing, multichannel sales (retail, wholesale, export, Amazon and DTC), team building, strategic and financial planning and control, product development, and operational and supply chain management.

Having been in the deep end as a founder, operator, and advisor, I have empathy and understanding of what it takes to start and scale a consumer goods brand. I know from experience how to deal with the ups and downs, opportunities, and threats 🎢🚀.

HEAR MORE 🎧

Hear me chatting about Peppersmith, DTC, growing pains, brand building and book writing on the following podcasts:
The marketing society podcast
eCommerce Masterplan
Brand Growth Heroes
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Untold: The untold stories in FMCG

CONTACT

email: mike@stevens.earth
linkedin: mikejstevens

“At Tastily, Mike was a great addition to the team as a hands-on advisor and non-executive Chairman. Mike's knowledge across operations, finance and marketing was invaluable during our scale-up stage. He's incredibly easy to work with and went above and beyond both when things were going well and during the tough times. As a first-time founder, Mike also provided huge support to me on the business side around board meetings and team strategy, as well as on the personal side during the struggles most founders face. I would highly recommend working with Mike.”

Will McDowell
Founder and CEO
Tastily