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#948: Join us as we sit down with Melissa Ackerman – Founder & CEO of Planet Harvest, a mission-driven, for-profit company focused on moving more fresh produce from farms to families. Planet Harvest turns excess & available produce into purpose-built food solutions that reduce waste, strengthen farm economics, & deliver measurable impact. In this episode, Melissa shared the significant produce waste in the U.S., how Planet Harvest is working to reshape supply chains by purchasing excess produce, creating impact-driven food boxes, & why embracing "imperfect" produce is essential to supporting farmers & reducing food waste.
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Produced by Dear Media
The following podcast is a deer media production.
She's a lifestyle blogger extraordinaire.
Fantastic.
And he's a serial entrepreneur.
A very smart company.
And now Lauren Evertson, Michael Bostick,
are bringing you along for the ride.
Get ready for some major realness.
Welcome to the skinny confidential, him and her.
Melissa Akerman is the founder and CEO of Planet Harvest,
a profit-for-purchase company redefining how the country
sources, distributes, and consumes fresh produce.
So on this episode, we learned all about Whole Harvest,
a model that delivers scalable, sustainable solutions
to reduce food waste, support the farmers,
and increase access to nourishing produce.
I found this episode fascinating.
With that, let's welcome Melissa of Planet Harvest to the show.
This is the skinny confidential, him and her.
Melissa, what would shock everyone about the produce in America?
I think a lot of people don't even know where their produce comes from.
They don't realize that it's not from a local farmer
or from somebody that's really close to them.
It's grown 60% of our lettuce is grown in California
about an hour from San Francisco.
And I think the second thing that would shock them
is also how much produce is left in the fields.
30% of produce is grown and left in the fields,
because it's not the right size for the grocery store
or the food service industry.
To just give you a number, that's 400 million pounds of strawberries
that are left in the fields every year in the USA,
because they're just not the right size,
not because they don't taste good.
So when there's food shortages in certain areas
and you have all this produce left over,
why are we not connecting those two things?
So that's like really what started this whole thing for me.
I was on the floor during the pandemic,
trying to figure out what I'm doing in my bathroom,
writing a mom's group, and somebody outraged me
just because they said, I don't understand.
There's all this access.
There's pictures of, you know, milk being spilled into the river
as an onions being torn under.
Why can't we take that and bring it to the food banks?
And the answer is the supply chain.
It's how does it get out of the fields
and moved to places that need access?
And because that supply chain just doesn't exist
in a way that is coherent and needs to be rebuilt,
it just can't move that easily from what is left
to being able to get to the people that need it most.
And this may be a ignorant comment,
but I'm assuming when you say it's not the right size
for the grocery chains, is that the buyers looking
and saying this doesn't look right
and we know the consumer won't buy it
because they're looking for something
that looks bigger or more robust or whatever.
And so they just, they don't purchase it
because they can't move it.
Is that what the reason is?
Yeah, it goes a little deeper.
So the farmers actually don't even pick it.
So when they're picking strawberries,
they are having the, the pickers in the field
and they're picking and they're deciding
and they know if it's going to fit
because they have the exact sizes
that the grocery store wants.
It has to fit a certain amount of strawberries
in one pound of, of a pack.
And so they won't pick it.
They'll either pick it and they throw it right down
into the ground or on some products,
they literally leave it on the tree like a cherry
because it's just not the right size.
So if it's a little big or a little small,
it has no way of leaving the field
to be a part of the fresh market.
Why do you think that, I mean, I do this.
I don't know if everyone does this
that people romanticize that our crops are grown by farmers
and it's this whimsical magical.
If you could see what's in my head, it's so romantic
and it sounds like it's nothing like that.
Why do we have that perception?
Well, I love that you have that perception
because one of the biggest things
I hear from farmers all the time
is that they don't feel like appreciated
or that people really value what they do
to bring food into this world.
And so I love that that's what you think
and that's part of what we want to do
is tell the stories of the farmers,
tell the stories of the generations
that are bringing in this product.
It's hard for farmers to even get the next generation
to want to be a part of it.
So I think people think about small farmers like one acre
but the farmers that are really making a lot of this,
they can be one to five acres of farmers
but they're also people that have 300 acres to 3,000 acres
and they're growing this in it's backed by private equity
and it's backed by venture capital
and it's a business, it's a commodity business
that's growing this product.
And so it's, I don't know that people have been there
if you have been on a farm that's a large scale farm,
you'll see these crews that come in and the labor
and all that but it's a big business
and it travels depending on the time of year
down the coast of California to Arizona
and from Florida up the East Coast
and then in the summer you're getting a lot of stuff grown
throughout the country for your more local tomatoes
and squashes and stuff of that nature.
When you, yourself knowing everything that you know
about produce, go grocery shopping.
What is your mentality?
How do you grocery shop?
I grocery shop, one of my favorite things to do
and I love teaching my kids about this too
is like bananas for example, I'll buy stages of bananas
so I'll buy like three or four or one,
we eat a lot of bananas in my house,
one that's like green, one that's a little yellow
and then one that's like almost turning
and so those are called stages of bananas.
I try to buy produce for when I'm gonna eat it
so that I don't over buy for my own home.
That's where I think a lot of people think about excess
or extra is like what you buy in your home
but I mean for me where the blue ocean opportunity
is what's on the farms and how we can change
the consumers idea of buying this product
that might not look perfect
or they're not exactly the same sizes
kind of more like the European markets
where you'll go in and you see that
there are a little bit of different sizes
and that would be such a big change
if the consumers pushed for products
that were taste delicious, look delicious
but maybe weren't uniform in size.
Am I weird to think that I want a charlie brown
like apple and a charlie brown tree like strawberry?
I don't want the perfect one
because the perfect one looks like it was genetically modified.
Like when I get this huge blueberry
that's bigger than my hand, I don't want that.
I want the one that's kind of a charlie brown tree.
I think you're unique.
I think there are, no people don't want that.
I think people want if they're looking at their strawberries
they're looking for those big ones
that are perfectly red and look like sweet.
They're not looking for the ones that are smaller
and bigger and all different mixed sizes within the pack.
I think if they look at that they'd be like
this is super ununiformed and what happened here
and they would ask more of those kind of questions.
Is this as big of a problem in Europe?
You just, you mentioned Europe
or is there as much waste over there
and do they use more of the vegetables and produce there?
It's a global problem for sure
but every country has their own unique
and like we're working on a tool
the world wildlife fund global loss tool
and that's able to measure throughout the world.
But for us, one of the biggest core tenants
that we're trying to, in fact, is like
how do we bring more products back to the US?
So for example, peaches.
A lot of peaches that are brought in that are canned and frozen
are brought in from Spain and Greece.
And so the peach growers in the US
are like looking for the US market
to try to support them more
so that they don't have to throw away.
I spoke to a peach grower the other day.
It's 20% of his fields are being thrown away
because the demand is not there for the US peaches
and they're being, it's being brought in from Spain and from Greece.
If you could like raise a wand
and just say I want everything to be like this tomorrow
with the produce industry, what would be your goals for that?
A perfect world would be a little bit more like Australia.
They have this thing called the odd bunch
that's in the grocery stores
where they have a section of the grocery store
that has a table that allows for based on what's happening
because this is all product that's growing from the time
and picked and it's changing constantly
within the marketplace that could house on this table
what's available in excess at that moment.
If there's a big surge in potatoes
that are being grown or apples or strawberries,
how can we bring that so that the American consumer,
just like if they want organic,
or just like if they want fair trade,
would come in and go to those tables first,
see what's available, what's excess,
see what's delicious and tasted and have all the sampling
and start buying with increasing the price access for people
but that would be available there
and they could decide that week, okay,
I'm gonna use squash because it's in excess
in my dinner this week or I'm gonna use a zucchini
because it's on that excess table.
And so I want a world in which this excess produce
just becomes part of the tradition of the American buyer
that they don't think about it as much as like
what is conventional and what had the specs
that have been out there already.
So we got introduced through Ivanka Trump,
of all people who we really admire
and we were hanging out down in Miami
and she said, hey, you gotta talk
because she's a co-founder and I wonder
how did you guys even get into business in the first place
and what were you doing before?
Sure, so I ran one of the largest produce management
and produce transportation companies.
What does that mean?
We bought the produce that went to large restaurants
like Panera, Starbucks, Jamba Juice, Buffalo Wild Wings,
different Wings companies and hospitals and schools.
And in that time, right before the pandemic,
we had just tried to decide, okay, where is our path going?
The pandemic hit and overnight our customers
all shut their doors.
And I had one note next to me was save the supply chain
because it was family businesses,
these distributors across the countries and farmers
that were growing specifically for restaurants
and they had nowhere to bring their products.
So as I mentioned, it was the first time
that I think a lot of Americans were exposed
to access in the supply chain.
They saw the milk being dumped
and the carrots being put back into the ground
and they were like, why, where do we go with this?
So there was a program that Ivanka actually championed
and led for the government
called the Farmers to Family Food Box Program,
the USDA's program.
That program was a $6 billion program
that was part of the Trump administration
then carried over into the Biden administration
and sunsetted when the COVID funds ended.
And I held one of the larger contracts
and we made these boxes and in these boxes
there was produce, there was protein, there was dairy,
there was cheese and we connected the farmers,
the businesses to 501C charity organizations.
So my company in four months moved 9.2 million boxes
and we did these big events where we handed them out
and so Ivanka would come to those events
because she was leading in and overseeing it.
And I got the opportunity to meet with her
and talk to her and we bonded over the idea that like,
yes, there's all this access and there's all this need
but this is not just a pandemic program.
This is a program that really a problem that exists
throughout the ages that we've, you know, the modern ages.
And so she really, I think, fell in love with the farmers
and the stories and the availability
to really make massive change and that's where we met
and we started this idea of how do we turn this either
into a nonprofit or to a business
and we decided to turn it into an impact business.
She's a very curious person and I think, you know,
we had her on the show and what I personally think
about her as it relates to when she was in the administration
is I don't think she gets enough credit
for a lot of the things like this that she was doing.
There's, you know, there's all the big media headlines
and the political biases that people have but as it relates
to her there was a lot of things that I think were like
straight down the line and just beneficial for the country
and people in general that I just don't,
there's enough awareness around her with that stuff.
Right?
She didn't, she doesn't get as much accolade
as I think she should for that kind of stuff.
100% I mean, this program you could ask distributors,
produce distributors so just because I don't know
that everyone knows what that means.
It's like a large Costco warehouse if you've been there
where there's just all different types of fruits
and vegetables and sometimes dairy
and they get, you don't bring a whole truckload of produce
from California to the back of a jama juice.
You have to have a distributor that's able to pick
a box of this and a box of that and then make an order
to send it over to the back of a restaurant.
These distributors companies were saved
because of this farmer's to family food box program.
They had nowhere to be able to do the business
and I mean, I've had companies literally to this day
think that program for saving them.
And that was, they had nowhere, the restaurants were closed.
I mean, they were closed for, as you all remember,
for so long.
I mean, some restaurants did really well
like the quick service restaurants,
but the big white tablecloth and the big mop,
like the bigger restaurants weren't in business,
schools weren't in business,
airports weren't in business.
And so these growers that grow for that,
along with the distributors that service them,
along with the trucking companies that service them,
they had nowhere to do their business.
And so this program by the USDA
that Ivanka really shepherd and brought forward
was life saving to them.
I also think people don't realize
what amazing business woman she is.
Are there some tips that she has shared with you
that you've learned throughout working with her?
Yeah, she's quite frankly amazing.
So I ran this business and it had hundreds of employees,
a huge P&L departments.
When you start as an entrepreneur
and you start at the beginning, it's a different game.
So her advice and her ability to help me stay focused
and really keep on the topics that we were trying to do
were amazing.
And top of the fact that I just think her vision
and her visionary sense to think so much bigger
and to be able to help is just something that people
maybe know about her, but I can speak from
how she built this business with me
that she thinks about things.
I might think about hitting 10 cities
and she's thinking about hitting 200 cities within a year.
She just wants something that scales.
I think the other thing that like sits with me the most
is that when we talk about our monthly meetings
and anyone that runs a business knows you look
at your forecasting, you look at your budgeting,
that's important to her.
But what's most important to her is who are we impacting?
How many farmers are we impacting?
How many pounds are we bringing into the system?
And how many people are we putting fresh fruits and vegetables?
And those impact numbers are what drive her to me
like there's no better partner and co-founder
that makes you think big, dream big, and then act big.
I think those are big deals.
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What is the risk to the public and the population
if these supply chains and farms start to fail over time?
I think like, again, you're talking about people not
being aware of where their food comes from.
And I think we take for granted that we can just walk
into a store and there's this abundance of things
on our shelves and other countries in places
in the world is not always like that.
What are some of the things that maybe the public's
just unaware of when it comes to the dangers
of having these things disrupted?
I think the disruption is, I mean,
how much is an America?
Like I think that that's part of it.
Like we talk about local, but local can be, you know,
100 miles to 250 miles if you think about
how big a state is and stuff like that.
So I think it's how much is coming in from other countries.
And again, this is a global issue.
And if we're trying to do things with greenhouse gases
and water emissions, like we need this on a global scale,
but for us, it's like helping the American farmer first.
So I think that's the first thing.
The second thing is with the supply,
I mean, we all could agree that food is medicine
and food should be what is helping cure a lot of these issues.
So like we want to have as many options as possible.
If we have certain farmers that can't produce that food,
then you're not going to have those food,
those products in the supply chain to be able to eat
and to be able to use as what you are helping your body,
your children, those flavors, all of those things.
So I think if we can use all of it,
it just gives more access to people
and it gives more options to people.
And it keeps things close to home,
which I think is super important.
And why are they at risk of potentially not being able
to produce anymore?
You mentioned earlier, maybe the generations following
these farmers aren't going into farming as often,
or supply chain issues or waste.
Like what would be the reasons they could stop producing?
If they can't afford it.
I mean, if they can't afford to pick the products.
Like so that's another really big reason why it's not picked.
It's like, if it costs more for them to pick it,
pack it and ship it, then it would to leave it on the ground.
That's what they're going to do.
And they don't want to.
They've already put in the water.
They've already put in the labor.
They've already put in all of those things.
But ultimately, if it doesn't make sense financially,
they are businesses after all.
Would you buy every single thing on the shelf?
Is there anything that you're never touching
with a 10-foot pole, a fresh produce?
Yes, I'm buying it all.
You're buying it all?
Yeah.
If you're like, oh, this one is really nasty.
There's nothing.
There's nothing.
I mean, I love fresh fruits and vegetables.
I think that they are delicious.
I'm trying to think if there's one that I would stay away
from because of my own preferences.
I love trying different things, new things,
the introductions of things.
Yeah, I love all of the different fruits and vegetables.
Do you know why they have those little numbers
on the stickers on the produce?
Yeah, so the PLUs.
Yeah.
So that helps to track and trace where it's from.
So you can find out where it was shipped from.
So the biggest thing for a fresh produce industry
is to be able to find where the place before it came,
so that you're able to figure out exactly what products
and where what farm it came from.
If there's ever an issue that they need
to be able to pull something from the shelf.
You are a mom of three boys.
Yeah.
How are you balancing everything you're doing?
You have all these amazing headlines with Ivanka.
You guys are everywhere.
How are you balancing that with three boys?
An amazing team at home.
And the organization, I think, is super important.
For me and my family on Sunday nights,
we have a meeting.
We use an old time word document with chat
with a different chart with every person's name,
what we're going to eat for the week,
any task that have to be done, even for the pets.
And we organize and we divide and conquer.
My husband's an orthopedic surgeon.
So he's busy too.
And he's out there fixing knees and hips.
But I think ultimately, I love when my kids are asked,
what is it that your mom does?
And she says she fights to help farmers
and bring food to your table.
And they're with me.
They're with me when we do these events and hand out boxes
to fresh fruits and vegetables to people.
They're there packing them.
They're there going to the farms and seeing where it's all built.
So it's being present at the moment where you are.
It's about, you can't be in two places at once,
so I don't pretend to be in for a hard one.
And putting my head 100% into what I'm doing
and trusting that what I've built at home
with preparation and a good team can help there.
How do you think about leadership?
Bringing people around me that I think
could be the next step in the leadership process.
I have an incredible team right now of all women.
And it's been amazing.
Actually, I have a few men,
but not on the day-to-day stuff that I'm working on.
And it's just incredible to bring passionate people
that are skilled in their area
and letting them and trusting them
to be able to accomplish what they can accomplish.
If you could tell our audience one thing
and you could have them take away one thing
from this episode about produce, what would it be?
Eat produce, love produce, ask for produce,
and stop only eating with your eyes.
Think about when you see something that might be
a little bigger, small.
Think about where it came from
and the route it took to get there.
So don't be so superficial when it comes to produce.
Totally.
You know, don't be so vapid about it.
I mean, think about it like, you know,
dovcommercial, you know?
It's like, all bodies are beautiful.
All produce is beautiful.
How can we support farmers by asking
that we get more of that harvest,
that full harvest approach, that whole harvest
so that we can help the farmers
and we can enjoy nutrient-dense, delicious food?
What is the response from the farmers now with you now
that you guys have gotten this project underway?
It's amazing.
Like the phone calls and the meetings that we can have
where people believe in it,
where we get to hear their stories,
where they bring in their trade associations
and all the different people from big to small size farmers
and they're like, you really think you can do this?
I mean, we had the CEO of Chabani in the fields with us.
That's one of our partners in our projects.
And he, I mean, he was stepping over the rows,
his hands were in the strawberries.
He was holding his like, this is gonna be discarded.
This is gonna be discarded.
How is that possible?
This is beautiful.
So I think seeing it firsthand and having,
and you know, he's calling for others
to join us in this, in this change of trying to ask
for all of the produce, asking for excess
and bringing back American buying.
So when I get to see people like that
that I find incredible leaders, incredible CEOs
that have visions, it's just, it's exciting
that I think we're on the right track.
And it's something that I think the consumers
once they learn more about it.
It's in that bucket of sustainability.
It's in that bucket of healthy eating.
It's a win all across the board.
So if you guys are able to kind of get rid of the waste,
what are you then going to do with that excess?
Are you, is it for charities?
Is it to feed people?
Is it to put in shell?
Like what happens to your, yeah, where's it go?
So for example, the bottom of the fruit,
what you have on the Chabani yogurt,
like that's the project that we're working on.
We work, we create these food boxes,
which ultimately are either going for impact work
into communities that need it
or in food as medicine boxes.
So there's a movement to be able to use food
as a way to treat, like diabetes, hypertension,
high-risk pregnancies.
We create these boxes that can include the fresh,
the excess produce.
They have, in them, we partner with Thrive Ariana Huffington's
company so that we have that data, the data,
the science behind it to say what kind of recipes,
what kind of product should be in it
for each of these different ailments.
And then we have the products delivered directly
to patient stores.
And then the doctors look back at it
and see what are the numbers and the things
that are changing from having access
to fresh fruits and vegetables.
So I think there's a big movement out there
to eat healthier, and it's how do we get the products
to food insecure areas that don't have access
to fresh fruits and vegetables.
I think like the average American,
if I was listening or watching this show,
we see headlines all the time about people struggling
to put food on the table, if the economy's down
or whatever, in other places in the world,
people not having access to certain food.
And then now you're hearing there's a ton of food here
that is just sitting and being wasted
while at the same time.
And again, I'm an entrepreneur, so I start to think,
well, there's all these programs that are setting people
up to go and buy maybe things that are not nutritious
and not healthy, but we have all this great nutrition
that comes from the earth sitting over here.
So like, why is that not?
So there are some government programs like Section 32,
which will buy if there's a huge amount of extras.
But again, the specs that are there are usually
and I could be wrong on this US number one grade.
So again, it's like, how do we change the grading system
to allow for more of this product to get into schools,
to get into, and I think that ultimately,
that's something that hopefully will happen over time,
but nothing that we're working on directly
with the government.
Yeah, I mean, we'll go, sometimes Lauren and I
will go to our kids' school for lunch.
We pack our lunch mostly because some of the foods
that they're serving in these schools,
like it's not the most nutritious meals.
And I start to hear this, I'm like,
why is some of this food and vegetables and produce
not in the food?
You know what I mean?
It's exactly.
It's just, I think it's kind of like,
it's probably much more difficult than I'm describing it.
And that's the world that you're in.
But from what I hear, it's like common sense.
Like, well, we have this food and supply chain.
Like, why is that not here providing nutrition?
The grading has to change.
The specs have to change.
And the allowance and tolerance has to change.
And then I mean, it's innovation.
Like, we're working with an incredible lettuce grower right now
that makes those bag pack lattices that you buy.
And we're thinking about new ways to use broccoli leaves.
Like, you take the broccoli off the stock
but then you leave all the leaves in the field.
How can we use that as like, you know,
with the right dressings, it would be like a kale
a little bitter but really nutrient dense?
How do we continue to expand
on what pushed the boundaries of what's popular
within the diets of the American people?
In researching for this podcast, we text Ivanka
and she wrote back a very, very thoughtful response.
And so I was gonna hit some of the points
and see how you felt about what she said.
Something that she brought up was, and I want to know,
how come no one has found a solution for this?
Why is this the first moment that this is happening?
I think that there was so much momentum
on just getting the right product to the shelf
and getting people to purchase
that there was no one that was really connecting the dots.
I think we sit in a really, really like you said,
an amazing place where Ivanka knows so many people
and I have a long history in the produce industry
to be able to talk about this and bring this together.
Feeding America, for example, does do a little bit of this,
which is the largest, you know, food banking network.
So they do something where they guy from growers
that have access, but even with what they're doing,
there's so much more out there
and so much opportunity to be able to do more.
Give us a detailed impact of what this has done
to the livelihood of the farmers.
You mentioned earlier, there was a lot of emotion
in the fields, give us some examples of that.
Yeah, so again, we met in the fields of Ivanka, myself,
and Hamdi met with these strawberry growers
that had three generations with them standing in the fields
and just talked about like, we kept asking why?
Why do you leave this here, help us understand?
And it all came down to they are not paid enough money
to make sure that it comes out,
that they need to make 10 cents more, 5 cents more,
whatever it is to make sure that it can come out
of the fields.
And when we talked about what we're thinking about,
we talked about long-term contracts.
We talked about the idea that we would be able
to put a three-year contract in place
that we would guarantee the purchasing
of this product and hopefully their whole harvest,
their number one product too.
They were just like tears.
Like tears in their eyes, they talked about how amazing it was
and how they've never had anybody.
That was the other big thing.
Nobody asked them, nobody asked them, nobody asked them why,
and this goes back to the respect
and like the goodness that we want from our farmers.
They don't ask them for their stories
and how they get there.
There's so much pain, sweat, tears, and unbelievable labor
from our American farmers.
And I think they feel respected having her out in the fields,
having homed out in the field and asking why
goes along with that storytelling
of this beautiful product that should get,
make its way out of those farm gates.
Tell us about the World Wildlife Fund.
So as I mentioned, the World Wildlife Fund
we're working with one of their tools
to be able to measure the product
that's left in the field.
How much extra product is there?
If you're able to actually measure exact.
Exactly.
And then figure out what we can do to target with it.
We worked on a pilot program with them already
where we took strawberries.
Right now in the US market, there's only a number one strawberry.
So there's no number two fresh strawberry that people sell.
So we worked with different organizations
like Stanford's Cafe, Google's Cafe,
different places in California where the chefs were able
to taste and try these products that wouldn't have made it
to the number one market, but could make it to the number two.
And they were trying to figure out interesting ways
to use it for fruit salad, smooth these desserts, cut it,
chop it, do different things with it, and keep it fresh.
We can pair farmers the most when we keep the products fresh.
So we were trying to figure that out.
So through that partnership and through working
with different distributors and different food service
companies, we were able to test this and the chefs loved it.
So now it's a matter of how do you make it mainstream
and how do you push it so that you can use more of the non-perfect
stuff within cafeterias and different restaurants
throughout the country?
What is one of the main reasons that these farmers are starting
to not be able to afford to either ship or pick
or produce these products or these?
It's all the different input costs of water.
You can even imagine labor.
It's the competition again from other countries
where they either have subsidies from their government
to be able to move the product.
It's less money for labor in those countries
and it's less for all different inputs.
So it's the competition internationally.
It's the sheer amount of volume that's being grown.
I mean, you would think right now, and I believe
that with GLP ones and the entire movement,
people want healthier choices.
And I think we'll start seeing as a data comes out,
people are going to start eating more fresh fruits
and vegetables along with protein fiber, all those things.
So we just, as that movement continues to happen,
this I think that the fruits and vegetables
are going to see their day.
Let's quickly talk about experience
and specifically experience subscription
canceling service.
I love experience I've used it for over a decade now,
mostly for credit monitoring, making sure
that I can get my credit in the right place.
They have an incredible tool that basically provides you
with all the information you need on how to improve your credit
and make sure that you're maximizing the most of your credit.
Many people are familiar with experience
because of their credit monitoring service,
but did you know they also have a subscription cancelation
service that is incredible.
I talk a lot on this podcast about how important it is
to save that extra dollar, reinvest,
make sure you're putting more money in your pocket,
make sure that you're not working and wasting
and spending all that money on things you don't need.
And what I love about experience platform
is they can help put more money back in your pocket
so that you can spend on things that you actually care about.
And most importantly, make sure that your money's going
to places you actually want it to go to.
Experience can take the pain out of canceling subscriptions
by handling it for you.
Just keep the ones you want and put money back in your pocket.
This is a no-brainer.
Imagine you're sitting there at the end of every month
like many of us do going through your budget,
wondering where the money went,
wondering where you can save,
trying to make sure that you're able to invest
and save for your future,
and you realize that you have a bunch of unwanted
subscription service fees that are going out the door,
wasting your money, taking money directly out of your pocket
for things that you're not even using anymore.
With experience cancellation service,
you no longer have to worry about that
because it takes care of all of it puts into one place
and makes it easy to cancel.
They have over 200 subscriptions
that are cancelable on the platform,
and you can also save money
by letting experience negotiate your best rate.
They'll keep an eye out for new deals and savings opportunities
and will negotiate directly with your provider.
So maybe even paying for a subscription
and they've offered a new rate since you've signed up
and maybe a better deal.
Well, experience can make sure that you get that
and take advantage of that deal
so that even if you are using a service,
you're getting the best possible rate.
Again, there's nothing that drives me more crazy knowing
that I'm wasting money, that my loved ones are wasting money.
It's such a letdown when you see your hard earned dollars
go to places that aren't being used,
that can't be beneficial to you.
And again, in a time when it's hard
to save in every dollar counts.
And the best part is you keep 100% of your savings.
This is one of my favorite features
of experience cancellation service.
They put 100% of the savings back in your pocket.
You could save $631 on average per year.
Imagine right now if you just put an extra $631 back
in your pocket, what you could do with it,
how you could have fun with it, who you could help with it.
That's how I like to think about this.
It's not only potentially helpful for you,
but for your loved ones and people that you care about.
Don't just take it from me, over $25 million
has been saved using both bill negotiation
and subscription cancellation from experience.
So clearly there's a ton of people saving money
and putting it right back into their own pockets.
Because again, you keep 100% of your savings.
So again, get started in the experience app now
and save that money, put it right back in your pocket.
Quick break to talk about free nicotine.
Some of you saw my social posts the other day on Instagram
where I was talking about free nicotine.
And to say I got a lot of questions about it
is an understatement.
So here's the thing, a lot of people have concerns,
questions, qualms around nicotine and nicotine use.
I've always personally been a fan of nicotine.
And yes, I know it can be addictive.
It's a chemical.
You definitely have to be careful with it.
But it also has so many potential benefits
that aren't talked about nearly enough,
which I think could potentially outweigh
some of the concerns that people have around
obviously nicotine being addictive.
There's other substances that we use
and we take for performance that are not looked at
in the same lens.
People have been using nicotine for generations.
I personally love it.
And I love that with free nicotine,
you don't have to smoke it.
What I also love about free nicotine,
it's really for somebody that's ready to lock in.
When you really need to focus, when you need to get stuff done,
that's how I use it.
And what I love about their brand
is that you can control the dosage.
So if you're new to nicotine and you're thinking
about experimenting with it,
you obviously don't want to go and take super high doses
if you're not used to it.
They have these three milligram pouches,
six milligram, nine milligram, 12 and 15.
So you can kind of like ease into it
and figure out what's right for you.
I take very little and then I take it only in moments
when I really want to lock in and focus.
Some people may not be aware of the potential benefits
when it comes to nicotine.
First, you can potentially increase your alertness
because nicotine stimulates acetylcholine
and dopamine signaling,
which can increase wakefulness and mental alertness.
That's how I like to use it.
It can also, like I said earlier,
improve attention and focus
because nicotine activates acetylcholine receptors in the body.
So again, when I need to do a podcast,
when I have a lot of work going on,
when I need to really lock in and focus,
this is the tool that I use in order to do so.
It's also been said that nicotine potentially helps
working memory and short-term memory recall
as well as also potentially being a neuroprotective agent.
It can potentially help guard against things
like Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's disease.
Again, this does not mean nicotine prevents these diseases,
but there is the potential that you can protect
against these diseases.
There's also appetite, suppression, mood regulation,
enhanced reaction times, so many different things.
And like I said, I like nicotine as a tool to perform
to be on my best, to make sure that when I need to focus,
I'm focused when I need to be paying attention,
I'm paying attention.
And when I need that extra edge to perform, I get it.
I like the pouches, I like free nicotine
because it's predictable, it's easy.
And like I said, I can control the dosage.
The flavors that I've really been leaning into lately
are the watermelon flavor and the mint flavor.
I think those are the best,
but they also have a wide assortment of different ones.
I think the watermelon's a new flavor.
So if you've been seeing me post about free nicotine,
here's why, again, I'm always looking for the edge
and I'm always looking to perform
and free nicotine helps me do that.
And again, I know that you have to be careful
with nicotine, it's addictive, it's a chemical,
but it also could be potentially a great tool
for those that use it responsibly.
So if you've been thinking about experimenting
when nicotine check free nicotine out,
try free nicotine pouches today at freepouch.com
and use code skinny for 25% off for new customers only.
That's F-R-E-Pouch.com and then use code skinny
for 25% for new customers.
Introducing the skinny confidential ice roller.
Reimagined.
Think a sleeker lines, a softer pink,
a custom buttery dust bag, and a silver roller,
not pink anymore, that is ice colds.
I wanted to do a jeige on the iconic ice roller.
I wanted to update it.
This ice roller for me has always been more than just a tool.
It's about helping us depuff and sculpt
and calm the skin in a way that feels intentional.
And I wanted the ice roller to feel evolved.
It's changed, you've changed.
So yes, the new gorgeous stunning beautiful ice roller
is still gonna do the same things.
It reduces puffiness and redness in your face.
I used it this morning before I put on my makeup.
It definitely helps with the under eye bags.
Of course, it helps boost circulation and radiance.
I just feel like it really helps stimulate blood flow
and gives me that tighter, more radiant skin.
And then it also is known to give you a smoother,
tighter looking skin.
So what I like to do is I like to combine facial massage
with cold therapy.
And this really helps give you a really nice foundation
before you even apply your skincare.
This ice roller for me is a full circle moment.
I think that a lot of you bought the ice roller,
you know, five, six years ago when we launched it.
And now I am launching something that feels
more in alignment with where you're at.
It's so beautiful, you guys.
Like it's just softer and more effortless in every way.
And I really put my own touches on every single little step
from the packaging to the colors,
to how it feels to even the roller.
It's all been elevated just for you.
So the ritual, the Lauren ritual,
is you do cold therapy to help fight inflammation.
You roll it, you glide it across your face.
I put it on my jawline, my neck, I roll it down.
Your skin is just going to appear a smoother and tighter
before you go in for the kill with the skincare
and the makeup.
Don't skip the cold therapy.
The new ice roller is an upgrade designed
to meet the standards of today.
And I hope you guys love it as much as I do.
This is the beauty tool that started at all,
redesigned to evolve with you.
I'm showing it on YouTube too, if you're on YouTube,
if you're seeing me visually.
Get it way, it's hot at shopskonyconfidential.com.
That's shopskonyconfidential.com.
We're former California residents.
We live out here, grew up in California.
But when I hear 80% of the lettuce is grown in California.
And again, being an employer, understanding the cost
to do business over there now, I worry,
because like if 80% of the lettuce is concentrated there,
and it becomes too expensive for these farmers
to produce there, what happens,
then if it just becomes unsustainable to run that business.
But if I was running that lettuce business,
and all of a sudden I couldn't make money running it,
and 80% of the world supplies there,
is that of vulnerability that people need to be aware of
or think about?
Yeah, I mean, it's, you know,
if they, when they grow the lettuce, you know,
it's like around 60%, so 60% of the lettuce,
and it grows in Selena's California,
and then it moves to the desert,
and then it moves to Arizona.
And as things happen, and it gets pulled,
that it just won't be on the shelf,
I mean, they've tried hydroponics,
and building inside, and then having it
in their trying to find new microclimates to grow,
they'll do it a lot in Mexico as well,
but it's a vulnerability,
and it's something that like we continue to lobby
as an industry to make sure that these input costs stay
at a place where we can afford to grow in the US,
but ultimately, it's, that's,
it's called the Salable of the World.
I approach it from, I guess,
more of like an analytical P&L perspective,
and I just hear that amount of concentration
from that particular product,
and then the difficulty of being able to sustain
a business to produce that product,
and I just think, you know, it sounds nice,
like raise minimum wage and never pay everybody more,
but like if, if all of a sudden a massive supply chain
gets ripped off from one of those businesses,
start to go under because they don't have it,
it's all connected.
Yeah, I met, I met an expert on all of the different things,
but I mean, for sure, like,
if people are interested,
the International Fresh Produce Association
has like all of that information
about what the causes are and the different things
that the industry is looking to.
Then what again, what do I know?
I'm just a podcaster.
I know that you and Ivanka in your partnership
have also spent a lot of time volunteering in Miami
after the fires in Maui and California.
What did that look like for you?
Yeah, she's been incredible.
I mean, it's unbelievable that she's out there,
she's handling the boxes, we've packed boxes,
we've done all different things,
but part of what our businesses is emergency relief.
And so we have the ability to respond within two days
to be able to get boxes,
and we usually put in 10 to 12 pounds of fresh produce,
beans, rice, milk, shelf stable milk.
And so it's amazing, and we buy from where it is.
So like with the stuff in Hawaii,
we would build the boxes with fresh produce from Hawaii
and help the local farmers.
We did it, we sent stuff actually during Jamaica,
we sent stuff with world vision.
So we partner with different 501C3s
to get that product quickly to where it needs to be.
And it's, you know, sometimes they don't have anything fresh.
We have to be really mindful.
We try to be culturally relevant to what we're sending,
make sure that the product is something
that the neighbors there will want.
And then we also are very careful to make sure
like if there's no electricity like what happens in Texas,
like when things shut down with the ice and, you know,
stuff like that, we'll make sure that it's like
stuff that can be eaten without cooking,
without a big kitchen to make it happen.
So we try really hard to be mindful with what we're doing
when we do any of this volunteering
and having her out there is just like a shock to some people
that drive with their car and then they open their box
and a van cause they're asking them how they are
and how things are doing.
And you know, it comes with wraparound services
of other diapers that might be available
and things of that nature.
I think that's amazing.
My last question before you go is what drives you
absolutely nuts that you see on Instagram
when it comes to produce.
There's gotta be things that you see that you're like, no.
It's that idea of like that it's just so easy
to get something from the farm, the idyllic farm to your table
and that it doesn't take, you know,
all these people harvesting it,
that the trucks that drive it there,
the sales arm that has to make it happen,
the distribution centers, all of those things
or against a clap, this isn't toilet paper, you know,
from the minute it's cut to the minute it gets to your plate,
there's, you know, maybe seven days, 10 days to get it there.
And so it takes a lot to get there
and there should be appreciation I think of
how we get our food on our plate.
So you just think if we,
you could infuse more appreciation from everyone
when it comes to how long it actually takes
for us to actually be eating it.
It's not like snap your fingers.
I also think that there's, listen,
like there's like the podcast circuits and the people
and we've, you know, we've had some of these people
come on the show and it's fine to talk
but I think there's this ideal like version
where like everything is in these local small farmers
markets and go to these small farms
and like that's how you should eat
and you shouldn't ever shop anywhere else
and you gotta watch out for this and that.
And I think sometimes like, yeah,
that in a perfect world of that actually exists
in that way great, but how does the entire population
get access to this kind of food
and is that realistic for everyone I don't know?
You're so right.
And I think that's probably something that bothers me more.
I think local is amazing when available,
but putting up like a road that like you'll only eat local.
I mean, I live in Chicago.
You're not getting local all year.
You might be able to get some things
that are grown in greenhouses or you might be able
to buy something in a hydroponics.
But outside of that, like we need the supply chain
and if we break this bigger system
that is coming from all these different places,
it you won't be able to have the variety
and the things that you want to be able to have
the nutrient dense that you need for your bodies.
Yeah, and I think sometimes it's not fair to the farmers
because a lot of these farmers are trying to mass produce
in order to supply the supply chain that is required.
And there's a little bit of like a ho,
they're doing it, like they shouldn't be doing it that way.
But if again, if all of these supply chains start to crumble
and go, where are these farmers stop producing,
the world is gonna be met with a much bigger problem.
Totally.
And I think it's about bringing silos together.
I think we can have local, when available,
I think we could support local farmers,
but let's think about how do we bring
these different things together?
So we have a holistic, healthy supply chain.
How can everyone support you and planet harvest?
Planet Harvest on Instagram.
And if you have any ideas that you have fruits
and vegetables in your products,
you can reach out to us to be able to look at
how can you source, how can you look at your supply chain
to get more access into that.
And if you do anything for like impact work
or any way of getting boxes out there,
we would love to talk to you about getting fresh fruits
and vegetables into what you do to give to communities.
Amazing.
Melissa, thank you so much for coming on the show.
Thank you guys.

The Skinny Confidential Him And Her Show

The Skinny Confidential Him And Her Show

The Skinny Confidential Him And Her Show