We recently connected with Jennifer Lassley Knight and have shared our conversation below.
Jennifer, we’re so excited for our community to get to know you and learn from your journey and the wisdom you’ve acquired over time. Let’s kick things off with a discussion on self-confidence and self-esteem. How did you develop yours?
I developed my confidence as I learned. I set out to do something totally different than I had ever done before. I had no idea how to be a food manufacturer—I was used to sitting behind a desk writing and researching. But I also had enriching life experiences that challenged my comfort zone, like performing on stage, studying abroad, and learning how to cook. What kept me confident in building my business was knowing I could figure it out, just like I had figured out everything else.
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
I run a packaged food company alongside my husband Greg. We both had careers in the political and nonprofit sectors, but everything changed after my unexpected breast cancer diagnosis at age 29. We had just started to overhaul our diets to eat healthier, so we took it a step further by meeting with an oncological naturopath. We began to learn the importance of “food as medicine,” which for us meant following a whole food plant-based diet. With this newfound knowledge, I made it through an aggressive treatment plan while still being able to work, travel, and live my life relatively normally without having to take additional medication to combat side effects from chemo. This is what sparked my motivation to quit my career and shift my life’s work to sharing the healing power of wholesome foods. Greg was ready to dive in with me, and we’ve made a great team figuring out how to build this thing.
We named our business Earthling Food Company as a fun, quirky brand that communicates unity, in that we are all “earthlings” and should be eating in harmony with nature. We believe a healthy diet is a reciprocal one—good for the body and good for the planet. And we added the iconic Sasquatch imagery to our branding for an added layer of adventure, mystery, and nod to the Pacific Northwest. We’re all about getting back to basics—less is more.
Everything we make is both vegan and gluten-free. We first developed our Impact Seasoning, a savory seasoning blend for making tofu scramble at home. Soon after we developed our Sweet Grains granola, which we make without oil or refined sugar. We started selling our products online, at independent grocers, and at local farmers markets. We continued kicking around other ideas for more products we could add to our offerings. After playing around in the kitchen, we developed our most popular product line—Delicaseeds toasted pumpkin seeds—which we sample out to customers at farmers markets every weekend. Our most popular flavors are Maple Vanilla and Hickory BBQ. They’re great for topping off oatmeal, soup and salad, as well as adding to trail mix. Customers love them because they are exciting and flavorful while still being healthy—no oil, refined sugar, preservatives, or other unnatural ingredients. Pumpkin seeds are very densely nutritious with loads of protein, zinc, magnesium, iron, potassium, good fats, fiber, and much more.
After learning the ins and outs of baking granola and toasting pumpkin seeds, we are currently in the process of developing our next product line—Kettlenuts—which are toasted walnuts reminiscent of kettle corn. We love making healthier alternatives to nostalgic favorites without compromising on flavor!
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
1. Flexibility. It’s important to stay true to your “why” but flexible in the “how.” No one knows all the answers when they start something, so trying to follow a rigid plan to realize your dreams won’t work. It gives you tunnel vision that does nothing but harm your vision and chances at success. I had a totally different idea of how our business operations would look and feel before we got started. At first it wasn’t easy to be flexible when confronted with necessary changes, but now I’m very comfortable with it because I’ve been able to see that it really does work. It’s amazing how your business can become a mind of its own.
2. Persistence. Getting up every day to chip away at your business goals can become mundane. I used to get antsy and impatient, but now I can see that being persistent pays off. Every single week we crank out our products at the kitchen, and every single weekend we sell at the farmers markets. Over time, we’ve fine-tuned our process and maximized efficiency, leading to growing profits each year. And in the meantime, we’ve been able to strike a nice work-life balance to keep the current flowing. Persistence is so important!
3. Health. Living a healthy lifestyle does amazing things for your motivation and ability to keep moving, especially if you’re pursuing an on-your-feet type of endeavor like mine. Mental and physical health is everything. Not only does it help keep your mood positive and body feeling great—it also saves time. Since I’ve been cancer-free, I’ve done everything I can to avoid more doctors’ visits. Time is money, too. I can’t think of a time when Greg or I had to drop a market day due to illness. We feel so incredibly fortunate to be making a living by selling healthy food and staying active!
What would I advise – going all in on your strengths or investing on areas where you aren’t as strong to be more well-rounded? I think a little of both is good, but for me I try not to focus too much on improving my weak areas. I’ve noticed that as long as I go easy on myself when I make mistakes, I tend to get better with time. In fact, going easy on myself can be a challenge all on its own, which has helped me realize how important it is when you’re your own boss. Staying motivated to keep the ball moving is critical, and bad self-talk can kill it.
Who has been most helpful in helping you overcome challenges or build and develop the essential skills, qualities or knowledge you needed to be successful?
I would have to say my husband and business partner Greg. We’ve been married 10 years this year, and I can’t even begin to list all the challenges we’ve helped each other overcome. For me, he is a continual source of empowerment to be the best boss I can be (to myself and to our employees), as well as confidence to be face of our business each time I run the booth. We complement each other’s skill sets and personalities—he is the dreamer and I’m the pragmatist—which I think is the most important ingredient to our business’s success. I think it’s so important to have a business partner in general, not necessarily a spouse, but someone who can see your blind spots and bring fresh, useful ideas to the table. Even arguments are helpful because they often lead to important realizations!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://earthlingfoodcompany.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/earthlingfoodcompany
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EarthlingFoodCompany
Image Credits
N/A
so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
