#6: David Habib: Founder and CEO of Yo Mama's Foods on Building a Healthy Food Brand

04/10/22 • 48 min

David Habib is the Founder and CEO of Yo Mama’s Foods. Growing up as a first-generation American, David Habib was inspired by his mother’s ability to unite people of all cultures and backgrounds around the table through healthy and delicious food. In 2017, he quit his job as a Deloitte Consultant to found Yo Mama’s Foods, which is a company that makes healthy pasta sauces salad dressings, and condiments. The brand can be found in more than 8000 retail stores nationwide, including Whole Foods, Target, and Walmart. And its also the # 1 selling pasta sauce brand on Amazon. David was also recently selected for the Forbes 30 Under 30 list in the 2022 Food and Drink category.

In this episode we talk about:

Everything that goes into creating a food brand.
How Yo Mama's Foods went about formulating the early recipes for the product
How Yo Mama's Foods went about distributing them across major brands such as Whole Foods and Amazon

Check out Yo Mama’s Foods at https://yomamasfoods.com/

Follow us on Instagram -> https://www.instagram.com/startyourselfuppodcast/

Follow us on Twitter -> https://twitter.com/Starturselfupod

Want to sponsor us? Email us at [email protected]

In this episode we talk about:

Everything that goes into creating a food brand.
How Yo Mama's Foods went about formulating the early recipes for the product
How Yo Mama's Foods went about distributing them across major brands such as Whole Foods and Amazon

Check out Yo Mama’s Foods at https://yomamasfoods.com/

Follow us on Instagram -> https://www.instagram.com/startyourselfuppodcast/

Follow us on Twitter -> https://twitter.com/Starturselfupod

Want to sponsor us? Email us at [email protected]

Previous Episode

#5: Katherine Grill: CEO and Co-Founder of Neolth on Building a Mental Health Support Platform for Students

Katherine Grill is the CEO and co-founder of Neolth, a technology company that provides personalized mental health support to teens through a self-guided mobile app that was built in partnership with over 300 students. The app consists of on-demand content in the form of personalized relaxation practices, stigma-reducing videos about lived experiences, and other health-tracking features. The app is now adopted by over 200 schools.

Prior to founding Neolth, she worked at Children's National pediatric hospital conducting NIH research, co-founded a community health program for young adults, and was a university professor teaching courses in psychology and neuroscience at undergraduate and graduate levels.

Katherine was selected for the Forbes 30 Under 30 list in 2022, under the education category.

Katherine received a BS in Art Therapy, MA in Psychology, and a Ph.D. in Behavioral Neuroscience. She has expertise in school-based mental health and using digital interventions with adolescents and young adults (AYAs).

She has won numerous awards through her work with Neolth; most recently she was selected for the Forbes 30 Under 30 list in the 2022 education category. She was featured in Forbes alongside the founders of Bumble and Zyper in 2021 as a leading female founder and was honored with a display on the Nasdaq Tower in Times Square in 2020.

In this episode we talk about:

The stigma surrounding mental health and how the pandemic has accelerated the conversation around mental health.
Importance of proactive rather than a reactive model of treating mental health issues.
How Katherine wanted to make an impact at scale on a societal level which led her to build Neolth.
How Neolth conducted user research to launch the app by partnering with over 500 students.
How Neolth is leveraging ‘community’ to share lived experiences to break down the stigma around mental health.
How Neolth partners with schools to distribute its product.
Mental health tips for students and founders.
Future aspirations for the company

Check out Neolth in the app store and at https://www.neolth.com/

Follow us on Instagram -> https://www.instagram.com/startyourselfuppodcast/

Follow my Twitter -> https://twitter.com/Starturselfupod

Want to sponsor us? Email us at [email protected]

Next Episode

#7: Bryant Ellis: Founder of The Adventure Challenge on How Failure is the Prerequisite to Success

Bryant Ellis is an entrepreneur, podcaster, and adventurer. Bryant is the Founder of the Adventure Challenge, which is a scratch-off book that reveals challenges filled with adventures.

The way it works is that you get to pick a challenge within the book, without really knowing what the challenge is, you scratch it off, and then complete the adventure with a loved one, and the rules are that you have to complete the challenge and there are no takebacks.

Over the span of just a few years, The Adventure Challenge went from a failed Kickstarter campaign to now generating a revenue of over $100MM. They’ve sold millions of books so far pushing people beyond their comfort zones to create amazing memories

In this episode we talk about: