My dad was the original feminist and raised my sisters and me to believe not only that we could do anything, but that we should offer our very best to the world. “Be Julie,” he’d say to me as I walked out the door, reminding me to follow my values and make my own choices. I treasure thirty years in foodservice, from my father’s supermarket business to senior and executive leadership positions in foodservice manufacturing and brokerage. It’s an industry I love, that’s dedicated to providing families and friends with opportunities to gather, celebrate, and enjoy one another. Those years also, though, included functions I wasn’t invited to, conversations that didn’t include me, meetings I was excluded from, times when it felt as though the industry itself wanted me to remember I didn’t fully belong. Somewhere along the way, I counted the toll that years of sexism’s nicks and cuts, and of hiding my disability, had taken on me. I became very determined to “be Julie” and to call foodservice back to its own hospitality and generosity. Full transparency: there came a time in my career when not budging from those values cost me my job. My position now, independent of any company or firm, allows me to work more effectively toward the flourishing, profitable future I imagine for our foodservice industry. From maximizing sales and broker effectiveness, to marketing and DEIB, I help companies identify where they are and where they’d like to go, and then map a solid process for getting there. All in an environment where each of us gets to bring our full selves to work, so that both individually and as an industry, we come together at the table authentically. Wherever you are in this journey, I’m a firm believer - it’s what you do next that matters.