Women's Wealth: The Middle Way®: Good Food, Good Life with Colleen Kavanagh When Colleen Kavanagh couldn’t find companies that made nutrient-dense foods that would meet the dietary restrictions of her family, she was inspired to build her own firm. Listen in as Colleen shares the incredible story behind ZEGO. Join us every other week on Women's Wealth: The Middle Way®, a radio show aimed at helping women navigate questions about work, money, and family. You can find us on your favorite podcast app, including , , , . See you in two weeks! Helpful Links: ZEGO: Glen Eagle: Women's Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC): WBENC-Certification: Women Presidents' Organization (WPO): Show Notes: Interview Transcript: Susan Michel: Welcome back to Women's Wealth: The Middle Way®, the show that answers your questions about work, money and family. My name is Susan McGlory Michel, and I am the CEO and founder of Glen Eagle, a wealth management firm in New Jersey. Today, I am joined by Colleen Kavanagh. As a mother, Colleen was struggling to find food companies that made nutritious-dense foods, but also met the needs of the many dietary restrictions that her family was at the time juggling with. That is what inspired Colleen to create ZEGO. Making good, clean foods that show customers what exactly was in the products as well as the purity test results of the product. Wow, what an undertaking. Welcome, Colleen. Colleen Kavanagh: Thank you very much. Susan Michel: Colleen, you have a journey of many mothers, we enter motherhood and we don't know what to expect. Were there any struggles that you faced while you started ZEGO, and what were some of the challenging parts and how did you overcome that as a mom? How did this come about? What was the journey that brought you to even think to start your own entity and firm? Colleen Kavanagh: Well, I had kind of a classic mother's story of we had a need in our family that wasn't being met in the marketplace. And so I decided that that was a great opportunity to start a business and also to serve that need for other families as well because this was the beginning of the food allergy spike. My kids are in their late teens, early 20s now, so that was the start of that whole - it's not really a trend - it's just an ongoing problem that seems to be increasing. And I realized that we had celiac disease, dairy intolerance, and my son was very sugar sensitive. And then our schools went nut-free. So once I had to combine all of those needs for both my kids and my communities, there wasn't any company that was making things that I felt good about giving to my kids to eat that was safe for them as well. And so I started a food company. Susan Michel: Wow, you say that so offhandedly as if it's a simple thing to do. Colleen Kavanagh: Well, it's not a simple thing to do. It shows my naivete. Yeah, it's true, though I have learned a lot. And I definitely would have people contact me and ask me, hey, I have a great recipe or I'm selling some, you know, pies to the local bakery. And I want to co-packer and you know, they kind of want to jump in. And I definitely have some advice that I've learned the hard way. And I'm happy to share with folks. Susan Michel: That's what we do as women, I think, we share. It's like, here you are, a mom, and you've decided that there's a real need that you need to meet and you kind of are desiring to do this but what were some of the most rewarding parts? I know we just said that. We jumped in and we said oh my gosh, what have I done? But there had to be some rewarding parts of having a successful clean food company that you saw benefit your own children, but there are also some bumps in the road. Can you share both the rewarding part and maybe some of the things that you wish you had known when you decided to jump in the water? Colleen Kavanagh: Yeah, let me do the rewarding part because it's so singular and we could...
