Generation Next
SHEENA RUSSELL Founder & CEO Made With Local
Sheena Russell had a “boring government job” when she founded Made with Local in 2012, selling homemade Real Food Bars with “no weird stuff” at a farmers market in Halifax. In 2014, Russell quit her job to focus on Made With Local full time. In 2015, the company landed its first retail listing with Sobeys in Atlantic Canada. Today, Real Food Bars are sold at 750 grocery stores across Canada including Sobeys, Loblaws, Farm Boy, and more. This year, Made With Local became a Certified B Corp. To produce the bars, Made With Local partners with three social enterprise bakeries in Nova Scotia. The organizations have supportive work and training programs for marginalized adults who have barriers to the mainstream workforce. More than 100 program participants make thousands of Real Food Bars by hand every day. Russell says as the company grew, she thought about getting a big co-packer, but instead decided to “double down” on the social enterprise model. “Creating a new social-impact production model isn’t easy, but seeing how it uplifts our communities is so worth it,” she says. “We are building capabilities within these social enterprise organizations ... and we can say to customers that every bar you buy makes a positive impact on Canadian communities.”
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December 2019/January 2020 Canadian Grocer
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STU SMITH Director, Fresh Programs
Georgia Main Food Group A Red Seal chef, Stu Smith moved from the Vancouver restaurant world to the grocery industry in 2012, joining H.Y. Louie (now Georgia Main Food Group) as a fresh specialist. In 2017, Smith took on the newly created role of director, fresh programs. He oversees all the fresh departments for Fresh St. Market, as well as the fresh departments of 23 IGA stores in British Columbia. With a true passion for food, Smith has differentiated both banners from the competition in many ways, including transitioning to an entirely AAA-Angus Western Canadian beef program and revitalizing the panini program. A career highlight for Smith was supporting the fresh departments as Fresh St. Market expanded to four locations (soon to be six). He’s also proud of his involvement with the Vancouver Whitecaps major league soccer team, having created the Cookin’ With the Caps cookbook featuring original recipes that match each team player, as well as a series of cooking videos. “I believe that if you work hard and you have passion, good things will follow,” says Smith. “I want to continue to grow and get better, both as a leader and as a human being. And hopefully that will lead me to even bigger and better things.” CG